,,the ,,power ,,of ,,womanhood ,,or     
,,mothers ,,and ,,sons  ,a ,,book ,,for 
,,parents1 ,,and ,,those ,,in ,,loco    
,,parentis  ,,by ,,ellice ,,hopkins     
,,author ,,of ,,life ,,and ,,letters    
,,of ,,james ,,hinton1 ,,wars ,,among   
,,workingmen1 ,,etc4        ,sow an act1
 and you reap a habit3      ,sow a      
habit1 and you reap a character3        
,sow a character1 and you reap a        
destiny4   ,,new ,,york ,e4,p4 ,,dutton 
,,company #ca ,west ,twenty-,third      
,street #aija ,copyright1 #ahii         
,copyright1 #ahii ,by ,e4,p4 ,,dutton   
,,co4   ,the ,knickerbocker ,press1 ,new
 ,york     ,,preface   ,this little book
 has been written under great physical  
disabilities1 chiefly while wandering   
about in search of health1 and          
consequently far from the libraries     
which would have enabled me to give     
proper references to all my quotations4 
,often for a whole year ,i have been    
unable to touch it2 but again and again 
,i have returned to my task1 feeling it 

worth any risk to mind or body if only  
in the end its words might prove of some
 service to the educated mothers of     
,england and ,america4  ,under these    
circumstances1 ,i know ,i may plead for 
indulgence as to any defects its pages  
may present4  ,but now that1 after six  
years1 ,i have realized the pretty      
,eastern proverb1 ,by patience and      
perseverance1 and a bottle of sweet-oil1
 the snail at length reaches            
,jerusalem1--now that by ,god's         
unfailing help ,i have finished my      
difficult task1 ,i can but commit the   
book into the hands of the women who    
have implanted in me1 next to my faith  
in ,god1 faith in the ,power of         
,womanhood1 and whose faithful adherence
 and co-operation remain the deepest and
 most grateful memory of my life4 ,most 
of the ordinary means of circulation are
 closed to a book of this nature4 ,the  
doors of circulating libraries are for  
the most part shut2 notices in papers   
for the general public are necessarily  

few2 nor can ,i any longer hope1 as ,i  
once did1 to visit ,america1 and give it
 a wide circulation by my own efforts4  
,i can but stretch out my hands to my   
many dear unknown friends in            
,america1--hands which have grown too   
weak to hold the sword or lift the      
banner in a cause for which ,i have laid
 down my all1--and ask any mother who   
may find help or strength in this book  
to help me in return by placing it in   
the hands of other mothers of boys she  
may know1 especially1--,i would         
plead1--young mothers4 ,do not say they 
are too young to know4 ,if they are not 
too young to be the mothers of boys1    
they are not too young to know how to   
fulfil the responsibility inherent in   
such motherhood4 ,they at least can     
begin at the beginning1 and not have    
occasion to say1 as so many mothers have
 said to me1 with tears in their eyes1  
,oh1 if ,i could only have heard you    
years ago1 what a difference it would   
have made to me6 ,but now it is too     

late4  ,enable me thus1 by your aid1 to 
do some helpful work for that great     
country which ,i have ever loved as my  
own2 and which with ,england is         
appointed in the ,providence of ,god to 
lead in the great moral causes of the   
world4  ,if1 indeed1 each mother whom1  
either by word or deed1 ,i may have     
helped would do me this service of love 
now that ,i am laid aside1 not yielding 
to the first adverse criticism1 which is
 so often only a cry of pain or         
prejudice1 but patiently working on at  
enlightening and strengthening the hands
 of other mothers in her own rank of    
life1 what vital work would be          
done3--work so precious in its very     
nature1 so far-reaching in its          
consequences1 that all the travail and  
anguish ,i have endured1 all the        
brokenness of body and soul ,i have     
incurred1 would not so much as come into
 mind for joy that a truer manhood is   
being born into the world1 even the     
manhood of ,him who--          ,came on 

earth that ,he might show mankind       
,what 'tis to be a ,,man3 to give1 not  
take2     ,to serve1 not rule2 to       
nourish1 not devour2     ,to help1 not  
crush2 if needs1 to die1 not live4  #b  
,,belle ,,vue ,,gardens1 ,,walpole      
,,road1 ,,brighton1     ,nov4 #a1 #ahii4
     ,,contents  ,,chapter              
,,page  ,i4--,,introductory      #a     
,,ii4--,,why ,,should ,i ,,interfere8   
#ac  ,,iii4--,,first ,,principles       
#bf  ,,iv4--,,the ,,secret ,,and        
,,method      #ch  ,v4--,,early         
,,boyhood      #ef  ,,vi4--,,boyhood    
,,and ,,school ,,life      #fi          
,,vii4--,,early ,,manhood      #aca     
,,viii4--,,the ,,influence ,,of         
,,sisters      #aeg  ,,ix4--,,the       
,,modern ,,woman ,,and ,,her ,,future   
#agj  ,x4--,,national ,,and ,,imperial  
,,aspects       #aia  ,,xi4--,,the      
,,dynamic ,,aspect ,,of ,,evil      #bjf
    ,,conclusion      #bba    ,,appendix
      #bca          ,no advice1 no      
exposure1 will be of use until the right

 relation      exists between the father
 and mother and their son4 ,to deserve  
his      confidence1 to keep it as the  
chief treasure committed to them by     
,god2--to be1 the father his strength1  
the mother his      sanctification1 and 
both his chosen refuge1 through all     
weakness1      evil1 danger1 and        
amazement of his young life4            
,rushkin4     ,,the ,,power ,,of        
,,womanhood   ,,chapter ,i              
,,introductory   ,in a banquet given in 
honor of ,heinrik ,ibsen by a ,norwegian
 society known as the ,woman's ,league1 
in response to a speech thanking him in 
the name of the society for all he had  
done for the cause of women1 the poet1  
while disclaiming the honor of having   
consciously worked for the woman's      
cause--indeed1 not even being quite     
clear as to what the woman's cause      
really was1 since in his eyes it was    
indistinguishable from the cause of     
humanity--concluded his speech with the 
words3       ,it has always seemed to me

 that the great problem is to elevate   
the nation and place it on a higher     
level4 ,two factors1 the man and        
the woman1 must co-operate for this end1
 and it lies especially      with the   
mothers of the people1 by slow and      
strenuous work1 to      arouse in it a  
conscious sense of culture and          
discipline4 ,to the      woman1 then1 we
 must look for the solution of the      
problem of      humanity4 ,it must come 
from them as mothers3 that is the       
mission      that lies before them4     
,whether we are admirers of the great   
,norwegian poet or not1 whether we are  
afflicted with ,ibsenism1 or regard his 
peculiar genius in a more critical and  
dispassionate light1 no one would deny  
to him that deep intuitive insight which
 belongs to a poet1 and which borders so
 closely on the prophet's gift4  ,it is 
now some years since ,i have been laid  
aside1 owing to the terrible strain and 
burthen of my ten years' conflict with  
the evils that are threatening the      

sanctity of the family1 the purity of   
the home1 and all that constitutes the  
higher life of the nation4 ,but in those
 ten years the one truth that was burnt 
into my very soul was the truth         
enunciated by ,ibsen1 that it is to the 
woman that we must look for the solution
 of the deepest moral problems of       
humanity1 and that the key of those     
problems lies in the hands of the       
mothers of our race4 ,they1 and they    
alone1 can unlock the door to a purer   
and a stronger life4 ,this1 in ,ibsen's 
words1 is the mission that lies before  
them4 ,and it is this strong conviction 
which makes me feel that1 even with     
broken powers and shattered health1 ,i  
cannot rest from my labors without1 at  
any cost to myself1 placing the         
knowledge and experience gained in those
 years of toil and sorrow at the        
disposal of the educated women of the   
,english-speaking world who1 either as  
mothers or in other capacities1 have the
 care and training of the young4  ,no   

one recognizes more thankfully than ,i  
do the progress that the woman's        
movement has made during what have been 
to me years of inaction and suffering4  
,the ever-increasing activity in all    
agencies for the elevation of women2 the
 multiplication of preventive           
institutions and rescue societies2 above
 all1 that new sense of a common        
womanhood1 that esprit de corps in which
 hitherto we have been so grievously    
lacking1 and which is now beginning to  
bind all our efforts together into one  
great whole--these ,i thankfully        
recognize4 ,we no longer each of us set 
up in separate and somewhat antagonistic
 individuality our own little private   
burrow of good works1 with one way in   
and one way out1 and nothing else needed
 for the wants of the universe4 ,we     
realize now that no one agency can even 
partially cover the ground1 and         
conferences are now held of all who are 
working for the good of women and       
children1 to enable the separate        

agencies to work more effectually into  
one another's hands and unite more      
fervently in heart and soul in a common 
cause4 ,beneath all this1 apart from any
 external organization whatever1 there  
is a silent work going on in the hearts 
of thoughtful and educated mothers1     
which never comes before the public at  
all1 but is silently spreading and      
deepening under the surface of our life4
  ,but when all this is thankfully      
recognized and acknowledged1 ,i still   
cannot help questioning whether the mass
 of educated women have at all grasped  
the depth and complexity of the problem 
with which we have to grapple if we are 
to fufil our trust as the guardians of  
the home and family1 and those hidden   
wells of the national life from which   
spring up all that is best and highest  
in the national character4 ,nay1 ,i     
sometimes fear lest even our increased  
activity in practical work may not have 
the effect of calling off our attention 
from those deep underlying causes which 

must be dealt with if we are not to     
engage in the hopeless task of trying to
 fill a cistern the tap of which has    
been left running4 ,this absorption in  
the effect and inattention to the cause 
is to a certain degree bred in us by the
 very nature of the duties that devolve 
upon us as women4 ,john ,stuart ,mill   
has compared the life of a woman to an  
interrupted sentence4 ,the mere fact    
that our lives are so interrupted by    
incessant home calls1 and that we are   
necessarily so concerned in the details 
of life1 is apt to make us wanting in   
grasp of underlying principles4 ,perhaps
 it is the fact of my having been       
associated all the early years of my    
life with eminent scientific men that   
has formed in me a habit of mind always 
to regard effects in relation to causes1
 so that merely to cure evil results    
without striking at the evil cause seems
 to me1 to use a ,johnsonian simile1    
like stopping up a hole or two of a     
sieve with the hope of making it hold   

water4  ,it is1 therefore1 on these     
deeper aspects that more especially bear
 upon the lives and training of our own 
sons that ,i want to write1 placing     
before you some facts which you must    
know if you are to be their guardians1  
and venturing to make some suggestions  
which1 as the result of much collective 
wisdom and prayer1 ,i think may prove   
helpful to you in that which lies       
nearest your heart4 ,only1 if some of   
the facts are such as may prove both    
painful and disagreeable to you1 do not 
therefore reject them in your ignorance 
as false4 ,do not follow the advice of a
 politician to a friend whom he was     
urging to speak on some public question4
 ,but how can ,i8 his friend replied2 ,i
 know nothing of the subject1 and should
 therefore have nothing to say4 ,oh1 you
 can always get up and deny the facts1  
was the sardonic reply4  ,let me first  
of all give you my credentials1 all the 
more necessary as my long illness has   
doubtless made me unknown by name to    

many of the younger generation1 who may 
therefore question my right to impart   
facts or make any suggestions at all4   
,suffer me1 therefore1 to recount to you
 how ,i have gained my knowledge and    
what are the sources of my information4 
,in the first place1 ,i was trained for 
the work by a medical man--my friend    
,mr4 ,james ,hinton--first in his own   
branch of the ,london profession1 and a 
most original thinker4 ,to him the      
degradation of women1 which most men    
accept with such blank indifference1 was
 a source of unspeakable distress4 ,he  
used to wander about the ,haymarket and 
,piccadilly in ,london at night1 and    
break his heart over the sights he saw  
and the tales he heard4 ,the words of   
the ,prophet ground themselves into his 
very soul1 with regard to the miserable 
wanderers of our streets3 ,this is a    
people robbed and spoiled2 they are all 
of them snared in holes and hid in      
prison-houses2 they are for a prey1 and 
none delivereth2 for a spoil1 and none  

saith1 ,restore4  ,the very first time  
he came down to me at ,brighton1 to see 
if ,i could give him any help1 speaking 
of all he had seen and heard1 his voice 
suddenly broke1 and he bowed his face   
upon my hands and wept like a child4    
,that one man could suffer as he did    
over the degradation of this womanhood  
of ours has always been to me the most  
hopeful thing ,i know--a divine earnest 
of ultimate overcoming4 ,the only thing 
that seemed in a measure to assuage his 
anguish was my promise to devote myself 
to the one work of fighting it and      
endeavoring to awake the conscience of  
the nation to some sense of guilt with  
regard to it4 ,in order to fit me for   
this work he considered that ,i ought to
 know all that he as a medical man knew4
 ,he emphatically did not spare me1 and 
often the knowledge that he imparted to 
me was drowned in a storm of tears4 ,we 
were to have worked together1 but his   
mind1 already unhinged by suffering1    
ultimately gave way1 and1 with all that 

this world could give him--health1 fame1
 wealth1 family affection1 devoted      
friends--he died prematurely of a broken
 heart4  ,for ten years1 therefore1     
after my friend's death ,i gave up      
everything for the purpose of carrying  
on the work he left me1 and beat wearily
 up and down the three kingdoms1 holding
 meetings1 organizing practical work1   
agitating for the greater legal         
protection of the young1 afterwards     
embodied in two ,acts--one for removing 
children from dens of infamy and one    
known as the ,criminal ,law ,amendment  
,act1 which have done much to educate   
the public sentiment of the country2 but
 always making it my chief object to    
rouse educated women to face the facts  
about their own womanhood1 and1 above   
all1 to rouse mothers to realize the    
perils of their own boys and to be      
determined to know enough to enable them
 to act as their guardians4  ,during    
those ten years of warfare1 passing as  
,i did from family to family1 and always

 concerned with questions that touch    
upon the innermost shrine of our life1  
,i necessarily became the recipient of  
many hidden sorrows4 ,in fact1 my       
fellow-creatures used me as a bottomless
 well into which they could empty their 
household skeletons2 and ,i used often  
to reflect with sardonic satisfaction   
that ,i should never run dry like other 
old wells1 but that death would come and
 fill me up with a good wholesome       
shovelful of earth1 and ,i and my       
skeletons would lie quiet together4 ,but
 in this way ,i gained a knowledge of   
what is going on under the surface of   
our life1 whether we choose to ignore it
 or not1 which possibly can only come to
 those who are set apart to be          
confessors of their kind2 and the       
conclusion was forced upon me that this 
evil1 in one form or another1 is more or
 less everywhere--in our nurseries1 in  
our public1 and still more our private1 
schools1 decorously seated on           
magisterial benches1 fouling our places 

of business1 and even sanctimoniously   
seated in our places of worship4  ,after
 the first two years of work among women
 ,i found that it was absolutely        
hopeless attacking the evil from one    
side only1 and ,i had to nerve myself as
 best ,i could to address large mass    
meetings of men1 always taking care     
clearly to define my position--that ,i  
had not come upon that platform to help 
them1 but to ask them to help me in a   
battle that ,i had found too hard for   
me1 and that ,i stood before them as a  
woman pleading for women4 ,the first of 
these meetings ,i addressed at the      
instance of the late revered ,bishop of 
,durham1 ,dr4 ,lightfoot1 who took the  
chair1 and inaugurated the ,white ,cross
 ,movement1 which has since spread over 
the civilized world4 ,and throughout    
this most difficult side of my work ,i  
had his priceless co-operation and      
approval2 besides the wise counsel1     
guidance1 and unfailing sympathy of one 
whom but to name is to awake the deepest

