,,the ,,girl ,,and ,,her ,,religion     
,,by ,,margaret ,,slattery  ,,the       
,,pilgrim ,,press ,,boston ,,chicago    
,,copyright1 #aiac ,,by ,,luther ,h4    
,,cary  ,fifth ,printing  ,,the         
,,pilgrim ,,press ,,boston              
,illustration3 ,,while ,,packing ,,her  
,,trunk ,,she ,,dreamed ,,of ,,college4 
,,foreword  ,,to ,,those ,,who ,,read   
,,this ,,book  ,it is not a technical   
book1 it does not attempt philosophy4   
,it does not contain the solution of all
 girl problems4 ,it is not a great book1
 it is simple and concrete4 ,it is a    
record of some things about which the   
girls ,i have known have compelled me to
 think4 ,i have but one request to make 
of those who read it--that they also    
think--not of the book1 not of the      
author1 but of the girls--for action is 
born of thought4  ,,the ,,author4       
,,contents                              
,,page ,,the ,,girl     ,i ,,the        
,,rights ,,of ,a ,,girl                 
#c    ,,ii ,,the ,,handicapped ,,girl   

#i   ,,iii ,,the ,,privileged ,,girl    
#ai    ,,iv ,,the ,,girl ,,who ,,is     
,,easily ,,led         #cj     ,v ,,the 
,,girl ,,who ,,is ,,misunderstood       
#da    ,,vi ,,the ,,indifferent ,,girl  
#ee   ,,vii ,,the ,,girl ,,who          
,,worships         ,,the ,,twin ,,idols 
#fh  ,,viii ,,the ,,girl ,,who ,,drifts 
#hb    ,,ix ,,the ,,girl ,,with ,,high  
,,ideals          #if     ,x ,,the      
,,average ,,girl                  #ajg  
,,her ,,religion    ,,xi ,,the ,,girl   
,,and ,,the ,,universe         #aag     
,,xii ,,in ,,the ,,hands ,,of ,a ,,triad
           #acj  ,,xiii ,,thou ,,shalt  
,,not                    #ada   ,,xiv   
,,thou ,,shalt                          
#aeb    ,,xv ,a ,,matter ,,of           
,,cultivation           #afb   ,,xvi ,a 
,,plea ,,and ,a ,,promise               
#ahc  ,,xvii ,a ,,person ,,not ,a ,,fact
               #aie ,,xviii ,,the       
,,glory ,,of ,,the ,,climax             
#bjf     ,,illustrations  ,while packing
 her trunk she dreamed of college       

,frontispiece                           
,,facing ,,page ,unconscious of her     
handicaps she anticipates keenly life in
 the new world      #ab  ,she was full  
of ambition and willing to work         
#bb  ,she worships ,pleasure and        
,fashion             #fh  ,her heart is 
filled with a deep desire to serve      
#aed  ,the future promises nothing and  
she has lost hope                       
#aih     ,,part ,i  ,the ,girl     ,i   
,,the ,,rights ,,of ,a ,,girl   ,she has
 certain inalienable rights1 regardless 
of race1 color or social state4 ,when it
 has thought about her at all1 society  
in general has supposed1 until recently1
 that in a free country1 a glorious land
 of opportunity1 the girl has her       
rights--the right to work1 the right to 
play1 the right to secure an education  
and to enter the professions1 the right 
to marry or to refuse1 the right in     
short to do as she shall choose4 ,and in
 a sense and to the casual observer this
 is true4 ,our country gives to her some

 rights which she can enjoy nowhere else
 in the world4 ,but as one learns to    
know her1 little by little the          
stupendous fact is impressed upon him   
that girlhood has been and is being     
denied its rights4  ,it is the right of 
every girl to be born into a community  
where the sanitary conditions are such  
that she has at least a fair chance to  
enter upon life without being physically
 handicapped at the start4 ,but hundreds
 of girls every year open their baby    
eyes in dark inner rooms where the dim  
gas light steals what oxygen there may  
chance to be in the heavy air1 take     
their first steps in foul alleys1 find  
their first toys in garbage cans and    
gutters4 ,they have been denied their   
rights at the start4 ,in a ,christian   
land1 they grow weak1 anemic1 yield to  
the white specter and in a few years    
pass out of the unfair world to which   
they came1 or remain to fight out a     
miserable existence against terrific    
odds4 ,they make up an army of girls who

 have been denied their rights4 ,and her
 religion8 ,what is it that religion may
 offer to her in compensation for that  
which she has been denied8  ,it is the  
right of every girl to be born under    
conditions which will make possible     
sufficient food and clothing for her    
natural growth and development4 ,but    
scores of little girls go shivering to  
school every morning after a breakfast  
of bread and tea1 they return numb with 
cold after a dinner of more bread and   
tea and they go home to a supper of the 
same with a piece of stale cake or a    
cookie to help out4 ,nature calls aloud 
for nourishment and there is no answer4 
,the girl enters her teens1 finds a job1
 goes to work1 hungry the long year     
through1 fighting to win out over the   
cold in winter1 and to endure the       
scorching days of summer4 ,and her      
religion8 ,what is it that religion may 
offer to her in compensation for what   
she has been denied8  ,it is the right  
of every girl to receive1 through the   

educational work of the community1      
training which shall fit her for clean1 
honest and efficient living4 ,yet every 
year sees hundreds of girls turned out  
into the world wholly unequipped for    
life1 their special talents             
undiscovered1 their energies undirected1
 their purposes unformed1 their         
ambitions unawakened4  ,it is the right 
of every girl to be shielded from the   
moral danger and physical strain of     
labor for her daily bread1 at least     
until she shall reach the age of        
sixteen4 ,yet every year sees a long    
procession of girls from eight to       
sixteen entering into the economic      
struggle who cannot claim their rights4 
,it is the right of every girl to have a
 good time1 to play under conditions    
that are morally safe1 and to enjoy     
amusements that leave no stain4         
,hundreds of girls live in communities  
where this is absolutely impossible4    
,what has religion to offer to a girl   
denied an education which will fit her  

for the life she must live1 compelled to
 enter into a fierce struggle for daily 
bread while still a child1 surrounded by
 every sort of cheap1 exotic amusement  
behind which temptation lurks8 ,has it  
anything to offer in compensation1 if it
 permits conditions to go on unchanged8 
,it is the right of every girl to enjoy 
companionship and friends4 ,thousands of
 girls toil through the day in shops1   
factories1 offices and kitchens and at  
night sit friendless and alone until the
 loneliness becomes unendurable and they
 seek companionship of the unfit and the
 refuge of the street4 ,has religion    
anything to do with lonely girlhood8    
,it is the right of every girl to       
receive such instruction regarding her  
own physical life and development as    
shall serve to protect her from the     
pitfalls laid for the thoughtless and   
ignorant1 and shall fit her to          
understand1 and when the time comes     
accept the privileges and               
responsibilities of motherhood4 ,every  

year sees thousands of girls enter the  
teens whose only knowledge of self and  
motherhood is gained through the half   
truths revealed by companions1 the      
suggestions of patent medicine and      
kindred advertisements1 or the          
falsehoods of those who seek to corrupt4
 ,what has a girl's religion to do with 
these simple undeniable facts8  ,it is  
the right of every girl to receive the  
protection of wise parental authority4  
,the guidance of parents who earnestly1 
wisely and with the highest motives     
require obedience from those too young  
to choose for themselves is the right of
 every girl4 ,yet thousands of girls    
every year are left to decide life's    
most important questions1 while parents1
 weak1 indifferent or careless sleep    
until it is too late4 ,has religion     
anything to offer to girls whose parents
 have laid down their task and neglected
 their duty8  ,it is the right of every 
girl to receive such moral and religious
 instruction as shall develop and       

strengthen her higher nature1 fortify   
her against temptation and lead her in  
the spirit of the ,author of the ,golden
 ,rule into service for her fellows4    
,yet thousands of girls are without     
definite moral and religious instruction
 and unconscious of the fact that it is 
their right1 and thousands more receive 
moral and religious training in         
haphazard fashion and from sources      
inadequate to the task4  ,when the      
community awakens to the necessity for  
sanitary conditions in the environment  
of every girl and honestly seeks the    
solution of the problems of economic    
injustice2 when the educational system  
seeks to prepare its girls for the life 
they must live2 when laws for the       
regulation of labor for girls are made  
in the interest of the girl herself2    
when the community makes it possible for
 its girls to play in safety and makes  
provision for friendless and lonely     
girlhood2 when mothers instruct their   
daughters in the most important facts of

 life1 parents exercise protective      
authority and the church provides       
adequate assistance in the task of moral
 and religious instruction1 then1 and   
not till then1 will the girl receive her
 rights4  ,and the girl's religion8 ,the
 girl is naturally religious4 ,without  
religion no girl comes into her own4    
,whenever and wherever religion concerns
 itself with the rights of a girl it    
becomes a girl's religion to which she  
can pledge body1 mind and soul4 ,for the
 coming of that religion the world of   
girlhood eagerly waits4     ,,ii  ,,the 
,,handicapped ,,girl   ,they were both  
handicapped1 as a careful observer could
 tell at a glance4 ,one stood behind the
 counter1 the other in front of it      
examining the toys she was about to     
purchase for a ,christmas box for some  
young cousins in the country4 ,she had  
not been able to find just what she     
wanted and was impatient in voice and   
manner as she explained to the girl on  
the other side of the counter what she  

had hoped to find4 ,she was             
extravagantly gowned in a fashion not at
 all in good taste for morning shopping1
 but she was pretty and her fair        
complexion1 her shining hair1 soft and  
well cared for1 the beautiful fur thrown
 back over her shoulders fascinated the 
other girl and filled her heart with    
envy4 ,she was pale and anemic1 her hair
 was dark and there was barely enough of
 it to do up even when helped out by the
 puffs she had bought from the counter  
on the opposite side4 ,the weather had  
been bitterly cold and she was suffering
 from sore throat and headache4 ,she had
 turned up the collar of her thin coat  
but it had failed to protect her and she
 was thinking of that as she looked at  
the fur4 ,she was worn out by the strain
 of the ,christmas season1 had slept    
late1 and then rushed to the store with 
only a cup of coffee to help her do the 
work of the morning4 ,she did not care  
much whether the girl before her found  
the toys she wanted or not4 ,toys seemed

 such a small part of life and          
,christmas aroused in her all sorts of  
conflicting emotions4 ,it was winter and
 life looked very hard1 as it can look  
to a girl of fourteen upon whom poverty 
had laid a heavy hand and whose life has
 been robbed by the sins and misfortunes
 of others1 who has been handicapped    
from the beginning4  ,the girl before   
the counter finally decided upon the    
toys1 ordered them sent to her home and 
looking scornfully at the cheap jewelry 
and tawdry ornaments passed out of the  
store4 ,she was thinking what a nuisance
 cousins were1 how ridiculous it was in 
her father to insist each year upon her 
remembering his poor relations at       
,christmas1 just when she needed all her
 allowance for herself1 and planning to 
tell him that next year she did not     
intend to do it4 ,she was in a most     
unhappy mood because she had been denied
 permission to attend a house-party and 
she could not bear to be denied         
anything4 ,she was handicapped by the   

heavy hand of money1 newly acquired by  
her father and by the atmosphere of     
pride1 vanity and social ambition which 
surrounded her4  ,all day through the   
busy streets of the shopping district   
they passed--the city's handicapped     
girls4 ,some were held back from the    
best that life can give by poverty1     
which like a great yawning chasm lies   
between the girl and all her natural    
desires and ambitions1 some held back   
from the joy of simple1 natural living  
by the forced1 artificial social system 
of which they are a part1 some pitiful  
specimens of physical and mental        
handicap and some who showed the strain 
of the handicap of sin1 mingled in that 
,christmas crowd4  ,through the open    
door of great sea-port cities there have
 poured during the years past steady    
streams of handicapped girls4 ,they are 
poor1 they are plunged into a life whose
 manners and customs they cannot grasp1 
they are handicapped by a language they 
do not understand and by great          

expectations seldom destined to be      
fulfilled4  ,according to our government
 statistics during nineteen hundred     
twelve1 ninety three thousand1 two      
hundred sixty-one 7#ic1bfa7 girls from  
fifteen to twenty-one years of age came 
to us from across the sea and in three  
years an army of two hundred forty-six  
thousand1 five hundred fifty-four       
7#bdf1eed7 became a part of the girl    
problem our country must meet4 ,it is   
hard to picture in concrete fashion how 
great this host of girlhood is4         
,sometimes when one looks into the faces
 of a thousand college girls at         
,wellesley1 ,vassar1 or ,smith and      
realizes that in a single year more than
 ninety three times as many girls from  
fifteen to twenty-one came to test the  
opportunities of a new land1 the        
significance of the figure becomes a    
little more clear to him4 ,when he      
realizes that in three years enough     
young girls land in this country to     
found a city the size of ,rochester or  

,st4 ,paul1 when he tries to imagine    
this army of girls marching six abreast 
through city streets for hours and hours
 until the thousands upon thousands1    
representing scores of tongues and      
nations1 have passed1 some conception of
 the great task facing any organization 
attempting to direct that army of       
unprepared1 unequipped and largely      
unprotected girlhood comes to him4      
,illustration3 ,,unconscious ,,of ,,her 
,,handicaps ,,she ,,anticipates ,,keenly
 ,,life ,,in ,,the ,,new ,,world  ,where
 will they be in another year--those    
ninety-three thousand and more who came 
to us in nineteen hundred twelve8 ,what 
an array of factories and kitchens1 what
 rows of dingy tenements1 the moving    
picture film could reveal to us if it   
followed these handicapped girls6 ,it   
does not follow them--they come in over 
the blue waters of the bay1 look with   
shining eyes at ,liberty with her       
promise of fulfilment of all the heart's
 desires1 they sit in the long rows of  

benches at ,ellis ,island1 pass through 
the gate and are gone1 the majority to  
be lost in the mass that struggles for a
 mere livelihood--just the chance to    
keep on living4  ,what if some summer   
morning1 or in the dim twilight of a    
bitter winter day1 a miracle should be  
wrought and the handicapped should be   
lifted so that girlhood might be free to
 work out the realization of its dreams6
 ,many have prayed for such a miracle1  
some have hoped for it--but it will not 
come4 ,there will be no miracle suddenly
 wrought for men to gaze upon in wonder 
and after a time forget4 ,the release of
 the handicapped can come only through  
man's ,god-inspired effort on behalf of 
his brother man4 ,in removing his       
brother's handicap he will remove his   
own and both shall be free to live4 ,but
 it cannot be done in a moment4 ,effort 
is slow4 ,it cannot be done by any      
organization1 or church1 or creed or    
individual4 ,it must be done by the     
public conscience4 ,educating the public

 conscience is a long process and       
,america is in the midst of that process
 now4 ,there are two qualifications     
without which the educator of the public
 conscience cannot succeed--one is      
patience1 the other persistence4 ,all   
educators of the public sense of right1 
like ,jane ,addams1 have had these two  
characteristics in marked degree1 and   
all churches1 creeds and organizations  
which have had local success in removing
 local handicaps have shown the ability 
to wait and the power to persevere      
despite every opposition4  ,how the     
public conscience will act in directing 
the work of removing the conditions     
which so sadly handicap girlhood today  
we cannot say4 ,it may be that          
vocational schools built and maintained 
by the ,state1 not by charity1 will be  
one strong hand laid upon the           
inefficiency and ignorance that         
handicap4 ,it may be that the ,welfare  
teacher whose salary and rank shall     
equal that of the teacher of ,greek1    

,ancient ,history or arithmetic will be 
another hand laid upon the shoulder of  
the girl limited by the lack of         
friendship and protection4 ,it may be   
that houses maintained as a business    
proposition and paying honest returns1  
built in such a way that girls obliged  
to work away from home may be decently  
housed and have a fair chance for       
health1 will be another strong hand     
reached out to release her from the     
things that handicap4 ,it may be that a 
minimum wage1 safety devices1 laws      
wiping out sweat-shop methods1 will     
reduce the number of handicapped girls4 
,wise cities may establish special      
schools for the immigrant girl where she
 shall learn something of the language  
while being taught the making of beds1  
simple cooking and the common kitchen   
tasks1 then to be recommended with some 
equipment to the homes greatly in need  
of her4 ,even if she should choose later
 to go into shop or store1 the ,state   
will have gone a long way toward        

removing the great handicap by having   
taught her to understand the language of
 the new land1 to care for a room1 cook 
simple food and keep clean4  ,it may be 
that some thoughtful ,states will       
require school attendance until a girl  
is sixteen1 the age under which no girl 
should enter the business world as a    
wage earner4  ,it may be that the       
natural good sense of the true ,american
 woman will finally triumph over the    
extravagant and unnatural living of the 
present day and that the handicap of    
false standards1 superficiality1 display
 idleness1 and wild pursuit of exotic   
pleasures shall be lifted from the girls
 now held prisoners by the tyranny of   
money and complex social life4  ,it may 
be that in all these ways and scores of 
others1 the public conscience1 working  
out along lines in which it finds itself
 best fitted and most interested to     
work1 will solve the problem of the     
handicapped girl4  ,before one can      
possibly help another in a permanent way

 he must know what is the trouble with  
him1 and then what has caused the       
trouble4 ,the greatest encouragement in 
our girl problem today lies in the fact 
that politics is looking at her and     
asking questions it scarcely dares to   
answer2 the corporation is looking at   
her1 compelled to do so often against   
its will2 ,city ,government1 ,school    
,board1 ,board of ,health are all       
looking at her2 women's clubs1 whose    
individual members have never given her 
a thought1 are reaching out a hand to   
her2 the ,church1 whose part we shall   
study definitely later on1 is looking   
more practically and sensibly and with  
deeper interest than ever before2 the   
,young ,women's ,christian ,associations
 are looking wisely and intelligently1  
getting facts which speak with          
tremendous power and showing them to the
 world4 ,more than all this the         
handicapped girl is looking at herself4 
,it has become in these days the        
passionate desire of those who see the  

problem with both heart and mind1 and   
are interested not in abstract girlhood 
but in the individual1 living1 real     
girl1 that the public conscience be more
 deeply touched and stirred until it    
shall feel that by whatever means the   
thing is to be accomplished1 the bounden
 duty of ,church and ,state to give     
themselves to the task of solving the   
problem is clear4  ,for in the midst of 
every problem--political1 social1       
economic1 religious1 there stands ,the  
,handicapped ,girl4 ,god help her--and  
us--for until we have gained the wisdom 
to remove her handicap the whole problem
 will remain unsolved4 ,we are          
learning--every year shows a gain and in
 this fact lies our hope4     ,,iii     
,,the ,,privileged ,,girl   ,one finds  
her in all sorts of unexpected places4  
,last summer ,i saw her in a home of    
wealth and luxury4 ,she was fifteen1 the
 eldest of a family of four children4   
,behind her was a long line of ancestry 
of which anyone might rightfully be     

proud4 ,her face was pure and sweet and 
her eyes revealed the frankness and     
honest purpose of past generations4     
,after breakfast she played for the     
hymns at prayers and in a clear1 true1  
soprano led the singing4 ,a             
twelve-year-old brother had selected the
 part of the ,bible to be read and the  
eight-year-old sister had chosen the    
hymns4 ,the father's prayer was simple  
and sincere and some of its sentences   
were remembered for many a day4 ,after  
prayers the girl attended to the        
flowers4 ,this was her work for the     
summer4 ,i saw her gather from their    
lovely garden dainty blossoms and sprays
 of green1 making them with unusual     
skill into bouquets for the ,flower     
,mission in the city4 ,then three small 
baskets were filled with pansies4 ,these
 went to three old ladies in the factory
 section of the village4 ,she told me   
they were the sweetest old ladies and   
dear friends of hers4 ,she seemed to    
take real delight in making the baskets 

beautiful4 ,i saw her later in the day  
galloping off through the woods on her  
horse1 her face glowing with health and 
happiness4 ,in the afternoon she spent  
an hour on ,german which she said was   
her hopeless study1 but ,i found her    
reading ,german folk lore with ease4    
,she was familiar with the best things  
in literature1 was intensely interested 
in art and revealed unusual knowledge   
without any evidence of precociousness4 
,she was just a normal1 healthy1 natural
 girl1 well-born1 well-bred1 a girl with
 every advantage4 ,when ,i said         
good-night to her in her lovely room and
 thought of her protected1 sheltered    
life1 ,i wondered how she might be      
helped to know into what pleasant places
 her lot had fallen and how she might   
come to understand and do in later years
 her full duty toward the other         
fifteen-year-old girl who that day made 
paper boxes1 feathers1 flowers or       
shirtwaists1 toiled in the laundries or 
the cotton factory1 or walked with heavy

 heart from place to place searching for
 work4 ,they are dependent upon one     
another1 these two4 ,they do not know it
 now1 but if each is to be her best1    
they must know4  ,how to lead her       
daughter to value and help this other   
girl1 that sweet mother told me as we   
talked in the library that night she    
felt was her great problem4 ,we women   
are responsible for so much1 she said1  
and our daughters will be responsible   
for still more4 ,we must help them      
estimate things at their right value4   
,with that thought and spirit in her    
mother's heart the girl ,i had watched  
all day with such pleasure seemed doubly
 privileged4  ,last ,september ,i saw   
another privileged girl4 ,she showed me 
her trunk packed for college4 ,every    
member of the family was interested in  
it1 perhaps most of all her father who  
had put into the bank that first dollar 
on the day that she was born with the   
faith that what should be added to it   
might one day mean college4 ,behind her 

was a long line of honest ancestry1     
simple people who had worked hard and   
managed to get along4 ,she was the first
 on either side of the family to go to  
college4 ,no one in the family1 even the
 most distant relative1 failed to feel  
the importance of the event4 ,tom's     
,dorothy goes to college this           
week--think of it1 a great aunt1 in a   
little unpainted1 low-roofed farmhouse  
far away in the hills1 told all her     
friends at church4  ,great ambition1    
hopes and dreams were packed into that  
trunk and the day when she should       
graduate and come back to teach in the  
high school seemed near4 ,jack and      
,bessie and ,newton were in her plans   
for using the money she should earn when
 those four short years were over4      
,illustration3 ,,she ,,was ,,full ,,of  
,,ambition ,,and ,,willing ,,to ,,work  
,looking at her sweet1 fresh face so    
full of happiness one knew her to be a  
privileged girl4 ,all through high      
school she had had her purpose clear1   

her studies were a pleasure1 her simple 
good times were enjoyed to the full and 
life1 every moment of it1 was worth the 
living4 ,when ,i saw her lock the trunk 
and excitedly instruct the expressman as
 to just how it must be carried1 ,i had 
a sudden vision of the thousands of     
girls1 with happy faces filled with     
anticipation of all that is wrapped up  
in that one word1 college4 ,a great army
 of privileged girls1 they are4 ,one    
cannot help wishing that he might feel  
sure that when they leave those college 
halls it might be with a deep           
appreciation and real sympathetic       
understanding of the other girls who    
have turned their eyes with longing     
toward four years more of study and fun1
 but whose feet were obliged to walk in 
other pathways4 ,they are so dependent  
upon one another1 these girls who can go
 to college and the other girls who     
cannot go4 ,they do not know it now but 
neither girl can ever come to her best  
until the privileged girl sees and      

understands4  ,one of the most          
interesting of the privileged girls ,i  
met one morning going to work4 ,it was  
her third month in the office4 ,one of  
the finest in the city4 ,there's a      
chance to work up1 and me for the top1  
she told me1 her face beaming4 ,her     
father had come across the sea from     
,sweden when a boy4 ,long generations of
 honest folk were behind him and he made
 good in the new land4 ,he saved a good 
share of the wages he made in the       
bicycle shop1 studied with a            
correspondence school and assumed more  
and more responsible positions with     
higher wages4 ,at last he was able to   
build a house for his young family1 at  
the end of the car line where the       
children had room to play and the cow   
and chickens kept the boys busy and     
taught them to work4 ,olga was the      
eldest and it was a proud night for the 
family when she graduated from grammar  
school4 ,going home on the trolley her  
father determined that she should have  

the desire of her heart and go for two  
years to business college4 ,there was   
great rejoicing on the part of the      
family when he made his decision known  
and ,olga hardly slept that night4 ,when
 the two years were over the principal  
of the school had said such fine things 
of her work that ,olga had blushed to   
hear them4 ,more than that1 he offered  
her the best position open to his       
students4 ,he was a little astonished   
the next morning when ,olga's father    
came down to ask in his careful ,english
 regarding the character of the men in  
the office where his daughter was to    
work4 ,to ,olga's great joy he was able 
to satisfy the father to whom the matter
 was of enough importance to make him   
put on his best clothes and take half a 
day off1 in order to make sure that all 
was right4  ,it was a great day when    
,olga came home with her yellow envelope
 and laid the money on the table4 ,not a
 cent would her father take4 ,no1 ,olga1
 he said1 the money is yours4 ,you shall

 keep the account of it and show it to  
your father4 ,you shall buy the new bed 
for your room and the chairs4 ,your     
mother wants the house made pretty4     
,perhaps you will help4 ,that will be   
very good4 ,but the money is yours4 ,no 
one seeing the girl's face as she       
related her father's words could doubt  
the appreciation in her heart4 ,her girl
 friends had paid their board and she   
had expected to do the same4 ,that night
 she refurnished the house in her dreams
 and the memory of that dream room of   
her mother's1 with paper on the wall and
 rugs on the floor1 helped her save her 
money until the dream came true4  ,olga 
is indeed a privileged girl4 ,she has   
parents wise enough to have given her   
the best equipment possible for the work
 she wanted to do4 ,she has her own     
money and may dress as well as any girl 
in the office4 ,she has an object for   
saving what she can and knows the joy of
 helping to make home beautiful4 ,the   
suburban church is the center of many of

 her pleasures1 for it is alive and the 
young people in it know how to enjoy    
themselves4 ,she is loved and sheltered 
in a real home4 ,she can live a normal1 
useful1 happy life with opportunity for 
promotion in her work and an object for 
her ambition4 ,she has health1 sane     
pleasures and good friends4 ,any such   
girl is indeed privileged4  ,when one   
sees her going happily to work he is    
forced to think of the other girl1 her  
homeless boarding place1 chance friends1
 pitiful economies and few pleasures2   
the girl who has forgotten what it means
 to be sheltered and protected1 if she  
ever knew1 to whom love is a myth or a  
dream4  ,perhaps one of the happiest of 
the privileged girls was the one who    
took me to her room on a beautiful ,june
 day to show me her cedar chest1 her    
gowns and the gifts already beginning to
 come4 ,the day was near4 ,the young man
 whom she was to marry was honest and   
fine1 in business with his father and   
hoping to make the firm a greater       

