Various

“ Jack was silent—thinking.
“And there is that French girl—whom Roy is so fond of—always with them as one of themselves—always near Captain Ivor.”
“But trust him still, Polly dear,” urged Jack. “I cannot know, neither can you, how things are yet awhile; only I do truly believe that Ivor is no man to change, or to be fickle in his likings. Whether you write or do not write, trust him still.” ”

“ I’m sorry, of course, if he has to wear spectacles, because they are unbecoming, but I’m thankful he is not going to be a soldier. I think it’s silly having nothing to do but drill in barracks, and pretending to fight when there is no one to fight with. I should hate to be a soldier in times of peace, and it would be fifty thousand times worse in war. Oh, my goodness, shouldn’t I be in a fright! I should run away, I know I should; but Arthur would be in the front of every battle, and it’s absurd to think that he would not get killed. You know what Arthur is! ”

“ There is no idealising at all here. John Moore, actually and literally, without any varnishing, less than one hundred years ago, loved and decided thus, thought and acted and was the same that I have tried, however ineffectively, to picture for the present generation.
Such a story of one in the first decade of the nineteenth century may well serve as an inspiration in unselfishness for those who live in the last decade of the same century. The grandeur of this man was that he thought always of others before himself—that he lived for Duty. ”

“ There is, mother, but a sad future for that girl who is ashamed to soil her fingers by doing honest work, or ashamed to wear a thimble and wield woman’s real weapon—the needle.
But it is not natural for girls to hate work. Do they not make the best of nurses, for instance, and the most gentle-handed? ”

“ The value of health to any of us, whether old or young, cannot well be over-estimated. It is not, mind you, mater, that a deviation from its paths may lead to death. Indeed, many times and oft it would be far better if it did so directly. Instead of that, however, it may be, in girlhood, but the prelude to a long life of untold misery and wretchedness. Indeed, an ailing girl can never be anything save an object of pity. ”

“ The young lady who would not demean herself—there is really no demeanment about it—by doing cookery or kitchen work in her own house often comes out strong in wayside camp or caravan. She gets up to things as if guided by instinct, can light fires, cook plain nutritious meals, lay them out prettily, and clear up afterwards with most amiable and sweet-tempered dexterity, and, when all is over, will take guitar or mandoline and accompany your violin as if to the gipsy-manner born. ”

“ It’s such a rest to get away from one’s housekeeping and one’s children and one’s callers! I can assure you I’m a very busy woman, Lucy,” she laughed, “though I see by your face that you don’t believe it. I might well envy you your nice homely little house, with only Pollie to control. Why, our table decorations alone are a perpetual worry, and the cook’s temper is awful. Ta-ta! Don’t bring Charlie to see us till I am sure to be back at home.” ”

“ Yet there is another side to the question, which must not be ignored. Grandly as Moore acted, in obedience to his own convictions, it may well be that he made a mistake here. His very unselfishness and humility, both of which are an example for us, may none the less have led him into a course of action which, while one admires it, one dares not hold up for general imitation.
For it is, to say the least, conceivable that Caroline Fox might herself have been by that time deeply in love with Moore—that already the happiness of her whole life might have hung upon his speaking. ”

“ The last was rattling good.’”
“Is that the end?” asked Marion.
“I should think so, and quite enough, indeed,” said Jane. “The impudence of those two boys to wind up by calmly asking for another cake! Why, it is not a month since we sent them one.”
“Well, Marion did,” said Ada; “I don’t know that you and I had much to do with it. I think the hint is to us this time.”
“Well,” returned Jane magnanimously, “I was young once myself, so I forgive the young people. They shall have their cake and eat it,” she added, with the air of quoting a proverb. ”

“ If charity and love for all who suffer life cannot be taught by the mother or by a good nurse, then never in this world can a child or girl be truly happy or truly healthy. For a sour and uncharitable soul always goes hand in hand with a nervous or puny body. ”

“ Nature not only hates a vacuum, but she is fond of evenness of surface both as regards the material world and as regards the immaterial. Nature even levels the mountains, or is gradually doing so, and fashion is a tool of hers. ”

“ However, I have no doubt that a good deal of a girl’s willingness to work in this way, depends upon the novelty and romance of her surroundings, and very much also on the fact that she is breathing the purest air that can blow through dell or den, or balmy forest of pine, or from the mountains themselves that God built long before he made the poor puny microbe man. ”

“ But if Charlie is so weak and so unfit to take care of himself, it’s a bad outlook for you, poor dear, and you are worn to a thread paper already.”
“Won’t you turn back with me, and have a cup of tea with us?” invited the younger lady.
“No, thanks,” said Mrs. Brand. “Mr. Brand does not like me to be out alone after dark, and already it will be dark before I get home. No, never mind; I’ve heard how Charlie is and I’ve seen you and the boy, and, by the way, Lucy, through having been left so much with Pollie, I do believe little Hugh is catching her horrid Essex accent.” ”

“ It’s all over; I can never be a soldier. I’m plucked—plucked—plucked!”
“Arthur dear! Arthur darling!” cried Peggy loudly. She clasped her arms round his neck, and glared over his shoulder, like a tigress whose young has been threatened with danger. “You plucked! My brother plucked! Ho! ho! ho!” She gave a shrill peal of laughter. “It’s impossible! You were first of all, the very first. You always are first. Who was wicked enough, and cruel enough, and false enough to say that Arthur Saville was plucked in an examination?”
“Arthur, my boy, what is it? ”

“ I had never thought of anything else but being a soldier, you see, and it’s a strange experience to have to face life afresh, with everything that you had expected taken out of it, and nothing ahead but blankness and disappointment. I’ve been so strong too—as strong as a horse. ”