 springs of reverence1 ,dr4 ,wilkinson1 
then the incumbent of ,st4 ,peter's1    
,eaton ,square1 afterwards ,bishop of   
,truro1 and now ,bishop of ,st4         
,andrews4 ,but so great was the effort  
that it cost me1 that ,i do not think ,i
 could have done this part of my work   
but for my two favorite mottoes--the    
one1 that ,i can't is a lie in the lips 
that repeat1 ,i believe in the ,holy    
,ghost2 the other1 received from the    
lips of ,bishop ,selwyn1 that ,if as    
soldiers of the ,cross we stick at      
anything1 we are disgraced forever4     
,but lastly1 and perhaps best of all1 as
 giving weight to any suggestions that  
,i may make1 across the dismal mud swamp
 that ,i often trod with such an aching 
heart and faltering steps came to meet  
me ,god's best and highest1 with        
outstretched hands of help and          
encouragement4 ,it was the              
highly-cultivated and thoughtful women  
who1 amidst the storm of obloquy that   
beat upon me from every quarter1 first  

ranged themselves by my side1 perceiving
 that the best way to avoid a danger is 
not to refuse to see it4 ,some were     
women already in the field in connection
 with ,mrs4 ,butler's movement1 to which
 our nation owes so much1 some were     
roused by my words4  ,in all our large  
towns where ,i formed ,associations for 
the ,care of ,friendless ,girls ,i was  
in the habit of reporting my work to the
 clergy of my own church1 whose sympathy
 and cooperation ,i shall ever          
gratefully acknowledge4 ,ultimately1 the
 leading laity1 as well as some         
,nonconformist ministers1 joined with   
us2 often these conferences were        
diocesan meetings--to which1 however1   
,nonconformists were invited--with the  
,bishop of the diocese in the chair2 and
 after my address free discussion took  
place1 so that ,i had the advantage of  
hearing the opinions and judgments of   
many of our leading men in regard to    
this difficult problem1 and getting at  
men's views of the question4  ,the      

matter that ,i lay before you1          
therefore1 has been thoroughly and      
repeatedly threshed out at such         
conferences1 as well as in long1        
earnest1 private talks with the wisest  
and most experienced mothers and        
teachers of our day2 and it is in their 
name1 far more than in my own1 that ,i  
ask you to ponder what ,i say4  ,do not1
 however1 be under any fear that ,i     
intend in these pages to make myself the
 medium of all sorts of horrors4 ,i     
intend to do no such thing4 ,it is but  
very little evil that you will need to  
know1 and that not in detail1 in order  
to guard your own boys4 ,we women1 thank
 ,god1 have to do with the fountain of  
sweet waters1 clear as crystal1 that    
flow from the throne of ,god2 not with  
the sewer that flows from the foul      
imaginations and actions of men4 ,our   
part is the inculcation of positive     
purity1 not the part of negative warning
 against vice4 ,nor need you fear that  
the evil you must know1 in order to     

fulfil your most sacred trust1 will     
sully you4 ,this ,i say emphatically1   
that the evil which we have grappled    
with to save one of our own dear ones   
does not sully4 ,it is the evil that we 
read about in novels and newspapers1 for
 our own amusement2 it is the evil that 
we weakly give way to in our lives2     
above all1 it is the destroying evil    
that we have refused so much as to know 
of in our absorbing care for our own    
alabaster skin--it is that evil which   
defiles the woman4 ,but the evil that we
 have grappled with in a life and death 
struggle to save a soul for whom ,christ
 died does not sully3 it clothes from   
head to foot with the white robe1 it    
crowns with the golden crown4 ,though ,i
 have had to know what1 thank ,god6 no  
other woman may ever again be called    
upon to know1 ,i can yet speak of the   
great conflict that involved this       
knowledge as being the one great        
purifying1 sanctifying influence of my  
life4 ,but even if1 as men would often  

persuade us1 the knowledge of the       
world's evil would sully us1 ,i know ,i 
utter the heart of every woman when ,i  
say that we choose the hand that is     
sullied in saving our own dear ones from
 the deep mire that might otherwise have
 swallowed them up1 rather than the hand
 that has kept itself white and pure    
because it has never been stretched out 
to save4 ,that hand may be white1 but in
 ,god's sight it is white with the      
whiteness of leprosy4 ,believe1 rather1 
the words of ,james ,hinton1 written to 
a woman friend3 ,you women have been    
living in a dreamland of your own2 but  
dare to live in this poor disordered    
world of ,god's1 and it will work out in
 you a better goodness than your        
own1--even that purified womanhood1     
strong to know1 and strong to save1     
before whose gracious loveliness the    
strongest man grows weak as a child1    
and1 as a little child1 grows pure4     
,god grant that1 in view of the         
tremendous responsibilities that devolve

 upon us women in these latter days1 we 
may cry from our hearts3      ,let not  
fine culture1 poesy1 art1 sweet tones1  
,build up about my soothed sense a world
     ,that is not ,thine1 and wall me up
 in dreams4     ,so my sad heart may    
cease to beat with ,thine1     ,the     
great ,world-,heart1 whose blood1       
forever shed1     ,is human life1 whose 
ache is man's dull pain4     ,,chapter  
,,ii  ,,why ,,should ,i ,,interfere8    
,i am1 of course1 aware that at the very
 outset ,i shall be met by the          
question--far less frequently urged1    
however1 by thoughtful mothers than it  
used to be--,why need ,i interfere at   
all in a subject like this8 ,why may ,i 
not leave it all to the boy's father8   
,why should it be my duty to face a     
question which is very distasteful to   
me1 and which ,i feel ,i had much better
 let alone8  ,i would answer at once1   
,because the evil is so rife1 the       
dangers so great and manifold1 the      
temptations so strong and subtle1 that  

your influence must be united to that of
 the boy's father if you want to        
safeguard him4 ,every influence you can 
lay hold of is needed here1 and will not
 prove more than enough4 ,the influence 
of one parent alone is not sufficient1  
more especially as there are potent     
lines of influence open to you as a     
woman from which a man1 from the very   
fact that he is a man1 is necessarily   
debarred4  ,you must bring the whole of 
that influence to bear for the following
 considerations4  ,let me take the      
lowest and simplest first4 ,even if you 
be indifferent to your boy's moral      
welfare1 you cannot be indifferent to   
his physical well-being1 nay1 to his    
very existence4 ,here ,i necessarily    
cannot tell you all ,i know2 but ,i     
would ask you thoughtfully to study for 
yourself a striking diagram which ,dr4  
,carpenter1 in one of our recognized    
medical text-books1 has reproduced from 
the well-known ,french statistician1    
,quetelet1 showing the comparative      

viability1 or life value1 of men and    
women respectively at different ages4   
,illustration3 ,,diagram ,,representing 
,,the ,,comparative ,,viability ,,of    
,,the ,,male ,,and ,,female ,,at        
,,different ,,ages4   ,the female line1 
where it differs from the male1 is the  
dotted line1 the greater or less        
probability or value of life being shown
 by the greater or less distance of the 
line of life from the level line at the 
bottom4 ,infant life being very fragile1
 the line steadily rises till it reaches
 its highest point1 between thirteen and
 fourteen4 ,in both cases there is then 
a rapid fall1 the age of puberty being a
 critical age4 ,but from fifteen1 when  
the female line begins to right itself1 
only showing by a gentle curve downwards
 the added risks of the child-bearing   
period in a woman's life1 the male line1
 which ought1 without these risks1 to   
keep above the female line1 makes a     
sharp dip below it1 till it reaches its 
lowest point at twenty-five1 the age    

when the excesses of youth have had time
 to tell most on the system4#a ,here1 at
 least1 is evidence that none can       
gainsay4 ,the more you ponder that      
mysterious sharp dip in the man's line  
of life at the very age which ,nature   
intended should be the prime and flower 
of life1 the more deeply you will feel  
that some deep and hidden danger lies   
concealed there1 the more earnestly you 
will come to the conclusion that you    
cannot and will not thrust from you the 
responsibility that rests upon you as   
the boy's mother of helping to guard him
 from it4 ,keep him from the knowledge  
of evil1 and the temptations that come  
with that knowledge1 you cannot4 ,the   
few first days at school will insure    
that1 to say nothing of the miserable   
streets of our large towns4 ,as         
,thackeray long ago said in a well-known
 passage1 much animadverted on at the   
time3       ,and by the way1 ye tender  
mothers and sober fathers of ,christian 
families1 a prodigious thing that theory

 of life is1 as orally      learnt at a 
great public school4 ,why6 if you could 
hear those boys      of fourteen who    
blush before their mothers1 and sneak   
off in      silence in the presence of  
their daughters1 talking among each     
other1 it would be the woman's turn to  
blush then4 ,before ,pen was      twelve
 years old1 and while his mother thought
 him an angel of      candour1 little   
,pen had heard enough to make him quite 
awfully wise      upon certain points2  
and so1 madam1 has your pretty          
rosy-cheeked      son who is coming home
 from school for the ensuing ,christmas 
holidays4 ,i don't say that the boy is  
lost1 or that the innocence      has    
left him which he had 'from heaven1     
which is our home1' but      that the   
shades of the prison house are closing  
very fast round      him1 and that we   
are helping as much as possible to      
corrupt      him4#b  ,but though you    
cannot keep him from the knowledge of   
evil1 you can be a potent factor in     

teaching him the hidden dangers that    
beset him1 in seeing that his young feet
 rest on the rock of true knowledge1 and
 not on the shifting quagmire of the    
devil's lies2 but above all1 in         
inspiring him with a high ideal of      
conduct1 which will make him shrink from
 everything low and foul as he would    
from card-sharping or sneaking1 proving 
yourself thus to him as far as in you   
lies--      ,a perfect woman1 nobly     
planned1     ,to warn1 to comfort1 and  
command2     ,and yet a spirit still1   
and bright     ,with something of an    
angel light4  ,the boy thus mothered is 
saved as a rule from all physical risk4 
,and this in part anticipates my second 
point4 ,you cannot let this question    
alone if you are to aim at the highest  
for your boy4 ,high character is more to
 be accounted of than long life4 ,and it
 is to you1 as a woman1 that the        
guarding of the higher springs of his   
nature is especially entrusted4 ,my     
whole experience has gone to teach me1  

with ever-increasing force1 that the    
proposition that purity is vitally      
necessary for the woman1 but of         
comparatively small account for the man1
 is absolutely false4 ,granted that1    
owing to social ostracism1 the outward  
degradation of impurity to the woman is 
far greater1 ,i contend that a deeper   
inner debasement is its sure fruition in
 the man4 ,cruelty and lies are its     
certain accompaniment4 ,as ,burns1 with 
a poet's insight1 has truly said3       
,but oh6 it hardens a' within1          
,and petrifies the feeling4  ,yes1 it is
 exactly that2 it hardens all           
within--hardens and darkens4 ,it is as  
our ,lord says3 only the pure in heart  
are capable of divine vision4 ,only the 
man who has kept himself pure1 who has  
never sullied his white faith in        
womanhood1 never profaned the sacred    
mysteries of life and love1 never fouled
 his manhood in the stye of the         
beast--it is only that man who can see  
,god1 who can see duty where another    

sees useless sacrifice1 who can see and 
grasp abiding principles in a world of  
expediency and self-interest1 and       
discern      ,in temporal policy the    
eternal ,will1  who can see ,god in the 
meanest of ,his redeemed creatures4 ,it 
is only the virginal heart that has kept
 itself pure1 that grows not old1 but   
keeps its freshness1 its innocent       
gaiety1 its simple pleasures4 ,the      
eminent ,swiss ,professor1 ,aim         
,humbert1 does but echo these words from
 the sadder side1 when1 speaking of the 
moral malady which is the result of     
impurity1 he says3       ,it does not   
attack any single organ of the human    
frame1 but it      withers all that is  
human--mind1 body1 and soul4 ,it strikes
 our      youth at the unhappy moment   
when they first cross the thresholds of 
vice4 ,for them the spring has no more  
innocent freshness2 their      very     
friendships are polluted by foul        
suggestions and memories2      they     
become strangers to all the honorable   

relations of a pure      young life2 and
 thus we see stretching wider and wider 
around us      the circle of this       
mocking1 faded1 worn-out1 sceptical     
youth1      without poetry and without  
love1 without faith and without joy4    
,too soon and too earnestly we cannot   
teach our boys that the flaming sword1  
turning all ways1 which guards the tree 
of life for him1 is purity4  ,but       
thirdly1 there are wider issues than the
 welfare1 physical and moral1 of our own
 boys which make it impossible for us to
 take up any neutral attitude on this   
question4 ,we cannot remain indifferent 
to that which affects so deeply both the
 status and the happiness of women4 ,we 
cannot accept a standard for men which  
works out with the certainty of a       
mathematical law a pariah class of      
women4 ,we cannot leave on one side the 
anguish of working-class mothers just   
because we belong to the protected      
classes1 and it is not our girls that   
are sacrificed4 ,at least1 we women are 

ceasing to be as base as that1 and ,god 
forgive us that1 from want of thought   
rather than from want of heart1 educated
 women could be found even to hold that 
the degradation of their own womanhood  
is a necessity6  ,take but one instance 
out of the many that crossed my via     
dolorosa of the anguish inflicted on the
 mothers of the poor4 ,i take it1 not   
because it is uncommon1 but because it  
is typical4  ,at one of my mass meetings
 of working women in the ,north ,i was  
told at its close that a woman wished to
 speak with me in private4 ,as soon as  
,i could disengage myself from the crowd
 of mothers who were always eager to    
shake hands with me1 and to bless me    
with tears in their eyes for taking up  
their cause1 ,i went down the room1 and 
there1 in a dimly-lighted corner of the 
great hall1 ,i found a                  
respectable-looking woman waiting for   
me4 ,i sat down by her side1 and she    
poured out the pent-up sorrow of her    
heart before telling me the one great   

favor she craved at my hands4 ,she had  
an only daughter1 who at the age of     
sixteen she had placed out in service1  
at a carefully-chosen situation4 ,we all
 know what a difficult age in a girl's  
life is sixteen2 but our girls we can   
keep under our own watchful care1 and   
their little wilfulnesses and           
naughtinesses are got over within the   
four walls of a loving home1 and are    
only the thorns that precede the perfect
 rose of womanhood4 ,but the poor have  
to send their girls out into the great  
wicked world at this age to be          
bread-winners1 often far away from a    
mother's protecting care4 ,the girl1    
however1 in this case was a good1 steady
 girl1 and for a time did well4 ,then   
something unsettled her1 and she left   
her first place1 and got another        
situation4 ,for a time it seemed all    
right1 when suddenly her letters ceased4
 ,the mother wrote again and again1 but 
got no answer4 ,she wrote to her former 
place2 they knew nothing of her4 ,at    

last she saved up a little money and    
went to the town where she believed her 
girl to be4 ,she sought out and found   
her last address4 ,the family had gone  
away1 and left no address4 ,she made    
inquiries of the neighbors1 of the      
police4 ,yes1 they remembered the       
girl--a nice-looking girl with a bright 
color2 but no one had seen her lately4  
,it was as if a trap-door had opened and
 let her through4 ,she had simply       
disappeared4 ,in all that crowded city  
her mother could find no trace of her4  
,it is now thirteen years1 ma'am1 since 
,i lost her4  ,but all through those    
thirteen years that poor mother had     
watched and waited for her4 ,all through
 those weary years1 whenever she read in
 the local paper of some poor girl's    
body being found in the river1 some poor
 suicide1 who had leapt1      ,mad from 
life's history1      ,swift to death's  
mystery1      ,anywhere1 anywhere1 out  
of the world1  that poor mother would   
get into her head it might be her dear  

