The Country Girl

Bruce Herald, Volume XXX, Issue 3103, 29 September 1899, Page 7

The Country Girl

[By Observer.] Comparisons are odious, but sometimes they are beneficial if they can be disguised in such a way aa to only suggest themselves. By studying worthy models many natures are led to self-analysis, which, in most cases, produces healthy results. With this in mind, the city girl will pardon me for holdiflg up for he' admiration tbe country girl of our province. The country girl is self-reliant to a remarkable degree. She catches her horse, grooms and saddles it, scorning assistance of any kind with a dexterity quite astonishing in a woman. She rides off to the nearest village, through mud and heavy rain, crossing creeks without a thought, returns with the bundle of necessaries that occasioned the journey, and after refreshing herself with the cheering cup of tea, resumes her labours as it the exertion were nothing. She can row a skiff scroßs the river with any man. She can prepare a dinner with wonderful speed, for 20 unexpected guests. She can take her place in the hayfield, help in the loading of the carte, and, after it all, return to her household duties, apparently none the worse. She is generally accustomed to do for herself whab we suppose only men to be capable of. She has often to chop her own firewood, to carry the water required i« the household from the creek which flows two or three hundred feet down below the house, to take her trashing to and from that same creek, to milk the cows, to make the butter, bake the bread —in fact, do more than woman's share of downright hard labor. Small wonder, then, that she is selfreliant! She has had to work ever since she can remember, and to cook for the men of the house without any thought of a woman's rights, much less of woman's rest. She is unselfish from the same training. She has to take what horse she can get, if any, and see her brothers ride off on Saturday afternoons or Sunday, proud of their horseflesh, while she remains at home to make a batch of bread and cake for their tea. She contents herself with a saddle that threatens to come to pieces, while they scoop 6he profits of the farm, and buy new horse-gear. Sbe has just what education Bhe could get from attending the small school four of five miles distant until she was 13 or 14 years of age, and for literature she is dependent on the weekly newspaper, which comes to her

after those of the sterner sex have finished vith it; She is very oiten ignorant of the world bat how can she be otherwise? She haß little time or opportunity to read, less to visit other people, still less to converse with people who know more than herself. But she as often shows a capability for learning that wastes for the want of scope. She ia endowed; with the gift of perseverance, which enables her to do such things as her town cousin never dreams of. She will chase a refractory horse : over burnt bush land and: fallen trunks ; for two hours, and, finally succeeded in °apturing him, will then, mid-summer heat notwithstanding, think it worth her while to ride, knowing that extra work awaits her on her return. She will churn butter when the heat of the 6uh makes her toil seem unending, and finally she will carry it, churn and all, to the creek and turn and tarn until the butter, soft and unsatisfactory, is forced to " come." She possesses that common sense which enables her to perform duties which seem inevitable, and to stoic illy abstain from the thought of recreation, and she accepts c he "commoad round, the daily task," and does her work unflinchingly, jus* because it has to be done, and she is accustomed to the doing of it. She is an excellent daughter, for she generally takes upon herself the onus of the ' housekeeping. She is undemonstrative, for by sheer hard work she has trained herself to waste as little time as poaaible, and her affliction, when she does think of it, is of a practical kind. She is, for this very reserve, deprived of many pleasures which another gir' would demand and obtain. Though a silent one, Bhe is certainly a power in the house, and when the time comes for her to toil for another, her parents will miss her sorely, for she is their " right hand." She is not usually ambitious. She would like more comfortable surroundings, but i time flies so quickly that she defers this pleasure; She is the soul of generosity to her friends, and will work like a slave to make that friend's visitors happy and bright as possible. She is happy and good-tempered, too ; and by the very cheerfulness with which she performs her numerous tasks, the country mouse often sends her visitor away with new resolves. She is as thoughtful and as considerate for the comfort of the latter girl as she xs un. yielding in refusing to accept her help. She admires the city girl, and loves her for her dainty ways ; but without deprecating her usefulness, she nevei expects to see her come down from her pretty fragility to honest, useful toil. Sbe delights in the possession of shelves well stocked with household provißiooß. This country girl has her romance, too ; but even in that she, so j to speak, keeps her head. j Temptation to marry a ne'er-do- well> perhaps does not come in her way Howe'er that be, she generally chooses wkely, not for a handsome face and figure, not for wealth, for that is very seldom found in the province, but for [ sturdy, robust strength, and inclination for work. Certainly, she has sometimes desires of mairying whom she terms a gentleman, in order to Bhine above her less fortunate (?) neighbors. But this is the natural result of isolation ; and wheu the honest farmer wooe3, she very easily lets the dream die away ; and, again accepting the inevitable, she takes pity on her rustic lover, and consents to toil for him, and make his home. The lion'a share of the toil certainly will fall to her ; he will work perhaps 10, she 16, out of the 24 hours. On her will devolve the upbringing and clothing of his children 5 but it will be done with the kindest and most motherly heart in existence. Her hands may be roughened by toil ; her facfe may be tanned with exposure ; her clothes may be unpretending ; but the heart that beats with love and duty is hera ; and the genial welcome shining from the kind eyes is worth a king's ransom. — * Auckland Herald.'