more for
"freedom," quite unconscious of the fact that what seems freedom in
her elders is, in reality, often farthest removed from that elusive
condition. Her imagination is taking wild flights in these days.
Sometimes we catch fleeting glimpses of its often disordered fancies,
although oftener we see only the most docile of exteriors standing
guard over an inner self of which we do not dream.

The wise mother and the wise teacher are they whose adolescent
memories, longings, misapprehensions, and mistakes are not forgotten,
but are being sympathetically and understandingly searched for light
in guiding the girls whose guardians they are. They recognize once
and for all that normal girls are filled with what seem abnormal
notions, desires, and ideals. They recall how little they used to know
of life, and the pitfalls they barely escaped, if they did escape.
Thus only can they keep close to the girl in spirit and help her as
they once needed help. They respect her longing for freedom of choice
and they teach her how to choose. It is of little use to attempt to
clip the wings of the girl's imagination, however riotous. The wings
are safely hidden from our profaning touch. Instead we must teach her
to dream true dreams and to choose real things rather than shams.

[Illustration: A study room. The life of the adolescent girl is by no
means bounded by the schoolroom walls]

At this time the girl's life often seems to the casual observer to be
bounded by her schoolroom walls. As a matter of fact, however, school
work appeals to her much less than it has probably done earlier or
than it will do in her college days. Dress is becoming an absorbing
subject. "The boys," however little you may think it, are seldom far
from her thoughts. Intimate friendship with another adolescent girl
perhaps affords an outlet, beneficial or otherwise, for the crowding
life which is too precious to bear the unsympathetic touch of the
world of her elders. Or perhaps the girl becomes solitary in her
habits, living in a world of romance found in books or in her own
dreams, impatient with the world about her, feeling sure she is
"misunderstood."

What can home, school, and society in general do for the adolescent
girl, that her awakening may be sweet and sane, that her future
usefulness may not be impaired or her life embittered by wrong choice
at the brink of womanhood?

Any wise plan for the training of girls "in their teens" must include
pr