Class _ R^^lJX^S BQok_.15-&3 b4r Copyright N^ COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT. L i' ^^ the LILIAN BELL BIRTHDAY BOOK Copyright, 11)00, by Oliver Dennett Grover. i9AOJf) uauuaQ J3AI10 ^R Siiuiiii!,! am luoi^ 3inABi3onQ jpg umjt-j The LILIAN BELL BIRTHDAY BOOK EDITED BY A. H . B O G U E BOSTON L. C PAGE & COMPANY M D C C C C I I I TMf LlSRAi^Y OF 0ON^>RESS, "■"•) Copits Recsived SEP, !6 1902 POPVUIOHT ENTRY >^ uks (2/XXa No- 3 43i-5' Copyright, 1893, 1895, 1896, 1897, 1898, 1900, igoi, by Harper & Brothers Copyright, 1895, by Stone & Kimball Copyright, 1902, by L. C. Page & Company (Incorporated) A II rights reserved Published, September, 1902 GEO. H. ELLIS CO., PRINTERS, BOSTON, MASS. S)e&icate& MARY HARTWELL CATHERWOOD THE BRILLIANT WOMAN WHO MOST GENEROUSLY ADMIRES ANOTHER WOMAN'S WIT FOREWORD // is the custom of taste and Christianity and civili- zation to wait until hearts have ceased to feel and ears to hear before we pour forth our tributes to the excellencies of our loved and great. In direct defiance of the possible criticism of these oracles I have gathered together the epigrams of one living author^ and have dedicated the book to another living author^ that both may see and feel and, I hope^ enjoy. The LILIAN BELL BIRTHDAY BOOK JANUARY January T~XO you suppose bccausc I know JL^ Greek that I cannot be in love ? Do you suppose because I went through higher mathematics that I never pressed a flower he gave me ? Do you imagine that Biology kills blushing in a woman ? — The Love Affairs of an Old Maid. January QjHE was almost bcautiful ; and there kJ was a Sabbath calm in her presence which led one's thoughts, perhaps not quite to re- ligion, but at least as far as ethics. — A Woman of No Nerves^ from The Instinct of Stepfatherhood. January ^^TREN an American man is 3. VV gentleman, he is to my mind the most perfect gentleman that any race can produce, because his good manners spring from his heart, and there are a few of us old-fashioned enough to plead that politeness should go deeper than the skin. — From a Girl's Point of View. JANUARY January 1 January 2 January 3 riie LILIAN BELL BIRTHDAY BOOK January TV /TEN ncvcr realize the height of ■* i. ▼ A the pedestal where women in love place them, nor do they know with how many perfections they are invested, nor how religiously women keep themselves deceived on the subject. They cannot comprehend the succession of little shocks which are caused by the real man coming in contact with the ideal. And, if they did under- stand, they would think that such mere trifles should not aflFect the genuine article of love, and that women simply should overlook foibles, and go on loving the damaged article just as blindly as before. But what man could view his favorite marble tumbling from its pedestal continually, and losing first a finger, then an arm, then a nose, and would go on setting it up each time, admiring and reverencing in the mutilated remains the perfect creation which first enraptured him ? He wouldn't take the trouble to fill up the nicks and glue on the lost fingers as women do to their idols. He wouldn't even try to love it as he used to do. When it began to look too battered up, he would say, " Here, put this thing in the cellar, and let's get it out of the way." — The Love Affairs of an Old Maid. The LILIAN BELL BIRTHDAY BOOK January 4 rhe LILIAN BELL BIRTHDAY BOOK January -wj" (ys^ '^^ ^^ world are you going to ^ J. A find out whether you like a man unless you do encourage him ? You never even begin to know him until he falls in love with you ! From a GirVs Point of View. January "T JT THEN I talk with a clever man, I V V feel a little tingling in my brain, as if my ideas were being called for by one who deserved them, and as if they were waking out of the sleep into which they had been lulled by the conversation of other men. — A Study in Hearts^ from The Instinct of Stepfatherhood. January XTQU might cram a woman's head ^ X with all the wisdom of the ages, and, while it would frighten every man who came near her into hysterics, it wouldn't keep her from going down abjectly before some man who had sense enough to know that higher education does not rob a woman of her womanliness. Depend upon it, when it does, she would have been unwomanly and masculine if she hadn't been able to read. — The Love Affairs of an Old Maid. rhe LILIAN BELL BIRTHDAY BOOK January 5 January 6 January 7 rhe LILIAN BELL BIRTHDAY BOOK January "TTTE Americans always talk the V V most about what we care the least. That's why we talk about money, and honor love. You French talk about love, and honor money ! " — The Expatriates. January ^^^ THEN an attractive American girl V V is bored, it generally means that she is not in love with any one. It never means that no one is in love with her. That unfortunate state of things would cause her to be discontented, not bored. Besides, there always is jowd-body in love with the attractive American girl. — A Study in Hearts y from The Instinct of St epf at her hood. January y WOULD like to be a man for a X while, in order to make love to two or three women. I would do it in a way which would not shock them with its coarseness or starve them with its poverty. As it is now, most women deny themselves the expression of the best part of their love, because they know it will be either a puzzle or a terror to their lovers. — The Love Affairs of an Old Maid. r h e LILIAN BELL BIRTHDAY BOOK 8 January January lO The LILIAN BELL BIRTHDAY BOOK January T p a girl has one lover, she is called " a X sweet creature" by other girls. If she has two or three, she is respectfully alluded to as " fascinating." If she is unhappy enough to have won half a dozen, with more on the ragged edge, she is stigmatized as "a coquette." — A Study in Hearts, from The Instinct of Stepfather hood. jantiary y BELIEVE some men could go X through life without loving anybody on earth. But the woman never lived who could do it. A woman must love something, — even if she hasn't anything better to love than a pug-dog or herself — The Love Affairs of an Old Maid. January " ripROUBLE between husbun an' A wife is dey own bizness, and no- body else has got a right to say whedder or no. Dat's what / sez ; an' I knows, I does ! I ain't been mah'd as many times as Isrul, but I'se had enough trouble wid de one husbun I hab had to make up foh it ! I has foh a fack ! " — Lizzie Lee's Separa- tion, from The Instinct of Stepfatherhood. The LILIAN BELL BIRTHDAY BOOK January 11 Jantiarsr 12 January 13 The LILIAN BELL BIRTHDAY BOOK January ^ ■ AHE man undcf thirty-five is being *^ A trained in a thousand ways every day that he Hves. Some learn more quickly than others. It depends on the type of man and on the length of time he is willing to remain in the raw. 'The Untrained Man under Thirty-five^ from a Girl's Point of View. January T T"ER inner nature was like a combi- *^ JL X nation of unmined metals. One could trace copper and gold and a little alloy. But the great emotion or heart experience which would separate the metals, releasing the gold and destroy- ing the alloy, had not come to her. — Miss Scar- borough's Point of VieWy from Sir John and the American Girl. January A ■ ^HERE is Something which makes ^ JL you hold your breath before you enter the inner nature of some one who has ex- traordinary depth. You feel as if you were going to find something different and interesting, and possi- bly difficult or explosive. It is dark, too, yet you feel impelled to enter. It is like going into a cave. The Love Affairs of an Old Maid. The LILIAN BELL BIRTHDAY BOOK January 14 January 15 January lO The LILIAN BELL BIRTHDAY BOOK januarsr y IKE most men who live in the open *' i J air, he had ideals, and high ones, of women. — The Expatriates. January ^^~V H, have you ever entertained people V^ who made you worry so for fear you couldn't suit them that you just wanted to lie down and die beforehand ? — With Mamma Away^ from Sir John and the American Girl. January OOME persons Seem to possess an \Zj atmospheric mental quality. There are those who seem gray and leaden, as if it might rain at any moment. There are others whose cold crispness means a sharp wintry nature, which stings like the sudden warming of frost-bitten hands. There are others whose gentle melancholy and tender pessimism mean nothing short of autumn temperaments, where summer is gone forever and nothing but approaching snow can tinge their thoughts. Then in a class quite by themselves come those eager natures which remind you of the approach of spring. — The Expatriates. M The LILIAN BELL BIRTHDAY BOOK January 17 January- is January 19 The LILIAN BELL BIRTHDAY BOOK January rT^HERE IS no finer generosity than A to receive generously, with the same largeness with which one gives. — A Little Sister to the Wilderness. January «« j THINK whcn a horse hears him- A self recommended to anxious par- ents as safe, steady, and gentle as a kitten, when he himself knows that h-e shies at bicycles, that it is his equine duty to show the whites of his eyes, to signify * danger ahead,' even if It spoils a trade." — Miss Scarborough' s Point of VieWy from Sir John and the American Girl. January XT THY is it that all the cleverest men V Y we know have selected girls who looked pretty and who coddled them ? Look at Bronson and Flossy ! That man is lonesome, I tell you, Ruth. He actually hungers and thirsts for his intellectual and spiritual affinity, and yet even he did not have the sense, the astuteness, to select a wife who would have stood at his side, in- stead of one who lay in a wad at his feet. — The Love Affairs of an Old Maid. i6 The LILIAN BELL BIRTHDAY BOOK Januarsr 20 Jantiary^ 21 January 22 The LILIAN BELL BIRTHDAY BOOK januarsr TF I See a fine painting or hear mag- X nificent music, I think of Rachel be- fore any other thought comes into my mind. One involuntarily associates her with anything wonder- fully fine in art or literature, with the perfect assur- ance that she will be sympathetic and appreciative. She understands the deep, inarticulate emotions in the kindred way you have a right to expect of your lover, and which you are oftenest disappointed in, if you expect it of him. If I were a man, I should be in love with Rachel. — The Love Affairs of an Old Maid. January TT O W can those girls who give evi- ^ J. JL dence of no more thought than is evinced by their namby-pamby chatter call their existence living ? They mistake pertness for wit, audacity for cleverness, disrespect to old age for in- dependence, and general bad manners for individu- ahty. Has nobody ever trained these girls to think? What kind of schools do they attend? Who has spoiled them by flattery, until they are little peacocks to whom a mirror is an irresistible temptation ? — Girls and Other Girlsy from From a Girl's Point of View. The LILIAN BELL BIRTHDAY BOOK January 23 January 24 The LILIAN BELL BIRTHDAY BOOK jantiarx « O^HE's got dc sin ob avariciousness, •^ \<3 if anybody ever had. De Lawd knows what she's saving huh money for — I don't. She don' buy no clo'es, she don' go to de picnics, she don' go to corn-roasts nor barbecues, nor even to de babtizin's for fear dey'll take up a collection. She don' allow herself no pleasure 'tall, she's so skeert she'll spend a nickel ; an', when my second husband was hung, do you know dat woman wouldn't leab off half a day's ironin' to go to de hangin' ! " — Yessum^from The Instinct of Stepfather- hood. if January A | ^HE newspapcrs have ridiculed the JL new woman to such an extent, and their ridicule is so popular, that it requires an act of physical courage to stand up in her defence and to tell the public that the bloomer girl is not new ; that they have had the newspaper creation — like the poor — with them always; that they have passed over the real new woman without a second glance. In other words, to assure them as delicately as possible that they have been barking up the wrong tree. — The New Woman^ from From a Girl's Point of View. 20 the LILIAN BELL BIRTHDAY BOOK January 25 Jantiarx 20 rhe LILIAN BELL BIRTHDAY BOOK January JAM tired to death of hearing men fall X back on nonsense about their honor. I notice they seldom feel called upon to refer to it unless they are involved in something disreputable. 