Milford chronicle., 1891-10-16
4 GIRLS MINUTES

what Is 1t That Young Women Do That
Compels Them 70 Be Always ''Busyg"
Does anybody know what becomes Of a
girls timer Was there ever a girl who
could tell what she did with 1t or where
she put It, OF account in any reasonable
way for its mysterious disappearance
Are the girls minutes like the lost pins
Of which nobody ever finds a trace, though
the factories have been at work 80 long
that one would think that the dropped
ones would constitute in themselves ar
adequate source Of supplyi
There are some things which have this
capacity for utter annihilatiOn. Wild ami
mails are never found dead in the forests
watering place friendships vanish into
wind swept space; the hole in the stocking
speaks Of a texture which once was there
but Is there no longer; yet these things get
out Of the world no more quietly and I'M
accountably than the hours and minutes
Of a good proportion Of young women.
There is a theory, which Is commonly
accepted, that girls time is all spent
upon dress. Certainly little Of it goes
IN that way, but the amount must be
small. Older women, with many social
and domestic cares, dress quite as well as
young girls, and usually better.
They cannot give all their time, or even
any appreciable part Of it, to the planning
and purchasing of their raiment, so there
Is evidently fallacy in the idea that femi-
nine attire is capable Of engrossing the en-
tire attention Of a woman.
There is another theory that girls time
is spent in entertaining members Of the
other sex, but this is absolutely untenable.
Even the mildest Of Irritation calls for two
flirters, and, as the student of our social
system is never weary Of pointing out, we
have no class Of men whose time is their
own.
A girl may spend her evenings and sun
days in amusing the masculine half Of Gre
alton, but business hours are sacred from
her invasion. Her will might be good to SO
spend the hours from sunrise till midnight,
but in the nature of the case her oppor
tunities are limited
Is it domestic cares which are 50 absorb
ing2 The newspaper paragrapher would
say not, and think on the whole he is
right This is not because most girls are
unwilling to share the household response
bilities, but because, during the time OF
their education home life goes on without
their assistance, and once out Of school
they find no place ready made in which
they can be useful
1t is about as easy for the camel to go
through the needless eye as for the daughter
of a we'll to do family to find any domestic
duties worthy the name in her fathers
house
There are yet other ways in which it Is
popularity supposed girls time is EN-
ployed, such rs study and correspondence.
But did you ever 90 to a morning classi
II so you know perfectly we'll the formula;
II was so busy hadn't a minute to spare
for preparationr'
Have you any women among your cor
respondents, and did one of them even
write a letter without explaining how
busy she was, and had been for weeks past
and would be for weeks to comet What
ever the mysterious, grinding tasks which
fate imposes upon the young women who
have apparently nothing to do, by their
own confession studying and writing are
not among the things sought.
Perhaps the subject is worthy of scientific
Investigation 1t would be as useful to the
race as the discovery Of the north pole;
and, though the inquiry might be as long
and tedious as an arctic exploration, it
would not be so dangerous. lndustrially
it might be of value.
Here is a vast amount Of labor which we
know, on the testimony ofevery girl in the
land, Is put forth daily, yet without visible
result. Would not experiments to make it
productive be as legitimate as those for the
reduction of aluminium or the utilization
OF the solar forcei
AnthrOpologists might spare little time
from the study of cranial development and
turn their attention to finding out what
becomes of girls time. 1t ought surely
to be done, if for no other reason than to
crafty the dear girls themselves, who GER
tainly are as much in the dark on this
question as any one else.-Kate Fields
Washington.