Advice for Little Girls and Boys - Mark Twain

Mark Twain Sez: Advice for Little Girls

via The Complete Works of Mark Twain

Good little girls ought not to make mouths at their teachers for every trifling offense. This retaliation should only be resorted to under peculiarly aggravated circumstances.

This one is self explainitory.

If you have nothing but a rag-doll stuffed with sawdust, while one of your more fortunate little playmates has a costly China one,you should treat her with a show of kindness nevertheless.
And you ought not to attempt to make a forcible swap with her unless
your conscience would justify you in it, and you know you are able
to do it.

Unless you're sure you can get away with it ... Just be nice!

You ought never to take your little brother's "chewing-gum" awayfrom him by main force; it is better to rope him in with the promise of the first two dollars and a half you find floating down the
river on a grindstone. In the artless simplicity natural to this time of life, he will regard it as a perfectly fair transaction.In all ages of the world this eminently plausible fiction has lured the obtuse infant to financial ruin and disaster.

The last time I found 2 and half dollors at the river was never

If at any time you find it necessary to correct your brother, do not correct him with mud--never, on any account, throw mud at him, because it will spoil his clothes. It is better to scald him a little,for then you obtain desirable results. You secure his immediate
attention to the lessons you are inculcating, and at the same time your hot water will have a tendency to move impurities from his person,and possibly the skin, in spots.

If your intent is to rile the monkeys, do not be suprized when they start flinging pooh. If you start flinging pooh back, well, you're just another monkey.At the end of the school year it's ok to just say goodbye to your friends without the painful dramatic metaphor of Oedipus Rex

If your mother tells you to do a thing, it is wrong to reply that you won't. It is better and more becoming to intimate that you will do as she bids you, and then afterward act quietly in the matter according to the dictates of your best judgment.

I know a couple of kids that have this down perfectly!

You should ever bear in mind that it is to your kind parents that you are indebted for your food, and for the privilege of staying home from school when you let on that you are sick. Therefore you ought
to respect their little prejudices, and humor their little whims, and put up with their little foibles until they get to crowding you too much.

Nice!

Good little girls and boys always show marked deference for the aged. You ought never to "sass" old people unless they "sass" you first.

Nuf Said!