Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1869-05-13
eth. D..r... Girl. In tn. world"

"Ths Dearest Girls In the World"
In the midst of the reign of the girl
of the period, with her slang and her
beldness-ef the fashionable woman,
with her denial of duty and her mad
ness for pleas1re-we csme every now
and then upon group of good girls OF
the real old English type, the faithful
few growing up silently among US, but
none the less valuable because they are
silent and make no display-doves who
are content with life, as they have no de-
sire to be either eagles, dwelling on ro-
mantle hights, sr peacocks, displaying
their pride in sunny courts. We find
these faithful few in town and country
alike; but they are rifest in the country,
where there is less temptation to 60
wrong than there is in large towns, and
where life is more simple and the moral
tone undeniably higher. The leading
feature of these girls is their love of
home and of their own family, and their
power of making occupation and hap
piness out of apparently mesgre materi-
ais. If they are the elders, they find
amusement and more in their brothers
and sisters whom they consider immen-
seiy funny, and to whom they are as
much giri-mothers as sisters; if they
are the youngers, they idolize their baby
nephews and nieces. For there is al
ways baby going on somewhere about
these houses, babies being the great ex-
citement of home life, an antiseptic ele-
ment which keeps everything else pure.
They are passionately attached to papa
and mamma, whom they think the very
king and queen of humanity, and whom
they do not call by even endearing slang
names. 1t has never occurred to them
TO criticies them as ordinary mortals,
and rs they have not been in the way
of learning the prevailing ascent of dis
respect. they have not shaken off that
almost religious veneration for their par
ents which all young people feel ma
turaliy, if they have been well brought
up and are not corrupted. The yoke in
middle-class country housesi is one fitting
very loosely round all necks and there
being no power of greater freedom. if
even they had it, the girls are not fretted
oy its pressure. and are content to live
under it in peace. They adore their
elder brothers who are from home just
beginning the great battle of life for
themselves and confidently believe them
TO be the finest fellows going, and the
care to put these splendid talents of
theirs, and take the trouble Of pluckiIg
the prizes within their reach. They
may have slight reservation. perhaps,
in favor OF the brothers friend. whom
they place on a pedestal of almost equal
hight. But they keep their mental
archltecturea prOfOu I'D secret from every
one, and do not suffer themselves TO let
II grow into too solid a structure unless
it has some surer foundation than their
own fancy EOr, though d yes are low
ing, they are by no means lovesick dam
sells; they are too healthy and natural
and quietly busy for wholesome dreams.
Ii one of them marries they all unite in
loving the man who comes in among
them. He is adopted "a enc of. them
selves, and leaps into family of idoliz-
ed sisters who pet him AS their brother
with just that subtle little difference
in the petting that it comes from sisters
unaccustomed, and so has the charm of
novelty if not the excitement of naughti-
ness. But this kind of thing is about
the most dangerous to man moral ma
ture that can befall him. Though pref
ty tesee, aud undeniably pleasant to
experience, and though perfectly in
nocent in every way, still nothing en-
ervates one 50 much as this idolatrous
submission of a large family of women.
In widows house, where there are
many daughters and no sons, and where
the man who marries one marries the
whole family, and is .worshipped occord-
ingly, it is of course Increased tenfold
but if there are brothers and 3 father,
the sisters husband, though affection
ately cooed over, is not made quite such
. fuss with, and the association is all the
less hurtful in consequence.
Doves know very little of evil. They
are not in the way of learning it; and
they do not care to learn it. The few
villagers VINO are supposed to lead i'll
lives are spoken OF. below the breath,
critically studied. =, any of the doves
marry men whose work lies abroad
these quiet country houses. being the
favorite matrimonial hunting grounds
for colenists and Anglo-Indians. So
that some are always absent, whose
healths are drunk in the hetraditionalpunch
with eyes that growmoista rs the names are
said. .puyes are not disinefrnetl to mar
~ med who hayeSto 60 abroad, for all
the passionate family love common to
them. Traxeris . golden dream to them
in their still 'hsmes-but travel properly
companioned. For even the most ad-
venturOus among then1Sare net indepen-
dent, rs we mean when We speak OF in |
depence in women. They are essential
ly home girls, family girls, doves vino
cannot exist at all without y dovecot,
however humble. The family is every |
thing to them, and they are unfit for the |
solitude which SO many of our self-sup- |
porting women can accept quite resign
edly. Not that they are necessarily use
less as breadwinners. They couldFwork |
if pushed to it but it must be in quite |
womanly way, with the mother, the |
sister, the husband AS the helper, with |
the home rs the place of rest and the |
refuge. Their whole lives are laid in |
love and qule ness not necessarily in |
inactiOn, but their wishes and their |
aims are all csutered within the home |
circle. If they marry, they find the |
love Of the husbands enough for them,
and have no desire for other mems ad-
their babies are all the world |
to them and they do not think matern-
ity an inf1ictiou IS so many of The mis- |
erably fashionable think it, they like the |
occupation of housekeeping, and feel
pride in their fine linen and clean ser
vice, in their weii-orisred table and |
neatly balanced accounts. They are |
kind to their servants, who generally |
come from the old nome, and whose
families they therel know, but they
keep up certain dignity and tone of
superiority toward them i'll the midst Of
all their Kindness, which very fowrown
bred mistresses can keep to town bred
maids. -
Do not eur splendid passionate crea-
lures lead madly wicked lives and make
miserably uncomfortable homes and
are not our glorious heroines better in
fiction than seated by the nursery fire,
or checking the bakers bill? No doubt
the quiet home-staying doves seem tame
enough when We think of the gorgeous
beings made familiar to US by romance
and history which il more romantic |