The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1878-11-14
An Old Fashioned Little Girl.

she ncurisbed thIrty or forty years
ago. ~
She was little girl till she was
fffeen.
She used to help her mother wash tho
dishes and keep kitchen tidy. and she
had an ambition to make pies so nice
that papa could not tell the difference
between them and mammals, and yet she
could fry griddle cakes at ten years Of
she was twelve, to say nothing Of knit
ting them herself.
She had her hours Of play, and en-
iOyed herself to the fullest extent. She
had no very costly toys, to be sure, but
her rag doll and the little bureau and
chair that Uncle Tom made, were just as
valuable to her as the $50 wax doll and
elegant doll furniture children have now
a.days.
She never said II can't" and II don't
want f0," to her mother, when asked to
leave her play, aud run up stars or down
town on an errand, because she had not
been brought up in that way Obedi-
ence was cardinal virtue in the old
fashioned little girl.
She rose in the morning when she was
called, and went out into the gardSA and
saw the dew on the grass, and if she liv-
ed 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, crimping .pins, or had it
banged" over her forehead, and r,r
aounces were no trouble to her.
She learned to sew By making patch
work, and we dare say she could do an
over and over seam as we'll as nine -tenths
of the grown up women can do now-a-
days.
The old fashioned little girl did not
grow into young lady and talk about
beaux before che was in her teens, and
she did not read dine novels, and was
not fancying hero in every plow-boy
she met.
She learned the solid accomplishments
rs she grewu up. She was taught the art
of cooking and housekeeping. When
she got husband she knew how to cook
him dinner.
She was not learned in French verbs
OF Latin dec! ,Eeioas, and her near neigh
bors were sp ared the agony of-hearing
her pound OFT "The Maiden's PRAYER"
and ''Silver 5.hreads Among the Gold,"
twenty times day on the piano. hnt we
nave no doubt she made her family quite
as comfortable IS the modern young
lady does hers.
1t may be vulgar assertion, and we
suppose that we are not exactly up TO the
times, but we honestly believe, and our
opinion is based on considerable expert
ence and no small opportunity for obser-
vation, that when it comes TO keeping
a family happy, a good cook end house
keeper is greatly preferred over an ac-
compiished scholar. When both sets Of
qualities are found together, Us they
sometimes are, then is the household
over which such woman has control
blessed.
The old-fashioned little girl was mod
eat in her demeanor, and she never talked
| slang or used by-words. She did not f1irt.
She did not laugh at old people or make
fun of cripples, as we saw some modern
little gifls doing the other day. She had
respect for her elders, aud was not above
listening to words OF counsel from those
older than herself.
She did not think she knew as much
as her mother, and that her judgment
waa as good as her grandmother's.
She did not go to parties by the time
| she was ten and stay Till after midnight
playing enchre, 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 sleep of innocence, aud
rose up in the morning happy and cap
able of giving happiness.
AND ii there be an Old fashioned lit
tie girl in the world TO-DAY, E,ay hsa.an
bless her nns Keep her, and raise up
others like her.-Er.