Daily union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1865-1866, 1866-03-24
A NICE CHAPTER ABOUT LITTLE
GIRLS.


cannot imagine a home more irIcom-
piete than the one where there is no little
girl 10 stand in the void Of the domestic
cirsae which boys can never fiji, and draw
all hearts within the magic ring Of her pre-
senee. There is something about the little
girls which is especially loveable; even their
wild naughty ways seem utterly void Of evil
wheR they are so soon followed BY the sweet
penitence that overhows in such gracious
showers. Your boys are great noble fellows
generous, loving, and full Of good impulses !;
but they are noisy and demonstrative, and
dearly as you love them, you are glad their
places are ont of doors; but Jennie, with her
light step, is always beside you she brings
the slippers for papa, and with her pretty,
dimpled fingers unfolds the paper for him to
read; she puts on a thiroble no bigger than
a fsiry's, and with some very. mysterious
combination of "doll rags" fills up small
rocker by milma, with a wonderful assump-
ton of womanly dignity And who shall
tell how the little thread Of speech that flows
with sweet, silvery lightness from those in
nocent lips, twines itself around the mothers
heart never TO rust, not even when the dear
little face is hid among the daisies, as SO
many mothers know.
n
there is long and shining track from the
halflatched door Of childhood till the girl
blooms into the mature woman. There are
the brothers, who always lower their voices
and talk TO their sister and tell of the sports
in which she takes almost as much interest
as they do, while in turn she instructs them
in all the little minor details Of home life.
of which they would grow UP ignorant if
49, e.. A - = u.
the dawnlng manhood wherein so many
temptations lie Always Ler sweet presence
to guard and inspire them, a check upon
profanity, living sermon on Immortality.
How fragrant the cup Of tea she hands them
at the evening meal; how cheering her voice
as she relates the little incidents of the day.
No silly talk of incipient beaux, or love of
the young men met in the promenade. A
girl like that has no empty space in her
head for such thoughts to run riot in, and
you don't find her spending the evening in
the dim parlor with questionable young
man for her company. When her lover
comes, he must say what he has TO say in
the family sitting room, with father and
mother, or, if ashamed to, there is no room
for him there Jennie's young heart has
not been filed by the pernicious nonsense
which results in so many unhappy maria
ges, or hasty divorces.
Dear girl, she thinks all the time of what
a good home she has, what dear brothers,
and on Bonded knees, Graves the blessing of
heaven to rest on them, but she does not
know how far, very far for time and eternity,
her own pure example goes, how it will ra-
date as a blessing into other homes, where
a sisters memory will be the consecrated
grounds of the past
Cherish, then, the little girls, dimpled dar-
lings, who tear their aprons, cut the table
cloths, and eat the sugar, and are them
selves the sugar and salt of lifel Let them
dress and undress their doll-babies to their
hearts content and don't tell them Tom
Thumb and Red Riding Hood are fiction,
but leave them alone till they find it out,
which they will all too soon. Answer all
the funny questions they ask, and don't make
fun of their baby theology, and when you
must whip them, do it so that if you should
remember it, it would not be with tears, for
a great many little girls lose their hold sud-
denly before the door-room which they have
just escaped is shut, and find their way
back 30 the angels. So be gentle with the
darlings, and see what track of sunshine
will follow in the wake Of the little bobbing
heads that daily find great many hard
problems TO solve