The Green Forest tribune., 1909-02-19
The Ideal Girl.

The following is an extract from a sermon of Rev. E.. B.. Bagby, pastor of the Christian Church at Ft. Smith and is a forceful portrayal of the virtues of the "Ideal Girl" and is an ex- pression of thoughts that are bound to be of value to many Tribune readers:
 "It is grand thing to be a young man; it is a grander thing to be a young woman. All the avenues to are open to her, while she retains her supremacy in the highest sphere, the spiritual. Wherever man achieves that is his inspiration, and if he chooses way; if he climbs the ladder of fame, among the great, it will be a star in some woman's crown. Of all of Gods handiwork, nothing is 80 beautiful as q Sl-l- 0UtiiQiiS Wluil uCudilu lcCh, where womanhood and childhood meet" It is pity that any creature so beau tiful should be marred by single blem- ish. The young woman as well as the young man needs the prayer, -"Clear Thou me of all secret faults." Girls, count yourselves richer, the day you discover new fault; stronger, the day you win new victory.
 My young men correspondents have pointed out the following faults: The first, frivolty. It is a sin of the age. to take superficial view, to give at tention to that which is trivial and transient rather than the vital and abiding. The subject of girls talk is often "Fashion" and "Gossip." They leave school before the eighth grade that they may earn money to buy finery, and spend their evenings sigh ing over the creations of modern novelists. They pick up slangy talk that leads to slangy ways. Let the girls take m ore serious view of life, for life is a serious business, not a tinsel show, but real earnest, and this is foundation work upon which is the rest and superstructure of your lives and prepare you to be wives and mothers.
 Second, boldness-To be deulored is the loss of modest demeanor, which is woman's chief raiment. Young women sometimes are obliged to go out and earn their own living and con- tribute to the family support. All honor to those who do this bravely, cheerfully and successfully. But the position of the young woman in busi- ness is not without it's perils. It is better to be considered prudish than to go to the opposite extreme. A man will accord a woman the respect she demands for herself. In offices and factories, there are young women as good and as safe as those in the pre- cincts of home, but every young wo. man needs, daily, the morning prayer. "Clear Thou me from secret faults.''
 Third. Slaves of Fashion. Fashion is cruel goddess. She causes physi- cal discomfort and injury, brings pov- erty to the home, produces pride and vanity.
 Fourth, Irreverence. It is a sin of the day that young people have lost respect for the aged, and reverence for sacred things.
 Fifth, they set too low a standard for the young men. It is an amazing thing that young women demand a higher standard for other young women than they do for the young men. They overlook and condone offenses among young men that they would not tolerate among other young women. Girls have lever to elevate young manhood. Do not marry young man with the hope Of reforming him. A thousand times is it better to be a happy and honorable old maid than to be the slave of brute, the poverty stricken wife of an idler or the broken hearted wife of drunkard. Favor is deceitful and beauty is vain, but "a young woman who fears the Lord, she shall be praised." The ideal young woman is one who makes Jesus Christ her Ideal. She lives a beautiful life, dies beautiful death and goes to live with God in The Beautiful Home.