The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1920-06-25
Dorothy Dix TALKS
The chaperon ouestion-2.
BIT DOROTHY DIX
worlds Hishest Paid Woman wrirsr.


| The Chaperon Question:.
| Young people in this country ebjeet
/ to the ehaperon being always on duty,
not because they want to do anything,
/ or say anything that is in the slightest
degree Objectionable, but because an
older person makes them seif-con-
| scious. The little silly jokes at which
| they laugh, the juvenile bandinage in
which they Indulge, the teasing they
! find so amusing falls still-born and
dead before the cynical eyes of age.
| They can't de 1t and not feel like asses.
Shall, then, the young girl be given
| her head, and go her own sweet will
as she lists? Heaven Forbid Girls
are foolish creatures and they need all
| the protection ami guidance their
mothers can give them. but this is all
the more effective if 1t is tempered
with common sense and discretion.
A mother. for instance, certainly
1 fails in her duty If she does not know
where her daughter is every minute
! of the time, and is not personally ac-
| quainted with every young man with
whom she associates. But If the girl
is going TO a suitable place it surely
isn't necessary for mother to do the
shadow act after hers Nor is it OBJ
| ligatory on her to thrust her society
lperpetually on young man whom she
has Investigated and found out to be
moral and upright and with a good
record.
BE sure yea are right then GO
ahead" Davy Crockett gave as a
motto. "Ba- sure they are all Fight
i then let them alone" would be a good
slogan for ehaperons,
Personally 1 have always felt that
most of e mothers chaperoning should
be done long years before it is needed.
| 1t should begin in the cradle and
continue by little beds, and at mother S
knee when baby lips lisp prayers to
God to make them good little girls. If
mother does her part then, if she in
stills into the little girls heart a love
| for purity, and the white things of life,
| II the mother iGgrains in the very
fibre of her being a ck-bottomed
virtue that no. passion can shake; IL
! the mother teaches the little girl
strength and courage and to hold her
honor aboye her life, then she won't
need any watching when she's grown.
And If mother has intelligence
| enough to realize that ignorance never
| will be innocence, and she erects
danger signals before the various pit
falls into which the unwarned stumble,
then, indeed, mother may cut out the
dragon act Her work has been
done in time, instead of too late.
For when all is said a girls real
l
and brains. No woman was ever sue
cessfully watched. If she had it in her
TO jump over the bars, sooner or later
| she did it. Nor can anyone really
| protect another. They must do that
for themselves. There comes an hour
when the watch dog slumbers; a place
where the most anxious mother can
| not follow her daughter and woe be
| then that girl who ha not been taught
to take care of herself and who does
not know how to guard herself
\ against danger. --.
we may also give due recognition to
American Institution and American
ideal both feminine and masculine.
Our girls are brought up differ
| emily from other girls. They are, not
! harem born, nor convent bred. nor
! provineially educated. They are in
the thick of life from infancy. While
| their hair is still in pigtails they are
as worldly wise as foreign girls are
| when they marry. Independence and
self-reliance are their heritage and
they actually do not need as much
chaperoning because they are SO jolly
well fit tie look out for themselves.
Also, there are not many American
| men, thank God, from whom a nice,
sweet pure American girl needs pro-
! lection.
But about chaperoning. wen, it's
always a safe rule to do in Rome as
the Romans do. If you live In conn
munity where d girl Is suspected of
being not just mice" IL she isn't
watched, tretS around after your
daughter like Mary's little lamb-ef
was it the sheep dog?
Otherwise. quite otherwise. But
whatever you do fer your Grown
daughter, don't forget to teach your
baby daughter how every girl can be
| her own chaperon.
| Copyright. 1920. by the Wheeler Syndicate,
| Incl