touches of ceremoniousness which she chooses because of
her passion for beauty and grace, they consider affectation. There is no
place like the country to put affectation in its place; but it is as
possible there as elsewhere to misjudge the real sources of inspiration
in matters of conduct.

In the hearts of these very girls who look askance at the solitary one
as she passes along the village path and talk among themselves about her
primness and her pride, there may be a great admiration for her after
all, a desire to copy all her little touches of elegance, a swift noting
of her graces and of everything new she adds to her repertoire of
manners. If she keeps her body very straight and holds her chin
correctly, they will be looking in the glass to find out whether their
spinal column can be stiffened to give the same effect. They may laugh
at her but they try to imitate her.

After all, you see, the fundamental standards are the same; the
difference being that one girl comes almost to the point of living up to
them, the other girls have tried and because of ignorance or lack of
opportunity have failed, and have looked upon their failure until they
have despaired of ever succeeding. Fundamentally there is the same
desire at the heart of both the refined recluse girl who longs to have
company among the other girls, and the less agreeable, less refined and
less cultivated girls who secretly envy while they ridicule, and are
waiting only for the open door to enable them to walk in and leave their
coarseness and bungling outside.

The first step for such a girl to take in working out her desire to be
of help to the other girls, is to show them in some way that she really
cares for them and that, as far as her heart goes she is one with them.
If she can only get out of her seeming stiffness for a little while and
get down to the real heart beneath, the other girls will respond, and
pretty soon the happy influence of the spirit of unity will assert
itself and the true basis in desire for better things--whatever they may
turn out to be--will be a bond between the elements. Then some kind of
play or some kind of work may be proposed. It does not matter so much
what is done as it matters that something shall be done and done
together. _Do something together_--that is the main thing. Anything,
anything at all--only that it be _together_! Then after the doing of
something together has begun, the next steps are possible.

The