The Washington times., 1923-11-03
BY ALICE CLEMENT.
Written for Cosmopolitan News
Service.

| Service.
CHICAGO, Nov. 3.-Most run.
away girls who finally are found In
Chicago generally tell the truth
about what prompted them to leave
home, once they find wish to help
them rather than hound and perse-
cute them.
I must say that in nine cases out
of ten, home Influences Of the
wrong kind are responsible. This
is SO in the case of the young girls,
the unmarried and inexperienced
ones. It is not so In the case Of
the young wives who abandon their
| homes.
Mothers Often Blamed.
Theirs is more serious case, and
I will tell you about them In q later
chapter OF this series.
| It seems hard for me to say it.
but in more than half the cases Of
the runaways, the mother OF the
girl is to blame, either for her sins
of commission or omission. It
doesn't make much difference which.
does 1t?
Here are the stock excuses:
My mother took $14 out OF my
| pay envelope every Monday night.
That left me $3.50 for myself. Out
OF this had to pay for my lunches
and carfare. What was there left
for clothes and good timer"
My mother wouldn't let me go
out to dances or the movies, or any
thing. And my father was 30 cranky
couldn't have anybody call. What
else could q girl do but run away?"
A Brief Excuse.s
my mother is dead. have step
mother. That is ALL.
MY mother thought I was bad
girl. I wasn't. / couldn't stand
her hints and inuendoes any longer.
So / just packed a suitcase and
stole out the back door one morn
ing and, well. that's my story"
And most Of these stories prove,
upon investigation, to be pretty
straight.
Lack OF sympathy, lack Of imag-
nation and the parental feeling that
a girl never is grown are contrib
uting causes to the mother COM
pick. l know. I'm the mother Of
girls. I'm grandmother.
would no more presume to Ques-
ton my seventeen-year-old daughter
about her moral behavior than /
would to offer similar insult t.
q perfect stranger. Why should 4.
"A girl Of seventeen, let us say,
is capable of selecting her own
friends, of conducting herself prop
erly, of looking out for her own
destiny. That is, Of course, If she
has been properly reared, educated
and enlightened on certain subjects
| nh n~4vsle.
should be enlightened upon by their
parents when they have reached
the age OF fourteen. The parent
who shirks the responsibility is
criminally negligent The parent
who feels a restraint through q
sense of sham modesty is a fool an
has no right to be a parent
Story Of Elsie Stuart.
Here is the story Of Elsie Stuart:
Elsie lived in q manufacturing
city near Cleveland. Her mother
was well to do, g widow, owning
her own comfortable home, and she
had an income. Elsie was put
through high school and then, upon
graduating at the age Of sixteen,
she was just home girl
Elsie got in with the wrong set.
There were flighty girls several
years older who thought week lend
trips to Cleveland were good fun.
They induced Elsie to go along.
Elsie's mother knew the COM
panions OF her daughter were not
the right sort, but she thought it
quite all right. Elsie became ac-
quainted with the wrong kind of
men. Then one day she disap-
peared.
Then the mother woke up. No
clues but a small postcard photo
graph.
found Elsie the next night.
She was at one Of the best hotels
one where funny business isn't
tolerated, of course. She was alone.
"Well, youngster, what about it?'
said. "Tell me about it,
"My mother isn't a companion, -
said the girl calmly. II am we'll
educated. and I know there is a
whole lot of life that 1 never will
encounter in my home town. I adj
NIT that / started off wrong. I
shouldn't have come here the way
did. But 1t isn't as bad as you
think. borrowed the money to
come. I am going to get a Job.
| can sell things in a store or I
can get a job clerking In an office. +"
Didn't Want to Go Back.
"But your mother wants us to
send you back" I objected.
Elsie didn't want to go back. But
she had to go. She was under age.
Her mother came for her. Elsie
begged to be allowed to remain in
Chicago. She offered to get a room
in one of the boarding houses rec.
commended by the Y. w. C. A., and
urged her mother to stay in Chi
cago until she obtained employment
which might meet with the mothers
approval. But mother was obdurate
Elsie went back to Ohio. That was
three years ago.
was walking in State street
only month or so ago stopped
to look at a window of one of the
big shops and a voice hailed me:
"Why, aren't you that lady detec.
tive?"
Yes, it was Elsie. She had come
back to Chicago-wickedest city-a
year ago.
I'm chief paymaster's clerk over
in the Blank railway office" she
told me. ''I get $185 a month .and
there are wonderful opportunities
for advancement. Isn't Chicago q
wonderful town, thought"
You see Chicago doesn't kill them
all off in the way the traditional
sociological survey reports would
have us believe.
But I must confess that for every
Elsie there are Jozen Grettas and
RessIes and CoraS and VioleNm of