The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1904-03-18
BACHELOR MAIDENS
A WRITER IN A CURRENT MAGA-
ZINE GIVES ADVICE
Thinks 1t Is Best for Girls to Remain
at Home-The Unwritten Tragedies
OF Paris and New York-Loneliness
Great Temptation.


In magazine recently started in
New York there is each month an ar
ticle signed Rafford Pyke. Now 1t Is
known to the initiated that the pen
name in question conceals the famous
one Of Harry Thurston Peck, editor OF
The Bookman, and professor at Co
. lumbia college. 1t has always peen
mystery to every one now the pro-
lessor finds time to eat and sleep, TOT
rare, indeed, is the magazine that does
not contain something from his pen.
Bertha Clay, in her most prol1hc days,
was not in it with Rafford Pyke allas
Peck His deep and profound articles
are signed by his proper name, put
when he dashes off something ngnt
pertaining to women, or why men VIII
always remain in the center OF the
stage so long as the world stands, ne
signs it with his pen name. These ar
ticles are evidently the recreauons OF
a mind that has to relax once IN d
while just for rest. 1t would be quite
impossible to keep up to the Peek
standard constantly without eye strain
and brain fad, but the Rafford Pyke
stripe of literary material can be reel
ed off without the slightest danger to
the gray matter.
So in the current number of the new
magazine mentioned above, Rafford
PIXIE writes of the bachelor girl In
way that shows he merely undertook
the subject to work off some or the
ideas that are not heavy enough for
The Bookman. Now the professor Is
a married man, living decorously
~ e11h11 of Now
York, hence it is but natural that he
should know all about the bachelor
women who live in apartments In the
city. He says that the bachelor maid,
as she is known, is distinct1vely an
American product, and that she is in
possession of a freedom not accorded
to single women anywhere else on the
face of the earth. Women of this kind
living alone in other countries are
looked upon with suspicion. Over here
they are regarded with amused curl
osity. But the professor, in the course
of his remarks, tells some truths in re-
gard to the girl who thinks that indie
pendence means going to New York
alone and opening a studio with no
chaperon. Perhaps she will live with
dHOlnCI UdCISlOI lldlu anu IuOy N11A
eat messy little dinners cooked in a
chatting dish, and after awhile, the
writer says will begin to find that the
charms of life lived in this way have
been overestimated, and they Will take
to cigarettes and an occasional cock
tail because it is bohemian. From
this they drift to worse things. There
is much truth in this, although many
girl has gone to Paris or New York
to write or paint and come out all
right. But it is never wise for girl
to leave a good home in pursuit of in
dependence unless circumstances force
her to it. 1t sounds very well for two
young women to live alone and be
bachelor maids, but in a certain way
it is demoralizing. Loneliness is some
times a terrible temptation and the girl
in a strange city nearly dead of home
sickness will welcome company that
under other circumstances she would
never meet. If one is artistic, or lit
erary, it is best to begin at home where
one is known; true genius does not
long remain undiscovered whether it be
in New York or Podunk. Many a girl
in Paris or New York who thought she
must leave home in search of an artis-
tic atmosphere, if asked now by some
aspirant, would say: "Stay at home
There is no place like home is trite
saying, but there is much in it. The
unwritten tragedies of Paris, London
and New York, which have bachelor
maids as heroines, would probably fill
the largest volume ever printed. Also
the thousands of homes which would
have been frightened if these girls ha6
remained In them, we can only guess