success than ever1 as the years should  
pass4 ,the girl was just twenty-one4    
,after high school1 a mother who was not
 strong needed her help and she had made
 that home a center of enjoyment for    
three years4 ,surrounded by the loving  
appreciation of parents and brothers1   
her life was filled with happiness4 ,now
 in a few days she would go across the  
street to the house built for her and   
furnished simply and well1 with the     
articles which he and she had chosen on 
the long shopping tours during the      
months past4 ,she was in every sense a  
privileged girl4  ,the other girl saw   
her married4 ,she was looking forward to
 her own wedding day but it seemed      
farther away than ever4 ,she had no hope
 for a house built for her1 but she knew
 where there was a flat for rental which
 she had mentally furnished many times  
that month4 ,but they could not afford  
it4 ,they had added and subtracted and  
gone over the figures again and again   
but it was of no use4 ,he was manly and 

fine1 he had hope and ambition1 but the 
clerkship was only fifteen dollars a    
week and he had tried in vain for       
another position4 ,fifteen dollars a    
week would not do in their city4        
,butter1 eggs1 coal1 ice1 milk and meat 
stood in the way4 ,so they were waiting 
and there were tears in her eyes at the 
wedding of the privileged girl4  ,that  
day was a hard one for another girl4    
,she read of the wedding--the           
decorations1 the gifts1 the             
congratulations of friends--then putting
 down the paper forced back the tears   
and went out to finish the shirt waist  
she was making1 for it must be ready to 
wear to the office in the morning4 ,that
 evening he would come1 she knew1 to    
tell her again that it was not fair1    
that her family would get along some way
 and that he had been patient for a long
 time4 ,she knew that he must continue  
to wait1 for her mother was doing her   
utmost1 ,wilbur could earn only a little
 and the other two children were too    

young to leave school4 ,it was three    
years since her father's death4 ,the    
young man had said then that he could   
wait ten years4 ,she had begged him to  
take his release but he refused4 ,of    
late he had been very insistent4 ,she   
knew she must stand by her mother and   
help her through4 ,if he could not see  
it that way there was but one thing to  
do4 ,she found it hard even to think the
 words that she must say and she thought
 of the privileged girl with longing in 
her soul4 ,but the privileged girl did  
not know4 ,if she had1 her sympathy and 
understanding would have helped4  ,one  
rejoices as he remembers the thousands  
of pure1 sweet1 wholesome girls who have
 been privileged to enjoy the results of
 a long ancestry unstained by weakness  
and sin1 the results of training1       
guidance and protection1 the opportunity
 for healthful1 normal living1 for      
pleasures and the satisfaction of human 
friendship and love4 ,our country looks 
today with increasing hopefulness to    

these privileged girls for the solution 
of many of the problems of the other    
girl4 ,our country looks to them for    
another generation of privileged girls  
even stronger and wiser than they4  ,one
 of the greatest of the problems with   
which our country is concerned today1   
the solution of which involves every    
phase of social1 religious and economic 
life1 is the providing of ways and means
 by which the unprivileged girl may1 in 
large numbers1 be promoted into the     
privileged class4     ,,iv  ,,the ,,girl
 ,,who ,,is ,,easily ,,led   ,she is a  
chameleon sort of girl but she is not   
rare4 ,so often she is sweet and        
lovable4 ,almost without exception she  
is obliging1 a jolly companion1 fearless
 and frank4 ,one often finds her a girl 
of talent and natural ability4 ,she is  
the very opposite of the indifferent    
girl for she responds to everything4    
,the girl she will finally become       
depends upon the companions whose lead  
she follows4 ,her safety lies in the    

establishment of the habit of going in  
the right way4 ,she is the girl who most
 needs care and guardianship4 ,so much  
depends upon her choice of friends that 
parents and teachers must be wise for   
her4  ,a little ten-year-old1 in whom   
all her teachers were interested because
 of her versatility and quick response  
to every interest1 moved into a new     
neighborhood4 ,some weeks later because 
of her ability to learn rapidly she was 
put into a higher grade4 ,her new home  
and new classmates in a short time      
entirely changed the character of her   
environment4 ,before long the girl      
herself began to show the result of the 
change4 ,she had always been too much   
interested in her studies to waste time 
or disobey the school rules4 ,following 
the leadership of some of the newly made
 friends she entered into all the little
 conspiracies of a group of girls and   
boys who made things hard for the       
teacher1 a rather weak disciplinarian4  
,one day1 the girl hitherto perfectly   

honest1 told a lie to get out of the    
trouble into which the following of the 
new leaders had brought her4 ,it        
troubled her conscience and she cried on
 the way home from school1 but her      
companions laughed at her1 told her she 
was all right1 and had stood by them    
splendidly4 ,they made her feel heroic  
and she dried her eyes and stifled her  
desire to tell her mother4 ,before the  
year was over the child had entirely    
changed4 ,her studies suffered1 she     
seemed to lose her ambition1 her        
naturalness and spontaneity vanished4   
,her mother began to discover increasing
 untruthfulness4 ,one day1 toward the   
close of the school year1 the child     
asked to wear her best dress to school1 
saying there was to be an entertainment4
 ,there was no entertainment4 ,instead  
there was a party at the home of one of 
the girls of whom her mother            
disapproved4 ,the party began later than
 they had planned and it was nearly six 
before the child reached home4 ,she     

found her mother greatly troubled and   
said quite glibly that she had stayed   
after school to help the teacher4 ,next 
day the mother called at the school to  
remonstrate with the teacher for keeping
 the child so often and so late to help 
her4 ,then the whole truth came out and 
the mother was dismayed4 ,she felt that 
the matter was so serious that she must 
remove her daughter at once from her    
companions and before school opened in  
the fall the family had moved back to   
their former neighborhood and the       
parents were permitted to send the      
little girl to another school where new 
associates were carefully chosen4       
,before she left that grammar school she
 had recovered her frank1 sweet spirit1 
her interest in her studies returned1   
and surrounded by a group of fine boys  
and girls she went through the high     
school with the love and respect of     
teachers and companions4  ,this child is
 the type of many1 who as early as ten  
years and younger1 are so easily led    

that their natural tendencies toward    
good are wholly transformed by          
association with evil companions whose  
strong personality and power of         
leadership can so easily turn the weak  
wills into the wrong pathway4  ,parents 
and teachers cannot be too careful of   
the companions of a girl of vacillating1
 easy-going1 versatile temperament1 for 
they may ruin or make her4  ,when       
,leonora moved from the great           
manufacturing city1 which had been her  
home for fourteen years1 to the home of 
her aunt1 in a quiet suburb1 where the  
children attending the high school were 
from homes of real culture and          
refinement1 she was disconsolate4       
,voices1 language1 games1 manner of     
recitation1 behavior on the school      
grounds and street1 perplexed her4 ,she 
seemed lost in her new environment4 ,she
 had never been a leader but had        
followed with all her heart4 ,her       
playground had been the street4 ,she had
 enjoyed boisterous good times1 had     

patronized moving pictures of every     
sort1 had entered into the mischief of  
the crowd always close to the leader4   
,in a pathetic letter to one of her     
chums she said that at the very first   
opportunity she should run away and be  
with them all again4 ,she characterized 
the beautiful suburb with its neatly    
kept lawns and pretty homes as a dead   
old hole from which she could not wait  
to escape4 ,still1 her aunt's home1 the 
new wardrobe containing the lovely      
dresses1 becoming hats and coats1 for   
which she had always longed1 tempted her
 to remain4 ,one day1 early in ,october1
 her classmates made the discovery that 
she could sing4 ,she had quite a        
remarkable voice for a girl of her age4 
,the teacher of music became her        
interested friend and found she could   
play unusually well1 though mostly by   
ear4 ,the leader among the girls who    
adored any one who could sing adopted   
,leonora as her special friend4 ,the new
 wardrobe added greatly to her          

attractiveness1 and her aunt's social   
position opened many doors for her4 ,her
 new friend's mother was pleased with   
her daughter's choice of a companion    
despite the lack of good breeding and   
lapses in ,english4  ,leonora became the
 obedient and devoted follower of the   
new girl friend and the influence of the
 music teacher was indeed remarkable4   
,almost as by magic ,leonora dropped the
 coarse slang1 loud talking and shouting
 of her companions1 who in the city had 
been termed wild and adopted the ways of
 the new leader4 ,at the end of two     
years it would have been quite          
impossible to recognize in the pretty1  
interesting1 well-mannered girl of      
sixteen1 who sang so sweetly1 the       
uncultured1 ill-mannered1 slangy girl of
 fourteen4  ,leonora was so easily led  
that it was not a difficult task or a   
great accomplishment to have so         
transformed her4 ,if she remains until  
she is eighteen or twenty in her present
 environment1 the chances are that the  

good friend1 ,habit1 will have          
determined the way that she shall go4   
,if she should now drop back into the   
old street1 the old companionship1 the  
place which until her father's death he 
had tried with her help to make a home1 
the chances are the old voice and       
manner1 the old slang and old interests 
would return4  ,for a girl of ,leonora's
 type the impress of the right          
environment1 the guidance of the right  
hand1 means everything4 ,to discover    
such girls1 to open the way for the     
working of new friendships1 which shall 
furnish new leadership for them1 is a   
fine task and a great pleasure for the  
lovers of girlhood4  ,but so impossible 
is the task of attempting1 through the  
individual1 to touch the great mass of  
girls who are easily led1 that one can  
work effectually only through the       
individual effort plus the law4 ,it must
 be made to go hard with those who1 for 
selfish ends and financial profit1 plan 
to take advantage of the weak will and  

trusting1 unsuspecting mind of the girl 
who is easily led4  ,most of the girls  
in their teens1 who are walking in evil 
ways1 are there because they have       
followed friends and companions4 ,there 
are girls who have blazed the way to    
paths of evil for themselves1 but they  
are comparatively few4 ,any court1 or   
school for delinquent girls1 which      
contains a sympathetic man or woman to  
whom the whole truth may be poured out1 
will testify that somebody led the way4 
,when allowance is made for the tendency
 to lay the blame upon other shoulders1 
the facts bear out the testimony that   
there has been a leader4 ,the girls who 
by nature are weak of will1 and have had
 no training which could tend to        
strengthen or develop that will1 must be
 protected1 and that protection must be 
furnished by the community4 ,it may be  
furnished by putting the welfare teacher
 into the school2 by making the street  
on which so many girls find             
companionship as safe as possible2 by   

driving professional leaders of the     
unsuspecting and easily led from all    
places of recreation and amusement2 by  
helping parents1 especially those       
parents1 who1 themselves born across the
 sea are attempting to bring up         
daughters in the new land1 to see and   
understand the dangers2 and by making it
 a real crime to lead the easily led    
astray4  ,but this is not enough4       
,perhaps the greatest steps toward the  
safe-guarding of the easily led were    
taken when the carefully supervised     
public playground and the school gardens
 were started and the women police were 
sent out into the streets of cities4  ,a
 strong1 wise1 sane woman who is neither
 a prude nor a crank can do more toward 
preventing the first steps into         
forbidden ways than those interested in 
great city problems have yet dreamed4   
,the day will come when these women will
 make the arm of the law an efficient   
friend of the weak and unprotected girl 
and give all the positive1 helpful      

agencies an opportunity to strengthen   
her against temptation4  ,i shall never 
forget my visit that ,sunday afternoon  
to a detention school for delinquent    
girls4 ,over in the corner of the room  
where the afternoon service was to be   
held was the piano1 the orchestra1 made 
up of members of the school1 was        
gathering4 ,there was a cornetist1 two  
or three violins followed1 then a banjo 
and guitar4 ,the service that day was to
 be a great event1 for the wonderful    
woman in charge of that school who had  
done away with the cells1 taken down the
 great spiked iron fence and planted    
flowers in its stead had persuaded      
board1 committee and municipality to    
permit her to follow out the one great  
desire of her heart4 ,the girls were to 
wear on ,sundays and other dress        
occasions white ,peter ,thompson suits1 
big bows of ribbon in their hair and    
shining1 well-fitted shoes4  ,soon she  
entered the room4 ,one could hardly take
 her eyes from that sweet1 sympathetic1 

calm1 face4 ,a glance told one she might
 trust her with her soul's secrets      
without fear and might tell her anything
 and she would understand4 ,after her   
came the girls and quietly1 with an     
attractive self-consciousness because of
 their new glory raiment1 they took     
their seats4 ,who could fail to forgive 
them if they fingered lovingly the great
 soft silk ,peter ,thompson ties and    
patted the bows on their hair4 ,some of 
them seemed scarcely more than children 
though some were in their later teens4  
,no one of the group present that       
afternoon will ever forget how they     
sang1 nor how they listened with eager  
responsive faces4 ,no one can tell what 
new hopes and ambitions were born as    
they sat in their new finery1 some of   
them for the first time in their lives  
becomingly dressed4  ,after the service 
they filed out1 put on their long       
checked aprons and got supper4 ,we saw  
the beds in the wards where all the new 
comers must sleep1 then the smaller     

rooms with six and four beds1 the still 
smaller with two and the honor rooms    
which a girl might occupy alone and     
might arrange as she chose4 ,there were 
flowers in all the single rooms and     
pictures on the walls4  ,it almost      
seemed as we walked along the edge of   
the drive over the walk the girls had   
laid1 that we were leaving a boarding   
school where girls were being taught    
household economics and the arts and    
crafts4  ,the woman who had wrought the 
miracle which had been wrought in that  
school stood at the end of the drive as 
we left and in response to the          
exclamation1 ,it seems impossible that  
these girls could ever have been guilty 
of the deeds the records show6 she      
answered1 ,these girls are not vicious4 
,it is after all a question of          
leadership and they followed the wrong  
leaders4 ,she paused a moment1 looked   
back at the buildings1 and then said    
softly1 ,god pity the girl who is easily
 led4 ,and in our hearts we echoed her  

prayer4     ,v  ,,the ,,girl ,,who ,,is 
,,misunderstood   ,every girl in the    
world ,i suppose has sometime in her    
life felt that she was misunderstood1   
that every one looked at her through the
 wrong glasses1 that no one saw her good
 qualities or appreciated her abilities 
and that all with whom she had to do    
interpreted her at her worst4 ,the cry  
of a girl's heart for someone who       
understands is the cry of humanity4 ,no 
one can perfectly understand another1   
therefore only ,god can be just4 ,and so
 in a sense all girls are misunderstood4
 ,but there are special types of girls  
who suffer more from being misunderstood
 by their families1 neighbors1 friends1 
and by strangers than do others4  ,there
 is the self-conscious girl4 ,shy and   
made awkward by her shyness1 unable to  
forget that she has hands and feet1     
painfully aware that she must walk while
 others watch her1 that she is expected 
to say something and those who listen   
will criticize1 she suffers intensely4  

,the great onrush of self overwhelms    
her1 she stammers1 blushes1 fingers and 
eyes help to reveal her suffering and as
 soon as possible she beats a retreat4  
,how intense her sufferings are only    
those who know by experience can say4   
,the shy and self-conscious girl will   
always be misunderstood4 ,people may be 
very sorry for her but they do not      
understand her4 ,she needs a friend who 
has passed through the self-conscious   
stage to sympathize with and help her1  
or some girl quick to see her good      
qualities who can show confidence in her
 and smooth over the awkward places for 
her1 until she becomes convinced that   
she is like other girls and that she can
 do as they do4  ,i shall never forget  
the change which her first year in      
college made in a girl friend of mine4  
,in the high school she was exceedingly 
shy4 ,her recitations were accompanied  
by so much suffering that they were     
painful to witness4 ,her written tests  
revealed an unusual mind1 keen and      

active4 ,she won the prize for the best 
essay in a county contest4 ,she was     
asked to read it to the school and      
though she begged to be excused1 her    
teacher insisted4 ,she slept little and 
ate little during the days before it    
must be read and on the morning when the
 school assembled to hear it looked pale
 and wan4 ,it was with very evident     
effort that she walked to the front of  
the platform4 ,her lips opened but no   
voice came4 ,her sister thought she was 
going to faint but she pulled herself   
together and was able to read in a thin 
scared voice which could not be heard   
three seats away4 ,but those who heard  
and those who read marveled at the      
thoughts which the girl had written in a
 clear and original fashion4 ,still when
 she left for college she was a         
misunderstood and unappreciated girl in 
her own home and among her neighbors4   
,it seemed as if she could not endure   
the thought of a roommate but necessity 
offered no alternative4 ,she reached the

 room first and arranged all her        
belongings in her accustomed careful and
 orderly way4 ,she sat by the window    
lonely and miserable1 trying to read1   
when the roommate came4 ,she was a      
rosy-cheeked1 laughing1 vivacious girl  
who greeted her as if she had always    
known her and did not seem to notice    
that she received monosyllabic replies4 
,before an hour had passed the shy1     
self-conscious girl was down on her     
knees helping her new friend unpack her 
trunk and talking to her more naturally 
than she had ever talked with anyone    
before4  ,the new roommate was a very   
wise girl1 a little older than most     
girls entering college4 ,she knew that  
the girl with whom she must live was shy
 the moment she caught sight of her and 
felt the dread with which she had waited
 her coming4 ,from the time she was     
fourteen until she left for college she 
had helped her father make strangers in 
his church and congregation feel at     
home4 ,she knew just how4  ,during the  

first trying days every one greeted the 
shy girl cordially and then gave their  
attention to the wide-awake1 interesting
 roommate4 ,but the roommate always     
included her4 ,how was it1 ,clara8 ,i   
don't just remember what was said1 she  
would say1 suddenly turning to the girl 
who blushed but answered and found she  
could1 to her great surprise4 ,under the
 warmth of her roommate's confidence in 
her and pride in her scholarship and the
 ease with which she conquered the most 
difficult subjects she learned to forget
 herself4 ,a great longing to help the  
girls who found things hard came to her 
and they gladly accepted her help and   
loved her for her sympathy4 ,the months 
wrought a marvelous change and though   
she found it difficult in the presence  
of the critical family to talk naturally
 at first1 still the things she had to  
tell proved so interesting that they    
forgot to criticize and she forgot      
herself while they listened4 ,at the    
,high ,school ,seniors' banquet she     

spoke for her college and her brother   
declared it the best speech made4  ,she 
is a graduate now and all traces of the 
old awkwardness have left her4 ,she is  
reserved but easy1 simple and gracious  
in meeting those whom her work calls her
 to meet and her eye and her heart alike
 are open for the self-conscious girl   
wherever she meets her4 ,if she were to 
try all her life1 she tells me1 she     
could never express her gratitude for   
what that roommate did for her4  ,what  
was it that happened to her8 ,she forgot
 herself4 ,people had told her to do    
that before but she couldn't1 for she   
felt that they were watching to see her 
make the attempt4 ,they called attention
 to her shyness1 her roommate ignored   
it4 ,they bade her take part in         
conversation and join with others in    
what they were doing2 her roommate gave 
her a part in the conversation and made 
a place for her in all that they were   
doing4 ,her family and school friends   
said by their manner and sometimes in   

words1 ,the poor girl is so shy1 what a 
pity it is4 ,the roommate expressed calm
 confidence in her and in manner and    
words said1 ,you have no idea how fine  
she is and how well worth knowing4  ,if 
a girl chances to read this page who is 
herself popular and who finds it easy to
 meet people and join naturally in      
whatever her neighbors may be doing1 has
 in her circle of friends a shy1        
awkward1 self-conscious girl1 may she   
see her opportunity and realize her     
mission4 ,the pure kindliness of heart  
and the thoughtfulness which prompts a  
happy girl1 free from the pain of       
self-consciousness1 and always at ease  
with her friends1 to shelter1 stand by  
and call out the best in a shy girl     
suffering from awkwardness deserve a    
rich reward4  ,the very opposite of the 
girl who is misunderstood and           
undervalued because of her shyness1 is  
the girl who1 because of her boldness   
and independence1 her carelessness of   
speech1 hilarity and adventuresomeness  

is misunderstood4  ,she doesn't mean    
anything by it1 said one girl of another
 whom she was trying to defend in the   
presence of a critic1 she is good       
hearted1 generous and just fine1 but she
 has been brought up in a large family  
where they have noisy times together4   
,the critic accepted the explanation but
 strangers1 new people whom she met1 men
 and women upon the street1 constantly  
misunderstood the girl whose unfortunate
 manners would lead one to believe she  
was a most undesirable friend4 ,the girl
 was conscious that she was misjudged   
and misunderstood and was growing hard  
and beginning not to care when an older 
woman who loved her showed her with real
 tact where the trouble lay4 ,no one    
could help admiring that girl as she    
struggled to overcome the things which  
had been the cause of all the           
misunderstandings4  ,i met awhile ago1 a
 girl whom her companions described as  
wooden4 ,i knew that she wanted to talk 
with me1 that she was interested in the 

people whom the group were discussing4  
,she seemed like a bright girl and ,i   
felt sure that she had thoughts of her  
own worth hearing if she would only     
express them4 ,that was her trouble4    
,she couldn't find words so she said    
yes1 and no with effort when a remark   
was addressed directly to her1 otherwise
 she was silent4 ,later in the day a    
girl friend who really appreciated her  
told me how very interesting she was    
when one knew her well enough to dispel 
the awful fear that she should say the  
wrong thing4 ,she read the very best    
things and was conversant with the      
history of important events all over the
 world4 ,she is a regular encyclopedia1 
said her ardent defender4  ,this wooden 
girl is misunderstood simply because she
 has not learned to express the thoughts
 she has4 ,she is unhappy1 and feels    
that people do not like her1 and do not 
enjoy her company4 ,in her heart she    
blames them4 ,but one cannot expect     
everyone to penetrate the exterior and  

see and appreciate real worth4 ,most    
people take us for what we seem to be   
and if we appear cold1 uninteresting and
 ill at ease1 they seek pleasanter      
companions4 ,the wooden girl can        
overcome her stiffness and learn to let 
people see that she thinks4 ,she can    
cultivate a very rare art--the art of   
listening with appreciation4 ,there are 
very few listeners in any group of      
people and often not one in a group of  
women4 ,it is a great thing to be able  
to listen with that attention and       
interest which draws out the very best  
in the one who is talking4  ,more than  
that the girl who is termed wooden can  
learn to express herself in words4 ,she 
may never become a great talker but she 
need not regret that4 ,she can take part
 in conversation and can make it easy   
for people to talk with her4 ,i know a  
girl who plans before spending a social 
evening with friends what she will talk 
about4 ,following the advice of her     
mother who has suffered much through    

inability to talk1 she holds imaginary  
conversations which often become real   
when she meets people later4 ,she makes 
a special effort to remember the names  
of those whom she meets and some of the 
things in which they are especially     
interested4 ,she is learning to remember
 the names of books and their authors   
and publishers1 she takes special pains 
to remember worth while magazine        
articles and last spring people appealed
 to her again and again for information 
regarding the ,balkan situation4 ,she is
 making herself an interesting companion
 and in a few years ,i believe all      
traces of the awkward wooden silence    
will disappear4  ,in the long line of   
misunderstood girls1 are many whose     
interests and enthusiasms are altogether
 outside their immediate environment4   
,there are girls at college and         
sometimes at boarding-school who have   
seen a larger world and have come to    
love the real things of life4 ,they find
 it very hard to waste the days in      

superficialities4 ,they long to have    
life mean more than a round of social   
events1 and the family and friends      
misunderstand4 ,some girls of this sort 
have solved the problem by gaining      
consent to plan their own days4 ,some   
have never been able to gain that       
consent and have gone on for years in   
unhappiness4 ,others have learned to    
inject into the seemingly superficial   
some real things and have found an      
outlet for the best that is in them     
through work for those in need4 ,one    
must feel real sympathy for the girl    
who1 striving to be her best1 to live   
above the round of pettiness and selfish
 pleasure1 is met with disapproval and  
misunderstanding4  ,many a girl is      
misunderstood by the one person in the  
world who ought to understand her       
best--her mother4 ,perhaps more bitter  
tears are shed by girls because their   
mothers do not understand than for any  
other reason4 ,the misunderstanding     
oftentimes is the result of temperament4

 ,it is exceedingly hard for two people 
of diametrically opposite temperaments  
to live in close association without    
clashes4 ,one of the most pitiful things
 in home life today is seen where mother
 and daughter have opposite interests   
and sympathies and lack self-control4   
,the constant criticism and judging of  
one another1 the quick-tempered commands
 and demands on the part of one and the 
sullen yielding on the part of the other
 make one heart-sick4  ,i am reading    
over a letter from a girl who says1 ,i  
honestly love my mother4 ,i am proud of 
the things she can do and ,i admire her 
beauty4444 ,i am twenty-two years old1  
very ordinary looking and not a social  
success4 ,i am a constant disappointment
 to mother4 ,our opinions about         
everything differ4 ,we cannot agree upon
 the most trivial things4 ,when father  
was living he laughed at us and his     
genial spirit made things easier but the
 last two years have been dreadful4     
,what can we do8 ,mother does not need  

me4 ,when ,i am away on a visit         
everything goes smoothly at home and her
 letters to me are affectionate4 ,i love
 them and have kept them to read when it
 does not seem as if she could care for 
me4 ,my uncle has asked me to come to   
their home in ,d---- to be a companion  
for his seventeen-year-old daughter who 
is lame4 ,i love her and we get on well 
together4 ,ought ,i leave my mother and 
go8 ,she says ,i may do just as ,i wish 
and does not seem to mind the thought of
 my going4444  ,here is a clear case of 
clash of temperaments4 ,both are to     
blame1 each is misunderstood4 ,in this  
particular case it seems wise that the  
daughter should1 for a time at least1   
accept her uncle's offer4 ,she may learn
 from a distance to understand her      
mother better and her mother may more   
fully appreciate her daughter4 ,often it
 is far better that two people who      
constantly clash should learn apart to  
respect and honor one another than to   
live in a quarrelsome1 fretful          

atmosphere which is bound to banish deep
 affection and respect as well4 ,some   
daughters cannot be their best at home  
and some mothers can never reveal their 
best selves in their daughters'         
presence4 ,that such can be the case is 
most unfortunate and wrong4 ,away back  
in the daughter's childhood someone was 
careless1 in early girlhood a thin      
partition was raised which shut out     
mutual love and trust4 ,it might then   
have been destroyed1 but was left until 
it became a barrier almost impossible to
 break down4  ,but there are some girls 
who are misunderstood by their mothers1 
and who because of circumstances must   
accept it and learn1 despite            
misunderstanding1 to let love triumph4  
,there is much that every girl owes to  
her mother even though it be true that  
she is unfair and unjust4  ,one of the  
sweetest home makers ,i have ever known1
 in whose family it seems to me no cross
 or critical word is ever spoken1 whose 
boys and girls trust her absolutely and 

love her devotedly1 learned her patience
 and forbearance1 acquired her fine     
courtesy and graciousness in the years  
when she was a misunderstood girl and   
had to live in an atmosphere of         
petulance1 ill-temper and selfishness4  
,the misunderstood girl whatever may be 
the reason for the misunderstanding must
 cultivate frankness4 ,she must learn to
 be generous1 she must help people to   
understand her4 ,she must believe that  
being misunderstood should deepen her   
sympathy and increase her tact4 ,one of 
the most marvelous teachers in our      
country today1 who succeeds in awakening
 dull hearts and minds1 in controlling  
wayward and wilful childhood1 when asked
 to explain her power said simply1 ,i   
was a misunderstood child4 ,how ,i      
suffered6 ,my mission is to relieve the 
suffering of the misunderstood1 whatever
 the cause4  ,there is a very brief     
prayer which every misunderstood girl   
might well pray daily1 ,help us to      
understand as we long to be understood4 

