El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1915-06-17
Use Common Sense,
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Dorothy Dix Tells Girls,
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When YouMeet Strangers
By DOROTHY DIX.

TT Is most unfortunate that in order
to warn young, ignorant and IN
= sophisticated girls against certain
perils that beset them It is necessary
to overestimate the danger and lay
unnecessary emphasis upon it. They
have not judgment enough 10 discrin-.
mate in different cases, and SO TO
protect them you must warn them
you'd keep a child from falling out
Of the window by telling it TO stay
in the middle Of the room.
For instance, it is a well known
fact that there are gentle gray hair
ed, motherly-looking old women 1D-
perently the very essence OF respec-
liability, who travel about on boats
and trains for the sole purpose OF
scraping acquaintance with pretty
young country girls going 10 the cities
TO seek employment II is the hor-
rible business Of these harpies to gain
the confidence Of these girls, and 10
benevolently offer them shelter until
tkey can find something TO do, and
thus to lire the poor innocents into
places OF infamy, from which many
OF them never escape.
Beware of Benevolent Old Women.
For this reason the welfare socIs-
ties for young girls, the Travellers
Aid society and every mother who IS
wise to the dark ways Of the world,
impress on the minds Of girls the
danger Of making chance acquaintance
when they are travelling win any
woman. no matter how much ike a
mather she appears Hence when a
benevolent old woman speaks TO
young girl she is apt to be severely
snubbed, and should she artleSsly Of
fer the girl some peppermint drops
the girl would decline. because she
would be suspicious Of being drugged-
Nor, II the old woman should faint,
would the girl rush to her rescue, be-
cause she has been told that that is
q favorite trick
Now, obviously, most OF the garrul-
Gus old women who are travelling
about, and who would like to fall into
conversation with the girls they meet,
and who remind them Of their own
granddaughter, are gulleless ana
harmless as babes. But how IS the
girl to know which Is a leader in the
church in Bird Centre and which is Z
white slaver2 She can't tell, and 50
in the interest Of her own safety sne
has to be taught 70 be suspicious OF
all strange women
Strange Men should Be Avoided
Precisely the same thing is to be
said about the girls dealings with
men. The great majority OF men are
chivalrous toward women and girl
would be as safe with them as sac
would with her own brother But
are wolves in Sleeps clothing, and
who ruthlessly prey on innocence, ana
to protect herself against them the girl
has to be taught to ware every strange
man.
she has to be taught the danger OF
what seems an innocent filtration; not
TO pick up acquaintance who have not
been properly introduced and vouched
for; not 70 enter into conversation
with men she accidentally meets; not
. f~n -
tesies from men she doesn't know
This strenuous rule often brings about
idiotic and ridiculous results. as in the
case Of a kind-hearted and polite man
I knew, who, seeing a young woman
having a $50 hat about to be melted
down into a pulp in sudden shower,
and mindful Of how his own wife
would feel about such a catastrophe,
calamity proffered his umbrella SIX"
she exclaimed, haughtly. 7 viii call
the police IL you speak to me again.
Stin another man OF most innocent
intention who seized a girl by the
arm and snatehed her from sudden
death under the wheels Of an auto
mobile got Wretch, How dare you"
for his pains.
Carried to An Extreme.
OF course, this is carrying the mat
ter TO a silly extreme. STILL IN order
to protect the eve lamb against the
wolves II has been necessary TO en-
gender q distrust OF all wolves in her
confiding breast
But while these sweeping rules ap-
ply to young girls, women OF mature
age are not bound by them. and they
should have enough intelligence and
knowledge OF the world 10 know whom
and where TO make exceptions. and
to be able TO discriminate between
men who are deep, dark-dyed villains
and men who are eompanionable, and
who look upon women, not from the
point Of sex, but as fellow human
beings.
This point OF view Is emphasized by
the experience Of a young woman OF
a Ievel-headed business woman. who
spent a recent Sunday afternoon in