Stray Thoughts for Girls

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Stray Thoughts for Girls

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Soulsby
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Title: Stray Thoughts for Girls
Author: Lucy H. M. Soulsby
Release Date: January 13, 2005 [eBook #14679]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK STRAY
THOUGHTS FOR GIRLS***
E-text prepared by Clare Boothby, Diane Monico, and the Project
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STRAY THOUGHTS FOR GIRLS

by
L. H. M. SOULSBY
"I sing the Obsolete"
New and Enlarged Edition
Longmans, Green, and Co. 39 Paternoster Row, London New York and
Bombay
1903

DEDICATED TO
GIRLS AT THE "AWKWARD AGE."
"An unlessoned girl, unschool'd, unpractis'd, Happy in this, she is not
yet so old But she may learn."

PREFACE
What is the awkward age?
Certainly not any special number of years. It is most frequently found
between the ages of thirteen and twenty-seven, but some girls never go
through it, and some never emerge from it!
I should be inclined to define it as the age during which girls are
asked--and cannot answer--varying forms of the question which so
embarrassed the Ugly Duckling: "Can you purr--can you lay eggs?"
Most girls on growing up pass through an uncomfortable stage like this,
in which neither they nor their friends quite know what niche in life
they can best fill--sometimes, because of their own undisciplined
characters; sometimes, because the niche itself seems to be lacking.

Whether this stage be their misfortune or their fault, it is an unpleasant
one--both for themselves and for their friends. With much sympathy for
both, I dedicate these few suggestions to my known and unknown
friends who are passing through it.
L. H. M. SOULSBY. OXFORD, April 4, 1893.

PREFACE TO NEW EDITION
In bringing out a new edition, the book has been enlarged by adding
papers on "Making Plans," "Conversation," "Get up, M. le Comte!"
"Sunday," and "A good Time;" "Coming out" has been omitted, and
"Friendship and Love" somewhat altered. The present form has been
adopted in order to make it match the other volumes of "Stray
Thoughts."
L. H. M. SOULSBY. BRONDESBURY, Nov. 23, 1903.

CONTENTS
LINES WRITTEN ON BEING TOLD THAT A LADY WAS "PLAIN
AND COMMONPLACE"
THE VIRTUOUS WOMAN
MAKING PLANS
CONVERSATION
AUNT RACHEL; OR, OLD MAIDS' CHILDREN
"GET UP, M. LE COMTE!"
A FRIDAY LESSON
A HOME ART; OR, MOTHERS AND DAUGHTERS

ESPRIT DE CORPS
ROUGH NOTES OF A LESSON
HOLIDAYS
SUNDAY
FRIENDSHIP AND LOVE
A GOOD TIME

"The Sweet, Sweet Love of Daughter,
"I have discovered a thing very little known, which is, that in one's
whole life one can never have more than a single mother. You may
think this obvious and (what you call) a trite observation.... You are a
green gosling! I was at the same age (very near) as wise as you, and yet
I never discovered this (with full evidence and conviction, I mean) till
it was too late."--_Gray's Letters_.
"of Sister,
"The Blessing of my later years Was with me when a Boy She gave me
eyes, she gave me ears, And love, and thought, and joy." Wordsworth.
"and of Wife."
"The thousand still sweet joys of such As hand in hand face earthly
life." M. Arnold.
"I desired to make her my wife, knowing that she would be a counsellor
of good things, and a comfort in cares and grief. For her conversation
hath no bitterness; and to live with her hath no sorrow, but mirth and
joy."--Wisdom of Solomon.

LINES
WRITTEN ON BEING TOLD THAT A LADY WAS "PLAIN AND
COMMONPLACE."
You say that my love is plain, But that I can never allow When I look
at the thought for others That is written on her brow.
The eyes are not fine, I own, She has not a well-cut nose, But a smile
for others' pleasures And a sigh for others' woes:
Quick to perceive a want, Quicker to set it right, Quickest in
overlooking Injury, wrong, or slight.
Nothing to say for herself, That is the fault you find! Hark to her words
to the children, Cheery and bright and kind.
Hark to her words to the sick, Look at her patient ways; Every word she
utters Speaks to the speaker's praise.
"Nothing to say for herself," Yes! right, most right, you are, But plenty
to say for others, And that is better by far.
Purity, truth, and love, Are they such common things? If hers were