,,vi  ,,the ,,indifferent ,,girl        
,until she has entered upon her teens   
the attitude of the don't-care is rare  
with the average girl4 ,she either      
heartily approves or frankly disapproves
 of those things that cross her path or 
claim her attention4 ,but with the      
coming of the teens those closely       
associated with the girl often become   
conscious of the loss of that           
spontaneous response which has made her 
such a delight4 ,the teacher is puzzled 
by this change1 wonders if she has      
offended the girl1 redoubles her efforts
 to make the lesson interesting and     
seeks to win the girl's confidence4     
,sometimes her efforts are rewarded by  
renewed interest but often the attitude 
of indifference persists4 ,the girl's   
mother feels keenly the change in her   
once expressive1 often demonstrative    
child1 eager to talk and anxious to join
 in everything1 and says in a tone of   
condemnation that she cannot understand 
her daughter4  ,the presence1 in a class

 of ten or twelve girls1 of even one    
indifferent girl1 or the presence in the
 schoolroom of three or four such girls1
 chills the enthusiasm of the teacher   
and the class4 ,such a girl is a wet    
blanket1 she is a cloud steal-in across 
the sun on a glorious morning4 ,her     
indifference is contagious4 ,she changes
 the atmosphere4 ,if the class is       
planning an entertainment she does not  
care what they have1 she does not care  
whether she has any part in it or not1  
she has no choice as to the way the     
class funds are spent1 she does not want
 to look up any assigned topics1 do any 
special work1 or take part in any debate
 or discussion4  ,she is a very real    
problem to teacher1 parents and friends4
 ,to be able to diagnose her trouble    
correctly and find a remedy for it is   
well worth every effort of those who    
have her present and future in charge4  
,before one can hope to help her he must
 discover the cause of her trouble4     
,reprimanding her is of little avail1   

and discussing her indifference with her
 is useless4  ,some years ago a young   
teacher in the eighth grade in a public 
school consulted me regarding a girl of 
fourteen whose indifference was a great 
source of trial4 ,the girl came to      
school with fair regularity4 ,at ten and
 eleven she had been considered a very  
bright pupil but was now below the      
average in all her work4 ,she often     
expressed the wish that she need not go 
to school but when allowed to remain at 
home was restless and unhappy4          
,observation of the girl in class showed
 all that the young teacher had said to 
be true4 ,the girl took no voluntary    
part in the recitation and when called  
upon her usual answer was ,i don't know4
 ,i talked with her and she said she    
liked the teacher1 she liked the school 
and her classmates4 ,she did not care   
about them especially4 ,she did not know
 whether she would go to high school or 
not2 she didn't care either way4 ,she   
did not know what she wanted to do when 

she grew older4 ,her excuse for falling 
so far behind her record of other years 
and her unwillingness to recite was that
 she did not feel like studying and that
 she could not seem to remember what she
 read4 ,she said she felt well but she  
was growing very rapidly and did not    
seem strong4  ,i called upon her mother 
and learned that she was greatly        
concerned because of the changes in her 
daughter4 ,i was surprised to find1     
however1 that she stated quite calmly   
that the girl's appetite was not good   
and that she complained of being unable 
to sleep and of having dreadful dreams4 
,the mother had not consulted a         
physician4 ,she scolded the girl for    
being lazy and indifferent2 at school   
the teacher reprimanded her constantly4 
,i urged the mother by all the arguments
 ,i knew to see a physician at once4    
,she said her husband seriously objected
 to one's running to the doctor all the 
time1 and that he thought the girl would
 come out all right4 ,if she did not    

brace up pretty soon1 she added1 they   
might take her out of school and put her
 to work4 ,during the winter the girl   
contracted a heavy cold and her         
indifference and apparent laziness      
increased4 ,the mother was finally      
enough impressed by our concern for the 
girl to take her to a good physician4   
,he found her to be in a very run-down  
state1 in bad condition nervously1 and  
really ill4  ,a year out of school1     
spent in a country town with her aunt1  
where she had the best of food1 fresh   
air and exercise1 cured this indifferent
 girl entirely4  ,continual headache is 
often the cause of indifference1 and eye
 strain or improper food the cause of   
the headache4 ,the first duty of those  
in charge of the indifferent girl1      
before passing judgment upon her1 is to 
make sure that the physical condition is
 not at the bottom of the trouble4 ,many
 a case of indifference and loss of     
spontaneous interest1 which cannot be   
cured by punishment1 by persuasion1 by  

prayers or exhortation1 can be cured by 
a wise physician4  ,sometimes a girl    
becomes indifferent from lack of a      
sympathetic environment4 ,she feels that
 others do not care about her and that  
what she does makes no real difference  
to any one4 ,she may be surrounded by   
poverty1 where the struggle to exist is 
so keen that there is no time to think  
of the girl and her needs1 or she may   
have every luxury yet be denied the     
companionship of one who understands4   
,i am thinking now of a girl of fifteen1
 who does not seem in any way to belong 
in the family where she was born4 ,her  
sisters are at work in the factory and  
content4 ,they are sweet1 attractive and
 good4 ,but she does not want to work in
 the factory4 ,she would give the world 
to have a room alone1 that could be all 
fixed up1 as she would like it4 ,the    
family cannot understand her4 ,she can  
have none of the things for which she   
longs1 she is not able to be with the   
sort of people she loves and admires4   

,she wants good books1 she enjoys music 
and longs to be permitted to finish her 
high school course4 ,she is willing to  
work out of school hours1 to do anything
 if only she may continue to study4     
,because the family consider all her    
notions ridiculous1 and all she longs   
for seems impossible1 the don't-care1   
reckless spirit and the indifferent     
what's the use anyway are gradually     
enveloping her whole life4  ,surrounded 
by much that money can buy1 a most      
interesting girl whom ,i met recently is
 surrendering all her interests to the  
don't-care spirit because the one great 
desire of her heart is not to be        
gratified4 ,she has been urged to enter 
upon the duties of the social world but 
says she has tried it and despises      
society4 ,she does not care about       
travel1 she wants to be trained as a    
nurse1 enter a school of philanthropy   
and then become a district worker among 
the poor4 ,her father will not listen to
 the plan1 her aunt opposes it1 her     

brother laughs at it4  ,she says that   
now since all her most earnest desires  
can never be fulfilled she doesn't care 
about anything4 ,it was a long time     
before the teacher of the ,bible class  
of which she was a member could believe 
that this indifferent girl whose silence
 had annoyed her each ,sunday was       
longing to serve her fellowmen and had  
lost heart because the way was blocked4 
,it was only when she had made a special
 and earnest attempt to really know the 
girl that she learned the truth4  ,no   
one can act wisely in the dark1 and     
before passing judgment upon the        
indifferent girl who may try one's soul1
 he should know whether in the thwarting
 of all her desires1 the denial of the  
right to follow her natural inclination 
for work and service1 lies the          
explanation of her indifference4  ,many 
times the girl who seems indifferent1 is
 so only on the outside4 ,she has       
developed more as a boy develops and    
does not wish to reveal her best self1  

nor even in the least degree her deeper 
feelings4 ,she hides4 ,when things are  
very serious or pathetic she sometimes  
laughs half nervously4 ,she looks out of
 the window1 at the ceiling1 whispers to
 her neighbor or assumes the most       
disinterested1 superior air possible if 
she is at all impressed4 ,when one sees 
her alone1 it is a great surprise to    
discover a new girl who is by no means  
indifferent1 who has thoughts and can   
express them when other girls are not   
there to listen4 ,her indifference is   
not a serious matter1 is usually of     
short duration and is explained by the  
attitude of self-sufficiency which      
manifests itself in the teens4  ,the    
girl really indifferent to everything1  
unless she be ill1 does not exist4      
,there is a point of contact1 a line of 
interest4 ,the girl indifferent to      
religion1 to the work of the church1 to 
her studies1 may be keenly alive to the 
call of other things--her friends1 plans
 for her future1 all lines of social    

life4 ,last summer ,i met a girl of     
seventeen1 indifferent to all interests 
save nature study4 ,she had failed in   
the languages1 was defeated by          
mathematics1 but could sit hours in the 
woods waiting for a tiny bird1 or a     
squirrel to pose for her4 ,she had made 
some remarkable photographs and tinted  
them beautifully4  ,the usual social    
interests of the girls of her age bored 
her4 ,her mother stated to sympathetic  
friends that the girl was hopeless1     
indifferent to every plan for her       
future4 ,the girl in turn said half     
defiantly1 that she did not care1 and it
 made no difference to her what people  
thought of her4 ,it would have been so  
easy had the right guidance been given1 
to help the girl see the great need a   
real naturalist would one day feel for  
the languages1 to show her that she had 
some social duties and to let them be as
 few as possible1 giving her every      
opportunity to develop her special      
talents and interests4 ,but the wise    

guiding hand was not present and so the 
girl grew hard1 indifferent1 and created
 an atmosphere of constant friction4    
,into a night court in one of the cities
 there was brought an exceedingly pretty
 girl just out of her teens4 ,she seemed
 wholly indifferent to any moral appeal 
and conscience was evidently dead4 ,she 
would make no promises for future       
good-behavior1 she showed no evidence of
 shame4 ,she was unmoved by the matron's
 words of appeal4 ,when she found that  
she was to be detained through the day  
she begged the woman probation officer  
to go with her to her home saying that  
her mother was ill and she feared the   
result if she did not return as usual4  
,with a great desire to befriend the    
girl the officer went4 ,she found a     
sweet pale-faced woman suffering from   
incurable heart trouble1 a bright       
beautiful girl of sixteen who was taking
 the business course in the high school 
and a ten-year-old boy4 ,the flat was   
airy1 neatly furnished and seemed a very

 happy home4 ,the girl told her mother  
that she had had breakfast and must be  
away that day on business but would     
return for supper4 ,the love of that    
mother for the daughter who bade her    
good-by so tenderly1 the evident        
affection of the younger sister and the 
admiration of the boy greatly impressed 
the officer4  ,the girl walked in       
silence back to the station1 then she   
broke down4  ,now1 you see why ,i chose 
the street to make a living1 she said4  
,we used father's life insurance and    
mother had to have things4 ,she will not
 live a month now1 the doctor says4 ,my 
sister can soon earn her own living and 
,i can help ,fred until he is old enough
 to help himself1 by working in my old  
position4 ,but for a while ,i must have 
money6 ,i hate myself1 you understand1  
but ,i had to have the money4 ,oh1      
mother1 mother1 it is the last thing you
 would have me do1 but ,i did it for you
 and the children1 she sobbed4 ,this was
 the hard1 indifferent girl who didn't  

care for anything4 ,the matron and      
officer looking at the sobbing girl     
recorded one more tragedy upon the      
annals of their experience and set about
 helping one more girl back into the    
straight way4  ,in how many types we    
find her1 the indifferent girl and the  
girl who does not care1 and for what    
varied reasons indifference and the     
don't care spirit have fallen upon her4 
,whatever the cause of her indifference 
she is a problem4 ,one of the ,high     
,school girls in a group discussing     
another girl put it quite forcefully    
when she said1 ,yes1 ,i'd like to help  
,alice1 but she doesn't want to be      
helped4 ,she just doesn't care about    
anything4 ,if you don't invite her she  
doesn't seem to mind1 if you do she     
doesn't care whether she goes or not4   
,i'd rather die than not care about     
anything4 ,such people are so           
uncomfortable to have around1 ,i'd      
rather have a girl who gets mad1 was the
 opinion of another in the group4 ,young

 people feel naturally that there is    
something vitally wrong about the girl  
who has no enthusiasm1 whom all the     
interesting life of every day fails to  
arouse4 ,and there is something wrong4  
,the problem facing those who have to do
 with the indifferent1 don't care girl  
is to find what is wrong4 ,indifference 
is merely a symptom--there is always a  
cause4 ,one may discover if he will the 
things to which the girl is not         
indifferent1 her real interests4        
,knowing these1 he sees the door through
 which he must go to awaken other       
interests4 ,sympathy and friendship are 
the foes of indifference4 ,if one feels 
with the girl who does not care1 he may 
help to awaken her interests4           
,friendship can discover causes which   
nothing else can find4  ,but there is   
one word which must be stricken from the
 vocabulary of parents1 teachers and    
friends1 who hope to awaken the         
indifferent girl4 ,it is the word       
hopelessly4 ,hopelessly dull1 hopelessly

 bad1 hopelessly indifferent6           
,experience teaches that these must go4 
,no teacher has a hopeless pupil1 no    
mother has a hopeless daughter4 ,one may
 regard the indifferent girl as a       
difficult problem but never a hopeless  
one4 ,behind the indifference and the   
don't-care is the real girl and one must
 with patience and sympathy find her4   
,,vii  ,,the ,,girl ,,who ,,worships    
,,the ,,twin ,,idols   ,the twin idols  
that accept with all the complacency of 
an ancient ,buddha the devotion of more 
worshipers than any church or creed can 
claim are ,fashion and ,pleasure4 ,not  
sane fashion which helps make men and   
women attractive and clothes them with  
neatness and care1 protects them by     
courtesies1 and shields them by         
conventionalities1 but mad fashion4 ,not
 real pleasure that fills eye with      
delight and days with happiness that    
will be remembered even when one is old 
and days are dark and hard but mad      
pleasure1 the thief and robber4  ,what  

costly sacrifices are offered every hour
 of the day and night to the twin idols4
 ,when men and women away back in the   
dim past laid their children in the     
hands of ,baal they made their weird    
music1 sang their wild songs and shouted
 aloud that they might drown the appeal 
of the sacrifice4 ,the dark ages have   
passed4 ,it is the enlightened age--and 
yet with music and shoutings1 weird     
dancings and songs men and women today  
drown the appeal of the costly sacrifice
 laid on the altar before ,fashion and  
,pleasure4  ,illustration3 ,,she        
,,worships ,,pleasure ,,and ,,fashion   
,there in her room sits ,ellen ,gregg1  
that is she used to be ,ellen1 she is   
now deeply offended if friends forget to
 call her ,eleanor4 ,she is an ardent   
worshiper of the ,idols4 ,when she was  
twelve and fourteen she was a frank1    
contented1 happy girl1 simple in her    
tastes and able to have a good time in  
most inexpensive ways4 ,a trolley ride  
to a park and supper under the trees she

 looked forward to for days and enjoyed 
in retrospect1 until a trip to the lake1
 a concert1 a visit to the picture      
galleries1 or a shopping tour down town 
where she spent the twenty-five cents   
she had earned and saved1 gave her      
another happy day to remember4 ,eleanor 
is now eighteen and she has been at work
 for two years4 ,she needs plain        
becoming dresses1 plenty of shirt       
waists1 sensible1 pretty shoes1 rubbers1
 a rain-coat1 a suit1 two becoming hats1
 for it is the beginning of winter4 ,but
 she has none of these things4 ,she has 
just been kneeling before the altar and 
has laid her costly sacrifice of common 
sense and comfort1 perhaps of health1   
there in the presence of ,fashion and   
,pleasure4 ,her face is troubled as she 
sits there in her room for the memory of
 her mother's reproof and her brother's 
disapproval stings a little4 ,but in a  
moment she looks toward the bed4 ,lying 
upon it1 smoothed out carefully1 is the 
result of the sacrifice--a thin silk    

gown of palest blue draped with a       
fragile chiffon1 trimmed and caught up  
with crystal drops and tiny rosebuds4   
,it is a pretty thing4 ,besides it is a 
spotless white outing coat1 rough1 and  
to quote the words of the clerk who     
helped her select it1 exceedingly       
modish4 ,there are pale blue stockings  
and pumps4 ,she did hesitate about the  
pumps but they were there4 ,the hat was 
there too4 ,she hoped to go perhaps to  
two dances1 she knew she should go to   
the theater1 for she already had an     
invitation and there might be another4  
,besides that she intended to go herself
 and invite one of the girls if she were
 able to get all the things paid for    
before the theater season was over4     
,last year everything got shabby so     
quickly and looked like a rag1 before   
the season was over but she hoped for   
better luck this time4 ,she rose and put
 her new possessions away very carefully
 in the little closet and boxes and     
turned to the mirror4 ,the hair dresser 

had shown her a new way to dress her    
hair and she tried it now herself4      
,after a long time she met with fair    
success4 ,she did not call the family to
 see the result1 for there might be more
 words of disapproval and though they   
would not influence her in the least    
still it was a bore to listen to them4  
,the new arrangement was very           
uncomfortable and it did seem strange to
 be apparently without ears but she was 
an earnest devotee and what it pleased  
the idol to dictate1 that she did4 ,next
 she tried the new concoctions for      
cheeks and eyebrows4 ,the result pleased
 her4 ,she called to her mother to ask  
the time and exclaiming at the lateness 
of the hour called back that she was    
dead tired and would go to bed4 ,when   
she hung up her skirt she was dismayed  
to see how worn it was4 ,she had paid   
for the style in it1 not for the        
material4 ,she did not go to sleep      
directly though she had a right to be   
tired1 for she had to get up very early 

each morning and she was obliged to     
stand all day at her work4 ,but she was 
troubled4 ,even the pleasure of         
possessing the clothes so carefully     
protected in the closet could not take  
away the anxiety produced by the        
conscious need of rubbers and a winter  
suit4 ,but at last the poor little      
devotee1 the ardent worshiper of the    
twin idols1 worn out by thinking of it  
all fell asleep4  ,over on ,blank       
,street1 in another part of town that   
day1 another worshiper and her devoted  
mother had been talking over plans for  
the future4 ,both were climbers1 at     
least they thought it was climbing4     
,they had social ambitions and it was   
whispered by their enemies that they    
intended1 at whatever cost to enter the 
inner circle of those who worshiped the 
idols4 ,last year the young girl who    
wanted to go to college had come out4   
,it had been a wonderful season but it  
had left her with a pale face and dark  
circles under her lovely eyes4 ,the rest

 cure had done much for her but her     
physician had said another season in    
town would undo all that had been done4 
,her mother was loath to believe it4    
,she had always been able to dismiss her
 husband's arguments and had done so    
successfully the night before when he   
plead for a year of roughing it in the  
west1 society forgotten and the things  
of nature for amusement and fun4 ,if we 
drop out now1 she told her daughter1 all
 is lost4 ,and so they made their plans4
 ,the daughter was not an adept in      
learning the rapid succession of        
combination dances wherein orientalism1 
the harem1 the submerged tenth1 and the 
various beasts of the field and fowls of
 the barnyard figured1 so the first step
 was to secure a teacher who would      
correct her errors and give her skill in
 the performances which had robbed so   
many of her friends of all reserve and  
had taught them the abandonment of      
motion4  ,she had tried to take a nap   
that afternoon but sleep would not come 

though she obeyed all the rules for     
capturing it4 ,her father's blood was in
 her veins and even her training had    
failed to obliterate all of the hard    
sense which had helped him pass his     
neighbors in the race for money which   
should win the coveted title ,a         
,success4  ,she did not like the dances1
 she knew she was not equal to the round
 of varied functions that lay before    
her4 ,but she was a worshiper--she      
blindly followed ,fashion--she bowed in 
the presence of ,pleasure--and at last  
sighing wearily1 murmured softly1 ,well1
 there is no way out4 ,mother has set   
her heart on it and one might as well   
die as to be out of everything--she laid
 her sacrifice upon the altar1 took up a
 book and stopped thinking4  ,it is easy
 to think that she is but one1 and      
perhaps the great exception1 that       
because she is not physically strong she
 shrinks from the long gay season4 ,but 
she is only one of many1 some very young
 and strong1 and some in the twenties   

who have hearts and find them           
unsatisfied1 who long to be free but    
held in the grip of the twin idols at   
last bow down and worship4  ,in the home
 of a shoemaker where food was coarse   
but plentiful and where the loose       
casements and cracks in walls and doors 
defied all efforts to keep out the air1 
grew up a little rosy-cheeked1          
black-haired girl4 ,when she was        
fourteen she was tall for her age1 her  
black hair was abundant and beautiful1  
her large1 dark eyes snapped and        
sparkled in laughter or in anger4 ,she  
went to work4 ,as yet she had thought   
little about the twin idols4 ,before the
 year had passed1 she knelt before them4
 ,at the end of the second year she had 
offered in their name1 truth and honesty
 in exchange for furs1 a silver purse   
and a beautiful necklace4 ,her parents  
unable to speak ,english1 ready to      
believe that anything was possible in   
the new land suspected nothing4 ,before 
the close of the third year1 when she   

was but seventeen1 in mad devotion to   
,fashion and ,pleasure1 she had laid    
herself1 a living sacrifice upon the    
altar4  ,in the same city where she had 
followed so madly in pursuit of pleasure
 and dress1 in a comfortable home upon  
one of the new avenues where young shade
 trees1 modern houses1 neatly trimmed   
lawns1 all spoke of the young people    
just starting out for themselves1 there 
lived a family trying in vain to find   
happiness4 ,both were young1 she only   
twenty1 he twenty-two4 ,she worshiped   
the idols4 ,he worshiped her4 ,she had  
social ambitions4 ,she needed money to  
carry them out4 ,he got it as fast as he
 could and he was doing pretty well4    
,but it was not enough4 ,that night they
 had said bitter words to each other1   
then had repented and he had begged her 
to be careful1 to try for a while to do 
without unnecessary things for his sake 
and said that she was more beautiful    
than any of the more richly dressed     
women he knew and that she ought to be  

content4 ,she promised to try4 ,but it  
was of no use4 ,she heard the call of   
the idols4 ,she could not resist and    
bowed down and worshiped them4 ,before  
the year had passed she had plunged into
 hopeless debt and in her mad devotion  
sacrificed her husband with all his     
hopes and honest ambitions upon the     
altar4 ,the music1 the lights1 the      
dresses1 the compliments1 the promise of
 opening doors into the society in which
 she wanted to shine1 for a time drowned
 the sight of his suffering and pain4   
,then suddenly he yielded to temptation1
 was discovered taking money that was   
not his and the gods of fashion and     
pleasure forgot them both2 the doors of 
society closed and she was left with    
nothing but her bitter thoughts4 ,it was
 a costly sacrifice but a common one    
which the ,idols accept again and again4
  ,hardly two blocks below was another  
home with its lawn1 its flowers1 its    
neat window boxes and its young trees4  
,there in his nursery was a little      

two-year-old4 ,he stretched out his hand
 to his mother and cried when she passed
 through the hall and down stairs4 ,he  
had not been well for some days and     
missed his old nurse who had been       
dismissed for a slight offense the week 
before4 ,he did not like the new nurse4 
,his mother did not know much about her4
 ,she seemed kind and she was very      
courteous in her manner4 ,the mother was
 going in her friend's machine1 out to  
the club-house for bridge4 ,she was a   
little late and could not stop though   
the child had looked very pitiful and   
rather pale4 ,he still cried despite the
 nurse's warnings1 coaxings and threats4
 ,at last she grew impatient1 seized him
 and shook him until there was no breath
 left to scream1 laid him on his little 
bed and left the room4 ,after a while   
soft1 heart-broken baby sobs came from  
the tired child and he lay still as she 
had bidden him4  ,at the club women     
dressed in all the extremes of fashion1 
laughed and chatted or grew tense and   

strained as they exchanged their cards4 
,over in one corner some of the younger 
women blew curls of smoke into the air4 
,the baby's mother sat there4  ,it      
seemed very lonely to the little boy    
lying in his nursery4 ,the sobs ceased1 
the baby grew interested in life once   
more1 climbed over the side of the bed1 
slipped to the floor1 softly opened the 
door into the hall4 ,his eyes were      
swollen and he was weak from the shaking
 and the strain of the day and when he  
reached the shining staircase1 his foot 
slipped4  ,the nurse's face grew pale   
when she picked up the unconscious      
child4 ,the doctor said he would live   
but the spine seemed to be injured and  
the full result of the fall he could not
 predict4  ,while they were bending     
anxiously over him1 he opened his eyes  
and said ,muvver4 ,just then she entered
 the hall and they could hear the       
congratulatory words of her friend4 ,she
 had won4 ,then she started up the      
stairs4 ,let us draw the curtain1 for on

 the altar of ,fashion and ,pleasure a  
mother has offered as a sacrifice1 her  
child4  ,you who have read this chapter 
have been looking with me upon a series 
of rapidly moving pictures4 ,perhaps    
they have seemed too dramatic as they   
have passed4 ,but they are not          
fiction--they picture facts4 ,they are  
not in the past4 ,the same scenes are   
being repeated now all over our country 
and across the sea4 ,no one can number  
the worshipers of the ,twin ,idols and  
no one can estimate the awful cost of   
the devotion of their followers4  ,it is
 right that a girl should enjoy pretty  
clothes and desire them4 ,it is right   
that she should spend a fair part of her
 income on the necessary gowns for      
parties and pleasures4 ,it is right that
 girls should seek pleasure and enjoy   
life to the full4 ,it is right that     
young mothers keep their youth and enjoy
 the society of their friends4 ,but when
 girlhood erects an altar and in the    
presence of ,fashion and ,pleasure      

