Beautiful Girlhood compiled by Debra Maffett

obedient, kind, and thoughtful — then she is a constant comfort. But if she
is always contending and arguing, speaking up in a brash manner when she
is crossed, or scolding and quarreling with the younger children — then she
makes home almost unbearable. If she has a separate set of manners for her
own family, from what she uses when with company with her friends —
then she is a constant disappointment. I never like the blank look that a
mother's face takes, when someone commends the gentle kindness of a
daughter of this type. She does not wish to lower her daughter in her
friend's estimation, nor can she heartily agree as to her daughter's
kindness.
A girl should have her full share of responsibility in the home. She should
go about her work willingly — not as if it were an irksome duty which she
was ill-disposed to perform. She should count herself one of the family, one
of the children, having only equal rights and privileges with the rest.
A girl and her father should be good friends. Too often this is not the case
— but they live lives entirely apart from each other in interest and
enjoyment. This is not always altogether the girl's fault — but it is a
condition she can remedy to a great extent by a little thoughtful kindness.
Father very often has been too busy to keep acquainted with his growing
daughters, and finds them rather out of his range. They seem as
much strangers to him, as are their young friends whom he meets in the
home. He thinks they do not care to have him around, and takes himself off
to his room or chair or on the porch, and leaves them to themselves.
One girl who found herself thus a stranger to her father, formed the habit
of going to meet him each evening at the door when he came home; and
when she could she was at his office, so that they might walk the whole way
home together. It was only a little while until this homecoming was the
happiest part of both their days, and many loving confidences were
exchanged, which would never have been possible without her first step.
Another family had the "father's hour," as they called it, the first hour after
supper, and both he and the others planned their day to have this hour
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