The new North-west. [volume] (Deer Lodge, Mont.) 1869-1897, 1881-11-04
Words OF Warning.
Neso York Tribune, October 9Th,

Neo York Tribune. October 9Th.
. The trial of the murderers of the gil
Cramer At New Haven goes on, but attrac,
little attention, Guiteau's great crime, Xix
!; Aaron's serpent, having swallowed all tn
rest In public estimation. Decent people
indeed, have long ago tired Of the foul, un
ending stream Of murder and divorce case
which winds its way from years end +,
years end through the press. Naturall,
they begin to loathe the whole matter, botI
the crime and the class with whom the crime
originates. They will read and know moth
ing about them. Why should the current Of
their useful, decorous lives be disturbed by
the misdoings Of vulgar fast girls and theil
brutal murderenf They will not even con.
Germ themselves enough about such TRACE.
dies 10 find II there Is any help for them.
Yet the truth Is that this murder of Jennie
Cramer Is not an isolated case, but . fair In
dication Of the condition Of society in the
class to which 1t belongs. The tens of thou
sands Of load-talking, fashily- dressed girls
who crowd the streets and cheap places Of
amusement In our cities and large towns are
not pleasant picturesque study for moral
lists or Christians of refined tastes. But
what is the use of their spending money in
building schools, and churches and Sunday
schools for the children of the next genera
ton? Here are their mothers and If they
are left unchanged, buildings of very diff
ferent sort are all that will be needed for
their children.
We are not talking now of the class of
women who have made vice trade. As we
understand the evidence, this girl Cramer
did not belong to them. She had the repu-
tation Of being "a decent, respectable girl !"
among her neighbors, in spite of the fact
that she went to variety shows and saloons
with young men, remaining out nearly all
night. The standard of manners is low in
Jennie Cramer's class. There is the secret
Of the crime and degradation of Its women.
The mothers Of such girls, hard worked at
home, finding their own sole pleasure in life
in some poor display and bit of finery, are
satisfied that "the young people should have
their fling" When they send their children
to the public school, observe the tawdry
founces and dirty ribbons on their ragged
clothes. This seems trihe, but every wise
woman knows that there is no surer sign of
moral corruption than filth and finery. As
the girls grow older they find places, proba-
bly,, In factories, side by side with coarse,
licentious men, or in retail shops at wages
from 50 to 50 per week. How are they TO
pay for their board and the fine clothes
which they have been taught are the one
desideratum in life? The same sill " vanity
forbids them to take service. Then come,
as in the girl Cramer's case, the arsenic to
improve the complexion, the fine dress, the
imitation pearls, and-the means to buy
them. The ranks Of prostitution are recruited
from this would-be genteel class, not from
domestic servants.
Let any Christian reforner drop for an
hour his pet scheme for elevating the world,
whether 1t be the conversion of the Jews or
the Polynesans, and follow any day a group
Of these girls home from their work. II
they are Americans they have not sensual |
faces. There is none Of that hopeless pre-
dominance Of the animal nature in mouth |
and eye which puts the mark of beast on the |
women Of the lower orders In some Euro
pean races. As rule, their features are
clear and fine, their eyes sparkling, eager;
The whole natural physical character is
nervous, delicate and refined. With proper
raining these would be the same women As
hose who conquered New England by their
endurance and piety, or who are conquering
he West now In many rude cabin by their
lnnagging energy and high-heartedness.
The race Is the same; the education is differ
mt. But note the vulgar insolence Of their
ak; their swagger, their inane, giggling
Efforts to attract the notice of men passing
W; the vacuity, the incipient depravity, the
,opelessness. Of 1t all. There Is no sight
more tragic on earth than that Of one of
hese women, meant by God to be q pure
wife and mother, frisking iauntily down
Ter way to ruin.
1t Is not only TO this class Of young girls
We would call attention, but to the habits
md manners Of those who hold . much
higher social rank. Our educated orders
now little more Of the real lives of these
Dung people than they do of the thoughts
nd private occupations Of the lower ami
nails. Let them read, IS . mere matter of
uriosity, one Of the cheap novels which are
old by the tens Of thousands among them,
r one of their /" society papers" and all the
est Of the silly. pitiful nastiness. The
Dung men and women who take delight in
hese things are in all probability virtuous.
'ut how long will they remain SO? l.
The temptation to rain, too, we urge
gain, does not come to the native American
irl through any natural proclivity to vice,
ut through her vanity, her intense desire to
Q noticed, her nervous craving for excite
,ent. She is pot born with any ineradica-
lie base tsint Of blood. She is worth saving.
Towv shnkl ~ /