There is a very brief prayer which every misunderstood girl might well
pray daily, "Help us to understand as we long to be understood."




VI

THE INDIFFERENT GIRL


Until she has entered upon her teens the attitude of the "don't-care" is
rare with the average girl. She either heartily approves or frankly
disapproves of those things that cross her path or claim her attention.
But with the coming of the teens those closely associated with the girl
often become conscious of the loss of that spontaneous response which
has made her such a delight. The teacher is puzzled by this change,
wonders if she has offended the girl, redoubles her efforts to make the
lesson interesting and seeks to win the girl's confidence. Sometimes her
efforts are rewarded by renewed interest but often the attitude of
indifference persists. The girl's mother feels keenly the change in her
once expressive, often demonstrative child, eager to talk and anxious to
join in everything, and says in a tone of condemnation that she cannot
understand her daughter.

The presence, in a class of ten or twelve girls, of even one indifferent
girl, or the presence in the schoolroom of three or four such girls,
chills the enthusiasm of the teacher and the class. Such a girl is a
"wet blanket," she is a cloud steal-in across the sun on a glorious
morning. Her indifference is contagious. She changes the atmosphere. If