The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1903-07-26
By
A
CLUB
WOMAN
G A : u AL
CO NJ M E N T

mind. i neglected to ascertain my friend
authority. and do not feel certain of her
facts. She was a person of great ability
and OF wide historical knowledge, perfect
ly sincere. and. in intentions, perfectly truth
full. But one could never be sure whether
the things she thought were facts, were
CLEANED from the chronicles OF recorded
time or due to her own iridescent imagina-
ton.
The Elegant One was there last week.
She is not very regular in attendance and
when she comes may not have anything es-
pecially brilliant TO say, but we are very
proud OF her and always fiattered by her
presence. She is so pretty and her clothes
are such a satisfaction.
The Good Listener consulted us on an
important matter. sadie has finished her
high school course, and she wants TO go
to college. and we are considering what in
stitution to choose she said:
The Elegant One looked deeply interested
and gratified to realize that here was
case in which her advice would be of value.
There are Vassar and Wellesley and
Bryn Mawr." she said. c'Bryn Mawr is very
distinguished and Wellesley is beautiful
looked through 1t last summer, sand really
the buildings and statuary and furniture
are something fine But 1 believe Vassar
Is the most stylish of any of them. And ii
is near the city, too, zone would know
she's a New Yorker by the way she calls
New York 'the city," as If there were no
other.) Yes. decidedly I should choose
Vassar."
The Good Listener looked rather troubled.
I suspect she had not thought of anything
so expensive as one of the, big Eastern won-
ems colleges. But she did not have to say
anything. The Critical One was there.
'If had a dozen boys and girls to send
to college," she said 81 should send them
all where they could go together. What are
a boys greatest dangers when he goes to
college? Idleness and dissipation. And
what's the best safeguard against either?
To have the girls there. If he attends lee
lures and recitations with them he will, at
least. exert himself enough to present cred
liable work in his classes. And we all know
there is nothing so likely to keep boy good
as the society of good girls. And no occa-
sional, artificial meeting in society is worth
half so much in keeping him true to the line
as the daily frank comradeship of the class
room. Besides, If they are to depend on
society for ever meeting a girl we know that
only few of them will have the privilege.
ION the other hand. what are the girls
greatest dangers? Stiffness. morbidness,
nerves. And there is nothing so whole
some for her as daily matter-of-fact COM
partnership with the boys-those great res
ervoirs of naturalness and heartiness
"But don't you think said the Elegant
One, politely, ''that there is danger they
will be occupied with thoughts OF each
other to the neglect Of their work."
my dear, they are going to be occupied
with thoughts of each other, whatever you
do-even If you should put the girls on one
desert island and the boys on another
thousand miles away, and they had no
boats. The proper study of mankind is
woman, and the proper study Of woman
kind is man. when they are young. So
great nature has ordained, and If we ig
more nature, or fight against her, instead
of wisely directing her. we sow the wind to
reap the whirlwind. The girls will dream
about lovers and the boys will dream of
angels in organdie gowns, no matter what
you do. And 1t is thousand times better
that they should meet each other every
day, in the mere performance of every days
duties, than that they should be planning
clandestne letters and meetings; or. if they
are too honorable and high-minded for that
I'm speaking Of the girls now-should be
| having a silly affair of romantic alteration
| Of some other schoolgirl. Schools where
| girls are shpt up together are hotbeds of
morbid overstrained emotion and schools
where boys are shut up together are only
| too apt to be nurseries of ruffianism and
| dissipation. Well, there!" she said. calming
| down and blushing at her own vehemence,
| ''I didn't mean to make speech on the
| subject, but it does provoke me to see the
| West, which has always had coeducation
| and knows its value, trying to ape Eastern
| ideas and be fashionable on such a subject
| as this
| But don't believe the Elegant One was
at all convinced.
And SO a man decided he talked too much
| probably. in an incautious moment. he had
betrayed some pet scheme for overreaching
| his neighbor: it is not at all likely he was
repenting of having scolded the children or
| of having said cruel things to his wife).
vowed he would never speak again, and
kept the VOW, although he lived eighteen
years after making it. If he were all alone
| In the world, he might be considered merely
| foolish to keep such a vow, but If he had
wife or children, mother sister, how cruel
| as we'll as senseless his conduct was.
One cannot help wondering how much OF
| a human soul he had left after his long re-
| preston. Probably he had none too much
| to begin with. Even the Trappist monks
the Silent Brothers-although they have a
| high religious motive for their silence, and
are -efraining from speech for the glory