West Virginia Democrat. [volume] (Charles Town, W. Va.) 1885-1890, 1888-04-06


without fear and without remorse.
We all know that these are the com.
monest things of the day. We see
men freely moving in high places
whom no respectable woman should
permit tocross her threshold;
NOTORIOUS IMMORTALITY coNDoNED
for the sake of great wealth; grave
social scandals, widely known and
openly canvsssed, though the actors
are received with open hand and
made welcome as before; tiirtations
going on between persons, each of
whom has plighted troth to some
one else, and thus stands perjured
before man and God; men languish
ing after the wives of other men, and
married men running after young
girls and paying them attention,
with the DEVILS look in the eyes ana
the DEVILS thoughts in the heart and
women, young and old, permitting
these demonstrations, agreeably en-
tertained and flattered by them, and
glad to find themselves still able to
make conquests. There are, un-
doubtedly, persons among us who
prefer vice to virtue, and the excite
ment of animal passion to the testi-
mony of a good conscience and a
pure heart; who like the stimulus
of heart, and would deem it an aw-
full misfortune and an unspeakable
affection to have to live soberly,
righteonsly and godly in this pres
ent world. For such have these al
ways been; but the danger line is
reached when no strong public opin-
ion is against them; when gener-
al approval hardens their hearts;
when others who would live orderly
and honorable lives find it uphill
work to do so; when chastity and
modesty are sneered at and those
who will not join hand in hand with
these sinners are hidden to stand Off
and keep out Of the way and hold
their tongues, nor interfere with this
grand business ofenjoying the pleas
ures of the present world. l have
gone as far as / dare to go; and yet
l have done more than to skim the
bubbling caldron and take off what
comes to the top, leaving the black
broth below, a thing too foul to be
described. But the scum is an in
dex to what is underneath; and if
these things whereof we have spoken
90 in sight, what think you goes on
out of sight ? How appalling must
be the record of one night only
when the shadow lies black on this
vast city! What crimes must that
deep gloom conceal, what sights to
scare good angels away. The slums
and the fauhourgs, the dance halls
and the bathrooms: the theatres,
high and low; the naked creatures
of the stage, and the
NAKED CREATURES IN THE BOXES;
the men behind the scenes dallying
with the actresses; the banquets,
the champagne suppers, and the Sc
quel; the printers setting up vile
stuff, TO food the country with filth
by morning light; the false men pre-
tending absence on some lawful &C.
casion and breaking plighted troth
and vow; the agonized wives, keep
ing the long, maddened vigil of jeal-
ousy; the silly fool, dreaming of her
admirers in her unehaste slumber;
the young man, void of understand
inc, met in the black and dark night
by the woman with the attire OF a
harlOt, subtitle of heart; whose house
is the way to hell, going down to the
chambers of death; the eye of the
adulterer waiting for the twilight,
saving "No man shall see me, and
disgusting his face the golden
youth, spending the small hours
from midnight to dawn is dissipa-
tion, squandering paternal fortunes,
and dragging honored names in the
dust; the animals in the opium
joints, and that grimy, grewsome
herd, whom some one out of the up
per air sometimes beholds when he
goes, with policeman to protect
him, through the inmost labyrinth
of metropolitan corruption.
Great God of Heaven and Earth,
and Thou, Redeemer of the World /.
what awful sights are these, and
what world it is which Thou didst
come to purify and save. And these
are the workings of one and the self
same mortal sin; and this is the is
sue, when Holy and Eternal Love,
the first of virtues and the last, is
turned into concupiscence and I'M
holy lust
0, woman, woman, called of God.
redeemed by Christ, bethink you of
your duty and your power. You
know how things go; what books
young women read; with what bad
men they talk; how they are tempt
ed; the unclean gossip that goes on;
the jests which pass the lips; and
how women allow men to talk to
them in a way in which, of old, one
woman could not have talked to an
other without blushing for shame;
how they dress and how they behave;
how they tolerate bad manners and
undue familiarity; how they laugh