Perth Amboy evening news., 1923-08-29
FIVE-FIFTEEN


Dear Ruth and Betty and Peg:
You were the first OF the Five
Fifteen girls. the nucleus around
which our teatable grew, so I am
going to write you first. / rather
imagine, from the things you have
mt written, thai you are all going
back to high school next week. The
idea doesn't look SO bad, does it,
now h a you have been having a
pretty jolly summer, and have dis
covered that your neck and arms
look rather queer in your delicate
blue or flesh pink party dresses?
then who cares? The curve of
your sunburn where the bathing suit
came up to your neck reminds every
one that you have been doing a lot
OF swimming, n II anybody was
really curious, she might find out
that some Of that perfectly good sun
burn means a camp pennant or mon
ogram or something equally delight
u Then you can swim q half mile
at a stretch, and that is SO much bet
ter than you did last year that you
are seriously considering trying the
English channel. However, you are
MT going to breach 1t t o the sweet
(but rather prim and straight
laced parents Just yet because you
really need to work VI q little better
distance next season. o we'll, there's
lots of time yet.
So now you are going to dig into
that third year with all the energy
you put into camp activities, because
you realize very plainly since you
have matured so much this summer,
that 1t doesn't pay to get poor grades
in school. People are quite likely to
think that you are dumb. OF course
you are far from dumb. heavens
yes. but people are 80 ready to jump
to conclusions when you get con-
|ditioned in Latin or Ancient History,
when all you have to do Is Just to
settle down to 1t. Well, it's up to
you, isn't it? And right here let me
say, my blessed dears, II you don't
brace up in those subjects that are
such a disgrace to you. why 1 am go
ing to suS~It mildly to your fathers
and mothers that they cancel those
registrations at college. and send
you go d~isgracing the Five-Flfteen.
We don't want any cutters here. do
we?
Get ready now, for that fine start!
You a do Il.
Your friend.
Mary G..
Dear Gussie:
I haven't told you, have I, that
I think you are coming on, and that
you have shown a great deal of i'm
.provement in your contributions to
the Five-Fiftesn. But you nave i'm
proved. and ! want you to go right
on improving. Use your head, my
dear. 1t is a perfectly good head.
Be sincere with yourself and with
others. and do honest work. I near
don't pretend too much. You will
get a good deal farther by being
genuine.
I hope the Busy Bees will come to
life and will stay alive, and 1t will,
If you girls have something very
definite to work for. No club lasts
If it doesn't have something worth
while to keep 1t going. Keep so busy,
you Busy Bees. that yon don't have
time to see each others faults, and
remember that You have a friend in
Mary G..
OcdT W. LIZ 1ss
You haven't written to the column
for some time, but we haven't for
lgctten arr Of our girls.
Do you know. my dear, / have
Wondered a good many tirles IL you
were a shut-in? ! don't know just
why, and ! nope ! am wrong, but
there is an atmosphere about your
poems that makes me feel that.
l wish you could get out into the
Sunshine. l can't bear to see a girl
carrying along a burden of sorrow
or sadness, 1t doesn't seem quite
fair. She ought to have all the
Sunshine that lifs has to offer. But
unfortunately life doesn't seem to
be always a very generous old dame.
She often doesn't care how much
suffering she hands around. But,
my dear, / Just want you to stand
up to life" as l said once before
in this paper, In connection with
something else. l shall have to CON
Ifess to you, that once in a while 1
shut my door, which means Busy"
Just like the signs at Miss as school.
land indulge in a little poetry. But
I keep it dark. All my friends are
delightfully."- practical people who
think that anyone who writes poetry
Is ready to be sent away for obser-
walton in the psycopathic ward at
Bellevue. One day not so very long
ago, 1 started a little stanza that
began, IT will not let life mock at
me-" That was as far as I went,
because 1 sat thinking about it, and
the more I thought about it, the
more indignant l got at life that
Knocks! But II 1t mocks. just smile,
not sweetly.-it doesn't deserve a
lsweet smile,-and not bitterly, be-
cause a bitter smile Is rather a sick
ening thing to exhibit,-but smile
indifferently, just a little bit as II
iyou were q little boy with freckles
on his nose, and two front teeth
missing.
1 want you to come put into the
sunshine. and be glad. There "a much
to be glad of.-there Is lie sound
of church bells on Sunday morning,
for instance, and there is the one
glimpse you may have had at some
time in your life of a scarlet tanager.
o, I do hope you have seen one!
but II you haven't, then all the bet
ter, for you still have 1t coming.
Then perhaps there is a parent or
a sister or a brother, who is some
thing you can anchor to once in a
while when you want an anchor.
land perhaps somewhere, o, l hope
there is, a blessed friend who speaks
your tongue! 1 hope for that most
of all. If there's just one, you can
get on very well, you know. You
don't have to be popular or beautiful
or rich or accomplished II you have
just one friend. That matters more
---ATN-- AIaA