The Washington herald., 1921-06-06

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broken letter from . little girl who
pours out her troubles to me over
eight pages Of the best pink nots
paper
She says she Is 1s, and her father
and mother think that she Is too
young to have beaux and 60 to par
ties And all the other girls have
boy friends, and good times, and her
family doesn't see why she Is not
perfectly happy to stay at home
every evening and read nice Glad
Anna" books. Her mother won't even
let her have an intimate girl friend,
because she is afraid that the girl
will put notions into her head.
-Of course I know 1 have perfect
ly wonderful parents, and that the
reason that they are so strict with
me is because they think It is for
my good" the little girl writes,
r'and they give me lots of pretty
clothes, and / have a fine home that
get awful sick of staying in, and
when there is a real nice play, that
they consider proper for a young
girl to see. or an educational film,
they take me TO the theater, or the
moving pictures. where I sit be-
tween mother and father. but that
isn't what / want.
II want to go to places with the
girls and boys, and to laugh and
skylark. and to nave a girl friend
who will come and have tea in my
room. and tell me all her secrets,
and l tell her all mine.
II just want to do little silly
things, and play around with other
girls and boys, and mother and
father are perfectly shocked. and
won't let me. because they say that
when they were my age they never
thought of anything except of i'm
proving their minds, and listening
to their elders"
Then the little girl ends her let
ter with this question: Were the
people of a generation ago really
and truly so different from the
young people OF today?"
No. my dear, they were not. There
are no such other monumental liars
Cn earth as parents, and il is a
good thing that snap judgment Is
not taken upon them as IL was
upon Ananias and Saphra, or else
the land would be full or orphans
For when fathers and mothers be-
gin telling their children about what
model girls and boys they were they
let go all hold on veracity and give
free rein to their imaginations.
The one thing that never changes
is human nature. Every soul that
comes into the world has practi-
cally the same desires, and goes
through practically the Same ex-
periences. We all love. and hate,
and laugh and weep, and play and
work, and dance and feast, and are
pleased with foolish trifles, and do
all sorts of silly and ridiculous
things in our youth; and those who
tell you otherwise have no truth
In them.
The most conspicuous ornament
in every home in which there are
children should be a motto, SO plac-
ed that every time the parents look
ed up they would read it. And this
motto should say, LEST WE FOR
GET.
1t would be a perpetual reminder
r to parents Of their own youth which
they have so long forgotten. 1t
would give them the key to their
children's condolences, and keep
them from making so many blum
ders that they now make.
OF course, to the middleaged
woman. sweet sixteen seems more In
need of slipper than of a latch key.
The idea of Mamie. who only yes
terday had her hair in pigtails,
wanting TO have beaux! And how
ridiculOu- ror her to want to go
about WI lot of girls and boys as
silly and Young as she is! Listen
and shudder at the way they giggle
at nothing. and talk in catch
phrases and slang that is unintelli-
gible. Perfectly disgusting! Mother
Is determined to save her daughter
from it all.
So she locks the door on Mamie,
and Mamie slips out of the window
and meets boys and girls, of whom
her mother knows nothing, on the
street corners, and mother hasn't a
chance in the world to protect her
little girl from the snares into which
unwary young feet blunder so often
All might be different il mother
would only remember her own
youth II she would recall the time
when a new dress, just like every
other girls, spelled heaven for her;
when not to go to a dance was a
tragedy as great as death would be
to her now; when the girl who had
the most names written on her fan
vas an object of acute envy to all
sof her companions: when she and
her intimate friend would sit for
other. whispering nothings; when
to have a boy carry your books
home from school was a triumph;
when everything in her cried out
for gayety, and laughter, and action,
and amusement; why. then, II
mother recalled these things, she
would know just how to handle
Mamie
For the girl and the woman are
sisters under the skin, and mother
would be wise enough to see that
Mamie got her fun. and her beaux.
and her friends wholesomely, and
ot the right kind. and under an eye
thaf watched her without suspect
ing it
And II father would only remem-
Der when he was a boy how he
stoie apples and hated school, and
made life torment for the neigh
bors- and put bears grease on his
mustache to make il grow, and
spent hours combing his hair in a
cowlick. he could meet his BOYS on
plane Of mutual understanding
and steer them into the right paths.
instead Of alternating them from him
oy telling them that they are fools
and asses
It's because parents represent
themselves to their children as hay-
ing been paragons in their youth
chat there Is so little confidence be-
tween them How can a girl tell
her mother than a boy kissed her
II mother has always depicted her