Omaha daily bee., 1916-01-07
Editorial
for
Women
BY DOROTHY DIX

Here is a tip to mothers:
Watch your young daughters friends.
Scrutinize carefully her men friends. for
many wolves there be in sleeps cloth
ing. Keep a wary eye on her girl friends,
because birds of a feather are supposed
to flock together and one silly. loud.
indiscreet young person can compromise
all who associate with her But as you
value your daughters safety, turn a
searchlight of investigation upon the
character and antecedents of her middle
aged women acduaintances.
These women have grown old and fat.
Their joints are stiff They have lost
their good looks. They can no longer
attract men of themselves. Men no
more are willing to blow in their money
on them for luncheons, and little dinners.
and theaters. and cabarets, and suppers
But the women are still avid for mas
culine attention. and for good times.
So the heartless. constituencies woman
looks about her and picks out some
pretty, fresh. innocent young girl that
she can use for bait. Generally she
selects a girl who is In a humber social
set than her own, and less well off-a
girl to whom the gift of a pretty frock
or two will mean much, and who is en-
chsnted at riding in Limousine and
sitting in box at the opera.
Apparently Mrs. Smartley has become
the patroness OF little Miss Dowdy, and
little Miss Dowdy is so pleased and
grateful, and little Miss Dowdys mother
is so flattered. and hrags about it to all
of her friends. and tells how Mrs. Smart
ley just can't do anything without
Mamie hat ur+ixiIaga 1 fa FpV
girl to have as friend middle-aged
woman who takes her about with her
everywhere
Yes, Mrs. Smartley is looking after
Mamie. as the cat looks after the mouse
she is playing with. Mrs. Smartley takes
Mamie with her for the potent reason
that Mamie is the lure that tolls men
back to her. No man will invite Mrs.
Smartley alone out to lunch or drag her
avOrdupois about a dance floor.
Mrs. Smartley is perfectly aware OF
this. and so she goes to the telephone
and calls up some man and says: 1--WE
got the prettiest young girl you ever
saw with me. Regular living picture.
Just %, and fresh as a rose. And dances
like bit OF thistledown. Don't you want
to meet us somewhere for luncheon. and
dIlefhdEu we can 10 10 n udutt4
And the man goes because Of the young
girl He and MRS Smartley understand
| each other perfectly. And because she
gets the old woman the pleasures that
she desires and cannot get for herself
the girl is taken TO places that no young
girl should frequent. She is introduced
to men she should never meet. She Is
taught to drink things she should never
taste, and lessons in life that innocence
should never learn,
Many a young girl is started on the
road to perdition by just such an Older
woman. And many a girl who stops
short OF taking the final plunge has her
life ruined by such association because
she has been given false ideals, and
acquired a taste for the bright lights
that make domesticity every afterward
\ seem dull and monotonous.
Just because these women are more
sophisticated and worldly wise than a
girls own mother, their influence Is
greater than hers. and because they
frankly preach the doctrine Of living
while you live. they make the most dan
gerous appeal possible to the youthful
/ Imagination and thus become the great
est possible peril to girlhood.
Because OF this danger mothers be
suspicious Of your little girls friendship
with older women. Don't let your inno-
I cent little daughter be used as a decoy
4 dove