Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1918-12-24
Little Talks by
Beatrice FdUfdT

If a girl is sixteen years old and
works, earning enough to pay for her
board and keep, how much liberty is
she entitled to?
This is the text of many letters
that come to me-usually from the
girls themselves-that few generali-
ties on the subject may be opportune.
A girl of sixteen is really child. even
though the industrial conditions of
the country, due to a world war, en-
aple her to make a woman's wages
for a little while.
1t is the big wages that make her
see everything through a magnifying
glass-her age, her prospects, and the
tragic condition of her breaking
heart
Duties of Wise Mother
Her mother. if she is wise in her
day and generation, sees to 1t that
her daughter does not go strolling off
with every Tom, Dick and Harry that
comes along. For Sweet Sixteen is
too young to have any real knowledge
of human nature.
She is too young to have any per-
spective on life, and a year to her
seems an eternity, and she argues:
Next year l shall be woman OF IeV-
enteen, and not have the interest in
life that l have now; by that time
shall be almost middle-aged. There
fore, why should 1 not make hay
while the sun shines? l am earning
my own living, and what right has
every one to treat me like a Daby?'
And the mother, If She is clever
woman, will humor these old-age de-
lusions, keeping a watchful eye. how
ever on her daughter and seeing that
her amusements are safe and sane.
This will necessitate her keeping very
much on her job as caretaker. while
she dozes with one eye open and pre-
tends not to see.
For Sweet Sixteen must have it's
good times. They are as necessary 10
the machinery of young life as Is
the escape valve to a boiler, and IL
this useful vent is neglected we are
likely to have an explosion. Nothing
could be a more difficult and delicate
job for a parent than this business of
letting Sweet Sixteen imagine it is
having its own head. while all the
time a wise, kindly hand remains On
the bride.
Sixteen the Age of EnthusInsm
Sixteen is an age of thrills and en-
thusiasm, nothing is to be taken at Its
face value. the world is a place of
roses, rainbows and star dust. Every
thing is either sunshine or shadow,
comedy or tragedy, there are no half
: tones, no halfway values; this state of
mind is reflected in the vocabulary CT
Sweet Sixteen.
1t is Just crazy" about chocolate
sundaes, IL would rather die" than
. eat oatmeal. IT "adores" white uni
forms, and all these exaggerated eX-
! pressions are quite true; it feels that
way about everything, life is at top
speed.
Alas, what tanning influence mere
| living exercises on these young hearts
in u few years. But it Is In their
| wild. untamed state that we are deal
! ing with them. In the days when 1t
is a breathless adventure to walk
downtown and look in shop windows,
when movie ticket is admission 10
| lei Dorado, when the tenor in light
! opera is n prince to dream about tCr
| weeks afterward.
Curlously enough, all these things,
| the trip downtown, the movies, the
| fairy prince of the light opera. become
stale, fiat and Improbable when they
are shared by mother Aunt Emma or
! fathers Cousin Jane. The beautiful
/ soap bubble is punctured, the rides
! cent world of romance evaporates II
some solemn grown-up invades II.
And now appears the problem for
mothers ingenuity. She has got To
make Sweet Sixteen feel that she Is
! not a solemn grown-up; that she Is
| just as young. in her heart, as any
one of the girls, and is not looking at
I the world with the cold. weary eye of
| experience. but with the joyous en-
| thusiasm of youth.
This is a task that will require some
histrionic ability on the part of moth
er. who would undoubtedly prefer re-
naming at home. resting in the Nor
ris chair and enjoying a book. But to
! keep volcanic Sixteen happy and con-
1 tented is worth a little extra strain
and fatigue. so the clever mother goes
along, not In the capacity of a wet
blanket or q rain crow. but as an
llegedly-enthralle spectator.
And as long as mother has given ZIP
her comfortable evening at home she
makes of the occasion a real party.
She sees that several young people go
along. and she does not allow her
presence 10 act as a damper on their
youthful nigh spirits When they gig
gle and whisper over the silliest love
scene she controls her disapproval or
her worldly superiority. She knows
these young things have Just so much