Staunton spectator and vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1896-1916, 1906-12-28
Schoolgirls.

There is not in the world a mo
charming creature thai. a really nic
sweethearted schoolgirl. OF crurs
there are bad schoolgirls as we'll a
charming ones. but at present it is {
the good girls am going to speak.
I count it among my happy fortur
20 have been very m uch among yOun
girls. and to know them as thorough
IS We know things which have becom
a part and portion of our own lives.
never see schoolgirl without wonder
ing What kind of woman will sh
b.? What kind of life will she have
and what is she going to do with he
Iiifep'
The best quality of good schoolgirl
is her sense of duty. This is compare
lively new sense to girl in her ear
iy "teens." Hitherto she has depend
d upon her parents and her teachers 8
but suddenly-she knows not how no
when there comes feeling of her Ow
Individuality and responsibility.
If she is girl With strong principles
| this new sense has wonderful power
over her. 1t makes her learn the les
SONS she does not want to learn, it ex-
acts from her the last moments of her
practice; it renders her supersensitive
the most trifiing obligation.
1t commands many a seIf.sacrifice
for which she will receive no cOmpen
sation except from her own heart, and
1t induces her to give up her desires
without any compulsion.
This sense of duty is the foundation
of good girls character and life and
every one ought to examine herself
carefully to see if she possesses it.
The schoolgirl is of all mortals most
predisposed to a genuine friendship,
and from this source comes both dang
er and consolation. Young though
she may be, she has warmth of feel
ings and loyalty of nature that make
her alta chime nts the most real thing
In life.
But friendships become part of life
and if they are not wise may have ira.
gic endings. At no time in a girl g
life is the influence of her own sex so
great as when she is at school, and the
most scrupulous care is then most of
all required in order that she may
learn to make friends both wisely and
we'll.
Schoolgirls must remem Der also that
education does not come all together
from books. Lessons learned frOm
books are only scaffolding for the use
Of the future builder. All that the
best schools can do is.to teach you how
to use your own mind.
Therefore, do not ask to be helped
over difficulties, master them! For the
mental activity is at first an effort, it
soon becomes habit. Lady Duff
Gordon was not less finely educated
because she bad been taught no accom-
plishments" but these.
DO not impose too much upon the
mind. 1t has its limitations; and brain
power is in youth easily over stimulat-
ed and exhausted. hav known clever
girls, who carried off all the prizes
OF their schools. to sink into ethollgic
commonplace women. lying all day
upon the sofa with novel, and un
able to sleep without choral.
Do not burden your mind with an
excess of mere technical knowledge.
The dates of certain battles, and the
number of men killed in them, are of
no great Importance. Learn rather
what were the results-how they
changed the geographical divisions of
the country, or the social condition of
the people.
Find out the real meaning and worth
OF words you see constantly in the daily
papers-such, for instance, as bonds,
trade unions, protective tariff, etc.
They are of much more Importance
than the names OF rivers in Paraguay
or the population of China.
If you study music, it is not enough
to play some pieces from Mozart,
Beethoven, Chopin with correctness
and brilllancy. Study the composeIs'
essential differences and be able to H.
lustrated them.
In like manner it viii not profit you
to be able to work problem in mathe-
matics If you cannot make a quick
calculation of bill of books, or if !, Ou
cannot check your own bank book.
But above all believe IN yourself.
Few things are more important and
valuable in the equipenent of charact-
er, few things have so much to do with
achieving success in any calling or pro
fession as belief in ones self. Manv
men and women have been doomed to
life far below the level of that for
which they we're naturally fitted to a
discouraged, fruitless, wretched ex-
istence- simply because they have been
impressed in their childhood by parents
and teachers with the belief that thew
were nothing but worms of the dust y
because they were taught that their In.
spiratlOns to rise above their station
were foolish dreams, and that sub.
missiveness to circumstances, no mat
ter what they might be, was the first
law of existence.
Under such teaching. impressed at
the outset that they were born to be
nObodies and that it was useless to trv
to be anything else, it is not surprjs-
ing that many thus taught should
sink to the level of servle and spirit
less drudges, never realizing their own
gifts and powers, never venturiug.
never daring anything in their own be
half, at the foot of every ladder, at the
call of every master, the submissive
and unprotes'ing creatures of every
| untOWard circumstance
Finally dear schoolgirls. be courte