Page:Side talks with girls (1895).djvu/57

Rh not quite right. Of course there are ill-mannered men, just as there are vulgar women. The country girl who is visiting in town must use that fine wand of self-protection to discover the one from the other. Gentlemen are never over-dressed, are never boisterous, and are never effusive. It is best, if possible, to avoid making enemies, and so the country girl must use a little tact.

I do not think the country girl needs to be told, she must never accept an invitation from a man who is not a relation to go with him alone to any place. If he wishes to do her any honor he will make up a party, properly chaperoned, and then she can have a thoroughly good time. The country girl looks at me and wonders if I think she would do anything wrong. I do not. I not only believe in her, but I believe in the American man, yet in most large cities there are certain social laws that must be observed, and the protection of a young girl by an older woman is one of the most important. It is true that the girl's mother may have gone to a concert, to drive, or to supper with a young man, that all her friends did it, and that in those days it was considered quite proper. But we have grown older as a people, and we have got that wisdom which teaches us that to keep our young girls perfectly protected is the greatest of all. I know that a girl who desires to do wrong can do so whenever she wishes; she can say the