New-Fashioned Girls by Mrs. Eulalia S. Richards, M. D.

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Jan 7, 1915

New-Fashioned Girls

By Mrs. Eulalia S. Richards, M. D.

MRS. EULALIA S. RICHARDS, M. D.

There seems to be growing up about us a generation of new-fashioned girls,—girls who are transformed from wee lassies into women almost “while you wait.”

From their earliest days they are urged onward toward womanhood. Their mental education is pushed to the neglect of their physical training. It is no uncommon thing to see girls ranging from eleven to fourteen years of age poring over French grammar or Latin translations. They are burdened with “home studies” night after night. Then besides their regular education there are the accomplishments—the piano, or perhaps the violin, with several hours’ practice daily; yes, and social obligations. Little girls scarcely old enough to go to school attend parties, matinees, and other social gatherings, being dressed so elaborately on these occasions that they remind one more of fashion-plate figures than of real flesh-and-blood girls.

If the girl has any leisure time after meeting all the foregoing obligations, she usually spends it in reading. And what class of books does she (not her mother) select?—Not simple, childish tales nor standard works of real worth, but most often cheap novels and romances which tend to give her false notions of life.

The girl is so absorbed in all these things that she has little or no time for that domestic training once considered of more value to girls than book learning. The work in her home is done either by servants or by her long-suffering mother, who excuses her daughter’s lack of interest in home affairs on the ground that her education demands all her time and thought.

What is the result of this system of training?—Girls who are educated; but educated for what? For home making with its domestic duties, for motherhood with its thousand cares?—No, certainly not. The result is girls (if they survive the process of training) who can play on the piano, sing, paint, speak French, but who could not, if their lives depended on it, bake a loaf of good bread, make a frock, or even neatly darn a sock.

There are many who openly admire these new-fashioned girls, but who, down deep in their hearts, cherish a longing for the return of the old-fashioned girls,—the girls who, though perhaps not so brilliant as their sisters, always shed brightness in the home; the girls who, though not so well versed in Latin or French, are well versed in the simple arts of home making. It is all a matter of education and training. Girls cannot be expected to make good wives and mothers unless from earliest childhood they are taught by precept and example the science and art of home making. Sensible mothers will encourage their little daughters to share the responsibilities of the home. They will patiently and lovingly teach them all that is to be known about the proper care of the house, the preparation of wholesome and palatable food, and the making of their own garments.

This instruction will all be given in such a way as to be a pleasure, not a burden, to the little housekeepers. They will be shown exactly how a thing should be done, then encouraged when they fail, or commended when they succeed. Proper recreation will be alternated with work, as “all work and no play” seems to result as unsatisfactorily for his sister as for Jack.

The writer is acquainted with a family of girls who are now in homes of their own, and real, old-fashioned housewives they are. Besides attending to the ordinary household duties, these young women do all their own sewing, from the simplest undergarment to their smartest frocks. “How did you learn to cut and fit and finish so nicely?” was asked. “Oh, we learned it all through dressing our dolls, when little girls at home!” they replied. Their mother was one of those wise teachers who knew how to make her teaching attractive. Each little daughter was given a work-basket, completely furnished, also dainty materials which she was free to use as she wished. With their mother’s help and suggestion, these girls learned to make all sorts of pretty things for their dolls. Then gradually, little by little, they were encouraged to make simple garments for themselves, and then the more complicated ones, until finally they were able to fashion all their own clothing, and they gloried in it.

Every woman who is the mother of daughters should feel it a sacred responsibility to give them, in addition to what is commonly called a “good education,” such a training in domestic sciences as will fit them for the duties of wifehood and motherhood. Daughters thus trained will one day rise up and call their mothers blessed.