AN END OF THE CENTURY GIRL.

Wairoa Bell, Volume V, Issue 209, 4 August 1893, Page 5

AN END OF THE CENTURY GIRL.

I belong to the end of the century; I am glad as I can be That the century’s far beginning Is ’way, ’way back from me. I can row a boat, I can drive a steed, And saddle and ride him too, And there’s nothing my brother can do, at need, That his sister cannot do. I play lawn-tennis ; I’ve tried base-ball ; I climb as swift as a squirrel, Pick myself up if I have a fall, And laugh, though Pin only a girl. Plucky and merry and ever so strong, I hie where the great wave’s brim And the surf rolls in with its thunder song— For of course I have learned to swim. My great-grandmother was just my age When the century was new ; She had to sit for hours each day Pulling her needle through Tiny holes in a bit of card. Or sewing a long, dull seam, And one must confess that her fate was hard, —• The poor little ghost of a dream. Fhey would never allow her to jump and run ; She must never look flushed and warm j A dozen things that I may do, Were then not thought ‘ good form.’ I m glad I’m an end-of-the-century girl, Healthj' and happy and gay, As free as a boy to study Greek, And as free as a boy to play.^

P A C I I N G FREE.