Birmingham age-herald., 1895-07-07


 off-but they do show up rather badly at the finish, although I admit their records were-not slow.
 From the best authenticated accounts. it seems that their particular pathway is beset with pitfalls besprinkled. as it were. with tears-so many temptations seem to chase and invaria- bly, overtake these girls, they become vic tims of the very first villain who hap pens along, and mildly suggests, Come, girls, and go with me" These girls get ed. worried, harried, "loved, but lured away"
 Now that is not as bright and healthy a career as most girls anticipate. The popular taste has turned from the dole ful. damp heroine, who is always trust ing the wrong man, and who can't be left for fifteen minutes without guar dian and not make mistake.
 For these reasons girls hesitate to en- ter the great race of life under the inno- cent, clinging class.
 I know it is not the proper thing to say, and it really ought not to be, but girls are not all pretty, and they are not all endowed with great good sense. so these two simple facts debar the great
 
 business ideal, or the Una-like ideal; but there is nice little pathway be- tween these two extremes that common sense girls have always and will always safely travel They learn something of the world, and the men and women in it through observat ton, reading, advice from older minds, and profit by the les sons taught by that unavoidable yet most impressive teacher-experience
 Since women are considered the worlds chief ornaments, I will class them ac- cording to their beauty.
 First, there is the girl of ordinary ap- pearance, and ordinary brains She is the popular girl among women; she is what women call a dear, good, home girl, who will make some man an excel lent wife; she is generally pious a good church worker does fancy sewing knits baby sacques for her friends, makes no great mistakes, does no great good because she has no opportunity for the former, and not brains enough for the latter; there is nothing so safe as the ordinary girl, and she is the great ma jority.
 Second. is the girl with beauty, and without brains-'.toi speak of'' An. here is the victim, and here is where the far-famed villain gets in his most impressive work. He tells this girl she is more angelic than the angels, more beautiful than Venus, more graceful than Diana, and our pretty girl signs, happy, credulous sigh, leans her blonde heads against his manly waistcoat, and thinks she has at last found her Greek god" Perhaps she has, but which one? Well, that's another story.
 Third, there is the girl without beauty. a yUit hra ne ha ic ha tyir r1 advanced ideas; she grapples with log arithms, only to lay them low; she is generally a leader among women, but they stand little in awe of her; she gets criticised Gas all leaders do), and is not universally popular among women, be- cause she is a little liked by the men. She seldom makes great mistakes, and is capable of much good.
 Fourth, is that rara avis. the girl with beauty and brans--a grand consum- mation that.
 Stand aside, ye maids and matrons, ye will not like this girl l know for in her ye recognize the ruler of the world, the power behind the throne. She does not handle the reins, but she points the way to go- and gains command by seeming to obey. She is seldom forced to earn her own living, for the men are only too anxious to appropriate this rare jewel and work for her sweet sake. She is capable of the greatest good and alasi of the greatest evil. That depends upon the heart Mother Nature on her has be- slowed In her. the writer finds his hero inc. and sometimes his adventures. but power is hers. All men will not admire her perhaps, because some men are afraid of brainy women, some do not care to come within the range of fascinating beauty and clear, cool powers of pene- tration. What reasons they have, alas, T Nntsra in hnir n6 time they will give them us.
 Why should not girls read modern lit erature. and be allowed the blest privi- fege of forming their own opinions as to its value. to compare the writers of today with the writers of long aso?. That ls' indeed, a two-fold knowledge, which prof. its alike by the folly of the foolish and the wisdom of the wise After all, it is thought and digestion that makes books serviceable and books that demand no thought from those who wrote them re- quire no thought from those who read them.
 Literature has little or nothing to do with the morals of women. Inheritance and the home control their morals
 Ignorance is their worst enemy-and poverty, not love, their worst temptation. Rousseau is right, the worlds the book of women. Whatever Knowledge they possess is more commonly acquired by observation than by reading.
 Miss Josephine Lathem, assisted by her cousin, Miss Lola Friss. Of rBonham. Tex. was at home Friday night to a few of her friends. The evening was pleasantly passed, music, recitations and refreshments making up the programme.
 SIPSY.
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