Gossips with Girls and Maidens, Betrothed and Free. By Lady
Bellaire. (Blackwood and Sons.)—Lady Bellaire holds to the old opinion that it is woman's principal vocation to marry ; but she is none the less desirous that every girl should be trained to earn a living. Nothing, in her judgment, comes amiss to a young woman in the way of knowledge, and she would have her trained also in household affairs, as well as in accomplishments. Very sensible, though obvious, are the writer's remarks with regard to clothing, exercise, and health, and she does not omit to point out how greatly a girl's attractions are increased by a sound constitution. On the toilet, she has much advice to give, and nothing, even to the finger-nails, is forgotten. Throughout the volume we notice a tendency to approve or disapprove on the ground that the first object of the sex is to please. A girl at a ball is advised not to dance too often, lest she lose her freshness and "efface first favour. able impressions." Girls playing at lawn-tennis are told, what is perfectly true, that men are more attracted by the gracefal swaying motions of the girls dressed in flannel or serge, than in dresses intended to set off the figure ; and after observing that "personal decoration in order to attract has always been a primary object with the female sex all the world over," and that woman often tries to appear better than she really is, Lady Bellaire adds that this is a healthy feeling if properly directed. Perhaps so, but this instinct of the sex scarcely needs to be stimulated by rules and precepts. Girls in a merry mood will, it is to be feared, smile, if not laugh outright, at some of the advice given in the appendix, where they are told " What- to Avoid," and " What to Cultivate ;" and yet there are probably few girls who have not some bad habits to overcome, and who do not fail
in many of the agreeable actions and civilities which aid in giving a charm to life. The pretty-looking volume is dedicated by Lady Bellairs to her sons, "in the hope that it may in some measure serve to mirror forth to them what manner of woman each should seek for his wife."
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