Anonymous

“ He will respect you the more, and his love will be the deeper and the truer in the end. Mind this—if you show yourself willing to go half way with him, he will never be the one to stop you. It rests with you to take care of yourself, and to help him too, to keep in the right road, so that you may both stand before God and man on your wedding-day, honest, and free from blame and shame. ”

“ You have more of your country’s honour and welfare depending upon you than you are aware of; for home influences are wholly in women’s hands, and each home puts forth its growth for good or evil, each is a small seed-plot of virtue or vice, which is, we may say truly, given in charge to the woman, “to dress it and to keep it.” ”

“ Why, child, there would not need to be all this hiding, and shame, and even child-murder, if every one did not know quite well in their own hearts that the thing was a sore evil, sin and disgrace. Never lend an ear on the devil’s side, above all on this subject. It does not do for any woman to dally and balance between right and wrong on such slippery ground. If she does, she is sure to lose her footing. The only safety is in the straight open road of right. Keep to it, and never play and trifle with the first leadings to evil ways. ”

“ But, after all, holding up the light to people is only half the battle; for many a one will rather shut their eyes than look an unwelcome truth in the face, and none are so blind as those that won’t see. ”

“ Ellerbeck, “either at home or in service, but what a plain word would come well to; for even at the best of homes there are always ways enough to go wrong; and what between some of their elders being too careless, and some too shame-faced, young folks don’t hear these truths as much as they need to do. Many a one first gets the knowledge, sadly enough, at her own cost, when it is too late.” ”

“ And you, Young Women, who have above all others the most direct power in your own hands, give us the best of all help—that of your own pure example. The men are what the women make them. If you will be modest, and true to yourselves, they will shape their ways accordingly; if you, by your true worth, will claim respect and honour from them, they will undoubtedly yield the just tribute to you. If you will resolve to follow the gospel law, and serve your God in the purity He enjoins, admitting no love dealings but what have the warrant of heaven, you will help them to do likewise. ”

“ Such truths as these should be solemnly laid before the young, for they need to hear them above others; and since in this your father cannot so well talk quite plainly to you, it is for your aunt, who loves you as a mother, to take a mother’s place. Mark what I say—there is a deal of difference between man and woman in this matter. Though they sin together, the woman sinks by far the lowest. How God will judge hereafter between the two, I am not now going to ask; but in this world the shame and loss come much heavier upon the woman. ”

“ Accustom them to hear more commonly at the home fireside, from parents’ lips, how excellent a thing is true womanly worth in daughter, sister, and wife, and how grievous the loss of it; how contrary to true feminine dignity are forward manners, flashy dress, and every other bait for men’s free notice. ”

“ What but evil can come of that fatal habit of indulgence which, rather than cross a thoughtless wish, will let youth run headlong into temptations which it has not even the sense to fear, and has hardly the chance of overcoming. ”

“ Consider the lasting effect of early impressions throughout life, and how surely you may make them work for good in this respect, if you will check your boys betimes in coarse speech and action, and speak to them more plainly of the sin of unchastity, and of the baseness and crime of seduction, and train them, as they grow older, to understand the sanctity of true love, and to value and respect modesty in woman. ”

“ They who, in despite of His word, are as one flesh together without the holy bond of marriage, are wilful sinners against God, insulting His will, and defying the law which He has given and confirmed in Jesus Christ. And let none cheat themselves into thinking that if they manage to keep the sin secret, and to be free from the burden and shame of the birth of a child, there is any the less real harm in it. ”

“ We are all Christians in name; but are we not sometimes more zealous for the form of our faith than for its fruits? Many who contend warmly over some of the more doubtful points of doctrine, are less careful than they should be to lay to heart the plainer truths and the weightier matters of the law. ”

“ And as to pretending that there can be no great harm in a sin because it is common, no honest mind can be deceived by so plain a falsity. Heaven knows thieving is common enough, cheating and lying are common enough, drunkenness, swearing and housebreaking are common enough; but no one goes so far us to pretend that these are not wrong on that account. ”

“ It is always a grief to me that young girls who must needs work for their living are so often thrown into dangerous situations, as in factories, or town apprenticeships, or in country farm service; or, indeed, anywhere, if no one will hold out a hand to keep them back from harm. ”

“ Do not we see in a hundred cases, up and down, that the man leaves the woman in her disgrace, and cares no more about her?
Patty, my lass, hear a plain word from your old aunt. If a woman is the first to come forward, or is over ready to follow on the first beckoning, a man knows pretty well that he need not put himself out of the way to marry her in order to have her; and if he is unprincipled or thoughtless, he will take advantage p. 6of her weakness, and sin and shame will follow, as sure as night follows evening. My child, take a good counsel from one that loves you. ”

“ The commonest things of every day shew us on what a different footing we reckon ourselves. We do not punish the animal that breaks through our fence and eats our hay-grass, for it has had no laws given to it, and has no knowledge of right or wrong ”

“ Her father will scarce ever lift up his head after it, to say nothing of a poor child brought into the world with a stain on its birth, and without a right to a father’s care; both mother and child a reproach to each other.
But after all, it is not so much that, as what you said along of it that has gone so sorely against my heart. Why, my dear child, where have you heard such things? Whoever it is that has put them into your head has some bad design upon you, you may be quite sure. If it be a man, be he who he will, he means you harm. ”

“ Man or woman, they are no decent body’s thoughts, at any rate. Only following nature, indeed! You did not think that was an excuse when the servant girl took your ribbon, for all it was nature p. 4enough in her to like a bit of finery. What! and are we to liken ourselves to the beasts that perish? I don’t know whether it is most wicked or most foolish to make a pretence that their ways can ever be a guide to us. It is setting the ass to drive the man, for sure, if we are to learn from them. Has not God made man quite different from the brutes? ”

“ If any man, let him be who he will, follows after you, and you care for him ever so much, aye, and trust him for meaning to make you his wife ever so surely, keep him in his right place, and do not let him go one step beyond what is decent. ”

“ Surely you of all others have most interest in it, as it must in nature be your dearest wish to see your sons true, and your daughters virtuous. Yet this cannot be unless you will yourselves sow the early seeds. The school and the church do not form the character. ”

“ And we would earnestly press upon you to use your rightful authority more firmly in forbidding those sure leadings to mischief, late hours, bad company, and wild merry makings, such as the public-house dance, the theatre, or loose revels of whatsoever kind, in town or country. ”