Evening Star Newspaper, December 13, 1931, Page 88

THE SUNDAY STAR, WASHINGTON, B. €, DECEMBFR 13, TO81. Grossly Negligent of His Children, Per- mitting His Wife to Rule Him as She Pleases, the Average American Hus- band Is Held to Blame for the Loose Living, Wild Extrava- gances and Aim- less Existence of His Offspring, Says the American Novelist. BY LILLIAN G. GENN. VER since the day flaming youth wrote its own declaration of independence and became law-breaking and liberty-per- mitting, the social analysts have been predicting that this was only a pass- ing phase and youth soon would settle down to the old conventional life. But each year sees it more determined than ever to live and to love as it pleases, while the still younger generation at its heels eagerly follows in its path With the newspapers now focusing attention on a succession of young couples in parked cars who have become victims of hold-ups and murders, this problem of petting youth has become an acute one, Many are beginning to ask just where this freedom in love is leading to. Has the lifting of taboos gained for youth anything in the way of a more satisfactory life? Or is it just a smokescreen for a dan- gerous license? Grace Perkins, who writes skillfully of sophis- ticated life as well as adolescent love, as is evi- dent in such diverse types of books as “Personal Maid,” “Ex-Mistress,” “Night Nurse” and “Boy Crazy,” was emphatic in her disapproyal of the petting indulged in by modern youth. - She discussed the subject with considerable elan in the sitting room of her New York home. She is a tall, lovely-looking blonde with large blue eyes, flawless skin and a cameolike pro- file. Dressed in a rose-colored gown that was trimmed with bands of black fur, she presented a striking picture. In private life she is the wife of Fulton Oursler, the playwright and edi- tor, and they have one daughter, ISS PERKINS, who 8 herself a young woman, knows youth, its ways, problems and ambitions. It is more casual observation, therefore, that makes her take a firm stand against the liberty youth has in its social rela- tionships, particularly as far as the girl ¥ concerned. “In the first place,” she told the inserviewer, “there is the very important question of good taste and delicacy in living. One should have certain standards of conduct, especially when 1t comes to the most personal of all human rela- tions. Frequent indulgence in a varlety of meaningless affairs is bound to make one com- monplace and to have a destructive effect on one’s character and tastes. “In the second plar*, Nature knew what she was doing when she made it more difficult for woman to be promiscuous. A man can have many affairs and be emotionally detached. But with woman, love is a more. personal thing. She must have an incentive before she gets any pleasure from love. She becomes emotionally WANTED—REAL HE-MEN! Unless red-blooded men reassert themselves and take charge as the head of a household, the American home as an institution is doomed, according to Grace Perkins. Men today seem to be of weak caliber. They just sit back and let the flood of feminism rise over them. Women of today are incapable of management, either by training or fitness. Look at the home and marriage today as a result of her management. Look at the irre- sponsible youngsters and the ef- feminate boys. A woman cannot bring up a boy. She makes a nincompoop of him and coddies him so much that he cannot do any vital work in the world. The fault lies with the man. Just to give a boy liberty and spending money is to spoil him with laziness and extravagance. Man must be the head of the house and have the final authority. involved and that, of course, paves the way for trouble. “A boy should know all he can about life and love. The more he learns about them, the bet- ter off he is and the better off the girl whom he eventually marries. But making a pastime of love soon leaves him with no ability to care deeply and robs him of any knowledge as an art. “But there are more serious complications and dangers that arise from promiscuous pet- ting. Because it doesn’'t give an adequate emo- tional release, we have an increasing army of highly neurotic youngsters. “A girl may blithely get away with her esca- pades for the time being. But the day may come when she finds that she has jeopardized her whole future. It is true that men have be- come more broadminded and tolerant, but most of them, when it comes to marriage, are not willing to overlook moral lapses on the part of the woman. There is always the possibility, therefore, that her escapades will be a barrier to & wortli-while marriage or, if they come to light afterward, thit they will disrupt the relationship. Virtue at least saves one from remorse and regret. ‘But this fast-stepping, sensation-seeking youth doesn’t look ahead. It doesn’t think of the future and consider that there will be many years in which to regret its moral rashness. Meanwhile, lacking restraints and taboos, it sees no harm in going the limit.” HE interviewer mentioned herc that many people advance the theory that petting pro- vides a wholesome emotional preparation for marriage. “That’s ridiculous,” she retorted. “Petting doesn’t given any genuine understanding of love. What is more, it blinds one to discrim- ination and makes one lose all sense of values, so that one can’t choose a mate intelligently. By the time the person is ready to marry, love has become stale and utterly devoid of any spiritual significance. He is incapable of that profound love which gives meaning and fullness to life, “Parents are not only lax in their super- vision of youth, but they also are misled by its glib talk of sex matters and its sophisticated manner. They think the youngsters know all An Indictment of Pater Familias By GRACE PERKINS Grace Perkins, Ameri- can writer, declares a girl may blithely get away with her esca- pades for a while but eventually they will find her out. there is to know and can take proper care of themselves. But their knowledge is super- ficial and incomplete. They catch at some pop- ular misleading phrases and use them to justify their conduct. If their information were really scientific and thorough, they would not think they could run the gamut of experience and easily come off unscathed. They would realize the dangers and consequences involved. “Certainly in a day when it is considered smart to have gin and petting parties, boys and girls need better protection than the knowl- edge they get from popular fiction and psy- chology books. “But, even granted that they are well in- formed, why should parents assume that these ardent, reckless youngsters are able to control themselves; that they can go off for long night hours to unknown places and pet and drink and yet stay within the bounds of pro- priety? While I don’t suppose we could bring back the old chaperon, who certainly had her uses, I do think that the least the parents can do is to be at the helm and guide youth. “But parents today are too concerned with their own pleasures and their own desires to enlighten or discipline the boys and girls, or to see to it that they are occupied with whole- some interests. They give them all the liberty and spending money they want and tell them to go off and amuse themselves. They spoil them and encourage them in laziress and extrava- gance. They allow them to become lax in their manners and don't give them any standards of good taste. “Boys and girls are not trained for any of the responsibilities of life. They are not pre- pared for marriage. Parents do mnot try to establish a_center for them in the home. Con- sequently the youngsters have no conception of what a home means, what can be done in it besides arranging the furniture and sleeping and eating there. They have no idea how to run a home. VI"TTHE younger generation today is a pathetic generation. It gets less affection and com« panionship from parents than any other genera- tion did. At heart the boys and girls are lonely. They are given material things and allowed to do what they want, but they know little of family comradeship and devotion. Eaeh child is encour= aged to be completely independent and self-suffi- cient. His budding ego is allowed to develop as it will and he goes his way unthwarted. “Parents are perfect to the child the first five or six years. But after that they have no con- ception of what parenthood means. Between the ages of 7 and 14 they don't give him the companionship and guidance that he needs. - A mother will tell the child: ‘You don't have to give me mot;\er love. Regard me just as you would a friend.’ As soon as she does that she divorces the child from the greatest bond he can know. The result is that youth is lonely and tries to find some other way to assuage its craving for love and companionship. By the time the child reaches the age of 18, the parents suddenly realize how far away he has grown from them; they realize, too, how they them- selves are beginning to be lonely, and they make a desperate attempt to win the child back.” It is because boys and girls are lonely, Miss Perkins pointed out, that they are inclined to form serious attachments at an early age. “But when these youngsters want to marxy, the parents dismiss it as so much puppy love. A relationship which would give the boy and girl a safe and normal outlet is frowned upon. Continued on Eleventh Page