How to amuse yourself and others : $b the American girl's handy bookBeard, Lina
General
How to amuse yourself and others : $b the American girl's handy book
Beard, Lina
Amusements -- Juvenile literature; Handicraft -- Juvenile literature
There is a subtle power and exhilaration in the spring sunshine that
stimulates the blood, and sends it tingling through our veins, as
with light-springing steps we quickly leave the village behind us
and penetrate into the outlying country, stopping now and then to
secure a branch of the downy pussy willow or brilliant red blossoms
of the maple, and again to admire a distant view where the trees
seem enveloped in a hazy mist of delicate color; on we go, exploring
sequestered spots or entering deep into the woods in search of early
wild flowers.
[Illustration: The Walking Club.]
Although possibly timid as individuals, as a club we are brave enough;
for a party of fourteen or sixteen girls, including our merry little
chaperon, may go, with impunity, where it would not be so pleasant for
one to venture alone.
Once a week all through that delightful spring the club might have been
seen, now upon a road leading in this direction, now in that. And,
often as we stepped aside to allow a carriage to pass, its occupants
would lean forward smiling, and waving their hands in greeting; for
the moment, perhaps, feeling in sympathy with the vigorous young life
that preferred this mode of locomotion to being carried about on the
downiest cushions of the easiest of carriages. A ride which accorded
with the unconventional mood of our club was not despised however, for,
urged on by the girls, our little matron would make bold to accost some
countryman driving a vehicle sufficiently large, and persuade him,
in the terms of the country, to “give us a lift.” Jolting about in a
springless wagon or hay-cart was not in the least enervating, and we
experienced no indolent wish to continue our journey on wheels when
forced by diverging roads to leave our equipage. It was not until the
ever-increasing heat of the sun, and our own languid disinclination to
much exertion, warned us that the mildness of spring had passed, that
we concluded to disband for the summer. In the fall we again fell into
rank, and came home from our walks laden with the gorgeous trophies of
autumn, as we had once carried in triumph the tasselled branches and
dainty flowers of spring.
We continued our tramps into the early winter, when the frosty
crispness of the air made it very bracing, and the brisk exercise
of walking brought the healthy color to cheek and lip of the young
pedestrians.
Such a club as this, which at the same time promotes health, good
spirits, and sociability, is one that most girls will enjoy and derive
benefit from.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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