Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1919-10-08
LITTLE TALKS BY
BEATRICE FAIRFAX

must often have been-judging by
About n year ago I adopted a broth
er, three years my junior. all about
whom my fiance has known and not
disapproved. l have told him every
thing just as If he had been here. Now
this young brother of mine is devoted
t. me and has done much to cheer me
up, causing me to be invited to his
club affairs. taking me to the movies
teaching me to run q car and in a
general way making things as pleas
ant for me as he could.
lie has said: why should you, be-
cause your ffance is miles away. shut
yourself up and not have pleasant
times? If I can do a little toward
driving the blues away I consider it n
pleasant duty to do so. If your soldier
does not object, no one else should"
My mother now says she does not
approve of my going out alone with
this boy. She says people will talk
about an engaged girl acting as I do
If I were not engaged my actions
would be without reproach. but as it
is l must not go out alone with him
any more.
Miss Fairfax, is mother taking the
right stand as the world judges to-
day? l have done nothing that I am
ashamed of and do not object to hav-
ing other people with us when this
boy and I are out together. but IL we
are not alone he will not confide his
difficulties his ambitions and hopes
to me. and 1t will break my heart to
give up being his only confidante, for
by his own admission l have helped
him a great deal. He does not by any
means mistake my feeling toward him
as helpful sister and chum.
In this case the disapproval is
based on the existence of an absent
fiance. In the next case. it will have
a different ground. The truth is. 1
bring themselves to believe in the
brother d-sister relationship. It's a
shade too idyllic and beautiful They
can't quite drive fear and suspicion
from their hearts. Artificial brother
and sister relationships, they cynical
ly tell each other. belong to the class
of things that are too good to be true
They'll develop sentiment in an hour.
Better check them at the start.
Trust Your Girls md Boys
And there will, of course, be in
stances where this charming game is
employed as a mask for flirtation--
just as there will be others where ro-
nance will unexpectedly flower. But
don't justify general conspiracy of
distrust among parents and guard
ians. IT may be that there is nothing
worse for youth than to distrust it.
1t is very generally true that youth.
like every other period of life, does
pretty much what you expect of it.
ceive you. Trust it and 1t will rise to
glorious heights of magnanimity and
candor.
Somehow I believe that IL I had
daughter who was as straight-for-
ward and sensible in her love affair
as this girl is, so superior to small
icalousies and evasions and deceits-
| would trust her to adopt brother,
if she liked. and get what pleasure
she could from being his helpful
chum."
Don't you remember-can't you re-
member-that lonely mysterious time
when you were seventeen or SO? The
time when it's so hard to tell things
to another boy and so useless to tell
things to another girl. but so
friendly and satisfying for a boy and
girl who aren't the least bit in love
to confide to each other their puzZltnG
adventures?
1t is hard to put ones self in their
place. But 1T pays. for one learns by
it not to thwart these charming i'm
pulses of theirs, but to encourage
them to play brother and sister to-
gether as long as the delicious inno-
cense of youth shall last