I am thinking now of a girl of fifteen, who does not seem in any way to belong in the family where she was born.  Her sisters are at work in the factory and content.  They are sweet, attractive and good.  But she does not want to work in the factory.  She would “give the world to have a room alone, that could be all fixed up,” as she would like it.  The family cannot understand her.  She can have none of the things for which she longs, she is not able to be with the sort of people she loves and admires.  She wants good books, she enjoys music and longs to be permitted to finish her high school course.  She is willing to work out of school hours, to do anything if only she may continue to study.  Because the family consider all her notions ridiculous, and all she longs for seems impossible, the don’t-care, reckless spirit and the indifferent “what’s the use anyway” are gradually enveloping her whole life.

Surrounded by much that money can buy, a most interesting girl whom I met recently is surrendering all her interests to the “don’t-care” spirit because the one great desire of her heart is not to be gratified.  She has been urged to enter upon the duties of the social world but says she has tried it and “despises society.”  She does not care about travel, she wants to be trained as a nurse, enter a school of philanthropy and then become a district worker among the poor.  Her father will not listen to the plan, her aunt opposes it, her brother laughs at it.

She says that now since all her most earnest desires can never be fulfilled she doesn’t care about anything.  It was a long time before the teacher of the Bible class of which she was a member could believe that this indifferent girl whose silence had annoyed her each Sunday was longing to serve her fellowmen and had lost heart because the way was blocked.  It was only when she had made a special and earnest attempt to really know the girl that she learned the truth.

No one can act wisely in the dark, and before passing judgment upon the indifferent girl who may try one’s soul, he should know whether in the thwarting of all her desires, the denial of the right to follow her natural inclination for work and service, lies the explanation of her indifference.

Many times the girl who seems indifferent, is so only on the outside.  She has developed more as a boy develops and does not wish to reveal her best self, nor even in the least degree her deeper feelings.  She hides.  When things are very serious or pathetic she sometimes laughs half nervously.  She looks out of the window, at the ceiling, whispers to her neighbor or assumes the most disinterested, superior air possible if she is at all impressed.  When one sees her alone, it is a great surprise to discover a new girl who is by no means indifferent, who has thoughts and can express them when other girls are not there to listen.  Her indifference is not a serious matter, is usually of short duration and is explained by the attitude of self-sufficiency which manifests itself in the teens.