Evening star., 1933-12-31
BY EMILY POST.
This Chaperonless Age.

A MONG the various perpleXetieS
" that my readers bring me none
II is more often repeated than
4 \ that of a mother of chaperoned
yesterday made helpless by the
chaperonleSS customs OF today. Yes
terday. for example, when a debutante
daug hter went to ball her mothet
went with her, sat in dowager row and
conversation such as the following was
typical:
Josephine. who was the man you
danced the first half of The Blue
Danube with
Do you mean the tall, dark one,
mamma? His name is Tom Jenkins"
The Arthur jenkins son?"
Il don't know. mamma"
"Well, will you please find out? And
Josephine, you were out of the ball
room for at least Is minutes with
that young Jones!" Or. Josephine, you
forgot to speak TO old Mrs. Johnson;
don't let your anxiety for your own
good time interfere with your man
nerSi'
At all events, mammals lorgnette sell
did and, although her power to IN.
fluence was. of course, according to her
noted any deviation from standards of
department or the approach OF an un-
desirable acquaintance, she was on the
spot to check threatening situation
at the start.
THIS same Josephine's daughter, the
modern Mildred thinks her moth
erS interference uncomfortable If she
shows the slightest curiosity about any
thing that Mildred considers solely her
own concern. She expects to go where
she pleaseS and with whom she pleaSes
and to give no account of herself, be-
yond sending a telephone message that
she will not be home until after dinner
or until late at night. In fact, she
believes that in sending this message
she is doing everything that filial duty
can expect If she and her mother
and perhaps her father-are genuinely
friends she will quite possibly volunteer
to tell them at least as much as she
thinks is good for them" Meaning
that, even in a case where confidence
in her parents is deep, she Is apt to
emphasize those trifles which will please
them rather than the details of i'm
portance which she thinks might worry
them"
In any event. mothers and fathers OF
To-Day, except On ulluSudl OCCdSlOilo, Va
If they happen themselves to belong
to the dancing set, are neither invited
nor wanted at any of the parties to
which the younger generation goes The
guarded daughter of the most fash
ionable and rich goes out night after
night with no one but the chauffeur
even to surmise her ideas of amuse-
ment. The far more typical young girl
of today has "a date" with man who
stops for her and again sees her home.
But how she behaves-even the type of
places to which she goes-her mother
and father have no idea. beyond what
she may choose to tell them, or what
they hear accidentally" from others.
A LETTER received today seems to
I me worth printing because typical
of a fair minded and Un~ elf1sh effort
to bring back something - the tradi-
tional requirements of propriety and
good taste. NY reader asks for con-
servative and yet sufficiently modern
point of view on the question as to
whether 1 think it proper that a young
girl, coming home from dance, should
! quietly let herself in with her own
latch key and tiptoe up to bed. She
says further: Il do not approve of my
| 1s-year-old daughters using this latch