WHAT SHALL YOU DO WITH YOUR GIRLS ?

Poverty Bay Standard, Volume 1, Issue 16, 8 January 1873, Page 3

WHAT SHALL YOU DO WITH YOUR GIRLS ?

{Philadelphia Sunday Dispatch.) This inquiry does not apply to the mothers of heiresses or young ladies with brilliant matches in prospect. Such, fortunate creatures have their lives mapped out agreeably Without any waste of maternal anxiety or puzzled thought on the subject. But the great middle mass, whose fortunes and prospects belong to, the mediocrity that sometimes verges on the dubious, who have just enough for the present, and divide the future between hope and "fear, are particularly addressed by the question See the self-directing tendency of young women as evinced on the promenade! Watch the tossing heads, hear the giggling laughs, behold the airs and exaggerated affectation of the girls of the period, and yon must acknowledge—though you are sorry enough to confess it—that husband-hunting is the object there, and'that the pure freshness of an innocent young life is in danger of being lost in the pursuit.

You do not mean to let yeur girls take up with this object as an avowed vocation, so what do you mean to set before them? Housekeeping? That seems drudgery, docs it not? To tic a pretty, lively young being down to kitchen-work, to condemn her to redden her face and spoil her white hands—those hands so well fitted to draw music from the ivory piano keys—in the coarse and uncongenial task of getting dinner, really seems too bad. And what is accomplished by it? you say. A common, uneducated, unattractive servant girl for three dollars a week can do as much; and your charming daughter has spent years in study so as to be fitted for something a little better and higher. What shall it be ? is the question. Shall she learn a trade and join the innumerable caravan of needlewomen? If she chances to have a knack for that kind of thing, she will soon convince you of it by the deftness with which she trims and arranges her own wardrobe ; and, if her temperament tends to the industrious, she will make herself useful at home, creating her own sphere by establishing herself as the sewing, mending, contriving, and helpful spirit of the family. There is no trouble about her. She has fallen into her proper niche, and is provided for. It is the indefinite remainder that troubles you—the ones who have no particular bent, who are nice girls, bright enough and wellmeaning too, but who seem to float lazily on the surface of things rather than move energetically amongst them, and who wait for “ tuming-up ■time ” to bring them their fate. There is no lack of employment for women, out-doors and in. If her parents’ position admits of her devoting her energies to home life, she can find abundant opportunities in the smallest family circle. If she looks abroad for remunerative work, she can be anything from a ’•telegraph operator to a child’s nurse.. It isn’t the paucity of opportunity; it is rather the inertness of seekers. You mothers with families cf girls unprovided for, in a worldly sense, look abroad with anxious eyes, but use Mrs. Jellaby’s telescope, sweeping the horizon, rather than looking down directly on your own acquainted sphere. You do wish you knew just what to do for the -dear things; but there is a worm gnawing at 'ftie heart of your good intent that prevents its ripening into fruit, and that troublesome little insect is named Maternal Ambition. You are not content that your daughters should walk in the quiet, old-fashioned way by which you reached respectable maturity. You yearn for something better —something undefined and rather vapoury, but decidedly in advance of your humble experience. There is the money expended in French and music. You think of that, and feel that it would be really too bad to waste it all in the dull routine of domestic business. If a girl is fortunate enough to possess accomplishments, she should have an opportunity to display them. You had rather do the humbler service yourself, and let them have a chance for something a little more refined. But, while you indulge in these unselfish and aspiring cravings for some impalpable elevation, the objects of your ambition remain idle, or, worse than idle—mischievously busy. You are so long in deciding what to do with them, that they have come to a sort of negative conclusion of their own, and have taken to doing nothing in particular as a regular employment. ' A young girl with a sensible, well-defined object in life, is a phosnix. Now-a-days the name-of those who are in an aimless drift is legion. A young man and an engagement-ring often come to an anxiously-puzzled mother’s relief, • and decide the vexed question matrimonially. This is, then, the end of your daughter’s geography, arithmetic, and all the other theoretics! studies. No married woman revives

her old' test-books, or brings her music and fancy work into play, while the domestic knowledge you could not condemn her to acquire practically is Weighed in the halatace' and found wanting. But all your daughters are not sure of husbands. There used to be an old saying that no family was complete without an old maid -or a bachelor in its number. Some families find 'aH'their daughters matrimonial provisions, wliile others are left to wait in the market till the day wears late and sales close. First find out a girl’s capability in all respects. Let her have the advantage of following the path that a natural capacity renders easy, so that she may posssess a special grace of her own, cultivated bypractiCe into a reliable means of subsistence in case of necessity; and, as a possibility of matrimony overtaking her, let her study, in connection with any or every other acquirement, the sadly-neglected art of making home comfortable, in case she should fall heir to one—for it is a mournful fact that thousands of women have homes who have never acquired the fit st idea on the subject. What will you do with your girls ? Why, try and teach them that there are plenty of people in the world directly or indirectly dependerit Upon them for happiness ; that their duties begin with home, and stretch OUIWaIG in a widening circle of influence; tliat from the father, to whom she owes respectful affection, to the cat who depends upon her for its saucer of milk, she can brighten every living thing with whom she comes in contact by her good httmdur and gentle interest. “ Bad servants!” have become the wail of housekeepers. ♦. Want of interest in their employes, or energy in their work, are the complaints urged against the domestics by those who are heavy laden with kitchen duties. Let your daughters dignify the labor from Which even the lofty scullions are turning with contemptuous noses. Let their industry prove to hirelings that you, as mothers, are not altogether at their mercy ; that your educated ‘ children do not scorn to acquire the knowledge of a thorough cook, or to learn the art of doing'w'ofk tidily and easily. In our modem houses every family member flees from contact with the coarser cares of the concern; and Biddy, who is an imitative creature, does the same. They call it base drudgery; she scorns to be considered a drudge, and resents the slavery of hard work after the pattern of her betters. The only really coUteifted servant now eXtarit is the Chinaman, who seems to enjoy kitchen-work thoroughly, and-who sings like a saw-mill while he busies himself among culinary things. A young lady whose dignity will not bear contact with labor —whose accomplishments cannot harmonise with industry, and whose temper will not last through an hour’s bodily exertion —. is not a good daughter, and will ncvei 1 make a pleasant wife.