Americus times-recorder. [volume] (Americus, Ga.) 1891-current, 1913-01-09
FLlPPANCY IN! GIRLS
BY BARBARA EoYD.

It's all very well,' tie quiet girl
was saying to the little group of in
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?"
chorused the group.
mo particular trouble" blithely re-
turned Phoebe But was Just think
ing such advice is out of date. If a
girl takes it nowadays, it'll make her
a wallfiower and eventually an old
maid, or, I suppose I should say, bach
elor girl"
Something has gone wrong" said
one Of the girls sagely.
Did you know Sue Dickinson is
married again." asked Phoebe.
Mo-" calculated the others. Who
to-"
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 Willoughby. 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, ladyhke, well-bred
girls, hanging yet on the parental
stem"
HUH" said one Indignantly q
wouldn't want to marry either Ned
Willoughby or Kenneth Leayerett."
THAT may be" replied Phoebe.
But even if you had, you wouldn't
have had the chance. You're not for
ward enough l 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 a bit Of it. 1t
was a 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 focked
around her. They lowered over her like
bees over a flower. And the rest of
us sat off in well-bred and ladylike
quiet and talked to each other"
That sort of thing doesn't last, y
observed one
she had a good time while it did
last, though. And that's more than
the rest of US did"
Il wouldn't care for the attentions
of men like that" said another
ooh, they were good enough, as men
&c" replied Phoebe. you have to
take them as they are. You can't
make them to order"
1T seems to me, then" said a
fourth. that the men are to blame
for all the forwardness and fiippancy
in girls, and the way they dress and
all the other things they do that they
shouldn't. 1t would be sort Of com
Portable to blame the men for it all,
wouldn't it,"
They won't care,' quoth Phoebe.
They'll go 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 not"
Let them" interrupted another.
There's something more to life
than merely pleasing the men. If |
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 ! think we
ought to get down to the bedrock fact
of what is right and worth while, not
merely to whether our conduct will
win feeting 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
regard of men who like vulgarity in
dress and manner. And, believe me,
too. the incest men do0't. And even
if they seem to for a little while, it is
either out of idle curiosity, or to put
in time, or a mere passing fancy.
I'll stick to the advices of mothers and
aunts and grandmothers. They have
been observing human nature much
longer time than we have, and they
know how it wears"
Well" said Phoebe. az suppose the
girl with high standards of conduct
is of more value to society than the
girl without them. And I suppose it
is worth while to be of some value
somewhere"
And Id rather have my self
respect" said another than the atten-
tion of a dozen men for doing some
thing that l thought beneath me"