Originally submitted by Mrs. Sangster to the "Women's Column" in the Weekly Herald (Adelaide), 21st December 1894.
The Girl of Fourteen.
At fourteen a girl has her fits of giggling at trifles, and the sound of her bubbling and irrepressive laughter seems now and then to a severe taste like "the crackling of thorns under a pot," spoken of by the Psalmist.
But were you not once fourteen, and have you forgotten how little it took to make you laugh; how easily you were amused and diverted? Life has taken so much out of you that your laughter is often neighbour to your tears, in these graver years.
Let the little maiden by all means have a room of her own, if you can, and as you value her future vigor, do not let your girl of fourteen sleep with her grandmother, or with an invalid aunt or cousin. Let her have her own little withdrawn spot, where she may read or write, or study or pray—her closet sacred to her use.
In a mistaken desire to shield your dear child from trials, do not hide from her the family perplexities and embarrassments, and then, having done this, do not add to it the injustice of blaming her for thoughtlessness. Trust her, love her; wait tenderly on her inexperience.
Fourteen is only a bud, and buds are blighted by frost.—Mrs. Sangster.
Source: Women's Column. (1894, December 21). Weekly Herald (Adelaide, SA : 1894 - 1898), p. 3.
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