The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1910-06-27
P AR ENTS FAIL
IN THEIR DUTY
DR.. Mcdaniel Traces Immoral
Conditions to Decay Of Pa
rental Authority.

IF could tear out a leaf or a para
| graph from the past lives of some OF
| the men here present tonight and
paste 1t up here they would run out
! of church frightened and disgraced,"
! asserted Rev. George ". MCDANIEL, d.
y, last night at tho First Baptist
church, in his second sermon on the
moral condition of Richmond. The
causes for the immortality. which he
declared In his sermon last sunday ex-
lists In this city, he pointed out last
evening. Next Sunday night he will
talk along the same lines. Last night
there were few empty seats in the
church.
Just before the discourse began the
lights were turned down. "rhe lights
are turned lower said DR.. Mcdaniel.
so that your bushes may be hidden"
The first cause which | shall men
ton for the deplorable moral condition
OF the city is the decay of parental
authority. Take the mother of to-
DAY. Let her win all the prizes at
prldse whist, wear costly gowns, paint
her race ever SO floridly for the thea
ire, drink champagne and ruby wine,
yet II she neglects her children it
were better that she had never been
born.
Lncls of Parental Authority.
What do parents know about their
children now? In the old times they
knew where their children were and
what they were doing, and when the
shadows gathered. the children came
home to the fold. Parents now do not
Keep up with their children in this
way. If a. son gets in at II at night
he VIII probably beat his mother back
home.
Parents are too lax about teaching
their children the proper observance
of the Sabbath. Many young men are
ruined by joining boat clubs and run
ming off from home on Saturday nights
TO spend all Sunday off somewhere
drinking and having a good time. In
ms way such young men become i'm
moral. and are transformed into Sab
bath decorators by the negligence of
parents who fail TO perform duties
which the law cannot perform in their
stead. Church and State cannot do the
work which God has given the mother
and father to do"
After pointing out the harm that may
be done by evil companionship and the
corrnpting power of evil personal in
fluences, DR.. Mcdaniel said that an
other cause of the immoral conditions
here is a lax regard of the marriage
bond.
Now people rush madly into matri-
mony,' he stated, without proper
appreciation of what it means Disre-
gard Of marital vows characterizes a
good many people in this city The
only thing worse than divorce is the
cause of divorce"
Characterization of Women.
THE commerciali2ation OF women is
an additional reason, and by that II
mean the contact OF women with bus
mess and industry in our economic
life. In these days the rich are get
ting richer and the poor are getting
poorer and this condition throws many
women especially country women, into
work. They are pouring into restau-
rants. department stores, factories and
of1ces There is something about the
atmosphere of factories that seems to
stifle the higher sensibilites. Girls
who earn 81 week are having to nav
So week for board
Moral depravity is still anotherl
cause. Many people are degeneratesI
almost from birth. and no force Of good
influence could redeem them. They
were perverts from the beginning"
The final reason given b. the speaker
was a lost sense of terror of the divine !
law and the imminence of God. THE
divine law doesn't brighten as 1t |
should" he said. but Gods law is not
an out Of date law"