Americus times-recorder. [volume] (Americus, Ga.) 1891-current, 1910-06-07
WHEN GIRLS SCHOOL
DAYS ARE ENDED
She Should Devote Herself
to Home Life.
lRN Dolly MadIsonD


Betttna graduates in June. She has
had four years at college, four de-
Iightful years in which play and work
have alternated, and in which she has
formed friendships which will proba-
Div last a lifetime They have been
wears, too, in which she has felt lit
tie responsibility. Her parents have
paid her tuition and have provided
an allowance for her little luxuries
and big necessities.
When she comes home Bettina will
be faced with many problems. Her
father earns a limited income and
both her parents have made many
sacrifices that their daughter might
receive an adequate education. Bettina
is a conscientious little creature and
she wants to do the right thing. She
is full Of enthusiasm and is sure she
can live up to her dreams and ideals
ana make life a wonderful thing.
/ know that disappointment will
come to Bettina After four years Of
companiouship with girls whose minds
meet with her own on every point she
win be oppressed at the duIlness of
lnme in which there are two older
people who cannot enter into her
youthful raptures. She will find the
Irudgery of homework a little monoe-
0nous and she will miss the broad
green lawns, the picturesqueness and
comfort of college surroundings.
As / have said before, Bettina is
a conscientious little creature, and she
will Try to convince herself that she
is perfectly happy to be at home, that
life is going TO be one grand, sweet
song When the dull days come she
will wonder what is the matter with
her and not being an analytical per-
son. she will not know that her four
years Of school life have In a sense.
untitled her for domesticity. 1t is right
here that Bettina, like so many other
girls, may drift away from the home
atmosphere and into a business or
professional life She will aspire 70
Il career and will ascribe her restless
Tess not to its true cause, Blu ito what
she calls her Legitimate" ambition to
make a place for herself in the world
My own opinion is that Bettina
should have at least as many years of
young womanhood in her own home as
she had in the college Habit makes
the woman, as much at it makes the
man. and the girl who goes straight
from college into. an Office or as a
teacher in a school, or enters at once
upon some field of art, is defining for
herself a path which may lead away
Crom the life which is her birthright.
a life which shall make her happy
n a home of her own.
Of course, times have changed, and
marriage is not the only profession
open to women. But it is still her best
and her highest profession. Ask any
woman that you know who has achiev-
ed something of fame, and she will tell
il counts for little in the sum of hap
piness. The most contented old wo-
men are undoubtedly the grandmoth-
ers, the women who have lived the
normal, natural life.
I believe every girl should have a
chance to choose this normal future.
-Four years at home, following four
years at college, will give her some-
thing Of the habit of domesticity. She
viii take a postgraduate post in fem
mine attainments, she will have an
opportunity for social pleasures and
FOR the development of perfect wo-
manhood.
So / have advised Bettina to stay
ac nome, to wait a few years before
she starts upon a career, And haze
given her this advice, not only for
her own sake, but for the sake of the
parents who let her go away from
them at the time when they wanted
hes most, and who craved the com
partnership of her youth and bright
ness.