You ought to be more familiar with Nature,--the sky, and trees, and
fields; not always to have a scientific knowledge of it, but a certain
familiarity, so that you may ever be surrounded by a glorious company
of friends. You need to know the value of literature, and to adorn
yourselves with the graces of conversation.

Those qualities which contribute most to womanhood and character you
should be most eager to make your own.

May I talk with you about such subjects as may suggest ways of educating
your minds, of benefiting your bodies, and of helping, in some little
measure, towards that growth of soul which should be the aim of all
instruction?




I.

HOW TO TALK.


I saw a group of girls the other day bidding one another good-by after
a year together at boarding-school. It was the merriest, most sparkling,
set of people!--girls in every sense!--bobbing about, kissing, tuning
their voices in all sorts of keys, with apparently not one care nor
the shadow of an unpleasant memory! How I longed to get right in among
them, and be hugged with the rest! though the hugging came along with
armfuls of umbrellas, bags, hats, rackets, and whatever else would
not go into the last inch of trunk. Pretty dresses, jaunty hats, tidy