'The Love Affairs of an Old Maid. January A SMALL town ! Is anything more Xjl maddening than to go ambling peacefully along in life, smiling at the world, and harming nobody, and suddenly to dash your head against the stone wall of provincial virtue, and lie on your back for a while, seeing red and green stars? I really think there is an element of viciousness in the virtue of a small town which is worse than loose- slippered liberality. — The Under Side of Things. January ^TT^HERE are some women who pre- A fer a valet to a husband ; who think that the more menial are his services in public, the more apparent is his devotion. It is a Roman- chariot-wheel idea, which degrades both the man and the woman in the eyes of the spectators. — The Love Affairs of an Old Maid. rhe LILIAN BELL BIRTHDAY BOOK January 27 January 28 January 29 rhe LILIAN BELL BIRTHDAY BOOK ja»ua>-9r A WOMAN who has quarrelled x\. with her lover, in her secret heart expects him back daily and hourly, no matter what the cause of the estrangement, until he becomes in- volved with another woman. Then she lays all the blame of his defection at the door of the alien, where, in the opinion of an Old Maid, it generally belongs. — 'The Love Affairs of an Old Maid. jantiarsr Ti ^EN make no secret of the kind i. ▼ X of women they want us to be. We get preached at from pulpits and written about by " The Saunterer " and " The Man about Town " and " The One who knows it All," telling us how to be womanly, how to look to please men, how to behave to please men, and how to save our souls to please men, until, if we were not a sweet, amiable set, we would rebel as a sex, and declare that we thought we were lovely just the way we were, and that we were not going to change for anybody ! — From a GirTs Point of View. 24 The LILIAN BELL BIRTHDAY BOOK 30 Jantxary 31 FEBRUARY February /^FTEN it IS not that we are not V--/ secretly much more of women, and better and cleverer women, than men think us. But there is no call for such wares, so we lay char- acter and brain on the shelves to mildew, and fill the show-windows with confectionery and illusion. We supply the demand. — From a Girl's Point of View. if February j-jRAY do not imagine that girls JT have certain hours for studying how to make good wives, or that it is as rigid or exhausting as a broom drill. — From a Girl's Point of View. February ^^ AUGED by a woman's love, VJ many men love, marry, and die without even approximating the real grand passion themselves or comprehending that which they have inspired ; for no one but a woman can fathom a woman's love. — The Love Affairs of an Old Maid. 26 FEBRUARY February 1 February 2 February 3 rhe LILIAN BELL BIRTHDAY BOOK February T y £ Icnows that he is in love, — that ^ X. J. is one great step in the right di- rection. But he is in that first partly alarmed, partly curious frame of mind that a man would be in who touched his broken arm for the first time, to see how much it hurt.^ — l^he Love Affairs of an Old Maid. Februarjr "^^TOW, if the asscrtion is made that ^ X^ the American man makes the best husband in the world, let him not think that there is no room for improvement ; for with him it is much the same as it is with the wild strawberry. At first blush one would say that there could be no more delicious flavor than that of the wild straw- berry. Yet everybody knows what the skilled gar- deners have made of it in the form of the cultivated fruit. — From a Girl 's Point of View. February QjHE is too refined and high-minded y helpless into the world to blunder along on reason. A Study in Hearts^ from The Instinct of Stepfather- hood. Marcb TTIS was a typical man's mind, out of X X which was driven all thought of love at the idea of a woman's having got on the wrong train. — A Study in Hearts^ from 1'he Instinct of Stepfather hood. MarcH y^ ^tdX life you cannot lose your love X and heal your worse than widowed heart and love anew, as you would in private theatricals. The Love Affairs of an Old Maid. Marcb TT E was moody, and confided in her. X X She was foolish, and confided in him. They both decided that their hearts were ashes, — love burned out, and life a howling wilderness, — and then proceeded to exchange these empty hearts of theirs and to go through this howling wilderness together. — 'The Love Affairs of an Old Maid. S8 The LILIAN BELL BIRTHDAY BOOK MarcK 16 MarcH 17 MarcH 18 MarcH 19 The LILIAN BELL BIRTHDAY BOOK MarcH « "PJUT on youf prettiest frock, the one X which fits the best in the back. All your gowns should fit best in the back, for your back is at the mercy of the observer. You can de- fend the front in fifty ways ; but how do you know what is going on behind you ? A woman of genius has the backs of her gowns faultless. Mine are ! The fronts of mine are plain. You never notice them, because I myself am the front of a gown." The Under Side of Things. Marcb irjERHAPS you think that girls do not Jl know enough about other girls' hus- bands to discuss them with profit. But, if there has been a dinner or theatre party within our memory where the married girls did not take the bachelors and leave their husbands for us, we would just like to know when it was, that's all. — From a Girl's Point of View. MarcH THviD you cver notice that men in- ** X--/ stinctively put confidence in a girl with blue eyes, and have their suspicions of a girl with brilliant black ones ? and will you kindly tell me why ? — From a Girl ' j Point of View. 60 riie LILIAN BELL BIRTHDAY BOOK Marcb 20 MarcK 21 MarcH 22 The LILIAN BELL BIRTHDAY BOOK *•'**'*=** TVyTEN are always saying, " Well, why 23 1.VJ_ don't you tell us the kind of men you would like us to be ? " And their attitude when they say it is with their thumbs in the arm- holes of their waistcoats. When a man is thor- oughly satisfied with himself, he always expands his chest. — l^he Untrained Man under Thirty-five^ from From a Giris Point of View. MarcH A | ^HE owncr of a stern moral sense, *^ A who has the wit not to preach at people, has no idea how permeating a Puritan in- fluence is. It percolates through all looser -jointed natures with which it comes in contact, and acts like a spiritual tonic, stiffening up involuntarily the moral backbone of the weak. — Miss Scarborough's Point of View y from Sir John and the American Girl. March y WONDER why Sunday nights always *^ JL brings to a woman thoughts of the man she loves and can't marry, — won't marry, I mean. A Pigeon Blood Ruby^ from Sir John and the Ameri- can Girl. 62 The LILIAN BELL BIRTHDAY BOOK MarcH 23 March 24 March 25 The LILIAN BELL BIRTHDAY BOOK MarcH T TER gravcst fault is a witty tongue. •*^ JLl That which many people would give years of their lives to possess is what she has shed the most tears over, and which she most liberally detests in herself She calls it her private demon, and says she knows that one of the devils, in the woman who was possessed of seven, was the devil of wit. — The Love Affairs of an Old Maid. MarcH ^HE is clcver, too, at introspection *^ k3 and analysis — of herself chiefly. She studies her own sensations and dissects her moods. She is not, perhaps, more selfish than many another woman ; but her selfishness is different. She is mentally cross-eyed from turning her eyes inward so constantly. — The Love Affairs of an Old Maid. **=^'«=** /^^H, I hope, if I should live to be over *® V>/ fifty, that I may be a pleasant old person. I hope my teeth will fit me, and the part- ing to my wave be always in the middle. I hope my fingers will always come fully to the ends of my gloves, and that I never shall wear my spectacles on top of my head. — The Love Affairs of an Old Maid. rhe LILIAN BELL BIRTHDAY BOOK March 20 March 27 March 28 The LILIAN BELL BIRTHDAY BOOK Max-cH y j)Q j^q^ ggg }^q^ ^ woman with any X self-respect can marry until she meets her master. The man I marry must have a stronger will and a greater brain than I have, or I should rule him. I shall never marry until I find a man who knows more than I do. Yet, as to these other men who have loved me, you know what a tender place a woman has in her heart for the men who have wanted to marry her. My intellect repudiated, but my heart cherishes them still. Odd things, hearts. The Love Affairs of an Old Maid. MarcH ^ BORE is a man or woman who jL\. never knows How or When. — Men who Bore us, from From a Girl 's Point of ^iew. MarcH l^TOBODY wants undiluted honesty, — X^ least of all, men. But the mistake women make is in coloring the truth. They make it gray, and gray is dull and unbecoming. Now when / color the truth, I make it red. Most men love red. It warms and cheers. — The Under Side of Things. 66 The LILIAN BELL BIRTHDAY BOOK Marcb 29 MarcH 30 Marcb 31 APRIL April fT^HE first spring wind brings a sugges- A tion of late patches of snow, of the last thaw, of the rich black earth melting beneath, of the thin green stalks of jonquils and crocuses to-day and the promise that we shall have violets to- morrow. There is little of tenderness in a spring wind. It is too young for that. Tenderness comes with experience. But there is a rush and a whirr in it as of myriads of unseen wings, and there is a buoyancy in its sting which sends a sparkle into wintry blood and a thrill to cool pulses ; for its elec- tricity is contagious. — The Expatriates. April Tft yf'ANY people, of wide experience in XV JL other matters, absolutely deny the existence of love at first sight. They lay great stress upon the impossibility of such an occurrence, and point with pride to the fact that they are bank presidents or treasurers of orphan asylums or alder- men, to give weight to their opinions. — The Under Side of Things. 68 APRIL April 1 April 2 the LILIAN BELL BIRTHDAY BOOK April A I AHE more I know of horses, the more jL natural I think men and women are in the unequalness of their marriages. I never yet saw a pair of horses so well matched that they pulled evenly all the time. The more skilful the driver, the less he lets the discrepancy become apparent. Going up hill, one horse generally does the greater share of work; and, if they pull equally up hill, sometimes they see-saw and pull in jerks on a level road. And I never saw a marriage in which both persons pulled evenly all the time ; and the worst of it is, I suppose this unevenness is only what is always expected. — The Love Affairs of an Old Maid. -^""^ IV /fOST men are provincial when they ^ i. V -L make love, but it is the provincialism of those who give the matter no thought, and not of bigotry. — Love - making as a Fine Art, from From a Girl's Point of View. April 5 IT is queer what a curious effect daylight has on love, and odd how many of the kinks the moon puts in that the sun takes out. The Under Side of Things. 