The Cooperstown courier. (Cooperstown, Griggs Co., N.D.) 1902-1913, 1905-08-10
POOR SCHOOL GIRLS
SURELY THEY HAVE oR1Evous
TROUBLES OF THEIR OWN.
About Cliques-The Girl Who Il "Not
in My Setback Of Gown Keeps
Girl from Commencement Over
Dressing at Grammar School Grad
uation-Changing Schools - Moth
ing Finer Than Tussle with Irreg-
ular Verb.
By MARGARErE sANGsrER.

BY MARGARETE SANGSTER.
Copyright. 1906. by Joseph B. Bowles.)
This talk is for you, Dorothy, or
Eleanor, or Katherine. 1t is not meant
for your older sister who goes to COL
lege, nor for your cousin Jean, who
came out just after Easter, and goes
to parties. You are a school girl, and
you are told every day by grown peo-
pie that you are living your happiest
days. Father and mother say so, and
OF course they must be right; they al
ways are, but you have doubts. There
are times when you would very gladly
change places with girls who don't
go to school, If only you could.
For school life has its shadow, as
we'll as it's sunshine.
In your school there are cliaues.
There are girls who get together and
keep together, and shut others out.
You cannot define or explain it, but
1t Is as If a magic circle were drawn
around particular set, and the girls
within it were divided by an immense
distance from the other girls. Often
there is one girl who is your admira-
ton, whom you prefer to every one
else, a girl SO pretty, so lovable, that
you are contented to be near her, and
breathe the same air, but she never
sees you; she is not in your set at all.
Girls may recite in the same classes.
have the same teachers; if at board.
ing school occupy adjoining rooms,
Vof h1
mary line that separates one set from
another.
Teachers disapprove of cliques and
try to break them up, and mothers pro-
test against them, but every school
has one or more. with the Ins and the
Outs at silent warfare, or haughtily In
different to each other. The situation
is trying one, and the tendency to
cliques great pity. 1t promotes envy
and jealousy, both bad traits in char
acter. -.
Wherever there is a girl who is a
born leader, she has her followers
She has her caprices, too. Like q
queen she condescends or she stands
aloof. If you love the tones of her
voice, and like the way her hair curls,
and admire her dimples, and think her
hats and boots perfect, you are hurt
that she never sees you, and that you
are not one of those who compose her
little court. I know about this, girls.
! have beheld the little drama enacted
many time, and l am sorry for poor
Bessie who longs in vain that Queen
Isabel should notice her, so sorry that
there have been days when l would
have been glad to shake Miss Isabel
and set her free from her proud COM
placency. Queens should not trample
on their subjects.
Another reason for uneasiness at
school may be summed up in q single
word-clothes. School girls should
dress very simply. am not sure that
q uniform would not be good solu-
ton of some school problems; just a
blouse and skirt, with gymnasium
shoes and cap. There ought to be no
great difference in the dress of girls
who are about on plane in their
work. But once in awhile a girls
mother has fads, or is eccentric. and
sends her little daughter to school
dressed in an odd or conspicuous fash
ION which is torture to q sensitive dis
position.
Sometimes q girls poverty inter-
feres with her comfort. She cannot
dress as we'll as others do, and at GER
tain times, commencement for in
stance, she must either look inferior
to the rest or stay away from the pub.
lie exercise.
Girls are apt to be over-dressed at
graduation from the grammar school.
There is no fitness in anything except
great simplicity when winsome little
maiden passes from one graded school
to another. Decked out like little
brides, with tucks and flounces, frills.
puffs and embroidery, with white
gloves. white slippers, white ribbons.
and an amount of costly elegance. that
makes needful carriage, the daughter
of the banker may go to her gradua-
ton, and no one at home suffer a
pang.
Side by side with her in class NAV
be the bright little daughter of a clerk
on small salary, or of day laborer.
The pride and ambition Of the latter
will deprive his home of necessaries.
and saddle him with debt, but his Flor.
ence shall sit by his employers limo.
gene, and the one shall be dressed as
extensively as the other. have
known school girls to forego the grad
uating honors because their parents
could not compete with others in the
dress that custom has enjoined. A
diploma costs too much for . seanty
purse.
The question of dress should never
be question Of perplexity to the
schoolgirl. yet 1t far too often crops
up and makes trouble. Really, school
girl should have no bother about her
dress. Any plain neat stuff that will
do her good service is the right thing.
She requires no ornaments. Her orna-
Yfonfo oro tho vo~oo 10, 80.