Las Vegas optic., 1913-02-04
FLIPPANCY IN Girls



innate friends. for mother and aunt
and grandmother to insist on a girls
being ladylike and retiring and mod
est and all that. But If she does. she
gets left"
What's the trouble. Phoebe?"
chorBsed the group.
NO particular trouble, blithely re-
i turned Phoebe. But was Just think
ing such advice is out Of date If
girl takes il nowadays, it'll make her
a wallfoWer and eventually an old
maid. or. I suppose / should say. bach
eior girl
Something has gone wrong said
one Of the girls sagely.
Did you know Sue Dickinson Is
married again2" asked Phoebe.
No" calculated the others. sWho
tor
Kenneth Leaverett"
"You don't mean it,"
Yes, do And that's what set me
to thinking upon old-time advice. In
spite Of everything her parents said,
she ran away, you remember. and mar
ried Ned WiIloughby. Then she quar-
relied with him and finally got a
divorce. And now in less than a year
she is married again. And here are
all Of US. quiet, ladylike, well-bred
girls. hanging yet on the parental
stem"
HUH" said one Indignantly. Il
wouldn't want to marry either Ned
Willoughby or Kenneth Leaverett."
That may be- replied Phoebe.
But even If you had, you wouldn't
have had the chance. You're not for
ward enough. don't want to get into
personalities. she said hastily, as she
saw a CLEAN in the other girls eye.
I'm just drawing deductions As
you know. l was invited to a house
party last week, out at Whitney's per
fectly superb home And who do you
think was the most popular girl there,
quiet. well-bred little me or charming
Alice Markham? Not bit of it. It
was loud, giggling individual who
talked constantly, laughed constantly,
played jokes on the men, kept herself
in every way possible in the center
Of the stage. The men simply fCcked
around her. They hovered over her like
bees over a flower. And the rest Of
US sat OF in well-bred and ladylike
quiet and talked to each other"
THAT sort OF thing doesn't last"
observed one.
She had a good time while 1t did
last. though And that's more than
the rest Of us did"
I wouldn't care for the attentions
Of men like that, said another.
"Oh, they were good enough, as men
CO. replied Phoebe. You have to
take them as they are. You can't
make them to order"
1T seems to me, them" said a
fourth, that the men are to blame
for all the forwardness and fippancy
in girls, and the way they dress and
al the other things they do that they
shouldn't It would be sort of COM
Portable to blame the men for it all.
wouldn't it,"
They won't care" quoth Phoebe.
They'll 90 right on showering all
their attentions on the girl with the
most false hair and the biggest hats
and the tightest skirts and the
readiest laugh, whether there is any
thing TO laugh at or moi"
let them" interrupted another
There's something more to life
than merely pleasing the men. If l
prefer refinement and good breeding
and good taste, or think they are
right and their opposites wrong, am
not going to throw them over merely
to win masculine favor. I think we
ought to get down to the bedrock fact
Of what is right and worth while, not
merely to whether our conduct viii
win ieeting popular favor We want
those things in our character that are
going to give us lasting satisfaction.
And. believe me, none Of us here
would find lasting satisfaction in the
'egard Of men who like vulgarity In
iIess and manner And, believe me,
90, the incest men don't. And even
( they seem to for a little while, It is
'ither out Of idle curiosity. or to put
n time, or a mere passing fancy.
II stick to the advices Of mothers and
lunts and grandmothers. They have
,een observing human nature much
onger time than We have, and they
Know how It wears"
Well said Phoebe. 81 suppose the
yirl with high standards Of conduct
$ of more value to society than the
yirl without them. And suppose it
S worth while to be Of some value
And I'd rather have my self
'espeot," said another, than the atten-
ion Of a dozen men for doing some
hing that ! thought beneath me"