70 The LILIAN BELL BIRTHDAY BOOK A.pril 3 April 4 April 5 rhe LILIAN BELL BIRTHDAY BOOK April yx is the curse of triflers that even when X in earnest they cannot take all the com- fort from the blissful pastime of falling in love with which that rapturous occupation is usually fraught. A Study in Hearts^ from 'The Instinct of Stepfather- hood. April A I ^HEIR manners in public would have A put Beau Brummel to the blush ; but in private Frances was a little demon, and Peggy would fight as quietly but as long as a bull-dog. Frances flew into a passion a dozen times a day, but was ready to kiss and apologize in two minutes. Peggy would stand almost anything, but, when once her anger against her sister began to burn with a slow white heat, she had to be peeled off of Frances like a plaster. — The Under Side of Things. ^'*''" XJOBODY could take any comfort with X ^ as sharp a child as Frances, and people made no secret of their preference for the soothing companionship of her fat little sister. Most people prefer a pin-cushion to an emery — for daily use. — The Under Side of Things. 72 The LILIAN BELL BIRTHDAY BOOK April 6 April 7 April 8 The LILIAN BELL BIRTHDAY BOOK April •^IRLS really believe, I suppose, that vJ they dress for other girls ; but they do not. They dress for men. And only experience will teach them the highest wisdom in the matter. But that they cannot acquire until they believe that only another woman will know just how well they are dressed, and, above all, whether Doucet turned them out or a dressmaker in the house at two dollars a day. — The Philosophy of Clothes ^ from From a Girl 's Point of View. April y SUPPOSE that women who never have ' encouraged a love which they did not I intend to return never dream that an honest love may not be reciprocated. — The Love Affairs of an Old Maid. if April y WONDER how many marriages there A. really are where both are perfectly free to marry. I mean, no secret entanglements on either side, — no other man wanting the bride, no girl bitterly jealous of her. I never heard of one, — not among the people / know, at least. — The Love Affairs of an Old Maid. 74 The LILIAN BELL BIRTHDAY BOOK April 9 April lO April 11 The LILIAN BELL BIRTHDAY BOOK April "p^EAUTY such as hers successfully ** J3 masks unusual intelligence ; for who looks for philosophy in Venus ? — A Little Sister to the PFilderness. April "|~J\LDERLY admirers with unctuous *** m2j manners and an oily skin can make themselves very revolting to sensitive young ladies with romantic tendencies. — The Under Side of Things. April T_TE felt that a girl who could look up *^ JLjl at a fellow like that was enough to turn West Point back to the starting-place for all the world, — the Garden of Eden, so called, per- haps, because two lovers were there alone, with no- body to bother them or ask them to make up a set. — The Under Side of Things. April rr^HERE is something particularly ru- *^ X minative about the occupation of watching for the postman. A girl is apt to feel gently sentimental at such a time. — A Study in HeartSy from The Instinct of Stepfather hood. ^6 " riie LILIAN BELL BIRTHDAY BOOK April 12 April 13 April 14 April 15 rhe LILIAN BELL BIRTHDAY BOOK April Xp a woman's heart is filled with love for X a man, it makes it so tender that he has doubly the power to wound by a word or neglect. — From a GirVs Point of View. April T TER sensitiveness through every avail- ^^ JTX able channel makes her of no use to general society. Blundering people tread on her, malicious ones tear her to pieces. She is so clever that she is perfectly helpless. — The Love Affairs of an Old Maid. April TT is of no use to kick against the pricks. *® A Bores are in this world for a purpose, — to chasten the proud spirit of women, who otherwise might become too indolent and ease-loving to be of any use, — and they are here to stay. — Men who Bore Us, from From a Girl's Point of View. April A I AHERE is a delicacy, a fineness, about *^ X an answering silence which quickens the mind beyond that of the most responsive speech. — A Little Sister to the Wilderness. 78 rhe LILIAN BELL BIRTHDAY BOOK A,pril 16 April 17 April 18 April 19 The LILIAN BELL BIRTHDAY BOOK April /^^UTSIDE gossip was scarce, of course, *^ V^ in a town like Stockbridge, where nothing ever happened. Still, Mrs. Copeland thought there was no sense in Mrs. Overshine's acting as if she were the ark of the covenant, just because she was in the inner circle of a celebrated New York divorce case. — The Under Side of Things. ■^J*"* TTIS anger never disturbed her. She ** jn could cope with that. It was only his conceit which sickened her, and made her long for unlimited open air, — some vast wilderness in which to pray out loud her thankfulness that she wasn't married to him and forced to liste i to it always. — Miss Scarborough' s Point of VieWy from Sir John and the American Girl. April " y BELIEVE in callin' a spade a spade, ^* X and not * a sweet little shovel,' just be- cause it happens to belong to us ; especially when it is a. spade, and not entirely free from garden mould, either ! " — Lizzie Lee's Separation^from The Instinct of Stepfatherhood. — _ - The LILIAN BELL BIRTHDAY BOOK April 20 April 21 April 22 rhe LILIAN BELL BIRTHDAY BOOK April *< y OOK up there," she cried, pointing. i J " See the red in the river, and the black shadows, and the silver haze on the opposite shore, and the purplish light on the trees. Isn't that a lovely picture ? " " What a beautiful, misty look it has," said Gor- don. " It is like a Corot." " Only in a Corot we call that haze atmosphere; but in Pennsylvania we call it malaria," said Kate. — The Under Side of Things. April TTE looked so manly and determined ^ X A that Miss Scarborough viewed his possibilities in a feminine flash, and allowed herself to drift for a moment into the current of his will. It was one of those rare, potential moments when a woman lets herself think for the first time of this particular man as her husband. — Miss Scarborough' s Point of View^ from Sir John and the American Girl. April "W"p takes moral courage in a man to be 25 j[_ |.j.^g ^Q Qj^g woman, if another woman has pitted her charms against him. — The Love Affairs of an Old Maid. — rhe LILIAN BELL BIRTHDAY BOOK April 23 April 24 April 25 rhe LILIAN BELL BIRTHDAY BOOK April ^HE had everything in the world she *^ k3 wanted, yet she was always referred to as "poor little Elsie Copeland." Alas, to waste the heavenly gift of pity upon the carefully suffering rich ! — The Under Side of Things. Y April rr^HERE is no hatred so bitter as that *^ A engendered by outraged love. — The Love Affairs of an Old Maid. A»>"* TT THEN a woman, born to be ruled by 28 VV love only, passes by her master spirit, she becomes an anomaly in woman, — she makes complications over which the psychologist wastes midnight oil, and, if he never discovers the solution, it is because of its very simplicity. — The Love Affairs of an Old Maid. April y Y really would be a delightful as well as a *^ X most instructive thing if a man occasion- ally could exchange places with the woman he loves, and view his actions through her eyes. — The Love Affairs of an Old Maid. — rhe LILIAN BELL BIRTHDAY BOOK April 26 April 27 April 28 April 29 The LILIAN BELL BIRTHDAY BOOK April ^^NE'S first enchanted, enchanting view V^ of Piccadilly is like being in love for the first time. You like it, and yet you don't like it, — this tremendous rush of feeling. You wish it would go away, yet you fear it will go all too soon. It gets into your head and makes you dizzy, and you want to shut your eyes ; but you are afraid, if you do, that you will miss something. You cannot eat, and you cannot sleep. You feel that you have two consciousnesses, — one which belongs to the life you have lived hitherto, and which is still going on somewhere in the world, unmindful of you, and you unmindful of it ; and the other is this new bliss which is beating in your veins, and sounding in your ears, and shining before your eyes, which no one knows and no one dreams of, but which keeps a smile upon your lips, — a smile which has in it nothing of humor, nothing from the great without, but which comes from the secret recesses of your own inner consciousness, where the heart of the matter lies. — As Seen by Me. 86 rhe LILIAN BELL BIRTHDAY BOOK April 30 \ MAY *^^y T_TE generally sat silent before her, only JL X looking at her in the comprehending, appreciative way which develops unexpected powers of monologue in a woman who makes thought a habit. — H^ith Feet of Clay^ from Sir John and the American Girl. May ^HE always knew where the hem of her \Zj gown was, and how her train was hanging, and that people were looking at her. It was a sub- consciousness entirely beyond her control, and in no way interfering with the deep experiences of her life ; yet because she talked about it people called her frivolous. — The Under Side of Things. May T HAVE always said that a man could A marry any woman he wanted to, — given equal conditions, — and now I shall forever after- wards add that a woman can marry any man she sets out to. — The Under Side of Things. 88 MAY May 1 May- 2 May 3 The LILIAN BELL BIRTHDAY BOOK ^^^^ T TE thinks his money will compensate ^ i J. for the lack of family and the lack of breeding, and that it will even get him into heaven. Well, it will almost do that. I suppose heaven is the only place where money will not buy an en- trance into best circles. — A Pigeon Blood Ruby, from Sir John and the American Girl. *•*'' ^T^HERE are traditions of women to A whom their engagement was the period of bliss for which books are the authority. But books are so misleading. There are other women who would not live through it again for anything, — even to acquire the husbands whom its trials pur- chased. — The Under Side of Things. *•*'' A 11 7'^ women have a right to question the V V wisdom of Olympus, when we, who must of necessity cope with the petty, narrow, hate- ful woman-worries of life, are only given the shield of Patience and are denied the buckler of Humor, when we might just as well have had both and been invulnerable, all but the heel. — From a Girl's Point of View. 90 The LILIAN BELL BIRTHDAY BOOK May 4 Mar 5 May 6 The LILIAN BELL BIRTHDAY BOOK ^. May i"p jg gQ g^gy ^^ fggi sympathy for a man A you admire, especially if he is strong and loyal, and does not ask or desire it of you. — The Love Affairs of an Old Maid. ^^^^ TTE was always turning over a new leaf. \. \. But he lived in the land of to-morrow. His intentions, however, were good, only Kate said he spent the most of his time paving hell. And that saying almost shocked several members of first families into untimely graves. — The Under Side of Things. May Y HAVE no worries which I do not borrow X from my married friends. I keep up with the fashions ; my clothes fit me ; my fingers still come to the ends of my gloves ; I feel no leaning towards all-over cloth shoes ; I have not gone per- manently into bonnets. I have tried to be a pleasant Old Maid, and my reward is that my friends make me feel as if they liked to have me about. I am not made to feel that I am passee. One's clothes and one's feelings are all that ever make one passee. — The Love Affairs of an Old Maid. 9^ rhe LILIAN BELL BIRTHDAY BOOK