Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1919-08-19
MRsFEuTONS TALKS
CONDUCTED BY
Mas WIZ. FELTON,
A Decisive Hope

| Some time ago / had a letter from
| a young woman in a distant state
who found too late that men beNay.
| She desired to get away from home
| before her parents discovered the full
extent of her trouble. She would
! like to go out to service and keep
away from her own neighborhood I'M
| til she can go back Meanwhile she
desires to hide herself for a season.
1 am not familiar with many of such
letters. / have but little knowledge
of the best and Wisest plans in such
| cases. but / am of the opinion that
! she would fare better if her mother
| knew a little more about the girl s
| extremity, and while she will wiring
that mothers heart with untold an
guish and depresS her life with
shame. still the mother would provide
for her and maybe give her the best
protection at last. The 1ngratltude
| of that girl to her mother is a sin OF
great magnitude. AS I could not adj
wise her. L did not reply to her let
! ter. L crave a word nevertheless, with
| other fast young women who are in
| danger of casting away the pearl of
great price and of placing them
| selves in positions of embar-
rassment and humiliation.
This hapless young girl allowed
herself to be pulled along into places
of temptation. There are plenty OF
seudcers in this world with slick ton
CUES and honeyed phrases who lie in
wait for girls who are too weak to
| resist and too silly to keep out of
| traps that are set for the runaway.
1t is in the order of nature that
the sexes can be easily impressed by
1attery and silly compliments and
it is also true that womankind can
be easily ruled by their affections.
They can be Influenced by men they
love when they would never be led
aStray by other persons. lnfatuation,
it is, not affection that gets them.
And it is a fact that society will de-
nounce the victim and smile upon the
| libertine.
So long as the seducer is allowed
to desert the infatuated girl-and
continue to visit in respectable homes
| and associate with decent women
| he feels reasonably secure, and his
ally-but what matters, unless there
are laws against seduction and bas-
| tardy-rigidly enforced!
Alas! The girl takes all the odium.
all the shame, and the best she can
DO is to hide herself and bear it ST.
lently, if not patiently. Our laws
are very lax in such cases. They are
| going to continue to be IaX-while a
mans viewpoint prevails in all our
| legislation. 1t is a fact beyond dis
pute-that men will cover up bad
mans tracks-while women-Will
evidence their disregard and con-
tempt in glazing way Whether
men will look upon seduction and
| bastardy as a light matter or other
WiSe-they will screen the offender
in nine cases out of ten,--because he
is a man-and they will shove the
| female victim over the precipice be-
| cause she is to them-a soiled dove
| and no one wants her company nor
| her complaints-and they push her
| over.
The dance halls of the country are
| bad places for young women who are
not solicitors to maintain their own
! self-reSpect. AS a rule they permit
too many familiarities from the 9TH
er sex. [ am going to say further
more that hugging dances are men
ace in our own country.
When the girl parts with her good
name and her reputation is blackened
| by her male associates, she has
| placed herelf on a toboggon slide to-
| wards certain ruin.
Reduce the Membership and Get
BETTER Legislators
A West Virginia correspondent
writes me an open letter on this
line. L am asked: why should the
people, the tax payers keep up so
many Legislators when only a few
carry on the legislation?
Why not get wiser and better
men, pay them more and stop this
constantly outgoing expense, when
two-thirds of them only go to Wash
ingtOn City to live easy lives eat,
drink and be merry, and half the
time no business can be transacted
for want of a quorum?'
We cannot keep Democracy clean
under the autocratic rule of an i'm
mense number of so-calIed members
who are only interested in their own
indulgences"
In reply / will agree to all the
ideas here advanced and would like to
have somebody tell me how we can
reduce expenses when these self-in-
dulgent representatives are always
/ willing and ready to raise salaries,
IL