Kadria Simons
neighbourly
Lady Lucas was a very good kind of woman, not too clever to be a valuable neighbour.
Jane Austen — Pride and Prejudice (Chapter V)
This is exactly why we love Jane Austen, and why we love good neighbors. We love Jane because she has such brilliant and incisive insights into how communities really work, because she sees the world with such affection and yet with a bit of biting wit. The characters in Jane Austen novels who are the most clever are always those who find themselves in the most awkward situations. What we want in a neighbor is kindness and thoughtfulness, we want stability and predictability, we want good cheer and contentment. We can leave the cleverness to lawyers.
This is a kind face. A generous face. A face that’s seen a great deal of life and has retained a benevolent outlook. It’s the face of a very good kind of woman, as Jane would say, and a valuable neighbor. This is the face we’d all like to see on the other side of our own fence.
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