May 7 May 8 May 9 The LILIAN BELL BIRTHDAY BOOK "^^y "IW TARY mules in West Tennessee kicks ^^ i\l like or Nick and Gineral Grant. They air ugly as sin an' mean as dirt. Paw, he named 'em that a-way 'case he says all the trouble the South ever had come from one or t'other of them two." — A Little Sister to the Wilderness, May A I AHE names of the two towns may differ ** X in v^arious Eastern States ; but their tol- erance rarely gets beyond two, and, when it does, it skips over to London and Paris. It never, for in- stance, comes to include three, — their own. New York, and Boston, or their own, Philadelphia, and New York. For most Eastern people the trinity does not exist. They have fallen into a certain geographical unitarianism. — The Under Side of Things. May T T 7 H EN you say of a woman, " She is one 12 VV of those honest, outspoken persons," it means that she will probably hurt your feelings or insult you in your first interview with her. This is why honesty is so disreputable. — The Love Affairs of an Old Maid. 94 rhe LILIAN BELL BIRTHDAY BOOK VLvy lO May 11 May 12 The LILIAN BELL BIRTHDAY BOOK May /^PPOSITE to her, on the other side of ^** V^ the table, her younger brother squirmed. GifFord's years are of no importance. He was at the age when boys wriggle. — The Under Side of Things. May T7VXCELLENT people they were, with ^^ I J sterling principles and large bank ac- counts, and clothes four seasons behind the times. That was the Scotch of it, — to buy good firm ma- terial which wore like iron, and then to wear it out. The Under Side of 'Things. May y p other women would let men alone, X constancy would be less of a hollow mock- ery. — The Love Affairs of an Old Maid. May QOMETIMES in fashionable life we *^ k3 catch a glimpse of the simple-minded, homely kindHness which we are taught to believe exists only among horny-handed farmers, rough miners, and hardy mountaineers. — The Love Affairs of an Old Maid. 96 rhe LILIAN BELL BIRTHDAY BOOK May- is May 14 May- 13 May le rhe LILIAN BELL BIRTHDAY BOOK May y OFTEN wonder if men who have loved X. superior women and married average ones do not have occasional wonderings and yearnings over lost " might have beens." — The Love Affairs of an Old Maid. if May A I 'SHE years cannot go on without destroy- ® X ing the old landmarks, and I am so old-fashioned that change of any kind saddens me. People move away, strangers take their houses, the girls marry, children grow up, and everything is so mutable that sometimes my cheerfulness has a haze to it. — The Love Affairs of an Old Maid. May A I AHE favorite gibe of the self-made man A is directed against the college graduate. Let there be a young fellow present who is fresh from college, and let him mention any subject con- nected with college life, from honors to athletics, and then, if you are hostess, sit still and let the icy waves of misery creep over your sensitive soul ; for this is the opportunity of his life to the self-made man. — Men who Bore Us^ from From a Girl's Point of View. 98 The LILIAN BELL BIRTHDAY BOOK May 17 May 18 May 19 ■L.oFC. The LILIAN BELL BIRTHDAY BOOK May \ STRONG-MINDED woman is easier X \. to persuade than a weak one. The grander the nature, the greater its pliability towards truth. — The Love Affairs of an Old Maid. "^^^ \ MAN whom girls have trained is really L\. modest. Even at twenty he does not think that he knows it all. — Untrained Man under Thirty-jive^ from From a Girl 's Point of View. May TT'OU never will hear a man praise even the X good dressing of a woman he dislikes ; while girls who positively hate another girl often will add, " But she certainly does know how to dress." Philosophy of Clothes^ from From a Girl ' s Point of View. ^^^ I^T EARLY everybody who was full- X^ grown, and there were also quite a goodly number of non-dangerous infantile disorders, had his own private malady, which wis as distinctive and peculiarly his own, and as unavailable to others, as his silver door-plate. — The Under Side of Things. rhe LILIAN BELL BIRTHDAY BOO K May 20 May 21 May- 22 May 23 rhe LILIAN BELL BIRTHDAY BOOK '^^^ A VERY good thing about Percival is that ^ xV. he does not think he knows everything. It encourages me to believe in his genius. — The Love Affairs of an Old Maid. May 0(HE and her conscience were on intimate •^ \Sy and free-spoken but not particularly agreeable terms. One sometimes has friends of that description. — A Study in Hearts. May TT WOULD rather argue with a woman X who is desperately in love, to prevent her marrying the man of her choice, than to try to dis- suade a woman from marrying a man she has set her head upon. You feel sympathy with the former ; and you have human nature and the whole glorious love-making Past at your back, to give you confi- dence and eloquence. But with the latter you are cowed and beaten beforehand, and tongue-tied dur- ing the contest. — The Love Affairs of an Old Maid. ^^^^ T T^ED against a high soul, there is no \_J surer method of humiliation than an apology. — From a GirTs Point of View. The LILIAN BELL BIRTHDAY BOOK May 24 Max 25 May 26 May 27 rke LILIAN BELL BIRTHDAY BOOK ^^'^ 1V.T^ unwarned man is a suitable antagonist JL^ for a predetermined woman. Besides that, it is said that even Jove nods upon occasions ; but, if Venus ever did, the record has been lost. — The Under Side of Things. May A I ^O be absolutely genuine and humble is JL half the battle. One may win even the most obstinate and prejudiced. If one will only bend low enough, one may go through the lowest portal. — A Little Sister to the Wilderness. May "w-p ^i^g mother has neglected her obvious A duty in training her son to be a livable portion of humanity, who but the girls must take up her lost opportunities ? — From a GirTs Point of View. May y NEVER could understand why a man A who plays a good game of whist should not know how to make love. There are so many points in common. You can play a game of whist with only enough skill to keep your partner's hands from your throat, or you can play it for all there is in it. — Men as Lovers^ from From a GirV s Point of View. 104 rhe LILIAN BELL BIRTHDAY BOOK May 28 2Q May 30 May 31 JUNE June X NEVER can blame people who refuse to accept an apology in the shape of flowers when the wound has been given in words. — From a Girl's Point of View. line "W" » 1 J**"*® T_T E is so clever that you would be afraid A JL of him if it wasn't for his lovely man- ners, which make you feel as though what you are saying is just what he has been wanting to know, and he is so glad he has met some one who is able to tell him. — The Love Affairs of an Old Maid. June TT7HO knows the private demon who V V dwells, side by side with one's good angel, in the heart of a woman like me ? Does any one dream of the tumult within, when I carry such a proud front ? Who can tell what is going on in the heart of any woman who is making up her mind to marry ? — A Pigeon Blood Ruby ^ from Sir John and the American Girl. 1 06 JUNE June 1 June 2 June 3 rhe LILIAN BELL BIRTHDAY BOOK June A I AHERE is SO much in life which we ^ A cannot see at the beginning, but which grows with our growth, and bears us company in the richness of evening-tide. — The Love Affairs of an Old Maid. J'***® \ MAN who talks constantly has a "^ -/ jL thousand ways always at hand in which to make a fool of himself. A silent man has but one. — Men who Bore Us^ from From a Girl's Point of View. June yY never does women any harm to weep X and sob and cry their hearts out over tender, old-fashioned music. And, if they were not just that gentle an;! sentimental and soft-hearted, the men would never love them as they do. — The Under Side of Things. June ^ I AHE dyspeptic generally wants to tell JL you " all about it." That is a bore, to begin with ; for nobody in the world wants to hear anybody in the world tell all about anything in the world. — Men who Bore Usy from From a GirV s Point of View. 108 The LILIAN BELL BIRTHDAY BOOK June 4 June June O June 7 The LILIAN BELL BIRTHDAY BOOK jtine A BROKEN engagement ought to be JLjL considered a blessed thing as a preven- tive of further and worse ills. — From a Girl's Point of View. June ^HE was one of those who are fully ap- k_y predated only when they are dead, and who then call forth the bitterest remorse that we have not made them know in life how dear they were and how painfully necessary to our happiness. The Love Affairs of an Old Maid. June / I \Q have the bridge of your nose ache is X the only stopping-place this side of tears for the pathos in the under side of things. — The Under Side of Things. J^"** 1W TO love was ever wasted. It enriches X^ the giver involuntarily. You are a sweeter, better woman than before you loved, unless you made the mistake of small natures, and let it embitter you. You have no right to feel that it has been wasted. — The Love Affairs of an Old Maid. The LILIAN BELL BIRTHDAY BOOK 8 Jtxne 9 Jui&e lO June 11 rhe LILIAN BELL BIRTHDAY BOOK June 12 FOR the dramatis persona a. marriage en- gagement is an uncomfortable contriv- ance in many ways. Like the misunderstood honeymoon, it is easier for an outsider to weave romances about its perfect bliss than it is for the courageous participants, who are simply trying to live it down. — From a Girl 'j Point of View. June TT THAT girl at a summer resort has not V V felt the misery of coming out on the verandah with the wrong man, only to see the right man with another girl ? And if the other girl was having her glove buttoned at just that particular moment, and your own soul's property was bending over her hand, — actually holding it, as everybody knows a man has to do when he buttons a glove, — and if the other girl was so absorbed in the inter- esting process that she did not look up to bow or give him a chance to bow, and you had to go on down the steps, chattering to your own man, who suddenly has become so hateful to you that you almost wish he would trip on the steps and land on his head, — then you can truthfully say that you know what real misery is. — The Under Side of Things. The LILIAN BELL BIRTHDAY BOOK June 12 June 13 The LILIAN BELL BIRTHDAY BOOK June y J3Q j^Qj. mentally love white, and he does ^ jL not mentally love black, as so many hus- bands and wives do. We both love gray, — different tones of gray, but still gray. — The Love Affairs of an Old Maid. if June /'~\H, these girls, these girls, who believe ^ V-^ every time a man at a ball says he loves them that he means it ! — The Love Affairs of an Old Maid. June IT j^-p xvi^xi beware how they criticise us J_-/ unfavorably ; for the truth of the matter is that, be we frivolous or serious, vain or sensible, clever or stupid, rich or poor, we are what the American man has made us. — From a Girl ' s Point of View. if June |7VVERYBODY seems to think they are 1 -^ making an experiment of marriage, be- cause they are so much alike. But, then, doesn't every one who marries at all, Jew or Gentile, black or white, bond or free, make an experiment ? — The Love Affairs of an Old Maid. 114 The LILIAN BELL BIRTHDAY BOOK 14 June 15 Juike 16 June 17 r h e LILIAN BELL BIRTHDAY BOOK June TTE was more than convinced that she JL A was a lady. In fact, she admitted it H herself. — The Under Side of Things. June "TT is true that these unselfish women in- X culcate a system of unselfishness in their families which often works their ruin. They rob the children of their rightful virtue of self-sacrifice. The