Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1912-05-02
Good
form
Social Amenities of the Schoolgirl.

If there is one way more than an
other in which young girl can show
bad form it Is in the way she treats
the men acquaintances Of an older SIS
ter. Sad to relate, the type of pert
younger sister exists, even fourishes
unless there be a strong hand to put
her down. And because older persons
frequently laugh at her and the girl
succeeds in "fuSsing" her older sister
the younger one considers herself a
huge success and continues in man
ncr or with lack OF it calculated to ere
ate prejudice against herself that
only long years can wipe out.
If there is ever time when a young
girl will do well to keep herself out of
the way it is when the friends of her
older sister are present. GrOwnup per
sons, parents and their friends have q
certain liberation Of children, little or
big, which girls and boys of nineteen
and twenty cannot be expected to have
There really isn't any use in little
sister making herself unpopular, even
If she does create Il laugh while so do
ing, and there is no question that she
will be heartily under the ban of an
older sister whom the other makes a
target for her sharp tongue or whose
secrets she gives away because the
child thinks they are funny.
TO tell the truth, it is not only the
grown girl who will appear better by
the younger ones absence, but the cit
tie sister" herself will gain greater pop
ularity. Grown girls and men who go
to see one Of their own set do not care
to have their time and attention mo-
nopolized by one who is too young for
their notice or at least whom they con
slider to be such. Yet because they are
well bred they must be polite to her,
being annoyed proportionately
One great objection to a young girls
being with her older sisters friends
and probably the strongest reason why
she should not be is the almost irresist-
ibc temptation to talk personalities,
frankly to tell what she knows, not al
ways stopping there, but unconsciously
cxaggerating. 1t is not at all improba-
BILE that the others may find this anus
Ing, even instructive, in the side lights
thrown on the characteristics of older
sister ana her friends, but that, as Ii
rule, Is far from desirable. If It Is q
joke the younger girl tells or personal
fact that would be unknown save for
her 1t Is remembered in the set of &C
quaintanceS and also that the younger
one divulgrd.
The listeners may be highly interest
ed at the time, unwittingly fiattering
the Juvenile talker by their attention,
but 1t counts against her later, just the
same Not only does she make herself
vastly unpopular with her own family,
but outsiders are prone to consider her
n terror" saying. "She ought to be
suppressed" themselves developing n
fear Of her tongue that makes them
prefer her absence to her presence.
The same Is true if the younger sis
ter refrains from personalities and
merely occupies the attention of her
sisters friends In other ways She
puts herself forward then undesirably
She gains the reputation of being pert.
and instead OF their regarding her as a
sweet and attractive young girl they
think of her as one to be avoided.
The surest way out of the temptation
OF being funny at the expense of an
older sister and her friends Is to keep
away from where they are.
That does not preclude "having fun"
with the older sister when there is no
one else about