The Opelousas courier. [volume] (Opelousas, La.) 1852-1910, 1868-07-11
ffro"' The Boys and Girls WeeFlyJ
Il ave You a aughter 2

Then how great your responsibiIitv
Can you look on that fragile form-see
the out-beaming of that artless spirit,
and not shutder to think OF the dangers
that surround her! A child of Eve, fraiI
and fallen at best, long before her young
heart has been sobered by experience. or
learned one cold lesson Of this worlds
seltishness and falseness, she is called
upon to take steps that must tell on the
brightness or blackness of her destiny,
As she first steps forth upon life's stage,
how her bounding spirit sends out its as
pIratlons, i'll the holy confidence of hope
and love With her bosom unsteeled TO
the fascinating influences of tlattery and
folly, as she looks out on life, robed in
all its rainbow colorings, how bri ght,
now beautiful 1t appears to her! She
thinks not OF deceptlon-she suspects no
holiowness-b believes the reality will
prove as the surface appears. Poor
child ! How little does she know of the
dark, w1the1ing shades Of human de-
pravity, whose blighting influence she
may soon feel How little does she
think OF the deceiver, with his bland
smile and his black hcayt-0f d censori-
ous world, with its scorDtul smile and un-
forglFlng spirit !*EYet, through all the
snares, these hidden fires that lie along
her untrodden path, she must pass IN
seathed-unsolled. One false step, and
she Is ruined-her name is blackened-
her happiness gone. Gold cannot gild
1t, beauty cannot adorn it,. tears of the
bitterest anguish cannot wash away the
stain. Let the tributes Of wealth be laid
1T her feet. let pleasure breathe its soft
melody around her, let every other 10Y.
like gems OF morning, sparkle round her
path, and yet q cloud is on her brow, a
blight is Oh her characteristic feels that
her glory is departed, that hers, is mis-
cradle lot. Are her imprudent acts OF
childhood ever forgotten I Are those
f0illes over which ii man would smile,
aud feel a kind of pride, ever overlooked
or forgotten when committed by girl
He may reform with honor; but the very
name OF reform in woman is disgrace.
The summit of moral excellence and in
f1uence, the worlds admiration and es-
teem may lie gained by him over whose
youth, marked with dissipation and pro-
figacy, the veil Of forgetIuiuess has been
thrown. But poor woman, often neg
|
present. to an exacting world a whole
life, from childhood up, untinged, unsul-
lied by single stain. Nor is this the
mere arbitrary decision OF society. 1t is
written on woman's heart. TO be loved,
to be esteemed. to stand unelouled and
unreproached above SANDER OF suspicion,
this is her natural and holy anlbitlon
interviewer with her nature, it cuncen-
trates the very elements of her being,
and is at once the goal of her life and
the safeguard of her character
This, then, on which wofllan's happi-
ness depends-wIlich can fling gladness
around her life, or wiring anguish from
her heart, must be decided by herself,
long before maturity has given her
strength or experience. Who then is
responsible for the manner in which her
character is formed, her mind moulded,
her destiny shaped Z Oh, how many a
tale of woe, how m;snFsa life of lingering
agony, of crushed hopes, of cold, rayless
despair, might have been prevented, had
a fathers time and attention, so often
expended on trlfies, been directed to that
fraii and delicate flower, which, exposed
to the rude blast and scorching sun. must
bloom unsullied, or else be despised.
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