Weekly Trinity journal., 1879-11-29
THE oLD-FAsHIoNED GIRL.

She hourished thirty or forty years ago.
She was little girl until she was fifteen.
She used to help her mother wash the
dishes and keep the kitchen tidy, and she
had an ambition TO make pies SO nicely
that papa could not tell the difference be-
tween them and mammals, and yet she
could fry griddle-cakes at ten years of
age. and darn her own stockings before
she was twelve, to say nothing Of knit
ting them herself.
She had her hours Of play, and enjoyed
herself to the fullest extent. She had no
very costly toys, TO be sure, but her rag
doll and little bureau and chair that I'm
Gle Tom made were just as valuable to
her as the $40 wax doll and elegant doll
furniture the children have nowadays.
She never said II can't" and 81 don't
want to-" to her mother, when asked to
leave her play, and run up stairs and
down on an errand, because she had not
been brought up in that way. Obedience
was cardinal virtue in the old~fashioned
little girl.
She rose in the morning when she was
called, and went out into the garden and
saw the dew on the grass, and il she liv-
ed in the country she fed the chickens and
hunted up tue eggs for breakfast.
We do not suppose that she had her
hair in curl-papers or crimping pins, or
had it banged" over her forehead, and
her nounces were no trouble TO her.
She learned to sew by making patch
work, and we dare say could do an "over
and-ever" seam es well as ninetenths OF
the grown-up women nowadays.
The old-fashioned little girl did not
grow into young lady and talk about
beaux before she was in her teens, and
she did not read dime novels, and was not
fsncying hero in every plow-boy she
met.
She learned the solid accomplishments
as she grew up. She was taught the ar:
of cooking and housekeeping. When
she got husband she knew how to cook
him dinper.
She was not learned in French verbs,
or Latin declensions, and her near neigh
bors we're spared the agony of hearing her
pound out "The Maiden's Prayer" and
"Si!ver Threads Among the Gold" TWEEN .
ty times day on the piano, but we have
no doubt she made her family quite as
comfortable as the modern lady does hers.
1t may be q vulgar assertion, and we
suppose we are not up with the times, but
we honestly believe, and our opinion is
based on considerable experience, and no
small opportunity for observation, that
when it comes to keeping a family happy
good cook and housekeeper is to be
greatly preferred above 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 control, blessed.
The old fashioned little girl was m odest
in her demeanor, and she never talked
slang or used by words. She did not
laugh at old people or make fun of Grip
pies, as we saw some modern little girls
dong, tho other day. She bad respect
for elders, and was not above listening to
words of counsel from those older than
herself.
She did not think she knew as much as
mother, and that her judgment was as
good as her grandmother's.
She did not go to parties by the time
she was ten, and stay till after midnight
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
slept the sleep of innocence, and rose Up
in the morning happy and capable Of Civ
ing happiness.
And if there be an old fashioned little
girl in the world to-day, may heaven
bless her and keep her, and raise up 9th
ers like her.-N. Y. Examiner.