THE HAPPY MEDIUM.

Mataura Ensign, Issue 1036, 22 May 1902, Page 3

THE HAPPY MEDIUM.

la th~B iuatter of domesticity, the tnmir < r tills to do is to hit off the bnppy me»n. Uu i ..s one hand I hey should aveid bccomiuc iue < f •; e extreme class of domestic girl, who Lt» pot a soul above paddings, whose fingers; »h.» generally a trsce of flour, and wheso favouritfl light reading is recipes. She has bnen sketcbt d for ns pleasantly : She isn't versed in Latin, she doesn-c paint on satis. She doesn't understand the artful witchery ot eyes; Bat, oh ! sore, 'tis true aid certain she is very pat and put in Arranging the component parts of luscious pumpkin pies. She cannot solve ot twist 'em,viz.,the planetary system ; Shu cannot tell a Venus from a Saturn in the skies ; But you ought to see her grapple with the fruit that's known as apple. And arrive at quick conclusions when she tackles toothsome pies. She conld nut write a sonnet, and she couldn't trim a bonnet, She isn't very bookish in her letters of rrplirs; But she's much at home—on, very—when she takes the juicy berry And manipulates quite skilfully symposia in pies. Agaiu, they should net emulate the girl at the other end of the scale. Here is her portrait : She can talk on evolution ; She can proffer a solution For each problem that besets the modern brain She can punish old Beethoven, Or she dallies with l)e Kovon, Till the neighbours tile petitions and complain. She can paiut a crimson cowboy, Or a purple madder ploughboy That you do not comprehend, but mutt admire, Aud in exercise athletic It is really quito pathetic To behold the youog men round b»r droop and tire. She is up io mathematics, Engineering, hydrostatics, In debate with Ler tor quarter you will beg, She has every trait that's charmiug, With au intellect alarming ; Yet she cannot, ob, she cannot, fry an egg ; It is a mistake to imagine that the dement io girl cannot be Bmart. She can turn herself nut as bewitchingly as anybody,and the same diverness that goes into her delicious entrees, i:apilui sauces,aud truly lovely afternoon te«-eake.« concerns itself with the ripples of her coili'ure, the correct tilt of ber hat, and the deft Fall of he; skirt. The domestic girl need be neither plain, nor dowdy. Pleuly of exercise and the let linj. that she is of use in the world brighten her eye;, keep her complexion clear, and give her thut air of lightheadedness that should, but does not always, characterise a girl. How uiiddlL-agid is the expression that some ot them wear i Botb boys and girls in their early twenties have occasionally this elderly look.