Northern tribune. [volume] (Cheboygan, Mich.) 1875-1885, 1881-12-10
Splendid Girls.

splendid Girls.
From Lansing Republican.
We have been requested to write up
the splendid GIRL" but where shall we
find her? Was that she who just passed,
arrayed in stunning catch-eye costume,
with handkerchief in hand answering
the signals of another handkerchief in
the hands of stranger who apparently
belongs to the travelling fraternity, and
who, although faultlessly attired in the
latest and glOssiest, carries face which
is far from being suggestive of nobility
or refinement? And in theIevening shall
we find her whirling in the waltz with
bare shoulders, or spreading her costly
garments over elegant uphOlstry in the
fashionable drawing-rOOm, playing with
her bracelets and flirting her fan? Who
considers that her greatest duty in life
is done when she makes round Of calls
and leaves her cards. and whose highest
ambition is to enchant circle of half
fledged youths and cOnceited tops who
imagine themselves wits, and who will
handle her anne above their glasses or
on the street corners in manner that
would crimson the cheek Of modest
girl with shame; who, in the language of
Americas poet satirist, John G. SAKE,
lies in bed in the morning
Till nearly the hour of noon,
Then comes down swapping and snarling
Because she was called so soOn."
Is this shep And is it in this way that
she is fitting herself for the duties of
wife and mother, as comforter and
counselor of the men and women yet to
be? Is this the splendid girl? Surely she
is dazzling enough in eXternals to be
called splendid. Like "the lilies Of the
field, she tolls not neither does she spin,
yet Solomon in all his glory was not
arrayed" as she. The productions of
maLy climes and the labor Of many
tOilers is represented in her artistic
makeup. The delivers in the gold mines
of the west and the diamond mines of
the east have done their part, the gold
smith and the lapidary have exercised
their skill, the worm has spun its cocoon,
the fax has been bruised, the weaver has
worked patiently at the loom and the
lacemaker in the dungeon, the goats of
the "vale of Cashmere" and the lambs of
the west have given their soft fleeces for
her use, the Russian sable and the Arc
tic seal have been slain for her comfort,
and even the beautiful birds, those
winged blossoms of the air, have been
robbed of life for her adOrnment. Sure
ly so much painstaking ought not to be
wasted on an inferior creature. She is
certainly splendid to the eye, and her
acts should be shining examples to
those of lesser possessions and advanaag-
es. But alas the love of admiration is her
bane. For this alone she lives, and i'm
AGNES that the prize is won when she
receives the meaningless compliments
of the ballroom and attracts the notice
and attention of strangers on the street,
whose characters are unknown to her,
who have not one atom of solid respect
for her, and who even when their object
in following after her is not positively
evil, have no higher motive than the
Willing away of an idle hour and the
summing of their own vanity in the light
of her folly. Even they, were they in
any her kin, would warn of the danger
of her course.
A writer i'm the Rural New Yorker
speaking of this classrOf class Of girls
says:
was not severe in his reprOval Of such
department in the sister he loved and
whose fair name he wished to have held
in high esteem, MOdesty is the only
current coin of the sex, no matter how
much the customs of the age may seem
to condone the opposite STYLE"
The really splendid girl is found in
an entirely different sphere of action.
at some early period of her existance
she is taught, or finds out for herself, that
she has both hands and brains, and that
they were given her for higher uses than
catching butterflies and thistledOwn, and
she resolves to use them to some purpose.
Whether occupying high or low posi-
ton in life it matters not; she will bring
to 1t all the good there is in her. and all
her talents and energies will be bent to-
wards the accomplishment of worthy
ends. She will have sense and intelli-
gence and refinement of thought, she
will cultivate discrimination and kind
ness of heart, she will regard purity of
motive far above brilliant success, and
she will catch the passing benefits Of
each day and turn them to their best
account instead Of idly waiting for the
coming prince and the dover of gold
that is to make her the envy of her COM
paniOns.