Arizona republican. [volume] (Phoenix, Ariz.) 1890-1930, 1911-05-04
SOCIAL AMENITIES FOR
THE SCHOOL GIRL

At a woman's congress. held recent
ly. the point was brought out that
the modern girl and woman have been
given a good four or five hours a day
in comparison with the free time
which their grandmothers and great
grandmothers enjoyed. Those girls of
d previous generation not only had
far more necessary personal super
vision Of their households as part of
their daily tasks, but many hours
each day of all the women in the
home had To be given up to weaving.
knitting the stockings for the men
to wear and all the other taking
sewing which now has passed beyond
the realm of home manufacture.
Through the invention of the sewing
machine and through the medium of
the great department stores. where
most articles can be bought at lower
cost than they can be made one piece
at a time, this sort of sewing would
nowadays be mere waste of time.
Then, too, there was the preserving
to be done and a thousand other du-
ties to bc attended To by the women
of the household. now entirely man
aged by maids paid for the work that
the mistress may have time for high
er things.
Constantly, too, we are being given
more time in our day. Every inven-
ton is either an increased speed in a
method of locomotion or it is a labor
saving device. which means that some
article which formerly one had TO
make for ones self can now be
bought better done for less money.
What is the result of all this extra
time which the twentieth century girl
has been given? Is she any happier
any better, any clcverer, any more
charming and gracious. Naturally
it is expected that she should be
every one of these, for she must sure
ly have employed some Of these hun
dreds of hours a year in reading and
study, for which her great-grand-
mother had no time She must spend
some of it, too, in doing for others,
for she could not be so selfish as to
keep all of her gift for herself, and
then because she has so much time to
spare surely she is courteous, gra-
cious and sweet hammered on all occa-
sions Surely this cannot be too much
to expect from the girl endowed with
practically a whole day more in the
week than was allotted to her great
grandmother. who. one can see easily
from the portrait which hangs there
on the wall. was ever thoughtful of
others. gentle and charming in her
manner, and never nervous or too
hurried to say a kind word. And
Observation-Disclosures was all this, in
spite Of her short day and the mani
fold duties that had to be crowded
into it.
and yet-and yet has the modern
girl all or any of these attributes?
She is clever, or at any rate she is
well educated-that is to say, she has
a vague idea in her mind Of most
topics that are brought up in CONVEX
sation and she can generally ask an
intelligent question which sounds as
if her knowledge of the subject were
considerably deeper than is apt 10
he the case But is she really well
read? Is she not, rather. idly read
has she not spent many invaluable
an hour in perusing the light, unprof-
ltdDle HONtlS WHICH hibN'AAi ~
tions in the printing press have made
it possible to turn out in vast quanu-
ties at little expense to the publisher?
How many girls nowadays keep even
half an hour a day out of the precious
extra time that they have been given
in reading books that will put eleVat-
ing thoughts into their head?
To fit ones self for social inter-
course no study will achieve so good
results as a knowledge of books, for
with this knowledge the conversation
can always be turned in the direction
of the latest work that has beeh
studied. and a dinner that started OIL
unpropitiously can thus be maze u
turn out thoroughly enjoyable
Taken for granted that because sn'
has so much more in her life she Is
HAMMER than the girl of a former
generation. is she any better? Sh'
sbould be. of course. She should give
some of her moments to make happi-
ness for those near and those sh'
can belp at a distance. But, after all
in spite Of all they have, girls toda!
have to try just as hard as ever IL
order to make themselves liked.