Page:Hermione and her little group of serious thinkers (1923, c1916).djvu/130

Hermione would have been hard to train Simplicity into me even if she had known how.

I had such a high-strung, sensitive, nervous organism as a child, you know.

At a very early age my temperament began to show.

And one cannot hide one's temperament.

Especially if one is at all psychic, and I am, very.

But if I ever have Children—well, I will take no chances with them.

To begin with, I will Select their Father.

Mamma said, when I told her that: "Hermione, you are horrid!"

Poor dear Mamma! She's so stupid! "Mamma," I said to her, "of course I don't mean free love. I'm not that advanced, I hope! Though some very Nice People have written of it—it's quite respectable, as a theory. But you're hopelessly old-fashioned. I will select the Parent of my Offspring; you were selected."

Mamma only groaned and said: "Anything but a Cave-man, Hermione."

But I am not sure. It comes back to me again and again how Primitive I am in some ways.

And to wander barefoot in the dew!

Not really quite barefoot, of course—but with some of the new sandals on. [116]