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THE GOOD GIRL

By Anonymous

1833.

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THE GOOD GIRL

The Good Girl always minds what Her father and mother say to her; and
takes pains to learn whatever they are so kind as to teach her. She is
never noisy nor troublesome; so they like to have her with them, and
they like to talk to her, and to instruct her.

She has learned to read so well, and she is so good a girl, that her
father has given her several {006}new books, which she reads in by
herself, whenever she likes; and she understands all that is in them.

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She knows the meaning of a great many difficult words; and the names of
a great many countries, cities, and towns, and she can find them upon
a map. {007}She can spell almost every little sentence that her father
asks her to spell; and she can do a great many sums on a slate.

Whatever she does, she takes pains to do it well; and when she is doing
one thing, she tries not to think of another.

If she has made a mistake, or done any thing wrong, she is sorry for
it; and when she is told of a fault, she endeavours to avoid it another
time.

When she wants to know any thing, she asks her father, or her mother,
to tell her; and she tries to understand, and to remember {008}what they
tell her; but if they do not think proper to answer her questions,
she does not tease them, but says, "When I am older, they will perhaps
instruct me;" and she thinks about something else.

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She likes to sit by her mother, and sew, or knit. When she sews, she
does not take long stitches, nor pucker her work; but does it very
neatly, just as her mother tells her to do. And she always keeps her
work very clean; for if her hands are dirty, she washes them before she
begins her work: and when {009}she has finished it, she folds it up, and
puts it by very carefully, in her work-bag, or in a drawer. It is very
seldom indeed that she loses her thread, or needles, or any thing she
has to work with. She does not stick needles on her sleeve, nor put
pins in her mouth; for she has been told these are silly, {010}dangerous
tricks; and she always pays attention to what is said to her.

She takes care of her own clothes, and folds them up very neatly. She
knows exactly where she puts them; and, I believe, she could find them
even in the dark. When she sees a hole in her stockings, or in her
frock, or any of her clothes, she mends it, or asks her mother to
have it mended; she does not wait till the hole is very large; for she
remembers what her mother has told her, that "A stitch in time saves
nine."

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She does not like to waste any thing. She is unwilling to throw away or
burn crumbs of bread, or peelings of fruit, or little bits of muslin,
linen, or silk; for she has seen the chickens and the little birds
picking up crumbs, and the pigs feeding upon the peelings of fruit; and
she has seen the ragman go about gathering rags, {012}which he sells to
people to make paper of.

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She is so dutiful and industrious, that her parents often take her with
them to ride.

When she goes with her mother, into the kitchen, and the dairy, she
takes notice of every thing she sees; but she does not meddle with any
thing, without leave. She knows {013}how puddings, tarts, butter, and
bread, are made.

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She can iron her own clothes; and she can make her own bed. She likes to
feed the chickens, and the young turkeys, and to give them clean water
to drink, and to wash themselves in; she likes to work in her little
garden, {014}to weed it, and to sow seeds, and plant roots in it: and
she likes to do little jobs for her mother: she likes to be employed,
and she likes to be useful.

If all little girls would be so attentive and industrious, how they
would delight their parents and their kind friends! and they would be
much happier themselves, than when they are obstinate, or idle, or ill
humoured, and will not learn any thing properly, nor mind what is said
to them. {015}

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_PLEASURES {016}OF WALKING IN THE FIELDS_

          I'll go to the field a for some flowers,

               The fields are so lively and gay,

          How sweet they are after the showers!

               I could play in them all the long day.

          Don't run from me, dear pretty lambs,

               I never will hurt you, indeed;

          You may play by the side of your dams

               Or frisk it about in the mead.

          Perhaps the sweet cowslip is here,

               That hangs down its pale yellow

                    head,

          The cuckoo-flower lovely and fair,

               And the daisy encircled with red.

          In the wood I shall find the blue bell,

               And the pretty anemone too;

          The meadow sweet down in the dell,

               And the violet with beautiful {017}hue.

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          The sweet-scented hawthorn I see,

               And the roses that sweeten the

                    breeze;

          But none of them sweeter to me

               'Than the woodbine that twines

                    round the trees.

          But who made these beautiful trees?

               And who made these delicate flow-

                    ers?

          Who {018}sweetens with roses the breeze,

               And refreshes the fields with his

                    showers?

          'Twas my dear heavenly Father above

               Who made every thing that I see;

          And who, with compassion and love,

               Regards a poor infant like me.

          But what a sweet nosegay is here,

               The best I will give to my mother,

          And some to my school-fellows dear,

               And some to my sister and brother.

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