Manchester Democrat., 1921-08-17
IT SURE IS AWFUL

1T SURE is AWFUL
My article in last weeks Demeers
was so completely misunderstood b
Editor Ram that / feel 1 must max
further explanation. / am not of tn
| opinion that there is nothing to crit
icise in any generation, young or oil
since the world began. Sam Jones bit
etrly denounced the dress of the wo
men of his day as being immodest
j There always has been the lawless ele
ment but that is no excuse for sayin,
modesty is "A Vanishing Trait" Asl
1 the persons who agree with Mr.. Ram
"Are you immodest? Is your wife O.
daughter immodest?" They will inyari
ably and emphatically say mo" /
is always the other fellow. Now asl
|, them If they are dressed in style ant
see how many say NO" AS matter
Of fact there isn't one girl in fifty il
Manchester who is immodest or i'm
| modestly dressed.
Why then this wholesale condem
| nation? Was any one ever helped by
bitter unjust criticism? Why say
things that make good girl blush
to own she came from Manchester
If have said anything that anyone
has construed to mean that am en-
couraging license or immortality among
the young people am truly sorry as
nothing was farther from my thoughts
and intentions, but do believe in
fair play.
Mr.. Ram tells me my article was
an open defense Of license among
young people. This is not true. My de-
fense was on behalf of the many good
girls of Manchester who justly resent
the slanderous statements made by
him.
For a local editor to attack the
young people, especially our girls, so
harshy and at the same time say moth
/ ing about some of the married peo-
pie whom we all know deserve the
very severest condemnation, and when
called down for it to make verbal
excuse for them on the grounds of
their maturity, is to my mind the
worst possible defense OF evil.
1t isn't my business to stroll around
town at night and spy on the young
people but there are officers whose
business it is to see that nothing goes
ON which is offensive to decent
people. / am not an apologist
for women who are denied the
sacrament because Of scanty at
tire but would like to know what
the ministers do who go as mission
aries to heather cOuntries-perhaps
they go blindfolded. That / am not
so secluded that / do not know what
g going on among some of the mar
ried people of this town whether
know all about the young people or
not, Mr.. Ram will discover, II he
deigns to read this article. The for
mer, so far as evil influence is con-
cerned, so totally eclipses the latter
that one cannot be blamed if they do
not get clear perspective of the lat
ter.
That dress is an arbitrary custom
and does not govern the morals OF a
nation we have only to study the NOR
ais and customs of some OF the South
Sea Islands to prove. II Mr.. Ram
would go down there and suggest to
some primitive man that his wife or
daughter is immodest because she
wears scanty apparel they would make
meal of him so quickly he wouldn't
even have time to say his prayers.
Now, dear girls, please do not mis-
construe or misunderstood me. We
do not live in the Fiji Islands nor
do we want to go there and il we
can uplift and purify the men of this
country by wearing more clothes,
I'm for it with my whole heart.
1t is not the custom of the best
women of this country to leave their
bodies exposed from the waist up or
to expose their knees or to even wear
anything that suggests that they are
a biped, therefore you cannot afford
to do it. You cannot afford to, do any
thing that is denounced by the press
of this country for it is a powerful
agent and is usually on the right side
morally. But if we will not allow
that women are especially to blame
for this wave of crime that is sweep
ing the country. then where do we To-
cate the trouble? The two greatest
agents of morality this or any civil
lied country can possibly have out
side of the Church area good ex-
ample set by the parents and elders
and rigid enforcement of the law. In
Manchester we have many OF the for
mer but little of the latter, and in
Manchester we also have a few par
ents and elders and so-called inftuen-
tial men who are setting an example
SO flagrantly and nauseatingly immoral
that it cannot help having degrad-
ing effect upon the minds OF young
people, especially the weaker mem-
bers who always take their cue from
the actions of their more influential
elders.
We are all well aware that the
laws and ordinances are not generally
enforced and even when some officer
does get up a little spunk and brings
an offender up on the carpet, all he
has to do is look the officer in the
eve and say, well, start something"
and the officer is Immediately seized
with such violent fit OF the ague
that he is unable to even articulate
while the offender walks OF unmolest-
ed laughing in his sleeve. didn't
see this but truthful little bird told