Love Affairs of an Old Maid. *''*"* 1\ /T^ friends always have confided in me. 1. ▼ X I suppose it is because I am receptive. Men tell me their old love affairs. Girls tell me the whole story of their engagements, — how they came to take this man, and why they did not take that one. And even the most ordinary are vitally interesting. Before I know it, I am rent with the same despair which agitates the lover confiding in me, or I am wreathed in the smiles of the engaged girl, who is getting her absorbing secret comfortably oflF her mind. It seems to relieve them to air their emotion, and sometimes I am convinced that they leave the most of it with me. — The Love Affairs of an Old Maid. 11(5 The LILIAN BELL BIRTHDAY BOOK June 18 June 19 June 20 rhe LILIAN BELL BIRTHDAY BOOK June /^^H me, these mothers ! It brings tears V--/ to my eyes to think of their unending love, which wraps around and shelters and broods over every one whose helplessness clings to their help, whose need depends upon their exhaustless supply. Theirs it is to bear the invisible but princely crest, " Ich dien'' — The Love Affairs of an Old Maid. June X AM in mortal terror of a very little baby. X It feels so much like a sponge, yet lacks the sponge's recuperative qualities. I am always afraid, if I dent it, the dents will stay in. You know they don't in a sponge. — The Love Affairs of an Old Maid. June /CONVERSATION with the untrained V_>^ man under thirty-five is impossible, be- cause he never converses : he only talks. — From a Girl 's Point of View. June rr^HERE'S no use in talking. After a ■* X girl falls in love with a man, she often ceases to be the girl he courted. — The Love Affairs of an Old Maid. iiS rhe LILIAN BELL BIRTHDAY BOOK June 21 June 22 June 23 June 24 riie LILIAN BELL BIRTHDAY BOOK jtxne "\/rEN seldom make perfect lovers. I ^* i. ▼ J. deeply regret being obliged to say this, as they are about all girls have to depend upon in that line. — Men as Lovers^ from From a Girl's Point of View. June ^HE is so perfect that there is absolutely \Zj no flaw in her for me to recognize and feel friendly with. — The Love Affairs of an Old Maid. June y^ Qj^g skilled at reading human nature jL an apology becomes a weapon. — From a Girl 's Point of View. June y^ID you ever notice, when he talks, how *® J_^ Rachel turns her head away ? But you can see the color creep up into her face. She is too proud and shy to let people see how much she cares for him. But, when she speaks, Percival looks at her with all his eyes, and positively leans forward so that he shall not miss a word. I love to watch those two. Sometimes when I have been with them, I feel as if I had been to church. — The Love Affairs of an Old Maid. rhe LILIAN BELL BIRTHDAY BOOK Jtxne 25 June 26 June 27 June 28 The LILIAN BELL BIRTHDAY BOOK June A I AHERE are those rare souls whose sor- X. row is never of their own making, whose lives might bask in sunshine except for the shadows which others cast. — A Little Sister to the Wilderness. j««e I^ENTUCKY girls are all pretty, I ^^ X^ suppose, — everybody says so, and you have to make believe you think so, whether you do or not ; but this one, — you know her ? Isn't she the prettiest thing you ever saw? — The Love Affairs of an Old Maid. The LILIAN BELL BIRTHDAY BOOK June 2Q June 30 JULY jtiiy y HONESTLY believe that the simple JL phrase, " I am sorry, dear : forgive me," has done more to hold brothers in the home, to endear sisters to each other, to comfort mothers and fathers, to tie friends together, to placate lovers ; that more marriages have taken place because of them, and more have held together on account of them ; that more love of all kinds has been engen- dered by them than by any other words in the English language. — From a Girl ' s Point of View, jtiiy TT is only by knowing the under side of X things that we are able to judge brilliancy gently. — The Under Side of Things. J^*'' \ GIRL who wilfully catches a man's xlL heart on the rebound does the thing which involves more risk than anything else malevo- lent fate could devise. — The Love Affairs of an Old Maid. 124 JULY Jtxly 1 Jttly 2 Jttly 3 The LILIAN BELL BIRTHDAY BOOK ^^^^ TTOW dare men and women trifle with ■^ JL JL the Shekinah of their lives? And, when it has been dulled by abuse, what a pitiful Shekinah it appears to the one who approaches it reverently, confidently expecting it to be the uncon- taminated holy of holies! It is this sort of thing which makes infidels about love. — The Love Affairs of an Old Maid. jtiiy OHE disbelieved in people against her * vD will. She envied those who could skim lightly over the surface of society, being amused by its cleverness, yet escaping the heartache which she always carried home with her at the remembrance of its falseness. — Miss Scarborough' s Point of VieWy from Sir John and the American Girl. 3^'^y A LL my life I have been dodging bores xjL and landing clever men and floating in to shore on the high tide of success, without letting anybody catch me at my harmless little tricks except women. I wouldn't let them if I could have helped myself. But other women are sometimes too much for me. — The Under Side of Things. 126 The LILIAN BELL BIRTHDAY BOOK Jtily 4 July 5 Jtily O The LILIAN BELL BIRTHDAY BOOK J"*'' IV /TEN might be a little bit surprised if ' i-T-L they could read the minds of these very wives whom they have won, whose life-work often may be only to improve them so that they will make some other woman the kind of a husband they should have made at first, and then to lie down and die. — The Untrained Man Under Thirty-five, from From a Girl's Point of View. jttiy T KNOW so many women who carry an X ache in their hearts, which their husbands never suspect ; sometimes for a love they have lost ; sometimes for one that never came ; sometimes for one they dared not take. — A Pigeon Blood Ruby, from Sir John and the American Girl. July TT is a fortunate thing for some people's X chances for a future life that there are a reasonable number of consciences distributed through the world, although it would be an Old Maid's sug- gestion that sometimes they be allowed to drive in- stead of being used as a liveried tiger, — for orna- ment, and always behind. — The Love Affairs of an Old Maid. 128 The LILIAN BELL BIRTHDAY BOOK Jtxly 7 July 8 J^lly 9 The LILIAN BELL BIRTHDAY BOOK jtiiy yj" is so easy for one's Ego to grow accus- *^ A tomed to spelling itself with a capital, and to forget that one's old friends had hitherto always spelled it with a small letter. — The Self-made Mariy frohi From a GirVs Point of View. jtiiy -yp (^Qgg j^Q^ surprise me so much when A girls from another city marry men under thirty-five. Most men do not Hke to write letters, and visits are only for over Sunday. — From a Girl's Point of View. jtxiy TT'OU have set your feet on the slippery jL downward path of Perfection, and I only wish you could see how stupidly conceited you appear to a pagan outsider because you believe so absolutely that you are right and that I am wrong. — The Under Side of Things. jtiiy 'T 'X THY is it that men expect an old sweet- 13 y y heart to take an active interest in their bride-elect, and are so deadly sure that they will like each other ? — The Love Affairs of an Old Maid. 130 The LILIAN BELL BIRTHDAY BOOK Jtily lO Jtily 11 12 July 13 rhe LILIAN BELL BIRTHDAY BOOK J***'' \ LICE has embraced Theosophy and *** xjL spells her name " Alys." She always is interested in something new and advanced ; and, whenever I meet her, I am prepared to go into ec- stasies over a plan to save men's souls by electricity, or something equally speedy in the moral line. She is daft on spiritual rapid transit. — The Love Affairs of an Old Maid, jtaiy Tyl 7IT is a weapon of defence, and was 15 V V no more intended to be an attribute of woman than is a knowledge of fire-arms or a fondness for mice. A witty woman is an anomaly, fit only for literary circles, and to be admired at a distance. — The Love Affairs of an Old Maid. jtiiy TT'OU can always tell when a man is in jL love, especially if he is not the lovering sort, and has never been troubled in that way before. The best kind of love has to be so intuitive that it often is grandly, heroically awkward. Depend upon it, a man who is dainty and pretty and unspeakably smooth when he makes love to you has had alto- gether too much practice. — The Love Affairs of an Old Maid. 132 The LILIAN BELL BIRTHDAY BOOK Jtily 14 Jtily 15 Jtxly 16 The LILIAN BELL BIRTHDAY BOOK jtaiy y HAVE seen women so uplifted by the JL sound of glorious music, and men so stirred by the sight of some heroic deed, that I have thought, " Oh, what the world loses because you do not speak now, and tell what you dream and strive and agonize to do!" — A Little Sister to the Wil- derness. jt»iy (t T T THEN I see how easily some married V V people get along with each other, and how patient wives are, I do get ashamed of the way my husband and I fuss ; but somehow, even when I make up my mind not to get mad, he says something about my religion just too much — mostly about babtism — and then I flare up!" — Lizzie Lee's Separation, from The Instinct of Stepfather hood. jtiiy '\7'OU say pretty things even to old X women, and bring them shawls, and put footstools under their feet with the air of a lover. And if you only hand a woman an ice, you look un- utterable things. You have a dozen girls at a time in that indefinite state when three words to any one of them would engage you to her. — The Love Af- fairs of an Old Maid. ij4 The LILIAN BELL BIRTHDAY BOOK Jtily 17 July 18 J«ly 19 V The LILIAN BELL BIRTHDAY BOOK July X TER quick wit resented the inanities of H X JL the conventional, but her conscience kept her from breaking over its set rules. She shocked her mother by telling her she was too cowardly to be wicked, and she didn't want to be good. — Miss Scarborough' s Point of View ^ from Sir John and the American Girl. July "^HE ought to have had mo' patience k3 with him. Cuthbert admits he was wearin' ; but, laws, sister, most men are ! " — Lizzie Lee's Separation J from The Instinct of Stepfather hood. yj July ^TILL natures, with the power of self- s sj * kj repression developed beyond all other faculties, are oftenest misunderstood. — A Little Sister to the Wilderness. July ^HE was a girl over whom men went to V^ pieces so easily and recovered from such lapses so suddenly that she knew the danger of believing too much. — A Study in Hearts^ from The Instinct of Stepfather hood. rhe LILIAN BELL BIRTHDAY BOOK Jtily 20 Jtxly 21 July 22 J«ly 23 The LILIAN BELL BIRTHDAY BOOK J"^'^ "PERHAPS you don^t know that a girl ^ \- who makes a business of wearing scalps at her belt never stands a bit of a chance with a man she really loves ; for she is afraid to practise on him the wiles which she knows from experience have been successful with scores of others, because she feels that he will see through them, and scorn her as she scorns herself in his presence. She loses her courage, she loses control of herself, and, being used to depend on " business," as actors say, to carry out her role successfully, she finds that she is only read- ing her lines, and reading them very badly, too. — The Love Affairs of an Old Maid, j«iy OHE could rock on a squeaking board for •^ k^ an hour, with no hint from her own sleep- ing nerves that she was driving the more sensitive frantic. She never could sit very long without jing- ling