Girls of To-day.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 838, 23 March 1888, Page 5

Girls of To-day.

Match-making mothers and anxious chaperons groan and moan together, on the subject of modern young men and their disgraceful selfishness in choosing so often a bachelor’s life. ‘ There are no marrying men now-a-days,’ they say ; ‘ ah ! it was very different in our young days !’ The truth of the matter is that modern young men cannot afford to marry, and in a great measure this is the fault of modern young women. Girls are brought up uselessly, taught a few accomplishments, and encouraged in extravagant notions in the way of dress and housekeeping, that render them absolutely unfit for the serious business of life. I am no advocate for the platform existence of the ordinary strong-minded woman, nor have I the slightest sympathy with the so-called * shriekiug sisterhood,’ who would force themselves before the public notice, and strive to elbow their Way into places only fit to be filled by men. My theory is that a woman should work, and work for fair pay, but only when she can do so without losing any of that gentle tenderness and that true modesty and self-depreciation which add the greatest charm to a sympathetic woman’s nature. The parents themselves have been hitherto to blame, but I earnestly appeal to the daughters now to change all this. Try to do something, my dear girls, no matter what, well enough to be able to earn money for your work, should occasion require. Just' realise what your position will be if gentlewomen such as you are, well bred and well educated, have to live on your rich relations. You will have to spend your time, perhaps, in one long round of visits ; but you will feel terribly humiliated, if you have a grain of pride left in your composition, by the knowledge of the fact that you are fed, entertained > and possibly clothed out of charity. You may be living now in a comfortable home, but life is full of terrible possibilities. Tomorrow you may be absolutely penniless, or, worse still, you may be left with others looking to you for support. Such things have happened, and will happen again. What can you do ? You can play a little, but not well enough to get a good price forgiving music lessons. You can sing, too, but your voioe is untrained, and no one will give you a concert engagement. Possibly you draw and paint also *a little,’ well enough to send respectable Christmas cards to your friends, but you have no accurate knowledge of freehand or perspective, and your artistic talent has no money value. You can speak French and German intelligibly, but your grammar is too shaky and your knowledge far too superficial for you to earn a shilling as a professional translator. So on through every branch of work you are only an amateur, you see, where you should have been a professional.—From The Lady’s World.