But presently a shrill cry is heard: "Johnnie's
rubbing all the paint off my dolly's cheeks. He won't give her to me. O,
he has broken her arm." The mother's reply to this cry is stern and
sharp. "Don't be so cross with your little brother." Then to John. "O,
John, you ought not to have broken sister's pretty dolly; it wasn't half
so nice as your own little carriage and ponies. Why didn't you play with
them? Boys should be gentlemen. Emma is only a little girl;" with a tone
emphatic of inferiority upon the word girl. "Little boys should never
stoop to play with girl's toys." Later on, where a girl's enjoyment is
in a measure provided for in connection with her brother, he is made
almost invariably the purse-bearer. What she has is of his generosity.
Girls must be yielding, submissive, and dependent, as becomes their sex.
Boys may be overbearing or rough; it is a sign of a manly spirit to be
so.
Thus arrogance and injustice is fostered in the boy, and a sense of
wrong begotten in the girl; the one is degraded in her own eyes, and in
the eyes of her brother; the other is elevated above his just level in
his own eyes and his sister's; and heart-burning and jealousies
engendered that often last through life. A girl may hardly choose her
own husband. Her father, brother, or some friend will introduce some
eligible party. She is an undutiful girl if--when he honors her by
asking her hand--she do not thankfully consent.
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