The progressive farmer and the cotton plant., 1904-10-04

not be a burden.
Then, I would ask you to remember that sim
plicity in dress is the first requisite of a lady;
the school-room is no place for a display of silks
and jewels, and the wise mother is the one who
remembers this.
You say you would like to be a leader among
the girls. I can understand this, for we all would
like to be leaders, whether it would be in the
mimic battle of school life or in the real one in
the world. Do you know that a leader among
girls has more influence than the teacher? You
look surprised, but one girl can do more harm
or good in a quiet way than all the lectures of the
teacher. A girl will hesitate a long while before
she will brave the outspoken criticisms of her
classmates, and so you see just how much your
example will mean.
You say the girls will call you old-fashioned
and say you are too good to live; perhaps they
may, but in their hearts they will respect the girl
who is brave enough to stand IN for the right.
X X
Oh, yes, you can have a good time, but in a
healthy way, and in a way that does not mean
breaking of the rules. Do not misunderstood me-,
little lassie, for I want you to have a good time,
and would fill your life with pleasure, but not
such pleasures as midnight suppers, broken rules
and escapades that may ruin your whole life. It
sounds so big to talk of all these, and the school
girl of to-day seems to think her life incomplete
without it. But there are so many other ways
of having a good time, why is it necessary to eat
indigestible food while your teeth are chattering,
or concoct some plan with terror of being caught?
Of course, there are some girls who enjoy these
things, but one must feel sorry for them, for it
always mean a lack of mothers love and sympa-
thy. Have your little feasts and your plans. but
do it openly and at sensible hours, and, believe
me, that your teachers, if you go to them in the
right spirit, will be glad to aid you.
Do not say that these are girls of the past
and that we are too progressive to keep our girls
in such bounds. You are right, but I thank
God there are still some old-fashioned mothers
who believe in keeping their girls as girls should
be kept. Many a mother to-day is sitting heart
broken because of the indulgences given her
daughter, and my constant prayer is that my girls
may be of the old-fashioned tvpe, for they make
the truest wives and mothers.
And to whom may you write? Only to your
family and a few girl friends. Girls who have
a large correspondence canot do good work at
school, and the two BIS never work together. Boys
themselves and Books by themselves are good, |
but the combination of boys and books has never
proven successful.
Dear heart, look up into my eyes and promise
me that you will never write anything that vow
would be ashamed to show your mother. [ can
not tell you how many lives have been wrecked
just by some foolish note written in the school
girls days, but which brought the blush of NOR
tifcation to the writer's face in after years.
Many of the boys of to-day seem to lack the
chivalry of their ancestors, for it is a common
of 4oIou 70 n q uoT7nr fo11o" hooct |
of his conquests as he passes some young girls