LOVE AND GIRLHOOD.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 80, 28 December 1907, Page 11

LOVE AND GIRLHOOD.

Tho subject, of love is ' not sufficiently: dwelt upon-by mothers, with their, girls, says Mrs. Crawford,','the Madge of ,"Truth;" It is'not an. easy matter- to, explain that a tremendous forcft may at' any .'moment take, possession, of tho, girl-uat'ure, the almost irresistible:obsession of tho natural attraction between congenial personalities'. Girls read about, it in poetry and novels, \ aiid form their own vague notions on -the subject. But as the olders novbr mention this huge ' possibility, tho young ones gather the idea that there, is no'.'reality in it, that poots dress tho subject up' to make it suitable for their rhapsodies, ' and that novelists treat, it in an 'exalted-, arid exaggerated manner to.suit the' exigencies of their plot. The .tendency to jest about this groat emotion is to blame for tho disinclination;to discuss it. Tho giggling.of. the schoolgirl with her little scraps of lovo-lbro. decides the mother to leave tho topic till the child is older. But the girl should be prepared'for an experience that may make : or mar her life. Without some, guidance she may make the mistake of eonfounding the very agreeable emotion of gratified vanity for reaJ 10ve.,.0r, uiiknow-

attractive, with plain.or striped paper, but where' the walls' are covered with 'figured paper, plain denims, or linen taffetas are best. • China and raw silk' also make pretty curtains, especially .yellow. There - are many variable uses'for. soda: Dai-open.soda and apply it. to-a bite Or sting of an insect.. Flowers will keep fresh longer if a pinch of soda'is .put. in the-water. A weak solution of'soda mil revive the colour in-a dusty.carpet. A large leaspoonful ot sal-soda wi|l bleach a kettleful of white clothes. Sal-soda is also good for the sink if dissolved. in boiling water. When using old, glass fruit, jirs wash them with soda water , and rinse well in "order to sweeten them. _ A teaspoonful- of-soda added io the water'in which silvers washed will help to ;brighteri it. ' .'. - '■/ ' ■' • • . •- There are; 180,000 - homelesschildren in.: the . United States' growing up' in • institutions,- and there are said to be '2,000,000. ;cluld.less homes,. The editor of;the "Delineator" is trying: to bring some of- the homeless ■ children ' and ■ childless • homes together, by publishing: , portraits ' and-.'short .histories of children who are candidates for. ; adoption. Co-operating in" the"'plan' are- a, number of: women, : .among' them Mrs, irick. Dent Grant,. Mrs.: Clarence Burns, ' founder of the' Little Mothers' Aid Association, ..and Miss 'Mary M!Dow'el], the Chicago' settlement .worker.; . -: ■ 'v. • . Hood's, "Song, of - the-■ Shirt"' is generallv-supposed-to have referred to tragedies'antedating the rise of the sewing , machine, but those who work among'the poor,- both in America and' in Europe, know.. tbat' there is quite . as' -much.' need. to-day. .that poets should, rouse, the conscience'of the twenteith., century: public to do away with-' Conditions. that'.make the sewing -tragedies' of this. age. .'..Tho subject' was-presetted- to the Irtish-House'of- Commons which-appointed ;a Select Committed to- investigate the mat-! ' ter, -and. among .'the- facts brought to' light through-an interview with the: President, of :the - Women's; Trade"'Union : League . was :-a case of a-woman who could only earn 3s. Id. a week by shirt .making;- that! of another who received but' Is.. 3jd. .a dozen and the fact that blue cotton shirts command only. ,63d-; a dozen for the'ma,king.' Such" fig»re!s the ghastly, tales, of misery, -and make it imperative that the girl be trained in. something else thap sewing—something that shall give her a living wage. ' Some of- the leading .Jewish: men and the periodicals devote 1 to the interests of that race are much" concerned over tho marked increa.se in the. number/of intermarriages between Jews and Gentiles in Germany. England, Australia, and the United States. It is authoritatively stated that' in all the countries named, there are thousands of intermarriages solemnised in synagogues,, where. although both parties are of the Jowish faith only one is of the Jewish race. In Such cases. the ; children are seldom lost to Judaism, but' in many additional' cases tho parties marry outside the church and bring up their children in neither Judaism or Christianity. It is this increasing intermarriage that gives the Zionist movement one of . its attractions for those Jews who' wish-to preserve their race as one apart, for they realise that, they are in greater danger now of losing their racial, identity than when they were the despised children 'of the Ghetto..