BROTHERLESS WOMEN.
[To THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR."]
SIR,—I was much interested in your article in the Spectator of May 11th on " Brotherless Women," and thank you for it. My observation compels me to the belief that girls who have no brothers grow up with such ignorance of young men's daily life and faults, failings, and weaknesses, that they idealise them, believe all they say, and are in danger of accepting the first lover who makes advances. "No man is a hero to his valet de chambre." I do not forget that Carlyle says it is because the valet is incapable of valuing and appre- ciating a hero, but this I know,—that a girl who is in the midst of a family of boys is not very likely to be disillusioned after marriage. She is near enough to see the foibles and vanities of her brothers without the softening influences of perspective. She is now and then snubbed, some of her con- ceit taken out of her by brotherly candour, and in the main is more likely to form a correct opinion of a young man than the girl who only sees him outside home-life. Of course the thing cuts two ways, the man who is a good brother is likely to be a considerate husband, and the most unselfish and pleasantly-rounded characters I have known are those who have grown up in families of boys and girls together, especially where circumstances have compelled them to make sacrifices for each other. May I venture to remark (and yet live) that young men's most common failing is selfishness ?—
I am, Sir, &c., THE SISTER OF POUR BROTHERS.
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