aken and injure.

I found myself wondering what her environment could be and later when I
described her, a girl companion told me her name. I remembered her then,
one of the girls who had grown up quickly, the daughter of a skilled
mechanic who made good wages and owned a comfortable home. She was an
only child and her mother was socially ambitious for her. The mother had
done nothing to interest her daughter in the church, only now and then
did she attend Sunday-school; friends were entertained Sunday evening,
so she had no connection with the young peoples' societies of the
church. She is a type of a vast number of girls whose religious sense
lies dormant.

Knowing now her environment, I asked myself, "Where can she 'breathe in
that which will stir her soul to high and lofty emotion,' and enable her
to help and bless her world?" At home? Can she there breathe in that
which will enkindle noble ambition to love and serve in a world which so
needs love and service?

Once there were numberless homes and, thank God, there are still many
where a girl can breathe in deep draughts of the fresh, sweet, wholesome
atmosphere in which the family lives. But knowing something of that
mother, I knew she discussed with her daughter, dress and parties, her
future at college, her music, her marks, and laid wisely and well her
plans for the forming of friendships which she considered "an
advantage." In her presence she criticized friends and neighbors and
related bits of gossip. Occasionally she scolded her for faults that
happened at the moment to annoy. Her father talked boastfully of his
successes and ambitions, criticized the men for whom he did business,
found fault with those whom he employed, occasionally talked of
politics in a vain attempt to interest his wife and daughter. There were
few books in the home. The newspapers and one or more popular magazines
represented the only reading of the family. The daughter played a
little, sang a little, sewed a very little and studied as much as she
must to insure the certificate for entrance to college. But she attended
matinees, dancing parties in large numbers, and belonged to a whist
club. A whist club, poor girl, at sixteen! Her parents were blind and
deaf to the fact that in their daughter's life there was nothing, save
now and then a desperate attempt on the part of an earnest high school
teacher, or a word from a teacher who occasionally found her in the
Sunday-school class, wh