The Washington herald., 1921-12-04

7 had been much harassed By the satur-
L MALTA Of criticism which had Of late been
gushing forth with relation to the American
girl who is today just unfolding into
vomanhood and who Ii to be the mother of
the generation that is to come. In the
press. from the platform, in those circles
where people gather for discussion, gay or
grave, the same idea was constantly reit-
erated-the idea that the young girl Of to-
day, with her short skirts and bobbed hair,
vas in reality a dragon in the act of con-
suming all the good in the world. So when
I went to see Miss Grace Abbott, head of
the Children's Bureau of the United States
Government, seemingly the individual Of
them all most highly placed and best fitted to
speak upon this subject, asked her what
Of the American girl of today, and this u
what she said:
The present criticism Is but a recur-
renee Of a phenomenon that has appeared
from time to time through the passing gen
erations. Those who have left youth be-
hind, who have gone over the hill and are
On the way down the other side are very
likely to be out of sympathy with those
who are just making the grade on the way
up, and are likely to say unkind things with
relation to them, basing their judgment
upon minor e1ternals which have nothing to
do with the real characters Of the indi-
viduals criticized. remember well that my
grandmother was much shocked at the antics
Of my youth, and all through life have
seen other Erandmothers being likewise
shocked with things that were done by the
- - ri.
1T will be noticed that It is nearly always
true that these criticisms Of the girls are
in generalities and are based upon quite un-
important details. When one stops to give
the matter serious thought It becomes obvi-
Gus that the fact of whether a girl wears her
hair long or bobs it has nothing at all to do
with whether or not she is a good girl. The
girls themselves realize this and become quite
Indifferent IL criticism is general.
'I do not mean to minimize the problems
Of the present. We are passing through a
period Of confusion and readjustment. There
are both old and new conditions and forces
which make for delinquency among girls
The present is for this very reason a time
for scientific study as to preventive measures
which take into consideration changing
which are being developed.
Personally / am Of the opinion that the
girl Of today has a much better chance to
be and is q much better girl than was the
girl Of yesterday, and particularly than was
the girl of the time Of our grandmothers.
She is better girl in the first place be-
cause she has been given a better chance in
tellisently to understand herself and her
province in the world than were the girls
who have gone before. She is a better girl
because the tendencies of the times have
been more toward making her a wholesome,
healthy, independent, self confident, self
reliant creature.
Athletics among girls, for example, are
largely q development of the present gen.
GRAFTON, and athletics bring into the life OF
. girl an additional interest and diversion
that she has not known before. They give her
4 feeling Of confidence and self-reliance that
help her in all her life contacts They
cause her to abandon such hurtful adjunct.
a. the high -heeled shoe and restrictive cloth
ing. Shortsr skirts are a greater advan-
tage. 1 would look with great regret upon
q return to the long, burdensome, insani-
tary skirts of our mothers.
NO, 1 am forced to admit that | must
conclude that the critics of the young sir,
Of today establish but one bit Of proof.
which is that they themselves have taken
their places with the generation that is
passing. They have confessed to the on.
coming Of age"
MISS ABBOTT smiled tolerantly as on.
A'A is likely to do who is accustomed To
dealing with the public and the different
manifestations Of the grooves in which IL,
thought is likely to travel. This woman
who occupies the premier post in tb. Fed.
eral service given to one of her sex. rave
the impression of an executive confident
Of her ground. A tall, upstanding, brown.
eyed, brown haired woman is Miss Abbott
with twenty years of active work behind
her. She told me that she came of line
Of New England folk who evidently ver.
imbued with the instinct of the pioneer. for
each generation moved State or two wes,
Finally o. A. Abbott, her father, came an