Page:Side talks with girls (1895).djvu/96



HEY can only be compared to the little foxes. You have a beautiful bunch of grapes, perfect in shape, exquisite in bloom, looking as if they must be luscious and sweet, and you pick one, expecting great pleasure, but it sets your teeth on an edge, and you discover that at its very heart it has been bitten by two sharp little teeth, and in consequence it is not at all pleasant to the taste. So, very many times, is it with the character of the young girl. There may be about her everything that is charming; she may appear agreeable, attractive, and amiable, but, suddenly, something occurs, some little thing is said or done, and you discover that the mental little foxes have bitten at and taken away from her perfection. In many cases a watchful mother sees that the little foxes do not come near her daughter, but quite as often the watching for them and the being careful that they are not permitted to come near one must be the work of the