sacrifices time and strength1 money1    
honesty1 thrift and virtue1 then it is  
sin and the individual and society must 
suffer4 ,at this present moment in our  
country1 as in the ages past in nations 
and with peoples that are now being     
forgotten1 girlhood is worshiping the   
,twin ,idols and one is compelled to ask
 himself if the final result will be the
 same4  ,it is not alone the rich girl  
who bows the knee in the presence of    
,fashion and offers her best to         
,pleasure1 the poor girl also worships4 
,in the multitude that bow are all sorts
 and conditions of girls4  ,we wait for 
a prophet4 ,a prophet that shall awaken 
womanhood and girlhood and show them    
that to be well dressed means to be     
appropriately dressed1 that extravagant 
overdressing is clear evidence of the   
lack of good breeding and good taste2   
that those who indulge in clothes which 
they cannot afford and those who make of
 themselves living models for the       
exhibition of the latest extravagances1 

both proclaim the unworthy station in   
life where they truly belong4  ,we need 
a prophet who shall awaken womanhood and
 girlhood to see that the wild rush for 
sensational and unhealthful pleasures   
has always meant one thing--final       
inability to enjoy1 the day when all    
pleasures pall4  ,would that the prophet
 might come1 and speedily1 that our     
girls might stand up on their feet free1
 no more slaves to ,fashion or servants 
of ,pleasure4 ,free--their faces clear1 
tinted and rosy with the keen joy of    
living4 ,free--their eyes bright with   
health and energy4 ,free from the lines 
of worry that stamp the faces of all    
those who yield to the demands of the   
,twin ,idols4  ,it will be a great day  
when the leaders and worshipers of      
,fashion and the devotees of ,pleasure  
blow the trumpets and cry aloud1 ,bow   
down1 and the mass of girlhood and      
womanhood1 beautiful1 strong1 healthful1
 loving life1 answer and say1 ,we will  
not bow down1 nor worship4 ,when that   

day comes--and it will come--the reign  
of the ,twin ,idols shall cease4        
,,viii  ,,the ,,girl ,,who ,,drifts     
,more than two years have passed since  
,i met one of the girls returning from a
 girls' conference where the depths of  
her nature1 unstirred before had been   
touched and quickened into life4 ,a     
passion to serve had been awakened in   
her and as she told me of her new       
visions and desires ,i confess that ,i  
feared for her4 ,here she was1 the      
embodiment of all the charm and power of
 youth with a soul on fire to accomplish
 great things1 and the temperament which
 does not accomplish great things4 ,when
 the train stopped she was met by her   
father1 a keen1 common sense1 average   
business man who often expressed the    
wish that his daughter would get busy   
and do something4 ,she went home to a   
mother large hearted and                
self-sacrificing1 proud of her          
attractive daughter and doing so much   
for her that little remained for her to 

do for herself4 ,on ,sunday she went to 
a formal1 dignified1 self-satisfied     
church2 she attended a ,sunday-school   
where the teacher made the lesson       
interesting without requiring much from 
the girls2 she spent the afternoon with 
a book1 the piano1 and the relatives and
 friends who came to call4 ,church1     
home1 friends1 seemed content with her  
just as she was4 ,she meant to do so    
much and to some of her friends she told
 with great enthusiasm her plans for    
future work4 ,but the days passed as    
other days had passed4 ,what became of  
her passion to serve1 to share in the   
work of making life easier and happier8 
,what became of the cry in her heart for
 something to do to express the new life
 which had fired her soul8 ,they died4  
,slowly the fire was quenched by        
inaction1 the embers grew cold1 the     
longings were quieted1 life went on as  
before--so easy it is to drift4  ,she   
has the sympathy of every one of us1 the
 girl who means to1 for we also intend  

to do1 and fail4 ,perhaps she learns    
from our vocabularies the words and     
phrases which so often appear in her    
own4 ,tomorrow1 she says1 and ,i am     
going to1 ,i intend and ,i mean some day
 to4 ,she enjoys the present but all    
that she hopes to do she puts into the  
future4 ,she does not realize at first  
that the future always has a day of     
reckoning and that suddenly when one    
least expects it1 the future meets her  
in the present and says1 ,how about this
 and this and this which you were going 
to do8 ,the time is past4 ,what now8    
,sometimes with bitter tears1 often with
 deep regret1 always in half guilty     
fashion the girl answers1 ,well1 ,i     
really meant to do it1 only--  ,if the  
drifting girl who meant to is to be     
strengthened in character she must be   
helped to substitute ,i have done it for
 ,i really meant to do it4  ,the girl   
who continually means to and seldom     
does1 is usually emotional1 responsive1 
lovable and irresponsible4 ,i remember a

 most interesting teacher in the last   
year of the grammar school who had just 
such a girl in her room4 ,the girl      
admired her teacher greatly1 and        
whenever she expressed the desire to    
read a new book1 to have the class see a
 fine picture1 to use certain material  
for the lesson in drawing or painting1  
the girl promised that the book should  
be brought1 the picture would gladly be 
loaned by her father1 the poppies or    
tulips she would get from her garden4   
,almost never was the promise fulfilled1
 still she continued to promise4 ,one   
afternoon her teacher talked with her   
after school and showed her a list of   
twenty-one things she had promised to do
 and had not done4 ,i know you do not   
mean to be untruthful1 but you are1 the 
teacher told her4 ,whenever you promise 
now to do a thing1 the other girls      
smile4 ,you wanted to be chairman of the
 luncheon committee the other day and   
did not receive a single vote1 not      
because the girls dislike you1 but      

because they cannot depend upon you4    
,you always intend to do things but they
 are not done4 ,you-- ,the girl         
interrupted3  ,twenty-one promises to   
you1 broken6 she exclaimed4 ,twenty-one6
 ,i shall keep every one of them4 ,let  
me see them4 ,then she burst into tears 
and the old excuse fell almost          
unconsciously from her lips1 ,i meant   
to1 ,i really meant to4                 
,sympathetically1 but without being     
spared1 the girl was shown that the     
promises could not be kept now2 the time
 had passed and the things had been done
 by others4 ,the inconvenience and      
unhappiness caused by many of these     
unkept promises were explained to her   
and the teacher asked that for one week 
she should make her no promises and that
 she should not volunteer to do anything
 for her4  ,oh1 but ,i want to do things
 for you4 ,i must6 she cried with all   
the passion of her emotional nature4    
,what ,i want most1 the teacher         
responded1 is that you do things1 but   

say nothing4  ,the girl tried           
faithfully4 ,her love and admiration for
 the teacher furnished a strong motive1 
and the week showed a real gain4 ,one   
day her mother called at the school4    
,she said that her daughter had made a  
strange request of her4 ,she asked me1  
said the mother1 to compel her to do    
everything she promised to do1 or said  
she was going to do and to punish her if
 she failed4 ,i asked her to explain her
 strange request and learned of the     
struggle she has been making4 ,it seems 
to me she is too young to assume        
responsibility to the extent of actually
 doing everything she just casually says
 she is willing to do or intends to do4 
,we all fail to carry out our           
intentions4  ,the teacher helped that   
mother to see that a girl of fourteen is
 old enough to begin the struggle to    
establish the habit of doing what one   
means to do1 and she realized her       
mistake4 ,together they decided to      
encourage the girl to refrain for the   

time being from making promises4        
,meanwhile they made requests for such  
services as seemed perfectly possible   
for her to render1 being careful that   
but little time need elapse between the 
request and its required fulfilment1 in 
order that action might follow rapidly  
the resolution to act4 ,in the months   
that followed1 the girl's effort to do  
what she said she would do1 furnished   
many a scene of both tragedy and comedy1
 but slowly she gained and in two years 
the result was marvelous4 ,a girl who   
because of her dependableness will be of
 great value in home1 school and        
community is being made by the sane1    
wise sympathy of mother and teacher4    
,the girl who drifts because she means  
to and fails1 is easy to love and easy  
to pardon for things left undone4 ,but  
those interested in her welfare will    
spare neither time nor thought in the   
effort to help her gain the power to    
make connection between the intention to
 do and the actual doing4  ,when one    

observes carefully any large            
cosmopolitan group of young women1 she  
sees some with hard faces1 some marked  
by suffering1 many marked by selfishness
 and fretfulness and many more showing  
dissatisfaction and unhappiness1 and her
 mind goes back involuntarily to the    
fairy story with the mirror which showed
 the girl you meant to be4 ,the contrast
 between what many a girl meant to be   
and what she is1 reveals a real tragedy4
  ,many a girl drifts through life      
always meaning to do--to be1 yet missing
 the joy of accomplishment because she  
does not summon her will to her aid1 and
 often because friends are too lenient  
and parents too thoughtless to make her 
see to what failure and unhappiness1    
meaning to do and never doing will      
invariably lead one4 ,if a girl who some
 day means to should read this chapter  
let her seize at once the only life line
 which can ever save her4 ,it is made up
 of three short words which are         
relentless1 but if she obeys they will  

prove her salvation4 ,do it now1 they   
read and for the girl who intends to1   
there is no other way of escape4  ,there
 is another type of girl who drifts4    
,she is explained by the phrase1        
aimlessly drifting about4 ,she is the   
girl who does not know where she is     
going4 ,she has no objective4 ,often    
parents1 teachers and friends have      
neglected to help her centralize her    
thought upon one thing which she desires
 to do and she has not seen for herself 
that while trying to do everything one  
accomplishes nothing4 ,many times she is
 a girl of varied talents and puts all  
her effort first upon this thing then   
upon that but never works long enough to
 complete anything or learn to do it    
well4 ,in school she changes her courses
 just as often as it is permitted1 in   
business she changes her position never 
remaining long enough in any one place  
to qualify for a better4 ,if at home she
 drifts from settlement work to domestic
 science1 from domestic science to a    

dancing club and the golf links4 ,she   
gives herself to the current and the    
wind and drifts4 ,she needs an anchor4  
,she needs the strong will of another to
 steady her while she is developing her 
own4 ,she needs a great ideal to guide  
her and hold her with the magnetic power
 of some ,north ,star4 ,she needs to    
have her ambition aroused and to be made
 to believe that she1 as truly as any   
one in the world has a call to serve4   
,she needs to have great things expected
 and demanded of her4  ,the power which 
rescues the drifting girl is a power    
outside herself4 ,it may be a call from 
the bank of the stream which causes her 
to pick up her oars and leave the       
current1 at the call of danger1 in      
answer to a cry for help2 in times of   
sorrow and illness1 many a drifting girl
 has come ashore and rendered noble     
service4 ,those who thought they knew   
her looked on with unconcealed surprise 
and said to one another1 ,i didn't think
 she had it in her4 ,yes1 it was in her4

 ,there1 undreamed of by those who saw  
her drifting4 ,the drifting girl has    
within her all the possibilities4 ,that 
is the pity of it4 ,as she drifts she   
may lose oars1 chart and compass and in 
the stress of the storm that is bound to
 come be carried out into the sea of    
darkness1 or be wrecked upon the shoals 
or sandbars that line the stream of     
life4  ,a wise teacher1 awakened        
parents1 a good friend1 a live church1 a
 great book1 these have the opportunity 
of pulling the girl out of the current1 
and steadying her until she fastens her 
life to the ,ideal which can hold her4  
,i can see now the plain1 dreamy face   
and great black eyes of the girl of whom
 parents and relatives said as they     
looked at her1 ,what will she ever      
amount to8 ,their faces betrayed their  
own conviction that she would amount to 
nothing4 ,she tried piano but concluded 
that the training necessary to make her 
a teacher would take too long and took  
up stenography4 ,after a few weeks she  

decided that she was unfitted for the   
work and would rather be a nurse4 ,some 
weeks were spent at home just thinking  
about it1 then she began her training4  
,at the end of the period of probation  
she left--she knew she could never be a 
nurse4 ,she spent the days reading1     
sewing a little1 taking pictures in the 
woods and along the shore near her home 
and tinting them4 ,she drifted through  
the months1 through a year4 ,one day she
 posed a group of children1 watched her 
chance and caught them all unconscious  
and natural1 interested in their pails  
and shovels and the tunnel she had      
helped to dig4 ,the mothers of the      
children saw the picture4 ,beautifully  
tinted it seemed alive and they were    
enthusiastic4 ,the next week she chanced
 to see a nine year old fishing with a  
child's faith4 ,the perfect stillness of
 the usually active little body1 the    
expectant look on the small face charmed
 her and in a moment1 her camera had    
them4 ,every one who saw the picture    

exclaimed at its naturalness and life   
and a friend who believed she saw a     
future for the girl took it to the best 
photographer in the city4 ,that night   
the photographer's call anchored the    
drifting girl4 ,he made her feel that he
 had discovered an artist for which the 
city and many outside of it had been    
waiting4 ,he fired her imagination and  
awakened her ambition4 ,she felt that   
she had a real mission in reproducing   
all the sweet simplicity and naturalness
 of the child4 ,she worked hard1 the    
artistic temperament became trained and 
both fame and money came to the girl who
 would probably still have been drifting
 had not some one helped her find her   
work4  ,to criticize the drifting girl1 
even though she sorely tempts one to    
criticism of her1 is not enough4 ,to    
preach to her on the evil of drifting   
along without aim or purpose1 just      
letting the days slip past1 is not      
enough4 ,the friends of the drifting    
girl must help her find her work and her

 mission and inspire her with the belief
 that she has both4  ,and there are the 
girls who drift because strong1 capable1
 efficient mothers cannot conceive of   
them as anything but little girls1      
cannot realize that they have grown up  
and continue to plan for them1 to make  
all their decisions and choices as they 
did when their daughters1 now twenty1   
were children of ten4 ,this sort of girl
 needs sympathy and help1 for in the    
years when her own powers should be     
developing they sleep4 ,her mother1     
though with the best motives and        
intentions in the world1 is compelling  
her to drift through the years that     
should be filled with experience and    
effort and when the time comes that she 
must be left to herself and depend upon 
her own resources1 her state is pitiful4
 ,the girl in the later teens and early 
twenties needs direction1 advice and    
counsel but if she is to be saved from  
drifting she must learn to think for    
herself4  ,there is another girl who    

drifts1 not aimlessly about1 but        
downstream4 ,she has lost her ideals4   
,she has ignored the still small voice  
that tried to save her1 until now it    
seldom speaks4 ,one and another of her  
friends have been with her in the       
current but have left her and made their
 way to safety4 ,only those from whom at
 first she shrank are with her now4 ,she
 has reached the place where the current
 is strong and rapid and escape is      
doubtful4 ,her mother still believes her
 good1 her father still trusts her1 but 
before long they will have to know4 ,she
 began by saying not ,i meant to1 but ,i
 didn't mean to1 ,i didn't think it was 
wrong1 not ,i will do it tomorrow1 but  
,i will never do it again4 ,but she did 
it again and yet again4 ,she let go of  
the help that the church offered and    
gave and went to the pleasure parks on  
,sunday4 ,she let go of a good friend   
who held her to the truth1 and made a   
companion of the girl who helped her    
invent the things she told her mother   

when she came home very late4 ,she let  
go of the good books little by little   
and read the foolish stories that were  
exciting and absolutely impossible4 ,she
 let go of the little courtesies and one
 by one of the laws that good society   
demands that its girls shall obey4 ,she 
let go of modesty and in dress and      
speech allowed herself to drift into the
 current where it is swift and black4   
,if only parents had watched more       
closely1 if girl friends had been       
stronger1 and older friends wiser1 it   
would have been so easy when the current
 just touched her and she was still near
 to all that is pure and good4 ,but she 
is drifting--drifting more and more     
rapidly farther and farther downstream4 
,now and then she looks back1 remembers 
all the ideals she once dreamed to reach
 and makes a feeble struggle to resist  
but the current bears her on4 ,only some
 mighty ,power can save her4  ,to the   
girl who means to1 and intends1 to the  
girl who dreams and waits and dreams    

again1 to the girl who has let go and is
 in the current this chapter throws out 
the challenge--,act now4 ,you can6      
,there is help4 ,take it4     ,,ix      
,,the ,,girl ,,with ,,high ,,ideals     
,ideals make men and women and the      
process of ideal making begins in       
childhood4 ,a great deal has been       
written and said about the value of the 
early ideals born in the home1 but too  
much cannot be said1 and the value of   
the influence of good homes and parents 
whose ideals are high cannot be         
overestimated4 ,the girl whose home life
 during the first seven years has not   
brought to her the high ideal must      
struggle all her later life to build up 
and intrench in her mind what might have
 been hers without conscious effort4    
,very early in her life the little girl 
reveals in her play1 in her             
conversation1 in her countless imitative
 acts1 the ideals which are being       
formed4  ,one day a little four year old
 told a lie in my presence4 ,her mother 

looking the child straight in the eyes1 
said1 ,did ,esther tell true8 ,for a    
moment the child wavered then nodded her
 head and said1 ,yes1 ,esther tell true4
 ,the mother simply said1 ,very well in 
the coldest of tones4 ,after a moment   
the little girl turned to her dolls4    
,she took them to a party1 brought them 
safely back and carefully tucked them   
into bed4 ,then she sat quietly looking 
at them4 ,finally she took one from the 
group1 placed it in the little chair1   
very straight and said ,look at me6 ,did
 'oo tell true8 ',oo didn't tell true4  
,naughty girl4 ,a sigh followed4 ,then  
slowly ,esther came over to her mother1 
ignoring my presence4 ,her lips quivered
 and smoothing her mother's hand she    
said sadly1 ,esther didn't tell true4   
,naughty1 naughty girl4 ,the little girl
 at four years of age had her ideal of a
 good girl and she acted according to   
its dictation4 ,she must tell true4 ,at 
fourteen she is a remarkably truthful   
girl and very accurate in her           

statements4 ,through fear1 that mother  
as a child had become untruthful and in 
later years had a bitter struggle with  
the temptation to sacrifice the truth to
 save herself any annoyance4 ,she       
determined to give to her own little    
daughter an ideal of the beauty of truth
 which should save her1 and she         
succeeded4  ,many a little ten-year-old 
girl has fine ideals of truth1          
unselfishness and honor and they steady 
her through the teen years when         
temptations press hard4  ,the           
twelve-year-old girl on the edge of the 
,african jungle arranges her hair in mop
 fashion because that headdress         
represents her ideal of beauty4 ,rings  
in the nose1 wonderful decorations of   
ankles and toes1 represent ideals of    
fashion and beauty4 ,the girl in ,japan1
 ,china or the ,philippines thinks she  
has made herself beautiful when she has 
arrayed herself in accordance with her  
ideals4 ,we often term her awful and    
ridiculous1 shrinking even from her     

picture and she makes sarcastic remarks1
 laughs heartily and never fails to     
express her curiosity regarding us and  
our strange fancies and fashions4  ,it  
is our ideals which act as a great      
commander-in-chief and we follow in     
obedience to their commands4 ,our       
country needs today more than ever      
before1 the girl with high ideals1 for  
it is when ideals are lowered that      
character is weakened and sin and evil  
have their opportunity4  ,there are many
 things in the life and surroundings of 
the girls of today that tend to lower   
and dim their ideals which did not enter
 at all into the lives of the girls in  
our grandmother's and great             
grandmother's time1 and the girls of    
today must be stronger if they are able 
to resist them4 ,our great-grandmothers 
lived in the home and did not enter into
 business life4 ,it is hard for the wide
 awake business girl of today to imagine
 how that girl of long ago managed to   
enjoy life4 ,but monotonous as her life 

often was1 she was spared many things4  
,she never rode alone in trains and     
trolleys nor learned to jostle and push 
through crowds4 ,she was not compelled  
to return home late at night without    
proper escort as countless girls are    
today4 ,she never spent the evening on  
the streets1 nor was she obliged to join
 the great army of girls who today live 
alone in boarding houses in great       
cities1 suffering from discomforts and  
desperate loneliness4 ,her parents were 
more careful than the majority of       
parents today and she knew what         
protection meant4  ,it is because these 
things are so that one feels like giving
 added praise to the girls who today are
 girls of high ideals1 who refuse to let
 the carelessness of the times in which 
they live gain entrance to their hearts 
to tarnish those ideals4  ,a short      
distance up the shore as ,i write ,i can
 hear the roar of the tide as it rushes 
into the very center of a great rock of 
granite4 ,the geologist can find in that

 mass of rock the tiny crevice where the
 water first gained entrance4 ,it has   
split it asunder because it was able to 
gain entrance through a little crack and
 each day sent in its drops of water    
where now with that roar rushes the     
tide4 ,farther along the shore is a     
solid block of granite4 ,its face is    
polished smooth by the dashing waves4   
,there is not a crack in it1 not a tiny 
crevice4 ,it presents its splendid1     
shining surface to the great sea but    
offers it no opportunity for entrance4  
,one cannot help wishing with all his   
soul that we may have more and more     
girls who are like that bit of solid    
granite1 strongly resisting those things
 that seek a tiny crevice by which to   
enter4 ,for we have so many who through 
some weak spot have let the tide of evil
 in and slowly it has done its work     
until now the once strong and fine      
ideals lie broken and beaten by the     
waves4  ,the strong girls of high ideals
 are with us and it is a comfort and a  

joy to look into their young faces so   
full of promise and of courage4 ,we find
 them among the very rich and among the 
very poor as well as among the girls who
 live in comfort with neither riches nor
 poverty to make things exceedingly     
hard4  ,irene is one of the girls who   
amidst poverty and sin has been able to 
keep her ideals high4 ,her home is poor 
because her father1 a mechanic1 who can 
earn good wages is a hard drinker4 ,her 
mother1 an honest1 clean1 hard working  
woman1 is nervous and fretful1 worn out 
by the hard things she has had to meet4 
,it is a quarrelsome household and when 
the father comes home intoxicated the   
law is obliged often to interfere4 ,one 
of the boys was expelled from school    
because his language is so dreadful4    
,amid this environment the girl lives4  
,she studies her lessons in school and  
at the library4 ,her mother constantly  
urges her to give up school and go to   
work but an uncle who furnishes her     
meager supply of dresses1 shoes1 coats  

and hats1 says it would only make her   
father feel that he could give still    
less to the family's support and so she 
continues to attend4 ,every evening she 
helps her mother and on ,saturday works 
hard for a neighbor with only a pittance
 for pay4  ,the school and the          
,sunday-school have furnished all her   
ideals and she is holding on to them    
while her father taunts her with being a
 saint1 and the girls of the            
neighborhood tempt her to join with them
 in the things she knows are wrong4 ,the
 hour on ,sunday is a great help and on 
,monday she loses herself in her lessons
 and enjoys her school friends4 ,she is 
only sixteen and she cannot help hoping 
that things will be better soon4 ,but   
,wednesday there is another dreadful    
quarrel1 bitter words and her father's  
drunken threats4 ,when late at night all
 is quiet and she creeps into bed beside
 her little sister1 her ideals seem far1
 far away1 out of her reach1 but she    
says1 ,i must reach them1 ,i must1 ,i   

will4 ,and so day after day she presents
 to all the waves of discouragement and 
evil the strong1 granite-like           
determination that will not let the tide
 come in4  ,strong as she is she does   
not excel another girl surrounded by    
extravagant wealth1 praised1 flattered  
and pampered1 trained to think of one   
thing supremely1 and that herself4 ,but 
she is a girl of high ideals4 ,when a   
little child her old nurse told her the 
stories and taught her the prayers that 
she never forgets and helped her feel a 
deep sympathy for all who suffer and    
have need4 ,a fine young uncle who has  
used his wealth to comfort the old and  
save the sick1 told her many a tale that
 stirred her soul1 and her admiration   
for the young man of millions who worked
 as hard every day as any man in his    
office but never for himself1 helped in 
forming her own ideals4 ,and so she     
reads and studies1 dreams and plans the 
good she will do some day1 meanwhile    
helping in every way open to her and    

standing firmly for the things she knows
 are right1 resisting with granite-like 
determination the onslaught of the waves
 of self-indulgence and the tides of    
wild extravagance and display4  ,the    
girl of high ideals is everywhere4      
,every school can claim her4 ,despite   
teasing1 sneers and laughter1 she       
remains true to her ideals4 ,she is not 
a book-worm but she studies1 she is not 
prudish but she is high minded and pure1
 she has fun but it is wholesome and    
clean and kind4  ,she is found in every 
shop1 every department store is aware of
 her presence4 ,honest1 attentive1 true1
 interested in her work1 following      
amidst many insidious temptations her   
own high ideals4  ,every college knows  
her4 ,she resists the petty sins of     
college life4 ,she banishes jealousy and
 self-assertion4 ,snobbishness she will 
not tolerate4 ,she seeks no honors save 
those fairly won4 ,keen1 alert1 pure and
 true1 capable of sacrifice and hard    
tasks1 sympathetic with all need1 a     

lover of true sport and real fun she    
represents the college girl of high     
ideals4  ,every factory has her among   
its operatives4 ,a good worker doing    
honest work1 refusing to allow the stain
 of coarse jests to touch her1 or the   
temptations which come with low wages   
and great fatigue to enter her life4    
,again and again she has revealed her   
ideals in moments of disaster and death4
 ,it is hard to find words to express   
one's admiration for the factory girl as
 she holds to her high ideals4  ,many a 
kitchen knows her4 ,neat1 clean1 honest1
 capable1 happy in her work1 resisting  
all the temptations that come through   
loneliness and deadly routine1 she      
clings to her ideals with courage4      
,every set in society knows her2 turning
 her back upon temptations to excess1   
vanity1 pride1 scorning all forms of    
gossip1 neither listening to1 nor       
repeating the words that they say1 she  
keeps her mind and heart fixed upon the 
undimmed ideals she has set for herself4

