The Birmingham age-herald., 1924-01-10

The question of educating a girl of moderate means is an interesting one. Naturally she should be given as good an education as the parents should be made to understand the sacrifices that are perhaps being made to give her this educa- tion. The parents should encourage her to think seriously what work she intends to do when old enough.
 It seems very short-sighted kind ness on the part of parents to bring up child (boy or girD with a false idea of the state of the family finances. To bring children up to expect things that they will event. storing up unhappiness for them.
 Such a case is rather well known to me, and I wait in dread for the day of awakening to arrive. A very charming woman in New York has two little daughters. She has only the money that she earns, and works herself to the bone in order to give her. daughters the clothes and ad- vantages she thinks they should have. She has sent them to a school which is attended almost entirely by children of rich people, and to the same sort of dancing school. In every possible way she is trying to give them all that their friends have; and trying to keep from them the knowledge of her hard work and the fact that they will have to earn money in a few years. Her idea is that during these years when they cannot work they should have noth- ing but enjoyment, and feel no diff ference between themselves and their friends.
 In every other way this woman is fine, right-thinking unselfish character And yet it seems to me she is terribly wrong in this. In the first place she is giving her children an exaggerated idea of the value of money. She is teaching her daugh- ters to think of material things as enormously important. What is go- ing to happen when they discover that they cannot continue having the luxuries they have learned to ex- pect? Will the mother not receive what must be the worst blow of all the blame of her children-when they discover how she has misled them?
 And will they not, in one sense, be right in blaming her? It seems so to me. There is certainly noth- ing to be ashamed of in having less money than the next person. Neither Is it difficult to do without luxuries if one has never had them. At any rate. it is less difficult than to learn to do without them after enjoying them for a number of years.
 After all, development of character is more important than the education of the child's mind. A girl brought up to be selfish and entirely depend- ent on others will probably retain these unlovely qualities and become a selfish, discontented, clinging- vine sort of woman.
 I know of such case here in New York. which has worked out in just this way. At almost all social events one sees certain young woman of 27 or 2s. One meets her lunching and dining at restaurants and apparently leading 6 life of ease and luxury. What the average per. soa does not see or know about Is her mother, a woman well past mid dle age, not strong, working every day and all day in order to support herself and her daughter. A friend of mine met this woman the other day and during the course of the conversation asked her why the daughter allowed her to work like happy with just a few words, and