Havergal College - Magazine Yearbook (Winnipeg, Manitoba Canada)

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Havergal College Magazine in the home, to share in the managing of the house and to enjoy the continual round of gaieties. The girls of those days were very easily entertained. They did not have a wide sphere of pleasures. Shopping and gardening occupied their mornings; reading, embroidering, paying and receiving calls their after- noons, and music and occasional balls and card parties their evenings. These pleasures never grew monotonous. The sim- plicity and ease that accompanied any entertainment was de- lightful. Sports occupied no place in a girl ' s life. They were left to the boys. It was considered most unladylike for a girl to take any physical exercise. To walk three miles was considered a terrible exhibition — to disgrace herself in such a manner was an unpardonable offence. A girl must be beautiful and her appearance always neat. AVhat was a girl for but to be pleasing to the eye and a pleasant creature to talk to? She certainly could not take any exercise and remain so. She must be a good talker but not have too much to say, for her elders must have first place in the field. She must be able to play well, enough to be entertaining in case she should be asked to play. Her manners were always quiet and demure ; any sign of emo- tion was most unladylike. She was never allowed much liberty. She was always ac- companied by a chaperone, her mother, her aunt, an old friend or a suitable gentleman. She could not shop, drive out or even take a walk alone, and most necessary of all was a chaperone at a ball, the theatre or any entertainment. Her imagination was by no means suppressed, the books of horror of the day supplied plenty of food for thought. Her life was quiet and almost uneventful, and these books, filled with unknown wonder and horror, filled up the vacancies. They were pored over with the keenest delight and read and re-read. Every girl had her fate carefully planned, full of heroic adventures and heroes, but it always led along one of two roads — she either married and spent her life in caring for her home, or remained at home all her life, politely termed the unmarried daughter. KATHLEEN ARDAGH, Form Lower VI. THE GIRL OF 1914. If it were possible for one of Jane Austen ' s girls of 1814 to come to life, she would be not a little surprised, and perhaps also a trifle shocked, at her sister of a century later. Certainly, at the first glance, she would recognize few pleasures or duties in common ; and as for sports ! Her delicate sensibilities would be wounded beyond recovery at the mere idea of a girl indulg- ing in games as heartily as any boy. To the girl of 1814 free- dom of any description was unknown, whereas now girls are 31

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Havergal College Magazine Prisoners within thy dungeon dark, Have heard the billows moan, Have heard their ripple on thy crags, When they lay doomed and lone. In days gone by, these crumbling walls, Have seen the woeful sight Of heroes on the burning pile, For religion and the right. And from one fatal window — A ghastly sight — were hung The last remains of one who mocked The dying heroes ' song. Scenes such as these thou sees ' t no more, But we look back with pride Upon those noble, fearless souls Who for the Right have died. Their deeds will live, when all things else Have faded — when no more The dim grey crags by moonlight cast Weird shadows on the shore. THE GIRL OF 1814. If we could take a look back into the life of a girl of a century ago, would it differ greatly from the average life of a girl to-day? Yes, perhaps in dress, in little habits and in speech, but not in the girl herself. A girl is essentially a girl wherever or whenever you may find her. The same little ten- dencies always exist — fussing over dress, longing for amusement, the keen enjoyment of every possible pleasure, the love of read- ing. Would we rather have lived in the previous century than in our own? Let us glance for a moment at the charms and drawbacks of both before we decide. We shall unseal the book of time and turn back one hundred pages until we find our- selves living in 1814. Simplicity was the charm of a girl ' s life in 1814, from her straight high waisted frock and coal scuttle bonnet to her man- ner of living. A girl was only to grace a drawing-room and keep a home, and her education was given accordingly. She received her education principally from her father or mother. She was taught to sew, to embroider, to bake, to arrange flowers and to care for them in the garden. She also had to be able to keep accounts, for her house must be systematically kept. Every part of her education was directed towards what would be useful to her in her future life. She was taught French and how to read the best books and understand them. As soon as her education was completed she took her place 30

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Havergal College Magazine allowed to mingle with their elders, and as a result, early form their opinions upon all subjects, and are quite ready to give their views whenever opportunity offers, and defend them against all opposition. The 1914 girl realizes that the twentieth century is essentially the Woman ' s era and behaves accord- ingly. She enters into all conversations, and there are few remaining representatives of the girls should be seen and not heard type. That kind of a girl is so old fashioned. Yet in spite of her new acquirements the girl of 1914 is still very much a girl, and on the whole a very good sort of girl, too. Our girl takes a lively interest in sports, her studies and social pleasures. She can play golf and tennis and basket-ball, ride her wheel and often drive a car quite as well as her stronger brother. Her sisters in France can even fly their aeroplanes. What a shock to the sensitive nerA es of the 1814 lass ! She goes through college and gets her degree, and after- vvards often makes use of it to gain her own livelihood, oc- casionally entering one of the learned professions and suc- ceeding quite as well as any man. Perhaps in her pleasures more than anything else one sees her relationship to the girl of one hundred years ago. She en- joys dancing quite as much as did her sister, although now she dances the Two-step and Hesitation instead of the stately Minuet. Teas, the theatre, luncheons and her own special little club, play quite as important a part in her life now as then. In her love of pretty things and the amount of titivating her toilet requires, we find little difference. Girls will be girls and as such the adornment of their person is, for some years, of great importance to them. In some ways we find our 1914 girl somewhat behind the 1814 one. She has not, in general, the same knowledge of house- keeping, and often her chief accomplishments in the culinary line are Divinity Fudge and similar delicious confections. Her favourite authors too, are not, as a rule, those whose works were best loved by the 1814 girl. The latest and most popular novel is always read by the girl of a century later. She often has many good friends upon her bookshelves, however, and ones that the 1814 girl would recognize with pleasure ; while for music and pictures she has decided likings also. An 1814 girl must marry or remain at home. Our 1914 girl can enter almost any profession she chooses and is quite independent. We read a great deal of the modesty, sensibility and charm of the girl of 1814, but it seems to me that the 1914 girl, for all her slangy and tomboyish ways, is just as attractive and ac- complished a girl as one would care to know. HELEN LETHBRIDGE, Upper VI. 32