  ,many a schoolroom and office know    
her1 the girl who does her best work    
though no one sees and none commend1    
refusing to lower her ideals in         
obedience to subtile suggestions or     
definite temptations2 a girl who does   
what is expected of her and more1 who   
puts her heart into her work and        
glorifies it4  ,the girl1 whatever her  
station in life1 whatever her           
occupation1 who has kept her ideals high
 has the right to be happy4 ,she can    
afford to be light-hearted1 to enjoy fun
 and frolic and to get the most out of  
everything1 for she need not spend days 
in regret1 nor wet her pillow with tears
 of remorse4 ,nothing in the world can  
make up for the loss of a pure and high 
ideal4 ,if girls could see the sad faces
 and know the suffering hearts of the   
women who in girlhood forsook their     
ideals1 they would understand4  ,if a   
girl of high ideals is thinking about   
them now and knows that she has of late 
been tempted to lower them a little1 let

 me ask her to look at them very        
earnestly before she consents to tarnish
 them even a little4 ,perhaps it is only
 to wear upon the street the sort of    
dress which attracts attention and      
causes remarks to fall from the lips of 
loafers as she passes1 perhaps to accept
 invitations from those who do not      
measure up to the standard1 perhaps to  
engage in a dance in which the ideal    
could not join1 to repeat gossip which  
is interesting but may not be true or to
 be mean and unkind4 ,let me beg of     
every girl to cling with all her might  
to the highest ideal of her mind and    
heart4 ,never let it go4 ,pay the cost  
of keeping it whatever that cost may be4
     ,x  ,,the ,,average ,,girl   ,the  
average girl does not want to be        
average4 ,she wants to stand for        
something1 to excel1 to be beautiful1 to
 do great good in the world1 to sing1 to
 play1 to be a social leader1 to dress  
well1 to be very popular1 to be         
something1 so that people will single   

her out and say1 ,that is ,charlotte    
,gray2 she is the prettiest girl in     
town1 or ,that is ,charlotte ,gray2 she 
has a most wonderful voice1 or ,she is  
the most popular girl in the office1 or 
,she is the finest girl athlete in the  
city4 ,in her day dreams she pictures   
herself the center1 but in real life she
 does not find herself there--she is    
just plain ,charlotte ,gray4  ,the      
average girl has all the elemental      
powers of the race2 there are always    
undeveloped resources in her1 always the
 possibility that she may bless the     
world by new ministries1 enrich it by   
the discovery of the art of living nobly
 amid the common-place1 that she may be 
the mother of the great4  ,the average  
girl has some handicaps and some        
privileges1 in some things she is easily
 led1 she is often misunderstood1 she   
has periods of being indifferent1 she   
spends too much time following the      
dictates of fashion and too much        
strength endeavoring to have a good     

time1 she means to do things that never 
get done1 she has times of drifting1 she
 has some high ideals to which she      
clings with more or less tenacity--she  
is a combination girl4  ,the average    
girl is in many ways the most important 
member of society1 for what the average 
girl is1 that society is4 ,society      
cannot be more generous-hearted1 pure1  
altruistic1 content and happy than its  
average girl4  ,i am thinking of two    
towns whose inhabitants number between  
three and four thousand4 ,in one1 the   
girls are careless in dress1 vulgar in  
speech1 spend their evenings in the two 
dance halls and the cheap picture shows4
 ,while still young girls they marry men
 who drink and gamble1 start homes with 
practically no money1 are poor cooks and
 housekeepers and know nothing about the
 care and training of their children    
when they come4  ,there are beautiful   
homes in that town and sweet1 fine girls
 with the highest ideals4 ,there are    
wretched hovels in that town with wicked

 and criminal inmates4 ,but neither the 
girl with the highest ideals1 nor the   
girl with the lowest1 can stamp that    
town2 neither the sweet1 refined1       
cultured girl1 nor the immoral and      
vicious one can stamp that town4 ,the   
average girl determines the character of
 it4  ,in the other town the girls      
impress every stranger with their       
cleanliness in dress and in speech2 the 
streets are clean1 the homes are simple 
and neat4 ,the girls spend the evenings 
in their own homes1 in ,the ,center1 a  
house dedicated by one of the churches  
to the young people of the town for     
their enjoyment1 in the one excellent   
moving picture establishment4 ,they have
 a debating society1 a dramatic club1   
and do fine work in the gymnasium4 ,they
 marry young men of simple tastes like  
themselves1 start their homes with at   
least the necessities1 they know how to 
keep house and they make good mothers4  
,there are some girls of culture1 some  
of wealth and fashion in the town1 but  

they do not stamp it4 ,there are some   
immoral and degenerate girls in that    
town but they do not stamp it4 ,it is   
the average girl who leaves her imprint 
upon it4 ,neither of these towns can get
 away from the impress of the average   
girl4  ,the first town has the licensed 
saloon and the factory owners have not  
the breadth of mental vision to see what
 good houses1 fair wages and common     
sense treatment can do to build the     
character of the average girl4 ,the     
second town has never had a saloon1 the 
owners of its factories and business    
houses live in the town and they have   
the keen vision which sees the value of 
good houses in which to live1 fair pay1 
and opportunity for real recreation4    
,they have been able to raise the       
standard of the average girl1 therefore 
the enviable record and character of the
 town4  ,it is the average girl in      
college who determines the character and
 reputation of that college4 ,it is not 
the brilliant girl1 it is not the girl  

whose earnest plodding barely carries   
her through1 it is not the failure1 it  
is the average girl4 ,if the average    
girl should leave her college a good    
athlete1 interested in everything       
athletic1 that fact would determine the 
general character of the college4 ,if   
the average girl leaves her college with
 broadened sympathies1 good scholarship1
 intense interest in the affairs of the 
day1 real joy in living and helping2    
these things determine the reputation   
and character of the college4 ,if the   
average girl leaves her college with    
social ambitions and plunges into the   
social whirl1 giving her time and       
strength to the race for social         
prominence and notoriety1 these things  
determine the character and decide the  
reputation of that college4  ,the       
usefulness and character of every church
 is determined not by the few people who
 do all that a church member should do1 
nor by the few who utterly fail to      
fulfil the mission of the church1 but by

 the attitude1 work and conduct of the  
average member of it4  ,the average girl
 in any occupation determines its       
standing and character4 ,the average    
girl in the employ of any concern       
determines not only its value as a      
public servant but its success4  ,the   
average girl holds the key to all       
situations touching the life of girls4  
,as the average girl becomes more       
efficient1 finer in character1 broader  
in thought1 more sound in body1 mind and
 spirit1 she raises society with her2 as
 she loses in efficiency1 in power of   
thought and in character1 grows weaker  
in body1 mind and spirit1 she drags     
society down with her4  ,what should she
 be like1 this all-important average    
girl8 ,what is she in the ideal8 ,i have
 asked scores of girls the question and 
the following paragraph is their answer 
as well as my own4  ,the ideal average  
girl is strong in body1 is intelligent1 
believes in ,god and strives to obey    
,his laws4 ,she is not afraid to work   

and she has courage to meet hardships   
and loneliness if they come4 ,she is    
interested in pretty clothes1 she wants 
them for herself1 she has what she can  
honestly afford and she spends time and 
takes pains to get the very best she can
 for the money she has4 ,she refuses to 
be extreme in style or to make herself  
ridiculous or conspicuous4 ,she likes   
fun1 she enjoys amusements and good     
times4 ,she will not indulge in things  
of which her parents heartily disapprove
 or which unfit her for work or study1  
and which her own conscience tells her  
are doubtful4 ,she loves friends and    
companions and has as many as she can4  
,she chooses carefully her friends among
 the boys and men and lets neither word 
nor act lower in the least degree their 
respect for her4 ,she looks forward to  
the day when she shall have a home of   
her own and fits herself to care for it 
with intelligence and skill4 ,she is    
honest1 and faithful to the present     
tasks4 ,she is kindly1 generous1        

helpful1 cheerful1 just the sort of girl
 one would like to live with every day4 
,it is a high average1 yes1 it is ideal4
 ,but the fact that so many girls are   
seeking that ideal1 that so many against
 fearful odds are pressing toward it1   
and that so many little by little are   
achieving it fills one with hope4 ,the  
fact that so many men and women who but 
a few years ago were not concerned with 
either the needs or rights of a girl are
 bending every energy to the task of    
setting her free from the things that   
burden her1 hold her back and make her  
suffer1 fills one with anticipation1 for
 the things which touch the average girl
 are the things which concern all who   
have great hopes and dreams for the     
future of our land4  ,this chapter and  
all the chapters preceding are an appeal
 to the average girl and those who love 
her to summon all their strength and    
raise the standard of the average4  ,let
 the average girl be the highest        
possible average1 realizing the         

important place she holds in the working
 out of all problems of right1 justice  
and public welfare and knowing that ,god
 must have had great faith in the power 
and possibility of the average girl else
 ,he would not have trusted so much to  
her keeping4  ,the world is grateful for
 the brilliant girl1 for the gifted1 the
 talented1 the beautiful2 but without   
the average girl it could not live4 ,god
 bless her and give us more and better4 
,,part ,,ii  ,her ,religion     ,,xi    
,,the ,,girl ,,and ,,the ,,universe     
,when ,wonder suggests its first        
questions to her they are large         
questions4 ,they have to do with the    
,universe4 ,they are eternal and        
unanswerable questions4 ,they fall from 
baby lips but they baffle sages4 ,it may
 be on some bright summer morning that  
she stands amidst the daisies scarcely  
taller than they1 listening intently to 
the words of wisdom which tell her that 
,god made the daisies every one1 and all
 the flowers and the butterflies and the

 cows in the meadows4 ,after a time of  
silence she puts her question1 her clear
 eyes searching the face of her would-be
 teacher4 ,who made ,god8 she asks1 and 
while the teacher wavers she repeats her
 question until some sort of answer     
comes4 ,that night when she is tucked   
into bed her mind returns by way of her 
evening prayer1 to the subject of the   
morning4 ,she hurls another question1   
,where is ,god8 ,since she cannot be    
evaded she is so often told that ,god is
 everywhere and accepting it with all   
the faith of the literalist she begins  
her search for ,him4 ,she strives to    
solve the mysterious fact that ,he can  
be everywhere and yet in all the places 
where one searches ,he is not to be     
found4  ,then her grandmother who sat in
 the sunny room upstairs as long as the 
little girl can remember is taken sick4 
,some days pass and her mother with     
tears streaming down her face tells her 
little daughter that grandmother has    
gone to heaven4 ,the mystery bearing    

down upon the little soul deepens4 ,what
 is ,heaven8 and where is ,heaven8 she  
asks4 ,they tell her of its beauties1   
its peace1 happiness and joy4 ,they say 
that grandmother wanted to go and then  
they cry again4 ,the little girl cannot 
understand it all1 but she tries4 ,if   
grandmother is happy and really wanted  
to go1 why does mother look so sad1 why 
the closed blinds1 why is everything so 
quiet8 ,she asks the question in the    
presence of her practical unimaginative 
aunt1 who bids her be quiet and adds in 
her even1 impressive voice1 ,your       
grandmother is dead4 ,the word has an   
awful sound and she raises her eyes to  
the severe face above her and asks1     
,what is dead8 ,but the aunt does not   
answer1 and the little girl goes to the 
window to think it all over4 ,she knows 
that dead is dreadful--grandmother has  
gone1 the house is quiet1 father will   
not play with her and mother cries4 ,she
 is only a very little girl but she has 
met the unanswerable questions1 ,who    

made ,god8 ,where did ,i come from8     
,where is ,heaven8 ,what is it like8    
,what is ,death8  ,as the years pass her
 instructors in religion attempt to     
teach her4 ,in varied words1 according  
to varied creeds they answer or postpone
 the answer to her questions4 ,she      
learns that ,god is good and ,god is    
great2 that ,he takes care of people1 at
 night especially2 that one may ask ,him
 for whatever she wants and if it is    
best she will get it2 that if one would 
please ,god she must be very good and   
there are many things she must not do2  
that those who please ,him shall be     
rewarded and those who fail shall be    
punished4  ,her instructors do not mean 
always that this shall be the sum total 
of their teachings but stripped of all  
the songs1 the pictures and cards1 the  
birthday greetings1 the flowers and     
stories1 these things in the majority of
 cases sum up the little girl's         
conclusions4 ,there enters into her     
religion in many cases that name which  

seems so often to sound sweeter when    
murmured by baby lips than at any other 
time4 ,the little girl has learned to   
love the ,baby asleep in the hay1 the   
,child before whom the ,magi knelt1 the 
obedient and lovable boy who played in  
,nazareth4 ,then the new outlook comes  
and the little girl sees ,jesus the     
,redeemer and ,god the ,father4 ,she    
listens with eager fascinated interest  
to the stories of what ,he did and said1
 tries to obey the commands ,he gave1   
suffers for her sins of commission1     
prays and hopes to be forgiven4 ,the    
,one who searches the hearts of men must
 find as honest1 devoted faith among    
these little girls as anywhere in ,his  
army of believing followers4  ,then the 
spirit of altruism begins to awaken4    
,she is no longer a little girl4 ,she   
begins to understand the meaning of     
sacrifice1 she is stirred with the      
desire to serve4 ,christ the ,messiah1  
the ,savior and ,master1 claims her     
interest and her heart is filled with   

desire to serve and to prove her love to
 ,him4 ,she pledges herself to ,his     
service1 strives to be faithful1 suffers
 agonies of remorse over her failures4  
,among all the hosts who follow ,him    
there are none more loyal and loving    
than this girl in her teens4  ,the years
 pass and in the later teens and early  
twenties another world forces itself    
upon the girl4 ,it is the world of sin  
and evil1 of selfishness1 greed and     
hypocrisy4 ,she shrinks from it but it  
is bound to be revealed4 ,she catches a 
glimpse of a world of suffering and pain
 that makes her heart ache4 ,and while  
these worlds are pressing hard she is   
plunging into the secrets of things4    
,the revelation of biology1 astronomy1  
chemistry1 the history of peoples1      
languages and books1 the science of     
economics1 and the mysteries of         
psychology are demanding consideration4 
,something happens to the bright1 sweet 
unquestioned faith4 ,questions persist1 
doubts suggest themselves and demand    

answer4 ,nature asks ,what do you think 
about me8 ,the problems of sin and      
sickness1 accident and injustice ask    
,how do you explain us8 and darkness    
settles over the girl's spirit4         
,sometimes she refuses to think things  
out and accepts the new explanations of 
things whatever they happen to be1      
turning in cynicism from the old4 ,but  
more often she does think--asking the   
old questions she faced as a little girl
 all over again out of a larger world   
and a trained mind4 ,who made           
,god8--what was the very beginning of   
beginnings8 she asks4 ,is it some one or
 some thing8 ,what is ,death and what is
 after that8 ,how am ,i to know8 ,soul1 
mind and spirit cry out for concrete    
proof of that which can never be        
concretely proven4  ,the thing she needs
 just here1 is the very thing she is    
most often denied4 ,she needs some one  
who can show to her the larger ,god and 
the greater ,christ for her larger world
 and greater thought4 ,she is losing or 

has lost her smaller conceptions in the 
maze of wonders which have been revealed
 to mind and heart4 ,she needs to know  
that she has not lost her ,god1 rather  
is she just beginning to discover ,him2 
that she has not lost her ,christ1      
instead the ,christ is just beginning to
 be revealed to her in all ,his         
greatness4 ,she needs some one to make  
clear to her the meaning of the promise1
 ,seek and ye shall find4 ,knock and it 
shall be opened unto you4 ,from a new   
view-point with a larger horizon she may
 be helped to begin her trustful search 
for ,god knowing that truth can never   
lead away from ,god4 ,she is just a girl
 but the ,universe is hers in which to  
seek ,him4 ,its laws1 as fast as she can
 discover them1 are her servants to lead
 her to ,him and its broadening horizons
 but bring her nearer4  ,when she can   
face all the new knowledge1 feel the    
shaking of the old foundations1 in this 
spirit of trustful discovery1 her doubts
 will pass away4 ,the world is saved    

through ,christ1 not through dogma and  
if she can have the wise instructor or  
friend who can show her these things she
 is safe4  ,whenever one thinks of the  
little girl among the daisies there     
comes to him in woful contrast the      
little girl in the crowded cities'      
wretched streets4 ,she is denied the    
daisy field4 ,stars do not tempt her to 
wonder4 ,the narrow streets filled with 
material things1 pressing close1 crowd  
out sun and moon4 ,the name of ,god is  
familiar to her ears but she does not   
ask questions about ,him4 ,she          
associates the name with loud voices1   
angry faces and often with blows4 ,death
 awakens wonder but there is little time
 for answers to puzzled questionings4   
,the few days of relief from noise1 the 
expressions of sympathy and friendship1 
the unusual words of tenderness all make
 a deep impression--then life goes on as
 before only harder because of the added
 expense4 ,as the years pass she accepts
 the teachings of her church1 she can   

recite them more or less glibly but they
 have nothing special to do with her    
life4 ,philosophy and science do not    
trouble her4 ,she says her prayers      
thinking about other things and when she
 grows older stops saying them1 save at 
church4  ,oftentimes as a little girl   
she receives no religious instruction1  
never enters a church and the name of   
,god drops in curses from her own lips4 
,only now and then fear of the future   
takes possession of her for a moment4   
,only in great stress of unusual        
suffering or pain1 or in the presence of
 awful sorrow is her soul stirred to ask
 the little girl's question1 ,what is   
,heaven like8  ,sometimes the bitterness
 of her lot causes her to treat the idea
 of ,god with scorn4 ,look at me1 she   
said one day in my presence4 ,what have 
,i done that ,god should punish me with 
the troubles ,i've got4 ,there ain't no 
,god1 that's what ,i say1 anyways4      
,poor girl6 ,the church must give to her
 the ,god whom she can trust and love1  

but it will have to give ,him in        
widespread1 simple justice4 ,first she  
must see ,him in deeds and then in      
words4  ,the girl amidst the squalor of 
wretched conditions in heartless cities1
 needs a ,god who is her defender and   
champion as well as her ,savior4 ,when  
some wise instructor or inspired friend 
can give to her this view of the ,lord  
,god of ,hosts1 the ,father of all1 who 
seeks through ,his children to save ,his
 children her salvation has begun4      
,oftentimes one meets the gentle1       
trustful1 lovable little girl who asks  
her question and receiving the answer   
accepts it1 never to doubt it through   
all the years1 never to ask the great   
universal questions again4 ,sometimes it
 is because the answers were so wisely  
given1 sometimes because the depths of  
the girl's mental and spiritual life are
 never touched4 ,she has a comfortable  
faith1 earnest1 true1 honest and        
sincere4 ,it does not embrace the world1
 nor is it deeply concerned with the    

great problems with which the world     
wrestles4 ,it is not necessary perhaps  
that it should be4 ,the girl is         
naturally religious1 trustful and       
believing4 ,her sweet1 untroubled faith 
blesses the life of every day4  ,those  
who are interested in the religion of   
girlhood and young womanhood are filled 
with hope today as they listen to the   
answers which are being given by wise   
mothers and teachers1 to the great      
questions of the universe4 ,the answers 
leave room for a growing religion which 
grows as the girl grows4  ,a while ago  
my friend walked through the country    
fields with a little six year old4 ,my  
friend says she has left behind an      
outgrown religion4 ,her complacence and 
cynicism received a shock that          
afternoon4 ,a lamb which was the baby of
 the flock had been made a special pet  
by the children and came immediately    
when the six year old called4 ,the days 
were getting cold and the lamb's woolly 
coat was thick4 ,my friend1 intending to

 instruct the child said1 ,put your hand
 on the lambie's thick wool4 ,cold days 
are coming and ,nature makes the lamb's 
wool nice and warm4  ,yes1 answered the 
child1 her eyes shining1 the ,heavenly  
,father makes its coat warm4 ,he didn't 
give them a papa like mine to get their 
clothes4 ,he gives them to them himself4
  ,my friend was surprised by the words 
and before she could think of a suitable
 reply1 the child continued--  ,he tells
 the birdies to go down where it's warm 
and there are flowers all the time4     
,just a few stay here when it's cold and
 they have warm feathers4 ,the bear and 
the foxes and the horsie and kitty1--the
 ,heavenly ,father makes all their coats
 warm4 ,he is very1 very busy1 she added
 impressively4  ,for weeks during the   
preparations which nature makes for the 
coming winter1 my friend1 hitherto      
satisfied with abstract law found her   
mind going back to the ,heavenly ,father
 very1 very busy in the great world ,he 
had made4 ,she was so impressed that she

 went with the child to her kindergarten
 class in school and in ,sunday-school  
and in both she heard of the love and   
care of the ,heavenly ,father4  ,as she 
listened to the simple teachings1 the   
children's answers and comments1 she    
realized that in the circle there was a 
very real personality called the        
,heavenly ,father whom these children   
knew and loved4 ,i wish such had been my
 training1 she said regretfully4        
,perhaps ,i should have been saved the  
darkness and perplexity in which ,i have
 lived for years4  ,months after in a   
large class of earnest1 eager and       
attentive girls ,i listened to a        
wonderful teacher4 ,i loved with a      
deeper love1 after that lesson1 the     
,christ whose presence seemed to fill   
that room as the teacher showed her     
girls the ,master at ,his task of saving
 the world by showing it ,god1 the      
,father4  ,one day ,i stood in a silent 
home with a brilliant1 cultured girl1   
who had traveled much and enjoyed every 

privilege4 ,she had that afternoon left 
her mother beside her father out on the 
sloping hillside in the great silent    
city4 ,we raised the curtains the maid  
had drawn1 the girl laid aside her coat 
and hat and said sadly1 ,now life must  
begin again1 without all that is dearest
 to me4 ,i tried to find words to       
strengthen her but she turned her calm  
face toward me and said1 ,how do people 
live through it and go on1 who haven't  
,god8 ,the ,father of the ,world has    
them both in ,his keeping4 ,i can wait  
till ,i find them again4  ,this girl had
 never doubted4 ,she had wondered and   
thought1 questioned and believed4 ,wise 
parents had given to her the ,god of the
 ,universe--the ,father1 and ,his ,son  
the revelation of ,himself to men that  
it might be saved1 in such simple terms1
 so free from petty dogma that as she   
had grown in mind and spirit ,he grew in
 wonder and majesty and power1          
commanding her love and worship4  ,if a 
girl1 troubled and perplexed by the     

things the mind cannot grasp or heart   
understand1 chances to read this chapter
 let her know that the trouble lies not 
with the ,god of whom she has been      
taught but with those who1 trying to do 
their best1 have been weak in their     
teaching4  ,if we can banish from our   
faith all its man made littleness1 all  
its chaos of bickerings1 all the fret of
 the conflicting opinions of those who1 
after all1 are themselves but children  
searching after truth1 and give to the  
growing girl1 a growing religion1 the   
,god of the ,universe will become her   
,god and she will worship him in        
sincerity and truth all the days of her 
life4    ,dear ,lord and ,father of     
mankind1   ,forgive our feverish ways2  
,reclothe us in our rightful mind1   ,in
 purer lives thy service find1   ,in    
deeper reverence1 praise4     ,,xii     
,,in ,,the ,,hands ,,of ,a ,,triad      
,despite all the words that have been   
written and spoken in the past it is    
still true that many of those engaged in

 the religious training of a girl1 or   
responsible for the form of religion    
which is presented to her1 do not       
realize1 or else they ignore the fact   
that she is in the hands of a           
triad--body1 mind and spirit4 ,as a     
triad she develops if she be a normal   
girl1 as a triad she acts4 ,her         
character is made by these three        
agencies working together4 ,it is a     
fact1 the significance of which none of 
us fully realize1 as yet1 that a clean  
mind and a clean heart in an unclean    
body is very rare4 ,a quick1 alert      
balanced mind and a pure1 heroic spirit 
in a starved and diseased body is also  
rare4 ,a well-nourished1 well-cared-for 
body with all its functions doing their 
work and a mental weakling is a rare    
combination4  ,once we did not know that
 adenoids made children mentally        
deficient1 nor did we dream that teeth  
properly attended to1 and a pair of     
glasses could transform a girl from a   
sullen1 morose disobedient child into an

 interesting1 happy and obedient one2   
but some of us have seen that           
transformation and marveled at it4 ,once
 we believed that inherent moral        
degeneracy sent a twelve-year-old girl  
to the courts4 ,now we are beginning to 
see the relationship between a room with
 no windows and no running water1 a     
dirty alley or a wretched street and the
 moral degeneracy4 ,once we shook our   
heads and said1 ,well1 they say there's 
one black sheep in every family4 ,now we
 are beginning to see that the black    
sheep may be made by the gratification  
of every physical desire and every      
mental whim and the neglect of the      
spirit4  ,churches1 schools and         
individuals are beginning at last to    
seriously consider the teaching of      
morals and religion and as they give    
themselves to the task of laying down   
practical workable plans1 suddenly as if
 it were a new revelation comes the fact
 that the individual is a triad and she 
must be taught as such4  ,if homes were 

ideal it would be an easy task4 ,if it  
were possible for the majority of homes 
to approach the ideal it would seem an  
easier task4 ,but with poverty1         
ignorance1 inefficiency and indifference
 clutching at the very center of dynamic
 power1 the task is one of the greatest 
which men have as yet been asked to     
meet4 ,if homes were ideal1 from the    
moment the little girl comes into the   
world1 and even before her coming1      
sensible1 rational care would be taken  
of her body1 not only to make it        
beautiful but that it might do its work 
for her in healthful1 normal fashion and
 be a good servant throughout her life4 
,her mind would be awakened and trained 
to think1 her will to act and to control
 and all her sense of reverence1 wonder 
and worship developed while her love for
 the good and the beautiful1 the heroic 
and self-sacrificing was stimulated4    
,but homes are not ideal and the        
majority have neither accepted nor      
considered deeply the task of preparing 

the whole girl for life4 ,some prepare  
her physically and let the rest of the  
triad develop as it will4 ,some prepare 
her mentally and morally while both body
 and spirit suffer4 ,some seek to       
prepare her spiritually by fitting on as
 a sort of garment what they believe to 
be religion while body and mind receive 
little attention and some let all three 
develop as convenience and chance may   
dictate4  ,when men's consciences have  
been awakened and they find the home    
incapable or inert1 they have turned the
 responsibility over to the public      
school and the church4 ,of late civic   
forces have given their aid4 ,those     
directly interested in the religious    
training of the girl are coming to agree
 that these three agencies are needed   
and that they must work together if the 
whole girl is to be helped4  ,some one  
must teach a girl the things about      
herself that she ought to know4 ,that   
some one is her mother4 ,no one else can
 do it with the same power4 ,neither    

church nor school can perform well the  
delicate task of revealing life's       
secrets1 and blundering is deadly4 ,but 
church and school and civic forces      
together can help the mother1 can give  
her a proper conception of her duty1    
give her the words to say1 perhaps4 ,the
 school can teach morals and keep its   
own moral standards high2 the church can
 awaken the spiritual life of a girl and
 nurture it1 that knowledge and high    
ideals may work together to fortify and 
strengthen her4 ,the civic forces can   
see to it that the girl has the         
opportunity for pure physical enjoyment1
 for mental stimulation and moral       
uplift4  ,what civic forces have been   
able to do through tuberculosis         
exhibitions and child welfare exhibits1 
by showing parents the truth regarding  
the importance of the physical care of  
their girls1 furnishes encouragement to 
go further4 ,good newspapers may speak  
to parents untouched by the school and  
out of touch with the church and have   

