by Mark Twain
ADVICE TO LITTLE GIRLS
Good little girls ought not to make mouths at their teachers for everytrifling offense. This retaliation should only be resorted to underpeculiarly aggravated circumstances.
If you have nothing but a rag-doll stuffed with sawdust, while one ofyour more fortunate little playmates has a costly China one, you shouldtreat her with a show of kindness nevertheless. And you ought not toattempt to make a forcible swap with her unless your conscience wouldjustify you in it, and you know you are able to do it.
You ought never to take your little brother's "chewing-gum" away fromhim by main force; it is better to rope him in with the promise ofthe first two dollars and a half you find floating down the river on agrindstone. In the artless simplicity natural to this time of life, hewill regard it as a perfectly fair transaction. In all ages of theworld this eminently plausible fiction has lured the obtuse infant tofinancial ruin and disaster.
If at any time you find it necessary to correct your brother, do notcorrect him with mud--never, on any account, throw mud at him, becauseit will spoil his clothes. It is better to scald him a little, for thenyou obtain desirable results. You secure his immediate attention to thelessons you are inculcating, and at the same time your hot water willhave a tendency to move impurities from his person, and possibly theskin, in spots.
If your mother tells you to do a thing, it is wrong to reply that youwon't. It is better and more becoming to intimate that you will do asshe bids you, and then afterward act quietly in the matter according tothe dictates of your best judgment.
You should ever bear in mind that it is to your kind parents that youare indebted for your food, and for the privilege of staying home fromschool when you let on that you are sick. Therefore you ought to respecttheir little prejudices, and humor their little whims, and put up withtheir little foibles until they get to crowding you too much.
Good little girls always show marked deference for the aged. You oughtnever to "sass" old people unless they "sass" you first.
