Letters to a Daughter and A Little Sermon to School Girls

"Letters to a Daughter and A Little Sermon to School Girls" by Helen Ekin Starrett is a series of letters offering guidance on life and morals, penned in the late 1800s. The book is like a heart-to-heart talk from a mother to her daughter that shares important insights about growing as a person and how to act with others. Through these letters, Starrett points out how important it is to control yourself, have good manners, and build your character, because these things help you make friends and live a happy life. The book begins by discussing behavior and manners as key to gaining affection and friendship, noting that good manners come from strong moral values. Starrett tells a story about someone bright who struggled with poor behavior at home. The core message is that behavior shows who you are inside, focusing on virtues like kindness and humility. The letters are both caring and direct, designed to equip the daughter for life’s challenges away from home, filled with hands-on advice to guide her personal development.