Americus times-recorder. [volume] (Americus, Ga.) 1891-current, 1913-04-01
(By Dorothy Dix

SDGllIS llluN4I tllllN III tAAAAAihAiAsS Va 49,
or marriage she should equip herself in
some useful specialty-say domestic
science, for instance, so as to insure
her having some occupation by which
she could support herself if she should
ever be obliged to? Don't you think
she should do this regardless of the f.
nancial condition of her parents?'
| hail it as a glad day when even
one father has begun to think seri-
ously and intelligentIy of his daugh-
ter's future, instead of leaving it 10
chance, as is the happy-go-lucky Gus
tom of dealing with girls.
have written a thousand times that
! think it is simply criminal for par
ents to send their daughters out into
the world as helpless to deal with tn :
conditions that they are bound to face,
as lamb would be to fight a horde Of
wolves.
| Aad this state of affairs prevails
throughout every rank OF society.
The rich man who has a fortune to
leave his daughter does not teach her
one thing about business, so that when
he dies and she comes into her inherit
ance she has no ability to handle it,
and becomes the victim of aay man UNI
scrupulous enough to rob her.
Every one of US can cite dozens of
cases of women who were left fortunes
by their fathers, but who are paupers
today through having been swindled
out of the money they were not COM
petent to manage.
If a girl belongs to the well-to-do
class her parents think they've done
taeir full duty by her if they have
given her a smattering of an educa-
ton, and put all the balance of the
money they could on her back They
base all their hopes for her future well
fare on the chance of her marrying
They practically force her into mar
riage for a livelihood because she
hasn't been taught any honest way OF
supporting herself
WOeful Neglect of Parents.
Even when girl is poor, and must
work, her parents do not take the troll
BILE to think out for her, as they would
for boy, the occupation for which sue
displays a natural aptitude, nor do
they take the trouble to have her
thorol l.lly taught some trade or
profession so that she may get a good
salary instead of small wage.
Of course, parents justify themselves
in this way of treating their daughters
by saying that the girl will soon marry
and that there's no use in spending
lot of money and time preparing her
for some skilled occupation which she
will not follow, but for a short time
This apology for a neglected duty was
always poor one, but it grows of less
and less worth every year as a girls
chances of marrying decline
1t is not at all certain in these days
that a girl will marry, and if she does
mary that doesn't alter the necessity
of having an anchor thrown out to the
windward in the shape of knowledge
of how to make a living for herself.
Husbands die. Husbands become inval-
ids and must be supported instead OF
supporting their wives. Husbands are
sometimes good, worthy, loyable men,
| who do the best they can, but who just
have the faculty for getting along il
the world left out of their composition
and they drag their families down !,
penury, unless the wife knows how to
put her shoulder to the wheel.
Prepared for Emergencies.
Every girl in the world should be
prepared for some such contingency as
this. She should be taught some occu-
patton by which she can support her
self if she needs to, and she will make
a better wife if she has practicsd il
for year or two before she marries.
There would he M need IN crv Ol,r