The Girl Through the Ages

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WHEN after the publication of The Boy through the Ages my publishers, my critics, and my friends united in urging me to do for his little sister what I had just done for him the idea did not appeal to me very strongly. I feared that a certain amount of overlapping and duplication would be inevitable, and I had no wish to serve I up what the Romans called crumbe repetita and the Scots call -cauld kail het again. However, I was soon convinced that this was an ill-founded fear. In the course of miscellaneous historical and antiquarian studies covering a fairly wide field I encountered such multitudes of picturesque and engaging little girls that I decided that The Girl through the Ages would be quite as good a subject as The Boy-perhaps even better It has been no part of my purpose to trace the early years of Eunous women this thing has already been done more than once, and done well but whenever it has seemed to me desir- able to illustrate some point by a personal example I have introduced actual historical figures, both familiar and obscure. Whenever possible I have quoted verbatim from the docn- ments concerned, and I have given especial attention to the little girls in literature, a numerous and charming company. As in the case of The Boy through the Ages, my chief aim has been to give a vivid and faithful picture of the typi- cal child in each age and setting, outward aspect, early environment, sports and studics, the influences brought to bear upon upbringing by the events and movements of the time. After leaving Babylonia, Egypt, and ancient Greece behind I excluded all non-European countries from my survey, concentrating upon England, though with frequent excursions to Italy and France. The mass of materials at my disposal was so enormous that my greatest problem has been to avoid overcrowding.....