Waterbury evening Democrat., 1906-03-07
SERMON FOR GIRLS
A LITTLE PREACHING ABOUT
 ESSENTIAL VIRTUES.
The Three P.'s, Pluck, Perseverance and Punctuality - Some of the Places Where Girl Needs Pluck Where Patience Comes In-Not to Be Punctual Means Stealing 9th ers' Time.
BY MARGARET E. sANGsTER.

BY MARGARET E. sANGsTER.
 Copyright, 1906, by Joseph B. Bowles.)
 One evening last autumn had the pleasure of being a guest in great school for girls. The school building which is ample and beautiful, stands on hilltop and all around it are acres of garden and meadow, with lake where the girls row in summer and skate in winter; trees under which they walk and every beautiful condi- tion that can make the surroundings ideal. Within, the accommodations match the fair outside, and have rarely seen anything more beautiful than the assemblage of those girls in chapel at their vesper service. To me the hour I liked best was one at the close of the day, when I sat in the middle of crowd of girls, few seat ed on chairs and sofas, but most on the floor, throng of bright faces, eager and responsive, that I shall never forget.
 Looking at those winsome school girls, I seemed to see beyond them a much larger throng, girls whom meet every week, although I do not actu- ally touch their hands, nor hear their voices. To this great company of girls who shall presently be the young women of the future, have a little sermon to preach today. The old fashioned way was to divide sermons under three heads. I am taking this way, and my first head is
 Pluck.
 Unless girl has pluck, she will find herself many a time at odds with life. It requires pluck of no mean order to sit in dentists chair and endure the agony known as treating tooth. It requires pluck to go with a little sis ter or brother to this same friendly adjunct of the family, and sit by while the little victim has teeth strengthened or tooth removed. Pluck is far more necessary when the diflculty is not merely physical, but is moral and calls for the kind of courage that makes one bear reproof patiently, or speak the truth when to do so may make one un- popular. Without real, genuine pluck few of us can get through the days work with credit. Sometimes pluck is needful when one has to wear much mended gloves or shabby gown, or when one faces the fact that she can not have the luxuries that are as common as air and water in the ex- perience of her neighbor. Pluck is not given to us all at birth. Some of us are naturally great towards. We shrink from pain and trouble of every variety, and want a cushioned seat for every journey. Fortunately, pluck may be acquired. If we have not very much to begin with We may easily get more by the simple method of cul- tivating what we have. I would have my girls brave and fearless, feeling perfectly sure of their ground, if they are in the right, and dreading nothing except being in the wrong.
 
 Perseverance.
 You all remember the little rhyme that you were taught almost as soon as the alphabet, "If at first you don't succeed. try. try, again" The lesson in this bit of homely verse is one for you and me. Beginnings are easy enough; we start out with fair wind and flowing sail, and our boat goes dancing over the waves. but the true test comes when we have to row against wind and tide, or to manage our course when the storms beat and the winds rave. To drop the metaphor. most of us enjoy taking the initiative with new study or a new enterprise. Our commencement is with enthusi. asm, but presently we reach irregular verbs. or abstruse problems. and our ardor dampens. Very likely some of you could show, if you chose. beautiful pieces of embroidery and knitting on which you have made a fair start. The place that tires one and tries ones mettle Is in the middle of the road. or the middle of the task. Those who begin well, keep on well, and finish well, gain the laurels and wear them with honor.
 Perseverance tells on your monthly or quarterly reports as examinations never do The real test of ability in any line is just here: Is the student easily daunted or does she hold fast with an iron grip until she has ac- what she undertakes?
 As our favorite Longfellow sings:
 Let us, then, be up and doing,
 With heart for any fate:
 Still achieving. still pursuing.
 Learn to labor and to wait.
 The twin sister of perseverance is Patience You remember, do you not. the old fairy stories in which the little princess was set to unrayel a terribly tangled skein. and how she made no headvay until fairy named Patience came and helped her straighten out the threads, and lay them side by side? Let your fairy be named Per and if her sister comes to ~f-. sz