Miss Verity has been musing lately on the way people raise their daughters, and more particularly on the problems inherent in trying to bring up a sensible, modest, self-aware and self-controlled young lady in a culture that lauds the sloppy, the rude, the disorganized, and the promiscuous.
It’s not that she believes in imposing choices on young women. On the contrary, she believes in equipping them to make their own choices–real choices, one they’re actually making for themselves instead of being coerced into by peers, television, or a vague desire to be cool.
And to that end, it occurs to her, rather than raise girls under bell jars it would be wiser to keep them well-informed about the realities of the world. The girl who knows that some men are cads, some people are fools, and not everyone you meet has your best interests at heart is in a much stronger position from which to determine her course of conduct.
So a truly sweet, old-fashioned girl should probably have a core of shrewd common sense with which to defend that sweetness…
