The Rock Island Argus and daily union. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1920-1923, 1922-03-20

! anu L am gong 10 tell you WIZ
You may think me old-fashionsS
but l want people with some ~
gree of dignity near me whils 7
work. Now. with your abbreviats5
hair and skirts
Transformation Lands job.
"'Oh, is that alp asked the y,-,
in a relieved voice. Well, that L
defect easily remedied. L,ougs-
skirts are easily acquired, if yo-,
insist upon them, and If Won win
only watch patiently for a few saa
onds l can show you that nv bsi.
is not really bobbed at ALL Savins
which, she took out a few hairni1s
and removed the whole short mar
of it. Her own hair was neatly ar
ranged in a soft, flat coil at Inc
back-as dignified looking a eois-
fure as even Smith could desiro
Smith was so surprised at first fba,
his mouth fell open, and he had 70
cover up this loss of dignity BIZ civ.
ing the girl long lecture on bs,
artificiality. Then he hired her A.
a good salary
This view that business yomsn
should dress simply and incoaspJr-
uously has long been voiced with
mighty eloquence by various gronns
for various reasons but it has "a.
manned for a few bankers to coms
right out bluntly with the grsst
objection-namely, the fact that
frivolous clothes have a distraetinr
effect upon the male employe.
Girls who wear gay clothes IN
business are too distracting To the
young men in the office" said one
of this group. we ere letting them
out as fast as we can"
This view is sharply challenved
by Mary Alden Hopkins, in an art.
Gle recently published in The New
Republic, in which she says:
why shouldn't she Cthe business
girD wear as pretty silly clothes as
the girl who stays at home to helm
her mother? Earrings and strapp.
ed toes and high heels and strings
of barbaric beads and everything
else.
IF you put it on the ground Of
simplicity for all girls and all wo-
men-Jwhy, that's another matter
Maybe so and maybe not so. But
the idea that red and orange and
nasturtium yellow and aster Dur
pies belong to the girl whose al
lowanCe comes from her father.
while navy blue and dark brown
are the cOlOTs for the girl whose
pay envelope comes from her en-
ployer-this seems to me not fair
at all. Why should a business girl
be restricted to the type of costume
that no woman ever turns her head
to look after on the street?
One Dress Must Do.
"Headliner bushes women wear
simple and transformations costumes
because they can afford to buy tht
very best models and because by
the time they are headliners they
are beyond the rainbow age. But
TwinkIetoes, earning fifteen a week,
has but one dress at a time for
church office an picnic. If there
is any zip in the child. that One
dress is going to be the li7eliest
she can achieve. We would like
her to he TwinkletOes before break
fast and after supper, but Sober
sides in the street car and office.
But she has not money enough for
two costumes nor experience
enough for two personalities. She
chooses-thank GOd-to be Twin
kletoes downtown as well as up
town.
For my part 7 am glad the
grouchy, prosperous employers can
not suppress her youthful folly. 1
adore the elusive beauty and C5lIy
gaiety of young things coming and
going from work. At noon
the girl workers hurry along the
gray, stone-walled canyons, gay as
a crocus bed in the spring sunshine,
like squirrels. and heed
less as a bunch of puppies. Not
one in ten is wearing the modest
durable frock recently recommend
ed by II clergymen. They are girls
first and working girls second.
Women of brains and courage
push their way into these frowLhng
and women of force and
determination hold the big woman
Jobs in the financial districts. But
the silly little flapper has dared to
dress as she fashiOnably pleases
in Wall Street itself and powder
her nose right under her employers
frown. She is the braVest Of them
ALL"