South Bend news-times. (South Bend, Ind.) 1913-1938, 1922-06-04

enough TO gothere alone.
Either the girl knows how TO take
care Of herself. or she doesn't. and
in either case a chaperone will be
only wasting her time.
The stage is nc kindergarten"
says Miss Garden. Neither is the
opera and neither is Paris. A girl
who is going 70 make a fool OF her
self alone will make a fool Of her
self with chaperone at her elbow
Either she'll keep her mind on
her work and succeed. or she'll take
her mind off her work and fail and
it's all up TO her"
Good news-from Mary Garden.
The average girl is just as much
out Of place In Paris alone as a
mouse is out OF place in a house full
OF cats
Neither Parisians, nor Romans.
nor Florentines, nor people who live
in Venice. nor people who live in
I Budapest. understand a young girl
who goes out into the street alone.
over there such a girl is considers
ed fair game and nobody is very
much surprised or particularly
shocked. if she throws her l!fe away
! before it is fairly begun.
Paris is full of American girls who
ought 10 be back at home learning
to make their own dresses and bob
I their own hair and manicure their
own nails and marry their own
sweethearts. Some OF them can sing
a little, some can paint a little. some
can play on a violin or the piano
just a bit, and some ambitious crea-
ture has sent them over to Paris to-
be trained and the poor things think
they are going 10 climb to the top
of the ladder just as sure as sunrise.
Most OF them will never get out
of the chorus. those who sing. Most
of the artists will never do anything
but copy. and most of those who play
the piano VIII so back some day and
teach little Susie Hopkins from be-
low the tracks how to play the
'Maiden's Prayer, and "Warbling
at Eve" at the high school gradua-
\ ton exercises.
For such girls as this, Paris Is a
waste Of time and a waste OF money
\ and sometimes il turns out TO be a
waste of hope and of life itself.
For the real genius there all the
same - the different parts of the
world Rome. Florence. Paris. Ber-
/ lin, London. New York san Francis
! co-they're nothing but a back
/ ground for hard. absorbing work
The born singer will sing-and sns
won't do much of anything else
( anywhere. anyhow, anytime
Incidentally. she'll take care OF her
morals. If she that kind Of girl-and
I if she isn't. she won't. and neither
the singing nor the acting nor the
painting will have a thing IN the
world TO do with it.
This round old whirling earth Of
ours is fairly crowded with girls who
are alone in big cities-pretty girls.
/. young girls. clever girls, stupid girls
ugly girls and some OF them are good
and some of them are bad.
Ii all depends-nOt upon the place
. where she works. not upon the work
she does or wants TO debut upon
the girl
As 20 the talk Of temptations in
\ Paris. any American girl who makes
her own way in the world. knows
. well enough WHAT lilS SO-CdlAeu
temptation" means She meets II
from the first minute she goes down
town 10 earn her salary. till the last
day she holds her youth and her at
. traction. and she doesn't care a snap
about it-one way or the other.
She sees other girls falling by the
wayside and she's sorry for them.
Sometimes her heart aches with pity
but she goes on without a word to
a human soul. No one says much
} about her. we all take her as mat
ter OF course-the brave, honest.
Il self-respecting modest warm-heart-
ed American girl who can walk upon
hot plowshares and never feel a
wound. or IL she does feel Il, never
let anyone know about H.
This world IS no kindergarten for
a girl who has her own way 10 make
j whether she's a singer. or a poet.
or a stenographer and the sooner
such a girl as that takes Mrs. Com
u mon Sense for her chaperone and
4 never stirs a step away from that
, duenua the better off both she and
the world will be.
Paris alone? No. no even the Gar
, den Of Eden alone-for a girl who
q doesn't know how TO take care OF
, herself There was Eve. YOU know.
! and she found-the snake.