El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1912-12-19

girls complaining that their par
\ ents will not permit them to
have any friends, of either sex, visit
them in their homes, and that no jailer
could be more cruel or more tyran-
meal to them than their fathers and
mothers.
1 confess that I have given scant
credence to these charges, for it did
not seem possible to me that in this
enlightened day any father or mother
could have little enough sense, to
say nothing of little enough affec-
ton, to do the one thing that was
sureSt to drive a young girl away
from home, and into the very dangers
that beset youth and beauty in a great
city. But it seems that 1 was mis-
taken, as the following letter shows.
4 am the mother of two daughters
who are both working, but 1 think
1 have the right to control their ac-
lions in every way and expect their
implicit obedience. ] have no trouble
with my younger daughter. who is
deucate, and always oDeys me IN eY-
erything but the older girl, who is %
years old, and milliner gives me
great annoyance
I think a girls place is at home
after her days work is over. But my
daughter wants to go out. She pre-
ters other peoples company to ours.
and likes to go out to the theater. I
do not give her permission to go, nor
does she go, as she knows her father
would disown her If she did, and she
gets very mOpy, and this is disagree
I'VE do not object to her getting
married to good man. but where is
one who will be to her what we have
been? I am constantly telling her
this but she rebels and says that she
would like to have young. men call at
the house. Now, my husband has govt
and we cannot be annoyed with men
calling. Besides we all retire at 10
o'clock every evening, and no one comes
or goes from our house after that
hour. We are highly respectable and
allow no nonsense in our home.
Her Worst Enemies.
Il have just found out that my
daughter is Keeping company with
where, as she is always home before
10. 1 do not know how to keep her
from him She used to tell me every
thing, but as put stop to all OF her
other men acuaintances, she is hiding
this from me, and 1 am much worried.
I do not even know if the man is a
married man or not, and do not be-
HeVe any respectable man would have
openly receive him in her own home
Please tell me how to gain my daugh-
ter's confidence. and also how to stop
this affair before II has gone too far
Doesn't it seem incredible that there
could be two human beings in the
world with little enough knowledge Of
life and youth to act as this father
and mother are doing? Undoubtedly
they love their daughter, and desire
her good, and yet the most malevolent
enemy in the world couldn't have de-
vised any better plan for running her
life.
To begin with. they are so incredi-
bly, selfish that to prevent themselves
from being disturbed and their
provincial little pleasures broken into,
they cut their daughters out of all OF
the joys and pleasures Of their girl
hood. Youth has a right to laugh, to
have company to dance. to make mer-
~ and to go to theaters and places OF
amusement, and for girls parents
to keep her from enjoying these in
nOcent pleasures IS to defraud her out
OF her birthright
This home, according to the moth
er's own statement of it, is worse than
any jail, and that the girl doesn't run
away and leave it, as she would be
perfectly justified in doing at %
years of age, shows that she is a
young woman with an extraordinarily
high sense Of duty.
To What They Doom Her.
As for refusing TO let girl have
a beau at home, are there any par
eEts so dull as not to be able to figure
out what the result of that is bound
to be? If the girl is very homely, and
the father and mother lucky, it. dOoms
her TO be an old maid II the girl IS
good looking and attractive, it means
that she viii meet men on the street
and pick up chance acquaintance and
some stranger of whom her people
never heard, and who is more likely
than not to be just the man she
shouldn't have married.
Instead of driving young men away
from their home, every father and
mother of daughters should not only
welcome their daughters male ac-
quaintances, but should use evry
means to get personally acquainted
with the young men and find out
everything possible about them.
This mother complains that her
daughter doesn't cOnfide in her. Why
should she2 How could the mother
expect 1t when she puts her foot down
on every plan the girl has and fOrbids
her every pleasure?
The mother asks my advice. It is
this: Turn over new leaf. Wake up
to the fact that a girl of % isn't a
baby She is a woman grown with
q wOman's rights. Give her some
pleasure at home if you want her to
stay there. Let her invite in all of
her friends, and make as many parties
as she wants to. Suspend your 10
o'clock rule, for it's a lot better that
you and your equity husband should
lose little sleep than it is for your
daughter to be meeting strange men
on the street.
If you want to keep your children at
home you've got to make your home
an agreeable place to stay in.