The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1904-05-11
The Story of Three Young Women.


home from my work, writes the Rev.
Thomas B. Gregory, behe!d a sight that
I shall not soon forget, as sad, cruel and
heartbreaking sight as was ever called
upon to witness. :,
The trolley car in which I was seated
stopped for moment, and there stag
gered in three young women, the youngest,
I should say, being about fifteen, the eld-
est not over seventeen.
The girls were exceptionally. good look
ing, were we'll dressed and did not ap.
pear to be Sinners above all men that
dwelt in Jeru ,alem.' -
But how drunk they were! And what
actions they cut up! Silly, shameless, dis
gusting, they forced every decent, self
respecting psrson in the car to a. ask ,vbee see
even young women, the wives and m mothers
of the future, can act like thsE
The girls were evidently getting home
from a downtown Luncheon" at which
they had allowed themselves to imbibe
the stuff which stole away their Drains, de-
stroyed their sense of deceney, and lett
them to stagger away as best they could.
The girls got off the car on Ninth ave-
nue., Brooklyn, and went reehng out into
the night, no one of US could tell where:
They were the daughters of some of the
mothers around about the locality where
they left the car, and those mothers,
watching for their girls, must have felt
sorrowful indeed when they came in! .,
The thought came to me as l watched
the young women staggering away to their
homes, "Are there, in those homes, motn.
ers who themselves are in the habit of
going to downtown 'luncheons and lnduig-
ing in strong drink"
10
might be the case, and that the girls |
saw were simply following their mothers
examples.
If this is q fact, what can the mothers
eay? Not a word. Their mouths are
stopped; for should they accuse their
daughters of wrongdoing, they would but
meet with the terrible reply: 1--WE may
be doing wrong; but who taught US to do
it,"
Possibly, however, the mothers, of the
Young women I saw in such bad shape on
the Brooklyn trolley car do not themselves
drink. For all I know to the contrary,
they may be exceptionally fine women, SO
far as their habits are concerned; but an
other question comes up here: Are they
motherly mothers? Are they as careful
of their daughters as they ought 20 oe;
or have they simply left them to grow up
as they please, and to so to wreck and
ruin if they feel so inclined!"
There is nothing in this world so beau
tiful, so sacred, as motherhood, and the
very heart of motherhood Is love for Its
And so the question will force itself
upon us, DO the mothers of this day and
generation love their children as tenderly
and deeply as they should?"
Have the home virtues in the modern
wife deteriorated, and has she got to the
point where she cares less fol. the honor
and peace Of her home than she does Tor
money and excitement and the other su'
prGcial things?
There was q time when mothers looked
after their daughters, and in, every way
that was possible endeavored to shield
them from the evil that lurked by the way;
but I know, and every observing person
knows, that it is no uncommon sight
these times to see young girls roaming
around at all hours of the night, either
alone or in the company of young men
who. oftentimes, are of no credit to them.
It is a pity that such condition of at
fairs should exist, and the sooner 1t IS
remedied the better it will be for the
country.
We are Justly proud Of our country.
Invincible in prowess and boundless IN
possibilities for goodness and greatness
IS the nation whose women are womanly-,
but a law older than the pyramids and
mightier than gravity has decreed that the
nation whose womanhood Is not womaniy
shall perish.-New York American.