done so4 ,the majority of parents when  
they see and believe will act4  ,there  
was a time1 and not long since1 when    
those engaged in teaching religion were 
not concerned with the number of hours  
the girl worked1 the age at which she   
began1 the sort of room in which she    
slept1 the amount of real food she had4 
,and because they were not concerned    
they lost her4 ,today a teacher cannot  
teach religion if she does not care     
about life4 ,she attempts it but she    
fails4 ,jesus astonished the ,scribes1  
,pharisees1 ,doctors of the ,law and    
,priests of the ,temple by ,his intense 
interest in the physical needs of men4  
,he took into account the whole man and 
set body1 mind and spirit free4  ,when  
one considers how little mental stimulus
 and training comes to the average girl 
after leaving school and is aware of the
 vast majority who leave school at any  
early age1 she is not surprised at the  
lack of power to think on the part of so
 many1 and at the very limited knowledge

 she finds when attempting to teach4    
,the girls of today need to be informed 
on matters of public welfare and        
political and economic affairs as never 
before4 ,where shall they go for that   
information and how shall they be led to
 desire it8 ,girls need to know the     
meaning of religion and in simple       
fashion the history of creeds and       
denominations4 ,they need instruction   
from the ,bible which cannot be given in
 a half hour a week of more or less     
regular study4  ,once those who were    
teachers of religion were not deeply    
concerned with what the girl read and   
the things about which she thought4 ,now
 one cannot teach religion truly unless 
she knows what a girl reads1 about what 
she talks and thinks1 whether she is in 
touch in any way with that which can    
broaden her mind and give her food for  
thought4  ,no girl is safe1 no girl can 
be her best or get the most out of life 
who is weak on the third side of the    
triad4 ,unless she has the help of a    

well developed spiritual nature how the 
littlenesses1 the routine1 the          
difficulties1 the jealousies and        
envyings1 the gossiping and petty       
dishonesties of life dwarf her4  ,long  
ago1 when ,i first began to print       
pictures1 ,i tried to print a picture of
 a beautiful rail-boat against long     
lines of sand dunes1 on a postal card4  
,i couldn't4 ,they explained to me that 
,i must have sensitized cards1 then the 
imprint could be made4 ,the girls of    
today need to be developed and          
sensitized spiritually that the imprint 
of purity and righteousness may be made 
upon the whole life4 ,the spiritual     
life1 as well as the mental and         
physical1 is as we shall see in a later 
chapter1 a matter of cultivation4  ,if  
the girl herself reads this chapter she 
will stop a moment to examine the triad 
which makes up her own life4 ,perhaps   
the physical side is weak4 ,she may     
strengthen it if she will4 ,now is the  
time1 while she is young and it will    

obey her4 ,when habit has written its   
words in iron on muscle1 heart and      
nerves it will be harder for her to     
control it4 ,perhaps she has been       
careless about fresh air1 perhaps has   
been tempted to let pie and cake and    
coffee make a lunch1 perhaps to neglect 
rubbers1 to get only half the sleep she 
needs or to dress foolishly on cold     
winter days4 ,if the physical side of   
the triad is weak a girl must suffer4   
,the body is a despotic master and it is
 a splendid servant4 ,even if others    
have failed to help her and             
circumstances have been against her1 a  
girl can if she will1 improve her       
physical condition and every little     
improvement is worth the cost4 ,it may  
not seem to her at first a part of her  
religion to keep her body well and to   
strengthen it by every means in her     
power1 but it is4  ,it may be that the  
mental side is weak2 that it is lazy and
 does not want to think2 that the only  
food it craves is the sensational1 and  

light1 very light reading and not much  
of that4 ,but the girl who is in earnest
 can refuse to gossip and learn to talk 
and think about the great needs and     
problems of our day4 ,she can turn      
quickly the pages where crime and       
accidents are recorded and read         
carefully those that tell of the        
progress in science and the happenings  
among the nations of the world4 ,she can
 read a great book once a month or once 
in three months according to the time   
she has and she can think and talk about
 what she reads4 ,she can find some     
hobby in which to be interested4 ,the   
effort she makes to compel her mind to  
work will bring a very real reward4  ,it
 is a pitiful thing to see a woman at   
thirty or forty who has nothing to think
 about but herself and the affairs of   
her neighbors1 and who never reads4 ,if 
the mental side of the triad has grown  
weak through laziness and neglect1 the  
girl may strengthen it4 ,the effort to  
make it strong may not seem a part of   

religion but it is4  ,and if she knows  
now as she thinks honestly about it1    
that the spiritual side of the triad    
that governs her life is weak1 she may  
strengthen it4 ,she can read the ,book  
that through all the ages has           
strengthened men's spirits and made them
 conquerors over temptation and sin4    
,she can think about the words that have
 helped women to keep sweet and strong  
amidst trial1 and danger1 sorrow and    
disappointment4 ,and she can pray4 ,she 
does not need long prayers4 ,she needs  
just a word with ,god1 her ,father and  
her ,helper every day to keep her       
strong1 and another at night to give her
 courage to go on trying when she has   
weakly yielded to temptation and failed4
 ,if she has neglected it she may begin 
now to strengthen the weak place that   
she may be saved from spiritual sickness
 which is the worst of all4  ,one covets
 for every girl the opportunity to live 
in the hands of the healthful1 trained1 
awakened triad4 ,life is a blessed      

experience to the girl who is well      
physically1 alert mentally and strong   
spiritually4 ,if that experience is to  
come to the majority of girls1 then     
those interested in her religion must   
more and more understand that true      
religion touches all of life--the       
triad--body1 mind and spirit4  ,one     
summer night when the thunder was       
roaring over the sea and vivid flashes  
of lightning blinded for the moment one 
daring enough to face the storm1 the    
little village church bell rang the     
dread alarm of fire4 ,the apparatus for 
firefighting was of the type most city  
people have forgotten4 ,men rushed to   
the fire company's quarters and dragged 
the engine forth4 ,from one of the      
highest hilltops flames lighted the sky4
 ,the men seizing the rope dragged the  
apparatus up the steep slope4 ,just     
before reaching the top it stuck4       
,suddenly a sharp appealing voice rang  
out into the darkness4 ,it did more than
 request1 it commanded and demanded4    

,everybody take hold it shouted1 and    
under the power of it people sprang to  
obey and the engine reached the hilltop4
  ,those who look with sympathy and love
 at girlhood today1 cannot help wishing 
that some ,voice of power would ring out
 through every place where girls are    
found saying--,everybody take hold6 ,if 
everybody would respond to the task as  
that night in the fire and the storm1   
the girl1 in body1 mind and spirit might
 easily be saved4 ,everybody may not    
respond now--but how about you1 the girl
 herself8     ,,xiii  ,,thou ,,shalt    
,,not   ,in our effort to get away from 
the harsh negative teaching of the past 
which made young people feel that life  
meant don't1 we have made the mistake of
 failing to teach with power the fact   
that there are things to which ,god's   
law and man's law say thou shall not4 ,i
 did not know it would do any harm1 is  
oftentimes a truthful statement and the 
girl has the right to be carefully1     
wisely and sanely taught the things to  

which she must say no4 ,a girl's        
religion must have not only the         
constraining power which sends her out  
to do the kindly deed1 say the word of  
comfort and cheer1 give of her time and 
her talent to help make life easier for 
those who find it hard1 but it must have
 the restraining power which shall keep 
her from self-indulgence and sin4       
,whenever the thou shalt not side of    
religion is mentioned the girls         
themselves and those responsible for    
their training immediately think of the 
question of amusements1 which is after  
all only a part of the greater question 
of how much leisure a girl should have  
and what she should do with it4         
,preachers1 teachers and ,christians    
generally1 differ so widely on the      
matter of disputed amusement questions  
that thou shalt not loses its force4 ,it
 is the parents' right to decide the    
girl's amusements and determine her     
social life and when one sees the length
 to which parents permit and even       

encourage their daughters to go1 he     
knows that the thou shalt not might well
 be said to them4 ,when parents do not  
care what their girls do1 or are too    
careless and ignorant to realize danger1
 when the girls are without friends and 
unprotected1 then the teacher of        
religion must without hesitation1       
forcefully and with the arguments of    
fact1 teach them to say no to the things
 which she believes can bring only harm1
 which weaken the power to resist other 
evils and which are unhealthy for the   
growing girl4 ,one may teach with       
feeling and power the thou shalt not in 
which she believes without uttering     
bitter words of condemnation of those   
who differ with her4  ,religion and the 
law together have the right to say to   
the unprotected girl1 lacking wisdom1   
without discretion1 eager for fun and   
adventure1 ignorant of danger1 thou     
shall not4 ,the words should be written 
over every unchaperoned or inadequately 
chaperoned high school dance1 over the  

public dance hall1 over the cabaret1    
over the vaudeville where the vulgar    
hides behind a mask1 over every place   
which by its very nature opens doors of 
temptation and lowers powers of         
resistance4 ,the teachers of religion1  
and all agencies for moral training and 
uplift1 because of the comparative      
helplessness of girlhood1 have the right
 to teach by every means at their       
command thou shalt not4  ,some one must 
teach the growing girl that extravagance
 is sin2 some one must say thou shalt   
not to her common faults of promising   
without thought of the cost of keeping  
the promise1 of exaggeration and        
untruthfulness4 ,some one must help her 
see the utter folly of snobbishness and 
false pride4 ,in some way she must be   
taught the cruelty and meanness of      
gossip1 the results of a sharp tongue   
and a critical spirit4 ,she must be     
shown the sin of ingratitude and the    
curse of jealousy and envy4 ,in fact the
 old ten commandments are needed by the 

girlhood of today as truly as they were 
needed by that great army of people in  
the days of the youth of a race1 when   
their great law giver and leader strove 
to save them from the results of their  
own ignorance and newly acquired        
liberty4  ,who teaches thou shalt not to
 the girl of today8 ,indirectly1 a great
 many people4 ,directly1 clearly1       
definitely so that she understands and  
is impressed1 very few4 ,the            
,sunday-school in a half-hour a week    
attempts to do it1 but the              
,sunday-school reaches a very small part
 of the girlhood of our land1 and its   
work with those whom it has reached is  
often ineffective4 ,it is at present    
engaged in a serious effort to make its 
teachings more effective and far        
reaching4 ,the public school is not     
directly teaching the thou shalt not1   
for teaching it does not mean saying it1
 in the form of a command4 ,it does much
 indirect moral teaching1 which is      
invaluable4 ,it is experimenting with   

direct moral teaching and many of the   
experiments have shown highly gratifying
 results1 which lead us to hope that the
 day is not far distant when direct     
teaching of the common laws of moral    
living shall find a place in every      
school4 ,we shall have to find some new 
definition first1 for such words as     
success1 wealth1 honesty1 courage1 honor
 and the long list in the vocabularies  
which the pupils in every school make   
for themselves4  ,in reacting against   
the thundering negatives of the past1   
the church has1 in the decade or more   
that lies behind us1 been teaching an   
unbalanced religion4 ,thou shalt1 and   
thou shalt not must be taught together  
if the best results are to be reached4  
,in individual instances so great       
success has been won by the teacher of  
religion that his method is worth one's 
earnest study4  ,one morning there came 
into ,sunday-school class a very        
ordinary looking little girl of ten     
years4 ,her father was a truck driver1  

her mother had been a domestic4 ,there  
were four children in the home1 the     
little girl being next to the youngest4 
,the parents had no relation to any     
church4 ,the two older children had     
turned out great disappointments to them
 and when a neighbor invited the        
ten-year-old to go to ,sunday-school the
 mother gave her consent1 saying that   
perhaps the church could keep her from  
following her brother and sister4 ,it   
did4  ,in that home there was no moral  
instruction1 no moral suasion4 ,when the
 children had told a lie directly to the
 mother they were punished severely4    
,when they told a lie to a teacher or   
neighbor the mother was their defender  
and they escaped punishment4 ,they heard
 their mother lie to her husband1 to her
 neighbors1 to the rent collector and   
the grocer4 ,they learned not to fear a 
lie but to fear being discovered in it4 
,they became clever liars and the little
 girl at ten was an adept4 ,for         
disobedience1 cheating1 taking food and 

pennies they were alternately turned    
over to their father for punishment or  
shielded from his wrath according to the
 mother's temper at the time of the     
offense4 ,they were not taught or helped
 to hate sin or to see it in its hideous
 aspect4 ,thou shalt not was a matter of
 convenience1 not of principle4  ,the   
teacher into whose class the little girl
 came was a woman of experience who     
before her marriage had been a teacher  
in the public school4 ,she called in the
 home1 she learned the standing of the  
girl in the day school1 in less than a  
month she knew her4 ,what she found out 
made her determine to help the child    
hate falsehood and cheating in every    
form4 ,by story and incidents she showed
 ,sunday after ,sunday1 side by side1   
the cowardice and unhappiness of the    
liar1 the distrust of his fellowmen1 the
 misery which he must suffer and the    
courage1 happiness and freedom of the   
truth-loving and truth-telling child4   
,every lesson said don't lie and speak  

and act the truth4 ,one day the little  
girl was invited to her teacher's home  
to look at pictures and choose some     
books to read1 for the teacher had      
discovered her love for pictures and    
books4 ,after a very happy hour1 while  
saying good-by in the hall1 the child   
suddenly seized her teacher's hand and  
stammered1 ,how can you help telling    
lies8 ,the teacher says1 ,as ,i looked  
into her plain little face with its     
quivering lips1 ,i loved her4 ,i        
determined to fight for her and with    
her4 ,it was a fight1 for habit was     
strong and environment did not change4  
,for over five years that teacher       
faithfully presented the thou shall not 
and thou shall which shaped the girl's  
ideals and helped her reach them4 ,she  
taught her to pray2 she inspired her    
with a genuine love for ,god the        
,helper1 who would see her through1 she 
opened doors of service for her4 ,at    
twenty she is a truthful and            
truth-loving girl1 she has been able to 

say no to the things which proved the   
downfall of brother and sister2 she is a
 useful1 self-supporting1 thoroughly    
respectable member of society and an    
earnest ,christian4 ,she has been able  
to lead her younger brother safely past 
the dangerous places and is helping him 
through school4 ,what the church1       
through its religious instruction1 has  
been able to do for this girl and many  
others it might do in far larger measure
 were it equipped with a regular        
teaching force adequate to its need1 if 
its preachers could come into real      
contact with the children and youth of  
the community and present to them with  
power the thou shalt not which shall    
give them at least an opportunity to    
strive to obey4  ,if the girl herself is
 reading this chapter ,i know she will  
agree with me when ,i say that a girl   
respects and honors in her heart the    
teacher who presents to her1 fearlessly 
and honestly1 the things which she      
believes a girl cannot do with safety1  

which lead into dangerous places and    
which make it hard for her to keep pure1
 true1 unselfish in thought and deed2   
and she respects even more highly the   
teacher who can give her broad sane     
reasons for finding substitutes for     
these things4 ,she may1 as she grows    
older1 come to the conclusion that her  
teacher was mistaken but she respects   
her for her honest effort to help4  ,in 
every girl's creed there must be some   
negative4 ,the law says you must and you
 must not4 ,as she reads this page      
perhaps some girl will stop for a moment
 and write out the things to which she  
believes a girl should say no4 ,here is 
such a list1 written in the form of a   
creed by a girl when a sophomore at     
college4  ,i believe that a girl should 
not indulge in amusements which make her
 nervous and excited1 give her a        
headache1 make it hard for her to study1
 cost her a good deal of money and crowd
 out all thoughts of duty and which make
 her feel envious and jealous of those  

who are more popular or fortunate than  
she1 and sometimes make her think things
 she hates to remember4  ,i believe that
 a girl should never repeat what she has
 heard about another person if it could 
in any way injure that person's         
character4  ,i believe that she should  
not lie even by looks or by silence4 ,i 
believe that she should never deceive   
another1 never make fun of the          
weaknesses or misfortunes of other      
people and never treat another girl as  
she would not herself want to be        
treated4  ,this is a negative creed4 ,it
 does not say do1 it says don't1 but    
there are times when every girl needs   
,don't4 ,put don't into your own creed1 
you girls who are thinking over these   
things4  ,when you are tempted to lose  
your head and plunge into things you    
have been taught are wrong1 just because
 everybody that mysterious mischief     
maker1 is doing these things1 keep      
steady and ,don't4  ,when you are       
tempted to make things more comfortable1

 more interesting1 more exciting by     
exaggeration--,don't4  ,when you are    
tempted to escape by a lie the          
consequences of what you have said or   
done--,don't4  ,when you are tempted to 
let envy or jealousy find expression in 
words or acts of meanness and           
unkindness--,don't4  ,when you are      
tempted to repeat a story or say a      
daring thing you would not say in the   
presence of the one whose respect you   
desire--,don't4  ,when you are tired of 
the struggle to be true and do right1   
tired of the effort to seek always the  
best things and are tempted to give     
up--,don't4  ,when you are tempted to   
repay injustice with revenge1 unkindness
 with cruelty1 jealousy with malice1 to 
do to others as they do to you--,don't4 
,learn the power of control1 of         
restraint and though it be only the     
negative side of religion1 it will help 
to make you strong4  ,when the          
instructor in religion opens his eyes   
and sees the peril which lies in wait   

for the girl wage earner1 the society   
girl and even the schoolgirl1 what he is
 forced to see makes him say with a     
passionate cry from his soul1 as he     
thinks of the individual girls whom he  
knows and loves1 ,thou shall not4       
,,xiv  ,,thou ,,shalt   ,a thought which
 slumbers in the mind has within it the 
germ of life4 ,at any moment when the   
right stimuli have been given1 it may   
spring into conscious being and find    
expression in action that will color the
 entire life4 ,while it slumbers today1 
tomorrow may bring the waking moment and
 so it must be reckoned with in the     
formation of character4 ,still it lacks 
the positive element4 ,it is limited4   
,it becomes the work of those interested
 in the welfare of the girl to cause the
 awakening and constant stimulation of  
those thoughts which shall lead to      
action along right lines4 ,the repeated 
impression upon the mind of deeds of    
heroism1 of unselfish daily living1 of  
great action on the part of ordinary    

people in a common-place environment has
 an unmistakable effect upon the forming
 character4  ,but if the thoughts       
engendered by the deeds of heroism and  
achievement be called into action by the
 opportunity in the girl's life to      
reproduce them1 then the effect upon the
 character is made definite and intense4
 ,it is not until the girl has done a   
kindred thing1 until the impression has 
found its way out in action1 that the   
full result upon the forming character  
is seen4 ,all the complex life about her
 is busy through the eye and ear1       
through numberless sensations and       
instinctive reactions leaving           
impressions4 ,their imprint upon her    
life may be seen by any close observer  
when the girl herself is unconscious of 
it4 ,but it is the special set of       
impressions which habitually find       
expression that determine character4    
,this is most encouraging1 for it means 
that if the girl can be lead to express 
the right impression and leave the      

others to fade away into the recesses of
 consciousness where it will be hard to 
awaken them1 the determination of her   
character will be a possible task4 ,it  
means that in the years of habit        
formation and character making those who
 share the task of the girl's training  
have the opportunity to lead her to     
repeatedly express in positive action   
the high ideal1 the noble               
self-sacrifice1 the great deed or       
ambition1 the generous impulse          
slumbering in her thoughts and appearing
 in her day dreams4 ,the material which 
is furnished her for thought creates her
 day dreams1 what she sees in her day   
dream effects character1 what she does  
makes it4  ,it is for this reason that  
parents and teachers who are seriously  
concerned with the problem of making a  
girl's religion a real and vital thing  
seek ways and means by which she may be 
led to express both in words and actions
 the thoughts and desires which their   
teaching has awakened4  ,a successful   

teacher had been studying with her class
 for some weeks the lessons founded upon
 ,unto the least of these1 my           
brethren--,a cup of cold water even1 ,ye
 have done it unto me1 and kindred      
texts4 ,she taught well and the girls   
were thinking4 ,some attempted as       
individuals to express what they        
thought4 ,in the minds of most1 the     
stories1 illustrations and facts        
slumbered4 ,one ,saturday three of the  
more thoughtless girls were asked to    
accompany the teacher on a visit to a   
children's hospital4 ,they were much    
impressed by what they saw4 ,the        
convalescent ward proved of great       
interest and the babies fighting for    
their lives against pneumonia brought   
tears to their eyes4 ,on their way home 
they expressed the wish that the class  
might make some of the bonnets and gowns
 which the sweet-faced young nurse had  
said the hospital needed so much for its
 baby patients4 ,perhaps the other girls
 will not be interested1 said the       

teacher4 ,immediately the most          
thoughtless girl in the class replied1  
,oh1 ,miss ,d----1 they cannot help it4 
,we will tell them what we saw6 ,we have
 been studying long enough about what we
 ought to do4 ,we haven't done a thing6 
,at least--,i haven't-- she added4      
,illustration3 ,,her ,,heart ,,is       
,,filled ,,with ,a ,,deep ,,desire ,,to 
,,serve  ,two dozen bonnets and gowns1  
well made after the pattern furnished by
 the hospital1 were the result of the   
interest of that class4 ,while the girls
 sewed they talked4 ,they discussed in  
simple girlish fashion the problems of  
poverty and illness and the duty of one 
part of society to the other4 ,in this  
sort of informal discussion they        
expressed themselves far more freely    
than in their ,sunday-school class or   
their classroom at school4 ,by the      
expression of high and generous thoughts
 they strengthened their own ideals and 
placed themselves in the presence of    
their friends and companions on the side

 of ,christ-like living4  ,about a week 
after the last bonnet and gown made by  
the class had been sent to the hospital 
the teacher was surprised by a visit    
from ,arline1 a heedless and hitherto   
disinterested member of the class4 ,it  
was a bitter cold day1 the sunless air  
penetrating even the warmest garments4  
,i brought you this box of things to    
give away1 the girl said as the teacher 
tried to conceal her surprise4 ,there   
must be a good many babies in the river 
district who need warmer clothing these 
cold days4 ,i had some time for sewing  
and my aunts helped4  ,the teacher found
 three bonnets and gowns carefully made1
 three tiny flannel petticoats1 six     
pairs of warm stockings and three small 
hot water bottles4  ,i bought the things
 with my own money1 said the girl4 ,it  
is the first time ,i ever did anything  
like this4 ,i enjoyed it4  ,the church  
visitor found a needy place for each    
thing and told ,arline most heartily how
 grateful she was for the help she had  

been able to pass on4 ,the simple deed  
by which ,arline expressed in the       
positive terms of action what she had   
been thinking seemed to make a definite 
change in her character and about three 
months from the time she had made her   
gift1 in a simple and natural way she   
came into the church4 ,as the girls were
 given more and more definite           
opportunity to express themselves in    
thoughtful acts and kindly words1 the   
teacher found sympathetic1 interested   
listeners to the lessons she tried to   
make inspiring and practical in their   
appeal1 and one by one the girls decided
 for themselves to come into the church 
and help it do its work in the world4   
,the definite stand of such a group of  
interesting girls1 easily leaders in    
school and the social life1 made a      
decided difference in the standards of  
the young people of that community4 ,the
 community as a whole1 and the parents  
of the girls especially1 owe to that    
teacher a very real debt for her part in

 the character building of those girls1 
who before they came in contact with her
 had had only vague and hazy ideas of a 
girl's duties and privileges4 ,she      
furnished them with material for thought
 and with opportunity for translating   
that thought into action which is       
rapidly determining their characters4   
,a class of girls in another community  
made up of freshmen and sophomores in   
the high school who were accused by     
other girls1 and with reason1 of being  
snobbish1 proud1 and of forming cliques1
 had been studying with a most          
interesting teacher a course on         
,christian life and conduct4 ,they had  
been urged to show in their own lives1  
in school1 in their social relations1   
the characteristics they learned each   
,sunday should belong1 not only to every
 ,christian but to every girl4 ,then    
their teacher began to make the         
suggestions definite1 getting as many as
 she could from the girls themselves4   
,they were asked to increase the        

membership of their club1 attend and    
take part in young peoples' socials from
 which their set had held aloof1 join in
 the work of the ,girls' ,guild1 to     
which they had given a little money but 
nothing else4 ,these things were hard   
for some of them4 ,at first they were   
not able to do them naturally and easily
 and they found the friendship and      
confidence of the other girls hard to   
gain4 ,but they had come to the         
conclusion in class that these things   
were right and the enthusiasm and       
approval of their teacher over the      
attempts they were making spurred them  
on4 ,then they began to make            
discoveries4 ,they found out what       
interesting girls there were outside    
their set4 ,they found they had         
exaggerated their own importance4 ,they 
began to enjoy the good times of the    
young people in the church societies and
 to want a real part in them4 ,the      
change in the spirit and life of that   
class1 even in a year1 was wonderful4   

