The Colfax chronicle. [volume] (Colfax, Grant Parish, La.) 1877-1981, 1905-08-26
BY MARGARETE sANGsTER.


1t is as if magic circle were drawn
around particular set, and the girls
within it were divided by an immense /
distance from the other girls. Often |
there is one girl who is your admira-
ton, whom you prefer to every one |
else, girl SO pretty, SO lovable, that |
you are contented to be near her, and
breathe the same air. but she never
sees you; she is not in your set at all.
Girls may recite in the same classes, |
have the same teachers; if at board |
ing school occupy Sajojning rooms,
yet never cross the unseen and imag-
mary line that separates one set from
another
Teachers disapprove of cliques and
try to break them up, and mothers pro-
test against them, but every school
has one or more, with the ms and the
Outs at silent warfare, or haughrily in
different to each other. The situation
is a trying one, and the tendency to
cliques great pity. 1t promotes envy
and Jealousy, both bad traits in char
acter.
Wherever there is a girl who Is
born leader. she has her followers.
She has her caprices, too. Like
queen she condescends or she stands
aloof. If you love the tones OF her
voice, and like the way her hair curis,
and admire her dimples, and think her
hats and boots perfect. you are hurt
that she never sees you, and that you
are not one of those who compose her
little court. | know about this, girls.
l have beheld the little drama enacted
many time, and l am sorry for poor
Bessie who longs in vain that Queen
Isabel should notice her, so sorry that
there have been days when I would
have been glad to shake Miss Isabel
and set her free from her proud CON-
placency. Queens should not trample
on their subjects.
AnQDher reason for uneasiness at
school may be summed up in a single
word-clothes. School girls should
dress very simply. am not sure that
q uniform would not be good solu-
ton of some school problems; just a
blouse and a skirt, with gymnasium
shoes and cap There ought to be no
great difference in the dress of girls
who are about on a plane in their
work. But once in awhile a girls
mother has fads, or Is eccentric, and
sends her little daughter to school
dressed i'm an odd or conspicuous fash
! ion which is torture to sensitive dis
position.
| Sometimes a girls poverty inter
feres with her comfort. She cannot
dress as we'll as others do, and at GER
tain times, commencement for in
stance, she must either look inferior
to the rest or stay away from the pub
lie exercise.
Girls are apt to be over dressed at
graduation from the grammar school.
There is no fitness in anything except
great simplicity when winsome little
maiden passes from one graded school
to another. Decked out like little
brides, with tucks and founces, frills,
puffs and embroidery, with white
gloves. white slippers, white ribbons,
and an amount of costly elegance, that
makes needful carriage, the daughter
of the banker may go to her gradua-
ton, and no one at home suffer a
pang
Side by side with her in class NAV
be the bright little daughter of clerk
on small salary, or of a day laborer.
The pride and ambition of the latter
will deprive his home of necessaries,
and saddle him with debt, but his Flor
ence shall sit by his employers limo
gene, and the one shall be dressed as
extensively as the other. | have
known school girls to forego the grad
uating honors because their parents
could not compete with others in the
dress that custom has enjoined. A
diploma costs too much for a scanty
purse
The question of dress should never
be a question of perplexity to the
schoolgirl, yet it far too often crops
up and makes trouble. Really, school
girl should have no bother about hel
Dress Any plain neat stuff that will
do her good service is the right thing
She requires no ornaments. Her orna.
ments are the roses in her cheeks, the
brightness in her eyes.
But girlies, you do have good time.
at school. don't you? School is worlt
of its own. The new scholar feels this
; and 1t takes her some little time Il
find out the laws and regulations thu
govern it. Always take pains to se
h,sr at ease You were there first, ant
you know the code.
] was very much vexed when wa!
myself schoolgirl, when an olde
friend put lightly aside my regret a
leaving one school and going to IN
other in a distant town.
II have TO leave my friends" l said
with eyes that the tears dimmed.
"Ob. never mind, you'll soon fint
others just as good"
Others just as good! Every cir
knows how foolishly vain was this
consolation. did find others, OF
course, but they were not just as good
In one sense. for they and I had to be
gin and build mp from the foundations