The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1901-05-20
DENOUNCED SOCIETY.
CONTINUED from Eighth Page.)

/
boy you saw in the club room at the cara
table. The curse Of our land to-day Is
that our mothers do not look TO the ways
| of their children
Il tell you the highest society in this
land is in too many respects like the low
est. l mean what | say. You go into the
house of the highest in society and into
! the vilest den in this city, and you nnd
the people in both doing the same things.
What are they doing? They are dressing
! immodestly, they are keeping late hours,
they are playing cards, they are dancing.
| they are drinking wines and intoxicating
! liquors. If they are not alike, l ask you
| why they do the same things and amlse
| themselves In the same ways? tell you
| that society, in its highest form. is damn
ing this country from one end OF it to the
/ other"
| George" remarked Mr.. Jones, loud
enough for everybody in the building TO
| hear, and in a tone OF mock reproval, you
are getting vulgar now" Tit crowd didn't
seem 10 mind, and although. here and
| there man clenched his teeth, he said
nothing. Mr.. Stuart continued:
Il don't blame sweet girls. There is
/ not a l6-year-old girl in the land that
has sense enough to take care of her
self. and that is why God gave her
| mother, but l do blame these mothers
| to the immoral gaze of the average young
| man Of this country As l walk through
the streets of your city and look upon
| the billboard advertisements of your the
aters and operas as l stop to look at
the costumes of the women and ask
| the honest question. why was that Wo-
man put in that picture just in that po-
| sition and with that costumeY And
| the inevitable answer must come to every
candid, honest man and woman, The
motive was bad 1t is a bid for the
worst thoughts and its influence is not
for the best. When l see on advertise
ments of tobacco and almost every other
commodity of trade. the nude forms OF
women, my cheeks burn and my heart
aches. But in answer to my criticism
comes back the fact that no woman
was ever pictured in garb that she
did not wear. and. after all. the women
of the land are responsible for this fear
full shocking nudity of the female form
flooding our towns, our theaters, our OPP
eras and our social gatherings. Has
woman lost her modesty? Are we utter
ly given over to immodesty? I pray
you good women to whom God AL
mighty has instructed the rearing of
sweet girls call a halt to this Internal
immodesty of dress. Lend not your girls
to this school of lust Give not the arms
and neck and shoulders of your sweet
girls to feed the passions of the volup-
trious vultures that attend all these gath
erings chiefly to feed upon the weak
nesses and follies of our women.
II warn you, young women, study your
costume little. Ask why Madam FASH
ion would array you thus. and then in
the strength of your pure. modest wo-
manhood, dare to have the courage to
draw the line on old Madam Fashion
where !. Inodesty stops and immodesty
begins. strong woman means a wo-
man who makes some demands upon the
opposite sex. A man has drawn line
for women-he has made demands upon
her character and whenever woman
crosses the line that man has drawn for
her or falls below the standard man has
erected for her. she is picked up on the
cold iron shovel of ostracism and thrown
out into the cold, heartless world, the
devil puts his foot on her and she never
rises. Oh the fruitless efforts of the
good people of this country to lift
up fallen womenl On. the rigidness with
which she is held to the demands that
man makes for her purity and her up
rightness: but the women of this coun-
try make no demands upon the men.
young man. provi6cS ne has q hundred
thousand dollars back of him, can wal
low in the slums, debauch himself in the
saloon, go to the unnamable hsunts of
ter is reeking in immortality. yet dressed
in his elegant costume, with the breath
of the richest perfume about his cloth
ing and he is received like a prince
into the best homes of this country,
and is considered an honored escort for
our brightest and purest young women.
l say down with such custom. God
grant that the day may speedily come
when our girls will think as much or
themselves as the boys think of them
selves. when a girl will stand at her par
| lor door and demand of the young man
who enters that as her company, shall
be as clean in his life as the young man
demands she shall be.
I'm one of our Tennessee homes there
lived a bright, cultured young woman
who put a womanly premium upon her
| own life and her own society. bril-
liant young lawyer was paying court at
| her shrine. He was young and bright
and strictly moral, though not religious
| He had won her love and gained her con-
| sent to her marriage. During the Christ
| mas holidays. with a company OF his
reckless compa MONS. in an unusually hi
| larious moment he was persuaded to
| take wine. Ignorant of the treacherous
| drink, he was soon intoxicated ana TO
| the delight of his envious companions,
| he was carried to his room drunk. The
| news was carried 10 his young lady
| friend who retired to her ROOM buried
her face in her hand. fought battle
and gained a victory Late in the even
| ing of the next day this young man
| rang the door bell at her fathers resi-
dence She saw him coming and told
the servant girl she would answer the
bell. She opened the door and said to
him. 4 have heard of your last nights
| conduct You have taken my name and
| our relations into disgrace. You have
shown your appreciation and your esti-
nation of me. ! cannot receive the at
tentions Of a man who values so lightly
his own character and mine. You may
60 back to your companions, and be my
friend no longer. Our roads separate here.
| Good-by, sir She closed the door and
walked back into the kingdom of her
own home, with the feeling that she
would not trust her life and happiness
with a man who valued them no higher
than the young man she had just turned
from the door. If we had a few young
women in this country who would put
| some valuation on their own character
and their own person, and would make
| more demands OF the opposite sex, the
Young men OF this country would soon
nurify their lives. elevate their charac-
ters and be worthy of our noble young
| womanhood and there would be fewer
ruined homes, crushed hearts and lives.
| W. ,ead Young women strong In their