Thursday 9 July 2009

Old Maidism

OLD MAIDISM

More from Andrew Wynter - this time on the introduction of "flats" (a concept the Victorians were very reluctant to adopt) with a collective kitchen, as a possible solution to metropolitan housing. Click here for the full article. However, what I really liked was the description of 'old maidism', the life of the lonely spinster ...

"Where once she was heard singing about the home, like Una making a sunshine in the shady place, her voice is now heard shrill in complaint; parrots and cats accumulate, taking the place of a more human love, and her words are those of sharp reproof and spite against those very instincts of maternity which have been so long the master-spirit of her thoughts."

Parrots and cats accumulate.

Think on, ladies. Nothing worse than accumulating parrots.*

[* with apologies to Ms. Kahlo]

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