CONTENTS OF THE FIRST VOLUME. PAGE THE GIRL OF THE PERIOD 1 MODERN MOTHERS (I.) 10 MODERN MOTHERS (II.) 19 PAYING ONE'S SHOT 27 WHAT IS WOMAN'S WORK? 37 LITTLE WOMEN 48 IDEAL WOMEN 58 PINCHBECK 69 AFFRONTED WOMANHOOD 79 FEMININE AFFECTATIONS 88 INTERFERENCE 99 THE FASHIONABLE WOMAN 109 SLEEPING DOGS 119 BEAUTY AND BRAINS 128 NYMPHS 137 MÉSALLIANCES 147 WEAK SISTERS 157 PINCHING SHOES 167 SUPERIOR BEINGS 176 FEMININE AMENITIES 184 GRIM FEMALES 193 MATURE SIRENS 203 PUMPKINS 213 WIDOWS 223 DOLLS 234 CHARMING WOMEN 244 APRON-STRINGS 254 FINE FEELINGS 264 SPHINXES 273 FLIRTING 281 SCRAMBLERS 290 FLATTERY 299 LA FEMME PASSÉE 309 SPOILT WOMEN 317 DOVECOTS 325 BORED HUSBANDS 335 ESSAYS UPON SOCIAL SUBJECTS. _THE GIRL OF THE PERIOD._ Time was when the phrase, 'a fair young English girl,' meant the ideal of womanhood; to us, at least, of home birth and breeding. It meant a creature generous, capable, modest; something franker than a Frenchwoman, more to be trusted than an Italian, as brave as an American but more refined, as domestic as a German and more graceful. It meant a girl who could be trusted alone if need be, because of the innate purity and dignity of her nature, but who was neither bold in bearing nor masculine in mind; a girl who, when she married, would be her husband's friend and companion, but never his rival; one who would consider his interests as identical with her own, and not hold him as just so much fair game for spoil; who would make his house his true home and place of rest, not a mere passage-place for vanity and ostentation to pass through; a tender mother, an industrious housekeeper, a judicious mistress.