Licking Valley courier. [volume] (West Liberty, Ky.) 19??-current, 1913-04-24
Innocence a State Of Mind.

Twice crusade and the many in
vestigations of the White Slave
trade, it would be we'll to search
for the primary causes of prosti-
ton, and the reasons that actu-
ate girls in their first downward
step. There can be no doubt
but that in the cities insufficient
wages is one of the chief causes
of the girls trying the easier
way" but in the rural districts
and smaller towns there must be
other causes sought.
~ i
Too many parents mislead
themselves with the idea that
purity is an mate virtue, an IT.
herent attribute of character in
their daughter, and that there is
no danger of her going astray.
There was never a greater mis-
take, never a mistake that caus-
ed more sorrow. Purity is a
STATE OF MIND, not an mate
quality. Naturally, believe, all
normal girls are pure-minded in
the beginning, and if kept in a
pure environment-t their minds
kept pure there will be no evil.
But given impure environment,
companions Of easy morals, and
there can be no reason Tor sur
prise when the girl goes wrong.
u u
While it is doubtless true that
Virtue which requires a guard
is scarcely worth the sentinel, !"
it is none the less true that girls
have a right to be kept free from
influences that will lower their
conceptions of morality. Too
often parents rely too much on
the strength Of character of the
girl and allow her to come into
contact with influences that are
demoralizing. The round dance,
for instance. We hear fathers
and mothers say that there is no
harm in the waltz. But if they
would stop to think they would
= see that it is a deadly menace to
purity. Its evolution into the
turkey trot, bunny hug" and
grizzly bear" dances show that
it has a potent power for evil.
No girl would dance one of the
latter dances without having first
had her moral senses blunted by
the waltz. The law of sex is &
natural law, and is stronger thar
social law. The waltz is immor
al because it brings the sexes il
a contact that cannot fail to ex
cite the passions. If men were
as pure-minded as women there
would not be so much harm in it
but they are not The average
male habitue of the dance is evel
on the alert for the psychological
moment when the woman's pas
sions are in the ascendency tt
bring about her downfall, and HI
uses every artifice to excite thoSt
passions. And the waltz gives
him the opportunity that coult
be obtained no other way.
~ ~
Many girls, young girls, hav,
their minds poisoned by the sug
gestions of older girls girls VIII
have fallen but have not beef
found out. A girl of that kin
assiduously strives to destroy tn
sense of purity in her compan
ions. She will use words that d
not say much but mean a grea
deal, will chafe the little girl VIII
resents familiarity from the op
posite sex, and gradually tn
sense of purity is deadened an,
another one is lost.
u -
Many mothers would hold u
their hands in horror if told tina
they were instilling ideas of i'm
purity in the minds of their owl
daughters, yet they, in thei
''hen conventions" allow ther
hear the airing Of all of the locs
scandals and other things the
shouldn't, allow them to rea
vicious literature and send ther
to balls. The fact that they &c
these impure thoughts is proc
of it. Every mother owes it
her daughter to teach her puirt
and the correct ideas Of the Sc
relations. They have the rigl
to have, and should be reared
such a way that their state (