The new Northwest. [volume] (Portland, Or.) 1871-1887, 1873-03-28
A Plea for Little Girls.

DY II. a. $.
go dearl I wish hadn't been made a
girlr said a bright-eyed, cherry
checked little damsel the other day
while out playing with q group on the
sidewalk.
"And why, pray? ?" said some one
because girls can't do anything they
want to-"
"And what does this particular little
girl want to do that she may not ?'
DWELL, 1 want to help the boys make
n snow man; l want to coast with the
boys; and every day want to do things,
and the boys say, no, they don't want
girls in their games, because girls don't
play fair, and make such a fuss when
they get hurt; and then if / tell the
bows IU play fair, and won't cry if do
get hurt, they say it isn't proper for girls
TO play with boys, anyhow, and mother
says so too, and the big girls laugh at
me, and so l have 10 give it up"
A little girl of ten years rebelling
against the limitations of her seX!-
wanting to do things not proper for
girls, and finally, overcome by oppOsi-
tion TO the free and healthy play of her
nature, ''giving it up" Who can tell
how much Of actual and prospective
human power (of which il is safe to say
there has never yet been too much in
the world is lost in such "giving upr'
For, in considering the effect of any
discipline, or training, upon character,
we must bear in mind that it should
never tend to destroy inward force, or
energy of nature, while seeking to regu-
late them. The mother who should
dose her ruddy, boisterous boys with
opiates, TO keep them quiet and docile
under her guidance, would be Justly re-
garded with horror. Even the most ig.
norant would say, "Better a thousand
times endure anything that their mis-
chieVous activities can inflict, if YOU ar,
not wise enough to direct them, than {,
dull and stupify them by a poisonous
drug which saps the very sources of al
life and power.u But we are not We
wise enough to properly estimate tn
conduct Of mother who constantly ad
ministers mental Opiates to her CROWN,
daughters, and thereby subdues and re
presses them into that condition of list
less incapacity for all high hope and Ell
deavor in which we see so many younl
girls, who in early childhood were a
eager and as bright and capable as thei
brothers.
Let US look a little closer at this mat
ter, and from the standpoint of thos
who believe that the duties Of manhOol
and wOmanhOOd are well-defined AM
absolutely distinctive-sO that it neve
should properly occur that man shoul
make pies, wash dishes, tend babies, o
sew; or that a woman should preach
sermon or drive a steam engine, it can
not even then be shown that il is wis
that little girls should be constant,
reminded that they are girls, and al
active, eXuberant life, and free, franl
companionship with a sex from whicl
they are some time to choose their sol
life companion, be denied them
Human experience shows that maternit
Is as severe in its demands upon tn
physical forces as anything else i
human life. The active sports of child
hood, and the freedom and gayety {
heart which usually accompany them
are natures means of physical develop
ment-no less valuable than proper foo
and clothing. Girls need them quite a
much as boys. No wise parent woul
be satisfied with a training of ma
children which should result in render
ing them unfit for, or unsuccessful il
the paternal and marital relations. 81
the average cOmmOn-sense of mankin
teaches them that, in a man
healthy, moral, intellectual and phys
cal nature, those relations are as we
provided for as possible.
Boys are never told they must not
this or that because it is not proper Il
boy. Seldom that they must not {
this or that, because sladies don't iii
it in gentlemen" Ii is simply cruel.
well as unwise, that the fact of 81
should be constantly thrust upon cir
OF tender years, and that they should
taught that their daily walk, the
sports, their duties, and their aspir
tiOns for the future, are to be subject
a strange, mysterious element, concer
ing which they have no choice. Prob
bly, there are few women who cam
remember a time when such teachir
came upon them with a sense of weigl
and oppression almost painful. Doub
less many have not analyzed it vel
closely. The average girl, in the fius
OF her womanhOod, turns to her privi
eges for consolation. If she NAV not IL
her own powers, she sometimes max
good her admitted claim to the resul
OF the efforts Of man with Zest al
heaTtlessness more natural, under Il
~ 1SuulsJances, than admirable.
Gl lomitting for the present all di
CussIoh OF the significance of the fa
ouNo Doys take more naturally To II
prevailing standards Of manIinoss ,ba
girls to the prevailing Standard oF -, -.
anliness, boys never reguirin,, " /" OIi
told that this or that is not nro7,or - e..
boy, but simply that it is not ,lr1i,,n, IoI
be done) let Us, in all candor ,vI i6%,,;
what there is that, other circnn,st.i' - 'ld vi
being equal, boy Of ten years NAV ,1rS ~
erly do, and girl of ten NAV notS ,l,ts tiU S;,
ply nothing. Boys and girls of TON ~ =
children-tO be trained and treatad .
children; such differences in charact
and physique as their future lives m,
develop, should be the result Of natu
differences, not the result of differen
in training. "But" says some OF
"would YOU have girls in the stree
throwing stones, 'hitching on TO oml
buses and wagons, playing in the mt