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Chapter 38 On the shelf. In France, the young girls have a dull time of it till they are

married, when Vivla Liberté becomes their motto. In America, as everyone knows, girls early

sign the Declaration of Independence and enjoy their freedom with Republican zest. But the

young matrons usually abdicate with the first heir to the throne, and go into a seclusion

almost as close as a French nunnery, though by no means as quiet.

Whether they like it or not, they are virtually put upon the shelf as soon as the wedding

excitement is over, and most of them might exclaim, as did a very pretty woman the other

day.

I'm as handsome as ever, but no one takes any notice of me because I'm married. Not being

a bell, or even a fashionable lady, Meg did not experience a deflection till her babies

were a year old. For in her little world, primitive customs prevailed, and she found herself

more admired and beloved than ever.

As she was a womanly little woman, the maternal instinct was very strong, and she was

entirely absorbed in her children, to the utter exclusion of everything and everybody

else. Day and night she brooded over them with tireless devotion and anxiety, leaving

John to the tender mercies of the help, for an Irish lady now presided over the kitchen

...