The Emporia news. [volume] (Emporia, Kan.) 1859-1881, 1870-01-07
THE FALLEN NAN.
By MARY cLEmMER AMEs.

THE FALLEN NAN.
By MARY cLEMMER AMEs.
We see pictures of the fallen woman
at every turn. In the pulpit, on thG
platform, we hear her portray ed with al
accuracy and an JUNCTION which makes
our pulses stand still with pain and hor.
ror. Why does nobody paint the fallen
man? Why does no pTiestly voice cal
upon us TO weep over his downfall and
his shame? see him everywhere. He
came into shSp in .Broadway, yesteF-
day. His clothes were torn, his feet
were bare, his eyes were glaring with
the insanity of drunkenness. A wild
animal could scarcely have been more
dangerous. What a creature to go home
to wife and childreni He was only q
fallen man of the most degraded type
There is fallen man who never stag
gers in ragged clothes with bare feet
He stands at the corners of the streets
he lounges in the doors of hotels; he
energies from drinking and gam bling
saloons; he comes out of the house
whose door leads to death. His fall is
craven OIL his face-in its haggard lines,
in his sunken eyes, in his sensual Jaw.
in his weary hooking look, from which
purity and peace and the possibility oil
innocent happiness have gone. There
is fallen man whose garb is faultless,
whose face fails to tell his story. He is
never seen OIL forbidden ground, never
in questionable places. The latch-string
of gracious homes always hangs out for
him. Mothers are eager to commit to
his care their innocent daughters. WO-
men beautiful and idle seek him, and
flatter him on to deeper fall. His fall
is craven only on his soul; yet he is no
less fallen man. No less fallen. be-
cause only he and his God knows that
the wreck of life, the everlasting sOr-
row of q lovely soul, lies at his door.
In the gay world few reproofs are ut
tered, no tears are shed, for the fallen
man. While he wears fine clothes.
while he carries full purse, society ig-
nOres even the possibility of his fall
His victim is shut OFT in shame but the
woman who makes victim of him is a
wearer of the purple of this world, a
bearer of the pomp and triumph of Ii e.
Through so many ages man has been the
acknowledged seducer of woman, the
fact has been over looked AID forgiven
that woman is often the seducer of man.
know such a WON In-I woman o.
fashion, allied to man la iIi gh position.
She is n woman of large personal and
mental magnetism. For what good pur-
pose does she use il? She uses il 10
attract" men from their allegiance to
duty, honor, and pnre love! She boast
ed IN n drawing-roOm that t'she, never
saw a married man whose love she
could not win away from his wife, II
she chose" my dear husband" said a
fond little woman, ''you could not. no.
body could, take him from me-" The
little simpletouv declared the LAMA,
"In less than six months
she came TO me, crying, begging me to
give her husband back to her; that he
neglected her, that he upbraided her
constantly because she was not more
like me. don't want your husband,
said. onlyesVanted to show you that
could do what l pleased, and TO teach
you not to trust in any mans love"
There is many a Lamia. She stands the
central figure of many a social circle.
In silken attire, in, luxurious home,
surrounded by all the alluring accesso-
ries of wealth and cultivation, herself
fascinating, If not beautiful, what won
der that she draws within her charmed
sphere the many homeless, wifeless, dis
satisfied men of her acquaintance The
power of a woman thus poised and sur
rounded cannot be estimated. How
does she use it? To inspire the man who
basks in its sDlendor to say, "Such a
home will create for the woman love,
such a paradise for children ?" To ell
courage, to help him in the pursuit OF
the usefulness, the influence within the
reach of his honorable endeayor? To
make him in love with the strong, brave,
pure manhood possible to him? No.
She uses it solely to make him 'lall in
love" with herself. All the magnetism
of her beauty, all the subtlety of her
brain, is used to satisfy the greed other
vanity, the depravity of her passion for
personal conquest. Does she know the
issues in her life at stake? No matter.
His wife, his children, the woman who
would die for him? No matter. His
honor, his integrity, his self-respect
No matter. All together are not an
atom in the balance, weighed against
her insatiate vanity. He, all that he
cherishes may go to rack but she must
not be denied her triumph. Some hour,
when she takes off her gauds, she must
be able to say, Il conquered him." She
must be able to whisper in secret to the
weak creature who is her 'bosom
friend" Il conquered him. He went
down before men. ] was astonished
I couldn't help it, dear. How can help
il, if so many men t0iH tall in love with
me?" Does the Lamia ever incur any
danger? No. The LAMA can dLscGys
take care of herself. She plies her vic
tim with beguiling batteries; she be-
wilders him, between childish smiles
and tender tears-uever shedding
enough of the latter to make her nose
red {; she astonishes him with her subtle
wisdom she is artless, she is innocence.
she is angeIhood personified: she is
PSrcf.a and fTPca rom hipoH Than o. e..
ter having reused every sumbering i'm
pulse aud passion OF the man. ii, i'm an
unguarded moment, he betrays his W eak-
ness, then she is majesty IstoInded and
virtue OIL pedestali Then, when no
longer his own muster, her bright doors
open and shut on him. He goes forth
into the night, out into the darkness.
To what? To whom?
Who will say that woman is in no way
responsible for the fallen man? The
woman who walks the streets in open
shame we may follow with pitying lam
entation. The woman who, through
the weakness of her will, through the
magnaninity of her affection, which
eau never be measured or fathomed,
stakes all her fate in one frail human
heart, gives more than her life to one
erring man, is one over whom the angels
IA hCSR IN
But she who, wearing the garments OF
afflucnce and of influence, still uses the
gifts and graces of womanhood only as
decoys to lead men astray, who. in the
guise of innocence, would steal their
birthright of honor, blue their percep-
ton of purity, demOralize their affec-
tions, madden their passions; and then.
having proved her power over them for
all evil, sends them forth into the world
to betray and to rob the weak and I'M
fortunate-she is the woman who is a
disgrace to human nature. God may
pardon her; but the woman who re-
spects herself, who loves woman, who
honors man. never can. Is it strange
that the average estimate of women by
men of the world is low ? that, herding
together, they speak of women in lam
guage which even they would blush that
their mothers should hear; that each
man, shutting from his memory the pure
angel of his earliest youth, sneers at vir-
tue as fiction, at the purity of woman
as q fable and a dream?
No one but his mother, his sister, OF
his wife weeps for the fallen man.
This is one of the saddest mistakes oil
our world one for which all humanity
suffers-viz., that purity, demanded i'm
perativeiy of woman. is deemed impos-
sible to man. Where is the safepua RI