Show Jf DOES SHE NEED A CHAPERONE A Timely Question is Very Intelligently Intel-ligently Discussed OPINIONS WIDELY DIFFER BELIEF THAT WOMAN CAN CAR FOR HERSELF 21 rn L jin a a Abbott Says There Is X o Sew Woman Cliaperone rVecefi nary in Large Clttcx Girls SoLon So-Lon cr Ignorant of the Won and ltd Ways Jennie lanes Sell Reliant Girls Written for The Herald Will the new woman do away wit the chaperone This was the question ques-tion asked of a number of the leadin thinkers among American w nen in i New York Their answers vary as do the women themselves in face in thought and in life work Mrs Henry Ward Beecher the widow of the worldfamous minister has gone back into her old home besIde be-sIde the church which she and her husband hus-band loved so well She is ncarinj lifes sunset but her heart is young and her interest in the old woman tin new woman and all womankind is just as keen as it was forty years ago She < 1smiled as she answered my question That is a subject which alwayi amuses me When people say a girl nes a chaperone I always tiiink of myself I had too much to do to require re-quire watching I was the youngest of ten children and my father was a d f r k THE POPULAR CHAPERONE country physlclin In those days s doctor was a surgeon too he was obliged to cut and Need and whenever when-ever my sisters saw a patient coming to the house they would run way and hide Then father would lay his hand on my head and say My brave little girl wont run away and leave her father nil alone will she and for those loving lov-ing words and a kiss I stood by him when only ten years old and helped 111m while he cut a mans hard off I would have suffered anything for a kiss indeed my mother never punished pun-ished us except by refusing to kiss us when we went to bed When I grew to womanhood I was glad I had acquired the habit of working work-ing for when I married Mr Beecher Ills tim was so taken up with his duties that I was obliged to assume all of the management of the home I always answered his letters sometimes thirty and forty a day I attended to his personal affairs and I really believe be-lieve he would never have had a new suit of clothes if I had not bought J them His salary was paid to me the checks were made out in my name and I cashed them to save him trouble tI took entire charge of the children sent them to school and to college and did everything for them without consulting con-sulting their father to tire his hardworking hard-working brain I tried to make his home a resting place It seems so strange not to have him to think for Tau know we were married lacking three months of fifty years That Is u great while for two people to be together ether Other women lose their husbands I hus-bands in five ten fifteen or twenty years lOr do not feel that Mr Beecher is dead only gone on a Journey a little while before and even now there is so much that I can do for him People write me and want to know things about him Why only yesterday I answered thirty letters I sat up until 1 oclock to ilnish the last one No I never needed a chaperone I was always 4 al-ways too busy Snru There Is Xo New Woman CVIrs Xymin Abbott wife of the celebrated cel-ebrated Brooklyn minister and herself c f I f M I I I a NOT ERr STRICT IVtldcly known all over the country in her Aunt Patience talks to and ti about all that is good and lovely In woman answered the question In this manner 3 dislike th2 phrase new woman exceedingly There is no such thing Women are the same now as they always al-ways have been They have jlways been free but to hear them talc one would think that somebody had suet denly emancipated them from slave dom Qur grandmothers were brave 0 toughtufl noble women helpmates tot to-t their husbands brothers and sons IThey thought acted and struggled ajjginst evlLiully as much as any wo mat of today They were not nonentl C ie4ii or Jgn ranJ aehsame cfjiha Women itlt tndaSsaaSUine w E ilthetatk8bi the ne s man c r gr 4 I 2 > AY c u < < > + Oh how the term displeases me I have no patience with the nonmean Ing words Woman today is just wha she was a hundred years ago and as for the question whether she woul < have a chaperone or not that Is a dil ficult problem to solve Circumstance vary the decision Women brought uj In the country do not require the surveillance sur-veillance girls in the city need 1 think where one is thrown in contac constantly with strangers that she is far more exposed than when associated with people with whom she has grownup grown-up In cities I should recommend a chaperone I think our schools teach the young women to be frivolous and superficial they do not instruct the < pupils thoroughly in one thing bu hurry them through a number of books which they dimly comprehend Our public schools have much to learn They graduate the children too young and overcrowd their minds Before a girl is fully grown she is turned out as educated Such a child unformed in mind and body certainly require the guiflanpe of an older person upon entering society Mrs SauprstcrN Views Mrs Margaret E Sangster editor ot Harpers Weekly was busy at her desk when I stepped in and asked her about the new woman and her need of chaperonage She laid down her pen and said You know I am a very oldfashioned woman and of course would approve of the chaperone Intact In-tact I dislike all innovations ou old customs I think it is much pleasanter for a young woman to have some elder person with her it removes restraint A sense of greater freedom follows the fact that a guardian is by to resen any misrepresentation or careless word or action Of course in the country here all know each other the chaperone is unnecessary un-necessary but in large cities where one is thrown in contact with strangers strang-ers especially the foreign element r think girls require the chaperonage of an older person You can always count upon me for believing in all the proprieties Miss Doge Diplomatic If Miss Grace Dodge had answered the question yea or nay it would have carri d great weight with it She is the friend and confidante alike of society so-ciety girls and girls who make their own living The good she has done for the working girls in this great city will never be known but it is known that she has accomplished more for them than any society or association of women collectively The Conscrvatlvo Kind But she did not answer the question saying with a smile Really I have never given the matter a thought srI sr-I can not tell you whether the new woman needs a chaperone or not What Mrs Dr Crosby Thinks Dr G JM Crosby one of the talented members of Sorosis said I think the question will soon answer itself Wb mon are every day proving themselves entirely competent to take care of themselves Their entrance into the business and professional field has done away with oldfashioned prejudices preju-dices and follies The girl of today knows that a ruined name means a ruined fortune and she prizes both too highly to run the slightest risk of losing them Mover in the history of the world have girls gone forth into womanhood so well equipped to resist temptation Yet there is much wickedness going on but the winecup is mostly responsible responsi-ble for it Under the influence of this the great evil of the age many a life I is ruined But for a sober young woman of the nineteenth century there is absolutely no need of a chaperone She Needs ZVo Chaperone Mrs Katharine Ackerman Fay one of the oldest members of Sorosis thinks that the new woman will shuffle off all slavelike fetters This is her answer to the question Girls are no longer ignorant of the world and its ways They read study and acquaint themselves with all theM the-M 4 TIE CONSERVATIVE KIND questions of the day They meet men as equals and not in the old fashion of regarding the male sex as beings of superior mould Women are rear ed to make a place for themselves In the world not to bow down to a lord 3f creation or else starve The new woman is proud of her independence and it is her best protector Her own sense of right and wrong has developed devel-oped by being exercised and she is no longer a toy to be looked at and played play-ed with Why should she need a haperone to watch her when she has been trained to be mentally and morally mor-ally strong It is an jnsult to think of it Jennie Jnnes SclfHeliant Girls Mrs Croly Jennie Junethe organIzer organ-Izer of Sorosis the president of the IVoans Press club and an officer oran or-an honorary member of womens clubs ill over the world should be and Is an luthorlty on what is best for womankind woman-kind Speaking of her own girls she laid They have been early taught to rely upon themselves and so should every woman be reared If they are sheltered and shielded all their lives the training rill still be beneficial and if they have to make their way and earn their dace in the great busy world they willie will-ie enabled to cope with and surmount lifiiculties which would overpower a helpless and dependent woman GRANTLANTD GRIEVE |