The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1904-02-06
impressed with the necessity Of perform

impressed with the necessity or perform
ing the task Of chaperon, don't let your
zeal for severity resolve you into a So
cial dragon. Obviously, there is no need
for preaching and threatening and trying
to restore the old reign of prunes. prisms
and prudery-We do not wish and do not
need such a regime as that in this country
of sound, wholesome young folk.
To WELD an influence in the duenna's
role you must have really kind heart,
a profound knowledge Of the laws of eti-
quette. and patience with young people.
You must be affable and dignifed, for,
bear in mind II you can, that your au-
thority rests on the reverence that the
younger element feel for your superior
knowledge, your sef-respect and your UNI
falling good nature.
l have known the ideal chaperon.
know her now. She Is a gray-headed
lady with a couple of pretty daughters
in society, whose young friends are her
friends, too. She knows how to come
into the parlor where her daughters are
entertaining their beaux without casting
a shadow by her presence.
Young men just out of college are fat
tered to claim the honor Of her acquain-
lance. She has a kind. smiling way with
her; she knows how to talk to them
of their law studies, athletics etc.. and
in spite Of her fifty years, she also knows
how to inspire their confidence and listen
system Of espionage, but she is perfectly
we'll aware who the young men are that
her daughters meet and who their people
are. AT the balls she sits smiling, patient
and observant against the wall watching
her girls dance, holding their wraps and
looking out new and agreeable partners
for them. She is never tired, never peev-
ishly clamoring to go home, never upset
by frivolous young laughter and never
neglectful. ..
An Invaluable Ally.
To her own daughters or to her friend 8
daughters such genial, thoughtful chap
eron Is an invaluable ally. In social
predicament the young lady in her charge
never comes to her in vain for helpful
advice. She can accompany a young
woman to ball and almost insure her
happy time because, imbued with the
due sense Of the responsibilities of her
position, she knows how and where to
find the most desirable introductions for
| her protege. Alert and thoughtful, she
has not only the guardianship but the
| justifiable pleasures Of her charge always
at heart, and she takes no small amount
Of pains to see that her girl is never a
| wallfower.
| Such a matroniZer as this needs not to
| be told that girl can be gay, at the same
time the embodiment Of sweet dignity and
all the more admired for her unaggressive
| Self-reSpeCt. she IS We'll aware LIldL Tie
! hoydensh athletic maiden, who is hail fell
low well met with any and every young
man on the hotel piazza, is not the mas
culine ideal Of feminine charm.
She is therefore the friend at court OF
any damsel, for she instills such wise pre-
cepts and practices into the minds of he1
charges without frowns and preachments
She does not permit her daughters to ad-
dress newly made masculine acquaint-
| ances as Bob and Jimmie, neither does
| she allow Mr.. Brown and Mr.. Jones tc
! gaily hail her girls as JEANNE and Sally
She does not sit on the gossips' end o.
the piazza whispering criticisms of the
behavior Of Miss Blank, as many so-callet
doting mothers do when all the while thei
own fair girls are down upon the beach
in their bathing suits, rompfng like little
children and rubbing sand into the hal
of the jolly young fellows who arrived a
the Point only the night before. He!
confidence in the women Of the younger
generation Is not lacking nor misplaced
because she gives them both her advice
and her companionship. But her belief i
strong, nevertheless, that an Agreeable
chaperon is, for any young people, tn
most Indispensable Of social institution
and that she can and should exert beau
tiful, efficacious and dignifying influence
from which society at large can draw al
infinite profit. Adelaide Gordon.