The Washington herald., 1918-09-04
When Mother Was a Girl
By DOROTHY DIX
THE WORLDS HIGHEST PAID WOMAN WRITER.

do you suppose mother and
father were ever young. or were
they born grownups. or was 1t SO
long ago when they were young
that they have forgotten all about
how young people feel. and what
young people want to do?" Maud
anxiously asked me the other day.
you would think that mother
had never been a girl herself" she
continued, "if you could see the hor-
rified way she acts over every little
thing 1 do. She doesn't see why I
care for the boys, or would rather
60 with a beau some place than go
with her and father. And she
thinks 1t is perfectly silly for US
to laugh and giggle over nothing.
And she can't understand why /
don't want the family tagging me
every minute of the day and night
And father acts Just the same way
about Tom. Tom says he bets that
father was born fifty years old and
had all Of his wisdom teeth as we'll
as the dyspepsia"
IF mother and father tell the
truth about how they acted when
they were young. and how they felt
when they were in their teens, the
young folks certainly were different
from the present generation. be-
lieve mel"
Mother says that when she was
girl her mind wasn't set on
fashion and frivolity as mine is.
She says that Of course she always
wanted to look nice and neat, but
that she actually preferred good
substantial clothes that had plenty
of wear in them to thin. perisha BILE
materials. Just think of real girl
who would rather have Jaeger un-
derwear than pink and blue ribbon
ed lingerie. and who would pass up
chiffon for a wool frock!"
And mother says she always
wanted her gowns made very high
in the neck and very long in the
skirt, because she was so terribly
modest, and that she always let her
mother pick out her clothes for her,
and was perfectly satisfied with
what her mother bought her, even
IL it was about two years behind the
style.
Also that when she was a girl
she found happiness in her own
anu uiuH I care " pt u
around to places of amusement. That
is why she is so opposed to my go
ing to the movies, and belonging TO
little clubs. Her idea of the end OF
a perfect day when she was a girl.
was to sit around the table reading
books, in company with
her parents and her little brothers
and sisters, and she doesn't under
,tyhNr nd that S1nU She
though it wildly exciting"
Mother insists that in her young
days, all the young people talked in
the most intelligent and dignified
manner, and they used the most ele-
giant language. Nobody condescend-
ed to employ anything SO vulgar as
slang. and they didn't gabble about
tennis and golf links. and batting
averages. and new cabaret stunts,
but they discoursed about literature.
art and the higher life, and they
never. never giggled and sQuealed as
we do"
She almost weeps at the deterior-
alton in the manners and converse
tion of the young since she was a
girl"
And mother says that while, OF
course, she was not averse to the So
ciety of young gentlemen, she really
cared nothing for boys, and was
just as happy going anywhere with
| her grandmother as she was when
she had a perfectly stunning beau
In fact, she says. she preferred to 81
bout with members OF her family
| because she felt so safe and she
can't understand why l would rath-
er sit by the wall than dance with
another girl. nor why ] grow dumb
when ! try to talk to boy when
she and father are sitting around
behind their newspapers censoring
the conversation"
Such a thing as calling up youns
man on the telephone-if there had
been phones In her day-would never
| have been dreamed Of. and she never
| wrote one a note, except in the most
| formal manner, and always handel
over all of her letters for her mother
| to read to see II they were proper for
her to receive. She says she was in
| capable of doing such an unmaidenlS
thing as to think Of love, until mar
mentioned 1t first, and that she wa!
Just surprised to death when papi
UP and popped the question to her
But when she tells me she had NJ
idea that he entertained such semi
ments towards her, how she ever dis
covered that she was enough in Low,
with him to marry him. beats me.
Il suppose that in those days a.
soon as a man proposed to girl. sh'
began exploring her system for symp
toms of love. and when he founc
them. she said yes and II she
didn't she said no I told mothe
that we girls nowadays believe Il
preparedness, and we know Just wha
we are going to say to a fellow be
fore he knows he is going to propos,
himself, and mother says she doesn'
know what the world is coming TO.
And mother says that when sh
was a girl. and a young man came {,
see her, she always sat on one sid,
of the room. and he on the other
and suppose they megaphone,
views on the deather across the spac,
between them. And that she alway
took hold of a mans arm with th'
tips of her fingers. as IL she was TAX
ing It with the tongs. and she neve
INDUCED in any of the disgusting
familiaritics that she observes in tn
social intercourse of young peopl