Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1879-09-12
The oli-Fashionei Girl.

She nDurlSnvu thirty or lortN Nehfs 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 SC
nicely that papa could not tell the differ
ence between them and mammals and
vet she could fry griddle-cakes ut ten
years of age, and darn her own stock
ings before she was twelve, to say moth
ing of knitting them herself
She had her hours of play, and enjoy
ed herself to the fullest extent She had
no very costly toys, to he sure, but her
rag doll and little bureau and chair
that Uncle Tom made, were Just
as valuable to her as the 500 wax
doll and elegant doll furniture the chill
dren have nowadays.
She never said Il cant. and Il don't
want Ia. to her mother, when asked to
leave her play, and run up stairs OF
down on an errand, because she had not
been brought mp IN that way. Obedi-
enca was "a cardinal virtue in the old
fashioned little girl.
She rose IN the morning when she was
called, and went ont into the garden and
saw the dew on the grass and If she
lived III the country, she fed the chick
ems and hunted up the eggs for break
fast
We do not suppose she had her hair
IA cuIl papers, OF crimping-pins, or had
1t banged over her forheHd, and her
tiounces were 10 trouble tO her
She learned TO sew by making patch
work, and We dare say she could do an
.-oycr-and-over" seam as well as nine
tenths of the grown-up women do now
a-days
The old-fashioned little girl did not
grow Isltu a yaun" lady and talk about
beaux befDr, she was III her teens, and
she did not read dime novels. and was
not fancying hero IN every ploWboy
she met
She learned the solid accomplishments
as she grew up. She was taught the
arts Of cooking and housekeeping When
she got a husband she knew how to
cook HIM a dinner
She was not learned IN French verbs, OF
Latin declcnsiOns, and her near neigh
bOrs were spared the agony of hearing
her pound out the Maidcns Prayer,
and ''Silvcr Threads Among the Gold
twenty times a day on the piano, hut We
have no doubt she made her family quite
as comfortable as the modern young lady
does hers
1t may be vulgar assertion and we
suppose that We are not exactly up with
\ the times, but We honestly believe. and
Sur opinion is based on considerable ex-
pArience, and no small opportunity for
obs ervation, that when it eomea to keep
ing q family happy, a good cook and
house keeper is to be greatly preferred
above ihp accomplished scholar. When
both sets Of qualities are found together,
rs they sometimes are, then is the house
hold over which such a woman hIs control
blessed
The old laslfyned little gir WAS modest
IN her demean0r, and she never talked
slang or used 10y words. She did not
laugh 1T old people nr make fun Of Grip
pies. as We saw some modern little girls
doing the other dav She had respect for
elders. anl wus not HiaaVa listening to
words OF counsel from bhose older thnn
herself
She did not think she knew as much as
her mother. and that her judgment was
as good as her grandmothar's.
She did not 90 TO parties hy the time
She WAS ten. and stay till after midnight
playing cuchre and dancing with any
chance Young mnu who happened to be
present.
She went tu bed in seuson. and ,oubt-
less SAID her prayers before she went. and
slept the sleep of innocence, aud rose up
IN the morning happy and capable Of CIV
ing happiness
And # there be an old d-fashioned little
girl m thc world today, may heaven
llaea lar anil la4I her and ruI 10 nm rt ar.
like her Ner IiOri EraWWcr.