The San Saba news. [volume] (San Saba, Tex.) 1873-1966, 1890-05-16
What Shall be Done With Our Girl,

girls? Any one who reads thl
kilograms in a daily newspapsl
nowadays must wonder what i
to become of the girls, But feV
days ago we read of a brigh1
young lady who had been homs
missionary for the Presbyterisz
church, and who drowned hersel
after writing letter of despair
in which she said: There is nc
God This young lady had {
home and friends; she was vel
educated, with all the benefits of &
christian training. But she was
proud spirited, and when ADVERSE
ty came preferred death to the
humiliation Of hard work for sell
support.
1t is a common thing to read OF
the elopement of a young woman
with her fathers coachman, OF
with some one else than a man of
her station. 1t is not an uncom-
mon thing to hear that young wo-
men have disappeared from homes
of comfort to reappear in the van
tiles and alIurements Of the great
cities. Perhaps the most pitiful
of all cases are those who tell of
young women's struggles against
adversely and failing to find help,
seeking rest in self-destruction,
One such case was reported in the
New York papers, A young
woman, cast aside by an unfaith-
full husband, goes out into the
world to seek a living, wanders to
New York and tries to sustain
herself by sewing. She fails in
this, loses her home because she
cannot pay the rent of her misera-
bic tenement, goes to a hotel,
stutfs up the creyices in the win
dows and doors, of her room, turns
on the gas and suffocates like a
drowning rat in a hole. These are
sad facts, but we read them too
often. There is but one explanaz
ton for them-our girls are net
properly brought up. They sfs
not educated to be self reliant, IN
dustrious, practical and patient
The education at school is super6-
cial and at home tits insufficient.
Instead =, making them fit for tke
battles Of the wo. III III an emergensl
cy that may com6.to any one III
life's vicissitudes, their home edu-
cation too often gives them an els
tirely wrong impression Of what
the future has in store. \ good
plain, old-fashioned grand-moths
erly talk to the girls of the day
would do them more good than a
course in a fashionable seminary.
Girls should be told the truth
about themselves and about the
world. They should know some
thing of the pitfalls and snares
that beset them. They should
know the beauty of true woman
hood in its simplicity, its con-
stancy and its purity. The high
est ambition a girl can have is not
to shine IL society circles, not to
roll in wealth, not to be honored
more than her sister or friend, but
to enjoy pure womanhood, to be
fitted to make a home with sur
roundings happy and joyful, and
yet to be prepared, if necessary,
for life's bitterest struggles. The
young woman who is best equip
ped for this world Is one who has
seen something of the shadows as
well as the sunshine of everyday
life, who knows what poverty is,
and what true happiness is. This
experience is open to everyone
who wishes to find it. Give the
girls life's practical lesson-les-
sons that once learned are never
forgotten. Let them visit the
workshops, and let them carry
hope and comfort to poverty
stricken homes. Give them
course at the cooking school, or in
the kitchen at home. Let them
begin where the mother began
half century ago, aud we shall
have a generation of girls strong,
self-reliant, hopeful, ambitious and
successful in every station. s.
lected.