The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1916-02-19
Careless Parents Responsible
for Sins OF Children.
Boys and Girls Allowed Too
Much Loose Freedom.
KNOWLEDGE BEST CHAPEROR
Wisely Taught Girls Need Nc
Other Protection.
Conditions in Many Schools Ur-
gently Need Attention.
BY ELLA WHEELER WILCOX.

By ELLA WHEELER WILCOX
New York. Feb. ia few years
ago there was a high school in one
of the interior towns of America
which had to close it's doors at one
season because of the epidemic OF
immortality which swept through its
various classes.
The absolute freedom of association
which the boy and girl pupils had been
allowed, without careful guidance or
wise instruction or kind warnings
from parents or teachers. had resulted
in moral and physical disaster to q
large number of young girls. In order
to prevent a widespread scandal, the q
school closed its doors on a fictitious
pretext, but the real cause was known,
however, by the majority of the inhab-
itants.
My daughter is II" remarked q
fond mother to a friend, but she is
like some new born babe in her inno- Fl
cence. 1t is really refreshing to hear n
her talk and | would not destroy. her
| ignorance of the evils of the world for A
all the riches of EARTH
Price of Ignorance.
Yet this same 17-year-old daughter /
was confiding to a comrade her excit- 4
/ ing adventures with men much older
on her way to and from high school. 4
An artist had taken her into his studio n
and posed her for pictures and boldly 4
commented on her perfection Of form 4
and other men had paid her compIf-
ments, all which pleased the young
miss nightly, and all of which she 4
kept secret from her parents
This precious miss afterward eIoped 4
with a man whose social station was
| much inferior to her own and the
mother wondered how such a misfor-
tune could have happened to her care
| fully reared child.
In no other country on the face OF
the earth are young girls in homes Of
educated and well-to-do parents per-
mitted such dangerous liberties as in
America.
The peasants and the outdoor toll
ers of other lands follow these free
and easy customs, but people of anv
position or any degree of culture do
not permit their daughters to receive
the attentions of men without a chan
eron.
knowledge Saves.
knowledge is the best chaperon for
a young girl. however The wisely
taught and instructed girl. given right
ideals and a commonsense educafiS,r,
in the ways of the world and the laws
Of natIre, will need no other protec-
ton.
If you have a daughter, madame.
| VINO is Just entering the charmed
danger zone of early womanhood taIlr
to her often and intimately on the sub
Ject dear to every girls heart-lpve.
romance, marriage and maternity.
Say to her: You are an exquisite
anu AdIG piece Oh human workman
snip; your body is -elicate and holy
temple wherein God performs his
wonders, and youwant TO keep IL beau-
tiful and clean and vital, so when the
marvellous experience of motherhood
comes to you. it will not be impafsad
"A woman's mind and her bod1r-sra
more intimately connected than a
mans mind and body. And Whatever
thoughts, habits or actions YOU NAV
indulge in today may leave their I'm
.t-sF
l come.
Rewards OF Virtue
/ Therefore, invite only such things
/ to lodge in your mind as you are will
/ ing to transmit to your offspring IL
! wifehood and motherhood do not come
/ to you, your own womanhood will still
be enriched by right habits of thought.
If any man laughs at you for not doing
/ what you must hide from your parents
or the world, remember he will laugh
| behind your back if you yield TO him.
/ The mother who talks to her young
/ daughter in this vein Will never weep
over her shame Do not for an instant
imagine that your daughter is not
/ thinking, about the attraction of the
sexes about lovers, about marriages.
about maternity. Unless she is an
aenemic and imperfectly developed. she
is thinking of these things. IL Is az
natural for butterflies to think
about sunlight; for bees to seek honey
giving plants and for birds to mate in
the spring
This girl who has died so tragicalfy
was full of romance and natural
young sentiment, which developed into
the sex impulse through her too frea
association with a youth as untaught
and unguided as herself
Neither the youth nor the girl was
/ by nature corrupt or vicious. They
were just young animals. unleashed
and unfenced, following natures i'm
pulses.
! They Were Ignorant
! They had not been taught the holy
laws which make those impulses sz-
cred and right for human beings.
They had not been taught to respece
and reverence the sex relation a.
something high and noble.
No one had talked to them serious
ly and sweetly on this vitality impor-
tant subject. Their parents did nce
| imagine they thought about it. 1t n
the universally stupid i1ea of parents-
But they had thought about it.
And from not knowing how to think
/ this awful tragedy resulted.
IL may come to your child-to your
| daughter, your son-any day, mad
anne, unless you are guiding them
over the dangerous reins with the
searchlight of knowledge. Are you2
Couple, Age IS and IS, Drown.
/ Lacross. Wis. Feb. 19.-Mr. and
Mrs. Isaac y. Groves. age rs and Is.
/ of Springville. Wis, were drowned to-