This does not mean that they are to take up
all the room there is. Suppose, for example, that a pair of them,
on Goat Island, put themselves in such a position as to completely
block out your view of Niagara. You cannot regard them with
gratitude. They even become a little tedious. Or suppose that you
are visiting at a country-house, and you find that you must not
enjoy the moonlight on the verandah because Augustus and Amanda are
murmuring in one corner, and that you must not go into the garden
because Louis and Lizzie are there, and that you cannot have a sail
on the lake because Richard and Rebecca have taken the boat.
Of course, unless you happen to be a selfish old curmudgeon, you
rejoice, by sympathy, in the happiness of these estimable young
people. But you fail to see why it should cover so much ground.
Why should they not pool their interests, and all go out in the
boat, or all walk in the garden, or all sit on the verandah? Then
there would be room for somebody else about the place.
In old times you could rely upon lovers for retirement. But
nowadays their role seems to be a bold ostentation of their
condition. They rely upon other people to do the timid, shrinking
part. Society, in America, is arranged principally for their
convenience; and whatever portion of the landscape strikes their
fancy, they preempt and occupy.
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