“ On the eventful day Jane had nothing to dish up that was hot, so behold her dressed in her best, welcoming the guests in the sitting-room, which she had decked with sweet April primroses, and which looked its brightest. The table was laid for lunch, and in the kitchen Ada was even now frying the soles and Marion dishing the veal. In a few minutes they took off their large aprons, gave the beaming Abigail a few last directions, and joined the party.
Abigail’s abilities had developed greatly of late, and she was fast becoming an intelligent waitress. ”

“ They paused in their talk, for Pollie came into the room to remove the tea-things.
“Did you tell her anything of your plans?” asked Charlie, motioning his head towards the door as the maid closed it behind her.
“Certainly not,” Lucy answered. “Is it likely I would tell her of my schemes before you heard them? What makes you ask such a question?”
“Because she looks so solemn and constrained,” he answered, “as people do when they know something important is in the air.” ”

“ So, in the course of a few decades, we shall have little reason to be proud of our “upper ten.” But a true and pure aristocracy may yet arise in this country from the ashes of the fading and effete present. Nothing but wisdom, knowledge and health can support this.
Well, every mater who wishes her girls to grow up happy and healthy, as they ought to be, has much to do and much to think about.
It cannot be too strongly impressed upon a mother’s mind that the first portion of a child’s education is begun in the nursery. ”

“ Vernon was dining out that evening, the butcher had been dismissed without orders. Economy was a stern necessity to Nellie, whose housekeeping allowance was not unlimited.
Accustomed to making “something out of nothing,” the cold remnants did not look as hopeless to her as they might to some young housekeepers. A cold whiting, the badly-roasted mutton, and a bowl containing about half a pint of tomato sauce, represented absolute riches to Nellie’s mind at that moment, and she quickly collected her materials and set to work in the kitchen. ”

“ This idleness means an open empty mind; and parents may rest assured that, as Nature abhors a vacuum, girls are not very old before they get such minds filled with thoughts and silly aspirations that tend neither to the development of a healthy body nor a wholesome mind. Young girls who have nothing to do build themselves castles in the air and people them with inmates that they themselves are heartily ashamed of. ”

“ The sun may shine, but it shines not for her. She is unable thoroughly to enjoy anything. There are times when her very soul seems darkened, and when even spiritual comfort brings no season of relief or even forgetfulness. ”

“ There’s Sir Arthur Wellesley in command of one army gone to Spain, and Sir John till now in command of another, and both of ’em to be under Sir Hew Dalrymple when he can get to Portugal, and till he does, Sir Harry Burrard is to act for him. Moore—the foremost and most brilliant officer England has ever owned—to be under Burrard and Dalrymple! Has the world gone crazed? ”

“ Many a lady in society pretends to love both, who knows nothing about either.
But, taking Gray as an example of a true and simple poet, whose lines you can read without racking your brain in wondering what the poet means, is there not, think you, a deal of truth in the verse that heads this paper?
From work many a girl wins light spirits. Work I mean, not the slavery which, alas! is far too often the lot of poor shop lassies and seamstresses, for whom my heart does bleed. Work versus sauntering idleness. ”

“ Then something moving at the French window opening on the verandah caught her eye. This was a maid-servant with a little child, and the lady, nodding with greater energy and kissing her hand, hurried on her way.
She had a light, swift step, and a bright mobile face. But it bore a strain of repressed, intense emotion scarcely to be understood in a pretty young woman with a houseful of living treasures. ”

“ But I note that a real genuine young lady is invariably natural and never ashamed to do work that, a “wretched, unidea’d girl” would deem infra dignitatem. I think that this is lovely.
“’Pon honour,” as old military men used to say, I’ve had earls’ or baronets’ daughters in my caravan while gipsying, who have begged of me to permit them to do something for me, and they have hemmed my wind-ravelled curtains, stitched my blinds, filled my pin-cushions—ay, and some would have darned my socks for me, had I permitted them! ”

“ Money will purchase a wife like this, and, though marriage may change her and love may come after, the man who has her has speculated on the off-chance. And now that wax dolls can be manufactured that can both talk and walk, it seems to me that the man might have done better with his money. But, thank goodness, the majority of men prefer the genuine, well-reared, healthy girl, and the girl that has a heart. ”

“ But love is still a great factor—nay, the very greatest—in this life, and, if that love be real, oh, there is nothing it cannot do!
I must, as a medical man, go a little farther, and tell the mater something that no scientist will venture to deny. It is this: a loveless or commercial marriage is not only followed by a senseless and dreary monotonous life, but children born in such wedlock are never truly healthy in body, and very often they are defective in mental qualifications, that is, in brain power. ”

“ Mr. Vernon, perhaps for the first time, realised what a treasure he possessed in one who, at such short notice, could provide a luxurious meal, and have house, servant, herself and her little brothers, looking the pink of neatness to do honour to any friend of his.
Possibly Mr. Laurence was clever enough to read between the lines, for the lawyer’s modest circumstances were well known; at any rate, the luncheon-party, which Nellie triumphantly assured her father had only necessitated the outlay of four shillings, was the means of introducing the Squire of Templemeade to his future wife. ”

“ But nevertheless I like to see a volume of poetry in a girl’s hand, and some of our older poets really teach us many a lesson, and these alas! are far too much neglected. Fashions, even in poetry, change as well as in music. ”

“ It is always a difficult matter to decide from two or three specimens whether a girl should “give up writing altogether.” We cannot, however, say that there are indications here of poetic merit so great as to afford you the hope she may one day become a poet. ”

“ Work does give exhilaration of spirits and enables a girl truly to enjoy recreation and outdoor exercise, and, moreover, the busy day results in calm refreshing sleep at night.
Without sleep, without perfect exercise, ventilation of rooms and fresh air everywhere, no girl can grow up happy and healthful. ”