The courier. (Lincoln, Neb.) 1894-1903, 1901-06-22

striving crowd in its wage earning con-
test. There are younger children at
homo, who must be reared and educat-
ed. And the girl Of today feels scarcely
less keenly than the boy. that she must
contribute her share toward the main.
tenance Of the family. This necessity
bars her from the portal over which the
satin-shod feet Of the 400 gaily trip into
the fascinating game Of society.
These girls feel bitterly that they are
quite a. we'll fitted by nature and edu-
cation to join this silken clad. honey fed.
rose bedded throng. a. many Of those
whom tickle fortune has better favored.
Their mothers. perhaps. have the
right 10 belong to the Colonial Danes,
but do not. They can climb their fam
lily tree without finding II "waxed at the
other end by some plebeian vocation"
but alas! their family has fallen behind
in these days OF Great Trusts, Great
Corporations. Great Consolidated Every
Thing and they find themselves chained
to the merciless wheels Of labor Just at
the time when every impulse OF roman
tic, budding womsnhood leaps in the
blood and yearns toward some possible
fate which shall satisfy the demand of
their hearts. Every natural-minded girl,
whether she acknowledges it or not,
dreams in the depth Of her soul that
some where along the primrose path the
rose Of love,-her own particular rose
blooms for her to grasp-if duty. stern
browed and relentless, does not turn her
feet aside, does not delay her until some
vandal hand has plucked her flower.
These girls do not pose for sympathy.
They would doubtless be very much
offended il philsnthropists were to put
on foot any movement to ameliorate
their condition. and yet the diverted
current OF their lives is certainly sad.
Not one OF them but dreams her dream
Of what life might mean il she had not
been cheated out Of her heritage. You
can see them any day-crowding the
street cars vending their way to the Of
fees and shops; bright. stylish, many Of
them beautiful girls. They are stem
ographers, bookkeepers, clerks-not be-
cause they wish TO be. not because they
have the slightest natural inclination to
usurp mans place in the world,-but
because they must. II you will find me
one girl who honestly prefers the indie.
pendence Of earning her own living, L
will find you a hundred who would glad.
ly exchange its doubtful good for the
crown OF worthy love upon their shin
ing heads, and who would subscribe to
the abandon Of Galatea's prayer, "Set
me lower. lower Love-thst may be a
woman and look up to thee; and look.
ing, longing. loving. give and take the
worst, which thou, by thine own nature,
shall infiict on me-"
These are the novel readers. Novels
provide their relaxation, their recrsa.
ton; they supply all the glow, color and
revelry which their lives lack. 1t would
be impossible to turn out the monthly
grist in large enough quantities to sat
isfy their thirst. They become exalted
with literary intoxication, which is a
very subtle form Of dissipation. This is
why l maintain that the morbid, pro.
blematic novel Of late years lie menace.
1t gives to girls an entirely wrong
OF the relation of the sexes.
II raises false standard Of womsnhood.
1t engenders q mental stigmatism, 30
that life, ss it is. is out Of focus. I read
an article somewhere q day or two ago