Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1919-01-02
By Beatrice Fairfax

,,any names. her cry VI
,, a hundred variations. But at
the bottom of it all there's an un-
varving something that goes to one $
haort and ones sense of justice. It's
the plight of the young girl wage
aorner who is treated as a child at
home.
Rut she is a child!-her parents
will answer me, with good deal or
emphasis. And it's true-for it's
the girl of fifteen or sixteen whom
I'm speaking of. The girl who
ought to be at school, and who
isn't. The girl who oughtn't to
have to bend her youthful mind and
body to long hours of daily druid
gerry, but who does do this. The
girl who is willing to be made use
OF to help out the family support.
but who does rebel at having no
individual freedom.
Ever so many things are wrong
about this situation, of course. 1t
goes a great deal deeper than any
fifteen-year-old can understand.
Without trying to go to the bottom
In the first place, I suppose we
would all admit that a fifteen-year-
old girl ought to be in school. If
she isn't, 1t means she's had a
pretty scant preparation for life. If
she's just an average girl, it isn't
likely that she'll take her own edu-
cation in hand and continue it. So
she'll suffer from this disadvantage
always.
Too Young TO Work
In the next place, she oughtn't to
be put at steady work, whether it's
in factory or in a shop or at a
typewriter. You see, she's only
about three-quarters grown. It's
distinctly cruel-not on the part of
her parents, who probably can't
help themselves, but on the part of
the rest of us, who look on and al
low it-not to let her finish her
growing.
Then. she's too young TO have
any physical stability. Her health
won't have a really solid founda-
ZION for g few years more. And to
tamper with her l:Sai:.h is the worst
wrong of ALL
But who can save her? She's one
of a big family, perhaps. Her faith
er's out of work, or earns small
wages, and the younger children
have large appetites, and provisions
have to be paid for in cash. It's
quite plain that somebody must
help out.
And the sixteen-year-o doesn't
demur. That isn't what she's pro-
testing about. She's abundantly
willing to do her share, and a great
deal more than her share, to keep
the family alive. It's a sacrifice to
hraaly from haT- cphnnlrr1 re-
to spend all her young strength in
an impersonal treadmill. But she
accepts this sacrifice as a matter of
course. Those young brothers and
sisters need her help. There's
nothing more to be said about it.
So she starts in. And when the
first pay day comes around, she
brings home her wages with a great
deal OF pride and satisfaction. and
turns them over to her mother.
It's rather a critical moment. Per-
haps she hasn't expected that
mother will accept those precious
dollars in quite the cool. matter-of-
fact way that she does. Perhaps
she has taken it for granted that
mother will say. How much are
you going to need for yourself, now
that you al4 self-sTpporting? or
something of the sort.
Has No Spending Money
But nothing of this kind hap
pens. So, a little teary and disap-
pointed and forlorn, she starts in on
the second weeks drudgery.
And before many days have
passed her new associates invite her
to join them in some form of re-
creation. Perhaps it's party at
one of their houses. Perhaps it's
an expedition to a moving picture
theater.
She reports this invitation, tim
idly but hopefully, when she gets
home. And it's just as she feared.
Her parents firmly tell her that
she's too young for evening amuse-
ments, that they can't let her go
out of the house at night except in
the company of an older person, and
that she needs to go to bed early
anyway.
And when Sunday comes it's the
same story. She must mind the
younger children. And she has no
clothes except her working ones.
poor little Cinderella. And she's
safer at home. they tell her, than
with boys and girls whom nobody
knows anything about.
Now, l agree with these parents
that q siXteen-year-old girl ought
not to be out late at night | agree
that she must be carefully guarded.
But l do feel when she has joined
the working army, her situation be-
comes different. Some compromises
must be made. And discreet parents
will make these compromises be-
fore the girl finds herself driven to
actual revolt.
Every worker needs recreation.
And which one of them needs 1t
more than the girl who hasn't yet
reached a safe and reasonable
working age? It's her parents duty
to see that such a girl does have
some playtime. I don't mean that
they should let her go to dance
halls. But let her join an innocent
group of young people now and
then. Let her have her friends at
the house. See that she goes out
doors on Saturday afternoons and
Sundays. Don't drink up her life
ensrgy without seeing that she gets
some reinforcement.
Is 1t q Square Deal?
Then there is the money question,
She must clothe herself. She must
meet incidental expenses. She must
have spending money. Why should
these sums be given to her grudg-
ingly. in driblets. when she gives
you her total earnings without a
question?
Is it fair? Are you treating her
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