The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1913-08-28
And The ANSWER
1t Is Hard to Find to This
Question.
What to Do With Two Young
Girls.
JUVENILE OFFICERS WORRY
Stepchildren in Large Family,
Little House.
One Girl Wants Business
COurSe-Other Works Out.

! Probate Judge Hugh MacFarland. who
! is also judge of the juvenile court;
| Probation Officer Rooney and Mrs. Alb
! bolt, matron at the county Jail, have
! been busy two days trying to find an
/ answer TO the question presented by
! TWO girls, one fourteen and the other
! seventeen years old. Only part OF the
! answer has been found and that not
I for sure.
! The girls are the daughters of a day
| Ia borer- Their mother is dead There
| is a step-mother in the home Since
becoming their step-mother she has
given birth to five Children, so that in
all there are nine members OF the fam
ily-nine persons to be supported by
the wages of one day Iaborer. To cut
down house rent small house. very
small house-is occupied, and other
economies of a pinching and cramping
nature must be practiced.
Conditions are such as would try the
patience OF the best men and women,
and as for the children. youth is no.
toriously impatient But neither the
father. mother nor children are natur-
ally endowed with a superabundance
of patience and they would need to be
to remain sweet tempered under such
conditions They are irritable It does
not take much for any one of them TO
fly off the handle" and there is plenty
of scrap in any one OF them. There
is no diplomacy in that household
says Probation officer Rooney. Tt is
easy to start row. Saints are not
grown under the conditions in which
these people live. The father comes
home at night to find eight people
clamoring for things they need and can
not have. It angers him and it angers
them. As nearly as can be learned the
father and step-mother ally themselves
on one side and the two sisters result
ing from their fathers first marriage
are the other faction in the home
The attention of the juvenile court
was drawn by alleged severe beating
administered to the girls by the step
mother and father. The younger girl
was examined by Mrs Abbott. who
says that her body was severely
marked and bruised as the result of a
beating. This morning the matter was
threshed out in the Juvenile court and
Judge MacF'arland decided TO place the
girl with q good family where she Will
be given a home in return for work in
the house and will at the same time be
sent to school when school begins.
Father objected to a Beau.
The last rumpus. it seems, grew out |
of the fathers objection to his seven |
teen-year-old daughter entertaining q |
beau. The propriety of a girl of her |
age encouraging the attentions of men |
is to say the least doubtful. but that !
she might consider escape through the /
matrimonial route from her present (
home conditions is natural. even if the /
escape offered might not be the most (
promising. Such a course might be I'M /
wise, but it is just what most seven !
teen-year-old girls in her circum- /
stances would do But the father OBJ /
jected and he made matters worse, so /
she says. by objecting in such a man |
ner that often she has been afraid to /
spend the night at home She has pro- I
tected her reputation. however. by ac- |
counting for her whereab bouts with !
good people on such occasions.
Prospects Not Promising.
But the girl does not wish to stake
her future on her matrimonial pros
incidentally her position offers a re- Il
buke to our costly but impractical Il
school system. She wishes to learn b,
something to equip her to make her II
own living, and to learn it in as short
a time as possible Our public schools
offer her no opportunities of that kind
She has completed the eighth grade in !
the public schools and is ready for the
high school,, but nothing is taught !
there which meets her needs. True. |
she might complete one of the four
year courses and then take a supple
course at the State normal
and apply for a position as a school
teacher. but even with the question of
living in the meantime eliminated. the
time required alone is too great. If she
could solve the question of living for
four, five or six years, it is presum-
a BILE that she could also solve il for the
rest of her life. But her needs are i'm
mediate. 1t was suggested by those
discussing her case that she might take
the manual training course But learn
ing to cook and sew does not provide :
home. and even to secure a good posi-
ton as a domestic a diploma from the
nigh school would not be much recon-
nendation and that also would take
years to secure. It was facetiousIy re-
marked that she could go to the Man
Ial Training school and in 4 very short
time learn to make mud pigs" But
The demand for mud pigs is too linn
ted to be remunera tive
Wants to Take Business Course.
What the girl wants, and what looks
ensible, is to take a course in a bust
less college. specializing in stenogra-
,hy and typewriting- She has set her
leart on this. and a month ago her
ather promised her and the court that
lie would provide s35. half the tuition
or such a course. But the time came
nd he did not have the money. Under
ne circumstances it is a safe bet that
lie will never get S35 ahead. The girls
eart was just about broken when the
ime arrived for the beginning of the
chool term in local business college II
nd she was not aDie to start with
he others. Giving up hope of her 1
ather being able to keep his promise
he has gone to work at salary of
4.40 week and says she will keep at
until she saves enough to pay her
uition for half the course in the bust
ess college In the meantime she is
wing at home-'will be there until the
ext family ruction." is t. way one
I the county officers expressed it
But how long will she have to work
0 have s35 left over from her savings L
Z $40 a week? And living where there
50 much need for money Will she