girl that was lying there alone and     
unclaimed2 and she would pay her        
fare--if she could afford it--or if not1
 trudge the distance on foot1 creep1    
trembling1 into the mortuary or the     
public-house where the body lay1 blue   
from drowning1 or with the ugly red gash
 across the throat1 take one look1 and  
then cry with a sigh of relief1 ,no1 it 
ain't my child1 and return again to her 
watching and waiting4  ,once1 ma'am1 she
 said1 ,i had a dream4 ,i saw a         
beautiful place1 all bright and shiny1  
and there were lots of angels singing so
 sweet1 when out of the midst of the    
glory came my poor girl4 ,she came      
straight to me1 and said1 ',oh1 mother1 
don't fret2 ,i'm safe and ,i'm happy6'  
and with those words in my ears ,i      
awoke4 ,that dream has been a great     
comfort to me1 ma'am2 ,i feel sure ,god 
sent it to me4 ,but oh1 ma'am1 she      
exclaimed1 with a new light of hope in  
her face1 and clasping her hands in     
silent entreaty1 the thought came into  

my head whilst you were a-speakin'1 if  
you would be so kind as to ask at the   
end of every one of your meetin's1 ',has
 anyone heard or seen anything of a girl
 of the name of ,sarah ,smith8' ,as you 
go all about the country1 maybe ,i might
 get to hear of her that way4  ,ah me6  
the pathetic forlornness of the         
suggestion1 the last hope of a          
broken-hearted mother1 that ,i should go
 all over the three kingdoms asking my  
large audiences1 ,have you seen or heard
 anything of ,sarah ,smith8 ,and ,i was 
dumb4 ,i had not a word of comfort to   
give her4 ,i had heard the words too    
often from the lips of outcast girls in 
answer to my question1 ,does your mother
 know where you are8 ,oh1 no2 ,i        
couldn't bear that mother should know   
about me6--not to know what the fate of 
that young girl had been4 ,she had been 
trapped1 or drugged1 or enticed into    
that dread under-world into which so    
many of our working-class girls         
disappear and are lost4 ,possibly she   

had been sent out of the country1 and   
was in some foreign den4 ,one's best    
hope was that she was dead4  ,but       
picture to yourselves the long-drawn    
anguish of that mother1 with nothing but
 a dream to comfort her amid the dread  
realities of life4 ,picture her as only 
one of thousands and thousands of our   
working-class mothers on whose poor dumb
 hearts the same nameless sorrow rests  
like a gravestone2 and ,i think no      
woman--no mother1 at least--but will    
agree with me1 that this is a matter    
from which we1 as women1 cannot stand   
off4 ,even if we had not the moral and  
physical welfare of our own boys to     
consider1 we are baptized into this     
cause by the tears of women1 the dumb   
tears of the poor4 ,but there is one    
last consideration1 exquisitely painful 
as it is1 which ,i cannot1 ,i dare not1 
pass over1 and which more than any other
 has aroused the thoughtful women of    
,england and ,america to face the       
question and endeavor to grapple1       

however imperfectly as yet1 with the    
problem4 ,for some strange reason the   
whole weight of this evil in its last   
resort comes crushing down on the       
shoulders of a little child--infant     
,christs of the cross without the crown1
 martyrs of the pang1 without the palm4 
,the sins of their parents are visited  
on them from their birth1 in scrofula1  
blindness1 consumption4 ,disease and    
suffering1 in ,dickens's words1 preside 
over their birth1 rock their wretched   
cradles1 nail down their little coffins1
 and fill their unknown graves4 ,more   
than one-half of the inmates of our     
,great ,ormond ,street ,hospital for    
,sick ,children are sent there by vice4 
,but would to ,god it were only innocent
 suffering that is inflicted on the     
children of our land4 ,alas6 alas6 when 
,i first began my work1 a ward in a     
large ,london penitentiary1 ,i found1   
was set apart for degraded children6 ,or
 take that one brief appalling statement
 in the record of ten years of          

work--#ahhd to #ahid--;issued by a      
,society for the ,prevention of ,cruelty
 to ,children4 ,in the classification of
 the various victims it is stated that  
the society had dealt with #ddfj        
pitiable child victims of debauchery6   
,alas for our ,england1 and the         
debasement which a low moral standard   
for men has made possible in our midst6 
,and1 judging by the absence of proper  
legal protection and the extraordinarily
 low age of consent adopted by some of  
the ,states of the ,union1 ,i fear      
things are not much better in ,america4 
,one of our sweetest poets1 ,charles    
,tennyson ,turner1 in an exquisite      
sonnet on a three-year-old child being  
presented with a toy globe1 has         
portrayed the consecration of a child's 
innocence1 bathing the world itself in  
its baptismal dew3      ,she patted all 
the world2 old empires peep'd           
,between her baby fingers2 her soft hand
      ,was welcome at all frontiers4    
,and when at length they turn her sweet 

unlearned eye on our own isle1 she      
utters a little joyous cry3      ,oh    
yes1 ,i see it6 ,letty's home is there6 
,and while she hid all ,england with a  
kiss1      ,bright over ,europe fell her
 golden hair4  ,by the side of that     
exquisite picture of the beatitude of a 
child's innocence place the picture of  
that long procession of desecrated      
children1 with no sweet unlearned eye1  
but eyes learned in the worst forms of  
human wickedness and cruelty2 and let   
any woman say1 if she can or dare1 that 
this is a subject on which she is not   
called to have any voice and which she  
prefers to let alone4 ,surely our       
womanhood has not become in these last  
days such a withered and wilted thing   
that our ears have grown too nice for   
the cry of these hapless children6 ,as  
women1 we are the natural guardians of  
the innocence of all children4 ,the     
divine motherhood that is at the heart  
of every woman worthy of the name rises 
up in wrath within us and cries3 ,we    

will fulfil our trust1 not only to our  
own children1 but to the helpless       
children of the poor4 ,the day is at    
hand when every mother of boys will     
silently vow before ,god to send at     
least one knight of ,god into the world 
to fight an evil before which even a    
child's innocence is not sacred and     
which tramples under its swine's feet   
the weak and the helpless4  ,indeed1    
when one reflects that this great moral 
problem touches all the great trusts of 
our womanhood1 the sanctity of the      
family1 the purity of the home1 the     
sacredness of marriage1 the sweet       
innocence of children1 it seems like    
some evil dream that women can ever have
 asked1 ,why cannot ,i leave this matter
 to men8 ,why should ,i interfere8      
,,footnotes3  ,footnote #a3 ,dr4        
,carpenter does not hesitate to         
attribute this sharp dip in the male    
line of life to the indulgence of the   
passions in youth1 and the subsequent   
rise to marriage and a more regular     

life4  ,footnote #b3 ,pendennis1 vol4   
i41 p4 #af4     ,,chapter ,,iii  ,,first
 ,,principles   ,but what can we do8    
will be the next question1 uttered      
perhaps in the forlorn accents of a     
latent despair4  ,before answering this 
question in detail1 ,i would endeavor to
 impress two cardinal points upon you4  
,the first point ,i want you to         
recognize1 though it may seem to        
minister to the very hopelessness which 
most lames and cripples for effective   
action1 is the depth and magnitude of   
the problem we have to grapple with4    
,all other great social evils1 with the 
possible exception of greed or          
covetousness1 which in ,scripture is    
often classed with impurity1 may be     
looked upon as more or less diseases of 
the extremities4 ,but the evil which we 
are now considering is no disease of the
 extremities1 but a disease at the very 
heart of our life1 attacking all the    
great bases on which it rests4 ,it is   
not only the negation of the sanctity of

 the family and the destroyer of the    
purity of the home1 as ,i have already  
pointed out1 but it is also the derider 
of the sacredness of the individual1 the
 slow but sure disintegrator of the body
 politic1 the dry-rot of nations1 before
 which the mightiest empires have       
crumbled into dust4 ,the lagoons of     
,venice mirror it in the departed       
grandeur of her palaces1 overthrown by  
the licentiousness of her merchant      
princes4 ,the mute sands that silt up   
the ruins of old empires are eloquent of
 it4 ,the most brilliant civilization   
the world has even seen through it      
became the most transitory4 ,even the   
vast and massive structure of the ,roman
 ,empire1 undermined by moral           
corruption1 vanished before barbarian   
hordes like the baseless fabric of a    
dream4 ,to think that we can solve a    
problem of this depth and magnitude by  
any mere external means--as so many good
 and earnest women seem to imagine--by  
any multiplication of ,rescue           

,societies1 ,preventive ,institutions1  
and other benevolent organizations--is  
to think that we can plug up a volcano  
with sticks and straws4 ,the remedy1    
like the evil1 must be from within1 and 
must to a great degree revolutionize our
 life4  ,my second cardinal point is1   
that the first step we have to take1 the
 step which must precede all others1 if 
anything is to be of the least avail1   
must be to restore the moral law and get
 rid of the double standard4 ,i know    
well how much has been said and written 
on this point2 it has been insisted on  
possibly ad nauseam4 ,but even now ,i do
 not think we fully realize how         
completely we have been in the grasp of 
a tradition of the elders1 which has    
emphatically made the law of ,god of    
none effect4 ,side by side with the     
ethics of ,christianity have grown up   
the bastard ethics of society1 widely   
divergent from the true moral order4    
,man has accepted the obligation of     
purity so far as it subserves his own   

selfish interests and enables him to be 
sure of his own paternity and safeguard 
the laws of inheritance4 ,the precepts  
which were primarily addressed to the   
man1 as the very form of the ,greek     
words demonstrate1 were tacitly         
transferred to the woman4 ,when1 in a   
standard dictionary of the ,english     
language1 ,i look out the word virtue1  
which etymologically means              
manliness--the manliness which would    
scorn to gratify its own selfish        
passions at the cost of the young1 the  
poor1 and the weak1 at the cost of a    
woman--,i find one of its meanings      
defined1 not as male but as female      
chastity4 ,long ago ,i suggested that as
 manliness thus goes by default1 the    
word had better be changed from virtue  
to muliertue4  ,in a passage in one of  
our standard school-books1 ,green's     
,short ,history of the ,english ,people1
 the historian1 alluding to the         
coarseness of the early ,elizabethan    
drama1 remarks that there were no female

 actors1 and the grossness which        
startles us in words which fall from a  
woman's lips took a different color when
 every woman's part was acted by a      
boy4#c ,why1 in the name of all moral   
sense1 should it be less dreadful that  
gross and obscene passages should be    
uttered at a public spectacle by young  
and unformed boys than by adult women1  
who at least would have the safeguard of
 mature knowledge and instincts to teach
 them their full loathsomeness8 ,do we  
really think that boys are born less    
pure than girls8 ,does the mother1 when 
her little son is born1 keep the old    
iron-moulded flannels1 the faded        
basinette1 the dirty feeding-bottle for 
him with the passing comment1 ,oh1 it is
 only a boy6 ,is anything too white and 
fine and pure for his infant limbs1 and 
yet are we to hold that anything is good
 enough for his childish soul--even1    
according to ,mr4 ,green1 the grossness 
of the early ,elizabethan stage--because
 he is a boy8 ,but ,i ask how many      

readers of that delightful history would
 so much as notice this passage1 and    
not1 on the contrary1 quietly accept it 
without inward note or comment1         
possessed as we are1 often without      
knowing it1 by our monstrous double     
standard8  ,if we want to see what is   
the final outcome of this moral code1 of
 this one-sided and distorted ethic1 we 
have only to turn our eyes to ,france4  
,on the one hand we have la jeune fille 
in her white ,communion robe1 kept so   
pure and ignorant of all evil1 that une 
socit ecclsiastique1 ,i am told1 exists 
for the emendation of history for her   
benefit--,divine ,providence1 as        
conducting the affairs of men1 being far
 too coarse for her pure gaze2 and at   
the other end of the stick we find      
,zola1 and a literature intended only   
for the eyes of men1 of whose chastity1 
according to ,renan1 ,nature takes no   
account whatever1--a literature which   
fouls with its vile sewage the very     
wellsprings of our nature1 and which1   

whatever its artistic merit1 ,i make    
bold to say is a curse to the civilized 
world4  ,now1 ,i earnestly protest that 
while we have this social code1 which is
 in direct violation of the moral law1  
we may set on foot any number of ,rescue
 ,societies1 ,preventive ,agencies1     
,acts for the ,legal ,protection of the 
,young1 etc41 but all our efforts will  
be in vain4 ,we are like a man who      
should endeavor to construct a perfect  
system of dynamics on the violation of  
,newton's first law of motion4 ,the     
tacitly accepted necessity for something
 short of the moral law for men         
will--again ,i say it--work out with the
 certainty of a mathematical law a      
degraded and outcast class1 with its    
disease1 its insanity1 its foul         
contamination of the young1 its         
debasement of manhood1 its              
disintegration of the ,state1 its curse 
to the community4 ,you cannot dodge the 
moral law2 as ,professor ,clifford said1
 ,there are no back-stairs to the       

universe by which we can elude the      
consequences of our wrong1 whether of   
thought or action4 ,if you let in one   
evil premise by the back-door1 be sure  
,sin and ,death will come out at the    
front4  ,here1 then1 you must take a    
firm and watchful stand4 ,as the mothers
 of the future generation of men1 you   
must look upon it as your               
divinely-appointed task to bring back   
the moral law in its entirety1 the one  
standard equally binding on men and     
women alike4 ,whatever your creed1 you  
have got to hold fast to this great     
truth1 which life itself forces upon    
you1 and which is a truth of ,christian 
ethics because first of all it is a     
truth of life4 ,it is simply a moral    
,q4,e4,d41 that if chastity is a law for
 women--and no man would deny that--it  
is a law for every woman without        
exception2 and if it is a law for every 
woman1 it follows necessarily that it   
must be for every man1 unless we are    
going to indulge in the moral turpitude 

of accepting a pariah class of women    
made up of other women's daughters and  
other women's sisters--not our own1 ,god
 forbid that they should be our         
own6--set apart for the vices of men4   
,but perhaps1 looking at our complicated
 civilization1 which1 at least in the   
upper classes1 involves1 as a rule1 the 
deferring of marriage--looking at the   
strength of the passions which          
generations of indulgence have evolved  
beyond their natural limits1 some women 
will feel constrained to ask1 ,is this  
standard a possible one8 ,can men keep  
their health and strength as celibates8 
,is not my husband right when he says   
that this is a subject we women can know
 nothing about1 and that here we must   
bow to the judgment of men8  ,i answer  
that a mother must know by what standard
 she is to educate her boy1 and         
therefore must have the data supplied to
 her on which to form her own judgment1 
and be fully persuaded in her own mind  
what she is to aim at in the training   

she is to give him2 and the mere fact   
that the current judgment of men        
involves the sacrifice in body and soul 
of a large class of our fellow-women    
lays a paramount obligation upon all    
women to search for themselves into the 
truth and scientific accuracy of the    
premises on which that judgment is      
based4  ,can men keep their health and  
strength as celibates till such time as 
they have the means to marry8 is the    
question we have1 then1 to face4 ,is the
 standard of the moral law possible to  
men who have to maintain a high level of
 physical efficiency in the sharp       
competition of modern life8  ,primarily1
 the answer to this question must come  
from the acknowledged heads of the      
medical profession4 ,now1 ,i am thankful
 to say1 we have in ,england a consensus
 of opinion from the representative men 
of the faculty that no one can gainsay4 
,sir ,james ,paget1 ,acton in his great 
text-book1 ,sir ,andrew ,clark1 ,sir    
,george ,humphrey1 of ,cambridge1       