,at the end of the second year with that
 teacher the spirit of the young people 
in that cosmopolitan church had entirely
 changed4 ,those girls had wrought the  
change because they had themselves been 
transformed4 ,they had been expressing1 
day after day1 in positive action the   
things they learned1 and the impressions
 which before had slumbered in the mind 
burst into life through the daily deed4 
,they studied ,christ's rules for       
living1 they traced the results of      
obedience to those rules in the lives of
 those who truly followed ,him and they 
tried to do in their own every day      
lives1 until doing brought power to do  
and character was being made4  ,in the  
religion of every girl there must be the
 positive side2 whether she works in a  
factory or attends a fashionable        
boarding school her character will be   
made and her religious life formed      
through the impressions which constantly
 find expression in words and actions4  
,a girl's religion1 especially in the   

early teens1 must be active not passive4
 ,she must be made to feel--and be given
 the right outlet for the feelings      
aroused within her1 to dream--and be    
helped to find a way to work out her    
dreams4 ,she must be given knowledge and
 be shown the way in which to use it4   
,it is in this way that the girl1 every 
girl1 may hope to find a sane and       
natural religion which shall be a real  
help in the real world where she must   
live4 ,christ was a doer of deeds4 ,the 
gospel record of ,his life has somewhat 
to say of the things ,he did not do but 
its pages are filled with the things    
that ,he did4 ,lame1 blind1 lepers1     
insane1 poor1 lonely and sorrowful as   
well as sinners1 ,his friends and ,his  
disciples bear witness to the things    
that ,he did4 ,christianity is a        
religion of deeds and whether it be     
through a factory-club1 a neighborhood  
house1 ,camp ,fire ,girls1 ,christian   
,associations1 the summer camp1 girls'  
conferences1 the ,sunday-school or the  

home1 the girl must be impressed with   
the fact that religion and life go hand 
in hand and must be shown the way to    
give that impression opportunity to     
express itself1 until repeated          
expression shall have marked out the    
trend of character4  ,if the girl       
herself is reading this chapter she will
 realize that while in a girl's religion
 there must of necessity be the simple  
definite thou shalt not1 the most       
important part of that religion is ,thou
 ,shalt4 ,the girl herself should be so 
busy doing the things that ought to be  
done that there is no time for the      
undesirable and forbidden things4 ,it is
 much to the girl's credit that she     
loves a religion that does things4 ,the 
world needs1 every church1 every        
community1 every school and every home  
needs1 girls who have found their       
religion and put it into practise4 ,find
 yours1 then put it to work1 helping1   
helping everywhere4     ,,xv  ,a        
,,matter ,,of ,,cultivation   ,a great  

many people are willing to sow seed4    
,there is an inspiration in the picture 
which the word ,sower brings to the     
mind4 ,i can never forget those days    
when the boys and girls just entering   
their teens took their spades and hoes1 
left the schoolroom with its algebra and
 technical grammar behind and went out  
into the glorious spring sunshine to    
plant their school gardens4 ,on the     
various packages of seed were pictured  
the promised flowers or vegetables and  
with joy they looked forward to the day 
when they should be able to proudly     
exhibit the results of their planting4  
,when the planting was done most of the 
children believed that the hardest part 
of the task was over4 ,year after year  
successive classes failed to realize the
 fact of ,time4 ,as the weeks passed and
 the slow development that is nature's  
way to perfection went on1 one would    
hear a boy say1 ,next year ,i'm going to
 plant radishes2 they grow faster1 and  
another1 ,you will never get me to plant

 squashes again2 they're too slow4      
,these young gardeners found very       
difficult1 and some found quite         
impossible1 the task of waiting1        
meanwhile working with the soil and     
protecting the growing plants1 that the 
flower and fruit might be as fine as    
possible4 ,despite encouragement from   
other children and from instructors1    
some of the boys and girls lost their   
enthusiasm entirely and seldom looked at
 their gardens4  ,those boys and girls1 
planting their seeds of flower and fruit
 on the sunny hillside and in the shaded
 nooks where the school gardens lay1    
were not at all unlike the men and women
 who today plant the good seed in the   
gardens of hearts that come to them in  
the glorious springtime of life ready   
for the sowing4 ,like the boys and girls
 these older gardeners are pleased with 
the picture of the result of their seed 
sowing4 ,with enthusiasm they enter upon
 the task of planting1 with eagerness   
they watch for the first appearance of  

results4 ,and then ,time enters in4     
,there is evidence of weeds2 slugs and  
worms appear4 ,then comes the clear call
 for the two great virtues of the sower 
who will win a harvest--,labor and      
,patience4 ,he must cultivate the soil1 
else only the meager harvest can be his4
 ,the art of cultivation is the one so  
many would-be harvesters fail to learn4 
,to realize what the art of cultivation 
can accomplish one needs to read        
carefully the increase in the record of 
the producing power of certain wheat    
fields in our country during the past   
four years4 ,courage comes with the     
study of the reports of modern miracles 
accomplished through the advice and     
instruction of the agricultural schools 
and colleges which have escaped from the
 thraldom of the abstract4 ,every one   
should look once into the faces of boys 
and girls of the rural schools who      
having been instructed in the art of    
cultivation have practised it and       
increased the value and quantity of the 

output on their fathers' farms1         
ten-fold4 ,it fills one with hope to    
look into the bright eager face of a    
fourteen-year-old prize winner1 holding 
side by side in his hand the stalks of  
corn1 one small and meager1 the other   
rich and full1 made so by the art of    
cultivation which he has so patiently   
practised4  ,what the cultivation of the
 soil has accomplished in the           
agricultural world it can accomplish in 
the teaching of religion4 ,if young     
,america is irreligious today it is     
because we have sown the seed and left  
it to itself4 ,in the soil of young     
hearts are the elements which make a    
sane1 full output of religious life     
possible--but cultivation is necessary  
and1 if we are to raise the type of our 
girlhood1 imperative4 ,we shall be      
compelled to resist the temptation to   
give up because the seed does not grow  
faster4  ,those entrusted with the      
cultivation of this human soil into     
which the seed has been dropped must    

know what that seed needs as it         
develops--urging forward here1 that     
through self-expression it may grow     
strong1 restraining there1 that it may  
not spread itself out and through       
over-expression become weak4 ,only      
loving personal knowledge of each       
individual life will make possible this 
guidance and restraint4 ,they must know 
the environment in the midst of which   
the good seed is striving to climb to   
fruition1 else they cannot know just    
what to drop into the soil to stimulate 
the seed in its fight for strength1 nor 
how to protect it from growths that     
threaten to choke it4  ,those entrusted 
with the cultivation of this soil1 if   
they are to be successful1 must learn to
 use the mighty stimulus to growth that 
comes from simple friendship4 ,seed     
which can come to fruition under no     
other conditions springs into vigorous  
life under the power of warm friendship4
 ,many a seed which might have developed
 and borne rich fruit has shriveled and 

dried in the chill of unfriendliness and
 misunderstanding4 ,these cultivators of
 the heart soil must learn very quickly 
the value of sunshine4 ,young life needs
 the rain and has it1 but young life    
loves the sunshine1 it blossoms in the  
presence of hope and expectation1 it    
droops in the atmosphere of distrust4   
,if one obeys the law in the sowing of  
the seed and follows the direction in   
its nurturing1 the ,lord of all harvests
 will himself give the increase4        
,god's ,word should be sown in the heart
 like seed2   ,then men's hands must    
tend it1 their lives defend it1   ,till 
it bursts into flower as a deathless    
deed4  ,somewhere in the religious      
training of a girl there must be a large
 place for the feeding of the soul2 for 
unless food which is able to sustain    
life and expand it is supplied the girl 
can never become a power in herself4    
,hers will not be an invigorating       
religion2 there will not be in her that 
vitality which will make it possible for

 her to banish fear and fret1 to rise   
above discouragement1 to endure         
suffering1 to triumph over sorrow1 to   
forget self4 ,but if she can gain this  
energizing power she will not join1 in  
womanhood1 the ranks of those spending  
their days in search of inspiration2 she
 will have it in her own soul4 ,if she  
lacks this vital power she will become  
one of the multitude of ,christians who 
are dependent upon circumstances for    
their happiness1 upon the words of      
others for their encouragement1 upon the
 pleas and persuasion of others to move 
them to service4 ,from this sort of     
woman1 who is kindly and pleasant when  
things go smoothly1 who courageously    
attacks a problem as long as another    
stands by to brace up and urge on1 who  
gives time1 thought or money when some  
strong appeal is made and then loses    
interest and forgets1 until another prod
 is given1 from this sort of expression 
of religious life all who are interested
 in girls would save them and so are    

seeking the means of nourishing their   
souls that power may be generated from  
within4  ,it is not possible to get     
inspiration from a source with which one
 has no connection and the whole task of
 those attempting to give to the girl a 
workable religion1 is the task of making
 connections with the ,source of power4 
,some weeks ago ,i observed the work of 
an instructor attempting to make the    
connection through the study of the     
,bible4 ,she knew that telling a girl to
 read her ,bible is not helping or      
training her to do it4 ,these girls had 
purchased ten and twenty cent           
,testaments which could be cut1 and     
small loose-leaf note books1 on the     
covers of which were pasted one of the  
pictures of ,christ4 ,the girls had     
spent two weeks clipping from the       
,testaments and pasting in their note   
books the things ,jesus said about      
himself and the words ,god spoke        
concerning ,him4 ,two weeks more were   
spent clipping the things others said   

about ,him--,peter1 ,paul1 ,john1 the   
,pharisees4 ,the next work was to clip  
what ,jesus said about forgiveness1     
about one's duty to neighbors1 treatment
 of one's enemies1 the way to be happy4 
,later they were to use both ,old and   
,new ,testaments1 cutting out the verses
 which they thought would be of comfort 
to any one in sorrow1 to one who had    
greatly sinned1 and verses which they   
considered good advice to young people4 
,that instructor was making a sane1     
practical attempt to feed the souls of  
those girls by helping them search out  
for themselves what the ,bible has to   
say on topics of real interest4  ,i saw 
a note book recently prepared by a      
fifteen-year-old girl which ,i believe  
most valuable because of the things     
about which it has lead her to think4   
,she had taken as the subject of her    
book1 ,the ,good ,shepherd4 ,on the     
cover was a picture with that title2 in 
the inside a fine collection of pictures
 representing ,jesus as the ,good       

,shepherd1 clippings regarding oriental 
shepherd life1 ,the ,shepherd ,psalm1   
the ,parable of the ,lost ,sheep and the
 words of hymns like ,the ,ninety and   
,nine and poems like ,that ,li'l ,black 
,sheep4  ,one cannot soon forget that   
book with its decorated margins1 its    
neat mounting of cards and clippings and
 its beautiful pictures4 ,the effect of 
the book upon the girl who made it1 the 
teachers said was very apparent4        
,another book was entitled ,come ,unto  
,me1 and the pictures1 verses and hymns 
were most impressive4 ,when each girl   
has exchanged books with each member of 
the class1 they are to be sent to a     
rescue home for girls4  ,the ,bible     
messages to mankind brought by such     
simple methods into direct contact with 
a girl in her early teens is one means  
of nourishing her soul4 ,if it is true  
that the best in poetry1 art1 literature
 and oratory1 as well as the greatest   
uplift to character1 finds its source in
 that ,book the girl should come into   

real touch with it that it may feed her 
expanding soul4 ,it is this sort of     
first-hand1 individual study while she  
is still a girl which will help her     
later to turn to the ,book for          
encouragement1 comfort and strength1 and
 lead her to great thoughts and the     
attempting of great things because her  
own soul is inspired4  ,the majority of 
teachers1 superintendents and leaders   
interested in religious instruction     
today were trained in ,christian homes  
and taught as little children to pray4  
,attendance at church services of       
various kinds gave to them almost       
unconsciously a phraseology of prayer   
and impressed upon them the place of    
prayer in the ,christian life4 ,so      
familiar is the fact of prayer that they
 forget that the majority of pupils in  
the average ,sunday-school of today are 
not familiar with the words of prayer at
 family worship1 are at best irregular  
in church attendance and that many are  
associated with no society in the church

 where there is any training in prayer4 
,to such young people prayer has nothing
 to do with life4 ,they say the ,lord's 
,prayer at school perhaps1 formally and 
hurriedly in the morning1 they hear the 
prayer from the superintendent's desk on
 ,sunday1 or perchance remember the     
evening1 ,now ,i lay me down to sleep1  
which is said in many homes not         
,christian1 by the little child4 ,but   
the prayer2 which though only an echo of
 adult prayers1 and only half           
understood1 calms many a fear in a      
childish heart1 helps to victory over   
sin many a struggling ten-year-old      
reared in a ,christian home1 is utterly 
foreign to the child who has none of    
these influences and who meets in the   
average ,sunday-school not cultivation1 
but the abstract taken for granted type 
of instruction4  ,i have in my          
possession a most interesting set of    
papers written by girls in their early  
twenties regarding their memories of    
their own training in prayer and the    

result of it in their lives4 ,i quote   
first from the papers of girls brought  
up in ,christian homes4  ,i can remember
 now the very wording of some of my     
father's prayers and those words found  
their way into my own--some of them are 
still there4 ,often when a child1 ,i    
prayed impulsively1 using unconventional
 terms and saying 'you' instead of      
'thou4' ,before ,i was twelve mother    
often reminded me of my prayers when she
 said good night4 ,as ,i grew older     
nothing was said to me about it4 ,i was 
hot-tempered and continually 'getting   
mad' at other girls and teachers and    
almost every one4 ,no one will ever know
 the remorse ,i suffered after one of   
those outbursts4 ,at night ,i would pour
 out my soul in a plea for forgiveness4 
,i was sure ,god forgave me and started 
next day with determination to conquer4 
,i often prayed about examinations which
 were very hard for me4 ,once or twice  
,i prayed that mother would see that ,i 
needed a different kind of dress from   

the one she planned4 ,i am sure that ,i 
felt ,god was a sympathetic friend and  
prayer to me was natural4  ,here was a  
girl who because of the cultivation in  
the home turned simply and naturally to 
,god to supply her need4 ,she is today a
 pure1 healthy1 natural young woman who 
has seemingly triumphed over her        
propensity to get mad4 ,another girl    
says3  ,i have prayed ever since ,i     
remember4 ,we always had family prayers 
at home and in church our pastor always 
prayed for us children4 ,i used to pray 
when ,i was afraid1 which ,i often was  
at night when the wind blew1 and ,i felt
 comforted4 ,my little sister was not   
strong and for years ,i prayed every    
night that ,god would let us keep her4  
,sometimes when ,i had been scolded in  
school for whispering1 in which ,i was a
 great offender1 ,i prayed in shame and 
remorse for forgiveness4 ,as ,i grew    
older ,i still prayed when afraid and   
repentant and often on a beautiful day1 
or in the canoe at sunset when ,i could 

not say all ,i felt4 ,when ,i was about 
eighteen ,i began to pray for the       
missionaries and people who were poor   
and sick4 ,i do not remember any        
definite instruction about prayer4 ,it  
seemed natural to me4 ,i often felt     
doubts when the answer didn't come but  
had a very definite feeling that the    
trouble must be with me4  ,this girl by 
environment and unconscious training has
 also found speaking with ,god a natural
 thing4 ,there are so many papers which 
express through different personalities 
the same general facts which cannot fail
 to impress one who reads1 with the     
power of the cultivation of prayer4     
,but in the papers and from the         
interviews of girls in the early        
twenties whose only definite relation   
with the church is the ,sunday-school   
class1 who come from non-,christian     
homes1 whose parents almost never enter 
a church a different note sounds4  ,one 
says3  ,i am trying to be a ,christian4 
,i have not joined the church4 ,i cannot

 say that ,i pray very regularly but ,i 
have tried to4 ,it does not seem to help
 me much4 ,the minister prayed for me   
the day my brother died and it helped4  
,sometimes ,i read in a book of prayers4
  ,and another writes3  ,i do not       
believe ,i ever was taught to say my    
prayers when a child4 ,i do not remember
 ever praying except the ,lord's        
,prayer4 ,i am interested in our class1 
the teacher makes the lessons           
interesting4 ,i like to hear them       
discuss things4 ,i always bow my head   
during prayer anywhere4 ,sometimes ,i   
have thought ,i would pray for myself   
but ,i never have4  ,one of the most    
interesting papers is written by a young
 woman engaged in rescue work for girls1
 or has talked personally with a great  
many girls about prayer4 ,she says3     
,there was another girl with whom ,i    
talked one afternoon whose face ,i can  
see clearly now4 ,she was suffering from
 great remorse because of her sin1 for  
up to the time of her misfortune she had

 been 'a good girl4' ,one of the workers
 suggested that she pray for strength   
and forgiveness4 ',pray1' she said      
bitterly4 ',they told me that when ,i   
was a little girl and went to           
,sunday-school4 ,pray4 ,how can ,i talk 
to ,god8 ,what would he do for me8 ,i   
tried last night when ,i couldn't sleep 
but don't know what to say6'  ,there was
 no natural turning to a strong         
sympathetic ,friend and ,father on the  
part of these girls1 or the twenty or   
more whose testimony ,i have been       
looking over4 ,those who were trying to 
be ,christians made it a matter of duty 
to try to pray but it was irregular and 
forced2 there was no natural spontaneity
 about it4 ,it wasn't real to them1 it  
played no vital part in life4 ,in       
looking over the papers one is convinced
 of the tremendous asset the girl has   
who from childhood has been trained to  
turn to the ,source of ,strength when in
 fear or trouble or need and when filled
 with the joy of living4 ,a girl's life 

must be raised to a higher plane by     
daily contact with the ,highest4 ,if she
 sincerely speaks but for a moment to   
,god1 realizing his love1 mercy1 justice
 and righteousness1 it will not be as   
easy for her to be jealous1 unkind1     
untrue or a gossip4 ,one covets for all 
girls this natural1 spontaneous turning 
to ,god which has seemed to come to so  
many through the ,christian home and its
 unconscious influence and instruction4 
,nothing can take the place of the      
earnest daily prayer of a manly father1 
and the instruction of a sweet1         
,christian mother4 ,but the task which  
so many homes lays down the community   
must take up4 ,the public school cannot 
cultivate the spirit of prayer1 and if  
the home does not1 the church remains   
the only possible agent through which it
 may be done4 ,the ,sunday-school       
teacher is the church's most potent     
instrument1 therefore a large share of  
the task is hers4  ,the teachers in the 
,beginners' departments realize the need

 of the cultivation of prayer and pray  
simply and often during the session1    
baby lips repeating the words4 ,through 
cards and memory verses prayers go into 
homes where none are ever made4 ,in     
,primary departments the instruction is 
continued and children are led to       
express themselves in simple words of   
worship4 ,in the ,junior departments    
there is the superintendent's           
prayer--the appeal it makes depending   
upon the leader's sympathy1 and         
knowledge of childhood4 ,often both are 
lacking4 ,these ,junior girls know the  
street1 the moving picture show1 the    
unsupervised playground1 the temptations
 of school life2 they are beginning to  
show the moral effect of poverty on the 
one hand and social ambitions and false 
standards on the other4 ,how many       
prayers for girls from ten to twelve    
does one hear8 ,how many can he find    
though he search ever so diligently4    
,when we come to the girl in her teens  
we find often in large numbers of       

classes that the only instruction in    
prayer is the indirect teaching from the
 prayer at the desk4 ,how many girls    
listen reverently to it8  ,they come    
from stores and shops1 from high        
schools1 offices1 homes of plenty and   
homes of want4 ,they know temptation1   
they meet it in more dangerous forms    
than ever before4 ,how does the prayer  
affect life as they know it8 ,very      
little ,i am bound to believe unless the
 great experience has come to them and  
they have said in simple girlish        
fashion1 ,o ,christ1 ,i choose thee     
,king of my life--,i follow thee        
wherever the way shall lead1 unless that
 transferring of will from vague and    
indefinite desire to a definite purpose 
has come1 the prayer which is a part of 
the average opening service will have   
little influence4 ,even if the great    
decision has been made1 the prayer of   
one far away at the desk1 often out of  
touch with young life1 does not bring   
the uplift4  ,what a teacher may do the 

following testimony of a young girl may 
help us to see3  ,i never had any       
special instruction in prayer at home4  
,i think ,i must have said my prayers   
when a very little child4 ,my parents   
are just fine but they do not go to     
church4 ,they almost always spend       
,sundays with grandmother on the farm4  
,i do not remember any instruction about
 prayer1 though of course it was        
mentioned and ,i knew good people       
prayed1 until ,i was seventeen when the 
finest teacher ,i ever had talked to us 
about it for four ,sundays4 ,then ,i saw
 how much the people who had helped the 
world had prayed and how much it did for
 them4 ,she made ,christ seem so        
beautiful and sympathetic that though ,i
 can't explain it ,i wanted to pray     
myself4 ,that afternoon out in the      
hammock ,i did4 ,i shall never forget   
how wonderful the world seemed4444 ,in a
 few weeks three of us joined the church
 and we prayed for the other girls4     
,that year eight of us joined4  ,the    

testimony speaks for itself4 ,she taught
 them what prayer had done for others2  
she made them want to pray4 ,i do not   
know that teacher but ,i feel sure she  
knew by experience what she taught4  ,i 
know another teacher who is very        
successful in cultivating the spiritual 
life of every class of girls as it comes
 to her4 ,i find that each new class has
 been asked to join with her at night in
 using wisely selected prayers written  
by ,stevenson1 ,rauschenbusch1 ,phillips
 ,brooks1 and others taken from         
religious journals and from calendars4  
,each prayer is used daily for two      
weeks4 ,after about six months the      
teacher asks that a committee be        
appointed to write a prayer for the     
class1 this committee being changed     
every two weeks4  ,some of the prayers  
were very helpful and all had a crude1  
simple sincerity that was fine4 ,i saw a
 letter written to this teacher by a    
seventeen-year-old girl away from home  
and out on a strike4 ,it was a pathetic 

letter but one sentence cheered the     
teacher's heart--,the prayer that ,midge
 and ,kate wrote keeps coming to my mind
 and it helps me to keep a level head   
when we all git kinder wild4  ,when     
girls see that prayer is not beseeching 
an unwilling ,god for things the desire 
for which may be born of pure           
selfishness1 but is the way by which    
help to keep steady and strong1 power to
 love one's fellows and to live         
courageously and well comes to many1 it 
will make a difference in what they     
think about prayer and the way they     
pray4 ,but most girls do not know these 
things intuitively4 ,they must be helped
 to know them4 ,the spirit within them  
must be cultivated4 ,prayer and seeking 
the ,bible for courage and help are     
largely matters of cultivation4 ,the    
great ,teacher prayed ,himself in such a
 wonderful way that the disciples       
listening cried--,lord1 teach us how to 
pray4 ,and he answered their request1   
giving them the words to say until they 

should find words for themselves4 ,he   
made them want to pray4  ,if the girl   
herself chances to read this chapter let
 her be assured that there is no lesson 
in all the world which she can learn    
which can give to her anything like the 
courage1 strength1 comfort and help to  
go right on in the face of hard things1 
that can come to her through learning   
how to truly pray1 not empty words1 not 
words for others to hear1 but words that
 say all she feels of disappointment and
 longing1 of hope and gladness4 ,the    
,great ,god hears all one can say and   
knows what she cannot say4 ,only ,god   
can do that4 ,even the best friends tire
 of our struggles and failures4 ,god    
never does and when ,i speak to ,him ,i 
may know ,he cares4 ,though ,i am one   
speck of humanity in a great mass of men
 and women1 though the girl who is      
reading this is just one ordinary girl1 
one among millions the world around1 she
 may speak to ,god1 her ,creator without
 fear1 may touch ,his greatness and her 

heart be warmed by ,his answering touch4
    ,speak to ,him then1 for ,he        
heareth1     and spirit with spirit may 
meet4   ,closer is ,he than breathing1  
,and nearer than hands and feet4        
,,xvi  ,a ,,plea ,,and ,a ,,promise     
,the ,plea is for a purer1 more         
invigorating atmosphere for our girls to
 breathe--the ,promise1 that when it is 
given to them they will respond1 their  
religious1 as well as physical and      
mental life will be normal and the      
vitality in it will express itself in   
action4  ,inspiration is a part of a    
girl's religion and inspiration means   
inhaling--taking into the life that     
which creates high and lofty emotions4  
,memory takes me back to school days    
when with windows wide open1 shoulders  
squared and heads erect1 the teacher's  
command bade us inhale and we filled our
 lungs to the full with fresh1          
life-giving air4 ,then came the command 
to exhale1 and we emptied our lungs1    
that there might be room for more of the

 clear invigorating air4 ,in life's     
larger school our girls of today are    
inhaling what8 ,is it the fresh1        
untainted1 life-giving air8  ,the other 
day on the street ,i overheard a girl   
uttering words that made me turn in     
dismay to look at her4 ,i saw1 not what 
,i expected to see1 a coarse1 ill-clad1 
ignorant girl1 but a pretty1 fashionably
 dressed girl with high school books    
under her arm4 ,where had she breathed  
in the sentiments regarding honor which 
in slangy phrases she breathed out with 
no hesitation or shame8 ,there was      
nothing high or lofty in the emotion    
enkindled by what she breathed into her 
soul from her environment1 and what she 
had breathed out into her companion's   
ears could not fail to weaken and       
injure4  ,i found myself wondering what 
her environment could be and later when 
,i described her1 a girl companion told 
me her name4 ,i remembered her then1 one
 of the girls who had grown up quickly1 
the daughter of a skilled mechanic who  

made good wages and owned a comfortable 
home4 ,she was an only child and her    
mother was socially ambitious for her4  
,the mother had done nothing to interest
 her daughter in the church1 only now   
and then did she attend ,sunday-school2 
friends were entertained ,sunday        
evening1 so she had no connection with  
the young peoples' societies of the     
church4 ,she is a type of a vast number 
of girls whose religious sense lies     
dormant4  ,knowing now her environment1 
,i asked myself1 ,where can she 'breathe
 in that which will stir her soul to    
high and lofty emotion1' and enable her 
to help and bless her world8 ,at home8  
,can she there breathe in that which    
will enkindle noble ambition to love and
 serve in a world which so needs love   
and service8  ,once there were          
numberless homes and1 thank ,god1 there 
are still many where a girl can breathe 
in deep draughts of the fresh1 sweet1   
wholesome atmosphere in which the family
 lives4 ,but knowing something of that  

mother1 ,i knew she discussed with her  
daughter1 dress and parties1 her future 
at college1 her music1 her marks1 and   
laid wisely and well her plans for the  
forming of friendships which she        
considered an advantage4 ,in her        
presence she criticized friends and     
neighbors and related bits of gossip4   
,occasionally she scolded her for faults
 that happened at the moment to annoy4  
,her father talked boastfully of his    
successes and ambitions1 criticized the 
men for whom he did business1 found     
fault with those whom he employed1      
occasionally talked of politics in a    
vain attempt to interest his wife and   
daughter4 ,there were few books in the  
home4 ,the newspapers and one or more   
popular magazines represented the only  
reading of the family4 ,the daughter    
played a little1 sang a little1 sewed a 
very little and studied as much as she  
must to insure the certificate for      
entrance to college4 ,but she attended  
matinees1 dancing parties in large      

numbers1 and belonged to a whist club4  
,a whist club1 poor girl1 at sixteen6   
,her parents were blind and deaf to the 
fact that in their daughter's life there
 was nothing1 save now and then a       
desperate attempt on the part of an     
earnest high school teacher1 or a word  
from a teacher who occasionally found   
her in the ,sunday-school class1 which  
might inspire her soul with high ideals1
 pure1 noble thoughts expressed in      
action which makes life sweeter4 ,of    
nature's beauties1 of her countless     
miracles1 of the dramatic acts of       
current history1 of the lives and needs 
of other girls she knew almost nothing4 
,in her pitiful little world she lived1 
her best self dying for want of pure air
 with the oxygen of power in it4  ,can  
she find in the social life and         
amusements of the day the inspiration   
needed to fill her soul with life that  
it may develop as her normal healthy    
body develops8 ,no1 the girls of our    
country do not find our social life a   

