The Tupelo journal., 1906-02-09
BY MARGARET f. sANGsTER.

BY MARGARET E. SANGSTER.
Copyright. 1905. by Joseph b.. Bowles.,
Not long ago ! had the pleasure
Of visiting several schools for girls.
schools in which the students repre-
sented nearly all the states in the
union. They were veritable rosebud
gardens of girls. Seldom have seen
so many pretty maids together as in
these institutions where young women
in the sweet flush of the dawn, just
the place where the brook and river
meet, were gathered to be educated.
Before the number of subjects with
which they were familiar l bowed my
head in humility, for girls are far
more learned now than they used to
be. Vet, learned or not. in every success
sive year a girl is as like the girls who
went before her as the daisies Of =
season are like the daisies of another.
A number Of girls invited me into
theiI rooms, and entertained me there.
Now, whether you believe it or not,
when a girl lets one look at her room
she reveals a good deal Of her char
acter. A mans room hardly reflects
his preferences and tastes as a girls
does hers. All the rooms l visited left
on my mind a general impression of
banners, photographs and bric-a-brac.
There were cushions as a matter Of
course, and most rooms had little ia
bles with a tea service and book
shelves on the walls in which were
the favorites of their owners.
If a girls brother is in Princeton,
orange is the predominating color of
her room. If in Yale she is probably
a devotee of the blue, and so on. The
college colors of brother and cousin
are loyalty adopted by schoolgirls.
IS a rule, girls have too many
small objects in their rooms which
have to be taken care of and which,
on the whole, leave the effect of a
crazy-quilt on memory. Fancy being
ill 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 window 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 Shakes
peare or Petrarch or the earlier myth
ology.
l give you my word that l have seen
specimens of every age, from early
Phoenician and Greek art to the most
popular New York studio, huddied to-
getner in the room of a single college
student. Poor child! How could she
ever get her ideas in order with so
confusing a 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 mother is ones patron saint. A
girl away from home always wants
to say good morning to her mothers
picture when she begins the day, and
to bid that dear mother good night be-
fore she lays her head on the pillow.
On the wall I would have one Ma
donna, not more. and that should be
the one among Madonnas that I loved
best. All the other pictures after
those of the immediate family circle
| would keep in a drawer or a 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 allpervading dust.
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
keeps her desk with heat precision
and 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 than continual tidi-
ness, and also that you never have
any trouble in finding a paper unless
SOLl6 OuC CloC ldhCC uPOA hCi thC tuoh
of arranging your desk for you. 1
know that you are right. The one in
dividual possession which no n
should invade or modest without au-
thority from the owner is a desk.
Polly may keep hers in exquisite
neatness. May, on the contrary, will
frequently leave hers in what looks
to an outsider a fearless mess. But
1t is the privilege of both girls to
close the lid and to answer no ques-
lions. AS a matter of choice, think
the neat girls methods are the bet
ter, but, as we all know, there is
such a thing as worshiping system to
an extent that it defeats it's own end.
Keep your desk and your bureau
drawers, your closet shelves and every
thing in your room in perfect order
If you can, but do not forget that to
get the days work done well and
thoroughly one must sometimes sacri-
fee a little order.
When l think of an ideal girls
room, my first dream is of purity.
Therefore l like a white room with
pale gray paper on the walls, a small
bed Whitley covered and ~curtained
with perhaps a few roses sprinkled
here and there, sparsely, On the COW
erlet, snowy curtains at the windows,
topped back with delicate pink, and If
possible a tall mirror, in which my
little maid may see herself from the
top of her dainty head to the toes Of
her wellshod feet.