Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1892-09-29

B..
you know you mustn't talk in that
wayl' until language that ut first sent
the color to her face and an indignant
light to her eyes falls almost unheedad
upon her ears, and at most only evokes
the mental promise that when the
bigger conquests of vice have been
achieved she viii return and weed out
these more trifling growths.
"a bad man il, ia some respects. like u
bad book-one Of Zola's, for instance.
You study the one or the other, you are
altogether shocked and repelled, and at
the end you throw the book aside. but
you cannot by mere effort Of will for
get all that you have read; certain
scenes, certain phrases, certain discov-
cries Of hitherto unsuspected forms Of
vice remain in your mind in spite Of
every effort, and life is never quite the
same as while you were ignorant Of
these blots upon humanity.
And in the ends Far be it from me TO
say that no bad man was ever reformed.
or that never q sinner haS become "A
saint since the days of Peter and Of
Mary Magdalene, nor do | deny that
many a man has been helped IN his ef-
forts at rehabilitation by the influence
of the woman he loved, but what i az
most emphatically deny is that any
woman can reform a man unless he
earnestly wishes to be reformed. The
cure must work from the inside out to
the surface. and cannot be spread over
the outside with any hope Of radical
cure.
In other words, the man must reform
himself, and the woman may help him
and make the process easier and more
hopeful and comfortable, and in the end
bestow the reward Of her confidence and
approval, but such triumph as this has
its foundations far below the flower
surface of sentiment, or the futile and
foolish effort to uiuzzle 4 wild beast with
sash ribbon, or to cover unclean depshs
with a siiken mantle and hide tfeir
odors by sprinkling it with altar of roses.
a bad man may by some blissfu.
chance fall III love with pure and sels
respecting woman. Her unconscious de-
mand upon him for words and actions
only possible TO honorable and Ligls
minded men. if they do not abash him
and drive him away, as they generally
do, stir him to the effort to show himself
still capable Of meeting such demands.
He finds himself recalling forgotten
themes and smiles inwardly at resunling
enthusiasms, hopes, beliefs thathe would
yesterday have sworn We're laid aside
with his coral and rattle. lie masauer
ades for an hour IN the guise Of his for
mer self; he feels like an imposter and 4
hypocrite, and yet AZ lie walks home
under the cold starlight he stifes a sigh
Of regret that he could not return to
that almost forgotten self-that foolish.
impossible self CT ten years aeo-who
would have been no uniting companion
for this chaste, candid, ansuspecting
woman with whom he has spent FEW
wonderful hours.
And now if the man il enough Of a
man; il the strength and vigor Of lis
soul arc yetin him and able to do combat
with the debased and corrupted material
Mature; if he IS like Samson, and afte-
all Delilah's careful knottings of .n.
ropes and withes can rise up and snap
them from his limbs in spite Of the cut
ting and rending pain, why that man
may be reformed, aad ii. after a iine
and little by little, he allows the won:
an whom lie loves to understand the
fight he IS making for her.sake and
his resolution to climb up to her and
not attempt to drag her down to him
she. if she IS worth the struggle she has
induced viii give all the help she
possibly can and without needing 70
know all the dark secrets of tine
mans past life, or allowing him.
even if he would. to make her familiar
with the ugly aspect Of vice, she 30 en-.
courages every little effort, and so re
wards every little success, so illuminates
the path with the brightness Of her hope
ard faith in him. that if the combat Is
crowned with success he generally II
ready to give her the whole merit of the
conquest, while she, if she il as wise ~
she is good, insists upon it that his own
resolution and strength Of will were the
only important weapons.
ana III point OF TACT bOth are rlgnt.
He might not have been able to reform
himself without her help, and it Is very
certain she could not have reformed him
without his own foregone determination.
Una never would have led the lion
about SO pleasantly if he had at heart
preferred to roar and raven and seek his
prey after the fashion of lions. The way
it was managed was that the lion heart
OF him changed to the heart Of lamb
and he didn't want to roar and ravei.
any more 1t il not in my experience
that this transformation often takes
place in these latter days, but more com
Monly the lion who has once tasted
blood is only interested III Unas because
lie wants to doyour them, and although
he may follow submissively enough for
q little time tho promenade is likely to
end like that of the
young lady Of Niger
Who smiled as she rode tiger.
They came back from he ride
With the lady inside,
And the smile Oh the lips Ut tile tiger