The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1940-07-11
BY KATHLEEN NORRIS

p5 nlSn Scn0ol IllS spring,
w. and Carolyn's mother
Slwants to know whether it's safe
ITO let a girl of eighteen go 500
miles away to college.
rs Carolyn, of course, is dying to
07go., She has never been away
from home. She has never been
on her own. Jean is going. Caro-
lyn and Jean have been school
mates for all the four years of
9lchigh." They have studied and
o0chattered and walked to and
80 fro together since snall-girl
days; they have danced with the
same boys at school dances, and
gone to many a movie with boys
and without.
1t would be really cruel, thinks
Carolyn'S mother, to refuse to let
the child go on into the new expert
ence that means so much to her,
that glamorous world of college of
which she and Jean have been
dreaming for actual years. And
yet
Pitfalls Loom Large.
'' And yet one hears such disturbing
things about girls who are pushed
out Of the home nest so young, who
have to choose their own friends, de-
eide which amusements to take and
which ones to refuse, manage allow
ances, guard health, and avoid all
the pitfalls that are always awaiting
the inexperienced. The general con-
Sensus Of opinion, thinks Carolyn's
mother, is that college girls are
pretty reckless, and that home train
ing is soon forgotten in the indie
!, pendence and exhilaration of univer-
Sity life.
It's expensive, too. Extremely ex-
pensive. No, Carolyn's parents think
they'll have to say "no."
But what to offer her In place of
a prospect so completely alluring?
Carolyn has had weekend at col
lege. She has seen the beautiful
dignifed buildings set under the
great trees; she has heard the laugh
ter Of the free and happy groups
GI crossing the lawns and going in and
Be-. out of the big doorways; she has sat
lG,in the memorial theater, so fasci-
y natingly complete in every detail,
wand listened while girls and boys no
no older than herself have walked the
So boards. Friendships, excitement,
fun, picnics, theatricals, beaus-
summed up, college comprises ev-
erything Carolyn's heart or any 9TH
ca. fr girls heart wants, and she pleads
and weeps and promises and argues
passionately while the matter is in
~, debate.
CS'o "She is so pretty" her mother
~ writes. "She has always been so
W carefully watched! How can we
safeguard her from the danger we
ne know is there? What is your honest
opinion of co-educational institu-
"a tons? What do you think are the
CHANCES that she will have the won
derful time she anticipates, and re-
turn to us happy and satisfied when
% She graduates, ready to take UP
y family and home and smalltown life
y again?"
Questions Mother Can Answer.
.5, Well, the answer to that is, what
sort of girl is Carolyn? From what
sort of home has Carolyn come?
In the everyday tests of character
how sure of Carolyn is Carolyn's
mother?
A hundred years ago Carolyn
would have been marrying, at 10,
and perhaps departing, bonneted
and shawled, on the front seat of
prairie schooner, never to see her
homefolk again. She might have
81 been stepping into a lifetime Of
misery and disappointment, but she
w would have faced it, plunged into
cooking and sewing and farming
and bearing children, endured what
ever discomfort her mates intem-