New Britain Herald Newspaper, November 4, 1927, Page 31

Will This — IVE the flapper a chance! Don't treat her as a joke, and don’t go to the other extreme and wag your head sadly over her every action. Get down to fundamentals with her; realize that she is; at bottom, a_ healthy, fine-souled American girl—and you will presently dis- cover that instead of being a na- tional problem she is one of the nation’s greatest assets. This is the advice of Lieutenant Mina Van Winkle, chief policewoman of the national capital and presi- dent of the Policewoman’s National Association. She speaks from a background of wide experience and first-hand knowledge. She has studied the flapper in every big American city. She has made this study a hobby, traveling from coast to coast to learn all she could. And, making this study, she has reached a number of interesting conclusions. First of all, Lieutenant Van Winkle declares— *“The flapper is an inevitable product of the World War." She is, as Lieutenant Van Winkle sees it, the child of circumstances. She is a symbol of her times, an outgrowth of the clash of mighty forces in the Amer- ican social world. UNDERSTANDING MUST TAKE PLACE OF SCOLDING Most of all, she has a heritage of French influences. She doesn’t realize this in the least, but it is true nevertheless. The flapper is a saucy, fun-loving, cigaret-puffing, joy-riding young scamp? Possibly. But it was inev- itable; and, furthermore, it is too late to change it. The thing to do now is to understand her and help her instead of scolding and repressing her. That is the way Mrs. Van Winkle understands the situation. It is ten years now since the United States entered the World War. And the day that war was declared was the day the flapper was born. So Mrs. Van Winkle puts it. She explains it thus: *“The American girl took the hazard of war Just as much as did the American boy. And she is still taking it. “We hear little now of our war girls. God knows the American boy made the supreme sacrifice of man- hood. But so did the American girl make sacrifices. *“We took thousands upon thousands of American girls from the shelter of their homes—ity girls and country girls, from the protection of their mothers” apron strings—and we turned them loose into the whirlpool of war. “I was in Florida recently. At Jacksonville and St. Augustine there were still displayed time-stained Mina Van Winkle old posters of the war period, urging our girls to go to Washington and do their bit for Uncle Sam. “Oh, the cruelty, injustice, short-sightedness of the doubtless well-intentioned policy of hurling thousands upon thousands of girls upon the capital of the nation, and not satisfied with sacrificing them in overcrowded office buildings and rooming houses, pitching thousands of other girls overseas to face—aye, and in many in- stances to succumb to—perils for which shell fire might mercifully have been substituted! “It was France, in my judgment. and not Wash- ington, that really provided the influence that we saw creeping among our girls as we settled down to the winning of the war—the influence that we still see upon them. PEACE BROUGHT NEED OF MORE ADVENTURE “The thousands of girls that we flung overseas came home eventually. Or rather, most of them did. “Many of these girls found their way back to Washington. Too many of them remained in Wash- ington. Peace forgot them. They disliked the idea of returning home. They had had a great adventure, and they craved more excitement. They mingled with the girls that had been left behind at Washington. *“Our girls were changing, had changed. From Paris to Washington, and then through the forty-eight states, o/ epression wont help her NA VAN WINKLE ays chances with gay abandon. She is still doing it. True enough—but what's the answer? ATHLETICS WILL HELP SOLVE. THE PROBLEM Mrs. Van Winkle is not discouraged. Far from it. She is supremely hopeful. Here is why she is hopeful: The flapper at heart is clean. What she needs is guidance, not censure. It is too late to get her back over the line she crossed during and after the war—but she'll make out all right if she isn't pulled down. First and foremost, thinks Mrs. Van Winkle-—pro- vide the flapper with a substitute for her everlasting dance parties. And, adds this cultured matron, there is no substitute as good as— Athletics! Encourage girls to play baseball, to swim, to box, to row, to ride—to engage in all of the sports that formerly were considered exclusively masculine di- versions. The number of healthy, athletic girle is increasing rapidly—but not 12pidly enough. A great nation-wide ", athletic movement should be launched that would reach HER the influence of certain French manners and customs spread. “Many did not recognize the Parisian influence. Many do not recognize it now. Some are still blind” to its serious aspects. Ihe comic supplement treats the flapper as though her p m, which at bottom is our problem, were simply e. But it isn't.” It was this craving for adventure, for excitement, which caused most of the trouble, as Mrs. Van Winkle sees it. The flapper—the girl who came back from war work and her younger who didn’t go—found the element of adventure s g strongly within her. The theater and the movie failed to satisfy. The old forms of recreation seemed flat. The old prolubitions and rules seemed tar And so—the flappe tion. She rolled her s a drink occasionally, d d with as much clothing as she possibly could, took to rouge and powder, dabbled in petting parties and joy-rides, developed a fondness for late dances. She discovered that “taking a chance” was adventure—so she proceeded to take into a defier of conven- puffed cigarets, took (Copyright, 1927 Service, Inc.) all girls. Once permit the American girl to become the athletic girl in the same broad sense that the Amer- ican _boy has developed into the athletic boy—and the flapper will vanish! That is Mrs. Van Winkle's idea. Then there is the petting party. Mrs. Van Winkle approves of it no more than do the harassed mothers of the land who are wondering how to stop it; and she has a ready answer for this problem, too. GIVE 'EM A CHANCE TO GET MARRIED YOUNG Create good community centers where girls may mingle with boys to their hearts’ content, Don't compel girls and boys to steal away into dark corners, into curtained automobiles, to spoon. Remember—spoon- ing can be a healthy symptom of love. Simply encour- age the right kind of spooning and provide the right kind of place for it. There is a marked difference between petting and spooning; and if there is a normal outlet for spooning, petting will sink to a minimum. And—one thing more, adds Mrs. Van Winkle, Q the Fapp Cf‘-—/A\fld " Don't let the spooning stage last too long. Marry the flapper early. Arrange your economic conditions, if need be, to insure her sheik the same opportunity to marry young that his father had. Offer him every chance to earn a living wage, enough to support a wife and the children that should come. These, then, are the highlights in Mrs. Van Winkle's plan for dealing with the flapper. Her police ex- perience compels her to supplement them with this: Keep the streets safe for girls. Look up the record of auto drivers, Drive the auto masher from the street; he is one of the greatest menaces to girlhood that Anmerica has. And, above all, says Mrs. Van Winkle—use edu- cation instead of prohibition. It works better. If you have to educate yourself before you can educate your daughter, do it, by all means. Don't try to hedge her in with “Thou shalt not” signs. Be patient and under- standing instead. It will pay. The flapper, at bottom, is a fine girl. All she needs is a square deal—a little kindly, understanding advice S e b Given those and she will disarm her bitterest eritics. So says Mina Van Winkle. o R Ay e T S i M