People have no type before them in their lives, neither fathers and mothers, nor the children themselves. They look at things in detail. They say, 'It is very desirable that A, my daughter, should go to such a party, should know such a lady, should sit by such a person'. It is true. The very words are rejected as pedantic.
Women often try one branch of intellect after another in their youth, e.g., mathematics.
But that, least of all, is compatible with the life of 'society'. It is impossible to follow up anything systematically. Among us, there is no time appointed for this purpose, and the difficult is that, in our social life, we must be always doubtful whether we ought not to be with somebody else or be doing something else. A member of the House of Commons was once known to do worsted work. They have accustomed themselves to consider intellectual occupation as a merely selfish amusement, which it is their 'duty' to give up for every trifler more selfish than themselves.