,professor ,millar1 of the ,edinburgh   
,university1 ,sir ,william ,gowers1     
,f4,r4,s41 have all answered the above  
question in the strongest affirmative4  
,chastity does no harm to body or mind2 
its discipline is excellent2 marriage   
may safely be waited for1 are ,sir      
,james ,paget's terse and emphatic      
words#d4 ,still more emphatic are the   
words of ,sir ,william ,gowers1 the     
great men's specialist1 who counts as an
 authority on the ,continent as well as 
here3       ,the opinions which on      
grounds falsely called 'physiological'  
suggest or permit unchastity are        
terribly prevalent among young      men1
 but they are absolutely false4 ,with   
all the force of any      knowledge ,i  
possess1 and any authority ,i have1 ,i  
assert that this      belief is contrary
 to fact2 ,i assert that no man ever yet
 was in      the slightest degree or way
 the worse for continence or better for 
incontinence4 ,from incontinence during 
unmarried life all are worse            

morally2 a clear majority1 are1 in the  
end1 worse physically2 and      in no   
small number the result is1 and ever    
will be1 utter physical      shipwreck  
on one of the many rocks1 sharp1        
jagged-edged1 which      beset the way1 
or on one of the banks of festering     
slime which no      care can possibly   
avoid4 ,they are rocks which tear and   
rend the      unhappy being who is      
driven against them when he has yielded 
to the      tide of passion1 they are   
banks which exhale a poison for which1  
no      true antidote exists4  ,in face 
of such testimony as this1 well might   
,mr4 ,george ,russell1 in an address to 
young men1 speak of this exploded lie   
which has hitherto led so many astray4  
,turning now from knowledge to fact1 we 
have only to look at the ,french clergy 
to see that even in the extreme case of 
life-long celibacy it is not injurious  
to health4 ,i know1 in taking this case1
 ,i am grating somewhat harshly against 
,protestant prejudice4 ,but the         

testimony that ,renan bears on this     
point is irrefutable4 ,himself a        
renegade priest1 he certainly would not 
have hesitated to expose the ,order to  
which he had once belonged1 and         
vindicate his broken vows by the        
revelation of any moral rottenness known
 within the walls of its seminaries4    
,far from this1 he bears the most       
emphatic testimony in his autobiography 
that there is enough virtue in ,st4     
,sulpice alone to convert the world2 and
 owns so strong was the impress made on 
his own soul by his training as a priest
 that personally he had lived a pure    
life1 although1 he adds1 with an easy   
shrug of his shoulders1 it is very      
possible that the libertine has the best
 of it6 ,another renegade priest1 also  
eminent in literature1 bears exactly the
 same testimony4 ,indeed1 when we       
remember the argus-eyed hatred with     
which the ,french priesthood is watched 
by the anti-clerical party1 and the few 
scandals that appear in the public      

prints only too anxious to give         
publicity to them1 this unimpeachable   
testimony is borne out by fact4 ,i      
believe this testimony to be equally    
true of the ,english and ,irish ,roman  
,catholic clergy4 ,yet few would dispute
 the vigor of the physique of the ,roman
 ,catholic priests1 or their capacity   
for hard and often exhausting work4     
,let me1 however1 guard myself from     
misapprehension4 ,that a celibate life1 
combined with rich feeding1 ,french     
novels1 and low thinking1 does produce a
 great deal of physical harm goes almost
 without saying4 ,nature1 like her      
,lord1 requires truth in the inward     
parts1 and takes but small care of      
outward respectabilities that are but   
the whitewashed graves of inward        
foulness4 ,surely ,lowell is right when 
he says1 ,i hold unchastity of mind to  
be worse than that of body4 ,to live the
 unmarried life one must1 of course1    
fulfil its conditions of plain living   
and clean thinking4  ,it is almost with 

a feeling of shame that ,i have dwelt at
 some length on the point we have been  
considering2 but all through my ten     
years of work the sunken rock on which  
,i was always making shipwreck was the  
necessity of the evil--often openly     
avowed by men1 but haunting even the    
minds of women like a shadow--a shadow  
which gained solidity and substance from
 a sense of their helpless ignorance4 ,i
 have even met with ,christian women who
 have serenely averred to my face that  
they have been told1 on authority that  
they could not question1 that1 were it  
not for the existence of an outcast     
class1 no respectable woman would be    
safe and we could not insure the purity 
of the home6 ,so low had the moral      
consciousness fallen1 through ignorance 
and thoughtless acceptance of the       
masculine code1 that women calling      
themselves ,christians could be found   
who seemed wholly unconscious of the    
deep inner debasement of accepting the  
degradation of other women as a         

safeguard to our own virtue and of      
basing the purity of the ,christian home
 on the ruined bodies and souls of the  
children of the poor4 ,truly the dark   
places of the world within1 as well as  
of the world without1 are full of       
cruelty6  ,what can ,i do1 in the face  
of such an experience as this1 but      
humbly and earnestly beseech the women  
of ,england and ,america not to play    
fast and loose with the moral sense     
within them--- which is ,god's voice    
within us--but to hold fast to the moral
 law1 one1 equal1 and indivisible1 for  
men and women alike2 and to know and    
feel sure that1 whatever else is bound  
up with the nature of man or with an    
advancing civilization1 the hopeless    
degradation of woman is not that        
something4 ,it is ,god who has made     
us--not we ourselves1 with our false    
codes1 false notions1 and false         
necessities2 and ,god has made the man  
to love the woman and give himself for  
her1 not to degrade her and destroy the 

very function for which she was made the
 blessed mother of all living4  ,only be
 sure of this3 that men will rise to the
 level of any standard that we set them4
 ,for the present standard of what      
,sainte ,beuve calls l'homme sensuel    
moyen1 which we have accepted and       
tacitly endorsed1 we women are largely  
to blame4 ,in my conferences with the   
clergy and earnest laity held in all our
 large towns it was always this that men
 spoke of as the greatest               
stumbling-block in their way4 ,with the 
utmost bitterness they would urge that  
men of known fast life were admitted    
into society1 that women seemed to      
prefer them rather than not2 and it     
seemed to make no difference to them    
what kind of life a man led--whether he 
reverenced their womanhood or not4 ,how 
could ,i deny this bitter accusation in 
the face of facts8 ,all ,i could urge in
 extenuation was that ,i believed it was
 due rather to the ignorance than to the
 indifference of women1 owing to the    

whole of this dark side of life having  
been carefully veiled from their view2  
but now that this ignorance was passing 
away1 ,i was only one of hundreds of    
women who ask nothing better than to lay
 down their lives in the cause of their 
own womanhood4 ,only when women learn to
 respect themselves2 only when no woman 
worthy the name will receive into her   
own drawing-room in friendly intercourse
 with her own girls the man who has done
 his best to make her womanhood a vile  
and desecrated thing2 only when no      
mother worthy the name will1 for the    
sake of wealth or position1--what is    
called a good match1--give her pure girl
 to a man on the very common conditions1
 as things have been1 that some other   
ten or twenty young girls--some poor    
mothers' daughters--have been degraded  
and cast aside into the gutter1 that    
she1 the twenty-first in this honorable 
harem1 may be held in apparent honor as 
a wife2 only when no woman worthy the   
name will marry under the conditions    

portrayed by our great novelist1 ,george
 ,eliot1--that of another woman being   
basely forsaken for her sake--then1 and 
then only1 will this reproach that men  
level at us drop off2 then1 and then    
only1 shall we be able to save our own  
sons and bring in a better and purer    
state of things1 enabling them to fight 
the battle of their life at less        
tremendous odds2 then1 and then only1   
shall we be able to evolve the true     
manhood1 whose attitude is not to defile
 and destroy1 but to look up and to lift
 up4  ,,footnotes3  ,footnote #c3 ,short
 ,history of the ,english ,people1 by   
,j4,r4 ,green1 p4 #bdg4  ,footnote #d3  
,see a little ,white ,cross paper       
entitled1 ,medical ,testimony4          
,,chapter ,,iv  ,,the ,,secret ,,and    
,,method   ,there is a simile of        
,herbert ,spencer's1 in his book on     
,sociology1 which has often helped me in
 dealing with great moral problems4 ,he 
says3       ,you see that wrought-iron  
plate is not quite flat2 it sticks up a 

little here towards the left1 'cockles1'
 as we say4 ,how shall we      flatten  
it8 ,obviously1 you reply1 by hitting   
down on the part that      is prominent4
 ,well1 here is a hammer1 and ,i give   
the plate a blow      as you advise4    
,harder1 you say4 ,still no effect4     
,another stroke4      ,well1 there is   
one1 and another1 and another4 ,the     
prominence      remains1 you see2 the   
evil is as great as ever1 greater1      
indeed4      ,but this is not all4 ,look
 at the warp which the plate has got    
near      the opposite edge4 ,where it  
was flat before it is now curved4 ,a    
pretty bungle we have made of it6       
,instead of curing the original         
defect1 we have produced a second4 ,had 
we asked an artisan      practised in   
'planishing1' as it is called1 he would 
have told us      that no good was to be
 done1 but only mischief1 by hitting    
down on      the projecting part4 ,he   
would have taught us how to give        
variously      directed and specially   

adjusted blows with a hammer elsewhere1 
so      attacking the evil not by direct
 but by indirect actions4 ,the          
required process is less simple than you
 thought4 ,even a sheet of      metal is
 not to be successfully dealt with after
 those common-sense      methods in     
which you have so much confidence4 ',do 
you think ,i am      easier to be played
 on than a pipe8' asked ,hamlet4 ,is    
humanity more      readily straightened 
than an iron plate8#e  ,now1 in our     
moral planishing we need to know where  
and how to direct our blows1 lest in    
endeavoring to lessen the evil we not   
only increase the evil itself1 but      
produce other evils almost as great as  
the one we intended to cure4 ,the       
mistake that we commit--and this is1 ,i 
think1 especially true of us women--is  
to rush at our moral problems without   
giving a moment's thought to their      
causes1 which often lie deep hidden in  
human nature4 ,our great naturalist1    
,darwin1 gave eight years' study to our 

lowly brother1 the barnacle2 he gave an 
almost equal amount of time to the study
 of the earthworm and its functions1    
revealing to us1 in one of his most     
charming books1 how much of our golden  
harvest1 of our pastures1 and our       
jewelled garden-beds1 we owe to this    
silent and patient laborer4 ,yet we     
think that we can deal with our higher  
and more complex human nature without   
giving it any study at all4 ,we hit down
 directly on its moral inequalities1    
without giving a thought to what has    
caused the imperfection1 when           
constantly1 as in the sheet of metal    
which has to be straightened1 the moral 
disorder has to be met1 not directly1   
but indirectly--not at the point of the 
disorder itself1 but of its often       
unsuspected cause4 ,purity1 like health1
 like happiness1 like so many of the    
higher aims of our life1 has to be      
attained altruistically4 ,seek them too 
directly1 and they elude our grasp4     
,like the oarsman1 we have often to turn

 our back upon our destination in order 
to arrive at our end4  ,do not1         
therefore1 think impatiently that ,i am 
putting you off with vague theories when
 you want practical suggestions1 if ,i  
ask you first to give some patient      
thought to the causes of the disorder   
which seems to mark the side of our     
human nature on which the very existence
 of the race depends1 and which cannot1 
therefore1 be evil in itself4 ,to me the
 problem presented was almost           
paralyzing4 ,it seemed as if ,nature1 in
 her anxiety to secure the continuance  
of the species1 had taken no account    
whatever of the moral law1 but had so   
overloaded the strength of passion as   
not only to secure the defeat of the    
moral law1 but even of her own ends1 by 
producing the sterility which results   
from vicious indulgence4 ,it was not    
till ,i met with two wonderful sermons  
on ,the ,kingdom of ,god1 by that great 
master of divine philosophy1 ,dr4 ,james
 ,martineau1 that ,i first got a clue to

 the moral difficulty and to that fuller
 understanding of our human nature which
 is so essential to all who have the    
training and moulding of the young4     
,and1 therefore1 ,i ask you to let me   
enter at some length into this teaching1
 which will not only give us light for  
our own guidance1 but enable us to grasp
 the right principles on which we have  
to act in the moral training of the     
coming generation4#f  ,now1 in trying to
 think out the laws of our own being1 we
 are met at the very outset by the great
 crux in the moral world3 ,what is the  
true relation of the material to the    
spiritual1--of the body1 with its       
instincts and appetites1 to the moral   
personality1 with its conscience and    
will8 ,on the one hand1 seeing the fatal
 proneness of man to obey his appetites 
and run into terrible excesses1 ascetics
 in all ages and of all creeds have     
taught that the body itself is evil and 
the seat of sin2 that its instincts must
 be crushed and its appetites repressed 

and eradicated2 and that it is only so  
far as you trample your animal nature   
under foot that you can rise to be a    
saint4 ,brute1 blind1 dead1 have been   
the epithets bestowed on matter1 which  
is a ceaseless play of living forces    
that rest not day nor night4 ,to look   
down on the material pleasures with     
suspicion1 to fly contact with the rude 
world and lose one's self in the        
unembodied splendors of the spiritual1  
to save souls rather than men and women1
 to preach abstract doctrines rather    
than grapple with hideous concrete      
problems--this has been the tendency of 
the religious spirit in all ages1 a     
tendency of which positive asceticism1  
with its mortification of the body1 and 
its ideal of virginity1 and marriage    
regarded as more or less a concession to
 the flesh1 is only an exaggeration4    
,on the other hand1 in disgust at the   
mutilation of human nature and under    
pretext of its consummation1 has arisen 
the fleshly school1 whose maxim is      

obedience to ,nature1--leaving undefined
 what nature1 the nature of the swine or
 the nature of the man1--which holds    
that every natural instinct ought to be 
obeyed1 which takes the agreeable as the
 test of the right1 and which goes in   
for the healthy animal with enlightened 
self-interest as the safeguard against  
excesses4  ,alas6 the results are no    
happier4 ,the healthy animal treads     
under his feet the helpless and the     
weak1 who suffer that he may grow fat   
and kick4 ,the attractive warmth and    
color and richness are found to be but  
rottenness and decay4  ,when1           
dissatisfied with the teaching of men1  
one turns to the great world at large1  
to see whether some practical instinct  
may not have guided men to a right      
adjustment1 one's first feeling is one  
of dismay at the spectacle presented4   
,the bodily instincts and appetites that
 seem to work aright in the animal      
world1 in man seem fatally overloaded1  
and1 instead of hitting the mark1       

explode with disaster and death at the  
outset4  ,let us now turn to the        
teaching of ,christ1 and see whether it 
does not explain the deep disorder of   
the animal instincts in the world of    
man1 and while saving us on the one hand
 from the self-mutilation of asceticism1
 and from the swinishness of the fleshly
 school on the other1 whether it does   
not embrace the truth that is in both   
and teach us how to correlate the       
material and the spiritual4  ,now1 ,dr4 
,martineau points out that ,christ      
teaches1 in contradistinction to        
asceticism1 that the animal body1 with  
its instincts and appetites1 is as good 
on its own plane as the higher and      
spiritual attributes of man are on      
theirs4 ,our ,father knoweth that1 in   
common with other creatures1 we have    
need of physical good1 and ,he has      
provided us with a self-acting mechanism
 for its attainment1 which will work    
rightly if only it is left alone and not
 tampered with4 ,there is the same      

