The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1903-06-07
THE SWEET GIRL GRADUATE.

II is natural that the girl who has
been given what we call superior
advantages, says Dorothy Dix in the
New Orleans Picayune, and who has
been enabled to take a college course,
should plume herself upon what she
knows and expect to be a figure in
her community. My dear girl, don't
In the slang of the day, forget it.
The first year girl comes out in
society she discourses about Plata.
By the third season she iabbers about
ping-pong, and the difference in con-
versational topics represents the
amount she has learned. Nobody is
interested in your theories concerning
the ancient Byzantine Empire, or your
views about the philosophy of Mater
linck, and if you have any erudition
concealed about your person, keep it
safely hidden.
Few women can do this. The one
thing that has given the higher edu-
cation of women the blacklist eye is
the habit college girls have of going
about flooring people with awful ques-
tions about what they think the in
ner meaning of the "Gotterdame-
rung" is, or what was the psychic sig
nidcance of the utterances of Bal
aams ass? When a woman possesses
an unusual piece of information, she
can't help Dragging about it and show
ing off how smart she is, which is not
only bad form, but rank idiocy, for
cleVerncss in a woman is still some
thing she has to apologize for. Don't
try to look as if you knew it all. If
you can inform people they may con-
slider you interesting, but when they
can enlighten your ignorance, they
think you enchanting. Above all,
never correct anybody's grammar, sta
tistics or pronunciation. 1t is better
to be admired and liked than it is to
be correct.
Having acquired the substantials of
an education, add some frills to it,
Learn to play cards, to tell fortunes,
to sing coon songs, to play the banjo,
skirt dancing, anything so it is divert
ing and amusing. II may not give
you very high idea of your fellow
creatures intelligence to find out that
the majority of them prefer rag-time
to grand opera, but it is a truth new
ertheless. 1 did not make life, and
I am merely calling your attention
20 a few elementary facts as they
exist. One of these is that people pre-
fer to be amused to being instructed
and elevated. The woman who is
most sought after and admired is the
one who knows how to ease down the
strenuousness of life by doing a lot of
diVertng stunts. Between the ability
to read Greek and read the lines in
ones hands, the amateur palmist has
the call every time.
Learn how to dress. Don't let your
self fall into the delusion of thinking
that Sloveliness is a sign of intellect.
1t isn't. 1t is the result of laziness.
The utmost intelligence that a woman
has got is not bit too much to put
into a study of clothes. That doesn't
mean that you must be one of the
silly creatures whose brains are cut
on the bias and frilled in the middle,
but il does mean that no woman can
dress we'll and tastefully without CIV
ing the subject thought. It's just as
much a persons duty to make the
most of themselves physically as it
is mentally. 1t is even possible for
a very clever woman who is ugly to
present an illusion of beauty by dress
ing with taste and discrimination, but
it takes brains to do this. Every
now and then you see a young girl
who declares that she is superior to
dress, and that she cannot waste her
talents on such frivolous things as
clothes. She makes a fatal mistake
whether she means to marry for a
living or work for one. Nobody likes
to see an ugly, dowdy- looking girl
around, and when one neglects her
appearance she simply handicaps her
self in the race of life
Learn how to talk. Learn what to
say and how to say it. No other ac-
complishment in the world is so rare
or so delightful as being a good con-
versationalist. If girls would speno
the energy on learning how to talk
that they do in learning how to paint
messy flowers on good china plates or
to murder Wagner, they would have
something tangible to show for their
time and money. For a girl not to
know how to talk sufficiently well to
be able to entertain even a casual
stranger; for her to be so dull and
heavy and stupid that she does not
know how to receive or pay a compli-
nent. marks her as just as much of
hoor and an ignoramus as if she
didn't know how to read or write.
Not every woman, thank God, is
wit or even brilliant, for we don't
want fireworks at home, but everyone
can acquire the art of listening in
telligenf4y and the knack of saying
pleasant nothtngs, for conversation in
artillery. 1t is a fusflade OF popguns.
Learn to be charming. Though a
woman is as learned az Aspasia, as
brilliant as Nine. de Stael and as
beautiful as Venus, aud had not
charm, she IS a failure as a woman.
Most people think that unless a wom-
an is born with this intangible grace
she must forever lack it. Never was
a greater error. AS a matter of fact,
nature provides US with a few essen
tfals. and If we want any accomplish
ments we have to acquire them our
selves. Charm is made up of SYM
pathy, tact and thoughtfulness of 9TH
ers, and the most valuable post-grad-
uate study that I can recommend to
any girl is this trio of graces, for
In the Anal test of success, even in
worldly way In life, you will find that
the cultivation of the heart outweighs
The cultivation of the intellect.
Learn to do something of some real
-cash value in the world. The only ex-
cuse that anybody can give for having
lived Is to have been of some use to
their kind. Besides, there is no know
ing when you may need to put your
Knowledge to the actual test of pro-
viding you with bread and butter.
If I could, I would have every girl
in the world learn some trade by
which she could support herself. Then
We would have no more Of that hid |
eous sacrilege of a girl selling herself
Pa III ~ w \ a. Is l. IL