Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1884-06-16
CoURTING IN THE DARK.
Some Very Good Reasons Why the Prae-
tice Should be Abolished.


tice Should be Abolished.
The above caption might mean a great
deal, says writer in the Elmira N. Y. }
Telegram, but it is used here in the plain
est sense-just what it says it means
counting in the dark. That society would
be far better, morally, if calls upon young
ladies, by gentlemen. were made in day
light, or when in the evening would end
at ordinary bedtime, there cannot be a
doubt. How often, how very often, does
the ruin Of the girl date back to the time
she kept company with gentlemen, after
the usual hour for retiring-after the
family had retired. What good can pos
sibly come of midnight counting in the
darkf Surely, now, what harm may not
come? 1t offers temptation where virtue
is weak; is without benefit where it is
strong. While it may, and does, cause
hundreds of young and innocent girls to
fall, it never redeems one that has gone
astray.
There are many very good young girls
who keep late hours and still remain
chaste, but what have they gained socially
or morally! Nothing whatever. To the
contrary, they are at least much talked
about; and, maybe, much suspected.
Suppose gentleman courts a lady regu-
larry for long time, then fOrsakes her,
or is discarded at her will, other gentle
men who might be delighted with her Gull
ture and admire her beauty, would not
marry her, for that vein of jealousy which
is found in mankind can be much ruffled
with the news that some ''other fellow
courted his wife for year or two every
Sunday night.
Girls that would be far above the sus-
picion of husband and most fully possess
his entire respect, had better save their
kisses and keep their caresses until after
marriage, lest they waste their sweetness
on the desert air. The seducer asks no
better opportunity than midnight court
ing in the dark, with a girl of sixteen
years. What safety has a girl at that age
with the unprincipled man of thirty? But
when she falls society lays all the blame
on her, without scarcely casting a frOwn
on him. She is driven from home to
the street, then to the alms-hOuse or the
house of shame; he invited into the parlor
and given the chief seat at the feast. She
is recognized only by the lowest denizens
OF the town. She may die in poverty and
be buried by charity; but there is not one
unkind word for the seducer. The house
breaker, the highwayman, the midnight
assassin, are each and all better than her;
the vampire of society, the villain with a
I DlaChel IMAM Ine shuIOeu Walls OF
hell, his thoughts by day and night should
whisper in his ears death and Judgment,
and lost soul; wave the torch of hell
around his head.
Had l girl of sixteen and a man of
thirty should gain her love and seduce
her, his life should pay the debt of his
crime; and when death comes to me, in
the last sad moments, would not say,
with trembling, faltering lips, ''God, for
give me, for l have taken life" No; l
would say in a firmer, calmer voice,
Lord, help me, killed the wretch that
ruined my child;" then L would draw my
last breath with a conscious pride that 1
had done my duty, and calmly and unfal-
teringly sweep through the gloom of death.
L think l would hear, ''Well done, thou
good and faithful servant, thou hast been
faithful over few things; wait here for
the coming of thy child.v