THE OLD-FASHIONED GIRL.
By Bishop Cosgrove
SHE was a little girl until she was fifteen years old, and then she helped her mother in her household duties. She had her hours to play, and enjoyed herself to the fullest extent. She never said to her mother, "I don't want to," for obedience was to her a cherished virtue. She arose in the morning when she was called, and we do not suppose she had her hair done up in curling papers and crimping pins, or banged over her forehead. She did not grow into a young lady and talk about her beau before she was in her teens, and she did not read dime novels, nor was she fancying a hero in every boy she met. The old-fashioned girl was modest in her demeanor, and she never talked slang nor used by-words. She did not laugh at old people nor make fun of cripples. She had respect for her elders, and was not above listening to words of counsel from those older than herself. She did not know as much as her mother, nor did she think her judgment was as good as that of her grandmother. She did not go to parties by the time she was ten years old and stay till after midnight, dancing with chance young men who happened to be present. She went to bed in season, and doubtless she said her prayers and slept the sleep of innocence, rose in the morning happy and capable of giving happiness. And now, if there is an old-fashioned girl in the world to-day, may Heaven bless and keep her and raise up others like her.—Bishop Cosgrove.