THE GIRL IN HER TEENS.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume L, Issue 60, 31 August 1907, Page 3

THE GIRL IN HER TEENS.

RULES OF CONDUCT AND THINGS SHE OUGHT TO KNOW. THE RISKS A GIRL RUNS. one girl in a hundred knows why she ought not to ride a bicycle to excess, wear open-work blouses, with the skin showing through and exposed to all tl'C winds that blow, bathe twice in the day, overeat consistently, take violent exercise after a full meal, or do the hundred and one other things that we all do so thoughtlessly. The girl who does any one of those

things will, later on, grumble at recurring pains, feel listless and out of sorts, oversleep in the morning, and be excitable and disinclined for bed at night. She will bemoan her bad complexion and use powder -to hide the muddiness thereof, and perform various other "aids to beauty." But she will have no idea that the muddy-coloured skin and the dull eyes arc directly due to her own actions, not merely to ill luck! Perhaps the troubles may date from such a seemingly simple thing as a fondness for sitting on a stone tifrracc last summer, or the desire to lessen the waist measure by an inch and a-half. I known both these reasons to account for many illnesses. IGNORANCE OF HOUSEKEEPING A

CRIME. For pity's sake do not fall into the error of imagining that it is bad form to know anything of the subject. Rather hide your head with shame if you do not. It is not the really clever woman who says that she was born for higher things than keeping house and nursing babies, but the empty-headed and ignorant.

Who has not met the young married woman who boasts that she is not domesticated, hates housekeeping, does not know where the linen cupbboard is, and does not want to know?

The favourite story of this type of woman is generally that she told the cook to order a leg of beef for dinner and could not make out why the woman said it was an impossible dish! This woman does not care for children [cither— if she lias them they depend upon nurses for care an upbringing, for

their mother is vain and selfish to the core. But, note this, only vain and selfish for the lack of a proper training during her girlhood.

THE SIMPLE STORY OF nER BIRTH. I can really see no reason why a girl should not be taught the most elementary meaning of the word motherhood. Sooner or later they find out for themselves, and it is a very false sense of

modesty which leaves them entirely untaught until after marriage. If a woman cannot tell her own daughter quite simply and modestly the story of her birth, she has been badly and stupidly brought up, and ought to take a few lessons in common sense and cle-m-ntary anatomy and physiology. I would have a girl taught how to wash an infant from the day of its birth, what clothing to put on it, what time it should sleep, and how to make its bed.

READ THE NEWSPAPERS.

If still is the fashion to require girls

to read aloud exquisite passages from

the works of great authors, with the unhappy result that they become bored to death by the very names of Shakespeare and Milton, Longfellow and Macaulav.

I would have the great poets and

authors kept in locked cases, and I would only give permission to read them aloud as a great favour. Let* the tyro try her voice with the latest news from London, Paris, or New York.

In the short crisp sentences of a modern newspaper narrative she will find exercise enough for her brain and her

A RULE FOR PRIVATE READING. But what to read to yourself in your leisure moments? There are people who say, "It is very difficult indeed to choose books fit for young girls to read." Theie are others who contend that a girl of sixteen may read "anything that a child of six or a woman of thirty-six may," arguing that she will gather no harm and only widen her view of the world. There is only one safe rule which a girl

can apply for herself. After all, it rest: with the girl of sixteen what she read:

and what she leaves unread. In this dav

of universal libraries, and cheap reprints from the "classics," and still cheaper "feuilletons" -in halfpenny daily news-

papers, it is almost impossible for parents or guardians, however careful, to regulate the reading of their girls. So the rule I would have you—my

reader of sixteen—apply for yourself is this very simple one: Do not linger over a liook which you would not care to read aloud. This may 'be a broad rule, hut I think it is a very safe one. ON GOING INTO SOCIETY.

Walk into the room with your head erect; don't stoop, it is bad form.: Let your "How d'ye do" to your hostess be graciously said, and note if she expects a reply to her remarks in greeting you. She may not, you know; other guests may he following you, and then try not tc feel gauche, as she seems to have forgotten your existence in a moment. You need not rush to find a seat; people stand about without feeling or looking awkward. You will soon learn to note

quickly who. is in the room. You will find someone you know, or your mother will introduce you to her friends. ' *

Then when you do sit down try to find the happy medium between lolling back in your chair and carrying the proverbial poker down your hack.

To me the one attitude is as full ol impertinence as the other, though shy

ness mostly accounts for a girl's assumption of either. A YOb'XG KIEL'S DUTIES.

You cannot choose your parents guests, and, even when you have youi

own list, and your own house,, there are certain to be persons whom you are obliged to invite, however antagonistic you may feel towards them.

It is worse than absurd to make the time-worn excuse for slights or rudeness, "1 simply can't be civil to people I

dislike."

You must be civil. It is uot only extremely boorish to be otherwise, but it is rude to your mother ivhose guest is the unfortunate disliked one, and it is

ungracious to any other guest who may be present. By the time that you are in your late teens you must know how to control your feelings on such occasions and ou 'many other occasions too. There is no harder lesson to leaiu than self-control where other people are

concerned, but it is most necessary thai you do learn it.

AND SOME OF HER EIGHTS.

It is when you reach the age of sixleei'. that the law begins to give you :noic freedom and less protection. Even at this age, however, you arc not free to marry without your father's consent.

Shall I tell you exactly how you stand in this matter? Up to the age of twenty-one you father must give his consent to your marriage. If he is deail the duty devolves upon your, mother 01

your guardians. If you have neither parents nor guardians you must go to a judge and ask his permission. V'ou may do same if you think the permission of your parents or guardians is unreasonably withheld.

There is ;ui exception to this law requiring consent. If the marriage is by the publication of balmns no consent is required, but the parents or guardians

may appear and publicly protest against the proposed marriage, and in this case the publication becomes void, and the marriage cannot be proceeded with.