Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1917-08-09

possible, opportunities for association
with decent members of the opposite
sex. That is by far the best method
OF solving his moral problems.
In the same issue Mrs. Woodallen
Chapman touches the same subject
from a different angle. in part as fol-
lows:
Ten million young men have stepped
forward in a body to the defense OF
the Nation.
Five hundred thousand OF them will
be chosen to go to the front.
Another bugle call has been heard!
1t, too, comes from the Government
calling upon every citizen of this
great land of ours to come to the de-
tense OF the Nations defenders.
For there are other dangers threat
ening our soldier boys besides bullets
dangers more deadly than shrapnel.
These enemies make their attacks in
times of peace, but their assaults are
concentrated and intensified in times
of war.
They are more to be dreaded than
death itself, because they weaken the
moral integrity as we'll as the physical
fibre.
Millions of parents today are Won
dering whether their sons are to be
called upon to undergo this, fiery or
deal Will their boys, sent out to the
defense of the Nation, become victims
of this scourge of immortality?
The horror of the possibility clutch
es the mothers hart with frenzy of
fear Her thoughts fly back to the
early days of her sons life, when he
lay in her arms a tender, innocent
babe, and she prayed that he might
grow up to be good man.
For this she has striven, to- the best
of her ability, throughout the inter-
vening years.
Day by day she has endeavered to
unfold in him the essential elements Of
goodness. She has tried to develop
strength of character-but will he be
able to withstand the assaults made
upon him in his new environment,
away from the restraining and sup
porting influence of the home and the
community?
In times of peace we think of armies
as composed of veterans-men mature.
stern, sedf- controlled, invincible. Not
until war is upon US, and on every
hand we see rosy checked lads with
the down of youth upon their lips don
ming the army uniform, do we realize
that armies are made up Of those who
are little more than boys, uniformed,
immature, theirScharacters still in the
making.
So it is that millions of mothers to-
day, as they think of the terrible pos
sibilities of moral deterioration, are
pleading in heart-broken accents, "Not
that, o Lord, not that. Anything but
that, Let him be wounded, MANNED.
his life sacrificed, If need be, but let
him come back to me clean, pure, fit
companion for noble men and pure
women This one blessing grant, Q
Father. and all else will be accepted by
me without a murmur."
What are you going to do to help
solve this tremendous problem?
You communities, that are to be
within the environs of the training
camps-what plans have you on hand?
What sort of diversion is the soldier
going to find when he gets his few
hours of leave?
You have not thought anything
about it, You may be sure the men
who run the movies and the dance
halls and the saloons have thought
about it and are planning for it. They
will not care for the moral welfare Of
these, the most promising youths of
cur country. They will be thinking
only of the money which may be
, wrung from their purses through
! various inducements to self-indulg-
ence. Do you not see the responsible
| ity that rests upon you to do some
thing to offset these temptations?
Why don't you organize a Commit
tee at once to make preparations for
providing plenty of places where
movies of the very highest type will
be shown. and drive out all possible
things which would deal with the
salacious and the degrading?
Why don't you plan the dance halls,
well-ventiiated. well-situated. sup
piled with good music, with large
committees of splendid women to act
as chaperones. and see to it that the
rockies have chance to enjoy them
selves under the very best conditions?
What we need to do is to enlist our
girls upon the side Of morality and
devotion to the highest ideal. They
are the ones who will have the most
potent influence over these young
men. n they can be led to expect and
demand the highest moral conduct of
the young men whom they meet. they
will become sources of power and in
spiration to every young soldier who
comes within the radius Of their per-
sonalities.
They will respond nobly to meet
the conditions when once 1t has been
made plain to them. Let the girls in
the communities where the soldiers
i and sailors gather or Though which
they pass on their way to the front be
drawn together in groups and wisely
instructed in these matters and their
| response will be most gratifying. Help
them to come into an understanding of
themselves, their own sex natures, the
ways in which they may be sources of
inspiration or of temptation to these
young men: help them to understand
the young men, their sources of weak
ness as we'll as Of strength, and they
will be equipped to do work which can
! be done by no one else.
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