The Russellville Democrat., 1879-09-25
Are Our Girls in Dangcr2

The Watchman, a religious journal of Boston, is alarmed at the freedom of movement allowed young women in the United States, seeing in it great danger. to thc.norals and mannels ot our naidens. It con tlasts tIie s@1u- sion and watcilfril care of tlic French | girls especially with the liberty enjoyed here, and gives the French system the preference as the one the experience Of an older civilization has proved to be the fafest and the happiest in it's results. The French girl, as we all know, is trained apart from the male sex, with whom she has no social contact iii.. ie,r invthe presence ofher mother or her chaperon. Sine .s educated in con vent ;.g@;;fy from men, and she leaves 1t at the dawning of womanhood to re- main constantly under the eye of her mother until she is married Public opinion, the traditions of the society in which sire moves, her hopes of uiatlng, all forbid her to have any int crconrse with men except the most fDrinaL and that, too, in the presesice of Her older female guardians. She cannot with safety free herself for q moment from the apron strings until she has become wife and the mistress of a household.
 Some such particular supervision of young women our Boston contemporary contends is now demanded by the con- dition of our own society,", ln neglect ing to exercise it, Amelicdn parents, we are told, imperil the moral welfare of their daughters, by exposing them to dangerous temptations, which may, at least. blunt the fine edge of maiden modesty.
 We have heard such talk as this be- fore, and very often of late years. There has been disposition in fashion- able society to bring the services of the ohaperon into sg.eater use .This, Of course, has been eause,l as much llv a desire to ape foreign customs as by any feeling of the need of more closely watching girls. But young ladies with us are rarely more than nominaliy re- stricted; as to tending them as If they were iledglings, liable at any moment to tumble out of the nest or to try their inexperienced wings before the cruel hawks, that is something. almost un- Known here. Our girls make up the chief element of fashionable society. It is for them and their pleasure, and i'll l they have tue oppof tunity fose.s- hibit the charms and exercise the wit that wins them husbands. They are as ready to talk With d niiln properly in- troduccd as With q woman, and are, perhaps, more ready ill their speech with him. They do not look on the
 male creature as q strange and danger ous being, and in any conversational sparring with him girl feels and is entirely able to lake careaofsherselfsA
 Herein is one .of the great charms of our girls both to their own countrvGeu and to Foreigners. They are not afraid to be the companions ot men, and they associate with them as q mat ter of course, while to secure their so- ciety men have to be careful to avoid giving offence to the feminine sense of propriety. There are rude, audaeious, and fast girls, ,.and there are fellows enough about toa encourage them ill speech and conduct which arc unm.iid- enly and unladyliile to a degree that opens them to . criticism that might shock their fricnds1 aud themselves also. But taking thenl@as | whole, emitting only very small percentage, the daughters of well-ordercd families are as safe as if they went about at tended by regiment-of, discreet mat rons, though they maysonly oecasion- ally have a chaperon. They aIe spot less girls, and they make most eXem- plary matrons.
 To adopt the French method of es- pionage would be to put notions into their heads which would prove more dangerous enemies to their maidenly security and natural fnodesty than any they encounter now. But it is foolish to talk about so totally changing our customs. It can't be done, and 10 far as the attempt has been made to do it snobbery or a silly atfectation of for eign ways have beeen at the bottom of it. Girls will continue to get their moral training ill the family circle, and so long as domestic virtue and the in- ilcence of maternal precept and exam pie continue to be pure as it is now they will need no further armor. Whom they reach such q pass that they must be watehedslike suspected thieves to to keep them straight. they will have passed beyond the. hope ofssalyatioll, and it will be hard to find watchers who can themselves be trusted. Dnt parents can do this much, and the old- CT and richer the country grows the more necessity there is for such pru- dence. They can take care to Keep predatory fellows out of their houses and their daughters out of the society they frequent. Impudence to women, learned abroad, is commoner already than formerly, and young girls may require help to escape from it. A mother needn't dog the footsteps of her daughters. but she can have a good deal to do in determining tho complny teey shall keep without stirring up their opposition or driving them into deception. The credentials which may admit a man into fashionable drawing rooms everybody knows do not always indicate his fitness for the society of young women who have been properly ywhere.---N ewl York sum- q F.