St. Tammany farmer., 1906-01-27
By MARGARET E. sANGsTER.

| In this open letter to q group of girls
who have confided in me, l am going
to put some bits of practical advice for
all the schoolgirls who make beautiful
our streets as they hurry on, to be in
their places before nine o'clock in the
morning.
There are many thousands Of you,
dear girls, WHO are the pride and JOY
Of the homes you come from. like
to catch the inspiration of your bright
looks, to hear your sweet voices, and
to watch the nghtness of your feet as
you fit along over the country roads OF
village pavements, or the thronged
avenues of our great towns. In some
ways you girls are very much alike; in
some others you are different. But
there is not one of you VINO can afford
to pass by my counsel that you shall
become an all-around scholar.
Did I hear dark-eyed Dorothy say
ing: Il wonder what that means?"
Let me explain.
II were you I would put the &C
cent, the emphasis, of all my school
work on the strong word
ENDEAVOR.
would endeavor everywhere and at
all times to do my best. It might be
that my best should be less brilliant
than the best of some other girl, but
for that I should not care. We are
never required to use other peoples
talents. We are responsible only for
the use we make of our own. Faith
tul, diligent work done over and over
every day, in the schoolroom, amounts
to a great deal more at the end of the
year than an occasional squirt N which
we make a great advance and after
which we fall back into Incidence and
DO almost nothing.
/ have seen girl, and a very nice
girl, too, throw her algebra across a
room in a fit of despair, declaring that
she never could understand it and that
she had decided it wasn't worth while
any longer to try. have seen girl
almost in tears over her composition
affirming that she hadn't thought in
her head and wouldn't know how to
express it If she had. have even
known girls whose spelling was afro
cious, a perfect disgrace, who calmly
stated that correct spelling was be-
yond them and that their gifts lay in
some other direction.
mention no names, but every
teacher has names on her roll over
which she frowns and sighs, knowing
that they stand for pupils who are
quite contenL>d with second-best or
third-best marks, and whose rating is
away down at D when it ought to be
+ A. Such girls simply fall down in
4 heap before the studies they don't
like or don't enjoy; the studies that
for them mean earnest work and per-
haps hard battle, and they are not
ashamed merely to escape failure and
be pulled through rather lenient ex-
animation at the close of the term.
Elizabeth would not do this as mat
ter of course, nor would Evelyn or
Kathleen or Dorothy. I hope, and in
Iced know, that you are far above
such slip-shod methods of study, but
girls with names just as lovely are
often enough deficient along these
lines.
It happens in this way. We co not
know the real value of golden talents.
Suppose we divide our talents under
three ,ads. We may have golden tai
ants, silver talents and leaden talents.
The golden talents are those we most
desire, but we do not always get them
by nature A girl with leaden tai
ent may change it after awhile if she
is faithful and painstaking and plod-
ding, for a talent OF silver, and girl
whose talents originally were silver
may in the progress of her school
years have them transmitted to gold
There is verse in the Bible which ap-
plies just here. It is: Take away the
dross and leave cup for the refiner."
Rough ore must go through a good
many severe processes before 1t can be
changed into articles for beautiful daily
use.
One girl in your class has talent
which almost amounts to genius for
English literature. She pursues that
with ardor and is at the top Of the class.
but she has no special turn for mathe-
matical study and has to be dragged
through it by main force. Another girl
has passion for figures, finds them
absorbing and easy. and without much
effort carries of all the honors. AS for
geography, botany, rhetoric and phys
les, she is quite resigned to mediocre
standard in them, and, though success
full in spots, she, like her friend, is any
thing but an all-around scholar.
The fact is, Dorothy-and want
every one of my girls to listen-the OBJ
iect Of your school life is preparation
for tomorrow. The knowledge you
gain to-day is by way Of q foundation
for to-morrow's building. Only little
while from now You girls will be in the
doorway of bright and charming fu-
ture, with all sorts of opportunities
pressing upon you. Your tomorrow
will be bright and glad, full of duties,
full Of pleasures and full OF response
bility..
School life is your time for getting
ready so that when you enter on more
Independent season Of life, you may
rise to its importance. The a1l-around
scholar Of the present will one day be
the all-around woman in business, in
profession. in society, or, best OF all, in
the household. Nowhere else can an
all-around girl be SO useful and SO low
able as IN her home. l wish that the