MORAL PITFALLS.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 852, 29 June 1888, Page 4

MORAL PITFALLS.

We have recently been brought face to face with a social evil so dire that it cannot be wondered at if weak.hearted people shrink from the pain of close examination and would fain cover up the gangrenous spot, and from want of reflection rather than from carelessness, leave it to eat still farther into our midst.

It is of the possible moral dangers that beset our children that we have principally to deal with ; we must learn to recognise fully those dangers, hard as the task may be. The responsibility of parents in training children to make successful men and women is not realised as it should be by all parents; but notupon themalonedoes accountability devolve, it is shared by all who are brought into contact with the young, for there are circumstances sometimes beyond the control of parents that modify and counteract the teaching of their children and make or mar the perfection of their manhood or womanhood.'

Next to home training (of which unfortn. nately there is far less than there should be), the greatest factor in the formation of character is undoubtedly school life. I do not so much mean the nature of. the mental training given by the teachers, which is excellent, but the powerful influences of associations, for good or evil. There is a feeling abroad that more than a suspicion of danger lurks in onr mixed schools, and it is no new thing. Time and again stories have cropped up about this or that school, only to be trodden down with stern determination that no scandal should attach to the favorite institution of the country. Mothers have gone on sending their little ones to mixed schools with full assurance that ‘ they are all right; no harm oan come to them at school.’ Now is it reasonable to suppose that association with children from the lowest quarters of the town can be less than harmful to the more respectable class ? A word, a look, a gesture may lay the foundation for motal ruin. I have read somewhere that ‘a child’s brain may be aptlv compared to the sensitive plate of the photographer. There needs but 1 a moment's exposure to good os bad influences, either of deportment or speech, to imprint upon its surface the lines that make good or bad impressions.’ I do wonder at parents who can 'afford the cost of a privato school sending their girls to an3' other. It is bad enough for the boys to be exposed to the perils surrounding admixture of classes, but for our girls—No, emphatically. Let ua keep them pure and modest, in heart and demeanor, by every possible means. If needs be (and in my opinion there is extreme need) let the women of New Zealand agitate for separation of snxes in schools. Such a demand would not be extravagant, nor difficult to grant, and there would be one evil the less to deal with. Still the danger of association is applied to all and every school. I have heard mothers declare, ‘My child comes home directly wo k is over : no harm can befall hor.’ My dear wom-u ! does she come without a word or two ? And what about the recreation interval and the companionship coming home ? A story came to my knowledge the other day where the mother strictly guarded her girls ; no license was allowed in the way of street parading by day, or going out at night on any pretext whatever. They went to a public school, with strict injunctions to hasten home at its close, and the mother fairly believed that all was well, that her