help to the higher expression of self4  
,only here and there do wise parents    
make social life simple1 free from show 
and sham1 from false standards and      
appeals to the senses4 ,but few know how
 to center the social life in the home1 
in the out-of-doors1 in clean sports1   
instead of letting it center about      
exotic conditions1 unreasonable hours1  
and deadly refreshments4 ,only now and  
then does the present social life demand
 any exercise of mental power4  ,it is  
wonderfully encouraging to find1 here   
and there1 groups of girls of sixteen   
and their boy friends having their      
simple good times in each other's homes1
 enjoying the picnic and the skating    
party2 or the girls by themselves       
enjoying camp life1 the tramp in the    
woods1 the gymnasium class2 or with     
their parents or chaperones enjoying the
 moving pictures of high standard1      
without vaudeville4 ,these girls are    
such a contrast to the usual groups of  
sophisticated1 bored1 blas girls who at 

eighteen have tired of the ordinary     
means of recreation and amusement4 ,our 
social life suffers from too rapid      
growth4 ,it does not offer the tonic for
 healthy social nature4 ,it needs       
pruning4 ,some of it needs to be torn up
 by the roots4  ,and what of the        
schools8 ,can she find there the        
atmosphere that will stir her soul to   
noble1 unselfish joyous living8 ,yes1 in
 some schools4 ,many are engaged in     
merely continuing the system1 following 
a curriculum strangely deficient in     
those things which touch life directly1 
to inspire it and kindle it with        
ambition4  ,recently1 four names1 the   
names of women1 were presented to       
classes of girls in the last year of the
 grammar grades and the four years of   
the high school4 ,the girls were asked1 
,did you ever hear of ,frances ,willard8
 ,what do you know about her8 ,then     
followed the names of ,mary ,lyon1      
,clara ,barton1 ,alice ,freeman ,palmer4
 ,the show of hands and the written     

replies were pitiful4 ,some had a vague 
idea that they had heard the name       
somewhere1 a few gave one or two facts4 
,clara ,barton seemed the one most      
familiar but knowledge concerning her   
was very limited4  ,then ,jane ,addams' 
name was tried1 the same meager replies 
resulting4 ,finally the name of the wife
 of a noted and notorious insane        
criminal was given and scarcely a hand  
was down in answer to the first         
question1 and pencils flew over the     
paper in answer to the second4 ,what    
does it mean8 ,it does not condemn the  
school1 nor does it hold the school     
responsible but it does suggest that    
there might be some substitute          
characters for the mythical ones of     
ancient history1 or that possibly the   
lives of great and noble women might be 
studied with greater profit by the girls
 of today than certain abstract problems
 in physics4 ,in many of the classes    
where the questions were asked that     
fresh1 clear1 vitalizing atmosphere     

charged with reality1 seemed lacking4   
,when we can calmly look at our schools1
 recognize the tremendous difficulties  
under which they work1 realize their    
limitations1 and with profound belief in
 what they have done1 gratitude for what
 they are doing and confidence in what  
they are going to do1 get at our task of
 setting teachers free and vitalizing   
courses of study1 we shall be able to   
generate in them all the atmosphere in  
which the girl will find inspiration for
 noble living4  ,where can the girl turn
 for the life giving atmosphere8 ,to the
 church8 ,yes1 if the church were awake 
to the facts and equipped to meet her   
needs4 ,but what a small part of our    
country's girlhood comes into direct    
contact with the church1 and how few    
churches have adequate leadership       
provided for those whom it does touch4  
,the whole problem of adolescence is a  
problem of leadership4 ,a wise leader   
has almost unlimited power in charging  
the atmosphere with the spirit of       

uplift4 ,the church must furnish        
leadership4 ,it must guide or lose its  
youth4 ,it must advise with practical1  
possible advice4  ,perhaps the day will 
come when groups of churches will unite 
in forming social centers and the       
business men of those churches shall    
seriously consider the problem of where 
girls shall meet their young men friends
 and how they shall spend their evenings
 together4 ,perhaps some day the men of 
the church will select in their         
community a good1 clean moving picture  
house1 and there are some1 where they   
can advise their young people to go1    
helping them thus to escape the snare of
 those who cater to evil4  ,those most  
deeply interested in a girl's religion1 
have come to see its relation to every  
other phase of her life1 and to know    
that one may not snatch amusements from 
the lives of young people1 giving       
nothing in return4  ,just what is wisest
 to give in return is our great problem4
 ,the church must meet it and it needs  

help4  ,the time is ripe and more than  
ripe for the direct appeal to the home4 
,it should be made through every avenue 
and in every language4 ,it should be    
made through every newspaper and printed
 in every tongue--,responsibility       
belongs to the home4 ,all sorts of homes
 must help in making the atmosphere in  
which a young girl must live1 safe1 free
 from poisons that mean suffering and in
 the long run death to the best things4 
,i happened one day in a smoke laden    
city upon a group of women in one of the
 residential districts who were meeting 
together to see if all the families for 
a certain number of blocks east and west
 would promise to use only hard coal in 
their homes4 ,one of the women1 the     
mother of three young children1 pictured
 vividly the difference it would make in
 the atmosphere their children must     
breathe and closed her appeal by saying1
 ,but women1 it means that we must all  
burn it4 ,the help one or two of us can 
give amounts to almost nothing4 ,into   

each of our cellars the hard coal must  
go and each of us must insist upon using
 nothing else4 ,then we shall have      
clean1 pure air for our babies to       
breathe throughout all this section4    
,she had stated the answer to the whole 
problem of bringing inspiration to our  
girls4 ,it will need every home and     
every church to keep the atmosphere     
clean and invigorating4  ,it may be that
 the girl herself is reading and        
thinking over this ,plea and ,promise4  
,if she is she will realize how         
earnestly we covet for her all the best 
things and how we long for wisdom to    
help her get them4 ,perhaps she will    
think that she can do a great deal      
toward getting them for herself1 and she
 can4 ,let me recall to her mind one of 
the girls whom we find in almost every  
gymnasium class1 whose pale face and    
stooping shoulders attract at once the  
instructor's attention4 ,let me remind  
her of the special exercises given that 
girl for chest development1 the advice  

about food and the command1 ,live with  
your windows open4 ,let the air into    
your lungs4 ,again and again you will   
remember the instructor gave the command
 to the class1 ,breathe4 ,use your      
lungs6 ,half of you use only two-thirds 
of your lung capacity6 ,and then by way 
of emphasis she contrasted her own chest
 expansion and yours1 adding1 ,if you   
want health1 take deep breaths4  ,the   
,plea which ,i make to the girl herself 
is that she use1 to the full capacity1  
her power to inhale those things that   
shall give inspiration for pure1 helpful
 living4 ,every girl has that power4    
,some use only two-thirds of it1 some   
one third1 some have forgotten its      
existence4 ,if a girl wants to really   
live she must breathe deep1 with her    
soul's windows open wide to the         
atmosphere that will give her strength4 
,if she is obliged to live with those   
who do not think of these things1 whose 
own spirits are starved1 she can seek   
friends who will help1 she can go to the

 places where her mind and soul are     
stirred as well as her senses1 she can  
find in good books great uplift and     
courage4 ,she will1 if she truly wants  
inspiration and help to live nobly1     
attend regularly some church where the  
service makes her long to be her best4  
,she will1 if possible1 join some class 
where she can study the life and        
teachings of ,jesus ,christ1 who now    
even as when ,he was here1 lifts those  
who listen to ,him out of failure and   
discouragement into hope1 in whose      
presence every girl may breathe in the  
atmosphere filled with life giving      
power4  ,if a girl responds to this     
,plea to open her soul to the great     
,giver of life1 ,i can ,promise that she
 will find true happiness and joy4      
,,xvii  ,a ,,person ,,not ,a ,,fact     
,every thoughtful person craves facts4  
,they are cold1 hard1 sometimes         
disconcerting but they carry weight4 ,it
 is a fact1 it has been proven1 hushes  
many a query and silences many an       

argument4 ,and yet it is not in the     
array of facts which can be given at any
 moment that young people find their    
incentives and inspirations4 ,they may  
have all the facts at their tongue's end
 but lack the fire which shall transfuse
 those facts into power to act in       
accordance with their teachings4 ,julius
 ,csar is a fact4 ,a girl may have no   
doubt of his existence1 she may not     
question the great events of his life1  
but he does not stir her to action4 ,the
 fact of ,george ,washington does not   
awaken the patriotism of a girl and in  
schools where merely the facts regarding
 his life are given his influence is    
practically negative4 ,but whenever the 
facts have been breathed upon by a      
sympathetic spirit and the fact ,george 
,washington transformed into the        
personality that lives in the girl's    
presence then his influence begins to   
count4  ,it is not the facts about      
,abraham ,lincoln that engender heroism4
 ,the facts may be presented in such a  

way as to hold but passing interest4 ,i 
have heard the life and times of        
,abraham ,lincoln taught that way4 ,but 
,i have seen ,abraham ,lincoln presented
 to a class of foreign girls by one to  
whom he had become a friend as real and 
genuine as if he stood by her side4 ,as 
,i listened ,i saw ,abraham ,lincoln4 ,i
 felt the kindness and patience of his  
great soul1 the honest purpose and the  
fine courage of his life4 ,the facts    
were there in that lesson but more than 
the facts were there4 ,he was there4 ,at
 the close of the lesson that teacher   
looking into the faces of the girls who 
represented nearly every land across the
 sea said to them1 ,what do you think of
 him8 ,one girl responded eagerly ,i    
think he was grand6 and a dark-haired   
intense girl1 her black eyes glowing1   
rose and said with an earnestness and   
fervor ,i can never forget1 ,i love him6
 ,you shall hear more tomorrow1 said the
 teacher1 and they looked as if it were 
hard to wait4  ,a careful observation of

 the ways of presenting great men of    
history and great characters in         
literature to young people will convince
 one beyond doubt that the girl may     
store the facts in the memory for a     
time1 but if the living personality is  
presented it will remain to mold and    
guide and influence the life4 ,the      
teacher's greatest power is never in    
what she teaches but in what is revealed
 to the individual through her teaching4
 ,the mind hungers for facts1 searches  
for facts and wearies of facts4 ,it     
follows personality4  ,when ,richard    
,watson ,gilder tried to voice the plea 
of the young doubter1 puzzled1 perplexed
 and suffering from the great array of  
apparently conflicting facts and most of
 all from his own failure to win out    
over the temptations that swept over him
 he said3    ,thou ,christ1 my soul is  
hurt and bruised6     ,with words the   
scholars wear me out2   ,my brain       
o'erwearied and confused1     ,thee1    
myself and all1 ,i doubt4   ,and must ,i

 back to darkness go     ,because ,i    
cannot say a creed8   ,i know not what  
,i think6 ,i know     ,only that ,thou  
art what ,i need4  ,the fact is not     
enough4 ,john ,kendrick ,bangs says it  
forcibly--    ,a mere acceptance of the 
fact of love of ,god above1   ,of all   
the vast omnipotence of ,him our ,maker 
and ,defence   ,is not believing4       
,slowly we are getting back to the      
recognition of the proper place of fact1
 of its power as the background and     
basis against which and upon which      
,personality must stand4 ,our eyes are  
opening to see that if the girl is to   
gain a religion which shall mean life1  
she must gain it through a person who   
reveals a ,person4  ,here is ,mary      
,d----1 a girl of fifteen1 a worker in a
 mill employing a very cheap grade of   
help4 ,her face was hard1 there was no  
light of anticipation in her eyes--she  
had nothing to anticipate4 ,she toiled  
through the long hours1 for there was no
 limit to her day in the state where she

 lives4 ,her home was not a home but a  
place where she could stay nights--when 
her father was not so quarrelsome       
through cheap drink that he drove her   
out4 ,one day a woman at a noon service 
in the factory shocked at a profane     
remark of ,mary's said reprovingly1     
,don't you believe there is a ,god8     
,sure ,i do1 said ,mary1 but ,i don't   
see's it makes no difference to me4     
,further questions followed and ,mary   
declared her belief1 adding1 ,i don't   
bother much about them things4 ,mary had
 some facts and declared some sort of   
belief in them1 but they made no        
difference4  ,illustration3 ,,the       
,,future ,,promises ,,nothing ,,and     
,,she ,,has ,,lost ,,hope  ,the next    
summer1 ,mary1 overcome by the work of  
the year and an attack of the grippe1   
was sent by a woman in one of the       
churches1 to a girl's camp4 ,she lived  
in decent fashion1 she saw a lake1 great
 mountains1 sunsets and stars6 ,she     
found flowers and sat quite still       

watching birds that seemed so marvelous 
to her4  ,slowly she grew strong4 ,one  
night she went to the sloping bank by   
the lake under the great pine trees to  
attend the twilight service4 ,the sky   
was crimson with the sunset and there   
was a wonderful path of light across the
 lake4 ,the songs and the beauty moved  
,mary's soul4 ,she wanted something with
 all her heart that she had never wanted
 before4 ,she did not know what it 7the 
great change7 was at first1 but before  
she slept she turned to another girl in 
the tent and expressed it as best she   
could--,i want to be good1 she said4    
,through the weeks that followed she saw
 in the faces1 in the kindness and      
courtesy1 in the good times she had     
never known1 in the women who planned   
them and in the songs and talks at      
sunset a ,person4 ,she heard ,his name  
often4 ,he represented all of the       
happiness and comfort she had ever known
 and one day with all the eagerness of  
an awakened soul she said1 ,i love ,him4

 ,they told her what changes must come  
in the life of a girl who said those    
words and meant them1 for they had seen 
the faults in her and they were many4   
,she was undaunted by all they said she 
must do1 and answered in her uncouth    
fashion1 ,i'd die doin' them fur ,him4  
,they wanted her to leave the mill but  
she said no1 one of the girls was       
leaving and she was to have her place   
with lighter work4 ,she wanted to go    
back and tell the girls some things1 she
 said4  ,not three years have passed but
 ,mary ,d---- is a new girl4 ,she is    
attractive2 one can scarcely believe    
unless he has seen it4 ,she is clean2   
she is happy4 ,her friends secured a    
position for her father out-of-doors    
where he had loved to work as a boy4    
,mary took him to the ,mission and there
 he promised to begin the fight against 
his enemy4 ,the men in the ,mission     
helped4 ,regular pay made a decent home 
possible4 ,they have begun to live4     
,overcome by the effects of ignorance   

and sin1 failures as citizens1 as       
individuals1 as human souls1 they met a 
,person and life was transformed4 ,if it
 were possible to replace in every      
factory for ,mary ,d---- who assented to
 the facts but passed them by as having 
nothing to do with her1 ,mary ,d---- who
 met a ,person and loved ,him what a    
world of new moral forces we could      
create6  ,he was revealed to ,mary      
,d---- not in the abstract which could  
not impress her but in the concrete     
which she understood4 ,o if only we     
could grasp the significance of that6   
,ruth ,m---- was a college junior with  
ancestry and wealth1 brilliant1         
sarcastic1 selfish4 ,she knew all the   
facts and accepted them4 ,she was a     
member of a church with which she had   
united at fourteen as had her mother and
 grandmother before her4 ,she did not   
think much about the facts1 they had not
 greatly impressed her4 ,if questioned1 
she promptly stated that she believed   
this and that1 she thought such and such

 things were probable though no one     
could prove them1 and dismissed the     
subject to talk of her own plans and    
interests4  ,then her great sorrow came4
 ,in a moment she lost everything dear  
to her4 ,they called it an accident4    
,she held ,god accountable and in       
bitterness and anger turned her back    
upon all the facts4 ,the months passed  
and her health breaking she was obliged 
to leave college4 ,at the beautiful     
health resort to which she went she met 
a girl she had known well when a little 
child4 ,they renewed the friendship4    
,then the girl's sorrow came4 ,it was   
not death1 it was far worse1 scandal and
 disgrace in her family1 which had been 
unstained before4 ,out of a clear sky it
 came4  ,in amazement ,ruth watched her 
friend4 ,she saw her suffer but she saw 
no conquering bitterness1 heard no words
 of wild rebellion4 ,she looked into a  
sweet calm face and saw a girl less than
 twenty1 with life's conditions changed 
in a moment1 adjust herself to the new  

conditions and go on4 ,seeking a        
solution she questioned her friend and  
met a ,person4 ,day after day as she saw
 ,him revealed in that heroic life1 as  
she beheld the girl overcoming in ,his  
strength natural resentment against the 
injustice and unkindness of those who   
would make her suffer for the sins of   
her parents1 the facts were swallowed up
 in the ,person and she loved ,him4     
,together1 the past summer1 in a rest   
camp for mothers and babies they worked 
out the commands of the ,person who had 
made it possible for them to take up    
life after bitter loss and find it      
sweet4  ,if one could summon to a       
central place the girls who have met the
 ,person what an inspiration they would 
be6 ,of every sort and condition1 of    
every color and nation1 speaking        
languages new and old and dialects that 
have never been written1 all uniting in 
the testimony that ,he has made life    
great for them4  ,the facts are in      
chaotic state4 ,parts of truth and      

segments of universal fact are waiting  
for man to unite them4 ,only the perfect
 whole can speak with certainty and we  
must wait for that4 ,the creeds are     
countless4 ,they do not matter much4    
,the ,person said little about them4    
,they are just our poor attempts to put 
in words--,god and ,his will4 ,it is    
,not the ,christ of our subtile creeds  
,but the ,lord of our hearts1 of our    
homes1   ,of our hopes1 our prayers1 our
 needs2   ,the brother of want and      
blame1     ,the lover of woman and men1 
,with a love that puts to shame     ,all
 passions of mortal ken4  ,the only way 
to meet a fact is to face it1 follow it 
and see where it will lead4 ,it is      
prejudice that blinds one's eyes to     
facts4 ,it is only man's limited vision1
 that makes a part seem as a whole1 that
 accepts as fact the thing he would like
 to be a fact1 that one need fear4      
,facts that are facts need never cause  
one to doubt4 ,for fact is truth and    
truth leads to ,god4 ,the business of   

every church and every teacher of       
religion is to discover the facts1 and  
present the ,person4  ,if the girl      
herself is reading these words let her  
be assured that more than any array of  
facts that she can gather1 more than any
 proofs man can summon1 she needs the   
,person4 ,the handicapped girl finds in 
,him strength to triumph in spite of it1
 the privileged girl finds in ,him the  
inspiration for her work of extending   
her privileges1 the girl who is easily  
led to find in ,him one who never leads 
astray1 the girl who is misunderstood   
can find in ,him one who understands    
perfectly1 the indifferent girl who     
means to will find in ,him a friend to  
encourage1 steady and compel1 the girl  
who worships the twin idols can find in 
,him a rescuer who shall set her free1  
the girl of high ideals will see in ,him
 the highest ,ideal1 the source of all  
the others1 and the average girl of the 
every day with her good points and bad1 
her successes and failures1 will find in

 ,him a ,friend who will make life seem 
wonderfully worth while4  ,don't let the
 multitude of things in which you are   
interested1 the maze of contradiction1  
the abstract facts1 the trials and      
hardships of life1 the pleasures you    
love1 or any other thing make you pass  
,him by4 ,if you gain everything else in
 life and miss ,him you will fail to    
know what life means4 ,if you find ,him 
you will find ,love and that is the best
 thing life can give4     ,,xviii  ,,the
 ,,glory ,,of ,,the ,,climax   ,so many 
miss it4 ,it is more than duty but the  
path that leads to the glory of it often
 begins with the plain1 insistent1 ought
 of duty4 ,it is more than obedience1   
though without obedience none ever find 
it4 ,how many girls there are who are   
disappointed1 dissatisfied1 suffering   
perhaps in body and soul because they   
never learned to obey6 ,it is a great   
thing to be able to hear you ought and  
then at whatever cost to obey it4 ,but  
the climax is not found in these things 

great as they are4  ,faithful servants  
of a religion whose law is duty one     
finds among girls and honors them4 ,good
 and faithful servants of a religion    
whose law is obedience there are among  
girls4 ,but neither of these have found 
the glory of the climax4 ,the climax is 
,love4 ,the supreme command of the      
,founder of true religion is--,thou     
shalt ,love4  ,the religion of love is a
 girl's religion and she can never be   
satisfied with any other4 ,if those who 
have tried to teach her religion have   
failed to show her this1 then they have 
succeeded in giving her only a set of   
laws to be obeyed or a list of things   
she should not do4 ,love gives to ,thou 
,shalt and ,thou ,shalt ,not power      
without which they can accomplish       
little4  ,love transforms hard1         
disagreeable1 empty service and makes it
 glorious4 ,no one knows this better    
than a girl4 ,she has done things when  
necessity compelled her to do them1 and 
she has done them when love compelled   

her to do them4 ,she knows the          
difference4 ,jesus founded ,his ,kingdom
 on the knowledge ,he had of ,love4 ,he 
knew the kingdom would stand4 ,on his   
lonely island of banishment dreaming in 
the twilight1 with all the struggle and 
attainment behind him ,napoleon realized
 it as he said1 ,caesar1 ,charlemagne1  
,i1 have founded empires4 ,they were    
founded on force and have perished4     
,jesus ,christ has founded a kingdom on 
,love1 and to this day there are        
millions who would die for ,him4  ,when 
,i say that the religion of girlhood is 
the religion of ,love ,i mean real love4
 ,warm1 sweet1 tender1 quick to         
understand1 quick to discern need1      
tireless in service4 ,i mean the love   
that does not wait to be asked to serve1
 the love that gives because it must    
give4 ,when a girl's religion is filled 
with this love and rests upon it the    
girl does not say1 ,well1 ,i suppose if 
,i am a ,christian ,i can't do that4    
,the thought in her heart if it were put

 into words would be1 ,i wonder if ,he  
would want me to do that8 ,simple1      
natural1 sincere desire not to do the   
thing displeasing to ,one who loves and 
is loved4  ,one day ,i was looking at a 
deep well1 sunk away down in the rocks4 
,machinery dragged the water from the   
earth and machinery turned it into      
service4 ,some days later ,i saw a      
mountain spring4 ,it poured and poured  
out over the rocks1 down the precipice  
into the brook1 on into the river4 ,it  
ran as if it were glad to run and would 
never stop6 ,green things grew on every 
side of it1 mosses clung to the rocks it
 touched1 rich grass filled the meadow  
through which it flowed1 birds followed 
it4 ,life and beauty seemed to spring   
from every place it touched4  ,when ,i  
remembered the well of water deep down  
in rock1 dragged up by machinery it     
seemed to me like religion1 the religion
 of service through duty1 and ,i knew   
that it would keep right on serving as  
long as the machinery worked and would  

do its part dutifully4  ,then ,i looked 
again at the spring4 ,it seemed to me   
like religion1 the religion of love that
 blessed because it is its nature to    
bless and poured itself out in service  
because it must4  ,it is the religion of
 love which holds one to the side of the
 road where need is great1 work must be 
done1 perhaps sacrifice made4 ,that     
,samaritan who stopped1 dismounted1     
tenderly cared for an injured brother of
 hated race1 lifted him to his own      
beast1 slowly walked beside him to a    
place where rest and shelter could be   
provided1 knew the love-inspired        
religion4 ,the ,priest and the ,levite  
were followers of the law1 the letter of
 the law1 but they looked upon the man  
in his need1 crossed to the other side  
and passed by4  ,the ,jericho road is   
still with us1 and the needy who call   
for help and for justice are upon it1   
injured in body or soul4 ,the religion  
of the letter of the law looks1 crosses 
to the other side1 passes by4 ,on one   

side of the road ,need1 on the other    
side ,greed1 and ,love always where     
,need is4  ,the religion of ,love       
follows the road the ,founder took1 the 
road that leads to the place of service4
 ,that road may lead to ,china1 it may  
lead to the islands of the sea4 ,it took
 ,livingstone to ,africa1 ,dan ,crawford
 to the ,bantus for twenty-two years and
 now is taking him back for the rest of 
his days4 ,it took ,carey to ,india1 it 
left ,grenfell in ,labrador1 it led last
 year's college girls to every quarter  
of the globe4 ,it leads this one down   
among the dirty1 helpless1 little       
children trying to play in wretched     
scorching city streets1 it leads that   
one to the lonely countryside where     
girls starved for life are waiting4     
,and1 oh1 so often it leads one to the  
door of her own church1 to her own      
street1 to her own  class-room1 to the  
girl beside her in the office4          
,sometimes it leads to one's own        
kitchen1 or it stops beside the chair   

where one's own mother sits4 ,one can   
never tell where the road of the        
religion of love may lead1 but one      
cannot fail to see that those who follow
 it have shining faces and they love to 
live4  ,one day at sunset ,i waited at  
the little wharf to walk through the    
pines with ,elizabeth4 ,she was paddling
 in her canoe over the lake that had    
turned to crimson and gold1 from the    
fresh air camp on the other side to     
which she went every afternoon in summer
 to play games and tell stories4 ,i had 
a great day1 she called in her clear1   
cheering voice as she neared the wharf1 
and added as she stepped from the boat1 
,little ,billy loves me and ,katie ,kane
 whispered softly and blushed when she  
said it1 that she told me a lie         
yesterday and was never going to tell a 
lie no more as long as she lived6 ,poor 
,katie1 she laughed4  ,when we reached  
the knoll where the three pines were we 
stopped and looked back4 ,words could   
never describe what we saw4 ,elizabeth  

stood silently watching it1 her sweet   
face1 her dark hair and her middy blouse
 tinged with the glow of it4 ,as the sun
 slowly slipped into the lake she waved 
her hand playfully at it4 ,good night1  
old man1 she said4 ,give us a cooler day
 tomorrow4 ,fifty new children come to  
camp4 ,after a moment while we waited   
for darkness to come stealing over the  
lake1 forgetful of me1 she said with her
 whole soul in her voice1 ,oh1 ,i love  
it1 ,i love it all--the world1 and those
 poor blessed children1 then very softly
 and ,god4  ,she had found the girls'   
religion1 the religion ,jesus ,christ   
said1 when they asked ,him1 meant two   
things--,thou shalt love the ,lord ,thy 
,god--and ,thy ,neighbor4  ,this is the 
girl's religion1 for in loving she shall
 find ,love--the glory of the climax4   
,,the ,,end