provision in us as in them of           
unconscious instincts and appetites for 
carrying on the lower life which is     
necessary as the platform of the higher 
spiritual being1 to set it free1 as it  
were1 for the pursuit of its legitimate 
ends--all those higher and wider        
interests in life which are comprised   
under the one comprehensive name of the 
kingdom of ,god4 ,and the teaching of   
,christ is3 ,neither hate nor fear this 
part of your nature with the ascetic1   
nor pamper and stimulate it with the    
,hedonist1 but let it alone to act on   
its own plane2 trust it1 trust ,god who 
made it1 while you throw all your       
conscious energies into the higher      
concerns of life2 and you will find1    
when left to its own unconscious        
activity1 it is neither an over-nor an  
under-provision for carrying on your    
subsistence and that of the race4 ,take 
no anxious thought 7,greek3 me          
merimnesete7 for the morrow4 ,your      
,father knoweth that ye have need of    

these things1 and has arranged your     
being accordingly4 ,seek ye first the   
kingdom of ,god1 and all these things   
shall be added to you4 ,behold the birds
 of the air2 your heavenly ,father      
feedeth them4  ,oh1 says the practical  
man at once1 that is all very fine as   
sentiment2 it is very ,eastern and      
poetical2 but ,i should like to know    
how1 in these overcrowded days1 ,i could
 support myself and family if ,i am to  
trust ,god to feed me and them like the 
birds of the air1 and only think about  
religion4 ,but is not this wholly to    
misunderstand our ,lord's teaching8 ,how
 does ,god feed the birds of the air8   
,is it not by incessant and untiring    
effort on their part8 ,those who have   
watched a pair of birds flying backwards
 and forwards to the nest under the eave
 may well question whether industry can 
go further4 ,but in the unconscious     
being of a bird it is toil without      
,greek3 merimna1 without thought and    
worry1 and becomes1 therefore1 the very 

picture to us of trust in a higher      
,power1 who has thus adjusted an        
unerring instinct to an unfailing end4  
,the insect and the bird provide for the
 morrow1 while they take no anxious     
thought for the morrow4 ,the agility    
which achieves it is theirs1 the skill  
and foresight absent from them remain   
with ,god4 ,and thus the simple life of 
lower natures1 in its unconscious       
surrender to involuntary though internal
 guidance1 becomes the negative type of 
perfect trust4#g  ,but to leave his     
instincts and appetites to work1        
unimpeded and unconscious1 on their own 
plane1 while he concerns himself with   
matters of truly human interest1 is just
 what man is not content to do4 ,on the 
contrary1 he takes his higher and       
spiritual nature down into them4 ,he    
enhances their pleasure with all the    
powers of his imagination2 he sets his  
intellect to work to plot and plan for  
their gratification2 he loads them with 
the whole force of his spiritual will1  

and in so doing he overloads and maddens
 them4 ,the instinct for food and drink1
 which in the animal is sufficient for  
the maintenance of health and activity1 
in the man becomes gluttony and         
drunkenness2 the instinct for the       
preservation of the race becomes the    
licentiousness which produces sterility 
and defeats its own ends2 the instinct  
of self-maintenance becomes the feverish
 greed and money-getting which leave no 
room for the higher life of beauty1 and 
science1 and worship1 and disinterested 
service4 ,seek ye first the material1   
says the world1 and all these things    
shall be added unto you when you get the
 time for them--which will be probably  
never4  ,now1 then1 do we not begin to  
see why the animal instincts and        
appetites1 which make for order and     
happiness1 and fufil their end in the   
animal world1 lead to such intolerable  
disorder in the world of man8 ,their    
laws1 like all other laws in the ,divine
 economy1 are holy and just and good2   

but man by not observing their          
conditions makes them work evil and     
death4 ,do you not see that to be a     
healthy animal is just what man cannot  
be except by being a true and           
high-minded man1 all his conscious      
energies taken up and absorbed on a     
higher plane1 with none left over to    
filter down into and disorder the animal
 instincts1 which only work aright when 
left to their own unconscious activity8 
,fix your consciousness long enough on  
the tip of your little finger1 and you  
will feel a pricking sensation in it4   
,the mind directed intently to any part 
of the frame will produce a flow of     
blood there4 ,any physician will tell   
you that this is one of the greatest    
difficulties he has to contend with in  
his patients2 the mind being steadily   
directed to some disordered spot        
increases the congestion which is the   
result of disease4  ,unconsciousness1   
therefore1 is the very channel in which 
our animal nature works healthily and   

undisturbed according to its own laws4  
,but you are a self-conscious being1 and
 not as the animals4 ,god keeps the keys
 of their nature in ,his own hands4     
,they are shut up to certain ends which 
are in ,his purpose rather than in their
 minds4 ,they are locked within limits  
of their nature1 which are absolute1 and
 cannot1 therefore1 be transgressed4    
,but man1 in virtue of his              
self-consciousness1 is emphatically he  
who hath the keys1 who openeth and no   
man shutteth1 and who shutteth and no   
man openeth4 ,all the secret recesses of
 your being lie open to you1 and no man 
can close it to your vision4 ,you can   
voluntarily shut the door of salvation  
and hamper the lock1 and no man can     
open4 ,a limit is no absolute limit to  
you because your very consciousness of  
the limit involves your consciousness of
 the beyond which makes it a limit4 ,and
 therefore to you as a self-knowing     
existence1 with your being necessarily  
surrendered into your own hands1 two    

faculties have been given as a          
substitute for the unconscious necessity
 of an animal nature3 ,first1 a         
self-judging faculty which we call      
conscience1 or a power of discerning    
between a lower and a higher1 and a     
sense of obligation to the higher which 
enables you to correlate your faculties 
and functions in their true order of    
relative excellence2 and secondly1 a    
spiritual will1 capable of carrying the 
decisions of conscience into practical  
execution and attaining to a necessity  
of moral law4 ,the true function of     
man's will is not1 therefore1 to add    
itself on to any one of his instincts   
and give it a disordered strength1 but1 
while throwing its chief conscious      
energies into the higher interests of   
life1 to rule his instincts and         
appetites according to those higher     
interests4 ,this1 when the condition of 
that infinitely complex thing1 modern   
civilized life1 interferes1 as at times 
it must do1 with the legitimate exercise

 of his instincts1 and his good has to  
be subordinated to the good of the      
greater number1 may occasionally involve
 a hard struggle1 even when the         
instincts have been left to their own   
healthy natural play2 but at least it   
will be all the difference between a    
struggle with a spirited animal and a   
maddened and infuriated brute4  ,but1   
asks ,dr4 ,martineau1 if the animal     
instincts and appetites are to be       
directed by conscience and ruled by the 
will in accordance with the dictates of 
conscience1 what becomes of the         
unconsciousness which is necessary for  
their right action8 ,its place is       
gradually supplied by habit1 which is   
the unconsciousness of a self-conscious 
being4 ,the habit of plain living and   
spare food1 so necessary to high        
thinking1 at first acquired possibly by 
real effort of will1 by real fasting and
 prayer1 becomes a second nature1 that  
sets the will free for higher conquests4
 ,the habit of purity1 which at first   

may have resulted only from a sleepless 
watch of the will in directing the      
thoughts and imagination into safe      
channels1 becomes an instinctive recoil 
from the least touch of defilement4 ,the
 habit of unworldly simplicity1 which   
may have had to be induced by deliberate
 self-denial1 becomes a natural         
disposition which rejects superfluities 
from unconscious choice4  ,this is what 
takes place where direct conflict is    
necessitated by the constant            
readjustment of the individual1 with his
 instincts and appetites1 to his social 
environment which so complex a state of 
society as that of modern civilization  
involves4 ,but under ordinary           
circumstances1 where the teaching of    
,christ is observed and all the         
conscious energies of the man are       
absorbed in seeking first the kingdom of
 ,god1 there the need of conflict on the
 lower plane is at least partially done 
away with4 ,the whole current of thought
 and will1 flowing into higher channels1

 is drained away from the lower         
instincts and appetites1 which are thus 
restored to their natural               
unconsciousness1 with only an occasional
 interference on the part of the will to
 subordinate them to human ends and     
aims1 or to those demands of a high and 
complex civilization in the benefits of 
which we all share1 but for whose fuller
 and richer life we have in some        
directions to pay1 and perhaps at times 
to pay heavily4 ,the scientific man who 
in his passionate devotion to the search
 after truth--the kingdom of ,god as    
revealed in the order of the            
universe--exclaimed testily that he had 
no time to waste in making money1 had no
 conflict with the instinct of          
self-subsistence maddened into greed4   
,it worked out a sufficient quotient of 
bread and cheese to insure the healthy  
exercise of his brain1 and that was     
enough4 ,the ,alpine climber1 intent on 
mastering a printless snow-peak1 has not
 to control an appetite sharpened by    

mountain air from sinking into the      
gluttony which would be fatal to the    
cool head and steady foot necessary for 
his enterprise4 ,the man who has a noble
 passion for the weak and defenceless1  
who from the first has cultivated a     
chivalrous loyalty to women1 putting far
 from him the lowering talk1 the cynical
 expression1 the moral lassitude of     
society1 and guarding his high          
enthusiasm from the blight of worldly   
commonplace1 has no need to fight       
against the lower instinct that would   
degrade them or wrong the weak and      
defenceless4 ,the conflict is there1 but
 it is removed to a nobler and higher   
battle-field1 a battle against the      
sacrifice of the weak by the strong1    
whilst in him the lower life may be left
 to settle itself1 as in the unconscious
 birds of the air4 ,love ,god1 as ,st4  
,augustine said1 and do what you will4  
,be a child of the water1 and you may be
 a child of the wind1 blowing where it  
listeth4 ,seek the kingdom of ,god      

first1 and all these things shall be    
added to you4  ,this1 then1 is the first
 great practical lesson that we learn   
from the study of the laws of our human 
nature1 taken in their widest aspect1   
under the teaching of the ,divine       
,master1 the open secret of overcoming  
in man and woman alike1 that which      
restores to us our whole nature1 and    
vindicates it1 even in the depths of    
disorder into which it has practically  
fallen1 as originally bearing the       
,divine stamp4 ,the more unconscious we 
are in the pursuit of physical good1 the
 better for the ends of life2 the more  
conscious we are in the pursuit of moral
 and spiritual good1 the nearer we are  
to that kingdom of righteousness and    
peace and joy in the ,holy ,ghost which 
we seek4 ,get out of the narrow         
individualism or atomism--for let us    
never forget that individual and atom   
are the same word--which threatens to   
dwarf and pulverize us1 which keeps     
within our view only the narrow range of

 our own interests and defeats their    
true pursuit by the very intensity of   
attention it concentrates upon them2 and
 live1 as ,goethe says1 in the          
beautiful1 the good1 and the whole1 the 
kingdom of the ,eternal4 ,have the      
higher passion that casts out the lower4
 ,the physician whose conscious aim is  
the relief of human suffering and the   
enforcement of the laws of health1 even 
though a large professional income may  
be added to him2 the lawyer who regards 
himself as the minister of the ,just    
,one to uphold the law of right and     
equity1 whose reputation does not rest  
on his skill in getting off a fraudulent
 company without costs1 and who makes   
his money not by his practices1 but by  
his honest practice2 the man of science 
who reverently devotes himself1 as the  
servant of the truth1 to think ,god's   
thoughts after ,him1 in the words of    
,kepler's prayer1 and establish the     
kingdom of law and order1 in the        
humbleness of conscious limitation which

 forbids dogmatizing2 the artist who is 
true to his art and does not subordinate
 the laws of the eternal ,loveliness to 
the shifting laws of the temporary      
market2 the capitalist who looks upon   
himself as the steward of the public    
good1 and to whom material gain is the  
means and not the end2 the workman who  
does good work for the kingdom of ,god's
 sake1 knowing that every stroke of good
 work is a brick in the palace of the   
great ,king1 and who scorns to scamp    
because it pays2 and1 generally         
speaking1 every man who is so intent on 
helping and serving others that his     
thoughts are taken off himself and      
centred on another--these are the men   
who are seeking first a kingdom of ,god1
 wherein dwelleth righteousness2 these  
are the men who1 living in the higher   
life can rule the lower--the men whose  
feet are in the lilies1 and to whom the 
floods of earthly passion1 even when    
they beat hardest1 end in the flight of 
a dove and in a triumphal arch of light4

  ,now1 you will see at once the        
intensely practical bearing of this     
teaching on the training of your boys4  
,you are not called to hit down directly
 on the evil1 to give warnings against  
vice1 or to speak on things which your  
womanhood unspeakably shrinks from      
mentioning4 ,what you are called to do  
is to secure1 so far as you can1 that   
the mind and soul moves on its own      
proper plane4 ,it is more an attitude   
you have to form than a warning you have
 to give4 ,and here it is that the      
imperative need of high positive        
teaching comes in4 ,till parents1 and   
especially mothers1 recognize their     
,god-given functions as the moral       
teachers of their own children1 till    
they cease to shunt off their           
responsibilities on the professional    
shoulders of the schoolmaster1 we had   
better frankly give up the whole        
question in despair4 ,strange and sad it
 seems to me that at the end of the     
nineteenth century after the coming of  

our ,lord ,i should have to plead that  
the moral law is possible under every   
condition to any man1 and that parents  
are ipso facto the moral teachers of    
their own children4 ,and yet it is the  
denial1 tacit or explicit1 of these two 
primary truths that has been the        
greatest obstacle to the progress of my 
work4  ,but ,i appeal to you3 ,who but a
 mother can bring such a constant and   
potent influence to bear as to secure   
the mind and character moving on its own
 higher plane in relation to the whole  
of this side of our nature8 ,who so well
 as a mother can teach the sacredness of
 the body as the temple of the ,eternal8
 ,who else can implant in her son that  
habitual reverence for womanhood which  
to a man is as fountains of sweet water 
in the bitter sea of life8 ,who like a  
mother1 as he grows to years of sense   
and observation1 and the curiosity is   
kindled1 which is only a cry for light  
and teaching1 can so answer the cry and 
so teach as to make the mysteries of    

life and truth to be for ever associated
 for him with all the sacred            
associations of home and his own mother1
 and not with the talk of the groom or  
the dirty-minded schoolboy8 ,who so well
 as a mother1 as he passes into dawning 
manhood1 can plead faithfulness to the  
future wife before marriage as well as  
after8 ,nay1 as ,i hold by the old      
,spanish proverb ,an ounce of mother is 
worth a pound of clergy1 who like a     
mother1 by her prayers and ever-present 
example and influence1 can lead him to  
the ,highest1 and impress upon him that 
his life is given him for no lower end  
than1 in the words of the ,westminster  
,confession1 to know ,god and to glorify
 ,him for ever2 and that therefore he is
 made on a very high plan--as ,browning 
puts it1 ,heaven's consummate cup1 whose
 end is to slake the ,master's thirst2  
and that the cup from which ,he drinks  
must be clean inside as well as out1 and
 studded within and without with the    
pearl of purity8  ,but refuse to give   

him this higher teaching and training2  
go on1 as so many mothers have done1    
blankly ignoring the whole subject1     
because it is so difficult to speak to  
one's boys1--as if everything worth     
having in this life were not            
difficult6--leave him to the teaching of
 dirty gossip1 of unclean classical     
allusions in his school-books1 of scraps
 of newspaper intelligence1 possibly of 
bad companions whom he may pick up at   
school or business1 and be sure of it1  
as this side of his nature is           
awakened--in his search after gratified 
curiosity or pleasurable sensation1 in  
utter ignorance of what he is doing1    
through your fault1 not through his--he 
will use his imagination and his will to
 strengthen the animal instincts4 ,what 
ought to have been kept on a higher     
plane of being will be used to stimulate
 functions just coming into existence1  
and pre-eminently needing to be let     
alone on their own plane to mature      
quietly and unconsciously4 ,thus dwelt  

upon and stimulated1 these functions    
become in a measure disordered and a    
source of miserable temptation and      
difficulty1 even if no actual           
wrong-doing results4 ,if you only knew  
what those struggles are1 if you only   
knew what miserable chains are forged in
 utter helpless ignorance1 you would not
 let any sense of difficulty or         
shrinking timidity make you refuse to   
give your boy the higher teaching which 
would have saved him4  ,it is told of   
the beautiful ,countess of ,dufferin1 by
 her son and biographer1 ,lord          
,dufferin1 that when the surgeons were  
consulting round her bedside which they 
should save--the mother or the          
child--she exclaimed1 ,oh1 never mind   
me2 save my baby6 ,if you knew the facts
 as ,i know them1 ,i am quite sure you  
would exclaim1 in the face of any       
difficulties1 any natural shrinking on  
your part1 ,oh1 never mind me1 let me   
save my boys6  ,,footnotes3  ,footnote  
#e3 ,the ,study of ,sociology1 by       

