Evening star., 1939-05-26
Answering
Readers
Queries
Travelling Alone
With a Man Is
Not Proper
BY EMILY POST.

Dear Mrs. Post: As you can
see, we live In the far South.
would like to drive to New York
during the summer with q man I
have come to know very well but
only in the past six months. His
family lives in the suburbs of New
York and he says his mother will
write to me and invite me to stay
with them. But my family feels
that it might be wrong for me to
do this. They have no objections to
the young man personally; in fact,
every one here liked him right away
when he came here to work. But
they feel that it would be question:
able for us to be on the road for
several days alone. There Is no one
else to drive with us.
Answer-If the mans mother
sends you a plainly sincere and
friendly invitation, it will be en-
tirely proper to stay with her. But
going on a motor trip of several
days length does not seem a very
wise thing to do. 1t might be that
on one would criticize, but on the
other hand, any young woman who
goes driving such distance with
man alohe is running too much
risk Of unpredictable unpleasant
ness. AS a well-known authority
has written more than once, it is
not enough to know that your own
behavior is all right, you must not
give any one the chance to think
it looks wrong. I hate to spoil your
plan-I really debut it would not
be fair to say go" and then have
your hometown friends hurt you
ever afterward by showing their
doubt Of you.
DEAR MRS. POST: We live in a
small neighborhood and my daugh-
ter goes to a small school. The
graduating class has only IL in it
this year and the junior class has
is. Now, for years it has been the
custom for the juniors to give the
seniors a banquet at hotel in a
neighboring city and a theater party
afterward. The girls always wear
semi-formal dresses and the boys
dark blue suits. This year they have
a city teacher who says they should
not wear the formal dresses. The
girls and their mothers are up in
arms over it for the girls dream on
and plan these formal dresses all
through school, for it is the one and
only time in their lives when they
can be really dressed up. The dresses
are made over later for regular wear,
but for once these farmers daugh-
ters have been to real party. As
part of their regular homework,
this teacher makes her class read
your newspaper column every day
and some Of the problems you print
| are then discussed in the class next
day. So will you please discuss the
question of whether it is, or is not,
all right for the junior senior girls
to wear semi-formal dresses when
the boys wear dark suits at the ban
queG ana lHedteT party.
Answer-Under the circumstances
you describe. of course I say yes the
girls may wear their party dresses.
A boy (or a man either can't show
a girl greater compliment than to
wear the best he has! The situation
to which 1 can't say yes is when a
man who has evening clothes is too
lazy to go home and dress. When
the girl he has invited to go out
with him takes pains to dress for
him, the least he can do is to wear
clothes that are becoming to hers.
The smartest woman in the world
who is wearing evening dress while
the man she is with is wearing
business $uit-a rough, out of press
one at that-looks overturned and
therefore in bad style.