Virginia citizen. (Irvington, Va.) 1891-1921, 1900-08-24
Communicated
SOMETHING ABOUT GIRLS.

of girls, their yirtures and their
failihgs, and with the consent of the
Editor l will mention u few other
classes.
First, take the class of the novel
reading girl. These girls are numer
Gus, especially at present. They
desire nothing more than to sit in
the house or under some tree day in
and day out with novel stuck in
their hands. Novels are not bad
things in their way, but novel read
ing when carried to excess is a very
bad thing indeed, and a novel read
ing girl, girl who, When she is not
reading novels, has her thoughts aud
mind chock full of nothing but
heroes and heroines is not to be
desired as wife. Novel reading is
very often a great curse to young
girls and a fruitful source of ruin
and degradation. Novel reading
girls do not usually read good novels;
if they did, they would CLEAN some
benelitfrom them, but it is worthless
literature that so much abounds just
now and finds the most favor in the
eyes of young ladies. 1t is need
less to say that this class of novels
is most perniciousin its effects. The
girl who is always reading a cheap
periodical is generally uutidy; every
spare moment of her time is taken
up with her favorite pursuit. Needle
work, domestic work, all are neg
lected for penny novel. The
novel reading girl is not confined to
any particular walk in life; she is to
be met with i'll nearly every sphere,
but the habit is, of course, more
destructive to the lower than to the
upper class of girls. Young servan is,
who were at one time valued mem
bers of their society, latter they fall in to
the terrible habit of novel reading
very soon become. worthless, law
girls, who are not worth the wages
they receive. The girl who reads
novels to excess is an abomination. !
Rarely, indeed, is there much solid !
advantage gained from the perusal |
of such works, and there is also
much danger of wrong impressions
being created IN the mind, very often
rendering those given too freely to
indulge in this sort of thing, dissatis-
fled with their position.
Second, let us note the character
istics of the Breach Of Promise Girls.
These girls are beartleSs. Many a
mans life has been wrecked by the
caprice of this class of girls-more
men, perhaps, than the world dreams
of-tor man does not bring an
action for breach of promise against
woman who stabs him, at least no
real man ever did, but he hides his
wounds as best he may and seldom
bares it to the gaze of even his nearest
and dearest friends. There is so
much maudlin sentiment afloat now
adays about the blighted affections
of young women that one would
almost imagine that girls themselves
were never guilty of heartlessness;
but that they are, nearly every one
is aware. Moreover, we would like
to say that the wounded heart that
can be healed by money never hurts
at all.
But 1T is not with these
young ladies that We have to deal
under this head, but with those
who come under the heading of
Heartless girls. There are plenty of
them about. They may be met with
anywhere, in every walk of life. The
heartless girl is of course heartless
in everything, heartless at home as
well as abroad, the sort of girl who
will waste the whole day doing
nothing, although she may be able
to clearly see that her mother is being
dragged to death by what she has to
do; no matter, the heartless girl does
not trouble very much about that,
provided the unfortunate mother
can still keep up. If she were to
die, OF course that wouid be a very
serious inconvenience indeed, and
the heartless girl would be very much
discomforted by it, Abroad she tries
to be attractive, and if she can man
age to break u heart or two, or bring
about a rupture between aflianced
couples, she is III the seventh heaven
of delight.
Lastly, the Selfish girl. Selfish
girls abound everywhere; there is
scarcely a family that does not boast
of at least one selfish girl. The
selfish girl is of course, a great
nuisance to her sisters; everyone in
the house may be put out of the way
by the selfish girl for she must not
be Inconvenience in the slightest
degree, she will not take her share
of the household duties; she will
oblige no one, the only person she