Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1878-07-11

Downward Tendency OF social |
ltfe-Ameriean Mothers ReSPOn-
Sible.
New York Tribunel
One night not long ago, Eflie da
Casta, in a haunt of vice, in Phila-
delphia, accidentally, while at sup
per, put her foot on a parlor match,
which set fire to her clothing. An
other girl, who ran to her rescue,
shared her fate; their dresses were
of thin material and blazed over
their heads while they fled shrieklng
to the street and there burned slow
ly to death. The men, their COM
panions, stood by and offered no
help. The significant part of this
horrible story is that both women
were young, attractive, of good
birth and social position; both had
left homes of comfort and ease,
husbands and children, voluntari-
ly, 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 lowest of its
class; the men whom they chose us
friends belonged to a wretched ne
gro minstrel show-degraded, cow
ardly brutes who stood off in safety
watching them die. Only two or
three days ago the police records of
our own city told an even more
pitiable tale. A father found his
daughter in an Infamous place, and
strovo by legal means to take her
out. She defed him, the courts
sustained her, and she went out
gayly from the courtroom with her
vile companions, giggling at the
disc0mfiture Of the broken hearted
father aud brother, who stood with
heads bowed in shame as they
passed.
The most frightful fact in oul
social life faces us in these stories
1t is that there are women in this
lowest deep who are not driven
there by want or cruelty, nor LED
there by a betrayed affection; wo
men who have been gently reared
educated, beloved, whose natures
are so tainted that they choose tC
90 out, like the prodigal Of old
from the home God gave them, t.
feed with the swine. How man!
such are hidden in these denS Goo
only knows; how many remain il
their original position, the record
of our divorce courts, the foal gos
sip with which so-called fashiona
bic society reeks, not only in thi
country but in England, give us al
appalling hint. 1t is useless t,
ignore this fact. Neither the pul
pit nor the press, if it means f
help at all in the work of betterinI
social life, ought TO ignore the fac
that certain portion Of Englisl
aud American society is rapid
becoming as lioentiouS as that o
Paris.
Who is to blame for it? No
human nature. Women and mel
are born as pure as they we're gen
Grafton ago. Net Christ's religion
His hand is as strong to save tn
Magdalen in the streets Of Me-
York as Of Jerusalem. 1t ig th
mothers who are to blame. Moth
ers in fashionable society in th
cities, and in that society whicl
feebly apes the fashion in town
and villages and farm places fror
Maine to Oregon, who set befor
their daughters from their brit
dress and show and style as the SO.
gods they are to follow. We vel
ture to say that "Style," that mo-
vulgar of words and things, hi
done as much to corrupt the wome
of America as liquor has. M
only was it the cause OF our final
oial downfall, but modesty, honest
decency are sacrificed to it.
Fashion notes publishes even I'll
rules for "frst communion dresses
and sets forth the pipings an
coiffure in which an innocent gi
may properlv approach her Go
There is nothing so holy that it
not made subservient to it. 1t
not the wealthy mother alone wi
vitiates her child's mind 10y til
worship Of folly, but the merchant
wife, the poor seamstress, who
aim it is to "push her daughter
in society,"" to give her styli
dresses instead of modest heart
clean mind, and a God-fearil
soul. The moral training viii
such mothers neglect is supplied
hot pressed sensational juyen
literature, and the reports Of fC
scandals in the daily newspape
ldsten to Che precious gossip of
flaunting, ogerdressed school 81
who parade the streets on a he
day, and The tragedies in Philad
mia and New York which we hi