El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1916-12-20
By DOROTHY DIX

~ THILE they are talking about
M vocational schools. don't you
wish that somebody would
start a school where they would teach
a girl:
First-To read Not TO elocute. Not
10 recite Little M-a-a-ble with Her
F-a-ace Against the Window P-a-a-
ane~ or "Curfew Shall Not Ring To-
night" but TO read intelligentIy, SYM
pathetically. delightfully."-. in the re-
fined voice that the most beautiful
music in the world.
The art Of reading aloud has become
= lost art. and not one person IN i
thousand can read even a paragraph
from the Gaily paper without it being
an affliction 50 great that It is not TO
be borne with patience.
Well Written Letter II Mark Of Ability.
Most Of US are aware that neither we
Tor our friends know how to read and
so we would no more think OF asking
casual acquaintance to read aloud to
us than we would ask for an air from
grand opera Yet there is no other &C
complishment in the world more TO be
desired than the ability TO read aloud
SecOnd-Where she would be taught
to spell There may be no credit. as
has been said, in spelling well, but it is
certainly disgraceful for lady TO spell
Third-to write. Half of the time
when We send little gift TO a girl or
when some sorrow or JOY comes TO US,
We are treated by her with unpardOn-
able rudeness. No line Of thanks. no
word OF cOngratulatiOn or sympathy
reaches US from her. and the reason of
IL is not that she is lacking in polite
ness or good feeling, but simply that
she doesn't know how 10 write a letter.
The time that girls spend in school
composing laborious essays could be so
much better employed if they were only
taught how TO write letters No girl
should be given a diploma unless she
can satisfactorily prove that she has
acquired the gentle art OF writing the
various notes demanded by the exigen-
Cles Of civilized society.
Fourth-How 70 talk. The idea OF
teaching girl how TO talk may sound
like carrying Goals to Newcastle, but
If / could only teach a girl one thing
on earth ! would have her acquire a
conversational repertoire that would be
sufficient TO meet all OF the ordinary
emergencies Of life
Speak and Behave With Natural Grace
a girl should be Just as much
ashamed Of making blunder in what
she says TO people as she would be of
making a grammatical blunder in the
way she says It. let the majority OF
girls were aptly described by the Irish
man who said OF d woman that she
never opened her mouth without put
ting her foot in il.
A girl should be taught the art Of
gracious Speech-hoW TO be flatteringly
Oeferential to old people, and sweet and
gentle to children; how to pay a COM
pliment delicately without wholesale
laying on of flattery. and. above all,
how to receive compliment with mod
est appreciation
Fifth-How TO be graceful in their
department For man to clump into
a room like a bull in a china shop is
bad enough, but for q woman il is un-
forglvab BILE a woman who cannot walk
without knocking things down. who
cannot touch your bric-a-brac without
smashing it, who does not handle old
china IS II It were Il newborn babe. or
touch fine books as If she loved them.
Is a mOnstrOsity.
A woman should be able TO walk
without making a noise, TO move with
cut jarring things, to sit without
sprawling or wriggling. 10 be. in short,
q JOY to the senses instead of an irrf-
tation to the nerves. and if she isn't
taught THIS, no matter what else she
knows. her education is incomplete
SiXth-HOw TO dress This doesn't
mean to make her a fashion plate one
OF the poor creatures whose brains are
cut on the bias and shirred in the
middle. but TO teach her how to dress
Il ordinary, everyday sort Of things so
that she shall make the best Of her
self and the most of the money she has
10 spend And the poorer the girl is
the more she needs this branch of edu-
cation.
Eleventh Commandment For Women
Re Pretty.
1t is WOman's religious duty to be
as good looking as she can. When God
made her a thing of gracious curves.
when lie gave her the glory of Ions.
hair and painted the roses on her