Harper’s Bazar, Monday, 2 November 1868

NEW HORIZONS BY LADY MARGARET MONTAGU DOUGLAS SCOTT

I first arrived in New York at the beginning of this year. As a young lady from an aristocratic British family, I was raised to marry well, to settle into comfortable domesticity in some venerable rural pile, and produce a brood of children to carry on the line. As such, I was not expected to have an adventurous mind, let alone a restless spirit. So why am I here? Because I possess both, and New York is the perfect place in which to nurture them. A place where I can grow and develop, much as Gotham is doing!

It was autumn, just over a year ago when I came of age and decided to start my life afresh in America. The warmth of the welcome extended to me, the friends I have made are testament to this great Metropolis and its inhabitants. Every day offers fresh possibilities, new opportunities and experiences, and I have tried to sample them all.

But a letter from home has reminded me of the loved ones I am missing, and the distance between us feels impossibly, unbearably vast. It is the fall, a year on from my momentous decision and a time for reflection and reassessment. I look out of my window at Washington Square. The dusty, lifeless, endless days and oppressive heat of summer have finally come to an end. The air is fresh now, the leaves, which provided a palette of burnished colour as they turned, have fallen dramatically after the first sharp frost. I see the people rushing purposefully once more, and my spirits lift. I have that sense, which comes so rarely to one in life, of knowing that I am in the right place at the right time.

I came here at the urging of my heart, but that is not to say the decision was easy. Social convention and the desire to please all too often quell one’s inner voice. Haven’t we all made the mistake of doing what is expected, or what others wish us to do, when we know, deep down, that it is wrong? I know I have, and deeply regretted it. To act in the face of fierce opposition, particularly from those we love or whose opinions we value, can amount to nothing less than a leap of faith. Having the courage of your convictions takes just that, a great deal of bravery.

One of the aims of this brand-new periodical is to advise readers how to live well in the modern world. I would not claim to be an authority on the subject; to do so would be to imply that I have ceased learning myself, and one prediction I can confidently make is that I will continue to make mistakes. But I always endeavour to learn from them, and am happy to humbly offer readers the benefit of my experience in the form of a few tenets that I use to guide my actions. I call them (rather grandiosely) my Golden Rules:

1. Be kind, even when others are not.

2. Look forward and not back. Don’t let the past dictate the future.

3. When a decision is made, there is no point in regretting it.

4. Your opinion is as valid as anyone’s. Don’t be afraid to speak your mind.

5. Don’t bemoan your fate. Take advantage of what life has to offer.

But first and foremost, above all these Golden Rules, I will continue to let my heart be my compass and let it chart my path as my New York adventure continues. Onwards!