Honolulu star-bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1912-2010, 1917-08-31
IT'S UP 70 TIE MOTHERS
BY DOROTHY DIX
The Worlds Highest Paid Woman
Writer


The most startling revelation made
IN the recent New York vice in
j Vestigation was not of the depray-
ity OF man but OF the ease which
girls yield to temptation. Dozens OF
the poor, pitiful creatures about whom
the law was yainEy trying to stretch
q protecting arm, told the stories or
their downfall, and these stories were
almost without exception incredibly
naive and simple. "
There was nothing Of the villain
still pursued In these tragic tales. No
revelation Of a deep, dark, designing
plot of which a haPless girl was the
victim. No Michaevellian subuety
weaving q net Of silken threads so
tightly about her that she was caught
unEwares in its soft unbreakable
meshes. No plausible Satan holding
before her the glittering baubles OF
the riches Of the world that she was
to buy with her soul.
. No. By these girls own confes-
sions the only temptations ever Of
fered them were cheap and sordid In
the extreme-an automobile ride, or
a drink, or q dinner, or an excursion
to some nearby resort-and the stor-
les to which they lent a too willing
ear we're so palpably false on their
faces that it did not seem possible
that they could have deceived even
5.year-old child.
This is a bitter illustration of the
truth that we cannot retterate too
often. that the only power that can
really proect a girl is home influence,
and the. only individual who can safe
guard her is her mother. In the last
analysis the whole question comes
back to the way the girl was brought
up, and the ideals that were instllled
into her in her very cradle:
II these were good she can walk
through the very pit unscathed Win
not so much as the smell OF fire nang-
ing 10 her garments. But II her nome
influences were bad, and. II she nao
a mother who taught her loose locals
oftconduct, not all the laws and all
the statutes ever compiled can pro-
tect her, nor all the police keep her
safe. though you set plain clothes
man on every corner to guard her.
n. IA a good thing for the law TO
do All in its power to protect girls. II
is a good thing to run down ana mer'
ciIessly punish white slavers ana
YnaEhers and all their evil crew, but IN
the end the girl must save herself, ana
/. she cannot do that unless her mother
l,as nut in her hand the sword win
which She must fight her battle
AGAINST temptation.
The law cannot go Win tne s
into every ratification OF her oally
life. A policeman cannot be forever
Z Al her elbow. Even the most parIIc'
Mar 81 mothers cannot be 'contlnuaIy
81 her daughters side as chaperon.
and 40. al last, it is the girl herself
who stands or falls, who keeps her-
self clean and white, or who stumoies
into, the mud.
And every girl is what her mother
r,aSsa her. If the mother has bred into
her daughter strong, upright primer
MES. II She has taught her from the
time she could understand anythins
TO speak the truth, to live strai t..l
and to hold her honor above ner IRE
If she has taught the girl sell con
troll and dignity and a modesty that
shrinks from everything course ana
vulgar with an actual physical dis
gust, why, that girl is as safe from
Temptation anywhere in the world as
She would be In convent. .
She has got the magic in her own
soul that not only gives her the
strength to resist temptation, but that
actually. turns temptation away from
her and moves it out of her pathway.
The purity of a pure, high.minded girl
is visible aura about her that even
the dullest and most british man
sees and respects.
But II q girl has been cursed with
mother who brings her up with no
standard of righteousness, who incul-
Gates in her no ideals OF virtue or
honor. who teaches her. directly or