The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1884-03-22
2 Open Letter to any Girl VINO
Claims It,

Claims It,
ney tell me that you are what the
W0rlu calls fiirt, that all the little
atfFaetions which nature has given
ytM have been subordinated to base
uses, and you have openly boasted Of
the eonquests you have made through
the power of coquetry. Pause, 1 beg
YOU II IS not yet too late, you cannot
Know whittier this tendency is lead
ins you. or you would never have
entered the path. There are many
reasp,ls why you should pause. The
faei that you are s0 debasing your
wotnanho0d proves conclusively that
you could never have known the
power or passion that has many
times made demons of angels. Oh |!
i. s sash. II is well; il gives nope
for the future, it tells that you are not
sdead to reason and shame. Shall
tell you why you are in the brink of
terrible danger? Does not your heart
tell you that some time. as there en-
tiers into the heart of every man and
woman, sooner or later, love strong
er than death and true as truth, so it
must come to you, and iE your soul
of souls you must feel that the only
MN worthy the admiration and love
of any woman is one that would not
for an instant trihe with the affections
of another? Do you think that the
true man whom you could honor as a
husband would care to take to his
embrace wife whose lips had been
sullied by the careless and prOmiscu-
Gus contact with any who had chancA
ed to he the plaything of the hour ?
You may plead, in extenuatiOn of
your fault, that you were engaged to
those whose caresses you permitted.
but in the several instances referred
to, discovered before it was too late
that you had mistaken a passing
fancy for lifelong affection. It is no
excuse at all. Indeed, it proves you
weaker than before. You have no
right to promise yourself in marriage
to man whom you are not sure you
cannot love until death. These are
not to he made matters of haste-anl
when you so far forget your wOmanly
dignity Hs to snap at any chance-bait
that may be offered, to find out later
that you are mistaken, you must not
wonder that your name is banded
carelessly about among your mascu-
| line acquaintances, and the better
kind OF men begin to shun you.
There is difference, my young
friendt between prudishness and wo-
manly self-respect, and you will al
ways find that any man, high or low,
pure in thought or thoroughly de
based, will not forget the Difference
due to a true woman. You ought
to know instinctively that famil-
larity is no evidence of manly re-
gard, and the proffered caress often
springs from motive so base that ]
need not name it. Guard yourselves
then, that when the time does come
in which you can truly say to any
man that he is more to you than all
else, you will have no reluctance tC
lay before him the history of youl
past life, unsp0tted by the breath o
suspicion. untarnished by practice moi
opened to the world; and when The
time does come, If you would have
true syn,athy and happiness in tht
future, give each other confidence re-
garding the past let there be M
sealed pages, no forgotten details
whose ghnstly presence will haun
you eyer after. and, if discovered, cas-
a shadow between you and him wht
has trusted you.