Yes, indeed! there is something charming in a girl simply because she
is a girl. It is in the ring of her laugh, in her irony, in her
frankness or her coyness, in the way she does the commonest things,--
puts on her scarf, or catches hold of your arm,--things that only too
soon disappear in conventionalities, ceremonies, and proprieties. But
there is no need of this change as concerns much that is now called only
girlish. The womanly element is the main quality to be nourished into
greater perfection, but only the weakness of girlishness is to be
excluded from character. Girls are to grow wiser, and to avoid what must
bring harm, but still to keep the attractive freshness of maidenhood.
Some of the most delightful women we meet are those who can be girls
with girls, and women with women. The young do not lose their respect
for them because they appreciate them, nor do elders lessen their regard
for these women because they have kept the loveliness of girlhood.
Girls, I am not trying to defend you: your girlhood needs no such
effort; but I do want to make you all feel that the very sweetness
of your natures, the loveliness of your lives and conduct, your
attractive grace, which ought to strengthen with years and become
something more than beautiful,--become divine,--is womanliness.
God did not make all the girls beautiful, strong, or intellectual;
but He did make them all capable of becoming womanly.
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