The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1879-03-28

II
"signor Max OF the Detroit Free Press,
has this to say about the proposed Reform
School for girls aHd lAahin1t4 aat
hail with hope the movement Of twenty
thousand women in Michigan for the estsb-
fishing State institution whose object is the
prevention and suppression OF prostitution. l
am not so much the optimist as to believe that
this vice can be ersdicated, even il such an in
sttution as is contemplated were established
in every considerable town in the State; but I
am convinced that II the State uphold the
hands and encourage the hearts OF those TWEEN
ty thousand women in their unselish and noble
purpose, by such patronage as they ask, the
hearts Of ten times twenty thousand women
will beat in exultant unison, and their hands
will do practical work in keeping WITH their i'm
pulses. Perhaps l owe it to woman (and more
especially to tho twenty thousand signers Of
the petition to the Legislature) TO suggest that
the inauguration of this movement is not the
bud Of mere impulse, but rather the growing
fruit OF deep-seated couvction-a fruit to
ripen which needs only tho sunshine OF wise,
and liberal, ana humane legislation.
draw my own hopetulness at present not so
much from the contemplation OF possible act
ual results, as from the simple fact that good
and vrtuous women have at last advanced to
the front, obviously determined to grapple with
what ia, after all, the woman question" This
is an advance OF mighty significance. These
women are in earnest. They have made q
practical beginning. They hav their bill be-
fore the Legislature, and by personal sollcita
ton some OF their leaders bsye enlisted not
ouly the respectful attention but the active
sympathes OF many influential members Of
that body. l have 40: yet discovered so much
Sc remnant OF that impractical and mawkish
ssntlmentalism with which most attempted
legislation on this subject has been no heavily
handicapped. That is an encouraging circum =
stance, because il not only indicates new de-
parture In dealing with the mighty problem.
but inspires something more than the hope
the administration Of the institution, should
the people resolve to make the experiment
As illustrating the sedge hammer sincerity
and the utter absence Of whimper on the part
OF the women who have set the ball in motion
here IN Michigan, let me ask attention to the
following extract from sn address read by ono
or them in notable assembly IN which men
had no part:
Our eyes have beeu blinded TO the fact that
many women enter life Of prostitution from
deliberate cholce. Girls often step out OF good
homes, impatient OF restraint, aud betake
themselves 10 the cities to SOW wild oats as
|, recklessly as ever men have done. These wo-
men are not all weeping Magdaens by any
means. Many OF them glory IN thsir shame
and in the wreck OF character. home, happiness
and oil things sacred which it Is their business
to make. say that in many Of our towns
there are such women who dress in costly gar
ments, ride in their own carriages and defy al
power to reach them. Hunger FOL
| the admiration of men, and the desire for pow
I er over them which grows out Of il, is one o
the causes for the existence Of " fallen women.
This accounts for the universal effort Of womer
to enhance their beauty by artificial means snc
!, by ornamentation until an old cynic defined
woman as IAN animal, whose chief desire il
ornament" And until women have more gooc
y sense than they now have am not disposed t
quarrel with him. Look over the average wo
y man, from pinchy high-heeled shoes up owe
n Fuckers and ruffies, and pullbacks and hitch
A ups to the indescribsble bunch OF flowers
feathers, streamers, etc., ETC., which sits on to
OF her head, with the sole mission or maxim;
. even the noblest face look idlotic, aud you hav
proof that the world has decreed that womal
shall be judged by the way she looks.
Did not know that the woman who uttere
J., those vigorous truths is one OF the most de
'r voted and selG-abnegatlng friends Of her sex
/ might be deluded into tbe belief that she is IN
is sympathetic. Happily she has worked aroni
d debased girls and women long enough to hsv
learned 10 face facts as she finds them. Whe
she discovers wanton who goes about shoot
) ing peoples heads off for some fancied slight
! or neglect or even wrong, she recognizes th
at proprety Of restraining her instead OF eleva,
: ing her to the plane of martyrdom and canon
- izng her as the heroic avenger Of woman
= wrongs IN general. That is not the kind G
> champion women are in the habit Of electinl
The Messalinss, the Semiramises and the Cly
D temnetras of this age must answer for the
- evil deeds to the law % well as to an outrage
|. public sentiment. or course ali fallen wome
: are not butchers, but they are kind Of socil
,t leprosy sgains. which it is proper to take Judi
sr cious and needful precautiop. am aware thi