Marriage, Petticoats, and Waltzes

I just finished reading C. S. Lewis's space trilogy and found it very good, just full of insights into the Christian life! Of course, I also found myself wishing the book was mine instead of the library's so that I could mark through all the curse words for future readers. Why would a Christian author put such words in his book? At any rate, it was a tremendous series overall! Here is one of my favorite quotes from That Hideous Strength:

“Did you understand his views on marriage?”

“My dear, the Director is a very wise man. But he is a man, after all, and an unmarried man at that. Some of what he says, or what the Masters say, about marriage does seem to me to be a lot of fuss about something so simple and natural that it oughtn’t to need saying at all. But I suppose there are young women now-a-days who need to be told it.”

“You haven’t got much use for young women who do, I see.”

“Well, perhaps I’m unfair. Things were easier for us. We were brought up on stories with happy endings and on the Prayer Book. We always intended to love, honour, and obey, and we had figures and we wore petticoats and we liked waltzes. . . .”

“Waltzes are ever so nice,” said Mrs. Maggs who had just returned and given MacPhee his slab of cake, “so old-fashioned.”

~ From pp. 509-510, Quality Paperback Book Club, 1997.