The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1895-08-18

The unnoticed disappearance OF girls
whose fate would never have been known
bu. for the disclosures made In the prose-
cution Of Holmes should arouse parents
70 the imminence OF great danger. The
sudden and mysterious vanishing OF girls
from their homes without a word OF ex-
PLANTATION finds its way at times into the
newspapers. but these instances are iso-
lated compared TO the number OF those
cases where girls leave 10 go 10 another
place for employment and gradually fade
away until they are entirely .ost sight of.
We are very much given TO boasting of
the independence. self-reiiance and virtue
OF our girls. and there Is good ground for
1t: bat the modern liberty accorded to
them has brought It's anxieties and sor-
rows to parents. The last fifty years has
worked great although gradual change
IN the relations OF girls to home life, and
while the greater freedom to them has
had It's advantages there is much to re-
gret IL the dying out of the dependence
OF maidens upon the protection. advice
and companionship of their parents. The
scenes upon our streets at night of young
girls. at theaters and at social gatherings
entirely free from maternal care, are not
pleasant, they are not necessary to en-
joyment and they are attended by loss of
ehivairic respect IL not by absolute dan
ger.
The companionship OF the sexes should
be encouraged but always under home
influence In far foo MANY r.Snr
know next to nothing of the character or
dispositions of their daughters male ac-
quaintances. and less of the associations
they form in the'curriculum of their pas
times.
An old fashioned young man of a few
years ago would never have thought of
asking young lady to whom he was not
engaged to accompany him to a ball or
the theater The request would have
been addressed to her mother accom-
panied by an invitation to her also TO 20.
Visits were not made to the girl but to
her family. and her mothers presence
would have been a matter of course Now
"A girls caller is to her alone, and both
she and her visitor rather resent the
presence of the mother. Much of this, of
course. is only in the ranks of the lower
middle class. and the conventionalities are
stili observed in well bred families, but
the tendency is away from the home life.
Ii Is only to be remedied by an awaken
Ing OF parents from their own growing
lethargy. the realization that young peo-
pie must have society. and the provision
of not too infrequent opportunities for
social gathering. The assertion by parents
OF their right of protection to and the en-
enlargement OF good natured confidence
on tho part of daughters viii serve to
regulate the conduct of and check the
oVer-familiarity of young men. The re-
vivai OF good taste VIII stamp all infrac-
tlons of conventional reserve as vulgar
and that viii do most OF all 10 work re-
form.
The too common absence of dignlfied
restraint by girls in their liberation OF
the freedom OF young men. and the lack
or formal respect on the part of young
men to girls is Indicative of yulgarity.
and the veneering OF jovial good falow-
ship with which 1t is sometimes accom-
panied does not diminish ITS offensiveness
It Is usually harmless. at first; it cannot
continue without a promiscuousuess OF
experiences which may end in a shock 10
the naturally modest. IL it do not 20 SO
Tar as TO IA ut chastity.
The awful revelations of the divorce
courts, the frequency of hasty because
necessary marriages. the girlish suicides
and disapPearances from home shon,d
warn all loving parents thai eaxy-golng.
good natured indifference is not essential
to the accordance OF a common sense
recognition OF the right Of young people
TO nave some choice OF their own Z,
friendship and recreation. Far more girls
bring sorrow and disappointment 10 their
homes and shame and suffering mn,
themselves through innocent but unror-
erned freedom than through wilful wan
ionness Indiscriminate acquaintance
unregulated anusements and pleasures
sought away from home lie behind many
ana many sad story.
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