The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1922-01-27
A YOUNG CYNlC
Chapter 70

So Jane had gone-cheerfully writ
ing back that she was giving them all
the details, when in reality she was
telling them nothing at ALL
What a way to get married." Mrs.
Talbot grumbled, having read the let
ter several times. perhaps hoping that
more information might come from a
second reading.
She really felt Jane was not mar
ried at all, probably because she was
the sort that must experience thing,
or see thing, before she could really
believe it. Jane once laughed at her
for that. and said she was of an "em-
pirical turn of mind a term OF phil
osophy that meant nothing at all, nat
urally, to the mother.
Mrs. Talbot drew conclusions from
her own experience, these conclusions
she had, until recently, held as unalter-
able. From one or two experiences,
which either she had gone through,
or heard about, came generality The
generality was a law after that.
She had not witnessed James mar
Tiage. For weeks before it happened,
Jane had protested that she would
not marry Donald.
1T isn't at all the way a marriage
ought to be-" she complained to Amy.
There were two ways of bringing up
girls. according to her standards. One
was to leave them in complete ignor-
ance of all the vital facts of life, on
the theory that ignorance is inno-
cence, and that the more one knows of
such taboo subjects as sex, the more,
unconsciously, ones mind is cor
rupted. The stricter adherents to this
standard left their children in com
plete ignorance, which resulted disas-
trously in some cases. Where the
normal instincts are fully developed,
and the mind is not given information
10 realize it, there's bound to be a dis
aster," Jane once said.
And where the girl, in blind igno-
rance of what she was doing, blum
dered and was found out, Mrs. Talbot,
along with every one else, blamed the
girl as being bad and never once
put the blame upon the mother who had
left her in ignorance.
Mrs. Talbot prided herself on being
broad minded about these intimate
subjects. She had impaired some small
bits of information from time to time
not knowing that she was treating the
whole subject of sex as something NOR
bid and fearful.
Yet, because she had read occasional
stories of a sentimental turn, she pic.
lures herself before James marriage
as indulging in long and intimate talks
with her daughter, preparing her mind
for marriage and the changed life that
marriage would mean. The summer
before had been a great disillusion
for James medical and psychological
studies gave her a knowledge that hel
mother was certainly never likely tC
attain
It was daughter. not mother, who
impaired information about life, love
and sex in the occasional talks these
two had,
It's a sacred subject" Mrs. Taboo
said-having read that phrase often il
these same sentimental stories, ant
not realizing that she was making il
{, morbid one by her attitude of tim
idity toward it.
But if she could not have Jane tC
talk TO, at least there was Amy.
She's IS, it's really time she knew
something" she said TO herself
So, gathering up her courage-fo
il required courage to talk about it
she approached the subject with Amy
Here she was met, not with the shy
ness she expected of a good and in
nocent girl, but with frank and al
amused laughter.
Goodness, mother. knew all tina
in my cradle" Amy told her. 'Yo1
should hear the things the girls bacl
home used to tell me--of course the.
were mostly wrong; they really didn'