New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1911-09-17

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lust as troublesome. but It doesn't seem a.
II our mothers would have allowed It. We
imagine that she must have said firmly,
\ Edith or Mary" as the case may have
been, when you arrive at the age OF dis
erection, Of good sense and Judgment. you
may plan your own clothes; until tneh you
must accept my dictates"
| There are Just as many kinds or small
daughters as there are acorns on a tree,
but there Is always an age. In some cases
II arrives as Young as twelve and In some
happy instances II is put of until later
when she thinks she and only she knows
how she should dress. The attack Is as
Inevitable as the measles. In most cases 1t
Is infectious or contagious, and school Is
generally the source Of the complaint.
Some OF the best and most fashionable
| private schools in this country are adopt
| ing the custom OF the school uniform
| handed down from the convent schools OF
the Catholic countries Of the Old World,
| but the mothers who do not patroniZe
| schools OF this class suffer much from
young Miss Americas precocity In regards
10 clothes. II is generally what the other
girls wear" that is made the standard by
which her own garments are measured.
Who are the "other girls?" When forced
! into a corner the small daughter seems to
remember only one or two names to which
10 hang quotations. and II these small
trouble makers could be traced to the home
lair there would generally be found at the
head Of II either complacent mother, an
overindulgent mother or one simply the
| ,,ic Of foo atrenuOus Youth.
Sometimes the indulgent or complacent
mother is the result OF Puritancal sur
roundlngs which affected her own early
girihood. Personally she never remembers
being allowed to have the slightest choice
in the selecting OF her own clothes. On the
contrary, everything she wanted seemed to
be Just what she was not allowed to have.
1t was an age in which colors must match
compilations in a wholesale way. No mat
ter II her soul craved for pink she was con
demned TO wear blue for best. either be-
cause she was light complexoned" or had
red haircut and dried opinions quite
out OF date now. Girls frocks were let
down at a certain age whether the legs
they we're TO cover were fat or thin She
may have loved bright red and blue, while
condemned 10 gray and brown, and the JOY
OF a bit OF tatting on her underclothes was
crushed under transmitted idea that to
indulge In such frlvolity. might be bad for
the soul. With such ancestral training.
the indulgent mother is apt TO let the SMALL
daughter have pretty much what she wants
to wear without much regard 10 its suit
ableness.
There IL the woman OF a more recent
training, whose mother was little in ad-
vance OF her times and whose children
were forced TO dress in accord with her
, ideas, no matter what other children were
| doing A training OF this sort generally
results in q love for conservative fashions,
no matter what the second generation may
. think about II. Pure atavism may make
the child revert to the grandmother's
standard and II ls the mother again who Is
the sufferer.
II seems to be a dreadful a heart-break-
e ing thing for a schoolgirl not 10 be like
5 the other girls. but is this really healthy
standard TO establish? In way II is well
Y that young girls should consider their
$ clothes IL the effort results in neatness and
r an understanding OF what is appropriate
{ and OF what is becoming When the stand
= ard Is that OF school fashions and fads the
. result is apt &c be disastrous and the kill
I ing OF all individuality. II should be a
= part OF child's early education to love
g and understand beautiful things quite
e apart from fashionable things.
. young girl was heard to say that she
could not wear her silver ornaments be-
cause silver was common now. The girls
\ silver was quite unique OF its kind. care
I fully ordered and designed by an artistic
l mother. The girl had individuality. but no
beauty, and the mother saw that and was
trying to bring out the child's best points
Yet at the moment she preferred the cheap
trinkets that the "other girls were wear
p Ing TO her own exceptionally beautiful ones.
The hardest type OF girl with which to
deal Is the one with a wealth OF magma
ton. She has an idea OF how she would
Ike 10 look. and naturally has no idea at
all OF how to go TO work TO accomplish her
ideal She is prone TO disregard scaool
standards for personal ideas. which a
knowing mother can generally trace to
some book she has been reading. TO some
play or picture she has seen or some care
less compliment she has heard passed as
10 her own looks. A tender mother hest