tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1436417288060370638.post2921646013851351195..comments2024-01-29T03:20:32.291-05:00Comments on ...... SHARP ELVES SOCIETY ...... Jane Austen's Shadow Stories: Jane Austen's Letter 20: I have never seen an old woman at the pump-roomArnie Perlsteinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01720424361279466002noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1436417288060370638.post-25713350287738728022011-04-12T10:06:47.683-04:002011-04-12T10:06:47.683-04:00P.S.:
Nancy Mayer: "Never seen an old woman...P.S.: <br /><br />Nancy Mayer: "Never seen an old woman at Bath? When that was the place the old women went to live? She can't mean this literally/ Perhaps the old women there all refuse to admit to being old women ?Perhaps drinking the waters makes them look young? "<br /><br />Nancy, I tip my hat to you, you are 100% correct, and I was wrong, JA's irony flew right by me there, despite my always being on the lookout for it.<br /><br /> "the old women there all refuse to admit to being old women" must be exactly what JA meant!<br /><br />Mrs. Allen is very much like this, very vain, and very much enjoying the attentions of young men like Henry Tilney.<br /><br />And some things never change, and are not gender-specific. Sir Walter of course is as vain about looking young as any person on the planet, and in real life, my own father(whose name serendipitously, happens to be Walter, too!) is 92, and he is just like his Austenian namesake and Mrs. Allen, he hates to think of himself as being as old as he actually is, and loves to be told that he looks much younger! ;)<br /><br />Cheers, ARNIEArnie Perlsteinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01720424361279466002noreply@blogger.com