,herbert ,spencer 7,international       
,scientific ,series71 p4 #bgj1 fifth    
edition1 #ahgf4  ,footnote #f3 ,i quote 
here at some length from a ,white ,cross
 paper called ,per ,augusta ad ,augusta1
 in which ,i summarized and applied ,dr4
 ,martineau's teaching1 as ,i do not    
think ,i can do it more clearly or in   
more condensed form4 ,by some mistake it
 came out1 not under my name1 but under 
the initials of the writer of ,true     
,manliness and several others of the    
,white ,cross ,series4 ,i only mention  
the mistake now to safeguard my own     
intellectual honesty4  ,footnote #g3    
,hours of ,thought1 by ,dr4 ,martineau1 
vol4 i41 p4 #ce1 third edition4         
,,chapter ,v  ,,early ,,boyhood         
,having now laid down the general       
principles which we have to recognize in
 the moral training of the young1 let me
 endeavor to make some practical        
suggestions how these principles may be 
carried out1 suggestions which1 as a    
matter of fact1 ,i have found to be     

helpful to educated mothers in the great
 and responsible task of training the   
men of the future generation4  ,all ,i  
would earnestly ask you to remember is1 
that in offering these suggestions ,i am
 in no way venturing to dictate to you1 
only endeavoring to place a wide        
experience at your service4 ,doubtless  
you will often modify and1 in some      
cases1 very possibly reverse my         
conclusions4 ,all ,i ask is that you    
should weigh them thoughtfully and      
prayerfully and with an open and        
unprejudiced mind before you finally    
reject them4  ,let us1 therefore1 begin 
with the nursery4 ,it is in the nursery 
that the roots of the evil we have to   
contend with are often first planted1   
and this in more senses than one4 ,in   
the more obvious sense all experienced  
mothers know what ,i mean4 ,but ,i am   
quite sure that there are a large number
 of young wives who become mothers      
without the smallest knowledge of the   
dangers to which even infant boys may be

 exposed4 ,this ignorance is painfully  
shown by the frequent application for   
nursemaids from our penitentiaries4 ,at 
one house where ,i held a small meeting 
my young hostess1 an intelligent        
literary woman1 came into my room after 
the household had retired to rest to ask
 me about some curious actions which she
 had noticed in her baby boy at night4  
,there could not be a doubt or a        
question that her nurse was corrupting  
her little child before that hapless    
young mother's eyes1 and forming in him 
habits which could only lead to misery  
hereafter1 and only too possibly to     
idiocy and death2 and that young mother 
was too ignorant to save her own baby   
boy6 ,indeed1 ,i know of no greater     
instance of the cruelty of the          
conspiracy of silence than the fact that
 in all the orthodox medical manuals for
 young mothers the necessary knowledge  
is withheld4#h ,but more marvellous     
still is the fact that women should ever
 have placidly consented to an ignorance

 which makes it impossible for them to  
save even baby boys from a corrupt      
nursemaid1 who by some evil chance may  
have found her way into their service   
through a false character or under some 
other specious disguise1 not seeing at  
once that the so-called delicacy which  
shrinks from knowing everything that is 
necessary in order to save is not purity
 but prurience4  ,i would1 therefore1   
beseech young mothers who are conscious 
of their own ignorance to see a lady    
doctor1 if they do not like to consult  
their own family physician1 and ask her 
to tell them plainly what they have to  
guard against and the best methods to   
pursue4 ,all ,i can say here is to      
beseech every mother to be absolutely   
careful about the antecedents of her    
nursemaids1 and only to admit those of  
unblemished character into the precincts
 of the nursery4 ,never1 if possible1   
let your baby boy sleep with any one but
 yourself1 if through illness or any    
other cause he cannot sleep in his own  

little cot4 ,pyjamas1 ,i think1 are     
generally recognized now to be the best 
form of night gear1 as keeping the      
little limbs warm and covered1 when in  
the restlessness of sleep the child     
throws off the bedclothes1 as well as   
for other and more vital reasons4 ,if   
through straitened means you cannot     
afford an experienced nurse--not that ,i
 should altogether allow that even the  
experienced nurse is to be implicitly   
and blindly trusted until she has been  
well tested--then ,i would entreat you  
not to let sleepiness or ill health or  
any other excuse prevent you from being 
always present at your boy's morning    
bath4 ,often and often evil habits arise
 from imperfect washing and consequent  
irritation2 and many a wise mother      
thinks it best on this account to revert
 to the old ,jewish rite of initiation  
by which cleanliness was secured4 ,teach
 them from the first self-reverence in  
touch1 as in word and deed1 and watch   
even their attitudes in sleep1 that the 

little arms are folded lightly upwards4 
,even experienced nurses are not always 
nice in their ways4 ,be vigilantly      
watchful that the utmost niceness is    
observed between the boys and girls in  
the nursery1 and that childish modesty  
is never broken down1 but1 on the       
contrary1 nurtured and trained4         
,knowledge and watchfulness are the two 
cherubim with the flaming sword turning 
all ways to guard the young tree of life
 and bar the way of every low and       
creeping thing4 ,if ,i may venture in   
some sort to reverse our ,lord's words1 
,i should say ,his word to all mothers  
is1 ,what ,i say unto all ,i say        
especially unto you1 ,watch4  ,but there
 is another and a deeper sense in which 
the root of the evil is first planted   
and nourished in the nursery4 ,if we are
 to contend with this deadly peril to   
soul and body1 ,i cannot but feel that  
we must bring about a radical change in 
the training of our boys4 ,there must be
 some radical defect in that training   

for men to take the attitude they do4 ,i
 do not mean bad1 dissipated men1 but   
men who in all other relations of life  
would be designated fairly good men4    
,once let such a man be                 
persuaded--however wrongly--that his    
health1 or his prospect of having some  
day a family of his own1 will suffer    
from delayed marriage and he considers  
the question settled4 ,he will sacrifice
 his health to over-smoking1 to excess  
in athletics1 to over-eating or         
champagne drinking1 to late hours and   
overwork2 but to sacrifice health or    
future happiness to save a woman from   
degradation1 bah6 it never so much as   
enters his mind4 ,even so high-minded a 
writer as ,mr4 ,lecky1 in his ,history  
of ,european ,morals1#i deliberately    
proposes that the difficulty of deferred
 marriage which advanced civilization   
necessitates1 at least for the upper    
classes1 should be met by temporary     
unions being permitted with a woman of a
 lower class4 ,the daughters of         

workingmen1 according to this writer1   
are good enough as fleshly stop-gaps1 to
 be flung aside when a sufficient income
 makes the true wife possible--an       
honorable proceeding indeed6 to say     
nothing of the children of such a       
temporary union1 to whom the father can 
perform no duty1 and leave no           
inheritance1 save the inestimable one of
 a mother with a tainted name4 ,verily  
there must be some fault in our training
 of men6 ,certainly an intelligent      
,american mother put her finger on the  
blot1 so far as we are concerned1 when1 
speaking to me many years ago1 she said 
what struck her so in our ,english homes
 was the way in which the girls were    
subordinated to the boys2 the boys      
seemed first considered1 the girls in   
comparison were nowhere4 ,doubtless our 
,english homes are more at fault here   
than in ,america2 but1 as a mother's    
pride in her boys is the same all over  
the world1 may not even ,american homes 
admit of a little improvement in this   

respect as well8 ,and1 if we choose to  
bring up our boys to look upon their    
mothers and sisters as more or less the 
devoted slaves of their selfishness1 can
 we wonder that they should grow up to  
look upon all women as more or less the 
slaves of their needs1 fleshly or       
otherwise8  ,now1 what ,i want all boys 
taught from their earliest years is1    
roughly speaking1 that boys came into   
the world to take care of girls4        
,whatever modification may take place in
 our view of the relation of the sexes1 
,nature's great fact will remain1 that  
the man is the stronger--a difference   
which civilization and culture seem to  
strengthen rather than diminish2 and    
from his earliest years he ought to be  
taught that he1 therefore1 is the one   
that has to serve4 ,it is the strong    
that have to bear the burden of the     
weaker1 and not to prostitute that      
strength by using it to master the      
weaker into bearing their loads4 ,it is 
the man who has to give himself for the 

woman1 not the other way on1 as we have 
made it4 ,nay1 this is no theory of     
mine2 it is a truth implanted in the    
very heart of every true man4 ,every    
true man1 as ,milton says1 is born a    
knight1 diligently as we endeavor to    
stub up this royal root1 constantly1 as 
from the very nursery1 we endeavor to   
train it out of him4 ,you may deny the  
truth and go on some theory of your own 
in the training of your boys1 but the   
truth cannot deny itself4 ,it is there1 
whether you will have it or not1 a root 
of the tree of life itself4  ,now there 
is not a day that need pass without     
opportunities of training your boys in  
this their true knightly attitude4 ,you 
can see1 as ,i have already said1 that  
they learn in relation to their own     
sisters what in after years they have to
 practise towards all women alike4 ,to  
give up the comfortable easy-chair1 the 
favorite book or toy1 the warmest place 
by the fire1 to the little sister--this 
ought to become a second nature to a    

well-trained boy4 ,to carry a parcel for
 her1 to jump up and fetch anything she 
wants1 to give in to her because he is a
 boy and the stronger--all this ought to
 be a matter of course4 ,as he grows    
older you can place him in little       
positions of responsibility to his      
sisters1 sending them out on an         
expedition or to a party under his care4
 ,in a thousand such ways you can see   
that your boy is not only born but grows
 up a knight4 ,i was once in a house    
where the master always brought up the  
heavy evening water-cans and morning    
coal-scuttles for the maids4 ,and if    
these were placed at the foot of the    
stairs so as to involve no running in   
and out of the kitchen1 it might be no  
mean exercise for a boy's muscles4  ,i  
was told only the other day of a little 
six-year-old boy whose mother had       
brought him up from babyhood on these   
principles4 ,he was playing with his    
little sister on a bed1 when suddenly he
 perceived that she was getting         

perilously near the edge which was      
farthest from the wall4 ,instantly he   
dismounted and went round to the other  
side1 and1 climbing up1 pushed her      
gently into the middle of the bed1      
remarking sententiously to himself1 ,i  
think boys ought always to take the     
dangerous side of their sisters4 ,ah me6
 if only you mothers would but train    
your boys to take the dangerous side of 
their sisters1 especially of those poor 
little sisters who are thrust forth at  
so early an age to earn their own       
living1 alone and unprotected1 on the   
perilous highways of the world1 skirted 
for them by so terrible a precipice1    
what a different world would it be for  
us women1 what a purer and better world 
for your sons6  ,surely the womanhood in
 our homes ought to enable us to bring  
up our boys in such an habitual attitude
 of serving a woman1 of caring for her1 
of giving himself for her1 that it would
 become a moral impossibility for him   
ever to lower or degrade a woman in his 

after-life4  ,in concluding these       
suggestions there is one point ,i must  
emphasize1 the more so as in treating of
 one particular moral problem it is     
difficult not to seem to ignore a truth 
which is simply vital to all moral      
training4 ,let us clearly recognize that
 there is no such thing as moral        
specialism4 ,our moral being1 like      
,wordsworth's cloud1 moveth altogether  
if it move at all4 ,you cannot          
strengthen one particular virtue except 
by strengthening the character all      
round4 ,cardinal ,newman points out--,i 
think in one of those wonderful ,oxford 
sermons of his--that what our ancestors 
would have called a bosom sin will often
 take an underground course and come to 
the surface at quite an unexpected point
 in the character4 ,hidden              
licentiousness1 which one would expect  
to evince itself in over-ripe sentiment 
and feeling1 manifests itself instead in
 cruelty and hardness of heart4 ,the    
little habit of self-indulgence which   

you in your foolish fondness have       
allowed in that boy of yours may1 in    
after-life1 come out as the very        
impurity which you have endeavored so   
earnestly to guard him against4 ,this   
mystical interdependence and hidden     
correlation of our moral and            
intellectual being is a solemn thought1 
and can only be met by recognizing that 
the walls of the citadel must be        
strengthened at all points in order to  
resist the foe at one4 ,truthfulness1   
conscientiousness that refuses to scamp 
work1 devotion to duty1 temperance in   
food and drink1 rectitude--these things 
are the bastions of purity of life1 as  
well as of all high character4  ,but in 
these days ,i think we have more        
especially to remember that the         
,beautiful ,gate of all noble living    
rests1 like the gate of the ,jewish     
,temple1 on two pillars1 both of which  
show signs of being considerably out of 
repair4 ,one of these pillars is        
obedience1 or discipline4 ,if you have  

not exacted prompt and unhesitating     
obedience in your boy1 from his earliest
 childhood1 to the parents whom he has  
seen1 do you think that in after years  
he will obey the ,father of ,lights1    
whom he has not seen8 ,do you think1 if 
you have let him set your authority at  
defiance1 he will in future years1 with 
temptation on one side and opportunity  
on the other1 bow to the invisible      
authority of conscience8 ,what is it1 ,i
 ask1 that makes the army the finest    
school for character1 giving us our     
,lawrences1 our ,havelocks1 our         
,gordons1 our ,kitcheners1 but simply   
this habit of implicit obedience1 of    
that discipline which has grown so      
grievously lax in so many of our        
,english homes8 ,in ,carlyle's strong   
words1 ,obedience is our universal duty 
and destiny1 wherein whoso will not bend
 must break3 too early and too          
thoroughly we cannot be trained to know 
that 'would1' in this world of ours1 is 
as mere zero to 'should1' and for most  

