The Dillon herald. [volume] (Dillon, S.C.) 1894-????, 1921-10-06
VOL. 2S. NO. 3.
THE UNCHANGED GIRL
- IN danger. Especially in Automo-
bile at Night.

One night ahout eleven O'Clock
sat on the porch eroying the stars
and the cooling breezes. All was
dark about the house and / noticed
ihe approaching light of an automo-
bll" on the public road. As the car
reached the front Of The place il
slowed and Il girls sweet. refined
voice said. But don't v ant to get
out and walk. W" don't even know
where We are.
Yes, "" do, said boys voice.
Il can So" the lights az A-B. Pm
tired of riding so let's walk a few
minutes"
"Why A-B is forty miles from
nome. Let's turn around and start
back"
The car stopped and the pleading
continued. Presently from the dark
came a scream and Don't don't
stop! Tom! Behave yourself"
l started toward the road but be-
Tore l could reach the boy and girl.
the car had gone off down the road
at furious rate. That boy and
glrl were types of young people ali
over the country and the neyspa-
'pers and court records prove that
when rides in the dark are necessary
4
The lonely midnight ride should
bc considered a risky adventure and
PARENTS should so recognize it. There
was a sensational case recently.
called the Holman case. For.
months a vicious minded young man
OF good family schemed and plotted
as the trial showed, against young
lady concerning whom there was
never word of reproach. Being
brought up in home of rugged
honesty where distrust and suspi-
cion were unknown. there was never
a thought on her part that harm
could come TO her at the hands of
her escort. yet so Gastardly was he
that the jury hestitated whether TO
give him deah or the limit of the
sentence in the penitentiary. The fault
was not in the girls going to the par
/ " but in being unaccompanied by an
elder person late at night on lonely
road.
The automobile has a thousand ad-
vantaees but there are possible dis
advantages. Nothing in all the in
struments OF world progress is so
fine that il cannot be used for baser
purposes. II is for us to utilize il
for good and use the common horse
sense with which we were born TO
protect our young people from the
evils of it.
The value Of the old fashioned
chaperone IS illustrated by the fol-
lowing recent incidents. There was
dance at a small summer resort.
Sweet young girls and boys came
from all the neiEhborinR towns
There was long intermission about
the middle of the evening OBJ
served that while mothers. fathers
o. other older people were part of
group Of young people they spent
the time on the grea, veranda OF
walking on lighted paths Young
people alone without exception. as
far as I observed. sat in the dark
in their cars parked in the deep grove.
The second incident was where
three or four carloads of people were
in the habit of attending church in
town Sunday nights. They went for
a year or more without Il mishdl
worse than punctured tire On this
particular night il happened for the
frst time that no Older person was
with them. One of the boys propos-
ed that since II was such a glorious
night. they ride awhile An well
drunken man met and crashed into
one of the cars on a narrow strip
OF road several miles from anywhere
A ruined car, broken leg. painful
cuts and bruises were the results
Had there been just one Older per
son in the party the suggestion to-
go is likely to have met with disap-
provaI.
The fathers and mothers ot the
country might well wake up to the
often neglected responsibility of pro-
tecting young people from dangers
OF which, because OF their lack of
experience. and trusting natures.
they cannot be aware. 1t is the
chick that strays from its mother's
protecting wing that is the victim
OF the hawk. Young people want
not less pleasure but more: but
they want that type of il which re-
suits In intelligent and uplifting
exh1liaration, not that from which
they find themselves precipitated
INTO painful or humiliating mixups.
TO protect their young ie a duty.
and no father can still his conscience
by passing the responsibility TO the
mother nor any mother leave the
burden OF ii entirely on the shouI-.
iers OF her husband. In fact the
sentiment Of every community should
Dc against the unchaperoned ride in
he dark because it is a social me-
lace. And the danger is to be con-
'idered with boys as well as girls
Ind with your children as well as.
'our neighbors' for neither the So
In 81