The Morristown gazette. [volume] (Morristown, Tenn.) 1867-1920, 1875-10-20
A FEW WORDS TO OUR GIRLS.
By Mary q. Lafhrop.


The more turn this great ques
tion Of temperance over. and looE
on all sides for its causes and cure
the more am persuaded that upon
the young girls of our country there
rests a great responsibility.
The women of this land have been
often told that the power to Danish
this great curse is in their hands
that if they would turn from all men
in socia. life, who in any way are
! guilty of the use or traffic in intoxi.
eating drinks, the work would be
cut short in righteousness. But
while this sounds grandly in the alb
stract, from the very nature of the
case it is quite impossible.
Let the women resolve to do just
this to-day, and the sharp line Of ut
ter separation would be drawn be-
tween wife and husband, mother aud
son, brother and sister, forever. So
no matter how eloquently we may
talk of social ostracism doing the
work, it is wholly impracticable. for
the married women are bound to the
men who drink and sell, by the
strongest of human ties.
But with the girls of the nation,
there is a mighty force still untouch-
ed in this great reform, and just as
truly as God called the strong,
thoughtful, earnest mothers and
wives to prayer and pleading in this
cause, just so truly does he call upon
the young women to use the all
mastering power of their purity and
beauty in the social life Of the land.
For this reason. dear girls, fair and
young and free, l say these few
words to you.
comes to this world of ours, it must
be the outgrowth of pure homes,
where father and mother alike will
teach by word and deed nobility of
heart and life. After all that is
truthfully said about the mighty
force of mother love and teaching.
that force is often sadly neutralized,
if not destroyed, by the example of
father. To cure this we need the
same Standards of virtue for men as
for women, and this demand must
come from you, who are still free to
choose your way in life.
The pastor of church in one of
our large cities said to me not long
ago: II have oficiated at forty we'd
dings since | came here, and in ev.
cry case save one, / felt that the
bride was running an awful risk
Young men of bad habits and fast
tendencies never marry girls of their
own sort, but demand q wife above
suspicion. So pure, sweet women,
kept from the touch of evil through
the years of girlhood, give them.
selves, with all their costly dover of
womanhood. into tke keeping of men
who, in base associations, have
learned to undervalue all that be-
longs to them, and then find no
place for repentance in the sad af-
ter years.
There is but one way out of this,
which | can see, and that is for you
the young women of this country
to require in association and marri-
age. purity for purity, sobriety for
sobriety, and honor for honor.
There is no reason why the young
men of this Christian land should
not he just as virtuous as it's young
women. and if the loss of your So
ciety and love be the price they are
forced to pay for vice, they will not
pay it.
| admit with sadness that not all
of our young women are capable of
this high standard for themselves or
others; too often from the hand of
reckless beauty has the temptation
to drink come to men; but | believe
there are enough of earnest, thought.
ful girls in the society of our coun-
try to work wonders in the temper
ance reform if fully aroused. Dear
girls, will you help us in the name
of Christ? Win you. first Of all, be
SO true to yourselves and God, so
pure in your inner and outer life.
that you shall have a right to ask
that the young men with whom you
associate, and especially those you
marry. shall be the same.
The awful gulf of dishonor is close
beside your feet, and in it fathers.
brothers. lovers and sons are going
down. Will you not help us in our
great work THE WOasass's Tenn
per0nce Union.