Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1918-10-06
BY BEATRICE FAIRFAX.

) TT Is curious, but the things a
mother appears to most highly
esteem in a daughter are the
qualities she is apt to be deficient
in herself
II the mother is good seam
stress, or a good housekeeper, or a
thrifty and economical administra-
tor OF the family fortune. she re-
CARDS these gifts as negligible on TIE
part of her daughter, She may go
even further, and cherish . vague
if not a positive antipathy to her
daughter becoming proficient in any
OF these things.
II don't wish Gladys to learn how
to sew" one OF them once said to
me; IF she doesn't know how, some
one will always do it for her--I
know" she finished rather bitterly,
because I've spent my time sewing
for all the incompetents OF the fam
ily."
So Gladys was not taught to -ew;
instead she went to "a finishing
school," And took music lessons
and French, though she never really
learned either accomplishment.
1.-THE Spring Song" was her highest
musical hi., ht, but she could never
play 1t consecutively. And her
French would not have carried her
farther than ordering lunch in
cafe where the menu was written in
that language. But her mother
persisted in the belief that II her
dat, ..r did not know h W to do
oil the useful and interesting things
in which she excelled. somehow life
would be easier for her child.
And doubtless there is one Gladys,
1t least, to every three fami-
He's in the United States. Some
times ...- ratio is three Gladys to
one family.
syThe chances for happiness and
usefulness OF such a girl are . ing
spoiled. because her mother mag
ines she would enjoy being the
parent OF society girl or highly
successful woman OF the world,
and she begins an attempt to hoist
Her daughter to the top OF the lad
der by cutting away the interven-
ing rungs, the theory being that
Gladys must reach the top because
she is entirely unacquainted with
the bottom.
There may be no money in the
family, no prospects, nor any con-
spicuous talent. but mother persists
IN her fond delusion that If Gladys
gays as much for her hat as Eunice
Nanderpool, with whom she went
tos.school and who is heiress to
few millions, daughters chances
somehow or other will approximate
those of Eunice.
So the family goes without and
Gladys gets the hat, but no miracle
happens.
! asf Nothing a Year.
For the same reason, Gladys after
completing her course at the fin
ishing school. does not take up a
profession or go into business. Her
destiny Is to be "a society GIRL" on
fathers salary as a bookkeeper, de-
partment clerk. confidential clerk or
assistant something or other.
II Is a pretty Cinderella-ish bust
ness, but mother is sure the prince |
Is going to discover Gladys. The
girl is rather fed up on the prince
legend, as il has not been so long
ago she stopped reading fairy |
stories and taking them seriously |
andshe is quite willing to sit around
look pretty and wait till she is dis
covered.
But as the years 60 on the prince |
proves to be rather a poor Sherlock |
Holmes, he doesn't discover Gladys |
or make an attempt to do so. and
she gets rather peevish waiting for |
him to come and find her.
She notices that the girls who |
have gone into business at the same
time she started her career as "a
society girl" on nothing a year. |
have nearly all married young men |
whom they met in business and
these young people are now wholly |
occupied in buying a house In the
suburbs. saving for Ford or pride
fully relating the baby's latest
trick.
Gladys no longer feels very much
at home with these young married
people. Their interests seem such
miles away from hers it is hard to
get on the same plane with them
even for conversational purposes.
She feels superior to them in being
"a society girl" and yet they have