A Well Bred Girl

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.

A Well Bred Girl

1.
2.
3. Never laughs loudly when in a public place
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.

I've got bits of some of the other lines, but that was straightforward.

_________________
to be nobody but yourself - in a world which is doing its best, night and day, to make you everybody else - means to fight the hardest battle which any human being can fight; and never stop fighting.
e.e.cummings
http://stitchwords.blogspot.co.uk

5. Never conveys cheese to her lips/mouth with a knife
I think mouth more likely in that a well-bred girl wouldn't hold cheese within her lips, but who can guess at the mental assessments and dining refinements of the period?

1. Never talks through ?our music at concerts or at homes

_________________
to be nobody but yourself - in a world which is doing its best, night and day, to make you everybody else - means to fight the hardest battle which any human being can fight; and never stop fighting.
e.e.cummings
http://stitchwords.blogspot.co.uk

A Well Bred Girl

1. Never takes during music at concerts or at home,
2.
3. Never laughs loudly when in a public place
4.
5. Never conveys cheese to her lips/mouth with a knife
6.
7. Never loses a ........ accepting an invitation to dinner
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.

I agree with you Noreen, "mouth" is better in the context, but who knows with the Victorians? The book it comes from was published in 1897.

I'm like abbeybufu, bits and pieces here and there. I don't seem to be able to find the rhymes either.

I thought at first that the twig things in line 1 were stakes and that it began "Never takes", but I've just realised that the next word is "during", so it can't be.

They are stalks so it's 'Never talks during music ...'

_________________
to be nobody but yourself - in a world which is doing its best, night and day, to make you everybody else - means to fight the hardest battle which any human being can fight; and never stop fighting.
e.e.cummings
http://stitchwords.blogspot.co.uk

Oops, sorry, I must still have been writing my last post when you added yours. I tend to keep looking at the pic as I'm composing a reply and coming up with new thoughts, so I can be in the "Post a reply" mode for quite a long time! Yes, stalks it is, obvious when it's pointed out, but for the life of me I couldn't get past stakes/sticks.

Sorry to quibble, but that'll be at-homes in Line 1 won't it? I always think that 'at-homes' sound awful, but I guess that in an age that had so many social rules and conventions they were a refreshing change.

4 Never coughs when talking to others without lifting her hand to her mouth (?)

I'm beginning to wonder if it has a rhyming scheme at all - and 4, 7 and 9 seem much longer than the rest, too.

Yes I thought in the night that it was At-Homes rather than at home - couldn't think why the 's' was on the end to start with!

Is 2 - Never turns in the street to see other girls' dresses/outfits - ?

_________________
to be nobody but yourself - in a world which is doing its best, night and day, to make you everybody else - means to fight the hardest battle which any human being can fight; and never stop fighting.
e.e.cummings
http://stitchwords.blogspot.co.uk

I think quibbling is good for this kind of puzzle! We may just be doing it for our own amusement and 123 years past the deadline for submission, but it's still nice to try to solve it as accurately as possible. The "at home" was actually a typo in this instance. I jot my ideas down in a notebook before I post them here and missed the "s" when I did the transfer, so we're all in complete agreement.

I had line 4 pretty much the same as Noreen, except I'd put "holding". I think "lifting" fits the illustration far more accurately though. I also agree that it seems to be more of a list than a poem this time.

(Feel free to copy and paste it with your own additions/amendments.)

A Well Bred Girl

1. Never talks during music at concerts or At-Homes,
2. Never turns in the street to see other girls' dresses
3. Never laughs loudly when in a public place
4. Never coughs when talking to others without
5. *************lifting her hand to her mouth
6. Never conveys cheese to her lips/mouth with a knife
7. Never loses a ........ accepting an invitation to dinner
8.
9. **************after a dinner party or entertainment
10.
11. Never intentionally hurts the....................of those
12.**************in an inferior position.

Edited to add that I'd indented lines 5, 9 and 12 in the draft, but it doesn't seem to work when you click on "Submit". I'll add asterisks instead.

I love the idea of missing the entry date by 123 years!

A Well Bred Girl
1. Never talks during music at concerts or At-Homes,
2. Never turns in the street to see other girls' dresses
3. Never laughs loudly when in a public place
4. Never coughs when talking to others without
5. *************lifting her hand to her mouth
6. Never conveys cheese to her lips/mouth with a knife
7. Never loses a ........ accepting an invitation to dinner
8. Never ........ to make her duty call
9. **************after a dinner party or entertainment (possibly a dance rather than a party?)
10.
11. Never intentionally hurts the....................of those
12.**************in an inferior position.

This is frustrating, there are a few blanks where I have a pretty good idea of the sense of the line as a whole, but can only come up with words that fit the sense but not the pictures.

Noreen I've changed it to dinner dance as I think you're right. I didn't look at the picture properly, just noted from the length of the dresses that they were girls rather than young ladies, but they're clearly dancing and there's a lady playing the piano. Well spotted!