part as the smallest of fractions even  
to 'shall4'#aj  ,the second great pillar
 of the portal of noble life seems to me
 to show still greater signs of being   
out of repair and in want of            
restoration1 and that pillar is         
reverence1--that heaven-eyed quality    
which ,dr4 ,martineau rightly places at 
the very top of the ethical scale4 ,let 
that crumble1 and the character which   
might have been a temple sinks into a   
mere counting-house4 ,when in these days
 children are allowed to call their     
father ,dick1 ,jack1 or ,tom1 and       
nickname their own mother2 when they are
 allowed to drown the voice of the most 
honored guest at the table with their   
little bald chatter1 so that even the   
cross-questioning genius of a ,socrates 
would find itself at a discount2 when   
they are allowed to criticise and       
contradict their elders in a way that   
would have appalled our grandmothers2   
when they are suffered to make remarks  
which are anything but reverent on      

sacred things--have ,i not some reason  
to fear that the one attribute which    
touches the character to fine issues is 
threatened with extinction8 ,do you     
think that the boy who has never been   
taught to reverence his own mother's    
womanhood will reverence the degraded   
womanhood of our streets1 or hear that  
,divine ,voice guarding all suffering   
manhood and all helpless womanhood from 
wrong at his hands1 ,inasmuch as ye have
 done it unto the least of these1 ye    
have done it unto ,me8  ,oh1 ,i would   
entreat you to set yourself firmly      
against this evil tendency of our day1  
to which ,i cannot but believe so much  
of its agnosticism is due1--that        
deadening down and stamping out of the  
spiritual instincts of our nature1 those
 great intuitions of the soul1 which lie
 both above and below all reasoning and 
logic and form their basis rather than  
their apex4 ,once let the springs of    
reverence be choked up1 once let that   
window of the soul be overgrown with    

weeds and cobwebs1 and your most careful
 training will only produce a character 
estimable in many respects1 but for the 
most part without noble aspirations1    
without high ideals1 with no great      
enthusiasms--a character1 to use ,saint 
,beuve's expressive phrase1 tout en     
faade sur la rue1 whose moral judgments 
are no better than street cries2 the    
type of man that accepts the degradation
 of women with blank alacrity as a      
necessity of civilization1 and would    
have it regulated1 like any other       
commodity for the market2 that very     
common type of character which1 whatever
 its good qualities1 spreads an         
atmosphere of blight around it1 stunting
 all upward growing things and          
flattening down our life to the dead    
level of desert sands4  ,if you would   
not be satisfied at your boy rising no  
higher than this1 then1 again ,i say1   
guard the springs of reverence4 ,do not 
let your pride in your child's smartness
 or any momentary sense of humor make   

you pass over any little speech that    
savors of irreverence2 check it         
instantly4 ,exact respect for yourself  
and for the boy's father1 the respect   
which is no enemy1 but the reverse1 to  
the uttermost of fondness4 ,insist upon 
good manners and respectful attention to
 the guests of your house4 ,do not      
despise the good old fashion of family  
prayers because they do not rise to all 
that we might wish them to be4 ,at least
 they form a daily recognition of ,him  
in whom the families of the earth are   
blessed--a daily recognition which that 
keen observer of ,english life1 the late
 ,american ,ambassador1 ,mr4 ,bayard1   
pointed out as one of the great secrets 
of ,england's greatness1 and which forms
 a valuable school for habits of        
reverence and discipline for the        
children of the family4 ,insist upon the
 boys being down in time for the worship
 of ,god1 and do not allow them to get  
into the habit indulged in by so many   
young men of sloping down with slippered

 feet long after breakfast is done and  
prayers are over4  ,only let the springs
 of reverence well up in your child's   
soul1 and then1 and then only1 will you 
be able to give your boy what1 after    
all1 must always be the greatest        
safeguard from shipwreck in this        
perilous world--religious faith1 that   
stops him at the very threshold of      
temptation with the words3 ,how can ,i  
do this great wickedness and sin against
 ,god8 ,your very attitude as you kneel 
by his side with bowed head and folded  
hands while he says his little evening  
and morning prayer will breathe into his
 soul a sense of a ,divine ,presence    
about our bed and about our path4 ,your 
love--so strong to love1 and yet so weak
 to save--can lead his faltering        
childish feet to that ,love which is    
deeper than our deepest fall1 which     
knows all1 but loves us better than it  
knows4 ,you can press your child against
 the very heart of ,god1 and lay him in 
the ,everlasting ,arms1 that faint not1 

neither are weary2 and1 with the mother 
of ,st4 ,augustine1 you may know that   
the child of such prayers and such tears
 will never perish4                     
,happy he     ,with such a mother6 faith
 in womankind     ,beats with his blood1
 and trust in all things high     ,comes
 easy to him1 and though he trip and    
fall     ,he shall not blind his soul   
with clay4  ,,footnotes3  ,footnote #h3 
,this is the case with our recognized   
medical manuals2 ,i do not know whether 
it is equally true of ,american manuals4
  ,footnote #i3 ,vol4 ii4 ,see chapter  
on ,the ,position of ,women4  ,footnote 
#aj3 ,sartor ,resartus1 by ,thomas      
,carlyle1 ,book ,,ii41 chap1 ii41 p4    
#fh4 ,chapman and ,hall1 #ahca4         
,,chapter ,,vi  ,,boyhood ,,and ,,school
 ,,life   ,i now come to what must      
always be the great moral crux in a     
boy's life1 that on which all the higher
 issues of his character will1 in all   
human probability1 turn--his school     
life4 ,one of our great educators took  

what1 looked at superficially1 seemed   
the somewhat retrograde step of giving  
up the mastership of a college at       
,oxford to take again the               
head-mastership of a great public       
school4 ,but in a conversation ,i had   
with him he led me to infer that he had 
done so from the conviction forced upon 
him that the whole moral trend of the   
character must be given1 if given at    
all1 prior to university life1 at the   
public school2 and to him nothing less  
than the formation of high moral        
character seemed worth striving for4    
,fine scholarship and high mathematics  
are excellent1 but after all1 as the    
apostle of culture1 ,matthew ,arnold1   
has told us1 conduct1 and not           
intellectual attainment1 forms          
seven-tenths of life4  ,now1 it is in   
connection with your boy's school life  
that you will have your greatest dangers
 to face1 your hardest battle to fight4 
,i am1 of course1 aware that your school
 system is in some respects different   

from ours4 ,you have the mixed day      
school such as largely obtains in       
,scotland1 but which does not exist1 at 
least for the upper classes1 in         
,england4 ,you have private             
boarding-schools1 which with us are     
called preparatory schools1 as they form
 the vestibule to the public school4    
,and you have1 lastly1 a few large      
public schools somewhat on the model of 
,eton and ,harrow4  ,let us begin with  
the boarding-school4 ,i do not intend   
for one moment to deny the advantages of
 our great ,english public schools4     
,they are excellent for discipline and  
the formation of strong character1      
especially for a ruling race like ours2 
and their very numerical strength and   
importance command a splendid set of men
 as masters4 ,but both public and       
private boarding-schools labor under one
 great disadvantage3 they remove a boy  
from all family influence and violate   
the order of our life1 which can never  
be violated with impunity4 ,boys and    

girls are sent into the world in pretty 
equal proportions1 and we were never    
intended to pile a lot of boys together 
without girls and largely without any   
feminine influence whatever4 ,to do so  
is to insure moral disorder whether in  
our schools or yours4 ,to quote from an 
excellent paper of ,dr4 ,butler's3 ,in  
giving us sisters1 says one of the      
,hares in ,guesses at ,truth1 ,god gave 
us the best moral antiseptic1 and it is 
their absence more than anything else   
that has produced the moral problems    
which our boarding-schools present4 ,to 
be absent from sisters for the greater  
part of the year1 at an age when their  
companionship is perhaps the most       
eloquent of silent appeals to purity1 is
 undoubtedly one of the greatest evils  
to be set against the blessings of our  
public schools4#aa  ,for my own part1 ,i
 can only say that the one thing which  
has filled me at times with the darkness
 of despair has not been the facts about
 our back streets1 not those facts to   

meet which we hold conferences and      
establish penitentiaries1 refuges1      
preventive homes1 etc4--,i am full of   
hopefulness about them--but the facts   
about our public1 and still more about  
our private1 schools1 which until lately
 have been met with dead silence and    
masterly inactivity on the part of      
,english parents4 ,on the part of       
mothers ,i feel sure it is ignorance1   
not indifference3 if they knew what ,i  
know1 it simply could not be the latter4
 ,even now1 when some1 at least1 of     
their ignorance has been dispelled1 ,i  
doubt whether they realize the depth of 
moral corruption which is to be found in
 our public and private schools2 the    
existence of heathen vices which by the 
law of our land are treated as felony1  
and which we would fain hope1 after     
nineteen centuries of ,christianity1    
might now be relegated to the first     
chapter of ,romans4 ,they do not realize
 the presence of other and commoner     
forms of impurity1 the self-defilement  

which taints the moral nature and       
stimulates the lower nature into        
unhealthy and abnormal activity4 ,they  
do not understand the essentially       
sporadic nature of the evil--that it may
 exist as a pestilence that walketh in  
darkness in one boarding-school1 while  
another1 owing to the influence of a    
good set of boys1 is comparatively free 
from it2 and they will1 therefore1 take 
a single denial of its existence1       
possibly from their own husbands1 as    
conclusive4 ,even the affirmations of   
head-masters are not altogether to be   
trusted here1 as mothers cannot betray  
the confidence of their own boys1 and   
often fail in gaining their consent to  
let the head-master know what is going  
on1 in the boy's natural dread of being 
found out as the source of the          
information and1 according to the ruling
 code1 cut1 as having peached4 ,once ,i 
obtained leave to expose an             
indescribable state of things which was 
going on in broad daylight in an        

unsupervised room at one of our great   
public schools1 utterly unsuspected by  
the head-master1 and his subordinate1   
the house-master4 ,but another case     
which for long made my life a kind of   
waking nightmare remained unexposed to  
the last4  ,speaking of those commoner  
forms of impurity to which ,i have      
referred1 and which are so mischievous  
as stimulating immature functions1      
needing1 as ,acton over and over again  
insists1 absolute quiet and rest for    
healthy development1 ,dr4 ,dukes1 the   
head physician of one of our best known 
public schools1 states3 ,the reason why 
it is so widespread an evil--computed in
 #ahhf at eighty per cent4 of boys at   
school1 a computation accepted by a     
committee of public schoolmasters--,i   
believe to be1 that the boy leaves home 
in the first instance without one word  
of warning from his parents that he will
 meet with bad boys who will tell him   
that everybody does it1 and thus he     
falls into evil ways from his innocence 

and ignorance alone4#ab  ,dr4 ,dukes    
further states that as the results of   
his thirty years' experience he had come
 to the conclusion that only one per    
cent4 of parents ever warned their boys 
at all before sending them to school4   
,these statements were made some fifteen
 years ago1 when first the conspiracy of
 silence was broken through and the     
question of the morality of our public  
and private schools was dragged into the
 light of day and boldly faced and      
grappled with1 largely owing to the     
action of ,dr4 ,pusey4 ,since then a    
mass of strenuous effort has been       
directed against the evil by our        
high-minded head-masters2 and an immense
 improvement has been effected4 ,it is  
too short a time for one to hope that   
the evil has been eradicated2 but when  
parents learn to fulfil their moral     
duties of teaching and warning their own
 boys--as ,dr4 ,dukes observes--,i feel 
sure it could be so far removed as to   
cause the numbers to change places1 so  

that we might obtain a percentage of    
ninety to ninety-five of those who lead 
pure lives while at school1 as against  
five per cent1 who are impure1 reversing
 the lamentable ratio that now exists4  
,but here again there has been progress1
 and ,i feel sure that the percentage of
 parents who do warn and teach their    
sons before sending them to school is   
now incomparably higher than ,dr4       
,dukes's one per cent4 and is steadily  
rising4  ,as to other deeper and        
nameless evils1 they have been already  
reduced to a minimum1 and if fathers    
could only be persuaded to do their duty
 by their own boys1 they might be made  
wholly to disappear4  ,i give you these 
facts about our ,english schools1 that  
parents may see for themselves what are 
the consequences of refusing both       
teaching and warning to their boys1     
under the delusion that ,god's lilies   
will grow up in the weedy garden of the 
human heart without strenuous culture   
and training4  ,do not1 therefore1 ,i   

beseech you1 take for granted that your 
boarding-schools are entirely free from 
such evils4 ,you have the same          
conditions that we have4 ,till lately   
your boys have been as untaught and     
unwarned as ours4 ,in your              
boarding-schools1 as in ours1 they are  
removed from the purifying influence of 
mother and sisters4 ,they are just at   
the age which has neither the delicacy  
of childhood nor of early manhood4 ,rest
 assured that conditions will breed like
 results4       ,my belief1 not lightly 
formed1 says ,dr4 ,butler1#ac is1 that  
none of the great schools can           
congratulate themselves on anything     
like safety from this danger4 ,and if   
this is true of the great      public   
schools1 it is still more true of       
private schools1 where the      evil is 
admittedly greater4 ,boys and masters   
alike may strangely      deceive        
themselves2 the evil may hide very      
close4 ,many a boy has      been known  
to assert positively and honestly that  

nothing of the      kind was ever heard 
of in his time1 and that any fellow     
suspected      of it would have been    
cut1 and half killed1 when all the time 
the      evil was actively at work even 
among the circle of his intimate        
friends4  ,and yet it is this evil1 so  
pervasive in its influence1 so certain  
to taint the fresh springs of young life
 with impure knowledge1 if not to foul  
them with unclean acts1 that parents    
still too often elect to ignore4 ,the   
boy1 full of eager curiosity1 anxious1  
above all things1 to catch up the ways  
of the other fellows1 afraid1 above all 
things1 of being laughed at for his     
innocence1 and elated at being taken up 
by one of the swells in the shape of an 
elder boy1 and at first set-off wholly  
ignorant of the motive2 exposed to      
suggestions about the functions of his  
own body which he has not the knowledge 
to rebut as the devil's lies--what      
wonder is it that so many boys1         
originally good and pure1 fall victims8 

