Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-12-24
School Girls Rooms
Reveal Character
BY MARGARET f. sANGsrER.
Copyright, 1905, by Joseph B. Bowles. )

Not long ago I had the pleasure of visit
| ing several schools for girls, schools in
which the students represented nearly all
the states in the Union. They We're verI-
table rosebud gardens of girls. Seldom
| nave l seen SO many pretty maids together
as in these institutions, where young women
In the sweet flush of the dawn, ju-t the
| place where the brook and river meet were
| gathered to be educated. Before the num-
| Der of subjects with which they were far
milar I bowed my head in humility, for
! girls are far more learned now than they
| used to be. Yet learned or not, In every
| successive year a girl is as like the girls
| who went before her as the daisies of one
| season are like the daisies of another. A
| number of girls invited me into their rooms
| and entertained me there. 80
| Now, whether you believe it or not when,
| a girl-lets one look at her room she reveals
r. good deal of her character. mans
room hardly reflects his preferences and
| tastes as girls does hers. All the rooms
L visited left my mind a general impress
| sion of banners, Photographs and bric-a-
| brac. There were cushions a matter Of
course and most rooms had little tables
| with tea service and book shelves OH the
walls in which were the iavorites of theL-
| owners.
If a girls brother is in Princeton orange-
Is the predominating color of her room. If
! In Yale she is probably devotee of the
| blue, and so on. The college co,ors of
| brother and cousin are Loyalty adopted by
| schoolgirls.
| As a rule, girls have too many small OBJ
| Jects In their rooms which have to be taken
| care of and which, on the whole, leave the
! effect of a crazyquit memory. Fancy
| being III in a room where photographs are
| pinned on every available space on the
! wall, and fancy waking up at night with
| the moonbeams streaming through the win
| dow and lighting the faces Of all the kith
| and kin, the girls one went to school with
| last year, the cousins in California and the
| Ideal maids and matrons of Shakespeare
! or Petrarch or the earlier mythology.
! l give you my word that l have seen
| specimens of every age, from early Phoe-
| nician and Greek art to The most popular
! New York studio, huddled together In the
| room of a single college student. Poor
child! How could she ever get her ideas
| in order with so confusing q tumble about
| her wherever she turned?
| AS to photographs, SO far as the family
| is concerned l advise limiting the number
to the dearest dear. Ones nother is ones
patron saint. A girl away from home al
| ways wants to say good morning to her
mothers picture when she hegirs the day,
and to bid her dear mother good night be-
| fore she lays her head on the pillow On
the wall l would have one Madonna, not
more, and that should be the one among
Madonnas that I loved best. All the other
pictures after those of the immediate fam
lily circle j would keep in a drawer or
box, taking them out and looking at them
from time to time, but not allowing them
either to distract my attention or to ask
from me the care that is needed If they
are to be kept from the all-pervading dust.
desk is a necessity for a girl If she
| has many letters to write or much work
to do in preparing essays and theses or.
| other written work
If she be orderly and systematic she
/ ,x,;fL
| can put her hand in the dark on anything
she wants. If you happen to be a girl
| whose desk is usually at skies and sevens
| you will tell me that you find occasional
| clearings up much easier and simpler thalI
| continual tidiness, and also that you never
| have any trouble in finding paper unless
some one else takes upon her the task of
| arranging your desk for you. | know that
| you are right The one Individual posses
| sion which no one should invade or modest
| without authority from the owner Is
desk
Polly may keep hers in exquisite neatness.
| May, on the contrary, will frequently leave
| hers in what looks to an outsider a fearful
| mess. But 1t Is the privilege of both girls
| to close the lid and to answer no questions.
| AS a matter of choice, think the neat
girls methods are the better, but as we
| all know. there is such a thing as worship
| ing system to an extent that 1t defeats its
| own end.
Keep your desk and your bureau drawers
| your closet shelves and everything in your
/
| not forget that to get the days work done
| we'll and thoroughly one must sometimes
| sacrifice little order.
| ~
| When / think of an ideal girls room my
| first dream is of purity Therefore l like
| q white room with pale gray paper on the
walls. a small bed whitley covered and cur
| tanned with perhaps a few roses sprinkled
| here and there. sparsely, on the coverlet.
| snowy curtains at the windows, looped
back with delicate pink, and IL possible,
| tall mirror, in which my little maid may
| see herself from the top OF her dainty head
| to the toes of her well-shod feet.
| 1 would have this mirror set in door so
| that 1t should not take up any space. A,
single good picture would mean more than
| many small photographs, and / would all
| the year round have something growing,
| English ivy in vases in winter, a pot OF for
| get-me-nots or fern in summer. girfs
| room should always have few flowers In
It.
| As for the toilet table. it's belongings
Should be simple and immaculate, with very
| little In the way of essences or cosmetics
| which young girl does not need. Every
| thing should strike the note of an ex-
| ouisite refinement. A banjo or violin, II
| she be musical. gives an added touch, ana
by all means let the young girl have q rev
| NAV read over and over, and which shali
| become her daily friends.
! Such room will ba eloquent or a giri
/ personality. 1t will be, her refuge when she
| is tired and in II she may have many
4 copf4dantfai chat with the girls Tor Wnom