two of her rings together or fingering her bunch of keys or tapping her thimble on wood. When she was a child, I suppose she wrote with a slate- pencil which — but why refer to a sound more horrible in my ears than the wail of a lost soul ? — A Woman of No Nerves y from The Instinct of Step- fatherhood. i^S rhe LILIAN BELL BIRTHDAY BOOK Jtily 24 Jtaly 25 The LILIAN BELL BIRTHDAY BOOK jtiiy A I ^HE judge, although scrupulously care- *^ X ful about his diet, had dyspepsia. Per- haps this was because he went through with a good deal at his meals besides eating, particularly at breakfast, which was a pity. Breakfast is bad enough in itself, without any one selecting that un- fortunate time to be particularly disagreeable. — The Under Side of Things. ^ \ '^^^ TTEAVEN help the man who is girl- *' A X spoiled ! — The Untrained Man under Thirty-Jive^ from From a Girl's Point of View. J**^*" TTEAVEN defend me from the too accu- *® JLX rate man ! In non-essentials the man who decorates his conversation with mild but pleas- ing patterns of that style of statement made famous by one Ananias is to be depended upon quite as surely as the man who takes all the sunshine from the day, and leads one's thoughts to dwell on high, by spending ten minutes trying to recall whether he dropped that stone on his foot before or after din- ner. — The Too Accurate Man^from From a GirTs Point of View. 140 The LILIAN BELL BIRTHDAY BOOK Jtily 20 Jtily 27 Jtily 28 The LILIAN BELL BIRTHDAY BOOK jttiy XTTOMEN wish to please men aside 29 y Y fj-om their power of winning them. Whereas, if a man can get a girl without any change on his part, he considers himself a howling success. Men as Lovers ^ from From a Girl 's Point of View. J«iy A PARIS cabman makes it a rule ^^ jr\. never to look around before he turns his horse. He can determine what is behind him with more accuracy by running into it. — The Expatriates. J«iy ly /TANY people know nothing about a ^* JlVX real apology. A lukewarm apology is more insulting than the insult. A handsome apol- ogy is the handsomest thing in the world, and the manliest and the womanliest. An apology, like chivalry, is sexless. Perhaps because it is a natural virtue of women, it sits manlier upon men than upon women. . , . *• It becomes The throned monarch better than his crown." Love-making as a Fine Art, from From a Girl's Point of View. 142 The LILIAN BELL BIRTHDAY BOOK Jttly 29 Jttly 30 Jtily 31 AUGUST X Florence, but Flossy. I suppose she was one of those fluffy, curly, silky babies. She grew to be that kind of a girl, — a Flossy girl. It speaks for itself. I dare say with that name she never had any incentive to outgrow her nature. — The Love Affairs of an Old Maid. August rx^HE wisest thought is that which is A ripening in the minds of philosophers who are yet dumb. The cleverest books are those which have not yet been written. The heavenliest music is that which is yet surging and beating in the hearts of men, which cannot find a voice. — A Little Sister to the fVilderness. if August y NEVER said you could not get mar- A ried. There is nothing intricate about that. Anybody can marry. — From a Girl's Point of View. 144 AUGUST August 1 August 2 August 3 The LILIAN BELL BIRTHDAY BOOK Ati^ost T3RONSON had his ideals before he ^ \^ was married, as most men have, con- cerning the kind of a home he hoped for. He always said that it was not so much what your home was as how it was. He believed that a home con- sisted more in the feeling and aims of its inmates than in rugs and jardinieres. He used to say that " the oneness of two people could make a home in Sahara." — The Love Affairs of an Old Maid. August "ripHERE is nothing, absolutely ■^ JL nothing, you cannot do with a man who loves you, if you don't care a speck for him. And the luxury of perfect indifference ! Emotions are awfully wearing." — The Love Affairs of an Old Maid. August ly /TAKING love to women requires i. T -L the same sort of skill required to play a scientific game of whist. I have seen men win very superior girls, but they have done it in a manner which would disgust good whist-players. — Love-making as a Fine Art^ from From a GirV s Point of View. 146 The LILIAN BELL BIRTHDAY BOOK August 4 August 5 August 6 The LILIAN BELL BIRTHDAY BOOK August y^ LL that girls have to do is to lean -iTjL back, and let men wait on them until they see one that suits them. It is like ordering from a menu card for them to select husbands. Marrying is so easy for a girl. It comes natural to her. — The Love Affairs of an Old Maid. August TTTITH success should come the de- V V termination, be you man or woman, to fall upon your knees every day, and pray Heaven for strength to keep from believing the flattery of enemies, so that you still may be bearable to your friends and livable to your family. — The Untrained Man under Thirty-five^ from From a GirTs Point of View. Aogttst ^ILENCE is a weapon. It is a power- k3 ful corrective, when used against a si- lent person, who then sees himself as others see him. It is a defence, used against the indiscreet ; and in the hands of wise men it is a suit of armor. Silence is never dangerous, unless, like a gun, in the hands of a fool. — Men who Bore Us ^ from From a Girl 'j Point of View. 14S rhe LILIAN BELL BIRTHDAY BOOK 7 8 August O rhe LILIAN BELL BIRTHDAY BOOK August ^HE wears red on a cold, raw day ; and k-^ the eyes of the men light up when they look at her. She wears gray when she wants to look demure. Let a man beware of a woman in silvery gray. — The Philosophy of Clothes, from From a Girl's Point of View. August « ly/fEN who stand by their guns,— i. ▼ JL those are my heroes. Sometimes one never knows their names : only rhat a fireman belonging to such and such a company rescued women and children from a burning building. No name, often not even a medal or the recognition of having his name spelled correctly in the morning papers, but in my mind every inch a hero, and the bravest of heroes at that." — The Expatriates. August TT /"HY are old maids always supposed V V to wear black silks ? And why are they always supposed to be thin ? — the old maids, 1 mean, not the silks. Why are literary women always supposed to be frayed at the edges? — Phi- losophy of Clothes, from From a Girl's Point of View. Tke LILIAN BELL BIRTHDAY BOOK lO August 11 August 12 rhe LILIAN BELL BIRTHDAY BOOK August Y F a girl receives three proposals, that, I X am told, is a fair average. If she re- ceives ten, she is either an heiress or a belle. If she receives more than ten, she must visit in the South. — From a Girl 's Point of View. August rr^HERE is only one thing meaner ■* A than a person who never apologizes, and that is a person who will not accept one. — Love-making as a Fine Arty from From a GirVs Point of View. Attg«8* TT JOMEN who are capable of being ^ V V really ^ored never even see men who ogle, any more than, if you were being roasted alive, you would care if a hairpin pulled. — Men who Bore Us^ from Froin a Girl 'j Point of View. August TT THY have men always possessed an lO w exclusive right to the sense of humor ? I believe it is because they live out of doors more. Humor is an out-of-door virtue. It requires ozone and the light of the sun. — From a Girl 's Point of View. 152 The LILIAN BELL BIRTHDAY BOOK Auffust 13 Atig«ist 14 August 15 Atii^ust lO rhe LILIAN BELL BIRTHDAY BOOK August rx^HE great soft gift of silence shall al- ' A ways remain the precious possession of those who cherish it as they should. They shall still, as friend and mate, draw to themselves the articulate. — A Little Sister to the Wilderness. August ly /TEN have become famous as con- -LV-L versationalists who have only sat and looked admiringly at vivacious women. — From a Girl 's Point of View. August rx^HERE is a difference between pity X and sympathy. One is thrown at you : the other walks with you. — "The Love Affairs of an Old Maid. August rr^HE " tell-all-about-everything " bore ^ X can only be explained on the mi- crobe theory. None other can account for its uni- versality. You can carry contagion of it in your clothes and inoculate a person of weak mental con- stitution, who is of a build to take anything, until, in a fortnight, he or she will be a hopeless slave to the tell-all-about-everything habit. — Men who Bore Us y from From a Girl's Point of View. 154 rhe LILIAN BELL BIRTHDAY BOOK August 17 Ata^txst 18 August 19 August 20 The LILIAN BELL BIRTHDAY BOOK August ^HE thought what her mission was, — wZl to make a home ; to be a good wife ; to understand and teach little children. And where do you find the new woman now? In the kinder- garten colleges ; in university settlements ; attend- ing mothers' meetings ; teaching ignorant mothers how to understand the tender souls and delicate bodies of the dear httle creatures committed to their loving but unwise care. You find them well pre- pared by a course of study to accept the responsi- bilities of life when their time comes. Is that trivial ? Is that a subject to sneer at or to jest about .? Rather it is the hope of the nation. — The New tVomariy from From a Girl 's Point of View. Atx^ttst y^OME now. Own up, you men. ** V_>^ How well do we girls know you when you have called on us three hundred and sixty- five times in succession ? Not at all. We knov/ only what we can see and hear. How well do we know you when we have been engaged to you six months? Not at all. We know only what you have been unable to conceal of your faults, and the virtues you have displayed in your show-windows. From a GirVs Point of View. IS6 The LILIAN BELL BIRTHDAY BOOK 21 August 22 The LILIAN BELL BIRTHDAY BOOK August TT7HEN success — business or social V V or athletic or literary or artistic — comes to the untrained man under thirty-five, it comes pitifully near being his ruin. — The Untrained Man under Thirty-five^ from From a Girl's Point of View. August 'XTQU can jail a man who steals your ■* X watch ; but the girl who steals a man's heart away from his sweetheart walks free and un- condemned even, to their shame be it spoken, by those who know what she has done. Love is not a matter of infatuation. It is not the temptation which is wrong : it is the deliberate following it up simply because the temptation is agreeable. Of course it is agreeable ! You are not often irresist- ibly tempted to go and have your teeth filled ! — From a Girl 's Point of View. August /- I AHE girl is actively miserable, and ^ X her husband is indifferently uncom- fortable, — which is the habit this married couple have of experiencing the same emotion. — The Love Jffairs of an Old Maid. 158 The LILIAN BELL BIRTHDAY BOOK August 23 August 24 August 25 rhe LILIAN BELL BIRTHDAY BOOK August TT is a sad thing to get so used to a *^ X beautiful exception like love that you never think of it as marvellous.— The Love Affairs of an Old Maid. August y^ GIRL who deliberately intends to *' xjL get another girl's lover begins by gaining her confidence. Very likely she manages to stay all night with her. (That is the time you tell everything you know, just because it is dark, and then spend the rest of your life wishing you hadn't.) From a Girl ' s Point of View. August y WOULD even address a private *® JL query, at just this point, to the women, begging that the men will skip it, asking women where in the world we would find ourselves if we were unflinchingly honest with the men who love us ? — Love-making as a Fine Arty from From a Girl 's Point of View. August TTTHAT the Gaul calls pride the 29 y Y Anglo-Saxon calls vanity. — 'The Expatriates. 