The Lack of Interest in Girls. 
The editorials published in this 
magazine and the circulars issued by 
The Agassiz Association in behalf of 
girls, especially of the members of the 
Camp Fire Girls, have brought out 
much correspondence but thus far no 
cash contributions. Here’s a sample 
quotation from a letter : 
‘‘I was interested in reading your 
circular as to Camp Fire Girls. I am 
interested in them as we have two high 
school girls who have belonged in the 
past, but the groups were broken up 
because the ladies having them in 
charge found the time involved was 
more than they could spare. They also 
found the expense was quite a good 
deal. They used to take the girls away 
for a vacation each summer, and the 
•cost was so much above what the girls 
paid that they felt they could not stand 
it. They were with us at our camp for 
at least two years, using my house and 
land. Then the only expense was for 
food and transportation. But that came 
up to so much that both of these groups 
have been allowed to die a natural 
death. It is rather too bad, as they were 
doing a good work for the girls. That 
has usually been the way in the end 
with any of these organizations for 
young people where the running of 
them devolves on a few. 
“However, I was much interested in 
reading of your plans for the girls, and 
I hope you will be sustained by those 
who can afford to do it so that you 
•can devote your time more or less to 
it.” 
A e get similar reports from various 
parts of the country and notwithstand- 
ing we have issued several thousand 
circulars, chiefly to women, the onlv 
aid received has come from men. That 
again drives home the truth that wo- 
men seem not to be interested in girls, 
or at least not nearly so much as they 
and men are interested in boys. In 
fact few men or women seem to have 
much regard for the girls. Almost 
every community agitates itself into 
frenzied enthusiasm over the dear boys. 
That is commendable provided it is not 
altogether one-sided. I do not believe 
that any community is acting justly 
when it contributes several thousand 
dollars for a few boys and only a few 
dollars for the girls. 
We have had an example of this in 
Sound Beach, in Stamford, in Green- 
wich and in neighboring places — in fact 
I think it is the fashion over all the 
country. In the central part of our 
town of Greenwich a palatial building 
has been erected for the boys of the 
Y. M. C. A. This is a noble monument 
to the giver but it is a big problem to 
know how to support it, but undoubt- 
edly it is worth all it costs in construc- 
tion and maintenance. But the ques- 
tion is, why hasn’t somebody thought 
it equally wise to give an equal amount 
to the girls? Here in Sound Beach we 
have a beautiful little building that is 
used for only about one day a week by 
the boys. We have often wondered 
why some arrangement cannot be made 
to let the organization of girls use the 
building on some of the other six days. 
Possibly it is because the dear boys 
would feel that their noble building 
had become too sissified if girls were 
to play their games and hold their so- 
cial meetings within its walls. 
In New York it must be a puzzle to 
the Boy Scouts headquarters to know 
how to spend to good advantage the 
thousands of dollars that keep rolling 
into the Boy Scout office. We have 
not yet heard of any trouble in invest- 
ing the heavy funds that have been 
given to the Camp Fire Girls. This 
old world seems to think that the boys 
need help and that the girls are abun- 
dantly able to take care of themselves. 
That may be a compliment to the girls, 
but if I were a girl I do not believe that 
I would view it from that standpoint. 
The Boston Society of Natural His- 
tory reports a larger average number 
of visitors than at any time during ten 
years. 
