The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1904-02-06
Miss Nellie wore enchanting little white

Miss Nellie wore enchanting little white
duck frocks on the beach and bewitchingly
becoming beribboned organizes at the no.
tel balls, and she was supposed to be in
the care of the mother Of a young girl
friend. This mother, I observed, along
with almost all the other hotel mothers.
left her daughter and Miss Nellie to their
own young devices. Comfortably and sell
flshly she sper. her days on the shady end
Of the hotel piazza immersed in gossip
and WOO! work, and serenely oblivious
to and ignorant Of the goings and comings.
the friends and the frolics, OF her two
lovely and lovable charges.
Along with the majority OF tho matrons,
Miss Nellie's so-called chaperon elected
as a rule to wander bedroomwards at 10
o. clock, leaving Miss Nellie and her daugh-
ter to seek their pillows at whatever
hours they pleased, because, as she was in
the habit Of remarking, she knew that the
girls could take care of themselves.
And SO they did to the best Of their
youthful and unguided ability, and all went
for time as merrily as a marriage bell.
Miss Nellie and her friend sailed on the
bay and sat late on the rocks. had divers
flirta tons of more or less intensity with
the young fellows about the hotel and did
as they saw the other quite unchaperoned
girls doing-and then suddenly one day an
ugly episode took place.
Police officers came down from New
I Ork ana arrested young man WIFI
! whom Miss Nellie had danced ten times
at the hop on the preceding night, with
whom she had sat till midnight the week
before on the rocks, with whom she had
| daily and intimately sailed, fished, romped
and driven, and to whom-oh, sad to say!
she had given a curl Of her nut-brown
hair.
Now, this favored young man proved to
| be an impostor Of impossible ,antecedents,
possessing deplorable past. and his flu
ture is now consecrated to compulsory
| labor behind stone walls. Miss Nellie left
| the hotel the same day with a white little
face, tragic-looking eyes and a little burr
Of scandal sticking to her skirts.
What a Chaperon Can Do.
The moral of this incident is not OBJ
| scure. I recommend it to the considera-
don Of mothers who don't think the chap
| eronage Of their sweet young daughters
so very essential. Miss Nellie was not to
| blame, I say. If the friends mother had
! been up and doing daily a chaperon's full
duty that sweet, good. pretty and neg
| lected girl would have gone home as smil-
ing as when she appeared at the hotel
The friends mother could easily have seen
| to 1t, had she been conscious Of her re-
sponsibilities, that Miss Nellie had all the
liberty and all the good times she needed
yet in perfectly safe, dignifed and
agreeable fashion, and the painful cpl.
sode would never have darkened her holt
day and cast tiny shadow on her fail
young name.
The duenna who knows her business
can do vast deal to render her charge
happy as we'll as secure. This Is the
moral side to the question, but I car
assure any mother who would like tt
argue the question with me that there is
| the purely material side also, and that has
to do with manners.
In her official capacity the chaperor
| has large influence upon manners. Hel
attitude tells for good or for evil ane
if she is a woman who realizes the i'm
portance of example she may make so
ciety and the young people about her tn
more graceful and agreeable for her pres
ence. ,'- .. .
The Popular Chaperon.
The very best chaperon-in fact, tn
ideal matronizer-is a person Of prim
Importance: one whose worthy aim an
mission in society is to render hersel
agreeable to the younger set. But II
order to make herself liked she need not
as most so-called duennas seem to be
lieve 1t necessary, make herself scarce.
| The correct type Of chaperon is a lad
who is always 3ardently welcomed by tn
young people Of both sexes; Is always q
kind as she Is firm, and as sweet-tem
pered as she Is far-seeing. If you ar