Ashtabula telegraph. (Ashtabula, Ohio) 1874-1880, 1878-06-21
ROMPTNG.
BY AUNT MARCIA.

Let the girls romp as well as the bows.
1t will do them good, strengthen the
muscles, expand the chest, make room
for the lungs and the heart; give vitality
to the blood; grace to the carriage free
dom of motion to the limbs, and is worth
all the dancing schools in the universe.
Hot-house plants always droOp when
exposed. Remember that. Don't be
afraid that because your daughter can
ride, swim and skate, she viii not be a
"ladyw There was never a more mis-
taken notion. Stamina never ran coun-
ter to gentility, but lifted and sustained
it. Tending flowers does not in the least
initiate against lingering the piano, and
mirthful laughter gives strength. vol
ume and fexibility to the voice. The
red roses of health are better upon the
cheeks than sallow lilies. The future of
girlhOod is something higher and noblef
than white hands and q smattering of
French and music. They are to be the
mothers of the nation, and upon them
rests its history for veal or woe.
Let the girls romp, and out of doors
Dress them warm that they may do so.
Don't be afraid of seeing them in thick
shoes. Don't let them wear tightly laced
corsets. The ideal Venus, the chosen
models of the most renowned sculptors is
no wasp-waisted beauty. Cleopatra loved
the sun, and her peerless loVeliness
ripened beneath its warm kisses.
Health requires freedom of action and
out of door exercise as much for girls as
boys. Their limbs should never be
dwarfed by keeping still. Better to turn
them loose like colts than confine them
to play the lady. The time will come
when they will need all their strength;
when untrammeled growth will be a
blessing; when they will be bowed with
care. Give them all possible freedom
while young. Let them romp. Maiden
modesty will keep them within bounds
Racing with their companions, roaming
the woods in search for flowers, was what
the Great Maker intended. Don't Iry to
make dainty plants of them. Sun and
wind are better cosmetics for the COM
plexion than any you can buy in the
shops, and man with brains had far
sooner kiss warm, rich, natural flesh and
blood than sickly skin and paint and
powder.
Let the girls romp! Give them an
equal chance for life and health and hap
piness, with the boys. Suppose their
Hlilly hands, should be soiled, there is
plenty of soap and water; suppose their
dresses should be torn, there is plenty Of
thread and needles. There is much wis
dom in the old saying that at is better
to pay the butcher than the doctor"
Think of their future, when called upon
to take up the burdens of life; when
taxed to the utmost by maternity; when
families require all of strength and nerve,
and do not compel them to endure the
confinement now that will be curse in
the hereafter. - a
Let the girls romp. There is no more
beautiful sight in the world than a bevy
of bright-eyed, rosy checked girls, with
flying feet and flying hair, indulging in
innocent mirth, happy, whole-hearted,
sunny-faced. lightly laughing, storing up
health against the days when trial and
tears shall come. 1t is your duty to give
your daughters freedom-to let them
revel in the pure air of heaven to give
full play to the intricate machinery of
the human frame and the foolish moth
ers who shrink from little "tan," from
vigorous expansions Of waist, and all the
other blessings given by Providence, are
only wise in their own conceit and entail
untold pain and misery and early death
upon those they pretend to love.
Let the girls romp!