AUGUST 



403 



God, as trials to be accepted with resignation rather 

 than difficulties to be fought against and overcome, and 

 if possible provided against beforehand. ' Sufficient unto 

 the day is the evil thereof ' is a saying that has, / think, 

 been twisted into many senses never intended. 



Advice, however, may be offered too young and bear 

 no fruit. I once heard a kind grandmother preaching un- 

 selfishness to a little boy of four or five : ' No one loves 

 selfish people ; you won't be happy if you are selfish.' 

 And he, the rosy-faced little rascal, looked up and said 

 earnestly : ' Oh ! but, gran, that is not quite true ; for I 

 am so selfish and so happy ! ' 



Many mothers prefer to remain in ignorance rather 

 than find out that the tastes and views of their daughters 

 are different from their own. If, as is sometimes thought, 

 this difference is greater now than it used to be, I cling 

 to my opinion that it is largely due to sending girls 

 away from home for educational purposes. Freedom 

 and a good education have many advantages, but the 

 corresponding disadvantages should be faced when the 

 plan is originally decided upon. 



Some years ago there came out a book, ' Le Journal 

 de Marie Bashkirtseff,' which made a considerable sensa- 

 tion at the time, and raised so far as I could judge a 

 good deal of anger and irritation amongst English mothers 

 of the day. It was accused of being strained, exaggerated, 

 and morbid ; and so perhaps it is. One accusation, I 

 believe, was true that the heroine made herself two years 

 younger than she really was, i.e. she begins the journal 

 nominally at the age of twelve, whereas she was really 

 fourteen. In spite of its faults I believe this book will 

 remain for all time a most useful introduction to the 

 knowledge of that strange being a young girl, say, from 

 sixteen to twenty-one. Its exaggeration is that of a 

 microscope, which reveals Nature without distorting it. 



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