Evening star., 1935-11-14
Young Need
Aid to Make
RightFriends
Have Open House for
Chums; Bad Associates
Will Soon Drop Out.
Star stan Photo. Courtesy woodward L Lothrop.
BY ANGELO PATRI.

my HELEN has done the most
A dreadful things. She has associ-
ated with boys and girls who belong
to the lowest strata of school. and to
do that she has cut her classes. She
has been to the shows and to dances
with them and lied about it. and called
me an old prude into the bargain. I
am disgraced. heart broken. Such q
deceitful child. I have been careful
to select the young people she is to
associate with, and here she Is going
around with lot Of riff-raff. Why
should she want them? Why does she
seek low company? She knows bet
ter. You can't trust boys and girls
nowadays as our mothers could. We
wouldn't have thought OF"
Now don't be hasty. You were never
like this? You never listened for the
whistle that came up the street and
stopped under your window and trailed
out in the dark? You never found a
note smuggled in a borrowed text
book? Nobody ever carried your books
and shortened the road home by going
the long way around? Nobody ever
sharpened your pencil and picked up
scattered papers and fumbled about
until the corridor was empty save for
you two? Doesn't the memory OF a
dance, the perfume Of a flower, a
strain of music come TO you down the
years to remind you Of time when
you were girl and he was boy, and
life was all shining and new? Have
you forgotten all the mystery and
charm of it? Is it all gone?
"Yes-but we we're different"
Were you? Times may be different.
Manners may have changed. some.
But human nature, no. Nature claims
her own. What you did your daughter
wants to do, and must. Why not? In
your day association with boys was
secret. There we're no reasons for it..
but so it was. There is nothing to
be ashamed Of in these associations
save a bad conscience. It is bad only
If we make it bad.
have a notion that Il you were to
speak to your daughter in a friendly
way, If you we're to talk to her as you
would to an intimate friend of your
own age and generation she would go
along with you. The child Is lonely
and afraid. She Is looking for a way
of life. Boys are part Of that way.
II you make them q matter r-of-fact
affair she will do the same. II you
share her interest in them and help
her keep her secrets she will confide
in you. Let her bring her school
friends into the house.
What! Those creatures she was
with yesterday? I wouldn't let one
of them across my doorstep. The mis-
erable good for -nothings. If ever I
see her talking to one of them I'll"
Rush her to a convent? No, you
aren't going to get anywhere with
that. Be calm. Growth Is q severe
drain on mind and body. These chill
dren are afraid of everything. ridicule,
effort, experiment. All sorts Of strange
impulses surge over them and drag
them hither and thither. We must
stand by and sympathize and speak
and guide lest they lose those stand
ards of living that they must have In
their hour Of need.
Take Helen's friends in. You will
discover that the good sort will stick
and the other kind will drop out.
Home is a good place for the sorting
process, far better than the dance
hall or the movie.
(Copyright 1935J