Ottumwa semi-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1899-1903, 1901-09-03
PEOPLES PULPIT.
,OOoOoOooOoOoO(
Lesson of a Tragedy.

|
A girl-young, beautiful, accomplish
! ed, and of an eminently respectable
family-was driven to her home in a
cab couple of nights ago in Chicago.
! She was alone and unconscious when
her father found her and carried her
into the house. A few hours later she
died from the effects of some drug.
| The previous afternoon and evening
she had spent with a girl friend. At
9 o'clock they separated and she had
taken car for home. Between that
hour and 2 o'clock the next morning,
when the unconscious girl was received
into her home, it is not known what
took place, except that she had been
seen in a wineroom with a strange
man.
! The pity of it is, that this is not at
all an exceptional case. This sort of
thing is happening altogether too fire.
quently nowadays. And what is the
reason?
| Is it not strange state of affairs
when parents look upon daughters
unexplained absence from home, at
night, as a matter of no particular
anxiety?
| And yet is it not the custom in many
families to allow the daughter to go
away and stay indefinitely, knowing
nothing exactly of her whereabouts nor
of what she is doing?
| In this latest instance the girl was
young and pretty, and no young wo-
man who is at all prepossessing should
be allowed to go about at all hours
alone.
American parents trust their chill
dren too much. 1t has been said that
the average American mother would
not insult her daughter by the espion-
age of chaperone Instead she al
lows young Irresponsibility, young
Passion, young Impetuosity, young In
experience, to have full sway--and
then, when something happens, she
wonders.
| The average young girl cannot be
| trusted, any more than her brother
and the consequences to her are more
dire than to him. Hence more care
is necessary in order to protect her.
| American girls are clever; they are
sensible; they are charming; but they
have an exaggerated idea of independ-
ence, which leads them into all kinds
of misdeeds. This feeling is general
ed in good part by the freedom allow
ed them by their parents OF course,
/ its easier to let the children do as
they please but think of the results
The European father guards his wo.
men, though he may care no more for
them than the American father. The
i European mother loves her daughters
not one whit more than the American
mother, but she holds them to a
stricter accounting oftheir actions and
watches them as long as it is needed
/ which means always in some cases.
I In the old country a man will not
marry girl who has compromised
| herself, even though innocently. AS
! stern a law here could work no harm.
| 1t is not necessary to keep girl in
absolute ignorance, as they do in
France. Ignorance is not innocence
i Do you know her friends, whether they
j are worthy or unworthy? Do you al
/ low her to read all the books that come
her way? There are books and mag
azines published that can work more
! harm to d young and vivid imagination
than your steady brain can think of.
Do you allow young men to escort her
alone to social functions? Do you let
her visit men in their downtown Of
!
them away from home alone? Do
you wonder when you allow her free
contact with the rough world, that
the exquisite bloom of her youth is SO
soon faded? Do you wonder that she
loses respect for men, in her over
knowledge of them-so that even her
own father must suffer from it? Are
you amazed, then, that men acllnowl-
edge increasing disrespect for women,
when girls are not considered valuable
enough to be more safely guarded by
their parents?
| There is something wrong in a con-
d zion which will allow young woman
to take car at late hour in the even
| ing, to ride home, alone. There is
something wrong in her parents mat
ter.of-course attitude when she failed
to put in her appearance at proper
hour, in her home. They trusted her?
es, but it seems that she met man
who was stranger to them, and she
was willing to go with him and stay
part of the night at questionable &c
Sort At another time in healthier
surroundings, she might have scorned
the idea that she would have done such
thing. But there was the night. and
the man, and the temptation--and
youth never knows what it will do
when the time comes. 1t takes years
and experience for that. And if there
had been a member oi her family with
her. would she have gone?
Oh, this Wanted freedom OF Ameri-
can youth This allowing OF puppy
hood 70 chase around as II will,
Take care of your daughters faith
ers and mothers. if only that they may
receive the respect of your sons.
And. girls---a word to you
Don't think that you are the whole
world 10 man because lie says you
sls. He,may Miean it far nomsAG