r her hero. It may be a matter
of affinity in later years, or, as the more prosaic Buckle suggests,
dependent upon the price of corn, but at first it is certainly a
question of propinquity.

Through the kindergarten and the multiplication table, the pretty game
goes on. Before she is thirteen, she decides to marry, and selects an
awkward boy a little older for the happy man. She cherishes him in her
secret heart, and it does not matter in the least if she does not know
him well enough to speak to him, for the good fairies who preside over
earthly destinies will undoubtedly lead The Prince to become formally
acquainted at the proper time.

[Sidenote: The Self-Conscious Period]

Later, the self-conscious period approaches and Mademoiselle becomes
solicitous as to ribbons and personal adornment. She pleads earnestly
for long gowns, and the first one is never satisfying unless it drags.
If she can do her hair in a twist "just like mamma's," and see the
adored one pass the house, while she sits at the window with sewing or
book, she feels actually "grown up."

When she begins to read novels, her schoolmates, for the time being, are
cast aside, because none of them are in the least like the lovers who
stalk through the highly-coloured pages of the books she likes best. The
hero is usually "tall and dark, with a melancholy cast of countenance,"
and there are fascinating hints of some secret sorrow. The watchful
maternal parent is apt to confiscate these interesting volumes, but
there are always school desks and safe places in the neighbourhood of
pillows, and a candle does not throw its beams too far.

The books in which the love scenes are most violent possess unfading
charm. A hero who says "darling" every time he opens his
finely-chiselled mouth is very near perfection. That fondness lasts
well into the after-years, for "darling" is, above all others, the
favourite term of endearment with a woman.

Were it not for the stern parents and wholesome laws as to age, girls
might more often marry their first loves. It is difficult to conjecture
what the state of civilisation might be, if it were common for people to
marry their first loves, regardless of "age, colour, or previous
condition of servitude."

[Sidenote: Age and Colour]

Age and colour are all-important factors with Mademoiselle. She could
not possibly love a boy three weeks younger than herself, and if her
eyes are blue and her hair light, no blondes need ap