girls were innocent and safo. But one evening she overheard them discussing A plan for getting out on a tJeftaih bight. Horrified, she confronted them with the demand for full confession ; and it came—she learnt that they had become acquainted at school with some bold bad girls who had sullied their minds and cajolod them into promising to meet certain boys at night «to have a lark.’ How that lark might have ended God only knows ; certain it is that a downward career would have begun. That very morning had appeared the article on ‘Social Shame,’ and the mother placed the paper before her terrified daughters bidding them read it and learn what depths of sin and shame they might barely have escaped. It was a severe though salutary lesson. That mother never again will let her children attend public schools: This is BO terrible fi subject that I feel compelled to speak oUt plainly to blotters, and urge, that if theit gitls must Attend public sflhobls, they Should be blade of the n»,tute of possible tethplitiohs ; if you have properly trained yobr Child to look Upoh her mother his bet best friend, nearest confidante, arid Closest companion, there will be bo difficulty in obtaining her promise to tell you of anything approaching rudeness or indelicacy that may have happened ; warn her against having any seductive ‘ secrets ’ which may or may not bo innocent. Above all remember that ignorance is not necessarilv innocence: those mothers are wise who'early teach their children physio, logical facts. Think, oh! mothers whether is it better that your girls should learn the secrets of life and birth from some illiterate —possibly vicious—nursegirl or companion, or to be told the sacred mysteries gravely and reverently at the maternal knee. I know full well the repugnance with which the average woman will regard the task ; but, oh ! be not deterred from performing your sacred du y. A help do you require ? Well, the best that I know of is contained in a little book entitled ‘On the Early Training of Girls and Boys,’ by that noble-hearted woman, Misa Ellice Hopkins, who has made the moral elevation of woman her life-work. A series of booklets on the subject - some from her pen-are very cheap, and extremely valuable. Hatchard, Piccadilly, London, is the publisher. Talking over this grave subject with a friend the other day, she remarked that some women, more particularly the lower classes, wore .not sufficiently careful regarding their girls underclothing. I agreed with her entirely and regretted that mother’s will not see the advantage of the divided skirt, even for the smallest child it is a timely safeguard from personal exposure ; worn over the calico drawers and buttoned at the sides, it entirely conceals that suggestive white garment ; and any amount of romps or gymnastics may be indulged in without impropriety. This is a hint by the way. From overwhelming evidence we are made aware that the standard of morality in towns is lamentably low, that female degradation is increasing rapidly. No course is assigned nor remedy suggested as yet. But from the hands of the Committee of Inquity now sitting much will be required. People whose business calls them in the streets at night are astonished at the numbers of very young gills who are to be met with lounging on the sidewalks with unseemly laughter and loud chatter. Where do they come from ? AVhat are the parents about, to allow so much liberty ? I am afraid that many of these girls arc employed during the day as nursemaids in respectable hemes. It is a very common thing in this city of small houses to engage a servant ‘to sleep at home.’ Now. I know for a fact that at least in one ins ance the nurse, upon leaving her employer, was in toe habit of spending the nights oa board vessels in harbor. Can you imagine anything more dreadful than the necesssarily close companionship that must exist between such a degraded girl and her young charge ? Is not their contamination almost a certainty ? This case is not an isolated one, remember. Posfibly in many a household this moral tragedy may be enacted without the slightest suspicion being aroused. People are sometimes very blind to what is going on, even in their own nurseries, and many a dear little girl and boy has learned vicious habit 3 from an unprincipled nurse. We cannot be too careful in inquiring into the character of the person to whom we entrust our little ones. Appearances are so often misleading, and an impure mind is so often concealed under a fair front.

Regarding the immoral tendencies of the rising generation, I have heard the assertion “ Oh, there is something in the climate” put forth as a reasonable explanation. Now I denv that our glorious New Zealand climate produces an immoral effect, and I have a more rational reason to give for the present state of affairs. A little story in fact. Some yea I*3 ago, I need not state how many, the fair city o£ Dublin was over-run by crowds of degraded woman; so flagrant was the evil that it became a public scandal, and at length the matter was taken up by a ‘mission’ committee. The charitable and scandalised public were not alow in providing means to ‘ rescue and reform ’ the scores of women who were said to be anxious for reformation. The streets were cleared, and encouraging tales were told of this one and the other, who were earning an honest

liiiihg, or returned to friends, and all was well; but just at that time a ship, or it might be two, cleared out for New Zealand, and the passengers were emi-, grant girls who were sent out under very favorable auspices. What did it matter, to any one if the majority were the off-scouring of Dubl n streets ? Anyhow they were let loose on the new country to work out their own reformation on the ruin of others, as might ohance to happen. No doubt many married, and equally without doubt their offspring would have an hereditary moral taint, not to be overcome under the lax discipline and little moral restraint to be expected from suoh parentage. Then I have another theofy—that of diet. It seems to me tit‘t ohildren are tot) full fed With strong meat,» too milch animal fodd is consumed. ’The laboring elassfea particularly Brt ih thiif resjjebb—mbit tivice oi thrice A day is jirdvided fob tlie firiiily, big And little 41&8. ' It is So ihubh easier to give hie At ana bread .hr potatoes tb&n ttt book a mote varied meal. Bui the stronger food has a decided effect upon the physical constitution and that in turn affects the moral constitution, Putting on one side the evils attendant on strong drink, I maintain that the same evils, but in lesser degree, can be attributed to excess in diet- A good mans favorite axiom was * Govern and control your stomachs, for it is the atomaoh which rains the body, engenders disease, and causes one to neglect prayer.’ Elise.