A quote from my book, These Is My Words, The Diary of Sarah Agnes Prine 1881-1901, Arizona Territory
May 22, 1882
I have started to read a book named The Happy Bride. It is all about how a girl should act and what men expect from the girl they want to marry and such. It is a wonderful book and I plan to study it hard and put it to practice. The first thing I must do is become more religious. I will have to learn to be a ‘righteous example of piety and purity, virtuous to a fault, kind and sharing,’ if I am to be the Happy Bride in the book. … This book says ‘a young lady is never safe when in close physical proximity to a gentleman, and although he would pursue her, he thinks all the more of her if she rebuffs him heartily.’ So I will think of the hearty rebuff that I will tell … any man who presumes to be in close physical proximity. … I will study this book so the first chance I get not to be an old maid I will be ready.
That journal entry made me smile. Maybe I should study that book....
