Waterbury evening Democrat., 1892-09-24

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 SHE coNFIDEs IN HER ROOMMATE. had aroused her curiosity as to what constituted her charm over men and stirred her woman's vanity. The inno- cence of her mind was disturbed by her unfolding emotions and her Eve-like desire for, greater knowledge. Never did young girl so need mothers sym pathy and counsel as this one. often wonder why God permits a woman like that to become a mother. To send such girl away to boarding school was dan- gerous no doubt, yet hardly as danger ous as leaving her under the care of such blind and stupid mother.
 ANOTHER INNOCENT.
 know a brilliant lawyer who was 8 wild boy in his youth. He was forever In trouble of some kind with the fair sex and finally married girl who ran away from school to become his wife. They are the parents of several children, the eldest handsome, dark-eyed girl who inherits her fathers love of ad- venture. She is only fifteen, but has al- ready passed through series of love affairs, known to all her friends and commented upon by strangers, but the criminally blind parents are ignorant of all this. No one dares tell them that almost daily on her way to and from the village school their daughter sees and talks to and receives notes from young men, and, utterly forgetting their own hazardous past, both father and mother imagine their daughter to be an innocent child in mind.
 It might prove to be the moral saliva Gion of this girl to send her away to 8 good@boarding school if the right wom- ! an presided over it. She is not vicious she is full of animal spirits and pre- ! cocious feminine instincts.
 Hundreds of young American girls | are like her, and hundreds of stupid American parents fail to see the necesr ! sity and duty of guarding over such girls.
 THE RIGHT WAY.
 A girl like this ought to be treated very gently and with affection. She ought to be wisely taught and entertained. She should pass many hours in active physical exercise. The gymnasium is far better for such girl than the boarding school. She should have no ! idle hours, no condolences with strange companions, no hidden books to read
 until she has crossed the dangerous
 chasm which spans girlhood and | womanhood.
 | I have known girl who was a mere
 child in mind to be forced into prema-
 ture maturity by association with older
 and more experienced girls at boarding school. Where a number of young girls are thrown together constantly
 for companionship their conversation
 runs largely to love affairs. This young girl, who had never passed through any
 heart experiences, hearing so much up
 on the subject from her companions felt called upon to contribute her share
 to the entertainment. To the amaze
 ment of her parents and teachers she developed faculty for relating tales o1
 love adventure wherein she figured as
 heroine. Investigation proved the
 stories utterly without foundation. II
 was one of the abnormal developments
 of boarding school life.
 do noSthink elopements from board
 ing schools are so frequent as elope-
 ments from homes. l again assert that
 good and wise teachers, few as they
 are, are more plenty than good and wise parents.
 2 \ school for parents-a school where tho physical and moral nature of the young girl and boy should be discussed, and where the imperative duty of watching
 over this physical and moral nature should be impressed upon the mind O. every woman and man before they were allowed to procure marriage certifi
 cate. This would be a far better thing for the world at large than the board ing school
 The lack of such training for parents causes more harm and mischief to go ol
 under their eyes than is possible in thu
 average well ordered boarding school.
 So stupid are parents in regard t. } their own children that those whom most desire to reach by this article wil read it without 9 suspicion that it cal , apply to them; while many youn, girl of whom I never heard will fee her cheeks jingle and will wonder hoy 3 I knew her secret. - ELLA WHEELER WILCOX.