Goldsboro weekly argus. [volume] (Goldsboro, N.C.) 1885-1909, 1902-06-26
LESSONS 70 MOTHERS IN THIS TRAGEDY.
Dorothy Dix Says Young Girls Get too Much
Liberty From their parents.
BY DOROTHY DIX.

got the wife and baby he had desert
ed. She forgot her duty to her par
ents, and her mothers anxiety.
Three weeks ago she left her home
without warning, and while her
frantic mother searched for her she
was staying with friend where he
could visit her. He was jolly and
they went on..larks. together, where
her dimples flashed as she laughed,
and where he swore over and over
again that though he could not marry
her, no other man should.
Then came the fatal night when
the mothers reluctant consent was
given to the drive, and ssDimples"
| and Disbrow started out in the car
riage, her eyes alight and her dim
sparkling with delight. They met
| Foster-the other married man who
loved 'Dimples" also-and the
| three went to the clubhouse for din
ner. What happened after that only
Disbrow, if he be alive, can tell. The
road through the pines is said to
have been strewn with empty cham
pagne bottle. The mother, anxious
ly looking for her daughter at 2
o'clock in the morning, saw them
rush by, lashing horse into lather.
A woman in hotel heard the men
quarreling, and "Dimples" Law
rence's voice asking-its last request
-''if Louis wasn't coming too," and
then there was a splash of boat in
the water, and silence.
If the balance of the story is told,
Disbrow must tell it. There may
have been struggle-murder may
have been done-or maybe the man
and the girl in the boat, dull and
stupid with drink, upset the little
craft and were drowned. All that is
known is Snat when the sea gave up
it's dead the face of the man was cut
and bruised, but that Of the girl was
as placid and smiling an unharmed
as if she had been rocked to sleep or
her mothers breast but poor, fool
ish little "Dimples" Lawrence haG
paid with her life the debt of hel
waywardness and her disobedience
The story Of this tragedy calls at
tention once more to the responsi
bility of parents and the mistaken
system of rearing girls in this coun
try and that makes such a catas
trophe possible. We give our girl
unfettered liberty when they are to-
;. young to know how to use it ant
think it license. We trust to thei
judgment before they have knowl
= edge, and to their discretion befor
! tn ey have wisdom, and when the re
] suit is disaster we bemoan the cruel
! ty of fate instead of blaming our ow
i reckless folly.
One could not, at such a time a
+ this, add one iota to the mother
+ passionate grief over her beautifu
# daughter, but the lesson Of the trag
r. edy is one for every parent in tn
q land. It is blunt fact, bluntly pu
: that every such heart-breaking o.
Il currence could have been prevented
and is the direct result ofsomebody
.r failure to do their duty by the gir
n The steadfast refusal to permit he
to go on a night ride through th
J. country would have kept "Dimples
,s Lawrence safe at home. One chal
is erone would have stayed the gi
"a from drinking and stopped the vii
a. orgie that ended in death for two
the members of the party, and tt
shadow of imprisonment for tt
other.
ut stDimples" Lawrence's moth
i'd hesitated about letting her daught
ii go, and then consented. In tn
n weak, tender, mother-love that ca
o. not refuse the child the thing tn
lis may wreck its life you have the sc
ret of half the tragedies that sadd,
Irl the world. It is much easier to vie
,r- ! to those we love than 1t is to fig