The Civilized Girl

The civilized girl does not spend her time on adornment; nor on visits where the only subjects of talk are gossip and tittle-tattle and the trivial affairs attached to them; nor on dancing — and on other things besides dancing whose excess, when one gives oneself over to them, yields nothing but harm — and much else that we need not enumerate...

The truth is that a few of our girls have begun to take up the way of life which the civilized girl of this twentieth century ought to follow; we see her turning her attention to all, or to some, of what you behold on these pages.

And may the time not be long before we see the Arab woman generally taking an ample share of this civilized life...

For the truly civilized girl:
(1) has a taste for music and plays its instruments;
(2) learns the art of photography...;
(3) grows flowers and tends them herself;
(4) studies the sciences and acquaints herself with the secrets of nature...;
(5) skis upon the snows...;
(6) spends the week-end on the farm...;
(7) goes out hunting...;
(8) and throws herself into the arms of the sea...

But perhaps you will object, Madam, and say: "These pursuits are mere externals. A girl may be civilized without resorting to the study of music, or the art of photography, or the growing of flowers, or skiing on the snow, or the other things you have mentioned. A girl's civilization can consist only in lofty character, broad understanding, and the inner qualities of the person."

Yes, you may raise this objection, and all the truth is in what you say. But what we intended in this article was to call attention to the fact that lofty character, broad understanding, and the other qualities must needs be reflected in a person's conduct, in her works, and in the manner in which she spends her time. Civilization is not a fanciful, verbal condition, but a condition of living, which we recognize by the outward signs it casts upon society.

Accordingly, then, the girl who takes up the pursuits we have set out above is more civilized than the one whose body the warmth of the sun and the waves of the sea never play upon, whose soul the blossoms of the meadow never delight, who takes no exercise in the arms of nature, has no taste for the arts, and opens no windows of her mind and heart upon the lights of science and knowledge.