Volume 100 — A WORD TO MOTHERS.
Reading edition
[A well-known Dramatic Critic has recently spoken of a play as "just the play in which growing girls will delight."]
O ANXIOUS Mothers, come and listen To what just now I've got to say. If I'm not wrong, your eyes will glisten Before the end of this my lay. With strong affection overflowing— Your children are indeed your pearls— You can't help feeling pleased at knowing The play's the thing—for growing girls! The pages of a lady's journal I've very often read with care, The news, the gossiping eternal, You're always sure of getting there. Of how you ought to bind your tresses, The latest styles, the tint in hair, And there I've seen the kind of dresses It's right for growing girls to wear. But never once the slightest mention Of what they'd better go and see, And yet it's clear that some attention To such a thing there ought to be. For sentiment and love they're frantic, They're fond of knights and belted earls, A play that's just the least romantic— Yes, that's the play for growing girls. A crowing child, who loves to prattle, Can easily be kept at rest. You've only got to get a rattle, Or p'raps a dolly would be best. A bouncing boy will blow a bubble, And want no more the livelong day; But if a growing girl gives trouble, You've got to take her to the play!