Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1921-02-07
THE NEW GIRL.

A very rich man, who, beginning with
NE proverbial shoe-stfing, has conVsr.so
: into a cable that reaches around the
Sorld. said to me the other day :.
at used to be the prodigal sons VINO
prned their parents hair gray with
worry. In these times it's the strenuous
sauohte,s who keep lis awake at nignt,
wondering how we are going to keep them
At home.
Take nv case for example. | have
hist one chick in the world, and all these
rears that have been toiling, and moiiing,
ind LAYING up money, the chief tnihe
that I thought about WAS that WAS going
~ be able to pad her life with luxury, ana
that she would never have to work as ner
mother and | had TO do when we were
Young. Well, I've given that girl money,
md motors, and fine houses, ana me
clothes: everything che wants, except the
thing she wants most OF all
And that's work. She hates society.
I;oinr to parties and dancing bores her
uiA. She even looks on marriage as q
man does-an accident that is liable to
happen TO YOU if you aren't careful and
don't watch your step, but that you
peedn I be foolhaIdy enough to rush INTO.
No. What Betty clamors for Is work.
She demands that | take her into my
olIice, or set her up in business Just as |
would do if she had been boy instead
of a girl. and | don't know what to do
about il. 1t breaks her mother and me
all up, especially her mother, who had
looked forward to having a pretty daugh-
ter to dress up and show off, somebody
who would take real heart interest in
,hopping with her. and have romantic
condolences TO whisper TO her, and who
would be embroidering doodahs for her
hoPe-ch,est .,.,n ,rbo ..,,s
frankly that if she thought she had to
spend the balance of her life trotting
sround 20 teas, and conversing with the
feeble-minded who frequent such places, ,
che would commit suicide at once, be-
cause she prefers swift, short agony
20 the slow torture Of being bored to
death Here's girl who prefers reading
the stock market to Robert Chambers,
and who envies the girl who has got job
moro than the one who is going TO marry
millionaire who has gwen her a hundred
thousand dollar pearl necklace
Its ridiculous for girl, situated like
my daughter is, to go TO work. Yet what
am going to do about TT
Il do not believe any glrl should
work outside of her home unless 1T is
absolutely necessary" said another man.
"A woman's place is IN the home
"Just what think, said the first man.
''Why cant girls be satisfied TO go
around and have a good time, and dress
themselves up, and look forward to getting
married, as their mothers did7 What IS the
trouble with girls anyway
JoII I 4, k.,o -. Ia VI
YOUR girl is that she is her fathers dsugh-
ter. and that she has inherited your keen
brain. YOUR energy and driving power,
your vision. and executive ability and that
All the Qualities that have made you a
success. and that you have had such Joy
IN using, are clamoring for expression in
her. You wouldn't hitch q seventy-Ive
horse power motor TO FIVE flea Job; and
that what Betty thinks she Is dong when
YOU ask her TO use that great intelligence
of hers on piffiing little things like picking
out chiffons. and talking to Iellybean
youths.
Suppose YOU had nothing in the world
~ do OF TO think about except dressing
yourself up, and buying clothes. and go
ing from one party TO another, where you
met the same set Of ainlless, inane people,
who repeated over and over again the
same bromidic remarks: wouldn't you 60
-ray with the dullness and monotony OF II
All? " ouldn't YOU think II pretty poor
way to spend your life?
Never 70 have stood alone, never TO
have tested vour strength, never 70 have
had anvt hing that wasn't gwen TO you,
ever 10 have done anything that WASH
really worth while, or 10 have had any
interest that wasn't manufactured in
terest. never 10 have pitted your wit and
Shreweness against other peoples and
won out-if YOU had missed all OF that.
wouldn't YOU have missed most Of the
fun in life"
.'Of course / would, but am q man,
SAID Bettys father.
when a woman has q mans brains.
she feels just as a man feels, | responded,
''and she's got the same cOsmic urge to use
her power as he has. The trouble is with
nature, that makes girls inhlert from their
father. and boys from their mother. That's
why so many big strong men, the men
who do things, have clever daughters and
dull sons.
Girls weren't always restless like they
are now. They used TO be satisfied to stay
AZ home, it you would give them enough
finery." said the second man.
There must always have been certain
number of women, strong OF mind and
body, who longed for q wider, and freer
life, and bigger opportunities than they
could find in the small circles in which
they lived, but they had TO remain in
them because there were no doors TO their
cages, / said The young girl Of today
isn't confined to any cage. The wide world
is hers, and she can 60 as far IN il as her
strength viii take her.
We've got to realize that we've got a
new girl and she is the problem Of our
times. She's no more like her mother
than as if they belonged 20 different
species. She doesn't think as mother
thought at her age, nor have mothers
hopes and aspirations. She's far more like
father than she is like mother, and so she
becomes fathers problem more than
mothers"
We'll, what ere we gong to do about
it?' the man asked.
Give her her head, / answered, but
keep steady rein over her"