Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1883-10-19
YOUR DAUGHTERS.
what KIND OF Novels DO the Innocent
Dear ones Readl

1t is very unusual 10 find mother who is
Indifferent TO her daughters clothes. Even
| when that daughter is but wee tot the pet.
| ty details of costume are scrupulously looked
after, aud the maternal mind allows Itself tc
be painfully disturbed over incongruousncss
| of tint between the ribbons serving as file,
and necktie and by mcagerness of garniture
on frock and apron. Practical-minded wo.
men will even, in spite Of girlish remons.
trance, insist on low heels, loose clothes and
warm wraps and with wise saws and by.
gienic maxms crush the fashionable yearn.
| ings of budding womanho1d for French
heels genteel waist and sleeveless jackets.
But what can be said about the endeavor
| to provide for our daughters mental nour-
ishment and intellectual adornments TIC
develop in them taste for great and noble
thoughts, AMI the capacity to enjoy compan-
| ionship with pure and clcvating writers, and
association in ideal worlds filled with honest
men and pure women To arouse that in
| slinct for pure knowledge which Is indeed
| the main purpose of education, certainly of
| that kind of education which is "thc leading
| OF human souls TO what is best, and making
what is best out of them ~
There is no more amazing phase of Nine
teenth century feminine development than
its passionate and enervatng indulgence in
nauseous mental pabulum and the appalling
extent to which an unlimited supply of such
stuff is furnished to the young. The same
woman who is consccntiously careful of the
school companionship of her daughter of IL
or 10 years is apparently crlminally indiTcr-
ent TO the character of her associates in the
world of books She will watch what boy
carries her girls books home from school,
bnt forgets to look below the cover of the
new novel that same daughter has brought
back from the circulating library, stopping
there for 1t on the way home.
Now this apathy or ignorance in regard to
what young girls read is responsible for the
destruction of the finer tone Of character of
many Of our children developing into wo-
manhood, and explains a good deal of the
frivolity, lemoralizing coquetry, and unfor-
tunate affairs which from time to time
startle the community and bring sorrow and
disgrace on highly respectable families.
During the formative period Of life, when
both mind and body are changing and M
folding from the chrysalis state of the child
into the completeness of the woman, the fu-
ture stamna-moral powers of resistance and
physical capacity of endurance, the purer
mental tone and healthy bodily muscles
are dept nient upon the manner in which
both body and mind are exercised, fed and
trained and to the quality and quantity of
the nutritious particles of matter, material
and intellectual, which go to make the
substance of the one and the spirit Of the
other.
Feed your child on pickles and sweet
meats allow her TO wear paper-soled shoes
and an insulliciency of flannel, and We all
know what the consequences will be-dys-
pepsia and hectic cough. Does it iever &C.
cur TO you that the analogy applies to her
mental sustenancc and equipment THAT if
we feed her uniformed and emotional nature
with high-spicod, morbid, unreal fiction she
will become incapable of digesting better
literature, and that by the time she is wo-
man anything solid will he rejected by the
the pampered appetite? Have you never
seen this, you mothers?
Good fiction is truly legitimate, healthful
and improving means of pleasure and profit.
BY the perusal of clever novels, of real and
idealizing pictures of human life, our men,
tai range of vision is extended, the focus of
our intellectual glasses is truly adjusted, our
sympathies enlarged, our prejudices driven
away, our knowledge of and due regard for
the Just value IF life increased and verified
are amused, improved, touched, warmed,
helped aud urged to help Others There is
no better means OF imprcssing on our minds
the facts of history or the qualities and val
ues of human nature than ny the historical
or critical novel. But such are not the re-
suits which usually follow from perusal of
'the light literature of the day." which Ii
brary people prove young girls devour yearly
in unlimited quantities.