The Wellington enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 1867-188?, 1880-05-20

selves miserable future.
Work." says one of my letters
and it Is written by woman who does
not need to labor for her own support,
and who does enjoy with keen relish
the refinements of life-sswork, which
you so plainly showed to be good for
our boys, is quite as necessary for our
girls" =
Closely connected with what has Just
been said, is the mistake Of many girls
in making dress the main business of
life. quote now from one of my let
tiers, whose writer has had unusual OPP
portunities of observing the things she
describes:
Prom the time when the little one
can totter to the mirror to see show
sweetly she looks in her new hat to
the hour when the bride at the altar
gives more thought to the arrangement
Of her train and veil than to the vows
she is taking upon herself, too large a
share of time and thought is devoted by
mothers and daughters to dress"
81 have heard" writes one of my
correspondents, ga vain mother say of
her beautiful baby, I'm SO glad it's a
girl; can dress her so much finer than
I could boy" o womani woman!
to what depths of degradation you have
sunk when you can look into the face of
a baby lying in your lap-the face of a
child that God has given you to train
for the service of earth and the glory
of Heaven-and have such thought as
that find moments lodgment in your
mind! The pity of it, the pity of it,
that children should ever be given to
such womenl 1t is one of the inscruta-
BILE things of Providence. What can
such a woman do but destroy the souls
of her childrenp
Listen to these strong words of an
other correspondent:
"From the cradle to the casket, and
including them both, the important
question is not of the spirit and its des-
tiny, but of the frail house of the soul,
how much money it can be made to
represent, what becomes it, and is it
all in the latest fashion. The occasion
al sight of a young girl simply and
girlishly dressed is like sight of a
white rose after a bewildering walk
through lines of hollyhocks and sun
flowers. 1t is generally conceded that
early tastes leave indelible results in
character. What may be prophesied
for the future of our girls with their
banged, befrizzed hair, jingling orna-
ments and other fashions, which some
one has well characterized as scream
ing fashions ?''
1t is not that there is any harm in
thinking about dress, or in wishing to
be tastefully attired; it is only that per-
sonal appearance comes to be in the
minds of SO many of you the one SUBJ
ject, to which everything else is subor-
dinate. This weakness, if indulged,
must belittle and degrade you.
do not think that the girls, or their
mothers, are wholly to blame for this
absorbing devotion to dress. The van
ity of women is stimulated by the fool
ishness of men. A young woman who
is modestly and plainly clad is much
less likely to attract the notice of young
men than one who is gorgeously ar
rayed. From bright, intelligent, finely
cultured, sensible girls, whose chief
adorning is not the adorning of braided
hair, or golden ornaments, or of gay
clothing, the young men often turn
away in quest of some creature glitter
ing in silks and jewelry, with a duh
mind and q selfish heart. But 1 be-
seech you to remember, girls, that a
young man who cares for nothing but
''style" in a woman is young man
whose admiration you can well afford
to do without. If that is all he cares
for in you, you cannot trust his fidelity;
when you and your finery have faded,
some bird in gayer feathers than you
are wearing will easily entice him
away from you, and the sacred ties of
marriage and parentage will prove no
barrier to his wayward fancies. The
girl who catches a husband by fine dress
too often finds that the prize she has
won is broken heart.
Another mistake that many of our
girls are making is in devoting too
much of their time to novelreading.
The reading of an occasional novel of
pure and healthful tone may be not
only an innocent diversion, but good
mental stimulant; but the reading of
the lighter sort of novels (Which, If
they do not teach bad morality, do rep
resent life in a morbid and unreal light,
and awaken cravings that never can be
satisfed), and the reading of one or
two or three of them in a week, as is
the common habit of many of our girls,
must prove grievously injurious to their
minds and hearts. 1t is mental dissi-
patton of a very dangerous sort; its in
fluence is more insidious than, but am
not sure that it is not quite as fatal to
character as the habitual use of strong
drink. Certainly the mental dissipa-
ton of novel-reading is vastly more
prevalent than the other sort of dissi-
patton, not only in " the best society,""
but in the second best, as well; and five
women's lives are ruined by the one
where one life is wrecked by the other.
Ruined" do 1 say? Yes; no weaker
word tells the whole truth. This in
temperate craving for sensational fiction
weakens the mental grasp, destroys
the love of good reading, and the
Lower of sober and rational thin king,
takes away all relish from the realities
of life, breeds discomfort and Incidence
and selfishness, and makes the one who
is addicted to it a weak, frivolous. pet
ulaut, miserable being. l see girls all
around me in whom these results are
working themselves out steadily and
fatally.
Another mistake which our girls are
making-or which their parents are
making-is a too early initiation into
the excitements and frivolities of what
is called society. 1t was formerly the
rule for girls to wait until their school
days were over before they made their
appearance in fashionable society. AT
what age, let US inquire, does the aver
age young lady of our cities now make
her debut? From my observations, ]
should answer at about the age of three.
They are not older than that when they
begin to go to children's parties, for
which they are dressed as elaborately
as they would be for fancy ball. From
this age onward they are never out OF
society; by the time they are six ol
eight years old they are members oi
clubs, and spend frequent evenings out
and the demands of social diversion and
display multiply with their years.
am sure that the early contact o.
our girls with the vanities and the in
sincerities and the excitements of socia
life is doing great injury to many o
them. Girls of from twelve to sixteer
years of age, who ought to be in bee
every night at nine o clock, are out q
al ond onp,afinnh