Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1921-03-24
MISS BEULAH FENiMORE
On Responsibility of Parents

MOTHERS misplaced ambition for their
1t1 daughters, too many automobiles.
some plays and motion pictures, congested
cities and perhaps, indirectly. war intlu-
cnccs-these are the things that cause to-
days tendency toward immodest dress and
dancing, bad manners and impropricty
among young folk.
Such is the opinion Of Miss Beulah Fent-
more principal of the Kensington High
School for Girls. She does believe there IS
such tendency among the young toIk-to
experiment with the thrills of life. And
the reasons given above are the ohcs she
names, in their relative Importance.
The solution. she believes, is plain home
training implanting in child minds Inc
clean, wholesome habits and beliefs OF me:
II say plain home training advisedlY,
Miss Fcnimore explained. "A woman re-
Gently complained to me that the schools to-
day did not teach manners and mofais as
they should. My answer was TO ask II she Ii
realized the schools were doing virtually
everything except bear children these days
Have parents no responsibility whatever III
training these future citizens!
IF ] have u hobby, it is citizenship. My
highest aim in this high school where more
than a thousand girls come each year Is 10
turn them out as useful citizens, competent
TO take tnclr place among reol AuieiN""''
No Regular Glasses
I'VE do not, thank goodness, have rcgu-
lar classes in manners and morals. But m
directly these things are taught IN every
classroom by, example and suggestion. In
home economic classes, where the girls learn
to cook serve and act as hostesses, they are
taught courtesy and the nicetcs OF manner
In sewing classes they are taught modeSty
of dress Through their physiology they
tln ,ln
indirectly they are taught morality.
In this school we have very few cases of
immodest or even extreme dress. The girls
wear simple gngham frocks or middies ana
skirts. Seldom do see any wearing JewelrS
and when | do. / usually mention that
school is not the place 10 wear il. ! have
an intimate personal talk with every gIrl
who is graduated here. Then | talk with
her about the most serious things she viii
be apt to meet in her life. Frankly l dis
cuss dress, mora standards proper attituue
toward men, the problems and temptations
that will face her il she enters business
Many mothers have thanked me for this last
intimate talk with her daughter.
Il do believe that all the improper man
ners and morale can be traced back to the
home training. 1t is not at school but at
| evening affairs that | see the shocking
| dresses. What can the mothers be thinking
| Of 10 allow such things; 1t makes, me ut
tcrly sick TO see beautiful young girls in
dance frOCkS that leave little to the I'm
| agnation, that are short above and below
the waist. Very often you can look from
| daughter to mother and see the latter clad in
| much the same fashion,
Conscious of Sensation They Create
| ''You cannot tell me that those women,
with their bare shoulders and too short
skirts are unconscious Of their own immod =
| csty. That old excuse that only the evil
minded think wrong Of such exposure is not
! convincing to Inc. These women, half clad,
| in opcra boxes with men hanging over their
shoulders and sitting close-l tell you they
deliberately dress that way. They are per-
fcrtly conscious Of the sensation they create,
There are still mothers whose chief am d.
hilton is for their daughter to marry well.
| And that last may mean many things. There
arc mothers who are overambitiOus who
believe all things fair in the legitimate game
! Of husband hunting. There are others who
merely want their girls to have good time.
pcrhaps the good times they themselves have
! missed ThCy soOthc their COnscienCeS by
saving that times have changed and young
folk don't do the same things today that
former generations did.
''Probably the things young folk do today
ARE no worse than in other generations. But
there are more of us today. There are too
many automobiles, there are vicious and de
mornIizing motion pictures and there are
other temptations that never existed for
mast generations. Motion pictures have u
tremendous influence upon the youth of to
day. ! do wish producers would give us
more of the clean, wholesome films that
would tend to build up character rather than
destroy moral standards.
' I'VE are all more or less gamblers. We