1 60 The LILIAN BELL BIRTHDAY BOOK August 26 August 27 Au£fust 28 August 29 rhe LILIAN BELL BIRTHDAY BOOK August rr^HE adulation of the world is more ** A intoxicating and more deadly than to drink absinthe out of a stein, — more insidi- ous than opium, more fatal than death. It unset- tles the steadiest brain and feeds the too ravenous ego with a food which at first he deems nectar and ambrosia, but which he soon comes to feel is the staff of life, and no more than he deserves. — The Untrained Man under Thirty-five^ from From a Girl 'j Point of View. August yN the whole history of the world, from JL nineteenth - century Public Opinion clear back to the age of chivalry, men never have been inclined to deal out justice to women. It is their watchword with each other, but with women it always is either injustice or mercy. And, in spite of all wrongs and all abuses, I say. Heaven bless the men that this is so ! Who among us is brave enough to demand justice at the expense of chivalry ? — From a Girl 's Point of View. 162 rhe LILIAN BELL BIRTHDAY BOOK August 30 Au^txst 31 SEPTEMBER September XT is not pride, it is a stupid van- X ity and an abnormal self-love which prevent a man or woman from apologizing. — From a Girl's Point of View. September ]\ >TEN never will have done with -LV X their strictures on girls until girls achieve two things. One is to observe more honor in their relations with each other, and the other is to learn to think. — From a Girl's Point of View. September x^QU men are so terribly practical X and common-sense and every-day. We girls like flowers, and mental indigestibles, and occasional Sundays. We do not know why we do, but we do, and we cannot help it ; and, if you are going to make love according to Hoyle, you must recognize this fact, and pamper us in our folly. Don't we pamper you ? — Men as Lovers, from From a GirV s Point of View. 164 S EPTEM BER September 1 Septembes* 2 September 3 rhe LILIAN BELL BIRTHDAY BOOK September T^QES a fragment of genius cor- ^ J_V rupt the aesthetic sense ? Is writ- ing a hardening process? Must you wear shabby boots and carry a baggy umbrella just because you can write ? Not a bit of it. Little as some of you men may think it, literary women have souls ; and a woman with a soul must, of necessity, love laces and ruffled petticoats and high-heels and rosettes. Otherwise, I question her possession of a soul. — From a GirV s Point of View. September ^ 3 ^\xk\ most men, love was mak- •^ JL\. ing him more alive. He felt more keen, more sensitive to impressions, more psychological. The woman's point of view was con- tinually coming into his mental vision, rendering him uncertain of himself, less assured. His un- conscious masculine finality of judgment was being shaken. — The Expatriates. September Try requires a finer type of generosity ^ X to receive generously than to give generously. — Love-making as a Fine Art, from From a Girl's Point of View. 166 The LILIAN BELL BIRTHDAY BOOK September 4 September 5 September rhe LILIAN BELL BIRTHDAY BOOK September TT E spcnds hours Studying that jL JL horse's traits. He is always saying that she won't back, or that she hates this and is afraid of that. His horse never has to do any- thing that she doesn't want to ; but his wife does. — Love-making as a Fine Art^ from From a Girl's Point of View. September y jvj ^}^g £^g|. place, dyspepsia is such X a refined and ladyHke trouble. It has no disgusting details. You can refer to it at all times without fear of nauseating your hearers. In the second place, you can count on nearly half of your hearers' having it, too. — Men who Bore Usy from From a Girl's Point of View. September y4 NEW Man has been created '* by the development of the New A Woman, and he is the highest type we have. " Courtesy wins woman as well As valor may, but he that closes both Is perfect." — The New Woman^ from From a Girl ' s Point of View. i68 The LILIAN BELL BIRTHDAY BOOK September 7 September 8 September 9 The LILIAN BELL BIRTHDAY BOOK September rT^QO much analysis is death to A unmitigated rapture. — From a Girl 'j Point of View. September J GLORY in the new woman in that X so often she is rich and beautiful. It is easy enough to be good if you are plain. In fact, there is nothing else left for a plain woman to do. — 'The New Woman^from From a GirV s Point of View. September ^TT^HE too accurate man is ubiqui- X tous. If you hear of him, and refuse to meet him, it is only to find that he has married your best friend, whom worlds could not bribe you to give up. If you weed him out of your acquaintance, it is only to realize that he was born into your relationship u. generation ago, before you could prevent it. Sometimes he is your father, sometimes your brother. Both of these, however, can be lived down. But occasionally you discover that, in a moment of frenzy, you have married him ! Heaven help you then, for " marriage stays with one like a murder." — The Too Accurate Man^from From a GirVs Point of View. 170 r h e LILIAN BELL BIRTHDAY BOOK September lO September 11 September 12 rhe LILIAN BELL BIRTHDAY BOOK September T T IS a qucstion whether a woman *** X ever knows all the joys of love- making who has one of those dumb, silent hus- bands who doubtless adores her, but is able to express it only in deeds. — Love-making as a Fine Art, from From a GirVs Point of View. September TJVAR be it from me to say that the *^ J7 untrained man under thirty-five, at his worst, is of no use in this world. He is excel- lent for a two-step. — The Untrained Man under Thirty-five, from From a Girl ' j Point of View. September A | ^HE most perfect lover is the ^■^ JL one who best understands how and when to apologize. — Love-making as a Fine Art, from From a GirVs Point of View. September TT 70MEN have more conscience V V about deceiving themselves into staying in love than men have. — The Love Affairs of an Old Maid. 17- rhe LILIAN BELL BIRTHDAY BOOK September 13 September 14 September 15 September 16 The LILIAN BELL BIRTHDAY BOOK September yjk MAN nevcr scems to be able to -ZJL understand that, in order to ob- tain the supremest pleasure from an act of thought- fulness to his wife, he must be wholly unselfish and give it to her in her line and the way she wants it, and the way he knows she wants it, if he would only stop to think. — Love-making as a Fine Art^ from From a Girl's Point of View. September J HAVE learned to love my life A and to cultivate it. Who knows what is in her life, until she has tended it and made it know that she expects something from it in re- turn for all her aspirations and endeavors ? — The Love Affairs of an Old Maid. September JNFIRMARIES should be estab- X lished for the purpose of making the stupid interesting, or classes organized on "How to Be Brief" or on "The Art of Relating Salient Points " or on " The Best Method of Skip- ping the Unessentials in Conversation." / would go, for one. — Men who Bore Us^ from From a Girl 'j Point of View. 174 The LILIAN BELL BIRTHDAY BOOK September 17 September 18 September 19 The LILIAN BELL BIRTHDAY BOOK September ripHERE IS a hollowness about -L having a man praise your gowns when you know he doesn't know what he is talk- ing about. When a man praises your clothes, he always is praising you in them. — The Philosophy of Clothes y from From a Girl's Point of View. September yt DYSPEPTIC disagrees with jr\. me as religiously as if 1 had eaten him. — Men who Bore Us, from From a Girl's Point of View. September jk MAN will always take more xjL good advice from a woman whom he has no right to love than he will from his own sweetheart or wife. — From a GirVs Point of View. if September XTOU men do not recognize the X romantic streak which, of more or less breadth and thickness, runs through every woman, making her love good love-making. — Love- making as a Fine Art, from From a Girl ' s Point of View. \~ier 7 October 8 October 9 rhe LILIAN BELL BIRTHDAY BOOK October J NEVER clamored very much for X women to be recognized as the equals of men, either in politics or in love, because, if I had clamored at all, I should have clamored for in- finitely more than that, /should have clamored for men to recognize us as their superiors, and not for equal rights with themselves, but for more, many more rights than they ever dreamed of possessing. 'Tis not justice I crave, but mercy; 'tis not equal- ity, but chivalry. — Woman s Rights in Love^ from From a GirVs Point of View. October J APPROVE of men keeping silent A when they have nothing to say. It shows that they recognize their limitations, and re- fuse to rush in where angels fear to tread. — From a Girl's Point of View. October TT TOMEN are a beheving set of V V human geese, and we believe a great deal of what you men say, which is wrong of us; and much more of what your pronounced actions over us imply, which is worse. — From a GirV s Point of View. 190 r h e LILIAN BELL BIRTHDAY BOOK October lO October 11 October 12 The LILIAN BELL BIRTHDAY BOOK October y^ELECTABLE as honesty is in a JL/ bank clerk, or would be in a law- yer, one yearns for a little less accuracy in the moral make-up of the too accurate man, for a little of the celestial leaven of exaggeration in the dusty dryness of his dead-level garrulousness. — Men Who Bore Us y from From a GirTs Point of View. October TT TOMAN'S rights! Why, the ^ V V very first right we expect is to be treated better than anybody else ! Better than men treat each other as a body, and better by the indi- vidual man than he treats all other women. — JVomans Rights in Love^ from From a GirVs Point of View. October rnpHERE is a time when the youth " X of twenty knows more than any one on earth could teach him, and more than he ever will know again, — a time when, no matter how kind his heart, he is incased in a mental haughtiness be- fore which plain Wisdom is dumb. — The Untrained Man under Thirty-five ^ from From a GirVs Point of View. 192 i rhe LILIAN BELL BIRTHDAY BOOK October 13 October 14 October 15 The LILIAN BELL BIRTHDAY BOOK October T_T E nevcr bothers. He never is in X JL the way. He is as deft at button- ing a glove as he is amiable at playing cards. You always think of him first if you are making up a theatre party. He serves equally well as grooms- man or pall-bearer, although I do not speak from experience in either instance. He never is cross or sulky. He makes the best of everything; and I think men say that he is " an all-round good fellow." The Love Affairs of an Old Maid. October XS it that we women are more artistic X. and cleverer at masquerading the truth that we make so much better lovers than the men ? — Men as Lover s, from From a Girl 's Point of View. October ripHERE is the cry of the inarticulate, -L of that large, not-to-be-ignored por- tion of humanity whose thoughts need an interpre- ter ; who with womanish, nice perceptions need equally nice distinction in terms, to enable them to express the fine shades of meaning which it is their gift to feel. — A Little Sister to the Wilderness. 