Waterbury evening Democrat., 1905-12-05
BY MARGARET E. sANGsTER.

the 9He Ul pest sCUOldF5lIp. RQIn naE higher marks, Edith has finer clothes, Florence is the class beauty, and Phebe is probably the girl with the largest number of birthdays. While we are young we esteem it cause for congratulation, that we are nearer 20 than somebody who is only Is. If we are IS we are proud of the dis tinction. Only as Time, the thief of so many happy things, steals away our pride in our years. do we try to hide them. You girls at school are all beautifully and blissfully young, bless your dear hearts, and you need not try to conceal the fact.
 A girl 1 knew once happened by chance to see a sentence about her, in letter not meant for her eyes. The letter said: Theodore is very young, and her appearance indicates it." Though Theodora had apple brown in her cheeks, and eyes like stars, and mass of chestnut hair with glints of sunshine threading it, she cried when she found that people thought she looked young. She want ed to look old! Poor little Theodora,
 Why is girl chosen as class pres ident, why Amy rather than Sue, or Rachel?
 Well. girls, probably for two or three reasons. A girl who is thus honored by the suffrages of her mates, is popular person. She has not gone around with a chip on her shoulder. She has never made enemies by un- lucky speeches. She does not make fun of her friends, nor indulge in wit at their expense. This is on the negative side of the question.
 On the affirmative side the popular girl has lost no opportunity to do little hndnesses at the right moment She speaks cordially of the absent She performs graceful services gra- ciously. She is in the public eye, more or less, and people know where they can find her. If asked to do any thing obliging, she does it without a fuss.
 The popular girl has a troop of friends, because she is friendly. Every one can depend on her not to make stupid mistake, and to say the proper word in the proper place. She possesses tact
 To the average girl, tact is better gift than good looks. or great learn ing. It makes girl quick to under stand people, and it makes them like her. A girl who has tact always helps other people to be at their best, and that is much finer than to be brilliant and showy in ones own character.
 
 The president of the class gener- ally is girl with charm. Amy has had charm from her cradle. What is it? How shall 1t be explained?
 Dear girl, it is impossible to define charm in set terms. It is the perfume of flower, it is the sweetness of the violin, it is the soft shimmer of the moon, it is the sigh of the surf when last it breaks upon the shore. A girl who has charm steals into ones heart. She may be a gentle mouse of a girl, demure and quiet, or a merry breeze like girl. coming indoors with the swing of the wind, but her charm, if genuine. will belong to her personality and be part of her.
 City girls have this endowment and so have country girls. A good deal of it depends on being free from self-ab- sorption. No girl who Is thinking much about herself ever has charm. Homely girls often have it and pret- ty girls miss it. so you see it does not need to go with a roseleaf skin and dimples. But Amy wouldn't be chosen as class-president if the other girls had not been impressed by her charm.
 still another excellent quality, and ]. one that leader always has, is force. Without force nobody can hope 10 lead. Most of us are followers. only 1 here and there springs up the girl l who leads.
 IL is never by buster or Eehemence, by over emphasis and self-assertion, or l by any display of arrogance and bad ! manners, that a girl becomes a leader. 1 Force of character is a flame within l the soul, that shines out in daily con duct
 A weak girl takes the color of the I last person who talks with her. Why. 1 you may often tell with whom a girl | has been sssociating by her inaec- tions. her tones. and her pet phrases. As for opinions. the weak person may think she has them. but in reality she has only preiudiees. which are very different.
 But should you ask me what st- tribute in a girl will help her to be most successfully president of her class. [ think ! will pick out this be. yond every other She must have what we call initiative That Is she must be able to suggest new lines. to strike out in uev paths. and to con vince the other girls that her ideas are good. A girl who Is a slave to system. sho cares principally h0E things look. znd is fn terror about uhst people will say. is not girl will