A CLUB FOR RUINING GIRLS.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXVII, Issue 24, 27 January 1906, Page 13

A CLUB FOR RUINING GIRLS.

WHAT A GLASGOW MINISTER SAYS. The Rector of Birmingham (Canon Denton Thompson) made a remarkable statement when speaking at the animal meeting of the Girls' Night Shelter at Birmingham. He said many girls fell into utter woe and misery through ignorance. Many were brought up in entire ignorance of th» constitution of their own body, and he was most thankful that physiology and other like sciences were being increasingly taught in the elementary schools. He fe'.t that much might be done by educating girls to understand what they really were. "I have known those whc have been mined," said Canon Thompson, "and have then set to work to ruin others. I might perhaps startle some of you if I said I knew a club consisting of young men, and one of the terms of membership is that °ach must ruin a pyre girl. You would almost thinls such' a thing incredible, but it is so; and there are so many tlitngs which go on behind the scenes which only those who go behind* the scenes can see, and perhaps my may cause some of you to take even a greater Interest than you do in rescuing those who are perishing." There was an increasing demand for the labour of young women, and he pleaded with heads of houses to see that girls who were called to work in the same room *s younjr men should be protected iv tlx° same way as the masters would desire to see their own daughters protected, because he knew the conditions were full of peril. In regard to the pleasures of young people. Canon Thompson eaid that there were some piaces in Birmingham entirely free from vulgarity, but Ohere were others which were nothing more nor less than the high road to hell. SERVANTS IN GLASGOW.

A Glasgow minister, whose church is very pc-ular with the young folks of both sexes, remarked in course of a conversation with a representative:—"Servant girls have often complained to mc about the abuse they have to put up with from their masters because they will not listen to the overtures which from time to time are made to them- I think it most courageous for a man like Canon Depton Thompson to have spoken out in such a bold and open way. Why should we cover up such a heinous sin. When a physician discovers that disease has attacked his patient he does not wrap up the sore and leave it. No; he sets about removing it, and I think it time, before we cast a stone at Birmingham, and, figuratively speaking, shake hands with ourselves, to pick the mote out of our own eyes. There Is no doubt that servant girls should have a sort of union, which would In cases of dismissal take up eases of the kind I have alluded to. Such scoundrels who try to wreck young lives ought To be exposed. Aβ a rule there Iβ nothing to fear from

a servant. Bhe takes her dismissal quietly; is often glad to get away: and if she does tails, why let her, the world will not believe her. That is how such polished black* guards, argue, and they are not far wrong either. The world always sides with the strongest, apd the weak have to prove their case up to the hilt before they are believed.