The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1912-06-29

who ought to be in their homes
may be seen lettering on the
streets at midnight and even later
unaccompanied or in questionable
company, and one cannot help ask
ing what their parents are think
ing about? Do they know where
their daughters are? What COM
pany they keep? What places they
frequent? Such parents possess
strange idea of their responsible
ties. They retire or, it may be, sit
up awaiting the return of their
children until the early hours of
the morning and night after night
they allow this to. continue. Are
they unable to enforce their au-
thority, or are their children so
devoid of respect and reverence
for them as to set at naught their
commands? They cannot be I'M
aware Of the dangers that men
ace the innocent and unwary at
every turn in large city. Vicious
companions or professed pander-
ers await their victims at every
corner and, even on the principal
thoroughfares, dens of infamy
f1aunt their brazen allurements
openly to entice the young into
lives of shame.
One needs but very limited
acquaintance with the conditions
that prevail in a large city to
know something of the perils that
beset the pathway of the young Of
both sexes, and especially Of
young girls. The gilded wine room,
the cheap theatre, the low restau-
rant, the disreputable rooming
house, the public dance hall, the
indiscriminate mingling of the
sexes in mill and factory and store
all these are so many traps for
the unwary. Each in it's own way
contributes it's quota to the num-
Der of those who year after year
plunge into the vortex of dissipa-
ton or are led astray by evil asso-
ciates.
It is beyond comprehension how
Christian parents who ought to
realize their responsibility to God
for the proper exercise Of their
authority can allow their children
to 60 and come as they please
without knowing anything about
their associates or the places they
frequent. The inevitable conse-
quence Of this laxity on their
part is the moral degradation of
their children. Ruin Of body and
soul almost invariably follow from
evil associations. Too often par
ents lull themselves into a sleep
of fancied security in regard to
their children from which they are
rudely awakened only when the
home is polluted and the family
name disgraced.
Failure on the part Of parents
to exercise proper restraint over
their children is one Of the curses
Of modern life. Too often it is due
to the fact that they repose an I'M
warranted amount Of confidence
in their children, and do not awake
to the true state Of affairs until
it is too late to remedy the evil.
Bad habits have been contracted,
evil associations formed and future
prospects blasted. Do not these
guilty parents fear the vengeance
Of God for their fatuous neglect of
duty? They cannot plead ignor-
ance Of the danger. From the pull
pit and platform repeated warn
ings have been given. The daily
press teens with lessons that may
be drawn from the shocking TRACE
dies that blight young lives and
bring innocent victims to early
graves.
Catholic parents, especially,
should heed the warning that
comes to them with all the author
, lty OF God-glven message. They
should be firm and, if necessary,
, severe in the exercise Of legitimate
authority over their children; and
if they insist upon obedience to
their commands from the time that
their boys and girls are capable of
understanding what is required
Of them, they will have little to
fear when maturer years bring
about a truer appreciation Of the
relationship upon which the fam
lily life is founded. By word and
example they should train the
; young in virtue and form their
character upon the lines laid down
by the Gospel. These responsible
ties they dare not shirk lest they