, 1891-07-29
CONCERNING OUR GIRLS.
WORDS OF WISDOM FOR MOTHERS
FROM HELEN S. coNANT.

Iulnees-
Copyright, 1891, by American Pres AssocIa.
toni
In the language OF modern society,
young girls who are leaving childhood
behind them and entering the fairy
realm of m~aidenhcod, are called buds
Never was a popular name more fifty aP-
piled There is nothing in natur more
delicate, more sensitive TO careless
handling, or more full of beauteous
promise than a rose bud, its calyx part
ing to reveal glimpses of the unsullied
petals within, but its delicacy cannot
campare with hat of the bloom and in
nocence of girlhood.
In foreign lands the young girl Is
guarded as if she were a bit of fragile
crystal If she goes on the street for a
promenade she must be accompanied by
her mother or some elderly relative, and
even in her trips to and from school or
music lesson she is attended by a trusted
maid. At home she is neve alone. She
receives her acquaintance of both sexes
with sweet maidenly grace and innocent
c~ordiality, but always with some mem
Der of the household present, and She is
happier that it should be so, for her
mother has taught her that, especially
when the guests are young men, maiden
purity and dignity demand it.
This care of the daughters of the house
is as old as history, and sweet allusiOns
to it occur in all ancient writing. In al
old Spanish ballad relating the exploits
of the Cid, the famous hero of the Mid
die Ages, he is said to have spoken these
touching words when bidding farewell
to his wife as he departed TO wage war
against the Moors:
Look well to thy daughters, nor let them be
aware,
Lest they comprehend the danger because they
see thy care,
And lose unconscious innocence; at home they
must abide,
For the safety of the daughter Is Mt the mo-
TIERS side.
Those are sweet words which every
mother would do well to ponder and
learn a lesson from.
In this country we cannot follow the
the rigid regulations in regard to the
conduct of young girls which still hold
sway in many lands. Our more liberal
institutions, and the different character
of our domestic life and of social inte'
course, make it unnecessary for us To do
30. But we can and should watch
girls much more carefully than we do.
That the safest and sweetest place for
the daughter is at the mothers side re-
mains u truth through all ages and
through all changes of domestic condi-
tions. 1t is often a necessity to send II
girls away from home to school, but in
this case the teacher assumes, for the
time, the mothers place; she becomes
her deputy in the care of the unfolding
bud. 1t is a grave responsibility, and the
wise teacher in accepting it strives at
the outset to win her pupils affection,
for the moment that love and confidence
begin the pathway of every teacher and
pupil is smooth.
There is nothing more beautiful than
a mother surrounded by her fair young
daughters, especially when harmony and
sympathy exist in the home circle. To
win the daughters confidence and hold
it should be the mothers dearest ambi-
ton. She must keep herself young in
heart for the daughters sake, that she
may have the power to ~sympathize with
all the keen joys and sorrows of youth.
This is not always Easy. a mother has
many domestic cares INT anxieties. and
she is too prone to pass lightly over mat
tiers which are of the highest Importance
to the girlish heart, often to refuse to
listen to them altogether. Don't bother
me now | am busy" she will say at
times, or, what is still more fatal to CON
fidence, she will utter some hasty word
of condemnation, leaving the daughter
to brood over it and probably come TO
the conclusion that her mother looks
with stern disapproval on what the
young girl calls "having n good time"
Youth must nave its good time; it is
right and natural that it should, and "a
mother is in duty bound to join in and
make herself one of the youthful crowd.
If she does this from the beginning and
with discretion her presence among the
young people is more thar welcome.
She is an addition to the company, "A be
loved "elder sister," as it were, whose
clearer insight and broader knowledge
of life enable her to guide and restrain
youthful impulses without appearing to
do SO. Young people in these days are
easily led, but they cannot be pushed.
Neither do they feel that profound re-
spect for the opinion of their elders
which existed in earlier times. Old ideas
and old formulas are passing away. So
ciety is becoming ''emancipated," and
the liberty of thought and action pene-
trates to the very heartof the household.
The age of stern discipline is over.
A wise mother recognizes this md
rules her young and exuberant daughter
by the power of love. If she remains
''old and formal" and strives to hold
her authority, like Tennyson's matron,
with a little hoard of maxims preach
ing down a daughters heart" her iutiu-
ence will be weakened, and although the
young girl may still love her mother
tenderly she will keep her girlish life to
herself, and then the danger begins. a
girls natural impulses are pure and in
nocent; she does not see evil when it APP
p~roaches her, and she cannot know the
snares which are set along an apparently
smooth path unless the mothers hand
gently points out the danger and guides
her away from it.
A great deal of trouble comes from the
fact that middle age is indolent-perhap,
weary would be the better word. A
woman who has been busy all day witt
household cares prefers when evening
comes to sit quietly at home; but ther'
is a concert, n lecture, or some other
nocent entertainment which IA daugh,
ter has set her heart on attending. II
may be very neay, perhaps only ar9nne
TWENTY DOLLAR. GOLD PIECES
Mrs. John Curtis of Peoria, ILL.,. writes
used one box of Usage Pills previous Il
~, eaoond ,~onfnement they wnrked ne