Show SCHOOL GIRLS h and BIRTHDAYS I 1 BY MARGARET ET E SANGSTER AN I Speaking of birthdays do you re how proud you were on the day when you slipped out of 12 into 13 That was a real mIlestone on the road and you felt a good deal taller and mych much more important when you were fairly in the teens than you did didin didin in the first dozen years ears of your life Then when 16 came and three more of the wonderful white mIlestones had been passed you were agaIn in a different world Girlhood has many phases and changes and is altogether a most InterestIng and fascinating pe perIod nod both to those who stand by and watch atch It and to th those se who are in the midst of its pleasant time I suppose that you have a birthday book Every girl should have one so that she may keep In mind the birth birthdays days das of the dear people at home of frIends chums and every everybody everybody body in whom she has some measure of interest It does not so mu much h mat matter matter ter what the name of the particular birthday book is but it should have havea a sentiment in prose or verse for every everyday everyday day in the year and a blank space un under under der each date where names of friends may be written Nothing gives more pleasure to a friend at a distance than to receive a letter lette from Bessie of on the morning of a birthday a letter carrying good wishes a message of cheer and an assurance of love If Wilhelmina In South Dakota on a ranch ten miles from a neighbor have dropped into her lap on the morning of her fifteenth birthday a letter from Caroline in Tennessee containing a pressed flower a book bookmark bookmark mark or merely four pages of merry chat her heart will glow with new warmth the livelong day She will know that Caroline took trouble for her and that she went to the post postoffice postoffice office and found out precisely how many days it would take for her let letter letter ter to r reach h its destination Caroline living hing in a village with neighbors close by could hardly apprecIate how lonely Wilhelmina sometimes felt but she had brIdged over the space be between between tween by her word in season C Does there happen to be among your acquaintances a girl whom everybody loves or a girl who has few relatives and is far from ho hope e or a girl who ho hois is tired and droopIng or still another shut in by illness and compelled to sit still by the hour instead of going about as you do at her own sweet will Anyone Any one of these girls would be made Extremely happy if her class classmates classmates mates or her friends should send her a birthday shower Suppose you OU begin to plan it two or three weeks in ad advance advance vance of the date You will then choose the place where the shower is isto isto to be given If at the girls own home her frIends will meet there and take her b by surprise although they will be wise if they give a hint to her mother or older sIster as to their intention Surprises may fall on a household at an inconvenient moment arid and it is generally better to take the head of the family into confidence before pro proceeding proceeding with them The girl herself may be kept very properly in ignorance ignorance ance of the compliment that Is to be paid her Brides often have showers of linen or chIna before their wedding days but I see no reason why other people may not hJ hive ve showers too Yours to your friend who has a birth birthday birthday day may include plants photographs flowers in bloom books bon benz bons or oran an anything thing else that you ou choose to bring and the greater the variety the themore themore more pleasing the occa occasion ion will be beA beA A girl I knew had a birthday show shower er given her and years ears after it look looking lug ing over a box of souvenirs she found among other little thIngs that had been put away a bIt of cardboard with witha a Latin motto worked in steel beads and stitched carefully to a piece of white hite satin rIbbon The girl who had I worked it for her w ws s by that time on the other side of the globe and they h hd d not seen or heard from one an another another other in a long time but the motto with ith its quaint me message sage of unchanging ing love Jove was precious to her who ho had put it away in her box of treasures I while she was yet In her teens I S S S You will not think that I am preach preachIng preachIng Ing will you if I hint that each bIrth bIrthday birthday day should mark a definite advance in wisdom and knowledge dge and find us better fitted to help helD one another than we were ere a year ago LIttle things make UD tip the sum of our lives If weare We Weare are fretful and cross easily disturbed and quIck to resent grievances we shall be hard to get on with trouble troubleS S me to ourselves and disagreeable to i I our friends There are girls who are charming away from home but very inconsIderate ate and Irritable with those they love bE best t Every birthday should enable us to be more and more gentle and lovable than we used to be beIn beIn In a 8 household I know there are three sisters Louise is unselfish and lovely Betty is preoccupied with her own af affairs affairs fairs and sees everything from her own point of view Maria is partially an In Invalid invalid valid and is what her mother calls fractiOus The last expressIon means a good deal to me It shows me that Marias disposItion is to break the peace around her instead of preservIng it as a perfect whole LouIse is the darling of this trio Hannah More Mori a writer very popular In her da day but at present al almost ost for forgotten forgotten gotten wrote S a bit of verse that fits In to my birthday talk Since trines trifles make the sum of human things And half our misery from our foibles springs Since lifes best joys jOs consist of peAce and aDd ease eaB And though but few can serve yet ct all allcan allcan can please Oh let Jet the ungentle spirit learn from hence bence A small unkindness is a 8 great offense Another bit of adv e may be par pardoned pardoned I have been m homes where a great deal of attention was paid to Susies and Tennys Jennys birthdays but whatever made of the birth birthdays birthdays days of Tom and Dick Boys care just as much about love and happy times at home as girls do and sisters should look Jook out for their brothers and their bIrthdays rs days Then father and mother who are always thinking and planning for you and making sacrifices that you may maybe maybe be well educated well dressed and able to go here and there for visits and journeys should be remembered by their juniors On fathers birthday see that there is an extra touch on the table tabla a flower besIde his plate and anda a little gift from everyone every one As for mother too much cannot be d done ne for her since she Is the good angel of 4 her childrens lives It If there are old people in the house do somethIng ex extra extra tra for them on their birthdays The sum of the matter is thIs a birthday is a golden opportunity to tomake tomake make somebody happy and to take a afresh afresh fresh start in unselfish behavior on on your own part Copyright 1906 by Joseph B Bowles |