The White Ribbon. For God and Home and Humanity. SATURDAY, MAY 18, 1912. “A SOCIAL CANKER.”

White Ribbon, Volume 17, Issue 203, 18 May 1912, Page 9

The White Ribbon. For God and Home and Humanity. SATURDAY, MAY 18, 1912. “A SOCIAL CANKER.”

Umjlk this headline the Press Association s telegram of the sittings of the Supreme Court at Christchurch, report the remarks made by Mr Justice Penniston on the increasing number of cases of indecent assaults on gills under 16 years of age. “ llis Honour said there “was no doubt this kind of immorality “ was becoming veiy frequent. This “ was his ow n experience and that of “other Judges throughout the Pomin : on. “ Whether it was the allowing of young “ meu and girls to go out together with“out control, or w hether the knowledge “of the human body was not imparted, “ or whether there was no attempt at “ guidance, there was no doubt that this

“ kind of immorality was very prevalent. “ The total absence of control by parents “of their children was in very marked “ evidence.” What is our organisation doing to stem this torrent of evil ? Surely all workers w ill use their utmost influence to seek to persuade fathers and mothers to impart needed information to their children. This done in the right way at the proper time will sow seeds of purity in their minds and hearts, which will ripen into a harvest of chaste and noble thoughts and deeds. The following article bearing on this important subject is by an experienced worker:

Teaching Purity in the Home.

MBS ALBION SMITH. | Many mothers do not realize the appalling fact that there are over 60,000 girls led into a life of shame every year, and that these unfortunates are coming, not from the slums of our cities, but from homes, country homes, refined homes, even Christian homes, for every reputable physician and purity worker knows that there are ruined girls where it is least suspected. Where does the responsibility for this rest? I answer, primarily upon the mothers, because to them is given the first and greatest opportunity of moulding the lives of their children into lines of purity, and a mother’s influence is so potent that I fully believe very few of the impure men or degraded women could have become w hat they are if their mothers had given them, from their earliest years, pure and scientific knowledge on these subjects that so vitally affects their characters

A striking confirmation of this belief was given me a few’ years ago when, in conversation with the Superintendent of one of our Rescue Homes, I asked her how many unfortunate girls had been received there up to that time. She said about 200 had been cared for since the Home was opened. I then asked : “Ho you know w hether these girls had been taught by their mothers, before leaving home, the proper care of themselves, or warned as to what temptations might be placed in their way ? ’ The doctor answered emphatically : “ I have talked with each one personally, and cau assure

you that, though most of the girls came from virtuous hoi ies, not one mother had thus particularly warned her daughter, and only a few mothers had given even the vague injunction : *He good while you are gone.’ ” Hut you say, “ 1 cannot talk to my children on such matters.’ Then listen to this solemn warning from the pulpit: “Oh, mother, no modesty, timidity or false conception of purity may rightly hold you back from telling your daughter the secret and mystery of life, and warning her against its desecration. If ignorance led her into sin it is you, mother, more than your daughter who must answer before God’s great white throne.”

Strongly indeed these words are echoed when the keeper of a notorious haunt of vice said lately to a mission workei who

was visiting its inmates: “ Yes, you may come here and talk to the girls all you want to, hut I tell you if their mothers had talked to them at home there would be none of them here now to need you.” Says the late Hishop (Mack : “ 1 hero is an evil threatening our children which I believe to be the most insidious and perilous. It blights their childhood and vitiates their physical energies; it weakens their minds and makes them unfit for study. It has a frightful prevalence in our land to-day.” r f any mother thinks this picture ovoorawn, a plain talk with some reputable physician, or a study of the causes w hich bring many of the inmates to our “ Homes for the Feeble Minded ” would convince her to the contrary. “ Hut I cannot talk to my child on such delicate topics, says many a mother. Listen further to the words of the venerable bishop : “ You may say that delicacy forbids allusion in any form to this subject. It is not delicacy so much an a base, mean cowardice. You are afraid to speak to your child, and you are content to stand quietly by and see him sink helplessly into hell.”