Delaware tribune. [volume] (Wilmington, Del.) 1867-1877, 1867-10-17
A Letter to Young Girls.
ny MRS. Il. p. MILLER, NJ. b.

uo not uieaI ttttc VFtS nor young To-
dies, but girls from ten to fifteen years of
age; those who stand upon the bridge be-
tween childhood and womanhood-I want
to have an earnest talk with you.
And just let me tell you something about
a,yself, when / was little girl had a
most excellent mother-I have her now and
| hope each Of you have one just as excel
lent, just as earnest, Just as good and true.
When wasa very little girl, as long ago
rs can remember, my mother taught me
that g it is dangerous secret that girl
cannot tell her mother. " Did your mother
| ever teach you this? know she thinks so
even though she may not have said it in
| these same words.
Well, this made very strong impression
upon my mind, and never for one moment
forgot it. So when was at school, or
with my playmates anywhere, and they
would say, ooh. Ill tell you something,
but you mustn't tell' Gas girla often do, you
know ;)I would always ask, "Maynt tell
my mother p and if they said No, then
us:d to tell them they need not tell me
for would never promise not to tell my
mother!
fused often to make them angry with me,
but had the approval of the still small
voice which we call Conscience, and was
satisfied.
Now, girls, do believe | was saved from
great deal Of sin, by always refusing to lis
ten to anything that must not tell my mo-
ther; for, OF course, if my mate. >had any
thing impure or sinful to tell, they would
keep 1t to themselves, because they would
not have had my mother know it for any
thing.
You know by this time, Mary, and Stella
and Hattie, and all the rest Of you, that
there are bad girls in the world, but l do
hope that you have never learned anything
that you would be afraid or ashamed to tell
your mothers. You are just at an age when
your whole future lives depend upon your
present habits and conditions.
lfby any means you have learned any
bad habits, break them off at once, if you
want to grow up and be healthy and happy
women.
do not feel anxious about you in consc-
quencc of what | learned when | was ut
your age, for have told you how escaped
the knowledge of much evil but since l
have grown up and become physician,
have so many young ladies come to me,
weak and feeble, with lame backs aching
heads, weak eyes, and faces anything but
pretty, and all because they learned and
practiced evil habits in their childhood, and
when they were at your age, just budding
ITO womanhood. And they tell me they
would give all the world if some one had
only told them they were SHINING. They
did not realize it then, but they feel now
as if their bodies, and almost their souls,
were ruined The regrets and the remorse
ofsome of these poor sufferers almost breaks
my heart and this is what made me think
| would write letter to you for l cannot
bear that any girl belonging to our herald of
health family should do what is evil, and
bring upon herself such misery for all her
future life.
want you all to be as pure as the angels
just as pure as God designed you to be. and
never do anything you would not like Him
to oknow; never do anything you would not
like your mother to know.
l warn you that if you do anything you
would be afraid or ashamed to have your
mother know, the day surely will come when,
with tears and anguish, you will wish you
had not done it. Make up your minds from
this very hour that you will not do anything
you would be unwilling to tell your mother.
IfyCu see or hear anything that you think
wrong, or that you do not think quite right,
go at once and tell your mother all about it,
and it may save you from great grief and
suffering in the future.
Now do not think that am over-anxious,
and " fussy," for il is only your welfare /
have at heart in writing as do. You must
remember that have seen much more of
the world than you have, and know better
how much evil there is in it, and that it is
my love and sympathy for you who are to
grow up and become women, wives, and
mothers, that prompt me to give you this
warning, and throw around you all the pro-
lection in my power
Perhaps your mother never talks with you
about the special sins which girls are liable
to commits or about the special pitfalls in
TO which they are liable to stumble well, my
mother never talked with me about these
things, eithcr--I think it would be far bet
ter if mother would do it-but was saved
simply because l would "neuer promise
not to tell my mother.'
Again l say, you have any habits which
you would not like your mother to know
break them off at once, or they will bring
upon you arrangements, diseases, suffering,
ruin, and death, Do not think you will
break off tomorrow, but do it now, for eve
ry day you put it off makes the habit the
more difficult to overcome.
Shall tell you something that will help
you to break off evil habits, If you have
formed them? Well, another thing my
mother used to tell me was to '.kcep the
mind constantly filled.wi pure thoughts,
and there would be no room for the impure
to come in; for so long as measure is full of
something good, it will not hold anything
| that is bad"
Now if yon will never allow yourself to
think of anything bad, if you will be always
thinking about what is good and beautiful,
and pure, and lovely, you will be pretty sure
not to do anything that is bad But perhaps
l will tell you more about this another time.
l want to tell you now, however, that you
have sometheng else to do besides just
breaking off your own bad habits. Many Of
you have, probably, some younger sisters,
and it is your duty to watch over them, witt
their confidence, and see that they do moi
learn or practice the evil habits that yor
have, perhaps, been taught
Teach them the great truth my mother
taught me, that 6 1t is dangerous sccre
that girl cannot tell her mother" II yor
learn this truth yourself, annd teach it tt
your sisters and try to influence your play
| ,,,ot 10 Al, H. Ia.