194 The LILIAN BELL BIRTHDAY BOOK October lO October 17 October 18 rhe LILIAN BELL BIRTHDAY BOOK October TT THEN you are not the one who 19 y y should apologize, when you are less to blame than he, be you the one to apolo- gize first, and see how quickly his noble nature will abase itself and rush to meet you, and how sure and glorious and complete the reconciliation will be ! — Love-making as a Fine Arty from From a Girl's Point of View, October y KNOW a man who is just an ordi- X nary man in everything else ; but to see him drive a spirited horse is to know that he has the making of a good lover in him. — From a Girl's Point of View. October y THINK women are often mis- ** X judged. Men seem to think that all we want is to be loved. Now that isn't all that I want ! If 1 had to choose between being loved by a man — the man, let us say — and not loving him at all, or loving him very dearly and not being loved by him, I would choose the latter; for I think that more happiness comes from loving than from being loved. — The Love Affairs of an Old Maid. 196 rhe LILIAN BELL BIRTHDAY BOOK October 19 October 20 October 21 rJie LILIAN BELL BIRTHDAY BOOK \ October /I WOMAN who suffers heartache JL\. because her husband never apolo- gizes to her, or who endures mortification unspeak- able because she has not a penny of her own, has no right to rebel, even in her own heart, unless she is training her son to make the sort of husband for some httle girl, now in pinafores, which she would have wished for herself — From a GirVs Point of View. October xp ^ j^^j^ ]^^^ j^q specific intentions ^ A towards a girl, and has not deter- mined in his own mind that he wants to marry her ; if he is only liking her a great deal, with but an occasional wonder in the depths of his own heart whether this girl is the wife for him, — to call upon her casually and see the family scatter and other callers hastily leave is enough to scare him to death. — From a GirV s Point of View. October yi TRITE saying has my sympathy. ^ Jl\. It generally is stupid and shop- worn, and consequently is banished to polite society and hated by the clever. — From a GirVs Point of View. The LILIAN BELL BIRTHDAY BOOK October 22 October 23 October 24 The LILIAN BELL BIRTHDAY BOOK October J £Y ^-i^g j^gj^ gj^g yg ^Ij ^}^g so-called ^ -L> rights they wish to. I never shall get over wanting to get behind some man if I see a cow. — Woman s Rights in Love^ from From a Girl 's Point of View. October J ABOMINATE those people who X are always right. You can't amuse yourself by picking flaws in them. They are so irritatingly conclusive. — From a Girl's Point of View. October /'^F course, every woman knows that V^ a sick man is sicker than a thousand sick women, each of whom is twice as sick as he is. We all know that he can groan louder and roll his eyes higher and keep more people flying about — and all this with just a plain pain — than his wife would do with seven fatal ailments. — From a GirVs Point of View. October T~^OR myself, I consider absolute hon- -L esty most unpleasant. I never knew any really nice, lovable women who were unflinch- ingly honest. — The Love Affairs of an Old Maid. The LILIAN BELL BIRTHDAY BOOK October 25 October 26 October 27 October 28 r h e LILIAN BELL BIRTHDAY BOOK October T^V VERY woman has had, at some time *^ I J in her Hfe, an experience with m.an in the raw. — From a Girl 's Point of View. October Ty /T OTHERS rear their daughters and ®® X V J. send them to fulfil their mission in life, of being wives and mothers, versed in every- thing except the two things they are destined to be. It is as if a ph3^sician were taught architecture, music, and painting, and then sent out to practise his unskill in medicine upon a helpless humanity. — From a GirFs Point of View. October ^ MAN thinks, if a woman begins •** ir\. to smile at him again after a hurt, for which he has not yet apologized, has commenced to grow dull, that the worst is over ; and that, if he keeps away from the dangerous subject, he has done his duty. Besides, hasn't he given her a piano to pay for it? But that same man would call another man a brute who insisted upon healing up a finger with the splinter still in it, so that an accidental pressure would always cause pain. — Love-making as a Fine Art ^ from From a Girl's Point of View. The LILIAN BELL BIRTHD AY BOOK October 29 October 30 October 31 NOVEMBER November y ]sj^ ipomt of fact, whcn a man is in X love and a girl does not yet know her own mind ; when she is weighing out their adaptability and balancing his love for football against her passion for Browning ; during the deli- cate, tentative period, when the most affectionate solicitude from friends is an irritation, there ought to be a law banishing the interested couple to an island peopled with strangers, who would not dis- cover the delicacy of the situation until it was too late to spoil it. — From a Girl 's Point of View. November rT^RERE are times in the lives of X all of us when it bores us to be talked to of home or friends or wife or husband or mother or religion. There are times when nothing but a large, comfortable silence can soothe the worry and fret of a trying day. At such times let the tactless woman and the thoughtless man be- ware, because everything they say will be a bore. — From a Girl 's Point of View. 204 N OVEM B ER November 1 November 2 The LILIAN BELL BIRTHDAY BOOK November 1^ /TANY bravc men, who would -L ▼ -L stop a runaway horse or who would dare to look for burglars under the bed, quail utterly before the prospect of talking to a young girl who frankly says, " I don't think." — From a Girl 's Point of View. November ^^ THOSE wearisome, breathless ^ V^ people, who insist upon giving you the tiresome details of insipid trivialities ! There is no escape from them. They are every- where. They are found on farms, in mining-camps, in women's clubs, in churches, jails, and lunatic asylums ; and the nearest approach to a release from them is to be fashionable, for in society no- body is allowed to finish a sentence. — From a GirFs Point of View. November r-pHOUGH uncultured and un~ ^ JL taught, there are some who pos- sess the grander harmony of soul and poetry of heart which many masters and many tongues cannot teach to aught save the elect. — A Little Sister to the Wilderness. 206 rhe LILIAN BELL BIRTHDAY BOOK November 3 November 4 November 5 The LILIAN BELL BIRTHDAY BOOK November TT7HILE in her desire for enjoy- V V ment she was wilHng to pay for it by helping a mild flirtation along, still, when she looked out over the ocean or wakened in the middle of the night, she abhorred the whole situa- tion, and hated herself quite genuinely for counte- nancing it. She got over this, however, when she put on a ball-gown. Miss Scarborough was fin de siecle without and early Christian within. — Miss Scarborough's Point of View y from Sir John and the American Girl. November y4 ^ISS NANCY is a poct with- -Z\. out genius, — one who has a talent for discovering the fineness of life, but who lacks the wit to keep his views from ridicule. — From a Girl ' s Point of View. November ^ DAPTABILITY is a heaven- jL JL sent gift. It is like the straw used in packing china : it not only saves jarring, but it prevents worse disasters ; and without it a man is only safe when he is alone. — Frotn a GirVs Point of View. 20S rhe LILIAN BELL BIRTHDAY BOOK November November 7 November 8 The LILIAN BELL BIRTHDAY BOOK November TT TOMEN are not looking for V V flaws in men : they are only too anxious to make the best of sorry specimens and shut their eyes to faults, and to coax virtues into prominence. Men have nothing to complain of in the way women in society treat them. They get better than they deserve, and much better than they give. — From a Girl 's Point of View. November lO IN love a woman's first right is to be protected from her friends while she considers the man whom she contemplates lov- ing. — From a Girl 's Point of View. November J HAVE an idea that names show X character. I believe names handi- cap people. I believe that children are sometimes tortured by hideous and unmeaning names. We cannot be too thankful to our mothers who named us Mary and Dorothy and Constance. What an inspiration to be " faithful over a few things " such a name as Constance must be ! — The Love Affairs of an Old Maid. 210 The LILIAN BELL BIRTHDAY BOOK November 9 November lO November 11 rhe LILIAN BELL BIRTHDAY BOOK November T^RQM the Standpoint of observa- ** J_ tion and inexperience, I should say that the supremest lack of men as lovers is the inability to say, " I am sorry, dear : forgive me." — From a Girl 's Point of View. November J COULD weep over the early death *^ A of an epigram with a hearty spirit, which is second only to the grief I feel at a good story spoiled for relation's sake. — From a Girl's Point of View. November rT~^0 be actually interested is as *^ JL likely to make one grateful as anything in this world, unless it be a realization of the kindness of fate in sparing us the perpetual society of fools. — From a Girl ' s Point of View. November TTTHAT is it that makes the 15 y y American girl so dangerous for all the other women in the world to compete with ? It is because she studies her man. — From a Girl's Point of View. T:he LILIAN BELL BIRTHDAY BOOK November 12 November 13 November 14 November 15 The LILIAN BELL BIRTHDAY BOOK November XT-QU think I havc never loved? X All nonsense, my dear. The fact is, I am constantly in love. I manage it in this way. I am an idealist. I admit it. I worship an ideal ; but that ideal is hollow, — built like a suit of armor. I meet a man who attracts me. Presto ! I slip him into my hollow ideal ; and he marches around in it, doubtless wondering what weighs him down so. I love my ideal personally then, until I discover that he eats with his knife or beats his mother, when I take off his armor and stand it in the closet with my mackintosh and umbrella, until I need it again. Meantime I love it empty, — with an impersonal love which keeps my hand in. — Unpublished Notes. November yp j^g ]^^^ ^^^ married, I doubt X whether she would have had the courage to engage herself to any other man. She loved him too truly to take the first step towards an eternal separation. Women seldom dare make that first move except as a decoy. They are naturally superstitious ; and, even when curiously free from this trait in everything else, they cling to a little super- stition in love, and dare not tempt Fate too inso- lently. — '^he Love Affairs of an Old Maid. 214 the LILIAN BELL BIRTHDAY BOOK November November 17 rhe LILIAN BELL BIRTHDAY BOOK November l^T EARLY all nicc men make good i.^ lovers in deeds. Many fail in the handling of words. >■ Few, indeed, combine the ^ two and make perfect lovers. — From a Girl 'j Point of View. ^ November 19 IT is not wilful cruelty which makes us say that (to a woman) the word " bore " is in the masculine gender and objective case, object of our deepest detestation. — From a GirTs Point of View. November y DARE say that more women JL would have the courage to remain unmarried, were there so euphonious a title awaiting them as " bachelor," which, when shorn of its ac- companying adjective " old," simply means unmar- ried. The word *' bachelor," too, has somewhat of a jaunty sound, implying to the sensitive ear that its owner could have been married — oh, several times over! — if he had wished. But both "spinster" and " old maid " have narrow, restricted attributes which, to say the least, imply doubt as to past op- portunity. — Preface to The Love Affairs of an Old Maid. 216 rhe LILIAN BELL BIRTHDAY BOOK November 18 November 19 November 20 The LILIAN BELL BIRTHDAY BOOK November QOMETIMES ill the street-car or \