Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1878-05-09
EFFIE DA COSTA.

girl in haunt of vice, in Philadelphia,
Accidentally, while at supper. put her
foot on parlor match, which set fire
to her clothing. Another girl, whU
ran to her rescue, shared her fate; their
dresses were of thin material and
blazed over their heads while they fed
shrieking to the street, and there burn
ed slowly to death. The men, their
companions, stood by and offered no
help. The significant part OF this hOr-
rible story is that both women were
young, attractive, of good birth and So
graduate OF Vassnr College); both had
bands and children, voluntarily, to
take up this mode of life, which In
their case could boast OF no attractive
gliding. The house in which they met
their terrible fate was one Of the low
est of its class; the men whom they
chose as friends belonged to wretched
negro minstrel show-degraded, cow
ardly brutes who stood off in safety
watching them die.
The most frightful fact in our social
life faces US in this story. 1t is that
there are women in this lowest deep
who are not driven there by want or
cruelty, nor led there by betrayed af-
fection; women who have heen gently
reared, educated, beloved, whose na-
lures are SO tainted that they choose TO
go out, like the prodigal OF old, from
the home God gave them to feed with
the swine. How many such are hid
den in these dens God only knows;
how many remain In their original po-
sition, the records of divorce courts, the
foul gossip with which so called fash
ionable society reeks, not only in this
country but England, give US an ap-
palling hint. Neither the pulpit nor
the press, II it means to help at all In
the work of bettering our social life,
ought to iguore the fact that certain
portion of American and English soci
ETY. is rapidly becoming ss lieentiOus as
that of Paris.
Who is to blame for il? Not human
nature. Women and III II are born as
pure as they were a gen ration ago.
Not Christ's religion. HIS hand Is as
strong to save the Mag ialen in the
streets of New York as OF Jerusalem.
1t is the mothers who are to blame.
Mothers in fashionable society in the
cities, and in that society which feebly
apes the fashion in towns and villages
aud farm places from Maine to Ore
gon, who set before their daughters,
from their birth, dress and show and
style as the sole gods they are to fol-
low. We venture to say that Style,
that most vulgar of words and things,
has done as much TO corrupt the wo-
men of America as liquor has. Not
= r HnonniSl
downfall, bu: mOdesty, honesty, de-
cency are sacrificed to 1t. Fashion now
publishes even the rules for First
communion dresses" and sets forth
the pipings and coiffure in which an
innocent girl may properly approach
God. There is nothing so holy that it
is not made subservIent to it. 1t Is
not the wealthy mother alone who VIE
tiates her child's mind by this worship
of folly, but the mechanics wife, the
poor seamstress whose aim Is to "push
her daughter on in society,"" to give
her stylish dresses instead of a modest
heart, clean mind and God-fearing
soul. The moral training which such
mothers neglect is supplied by hot
pressed sensational juvenile literature,
and the reports of foul scandals in the
daily newspapers. Listen to the pre-
cocious gossip OF the Haunting over
dressed school girls who parade the
streets on a holiday, and the tragedy
in Philadelphia will not seem strange
sequel to such training.
1t is but to certain portion Of our
society that these truths apply ,and that
the smallest. The great obscure mass
OF American women are honorable,
chaste and modest. In the majority
of our homes there are common sense
and piety enough to give tawdry dis
play its proper place in life,a to curb
and direct the appetites which God has
given to men and women. 1t rests
with mothers to make that majority
larger or smaller.