Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1921-02-16
AS ONE WOMAN SEES 1T
The Grievousness Of Social Life,
Where There ls Plenty Of Talk,
Much CackIe, Gobble and Quack
and but Little Conversation
BY SARAH ID. LONyRIE

A FTER n peculiarly stupid luncheon the
"A other day friend of mine stopped in
to what she called rest her face" before
she took up the white mans burden mt
tea at which she had been asked to pour
chocolate. She said she felt obliged to con
fcss that both for herself and for those she
mnchcd and "tca ed with conversation was
lost art.
eve cncklcd at lunch and we will COB
Bile, gobbc at tea and at dinner we will
Quack. Quack. but there will be no good
talk, there isn't any. And since the lrwins
have died there is nowhere any one can
go to get 1t -
/ am glad knew the Irwins--Miss
Agnes and Miss Sophy--for many reasons.
and perhaps most of all. because they made
one aware what good talk was. 1t was not
that they talked supcrlativcly or talked
much; il was that they understood and
practiccd the agreeable art of conversation
to perfection. They stimulated conversation
and kept It within n pleasant compass. nnd
that too. without II touch Of professional
ism or maStCrfulnCSs. Neither sister was
one to endure either fools or bOrCs gladly;
Miss SOphy was harder on borCs and Miss
Agnes was harder on fools. Each had her
own amused way Of eliminating fools and
borcS. hut it was not easy to be foolish or
CgOtiStcal in their atmosphere. One felt
natural and simple and at III" same tim"
keen and Obscrvant. As their range was
very wide and their knowledge of people
quite first hand. it was also easy to get
beyond ones depth with them. some
times thought, when | was with them, Of
what an old darky | knew said Of her
colOrCd preacher: that he "AlludCd to more
things than he done had 'spcriCncC of. ~
VOU were sometimes so eager to have an
l. opinion because they had such thought
iul ones that you made one up on the spot
Thought on your fCCt.' nS some of the
extension lecturers are accused of doing.
What made them great tCaChCrS--fOr they
were that, though they never drilled their
pupils through examinations with any in
ward or outward alaCrty. nCv"r asked all
the questions in the book or cared for all
your answers: never. in fact made the
tcSt of getting you into college the test Of
their success with your mind-what made
them brilliant and compelling teachers was
that they brought your mind on tiptoc to
meet their minds They never talked down
to yOu As for StnndardS--thCy took you
casually until you failed in manners or in
common sense. when you were brought face
TO face with what was expected of YOU with
flash of Irish temper that YOU never for
got and sometimes never forgavC: but you
learned your lesson that day in manners or
in common sense and years later showed
your appreciation of it by teaching it with
th" same accent on the essentials to some
other child who was careless or ignorant or
both.
A FTER all. to the girls who are eventually
"a TO be the women in this town who bring
the gracious things of lfr--muSic, hospi-
taIlty. loving kindncSS-whO make art pos
siblC by supporting it. who believe in the
value and charm of backgrounds and fore
grounds for any beautiful possession, and
who have leisure from the mere act of
living to see that there is moro abundant
life for othcrs--suCh girls do not SO much
need to pass Il college examination as to
have tho vistas Of the life they arc to follow
opened To their careless young eyes. And
no ono can do that with the same effective
ness who has not commanded the gracious
things of life by possessing them.
] think many teachers of girls fail
whore the lrwinS succeeded because in their
c0g"rn"ss in preparing them for college they
have overlooked preparing them for lifc
especially for tho immensely varied and re-
SpOnSible life an ordinary woman with social
obligations has to live. Earning Your living
as teacher or private secretary or Il
business woman is simple compared to
accepting the duties of the wife Of n rich
man. Being your own maid of all work en-
tails much physical strain at times. but it
does not touch. physically or mentally. the
strain Of being Il community woman of all
work. Frightening up the corner whore
YOU are is one thing, but Frightening up the
city where you are is quite another.
WHAT the lrwins did-nnd one has only
w to look nt the nlumnar to prove it
was to cducat" leaders, Their peculiar tai
cnt was to Civ" the girls who went to that
school on lie Lan"cy place taste to even
luully choose essentials. That is what they
themselves cared about: what was essen
TALLY good in music, in art, in letters. in
showing mercy. in dealing justly. in man.
uCrs and social intercourse.
This all comes hnck (" me today with
very clear vision because Of Il proposition
put mp by the trustees Of the school which
the Irwins left when Miss Sophy Irwin died
,l,,. ,,,-t |, .