The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1895-03-16
iFI WERE A GIRL AGAIN.

x
nant fairy should touch me with her
wand and say, be girl again, and |
should feel bursting over me the gener-
GUS impulses, the enthusiasms, the buoy
ancy, and ambition. that belong to six
teen.-some things l should do, and some
things | should not do, to make me at
fifty the person whom now at fifty l
should like to be.
FIRST of all, | should study self con-
trol-the control of body, of speech, OF
temper; power best learned in youth
before the current of habit has deepened
the channel of self will and impetuosity
that seems to be cut in every human
heart. [ should count one hundred, like
Tattycorum, before I would allow my
self to utter unkind, impulsive words; l
should scorn to burst into tears because
of some petty correction or grievance; |
should learn to sit quietly, to close a
door gently, to walk calmly, even when
my thoughts were boiling within me.
| should shun, il l we're girl again,
the tendency to be sensitive and suspic-
ious. Because my friend talks to an
other person, or because group of &C.
quaintances seem to be emf 'ying them
selves apart from me, should not fancy
myself neglected. should not construe
thoughtessness into intentional Sights.
nor abstraction into indifference. |
should say oftener to myself MY friend
did not see that was here; she has not
heard of my return; she is busy with
her music; she is tired after her journey.
l will trust in her friendship, just as
would have her trust in mine"
If / we're girl again, should be
more careful about my conversation. |
should beware of slang and gossip and
tendency to drop into sarcasm. should
avoid sarcasm like the plague, remem-
herring that the person who uses it shows
her sense of her own inferiority. No
body ever had so many enemies as Dis
raeli; and it is to be remembered that
sarcasm was his most powerful weapon.
I should practice the art of such gay re-
partee as is free from satire and unkind-
ness, learning to tell story we'll, and to
dwell upon what is kindly and happy. l
should be more ready to express my ap-
probation and thanks for services rem
dered; be quicker with my praise and
tardier with my criticism. / should
cultivate distinct enunciation, enlarge
my vocabulary, and remember Lord
Chesterfeld's dictum never to utter one
word, even in common conversation.
that should not be the most expressive
and the most elegant with which the
language could supply him."
If were a girl again, 1 should be a
better student. / should worry less
over my lessons, and potter less; but l
should think as l study, and try to I'M
derstand statements in one reading
rather than by saying them over and
over, like a parrot. | should be more
thorough, not passing to one lesson un-
til / had mastered the last; and should
be ashamed of poor spelling or illegible
handwriting or faulty pronunciation.
1 should be more scrupulous about
making and keeping engagements; l
should be less daunted by obstacles and
defeat, and be less. [ hope, the slave of
petty but annoying habits.
These things | should do if l were a
girl again. But suppose l have passed
my girlhood! Suppose 1 am thirty!
Still, shall 1 not at fifty wish that l
could retrieve the past twenty years?
Should l not employ them differently?
Again. say am fifty. At seventy could
I not better use those precious years OF
preparation? There is always golden
age, soon to be behind us, which at every
period of our life is before us-just as
to-morrow's yesterday is still today. Sc
we may all take courage. tits never too
late to mend.-Lucy Elliot Keller, an the
Outlook.