THE MODERN GIRL.

Waikato Times, Volume XXVII, Issue 2215, 18 September 1886, Page 2 (Supplement)

THE MODERN GIRL.

It has become the fashion of late, with Chriatian Herriuk in the Philadelphia Press, to say a great deal about the extravagance of girls and their unfitness in self-denial and economical housekeeping aa poor men's wives, or, in faot, for anything more than gay society life. Tho girl of the period is depicted as devoted to dress and amusement, unable to^ keep house or to direct servants, and with no aim in life beyond that of making a good marriage by which she will be enabled to dress more handsomely and live more luxuriously than before. There are doubtless girls whose habits of life and, indeed, whose expressed theories give colour to this belief. But it is time a plea should be advanced for the muoh greater number whose lives are a complete contradiction to such charges. The average girl is fit for something far better than a mere butterfly existence. While she may not always make intellectual pursuits her chief employment, she is generally tolerably proficient in what a majority of men rank above these- namely, .housewifely accomplishments. The helpless fashionable young lady, who, if she did not quite carry out the programme offered by the Mother Goose Melody : Sit on the cushion and sew up a seam, And live on strawberries, sugar, and cream, ; at least was supposed to pass most of her waking 'hours that she did uot devote to the subjugation of her admirers in dawdling over a bit of useless fancy work, has been consigned to the top shelf aloug with ' Clarissa Harlowe and * Sir Charles Grandison.' Sometimes a non-progressive author re -introduces her to the general public under the impression that he is keeping up with the times, but as a rule, she remains in obscurity. Her successor, the dashing young woman who danced the germ an all night and slept all day, and who flourished to perfection in Miss Warner's books to throw the virtuous heroine into stronger relief, still preserves a shadowy existence, but her days, happily, are numbered. The average girl, carefully observed, offers a refutation to the popular libels that too often pass for truthful descriptions. She has a healthy enjoyment of young society and of gaiety — it would be peculiar if she had not — but she can also turn her attention to graver pursuits with equal interest. Many girls are no mean students, and conduct ' courses of reading ' after leaving school with a perseverance that puts to shame their brothers' neglect of study when the lattor's college days are over. Very seldom does one find a man who gives even a small portion of his leisure to reading that does not bear directly upon his business or profession. There is au amazingly small proportion of really idle girls. If the result of their labours sometimes seems to demonstrate that the game has not been worth the caudle, it is not because they do not give due time and energy to their employments, but that these employments themselves are unworthy. Nor is this altogether the girl's fault. A man usually carves out his own niche in life. A girl is as often born in hers, or placed there by circumstances over which she haa — or thinks she has —no control. Even against her disadvantages of training and environment, the girl achieves a fair result. The number of those who are slaves to the pleasures of society, and to a greed for excitement and admiration, shrinks into insignificance when compared with those who lead diligent, active lives. The girl of to-day is generally proficient in needlework. She can not only alter her own dresses, but cut and make chose and her underclothing as well. She has a knack of trimming her hats and furnishing up her wardrobe, and does her full share at helping the dressmiker, who comes to assume charge of the spring and fall sewing. She understands the various branches of mending, and takes the division of work off her mother's hands, as well as the care of parlours and dining-room*, the arranging of flowers, the supervision of the manner* and apparel of the children, and sometimes of their studies too. Let full justice be done to the " girl of the period," or, rather, let there be a clear comprehension of what should be really represented by that much abused phrase. It is not fair to take the weakest specimens of the sex a-» types of a class comprising earnest workers, with stroug conceptions of life, its responsibilities, and| burdens, and a steady purpose to bear them according to the best of their ability.