The Washington herald., 1917-10-01

A young girl Is engaged TO Sammy
who is somewhere in France" fight
ing for his country. and she wants to
know what she shall do while her
fiance is away-whether she shall 20
about to places of amusement with
other young people or NOPE in ner
home and wear the willow.
Il am young" she writes. "I work
hard all day and when l corne home
of an evening 1 find it very dre1ry
and lonesome to sit up alone, so l have
been going out with some of my
friends. 1t passes the time more
quickly and keeps me from worrying
about my sweetheart who has answer
ed the call of his country. but my par
ents think that for me to amuse my
self in his absence is not being true
to him. Many other girls are in my
position. Will you tell us what We
should do?"
Take the innocent pleasures of youth
as they come to you, my dear. Life is
not so full of sunshine that we can
afford to miss a single hour of it, and
those who would darken day of yoUI
girlhood know not the crime that they
commit.
The most mischievous cult in the
world is that which teaches us that
there is some peculiar virtue in tears
and grief, and that making ourselves
miserable will be accounted unto is
for righteousness. These people think
that they are never so fully doing their
duty as when they are worrying them
selves sick. and that to be morbid and
melancholy shows that they have
depths of character not possessed by
those who get over things"
This is rank tommyrot nonsense.
Worry does nothing but fragile out
your nerves and put a razor edge on
your temper. Anxiety achieves moth
ing, but it makes lines in your face.
Unavailing tears only dim your eyes
and constant brooding over the danger
and death that may come to a beloved
one has no effect except to make you
sick and miserable and such a gloomy
companion that every one avoids your
society.
AS you say, there are thousands Of
other young girls whose sweethearts
have kissed them and ridden away TO
the war. What useful purpose can be
served by all of these yolng women
Withdrawing themselves from all the
pleasures of life and sitting down in
solitary rooms to pine, and wait, and
weep for their lovers return, and tor
ture themselves by letting their imagi-
nations picture the risks their men are
running?
Not one bullet will their tears turn
aside, not one trench will their fears
make safer, not one gas bomb will
their despair make innocuous. They
will but add needlessly to the misery
that hangs over this darkened old
world, and their letters, filed with
gloom and apprehension, as they are
bound to be, will sap the courage and
take the heart out of the men wh2
get them at the front.
Now women are called on as never
before in the history of the world to
assume brave attitude towards life.
and the biggest part of this bravery
consists in keeping a smile on their
faces. They cannot do this if they de-
liberately make themselves miserable
by refusing every pleasure and pining
themselves away to a shadow. The
best thing that any girl can do for her
Sammy is to go on and lead her nor
NAL life with courage, keep herself
cheerful, and write him the jolliest let
ters she can pen, telling him that just
as he is doing the part of a man at the
front, so she is trying to do the part of
woman at home. That's the sort of
girl a man likes to think of coming
back to, not a poor Lydia Languish
creature who has fretted herself into
case of nervous prostration.
As for the danger of a girl not re-
naming true to her sweetheart be-
cause she goes to places of amusement
! where she meets other men, that is not
worth considering. If a Girl is so poor
and weak minded and tickle as that,
and has so little real love for a man
that as soon as he is out of sight he
Is out of mind, why, the sooner he
gets rid of her the better.
She isn't worth any real mans love,
and the man who misses getting her
for a wife ought to go down on his
knees and thank God for his luck.
There is no magic in a wedding ring
that keeps light and frivolous
woman true and steady, and the
woman who is a faithless sweetheart
will make a faithless wife.
As a matter of fact 1t would be a
good thing If every engagement could
be tried out by absence, and by both
the man and woman being thrown
much in the society Of other women
and men. Then they would find out
how strong their love for each other
really was, and whether they were
destined for mates. II time and dis