Evening star., 1939-05-28

The tollo,Dtng is one OF a series
o. Deekly articles ,0hich appear
IN The Star by Thomas L. Dam
mann and his Uite Harle. These
ttDo young people are travelling IN
Europe and toriting as they 90 OF
.tUhat they find interesting, and
The Star prints their articles as
the impressions OF t,Do young
Americans. Mr.. DdmnGnn, a
HdrDard graduate, tDaS business
manager OF the HarDard Crimson
and gained experience as a re-
porter in Chicago and Nashville.
He and Mrs. Dammann haUe
Travelled lOidely.
BY TOM and HARLE DAMMANN.
FLORENCE-Dora Lorenzi is an
instructor in the G.. I. L. Italian
Youth of the Lictor), the sole youth
organization in Italy - Fascist in
spired and Fascist administered.
She is %. Two years ago she grad
uated from the Girls Academy in
Orvieto, a special school founded
and run by the G. I. L. for the pur-
pose of training women G. I. L. ir-
structors. Dora spent three years
there to get her license" She
studied physical education, biology,
anatomy, home economics, domestic
science and the history and philos-
ophy of Fascism. She learned to
dance, fence, swim, dive and to
play numerous athletic games.
We had known Dora's family two
years ago when we first visited
Florence. Her father, who has since
died, was a professor of philosophy,
charming, intellectual man. Her
mother is painter of consider
able talent. Her sister Elena, now
that she is graduated from the
University of Florence, paints mod
estly and earns a few extra lira by
teaching Italian to foreigners. We
were surprised to find Dora such an
enthusiastic Fascist.
Il had to do something with my
life; I wasn't just going to sit around
waiting for some man to marry
me-" she explained when we asked
how she happened to take up work
with the G. I. l..
An Unusual Girl.
She could nave attended the uni
versity, as her sister had, when she
had finished the convent school and
passed the state Liceo examinations
She told us. But she had no par
tlcular interests that could be pur-
sued there and saw no reason why
she should waste" three or four
years. Besides, she was interested
in Fascism and the G. I. l..
She had been an unusual girl at
the convent school. The G.. I. L.
supervises the sports program re-
auired of girls and boys alike in all
schools. At Dora's school they en-
gagged in sports on Wednesday and
Friday afternoons-an hour each
session. Most of the girls grumbled
about the sports and didn't like the
G. I. L.; they contented themselves
with the minimum of activity re-
quired of all members. But Dora
liked the instructor who came from
headquarters to teach; the teacher
was wonderfully athletic-she could
run and swim better than most boys
she was pretty and always laugh
Ing. She made Dora feel that the
G. I. L. attempted to make life more
interesting for girls. Dora quickly
became an enthusiastic participant
in all the G. I. L. activities. She
went to the Saturday afternoon
meetings and learned to march and
sing with other girls. She studied
social welfare work. She went on
pleasant outings in the surrounding
countryside, on exhilerating skiing
expeditions to the mountains in
winter, ana healthy camping trips
along the seashore in summer. She
loved it; before long she was leader
of her group.
Poor Girls Benefited.
Imagine what the G. I. l.. with
all its wonderful opportunities
means to poor girls, daughters of
peasants and laborers," Dora said
to us. up until recently it was
only very few girls who came from
families like ours who could get out
and have real fun. But now it's
dlfferent-Fascism has made it
different.
"Oh, it was wonderful that could
share such experiences with all