The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1904-02-06

There is very precious and happy
faculty to be displayed in exercising the
graceful, needful. authority OF a chaperon.
She who exerts this authority to adyan-
tage knows more than little OF the art
OF being agreeable. Every daughters
mother should very clearly understand
the role and the way to play it.
II she Is not able to realize the part.
! am more than willing to undertake the
not at all unwelcome or unnecessary task
OF showing her how to assume the char
actor, because I am an ardent believer In
chaperonage and because I also hold that
Ats preceptS and duties, cares and obliga-
lions, rightly fulfilled, add infinitely TO
the wholesome charm Of polite society.
Further than this. consider that it is
. sacred responsibility for every matron
to know how to act as chaperon on any
and every occasion. This Is a social &C.
complainant that no rightly ambitious
woman can overlook. and if she does over
look 1t there will sooner or later come a
time when she will have grave reason to
regret this flaw in her social education.
A Crying Need.
- I am not, I hope, old fogy. but I
am, nevertheless, positively convinced that
wise and firm, mild and discreet duennas
are wanted. but at present there is a de-
plorable lack Of good and gifted ones, and
this mistake I unhesitatingly lay at the
door Of the to-date mothers. The rea-
son for the inadequate supply Of graceful
authoritative chaperons is not far to seek.
Nine-tenths Of the matrons whose ac-
Quaintance I enjoy fail to perceive that
the office Of chaperon Is ancient and hon
orable and most essential, and in conss-
quence they shirk It's powers and privi-
1eges and no longer dispense it's blessings.
Its blessings, / would like to have them
know, are many and varied. They ought to
descend from mother to daughter, and
n ory m q
for sweetness and solidity, for comfort and
dignity therein.
Now, in the good old days when there
were chaperons who had a pride in their
positions and who attended strictly to
business, young ladies' did not find it nee
essary to write to newspaper editors and
etiquette columns for information on deli
cate points Of social conduct. Those
questions were settled for them in their
homes and in conference with no less I'M
improbable authority than their mothers,
who, In social we'll domestic circles,
were their infallible guides, much Of the
time their companions and always their
friends.
From the lips OF the old fashioned
mother fell words Of advice, restraint and
wisdom. and I am bound to say that the
daughter was, as the rule, the happier, the
more graceful and the more truly intelli-
gent and charming in consequence.
But the day Of the active chaperon is
over; she is considered cumberer of the
drawtng-room, a nuisance at dances, "a bore
at picnic and non-essential at the the
alter. She has become figurehead chiefly
conspicuous by her absence, and all be-
cause she herself has drift ed into the very
lazy and unwise conclusion that our young
people don't need the matronizing tnflu-
ence any longer.
Dignity and the Duenna. "a
Very unwise conclusion indeed, because
the chaperon must and will always typify
dignity in society and to young people
and, since the elimination of the old
fashioned semi omnlpresent motherly
duenna from nearly all but the most for.
NAL social gatherings, our girls have los
not little of their reserve, and that re.
pose that marks the cast Of the finest type
OF the highly bred American daughter.
I shall here point my moral and ador1
my tale with an incident. 1t Is not unique
incidents Of the same sort are happening
all over the country, but this one is par
tioularly illustrative and 1t Is just takeI
at random from at least q dozen that CANE
under my notice when stopped last sum
mer at n very famous and crowded sea
side resort. Under the roof Of my hote
were gathered many charming girls ant
some equally nice young men, and gayes
among them was Miss Nellie of the nut
brown curls.