The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1877-07-21
A Few Words to Girls.

A rev Words to Girls.
AwELLBRED girl will not laugh and talk
so loudly that she will attract attention
and cause annoyance. Conversation,
when carried on in public conveyances,
should not, as a rule, be keyed so high
that indifferent strangers can hear the
whole of it. Nor will you let yourselves
talk about your friends or associates,
mentioning their names, and talking of
their engagements, their foibles or their
eccentricities. Family affairs should not
be discussed in loud and animated way
where all the world is privileged to take
notes. Let me illustrate my meaning.
One day not long ago l sat in a car and
heard, quite against my will, the details
of domestic quarrel, related with evil
dent ZeSt and satisfaction by two good
looking young women. Finally one said,
with an air almost of triumph: "You
know what pretty girl Harriet was and
how nicely she used to dress? Well,
she's perfectly h0rrid now; you never
would know her And she's growing so
old and plain. My mother says it's no
wonder her husband is ashamed to be
seen with her"
You see what a disagreeable impress.
sion was made upon my mind not con.
corning the absent Harriet, for whom !
felt sincerely sorry, but with regard to
the young people who were coolly telling
over her troubles, rolling them like sweet
morsels under their tongues, and quite
regardless all the while as to whether or
not anybody heard them.
Nothing is cOarser, more repulsive,
and surer sign of vulgarity in the grain
than bold, indicate, forward conduct of
this kind in public places. Yet | know
young girls who are not vulgar, not
coarse, not unreined, who, through mere
giddiness and thoughtlessness, offend in
this way and bring harsh criticism upon
themselves, They are regarded as far
worse than they really are, and they lose
what is girlhOod's most attractive charm,
the grace of modesty, by their unfortu-
nate and hoydenish manner.
Exquisite manners, let me tell you, are
worth several other polite accomplish
ments put together. When | see school
girl who remembers to offer her seat to
an older lady or an elderly gentleman;
who remembers to give the newspaper to
her father when he comes down to break
fast and has only few moments to read
its world. sheaf of news; who remembers
that it is not kind to hurry her eldest
sisters reading of some attractive book,
nor polite to begin the book till the other
has finished 1t; who remembers to shut
the doors softly, and to find places in the
Bible for aged eyes, to be good to the lit
tie hindering ones who are always crav-
ing something from sister, and who re-
members always to be lady everywhere,
| am sure that | have found one who will
be queen of home, if not of society. A
graceful, gracious, tender, cOnsiderate
girl will inevitably make a glorious WON
an by and by. From the sweet, half
opened bud there will be evolved the
rich perfection of the lovely flower You
must think it troublesome sometimes to
be so particular as to the way you speak
to the people in your own house. cit is
only Brother Dan or Cousin Matilda" you
say; why should l modulate my voice,
and soften my tones, and be so gentle in
my bearing just to them?" Because it is
the being lovely and courteous and Win
some every day and all day, to the broth
er and cousin, to the companion and
friend, to the child and the servant,
which will mold you into gentlewoman,
whose manners will be as much a part of
herself as the inner fiber of her character
To such one it will be as impossible to
commit an act of rudeness as to tell lie,
and as natural to say and do agreeable
things as to put on her gloves before 60
ing to church.
And now for more advice. Do not use
slang. The average schoolgirl has, l
regret to say, quite a vocabulary of
slang, all ready for use. Young ladies
who look like the very pinks of propriety
allow themselves to utter phrases which
are scarcely excusable in their brothers,
and which shockingly offend every tradi-
tion of elegance and every canon of taste.
They do it for fun, and once in while,
as they think, forgetting that they are
forming habit which may not only be-
come hateful blot on their beauty, but
which may seriously hinder and obstruct
them at some future period. "By thy
words thou are condemned, and by thy
words thou art justified, we are told in
the Book of infinite wisdom Mrs N. h.
SangSter, in Christian at Work.