The Monitor. [volume] (Woodstown, N.J.) 1884-1892, 1888-11-09

man essayed
Than this that fires yours souls to-day, knights
OF the New Crusade! Issue.
To Mothers and Fathers.
sWe hear of the duty and glory of
motherhood, but we should think also of
the greatness and responsibility of father
hood. Cato's daughter says:
Ierant [ am Il woman, but with all
woman well reputed, Cato's Daughter;
Think you l am no stronger than my sex,
Being so fathercd?
Have You given to your children 4 right
to make such a boast? Have you made
them strong to be pure and to resist evil
by the purity and goodness OF your own
life? Have You thrown around them the
strongest possible protection, an innate
| tendency towards virtue? = n Young
men, you, who, perhaps are sowing. your
wild oats, and expect in time to become
good and virtuous husbands and fathers,
l beseech you protect your future sons and
daughters by the influence of pure and
holy lives in your own youth. So that you
will not blush or have your children repeat
in their deeds the inmost thought of your
own youth. y = \ Young women, you
who are to be the mothers of future gener-
ations, will you not awaken to a recogni-
ton of your value and Importance in the
worlds struggles for a higher life? Do
you not see that the purity of the girlhood
of to-day means the purity of the men and
- P1...a T.o.1 -0,yco1,oe
from the slightest breath of impurity, in
thought, word or companionship. DO not
let your thoughts revel in the sensuous
imaginations of sensational romarces, even
I though they bear reputable names of re-
sponsible authors. Do not choose for
companions those who love to jest on the
most sacred relations of life. Do not con-
done faults in men that you would not for
give in women. Do not choose for the
father of your children the reformed liber-
tine, lest your sons and daughters, by re-
peating his vices, shall break your moth
er-heart. None but a mothers heart can
know how a mothers heart can ache, and
a detection from virtue in your son or
daughter will be the keenest agony that
can come to you. And you who are al
ready mothers, do you realize your respon-
sibility in the teaching of your little ones?
Yon are to open their eyes to a knowledge
of themselves. You with careful and deli
cate touch are to open the window of their
souls heavenward, and let the divine light
-. ,A-1,l,n ~ +1Ar.co1-6n 1l1pai,a4 70
their whole being. But, says one mother,
1 would not want to be the one to enlight-
en- my children as to evil 1t is not evil
concerning which we ask you to enlighten
your child. Too much of that is being
lone already. Your boy looks into your
face with frank and open eyes that you
think betoken an innocent soul, and be-
tween the pages of his Sunday School
Quarterly are the words of an obscene
song, copied in his own hand; while you
thought he was studying his lesson; or un-
der his pillow or locked in his trunk are
vile books which a schoolmate has lent
him, and which he pores over when you
think him asleep. Your young, sweet, in
nocent girl too has the same poisonous
literature put into her hands ana she hides
it from you, for you lave avoided talking
with your children; you have been afraid
and the enemy has sowed tares while you
have slept. The tobacco shops lure your
boys to buy cigarettes by the proifer of
vulgar pictures. The girls are met on
their way home from school or work by
women in gay attire who tempt them by
gifts and promises into ways of evil, and
you have not warned them. Perhaps in
your little rose walled garden of peace you
gather your children about you and think
they are safe, but remember your child is
not so safe as long as the poorest woman
in the world is in danger.
Oh, mothers Of America, it is your work
with prayers and tears, and with wise and
loving counsel, to bring the world up to a
higher level of purity. God has called you
through your motherhood to come Up to
His help against the mighty forces of evil.
He offers you a share in His divine work
and His divine agony, to understand some
thing of His JOY and His sorrow-Dr. Nary
A. Allen.