finds herself easily elated and easily depressed. She has moods she
cannot understand or manage, and vague yearnings after she knows not
what. Sometimes she will give way to outbreaks of temper, and
afterwards feel acutely ashamed. Other people say of her that she is
"difficult" or wayward, or trying; and she knows it herself better than
any of them. Sometimes she is irritable. Sometimes she will hear
herself saying things she never meant to say, and will wonder
afterwards why she did it. In society she often feels shy, awkward, and
self-conscious, and then will hate herself for being like
that. She may try an assumed boldness of manner to hide her shyness,
and yet that plan is not a great success. She has longings for the
society of others, and then having found social intercourse difficult,
is tempted to withdraw into herself. She is very easily wounded in her
affections, and often suffers from the effect of little slights of
which the authors are quite unconscious. On some days she will feel
that the world is a wonderful and splendid place, and life a glorious
delight. And then on others life will seem mysterious and puzzling, and
the world cruel and hard. She understands with painful clearness what
Robert Louis Stevenson meant when he talked about "the coiled
perplexities of youth."

It is during these years that girls wake up to the attraction of men,
and yet they find that relations with men are difficult things to
manage. The conventions of society often seem quite senseless, and yet
the policy of defying them does not turn out well. And so, as I have
said, this is a difficult period for many girls.

It is true that many get through it very happily. They may have good
health, happy homes, plenty of good friends, and many interests. For
them it is a time of adventure, romance, and vivid joy. They correspond