The Monitor. [volume] (Woodstown, N.J.) 1884-1892, 1888-06-01
Written for the MONITOR.
THE OLD FOR COUNSEL AMI TIL
YOUNG FOR WAR,
BY MRS. FANNIE II. CARR.

1OaNS Eoh war;
BY MRS. FANNIE II. CARR.
Last Sunday your correspondent receiv-
ed a graphic illustration of the force of the
latter clause of the above proverb. She
had been called to spend the day in Ches-
ter county, Pa, and was engaged to fill
the pulpit Of the Hopewell M. E. church
in the morning and address a mass-meet-
ing at night. On both occasions there
were large audiences, the evening service
filling the church to overlooking. the eff
fieient wife of the pastor realizing the eom-
mon sense method of forestalling the evil
one, by giving the young folks plenty to
do, organized a White Ribbon Army after
the address of the evening, thus furnishing
apt illustration of the practical philosophy
embodied in the saying of the shtewd
Catholic priest: 'fGive us the bows and
girls of America and | care not who have
the men and women. The above occasion
was a sight to move the coolest heart.
Aside from the inspiration that proceeds
from a crowd was the fact that the mid
die aisle vas occupied by young men and
maidens, ranging from 16 to 81 years of
age, whose sparkling eyes and earnest at
%tention ought to nave enthused the most
hum-drum speaker. Some one has said
that every face is either a history or a
prophecy, and as we looked into the up
turned faces of the young men and women
who confronted us we found ourselves
questioning what the future had in store
for them. The organization known as the
White Ribbon Army is very simple in its
constitution and methods of work. 1t in
cludes both sexes in active effort. Besides
pledging its members to total abstinence,
they are all utilized in the different lines
of work. The fact that young men and
women are associated together We deem
one of its best features. We believe that
in all reforms, Christian, political or hui
manitarian, We will not go far astray if we
follow the Divine precedent, who, when
He said, 1T is no good for man to be
alone, let us make a help-meet for him. .
illustrated by that very fact the advantage
of men and women working together,
whether in the privacy Of the home circle
or in the larger family of humanity. The
fear that young people brought into such
close contact wonld be induced to form ac-
quaintances frequently ending in illtimed
and disastrous marriages, would have little
foundation if parents, and especially moth
ers, were to train their daughters to con-
slider that the objective point of a woman's
life was not necessarily matrimony, but
lite was to have her whole nature so
symmetrically developed that whatever the
future had in store for would find her
measurably prepared for it.; to have her
so trained in accordance With the principles
of a sanctiied common sense that she
would realize that after ali the greatest
thing in the universe is a well developed
symmetrical Christian character; that so
far from marriage being the be-all-and-
end-all Of a woman's aspirations, the very
fact that some of the grandest wome that
have ever observation-disclosures whom
no tongue, however eloquent, or pen,
however graphic, could adequately por-
tray the debt that humanity owes them
have been among the single sisterhood, is
a most emphatic object lesson that one Of
the grandest and noblest lives may be lived
by a woman, although Mrs. may never be
her legitimate prefix. Another thought
is borne in upon us (as Friends say) by
the above and similar occasions that this
is eminently woman's day, great e~cclesi-
astical assemblies to the contrary notw It'll
standing. The influence of women in the
present day is simply phenomenal. II, to
use a homely adage, viz: "The proof
of the pudding is in the eating" be fair
concerning organizations of women, then
surely the success that has attended such
associations as the Woman's Foreign and
Home Missionary Societies, the W. c. t.
t., with its constituency reaching in our
own land from the lakes to the gulf, and
from the Atlantic sea-board to the Pacific
slope, to say nothing of other organizations
of women, amply illustrates woman's abil-
ity for public and associated work. The
Catholic church, wiser in its generation
than those of a simpler faith, utilize wo-
mans religious nature and her admins
trative ability in such societies as Sisters
of Charity, Sisters of Mercy, &c. Surely
every Christian should rejoice in the using
of every fundamentally in bringing back
the world 10 its rightful Lord and Master.
GOOD CRUEL.