Transcriber’s Note
Obvious typographical errors have been corrected. A list of the changesis found at the end of the text. Inconsistencies in spelling andhyphenation have been maintained. A list of inconsistently spelled andhyphenated words is found at the end of the text.
A less-common character is used in this version of the book:ŏ (o with breve). If this character does not display correctly, pleasechange your font.
“‘I’ve got a pink silk here,’ said I, ‘and pink shoes.’”SIX TO SIXTEEN.
A STORY FOR GIRLS.
BY
JULIANA HORATIA EWING.
LONDON:
SOCIETY FOR PROMOTING CHRISTIAN KNOWLEDGE,
Northumberland Avenue, W.C.
New York: E. & J. B. YOUNG & CO.
[Published under the direction of the General Literature Committee.]
DEDICATION.
TO MISS ELEANOR LLOYD.
My dear Eleanor,
I wish that this little volume were worthier of being dedicated to you.
It is, I fear, fragmentary as a mere tale, and cannot even plead as anexcuse for this that it embodies any complete theory on the vexedquestion of the upbringing of girls. Indeed, I should like to say thatit contains no attempt to paint a model girl or a model education, andwas originally written as a sketch of domestic life, and not as avehicle for theories.
That it does touch by the way on a few of the many strong opinions Ihave on the subject you will readily discover; though it is so longsince we held discussions together that I hardly know how far your views[vi]will now agree with mine.
If, however, it seems to you to illustrate a belief in the joys andbenefits of intellectual hobbies, I do not think that we shall differ onthat point; and it may serve, here and there, to recall one, nearly asdear to you as to me, for whom the pleasures of life were at leastdoubled by such interests, and who found in them no mean resource undera burden heavier than common of life’s pain.
That, whatever labour I may spend on this or any other bit ofwork—whatever changes or confirmations time and experience may bring tomy views of people and things—I cannot now ask her approval of the one,or delight in the play of her strong intellect and bright wit over theother, is an unhealable sorrow with which no one sym