The Hillsdale standard. [volume] (Hillsdale, Mich.) 1851-1909, 1878-08-27
The oId-ra.n,oued Little Girl.
She hourished thirty or forty years
ago.
She was.a little girl till she was If

/
She Aourished thirty or forty years
ago.
She was.a little girl till she was fif.
teen.
She used to help her mother wash
the dishes and keep the kitchen tidy,
and she had an ambition 10 make pies
so nice that papa could not tell the diff
ference between them and mamma's.
and she would fry griddle-cakes at ten
years OF age, and darn her own stock
ings by the time she was twelve, TO say
nothing Of knitting them heself
She had her hours 10 play, and en-
! ioyed herself to the fullest extent. She
had no very costly toys, TO be sure, but
her rag doll. aud the little bureau and
chair that Uncle Tom made, were just
as valuable 10 her as the twentw-dollar
wsx dolls and elegant doll furniture
children have nowaday.
She never said 81 can't" and 81
don't want to-" TO her mother, when
asked TO leave her play, and run up
stairs or down on an errand, because
she had not been brought up in that
way. Obedience was a cardinal virtue
in the old-fashioned lettle girl.
She rose in the morning when she
was called. and went out in the garden
aud saw the dew on the grass, and il
she lived in the country. she fed the
chickens and hunted up the eggs for
breakfast.
We do not suppose she had her hair
in curl.papers, or crimping- pins, or
banged" over her forehead, and her
founces were no trouble to her.
She learned to sew by making patch
work, we dare say she could do an "ov-
er-and.over" seam as we'll as nine
tenths of the grown-up people can do
one nowadays.
The old-fashion little girl did not
grow into young lady and talk about
beaus before she was in her teens, and
she did not read dime novels, and was
not fancying a hero in every plow-boy
she met.
She learned the solid accomplish
ments as she grew up. She was taught
the art of cooking and Of keeping q
house. When she got husband, she
knew how TO cook him a dinner.
She was not learned in French verbs,
or Latin declensions, and her immedi-
ate neighbors were spared the agony of
hearing her pound out THE Maiden's
Prayer" and "Silver Threads Among
the Golden" twenty times a day on
the piano, but we have no doubt she
made her family quite as comfortable
as the modern young lady does hers.
II may be a vulgar assertion, and we
suppose that we are not exactly up to
the times, but we honestly believe land
our opinion is based on considerable
experience. and no small opportunity
for observatory that when it comes to
keeping a family happy, a good cook
and house-keeper is To be greatly pre-
ferred over an accomplished scholar
When both sets Of qualities are found
together, as they sometimes are, then
is the household over which such a
woman has the control blessed.
The old-fashioned little girl was
modest in her demeanor, and never
talked slang or used by-words. She
did not hirt. She did not laugh at old
people or make fun of cripples, as we
saw some modern little girls doing the
other day. She had respect unto her
elders, and was not above listening TO
words Of counsel from those older than
herself.
The did not think she knew as much
as her mother, and that her judgment
was as good as grandmother's.
She did not 60 to parties by the time
she was ten, and stay till after mid
night playing eucher,.. and dancing with
any chance young man who happened
to be present.
She went to bed in season and doubt
less said her prayers before she went,
and she slept the sweet sleep OF inno-
cence, and rose in the morning happy
aud capable of giving happiness.
And IL there be an old-fashioned lit
tie girl in the world to-day, may Heav-
en- bless her and keep her, aud raise mp
others like her Kate Thorn, in y.
Y. Weekly.