Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1879-08-30

houses, and whose husbands have
learned the vices of the capital.
Those who have formed an ex-
tensive European acquaintance do |
not find that the system of edncat-
ing girls is Objectionable; on the
contrary, there is a growing appre-
citation of it among Americans who
have examined it thoroughly. And
when we think how many of our
girls will be permitted this week to
take long rides or walks in this
country with gentlemen who are
not relatives, how many, when
they return from the country, will
90 to the theatre in same manner,
how many will be sent into the l. T.
lor alone to entertain the gentleman
caller, how many next winter will
go in groups, with as many jolly
young men, to drive in sleighs until
late at night, and, perhaps, to alight
at some hotel to warm themselves
and partake of some refreshments
before returning, we cannot forbear
shudder. All these things are
considered a part of the independ-
ence which properly belongs to
girl. We dissent emphatically. No
mother should indulge her daught-
ers in such Independence. No girl
should desire it. The chief care in
the education of a girl should be the
development of character proof
against temptation and vice; but at
least secondary interest should be
taken in external guards and re-
straints. In the effort to fortify the
character of her daughter, the Amer
lean mother excels and if she has
paid too little attention to other
things, her good sense will lead her
TO confess her fault and to amend
her methods, when she is convinced
of the dangers to be avoided.
Above we give an article from a
Boston paper which demands, as we
think, very serious consideration.
Under ordinary circumstances the
subject is too delicate for treatment
in a public journal circulating in
families. There are times, however,
when considerations of delicacy are
necessarily set aside, and in this
case the heads of families are the
very persons on whom our present
subject forces itself, and who cannot
avoid the consideration of it if they
would.
The plain fact is, then, that while
prostitution prevails in the United
States neither more nor less than in
other nations, its ranks are more
frequently recruited from respecta-
bic society than anywhere. else; in
other words, that more females are
at this time living a life of shame
after having enjoyed pure and
healthy associations than in any
other country in the world. If this
is the case it is the business of re-
spectacle society to know it and to
ascertain its causes, and fastidi-
business which abstains its considera-
ton from motives of delicacy is
criminal rather than creditable.
1t becomes necessary then to con-
slider wherein our social arrange
ments are less favorable to the
preservation of female purity than
those Of other communities ; for
statistics cannot err, and if the facts
alleged are really facts, which we
believe to be the case, it is in the
prevailing usages of society that
their cause must be sought, unwil-
ling as we may be to make the
scrutiny.
1t will take much more than we
could devote to the subject in one
paper to investigate the matter, for
it will require a comparative inves-
tigation of the social usages of more
than one nation as well as those of
the United States. We propose to
make this comparison, and expect
it to occupy three numbers of our
paper, one being devoted to French
society, the second to society in
America, the most complete con-
traSt TO the former, and the third to
English social usages as medium
between the two.
We will anticipate thus far, how
ever, to premise that the leading
defect in our present social arrange
ments which we expect to point out
is the complete abdication of their
rightful position as leaders in soci-
ETY. by the heads of families, and
the consequent abandonment of all
social arrangements to the discre-
ton or indescretiOn, as it may be,
of young unmarried men and
women, or rather, as it should be
expressed, of boys and girls.