Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1903-10-31
THE "GRL"n0F TODAY
coNTRAsrED WITH HERSELF
HALF Il CENTURY AGO.
An Opinion as to What the Modern
8 an
Miss Has Gained and Lost
BY, the change.
10 ~
From the PittsburE Gazette.

From the PittsbuEe Gazette.
In no particular has our social and do
nestle machinery shown more serious de-
terioratfon than in the processes by which
the girl has been eliminated from the
scheme. One rarely meets today the girl.
who half a century ago was factor In the
home. both potent and beautiful. AS to
whether the change which has given us
the young woman with a wide knowledge
OF affairs and a liberal education on sub
jects that were kept cut Of her grandmoth-
er's reach until after she was of age Is
change for the better there may be more
than one opinion. Once in her teens the
modern girl lays aside many of the time
honored attributes Of girlhood. In the
category Of these reAnquished character
istics there are unfortunately many sweet
and compelling charms which. while they
may have served no very practical end,
gave to girlhood an aureole OF sanctlty,
hedging about that mystic age between the
quiet Of seclusion and the sterner activities
that await the woman when she has moved
into the important sphere for which nature
intended her. AT twelve years OF age the
child passes presumably into girlhood and
at eighteen she energies, chrysalis-like, into
the full glory and beauty of young woman
hood. Under modern conditions this inter-
mediary age has been ruthlessly invaded
only of its serenity Of mind and seclusion
from grOsser contact, but dispel in large
measure the holy idealism that possessed
the maidenhOod Of which LOngfellOW SO
beautifully sang:
standing with reluctant feet
Where the brook and river meet
WO manhood and childhood fleet.
Associations of Today.
In associations today the young girl has
a wider latitude and thereby comes into
contact with influences that tend to brush
the bloom from the cheek and give the eye
a steadier CLEAN when it looks out upon
the world. To catalogue the losses and
gains as between the girl of the past and
the miss" of the present day Is difficult
and delicate task. Certainly the modern
miss lacks in reserve and the modesty of
ignorance that are always such potent and
alluring charms at that uncertain age be-
tween childhood and womanhood Access
to fiippant and falsely conceived views OF
life Is SO much easier for the girl of today.
She reads tinsel literature and becomes.
through the matinee habit. an almost daily
student of the unreal and fashy views of
life that the stage too often gives. 1t Is an
astonishing fact but nevertheless true, that
very many stage enterprises are vitalized
and made profitable by pander1ng to the
silly taste of what is known as the matt
nee girl" Her alteration for the hero keeps
that hero in frock coats and diamond pins,
be poor sort of stage circumference. This
may be all very well for the hotel bill of
the hero but the process robS us of our
girls. makes them foolish and forward
misses at time when they should be cul-
tivating the modest charms and graces that
honest and desirable. would-be husbands
seek in the woman they hope to marry.
Infinitely More Useful.
It Is perhaps an advance over the past
that our Young girls from twelve to eigh-
teen are better equipped as members Of So
ciety. that they can make themselves infin-
itely more useful in variety of ways than
could their little sisters of half a century
ago. All this may be granted, and proud
word justly said for the bright. vivacious
type of young girfhood that we find in this
modern day. but nevertheless the real girl,
the natural child, with her dolls at twelve
and fifteen and her Innocence and reserve
at sweet sixteen, is fast dfsa appearing Her,
passing means the loss rom the domestic
and social scheme of tire tenderest and and
sweetest human flower that the good God
ever permitted to blossom in the garden
of humanity. -,