Your friend is perfectly right and much wiser than you are. No girl should correspond with men to whom she has not been properly introduced, and not even then unless her parents know of the correspondence and approve of it. Your anticipated “jolly lark” would likely turn out to be a most disagreeable episode. The men that answer advertisements in papers of this nature are in practically every case scoundrels of the very worst type. They seek the acquaintance of young girls simply for vicious purposes, and any young woman who desires to preserve her self-respect will avoid them as she would the plague. We advise you to break off this correspondence at once, and if you fortunately have a “big brother” you had better tell him the whole affair and let him write this would-be “masher” the sort of letter he richly deserves.
“I spent the summer at Asbury Park with an aunt and a couple of girl cousins. Every day we met two young men on the bathing beach and I took quite a fancy to one of them. Now that I am back home he is very anxious to call on me. How can I arrange to have him do so? I do not want to tell my parents how I met him, as they are both very ‘straitlaced.’
“Isabel.”
Acquaintances made at summer resorts sometimes prove to be very desirable, but are quite as likely to turn out the opposite. If the young man’s intentions and character are honorable, he will no doubt be able to find a way to become properly introduced to you and your family. The manly way for him to act would be to call on your father and explain who he is, etc. Then let your father decide whether the acquaintance shall be continued.
No doubt the young man can find some one who knows him who is also known to your father either by reputation or personally, and who would serve as a proper person to make the necessary introduction. You cannot be too careful to preserve the niceties of etiquette in matters of this nature. Carelessness at the seashore should not be allowed to lead to license in the city.
“After spending the summer at the seashore I have returned to the city with my hands and face as brown as an Indian’s, and all the girls make fun of me. What can I do to remove the tan?
“Dorothy.”
Don’t let the girls’ chatter disturb you a bit, Dorothy. The healthy brown that comes from exposure to God’s pure air and sunshine is by no means unbecoming. You could not have any better evidence of perfect health and good circulation.