The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1899-02-15
A WORD OF WARNING.
Evil Communications to be Guarded
Against-Children Should Sleep at

| wish to enter my protest
against the all too prevalent Gus
tom, especially in country places,
of allowing children to 60 home to
sleep with friends or school mates.
When "boarding round" on the
frontier, in my early days Of teach
ing, 1 was often panied and sur
prised to hear through the unfnish-
ed walls of the settlers new homes
strange revelations of prurient
knowledge from the lips of my
pupils whose parents supposed
them to be sleeping.
I remember hearing the most
obscene language from a boy
whose parents were more than
ordinarily high minded and relig-
ious, His companion, a boy of his
own age, had been allowed to "stay
all night" with him, and was being
tutored in a manner which must
have pleased his Satanic majesty
The visitor, whose mind retained
much of childish purity, made some
feeble protests against the filthy
communications of the other boy,
but his preceptor in vice parried
them with the cunning art Of a
sophist. The pure mothers of
each never would have believed
their darling sons guilty of bad
language or practices.
There are, ofcouse, other opportu'
mites for communication, but
none 80 dangerous as the seclu-
sion of the bedchamber in the night
hours. Aside from this danger
there is no good excuse for children
going from home to sleep. Let
them occupy their own beds and
sleep alone, if possible.
Mothers are too prone to trust
their children's associates because
they belong to good families and
have been we'll reared. Often
they forget that their own little
ones may be led astray or subject
ed to evil influences. The conta
gion of impurity arising from one
child may spread through school
or neighborhood like a pestilence
Keep, then, a watchful eye on
the children; guard them from ex
posure, but do not let your solici-
tude be known to them unless you
are confronted by their guilt
Nothing so humiliates high-mind
ed child as to be suspected of un
cleanness.
Do not think more lightly of 6
sons impurity than Of his sisters
Do not excuse obscenity from nis
lips by saying: "Oh, he's boy
We can expect no better of boys!
There are boys whose imagina
tions, fed by foul conversation, are
Us filthy as the stagnant pool; boys
with faces upon which is stamped
lasciviousness; boys with leering
eyes and rakish demeanor. There
are boys with healthy minds anc
unpolluted bodies-boys with clear
frank, honest eyes, revealing pure
soul-depths within. Which o'
these shall your boy be, O mother? ?
Shall your sons swell the ranks
of those who are sowing to the
wind to reap the whirlwind, who
are scattering abroad rottenness
and disease? Or shall they be
pure men, going into the world tc
uplift and build up, instead of tear
ing down and destroying?
Do not be content for your
daughters, with that prudence
which leads them to be careful OF
their reputation, but hedge about
their childhood with all pure in
euences which shall encase them
in innocence. Unaffected modesty
is a girls best safeguard.
The young woman who can utter
innuendoes or relate stories sugges
tive of impure thoughts, even in
presence of her most intimate cir
friend, may be "smart enough tc
look out for herself" but she is moi
one noble man would choose for &
wife, or who would elevate the home
or society.
Sometimes I think that the old
time delicacy and reserve were bet
ter than our modern free handling
of social abuses. Ignorance" may
not be innocence, but the reticence