We're almost there

A Well Bred Girl

1. Never talks during music at concerts or At-Homes,
2. Never turns in the street to see other girls' dresses
3. Never laughs loudly when in a public place
4. Never coughs when talking to others without
5. *************lifting her hand to her mouth
6. Never conveys cheese to her lips/mouth with a knife
7. Never loses a ........ accepting an invitation to dinner
8. Never ........ stomach ache to make her duty call
9. **************after a dinner dance or entertainment (possibly a dance rather than a party?)
10.
11. Never intentionally hurts the....................of those
12.**************in an inferior position.

A Well Bred Girl

1. Never talks during music at concerts or At-Homes,
2. Never turns in the street to see other girls' dresses
3. Never laughs loudly when in a public place
4. Never coughs when talking to others without
5. *************lifting her hand to her mouth
6. Never conveys cheese to her lips/mouth with a knife
7. Never loses a post accepting an invitation to dinner
8. Never omits to make her duty call
9. **************after a dinner dance or entertainment
10. Never arouses envy in others but incites them to content
11. Never intentionally hurts the feelings of those
12.**************in an inferior position.

Are we there?

_________________
to be nobody but yourself - in a world which is doing its best, night and day, to make you everybody else - means to fight the hardest battle which any human being can fight; and never stop fighting.
e.e.cummings
http://stitchwords.blogspot.co.uk

Pretty much I think. Does anyone want to have a go at putting in some punctuation? I've put some in, rather than leave it out altogether, but am definitely open to further amendments.

Are we going with lips or mouth for line 6? My vote would be for mouth, but I'll go with the majority decision.

Is the first time we haven't left any blanks at all? If it is, I think some virtual high fives are in order. What a team!

(I'm curious to see if any of the "girls" also managed to turn "omits to make her duty call" into something to do with stomach ache as I did!!)

A Well Bred Girl

1. Never talks during music at concerts or At-Homes,
2. Never turns in the street to see other girls' dresses,
3. Never laughs loudly when in a public place,
4. Never coughs when talking to others without,
5. *************lifting her hand to her mouth.
6. Never conveys cheese to her mouth with a knife,
7. Never loses a post in accepting an invitation to dinner,
8. Never omits to make her duty call
9. **************after a dinner dance or entertainment.
10. Never arouses envy in others but incites them to content,
11. Never intentionally hurts the feelings of those,
12.**************in an inferior position.

I wouldn't put commas at the ends of lines 4 or 11 - I think they run straight on like 8/9

...and I think 7 is probably
7. Never loses a post in accepting an invitation to dinner,


I agree mouth rather than lips for line 6 too.

Do we think any of the line ends are semicolons rather than commas?

_________________
to be nobody but yourself - in a world which is doing its best, night and day, to make you everybody else - means to fight the hardest battle which any human being can fight; and never stop fighting.
e.e.cummings
http://stitchwords.blogspot.co.uk

You know, they might well be - unless they're full stops, but that looks a bit clunky (as I suspect nobody would have said in 1897).

As the mouth/ lips look identical in lines 5 and 6, I feel it should be the same in both, and probably mouth; I suppose that there might be a comma after 'dinner' in Line 9.

Oh, and definitely high fives!

I also think you could be right about the semicolons abbeybufo but I'll leave you to insert them where you think they fit the best.

Line 7 is the one I'm least happy about, but if that rather phallic looking drawing is a post in line 12, it's hard to see what else it could be in line 7. I'll edit my previous post to delete "lips" and add "in".

A Well Bred Girl

1. Never talks during music at concerts or At-Homes,
2. Never turns in the street to see other girls' clothes;
3. Never laughs loudly when in a public place.
4. Never coughs when talking to others without
5. *************lifting her hand to her mouth;
6. Never conveys cheese to her mouth with a knife.
7. Never loses a post in accepting an invitation to dinner,
8. Never omits to make her duty call
9. **************after a dinner dance or entertainment.
10. Never arouses envy in others but incites them to content;
11. Never intentionally hurts the feelings of those
12.**************in an inferior position.

That's my best guess as to punctuation. I think accepting by return of post was the height of good manners, so I'm happy with line 7 as is. The post in line 12 has an 'i' added and then 'ion' on the end so the symbol must be the same in both. My only worry is 'arouses' in line 10 - that's the sense, but not certain I have the right word...

High fives indeed - in record time too!!

_________________
to be nobody but yourself - in a world which is doing its best, night and day, to make you everybody else - means to fight the hardest battle which any human being can fight; and never stop fighting.
e.e.cummings
http://stitchwords.blogspot.co.uk

And here's the solution. I've included the Examiners' Report as it's quite interesting, although there's no mention of stomach ache in there. I must have been on my own with that one! I'm kicking myself because I included the "round" in my jotter, but wasn't confident enough about it to post here.



Are you ready for another?

I think I'd rather have a break - I have a lot to do that this has nicely distracted me from - but I ought to concentrate on proofing the next reprint before I give any more time to another of these.

So by all means start another, but I should step back - at least until next weekend.

_________________
to be nobody but yourself - in a world which is doing its best, night and day, to make you everybody else - means to fight the hardest battle which any human being can fight; and never stop fighting.
e.e.cummings
http://stitchwords.blogspot.co.uk