Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-02-18

but no girl has all the qualities that go to
make
The perfect woman. nobly planned.
To warn comfort and command"
For this reason. If for no other. it IS
misfortune for most girls TO be taught at
home as is the fashion in a few exclusive
families. A governess in the house Is q
comfort to the mother and a great help
in the training of the nursery brood. But
when girls have arrived at their teens
masters coming and going and teachers who
give them hours of careful coaching are rot
half so good for them as are the contact
and the friction of the classroom.
Whether the school be public or private,
whether city street or a country roac,
is not the all important thing The essen
tial Is that girls shall lie thrown into the
society of their peers and prepared in tie
schoolroom for the affairs of the larger
world, into which they must enter before
many years pass.
OF course, In the schoolroom you are
taught how to study, how to use your pow
ers, how to appear without confusion and
with credit in the company of others, and
how to bear yourself as a unit in the mass
composed Of units. The power OF the per-
sonal equa ton is not undervaIued IN the
schoolroom. Every unit counts one. II
one girl Is careless slovenly in her work,
tardy, irregular IN attendance, and IN
trustworthy, she harms not herself only.
but brings down the average standing Of
her class. 1 hear girls complain of this as
If 1t were unfair. 1t is not unfair 1t is
really the fairest thing that can happen,
and 1t emphasizes the power of the unit.
What right have you to infringe the dig
nifty of your class and lower its monthly
per cent? Think a little and YOU win COM
prehend that the strength of any chain is
in the strength Of it's links. Every one OF
you has read with delight Kipling's Won
derful jungle books Do you not remember
the Law of the Jungle?"
Perhaps you Will look 1t up. not that I
am comparing you for a minute to the
wolves and bears and wild creatures OF the
jungle. But there are few days in my life
when l do not see in home life, in town
life and wherever else people live in COM
munitIes, that kipling put a great truth
into the stanza l am about to quote:
Now: this is the law of the jungle-as old and
And tho wolf wolf thar shall keep prosper, but
AS the creeper that girdles the The law
ruaneth forward and back
For the strength Of tue pack is the wolf, and the
l think | will make parody of this for
you, with apologies to Mr.. Kipling:
Now, this is the law Of the school room-as old and
as true the sun;
And the students who keep IT shall prosper, for the
tasks Of their dlys viii be done.
The law runneth onward forever swiftly the
happy years pass,
The strength Of the class is the girl, and the
strength of the girl is the class
Schools set their stamp on their pupils so
that one may almost tell al a glance by Ger
tain slight characteristics or certain more
definite ones from which school girl has
been graduated. Just as every great college
in the land puts It's own hallmark on its
graduates, the preparatory school stamps its
pupils for all time.
Girls N the formative period of their lives
come beneath the moiding hand and the
vitalizing influence of teachers personal
ity.r Insensibly. they take ON something they