Evening star., 1923-06-10

tations-the automobile, for instance-that she
is better individual than her mother who
was the fapper OF 1000. There woult
be more peace and less alarm in America to
day IL our nappers could lecture periodically
TO captious parents.
JUDGE BEN LINDSEY,
Denver Juvenile Court.
81 am one of those who stand for the
Gapper. She is symbol of the time. Al
she sweeps down the street she is like
nothing so much fine, young, spirited
puppy dog, eager for the fray. We do wrong
to condemn them. to decry them, to suspect
them. Most Christians all over the world, and
especially if they come from New England
have a conscientious feeling that unless good
ness Is accompanied by a due amount of dis
comfort 1t is not goodness. The youth OF
she day has repudiated this idea
REV. DIR. WILLIAM Z. GARDNER,
Secretary Of the department OF
religious education for the Episcopal
Church.
JUST now she passed my win
dow, gay little buccaneer.
Her fluffy red hair was bobbed
to her ears and from each pink
lobe jet black pirate loops dangled
defiance at a carping world which
wears its ears stuffed 'swith cotton
instead of adorned for adventure
Around the soft, tanned neck n gypsy
bandana was knotted. Her skirt was
not as short as it was last year, but
quite as naughty. Petticoats beneath
that sleek sheath-never, Nor corsets
about that round, elastic waist Every
gesture of the little imp gloried in
her freedom and dared you to
criticize
Nose in the air, eyes atwinkle, and
the Rover's. Song in her heart, on she
went, the Flapper of 1923. And with
her. unseen, but clamorous as the
Anvil Chorus" went the snorts of the
passing generation.
"Horrors" they cry. whats the
world coming to? No modesty-no
manners-no morals--no nothin'! Can
she bake a cake? She cannot, Does
she know the least thing about ba-
hies? She does not. All she thinks
of is freedom and independence. She
won't even use the word obey in the
wedding ceremony any more. Where
are our boys to find good, sweet, in
dustrious, patient wives such as their
grandfathers had? Where, oh. where,
are the girls of yesterday"
With equal vividness 1 see the lit
Ito fapper turn and face them head
on, eyes afire.
Yes, I heard you. you old bunch
o glooms." she retorts. Where are
the girls of yesterday? They're home,
sitting in rocking chairs, eating too
much candy, getting too fat, gossip
ing about their neighbors, grabbing
about their children or their hus-
hands, snuffiing over troubles they
could cure In a jiffy if they had the
backbone of a self-respecting jelly
fish. Or they're out, trying to earn
A living for themselves and their chill
dren, growing hard and bitter because
the marriages they built on romance
instead of common sense tumbled
about their ears. That's where the
girls Of yesterday are, and I'll bet you
the girl of today isn't going to be
caught in that trap.
Can / bake a cake? No, 1 can't.
But I can earn enough money to buy
g. dozen cakes a day and keep myself
young and my husband happy while
I'm doing it. After all. what if I can't
bake a cake? Neither could Abraham
Lincoln. Do 1 know anything ABOUT
babies? Not much, but at that Itn a
Ii,
own grandmother. She expected to
rear her babies by instinct and a lot
q hot air the old ladies in the viii
lage told her. I'm going to get ex-
perts to tell me how to have the
right kind of babies and how to
rear them after L get them. And
I'm going to talk over this whole
baby proposition before I get mar
ried at all.
X x X
0N BORROWER, when I do marry
4Sl it's going to be a real part
nership; not one of these affairs
where you love for an hour and Ian
guish for a lifetime 1 read a lot
about the sweet, sacred homes that
you study it. you find that the sweet
ness was spread mighty thin. for the
woman of the house. That old-fash-
ioned chivalry listened pretty, but II
gave the ladies just about as much
actual rights as a third-rate guinea
pig. IF that was romance, give me
something quick and tidy like the
electric chair. My man and I will
he pals on the fifty-fifty basis, or I
won't marry at all.
And as for respecting things. show
me something to respect and I'll re-
spect 1t. But I'm not going to respect
any old thing, simply because some
one tells me to- Take 1T from me-
old dears, there's precious little in
this world you've handed on which
is worth respecting"
So she speaks, the fiippant little
iapper of 1923. answering the anvil
chorus of the ages.
ignorant? Yes. Slangy, defiant,
rude. hard. ignorant. cruel-all of
that. Yet, withal, she is the hope
of the world! Her defiance and dar-
ing are as glorious as the challenge
Of the young Joan of Arc-if we but
interpret them Alright. She Is the
soul of woman awakened
II she is hard (and she is hard) 1t
is because she has found that trustful
softness never paid. Child though
she is. she looks with wise, disillu-
stoned eyes at that long, sad process
sion of women who preceded her She
sees how their trust and su mission
were rewarded, how terribly they
naid for their guarded lives by their
own weakness, the f1abbiness of mind
and body, lack of control. She sees