,they blunder like blind puppies into   
sin1 a medical man who has had much to  
do with boys' schools exclaimed to me in
 the bitterness of his soul4 ,the small 
house of the young boy's soul1 full of  
the song of birds1 the fresh babble of  
the voices of sisters1 all the innocent 
sights and sounds of an ,english or     
,american home1 swept and garnished till
 now by such loving hands1 but left     
empty1 unguarded1 and unwatched1 for the
 unclean spirit to lift the latch and   
enter in and take possession--the pity  
of it6 oh1 the pity of it6 ,what can the
 boy think8 ,to quote ,dr4 ,dukes again3
       ,he will say to himself3 ',my    
father knows of all this vice at        
schools1 and yet has not said one word  
to me about it4 ,he has      warned me  
about most things4 ,he told me to be    
truthful1 to keep my      temper1 to be 
upright and manly1 to say my prayers2 he
 pressed me      never to get into debt1
 never to drink1 and never to use bad   
language2 and he told me ,i ought to    

change my boots and clothes      when   
wet1 so as not to get ill2 and yet he   
has not said one      syllable about    
this4 ,my father is a good man and loves
 me1 and if      he wanted me not to do 
this he would surely have told me2 it   
can't      be very wrong1 else ,i am    
sure he would have protected me and told
      me all about it4  ,i remember a   
friend of mine1 who had been greatly    
stirred on the whole subject1           
endeavoring1 with tears in her eyes1 to 
persuade a father to warn his boy before
 sending him to his first public school1
 and on his absolutely refusing to do   
any such thing1 she said to him1 ,at    
least promise me that you will give him 
this book1 placing in his hands ,mr4    
,george ,everett's excellent little     
book1 ,your ,innings4 ,this he consented
 to do4 ,the next morning my friend met 
him at breakfast1 the boy having been   
already despatched by an early train4   
,well1 he said1 ,i sat up till past     
twelve last night reading your book2 it 

is excellent1 and ,i gave it to my lad  
before starting him off4 ,but there is  
just one chapter in it1 called a        
',strange ,companion1' which ,i took the
 precaution of previously cutting out   
with my penknife2 and my boy in his     
after years will thank me for not       
putting any such ideas in his head1 but 
having kept him the pure and innocent   
lad that he is4 ,i need not say that it 
was the one chapter that would have put 
the boy on his guard4 ,oh1 befooled and 
purblind father6 ,i happened to know    
that the school to which the boy was    
sent was swept at that time by a moral  
epidemic1 and before that hapless lad   
had been a week in its corrupt          
atmosphere he would have had ideas put  
into his head with a vengeance4 ,his    
father had handed over the ground of his
 boy's heart for the devil to sow the   
first crop1 and as a rule the devil     
sows1 not wild oats1 as we say1 but     
acorns--a dread sowing which it may take
 years to root up and to extirpate1 even

 if1 so far as after-taint is concerned1
 it can ever be wholly extirpated4  ,in 
another case a widowed mother came to   
one of my meetings1 and was profoundly  
alarmed at what ,i said about the       
dangers of our schoolboys4 ,it had never
 occurred to her that her gentlemanly   
little lad of twelve could have any     
temptations of the kind4 ,unlike the    
father ,i have mentioned1 she resolved  
to speak to him that same evening4 ,she 
found that he was fighting a battle     
against the whole school1 standing up   
alone for the right1 guided by some     
blind instinct of purity to resist the  
foul suggestions which were inflicted   
upon him1 threatening him with the most 
terrible consequences in after-life if  
he did not yield and do as the other    
boys did4 ,think of it1 ye mothers6 a   
child of twelve without a hand to guide 
him1 without a voice to cheer him1      
refused the knowledge that would have   
saved him from his deadly peril1 his own
 mother deaf and dumb and blind to his  

struggles1 leaving him to fight his     
little forlorn hope absolutely alone4 ,i
 need scarcely say how thankfully he    
poured forth his sore heart to his      
mother when once she had opened the     
door1 till now kept locked by her own   
ignorance2 and how she was able to      
explain to him that1 far from reaping   
any evil consequences from doing what is
 right1 like ,sir ,galahad1 his strength
 would be the strength of ten if he kept
 himself pure4 ,she probably took steps 
to remove him from so corrupt an        
atmosphere as prevailed in that         
preparatory school1 but of this ,i do   
not know4  ,but here let me guard myself
 from being misunderstood4 ,i am not    
making out that every schoolboy is      
exposed to these temptations2 there are 
boys so exceptionally endowed that they 
seem to spread a pure atmosphere around 
them which is respected by even the     
coarsest and loosest boys in the school4
 ,all ,i do maintain1 with ,dr4 ,butler1
 is that no school is safe from this    

danger1 that at any time it may prove an
 active one in your boy's life1 and that
 at the very least you have to guard him
 from impure knowledge being thrust upon
 him before nature has developed the    
instincts of manhood by which she guards
 her inner shrine4  ,and now ,i come to 
the question of day schools4 ,as ,i have
 already said1 ,i cannot feel but they  
are more consonant with the order of our
 life as giving the discipline and      
competition of numbers without removing 
the boy from family life1 nor do they   
lend themselves to some of the graver   
evils of our boarding-schools4 ,but1    
alas6 in themselves they form no panacea
 for the evils we are contemplating4 ,on
 the contrary1 ,i am told on authority  
,i cannot question that in some places  
this plague spot is rife among them4 ,in
 one case the evil had struck so wide   
and deep that the school had to be      
temporarily closed4 ,here1 again1 the   
same lesson is emphasized1 viz43 that   
whatever is the form of the school1     

however excellent the teacher1 there is 
no substitute in the moral life for the 
home teaching and training of mothers   
and fathers4  ,no mother can read these 
statements unmoved--statements1         
remember1 not my own1 but made by men of
 the deepest and widest experience1 and 
which1 therefore1 you are bound to      
weigh1 ponder1 and carefully consider4  
,i know that straight from your heart   
again comes the cry1 ,what can ,i do8   
,i am inclined to answer this cry in one
 word1 ,everything1--with ,god's help4  
,i  ,and now let us enter into practical
 details4 ,we will begin with the       
outworks1 and work our way inwards to   
the shrine4  ,first1 as to the          
all-important choice of a school1 should
 the boy's father decide1 for reasons in
 which you concur to send him to a      
boarding-school4  ,as to how to         
ascertain the real state of a school    
there is1 of course1 considerable       
difficulty4 ,i have always found the    
best way is through mothers who have    

gained the confidence of their boys and 
who know through them what really goes  
on4 ,in this way1 as mothers wake up to 
the danger their boys run and to their  
own responsibility in guarding them1 we 
shall be able to help one another more  
and more4 ,but make a point of yourself1
 as well as the boy's father1 personally
 seeing the master to whom you think of 
entrusting your lad1 and talking over   
the matter with him4 ,in this way you   
will not only satisfy yourself1 but you 
will strengthen his hands by making him 
feel how vital the whole question is to 
your heart4 ,what more than anything    
else weakens the high-minded men who    
have the tuition of the young is the    
utter unconcern that is evinced by the  
parents and the sense that1 by the      
payment of a sum of money down1 they can
 compound with a master for the         
performance of their inalienable duty of
 undertaking the moral education of     
their own children4  ,here let me give  
you two most earnest cautions4 ,do not  

attach too much importance to mere      
mechanical arrangements as moral        
safeguards4 ,one of our most successful 
head-masters says3       ,i would most  
seriously warn any parent anxious about 
the choice of      a school not to      
attach much weight to the apparent      
excellence of      arrangements4 ,some  
of the worst schools have these         
arrangements in      the highest        
perfection4 ,they cannot afford to have 
them otherwise4      ,neat cubicles and 
spotless dimity have beguiled an        
uninterrupted      sequence of mammas1  
and have kept alive1 and even           
flourishing1      schools which are in a
 thoroughly bad moral state and are     
hopelessly inefficient in every         
particular4 ,of course1 many a          
parent feels that he ought to judge for 
himself1 and these      mechanical      
arrangements are too often the only     
material on which he      can form his  
judgment4 ,let me assure him that they  
are entirely      untrustworthy4        

,secondly1 do not think to find safety  
in the choice of a so-called religious  
school1 even though it reflect the exact
 shade of your own religious opinions4  
,the worst evils ,i ever knew went on in
 a school where the boys implicated held
 a weekly prayer-meeting6 ,we must      
boldly face the fact that there is some 
mysterious connection between the       
religious emotions and the lower animal 
nature2 and the religious forcing-house1
 of whatever school of theology1 will   
always be liable to prove a hot-bed of  
impurity4 ,choose a school with a high  
moral tone1 with religion as an         
underlying principle--a practical       
religion1 that inculcates duty rather   
than fosters emotion1 and embodies the  
wise proverb of ,solomon1 ,in all labor 
there is profit1 but the talk of the    
lips tendeth to penury4  ,only let me   
beseech you to use your whole influence 
not to have your boy sent away at too   
early an age4 ,do you really think that 
the exclusive society of little boys1   

with their childish chatter1 their      
foolish little codes1 their crude and   
often ridiculously false notions of     
life1 and their small curiosities1      
naturally inquisitive1 but not always   
clean in the researches they inspire1   
and always false in their results1 is   
morally better for your child than1 in  
,dr4 ,butler's words1       the refining
 and purifying atmosphere of home1 with 
the tenderness      of a mother1 the    
grace and playfulness of sisters1 the   
love and      loyalty of the family     
nurse1 and lastly--scarcely to be       
distinguished in its effects from these 
influences--the sweetness1      the     
simplicity1 the flower-picking1 the     
pony-patting of happy1      frolicsome  
younger brothers or sisters in the      
garden1 the paddock1      or stable8    
,if the boy has got out of hand1 ,i ask1
 ,whose fault is that8 and is it fair to
 the child that your fault should be    
remedied by sending him away from all   
that is best and most purifying in child

 life8 ,i would plead earnestly that    
eleven or twelve is old enough for the  
private school1 and that a boy should   
not be sent to a public school before   
fourteen4 ,in this ,i think most of our 
,english head-masters would agree with  
me4 ,till this age1 a day school or a   
tutor should be had recourse to1 and    
when the time comes for sending him off 
to school1 at least we can refuse to    
place the boy anywhere1 either at a     
private or public school1 where there is
 not some woman to mother and look after
 the boys and exert a good womanly      
influence over them4 ,a head-master     
keenly alive to moral dangers1 with a   
capable wife ready to use her womanly   
influence in aiding and abetting his    
efforts1 ,i have found the best possible
 combination4  ,but if it is decided    
that the boys are to be brought up at   
the day school1 your range of choice    
will probably be very small4 ,you will  
have to look wholly to your home        
influence and teaching to counteract any

 evil influence they may encounter in   
their school life4 ,but as your boys    
will never be separated from you1 what  
may not that home influence and         
teaching1 with knowledge and forewarning
 to direct it1--what may it not         
accomplish8   ,,ii  ,let us1 then1 think
 out the best ways in which you can warn
 and guard your boy and fulfil your     
responsibility of being his moral       
teacher4  ,let us begin with the        
simplest measure which you can take1 and
 which can present no difficulty to     
anyone4 ,before sending your boy to     
school get him quietly by himself and   
say to him some such words as these3 ,my
 boy1 you know1 or will come to know1   
that when boys get together they often  
talk of nasty things1 and even do nasty 
things4 ,give me your word of honor as a
 ,christian and a gentleman that you    
will never say or do anything that you  
know you would be ashamed to tell me1   
that you know would bring a blush to    
your sister's cheeks4 ,always remember  

that dirty talk1 and still more dirty   
deeds1 are only fit for cads4 ,promise  
me faithfully that you will never let   
any boy1 especially an elder boy1 tell  
you 'secrets4' ,if you were to consent  
through curiosity1 or because you feel  
flattered at one of the elder fellows   
taking you up1 be sure he means you no  
good4 ,whatever you want to know ask me1
 and so far as ,i can ,i will tell you4 
,some such words as these said solemnly 
to a boy the day before he leaves home  
for the first time1 either for a        
boarding-school1 or even a day school1  
will make your womanhood a sort of      
external conscience to your boy1 to     
guard him from those first beginnings of
 impurity1 in the shape of what are     
technically called secrets1 which lead  
on to all the rest4 ,i know one mother  
who1 from her boy's earliest years1 has 
made a solemn pact with him1 on the one 
hand1 if he would promise never to ask  
any questions about life and birth of   
anyone but her1 she1 in her turn1 would 

promise to tell him all he wanted to    
know2 and from first to last there has  
been that perfect confidence and        
friendship between mother and son which 
is1 and ever must be1 a boy's greatest  
safeguard4  ,only remember that with    
young boys men who have had the greatest
 experience are generally agreed that it
 is better not to put the stress on     
religious motives4 ,practically1 for a  
young boy1 it is better to treat the    
whole thing as dirty1 nasty1 and        
blackguardly4 ,and the whole subject    
must always be spoken of with reserve1  
without any emotion1 and with much dry  
light4  ,with most lads ,i should go a  
step further2 ,i should give the boy one
 of the ,white ,cross papers1 ,a        
,strange ,companion4#ad ,it is          
impossible to lay down hard and fast    
rules2 it is impossible to make so many 
jam-pots of even young humanity1 to be  
tied up and labelled and arranged upon  
the same shelf4 ,each individuality has 
to be dealt with in all its mysterious  

idiosyncrasy4 ,one boy may be so        
reserved that it is better to write to  
him than to talk face to face2 another  
may find the greatest possible strength 
and comfort in freedom of speech and the
 feeling that there is no barrier       
between him and his mother with regard  
to being able to tell her freely of any 
temptations that may assail him4 ,your  
mother's instincts will be your best    
guide as to what method to adopt with   
each of your boys4  ,if the father of   
the lad can be induced1 at any rate     
before he enters a boarding-school1 to  
follow the advice of that remarkable    
man1 ,mr4 ,thring1 the founder of       
,uppingham ,school1 in his address to   
our ,church ,congress1 and write a      
letter of plain warning and counsel to  
the lad1 it would be an unspeakable     
help4 ,my first statement1 says ,mr4    
,thring1 is that all fathers ought to   
write such a letter to their sons4 ,it  
is not difficult1 if done in a          
common-sense way4#ae  ,but now ,i come  

to what on all hands we must allow to be
 a point of extreme difficulty4 ,i think
 all head-masters1 deeply concerned in  
the moral welfare of the boys under     
their charge1 would emphatically endorse
 the following words of ,dr4 ,butler's3 
,it is certain1 it must needs be1 that  
boys should1 at an early      period of 
their boyhood1 come to hear of the      
nature of sexual      relations4 ,from  
whom should they first learn it8 ,should
 it be with      every accompaniment of 
coarseness1 of levity1 of obscenity8    
,from      some ribald groom in the     
stables8 ,from some impure maidservant  
who      has stolen into the household  
and the nursery8 ,from some brother     
only a year or two older1 who has just  
received his first      initiation in   
impurity at a private school and is too 
young to      understand its danger8    
,worst of all1 from the idlest1 and most
      corrupt1 and most worthless set of
 boys at this same private      school1 
who surround the newcomer within a few  

days1 perhaps a few      hours1 of his  
first joining1 and1 with knowing looks  
and enticing      words1 try to probe   
his childish knowledge1 and leave him   
half-ashamed of himself and keenly      
inquisitive for full initiation1      if
 he finds that he knows nothing of this 
engrossing mystery8 ,is it      right1  
is it fair1 is it consistent with       
religious duty or with                  
common-sense1 that a little boy of      
eight1 or ten1 or twelve1 should      be
 sent at this impressionable age to hear
 for the first time of      facts of    
human nature which must ere long be     
known1 and are part of      ,god's      
appointment8 ,does not every dictate of 
humanity and of reason      point to the
 conclusion that the dawn of this       
knowledge should be      invested with  
all that is tender1 and loving1 and     
pure1 and sacred1      instead of being 
shrouded in the mists of innuendo or    
blazoned      forth in the shamelessness
 of bestiality8 ,there is really no     

answer but one to such a question1 and  
the plain truth is that      fathers1   
perhaps still more mothers1 must        
recognize the duty which      lies upon 
them to teach their children1 at such   
times1 in such      words1 and with such
 reservations as the character of each  
child      may suggest1 the elements at 
least of that knowledge which will      
otherwise be learnt but a very little   
later from a widely different      set  
of instructors4 ,i lay down the         
principle as admitting of no            
exception--,i do not anticipate even one
 dissentient voice from any      who now
 hear me--that no boy ought ever to be  
allowed to go to      school without    
learning from his father or his mother1 
or from some      brother or tried      
friend considerably older than himself  
the simple      facts as to the laws of 
birth and the terrible danger of ever   
coming to talk of these phenomena as    
matters of frivolous and      filthy    
conversation4  ,i can only beseech you  

to give due weight to these words of one
 who had many years' experience of a    
large public school4 ,over and over     
again1 at all my meetings of educated   
mothers1 ,i have reiterated his question
 in similar words1 ,is it right1 is it  
fair1 that your boy should learn the    
sacred mysteries of life and birth from 
the sources which ,dr4 ,butler          
enumerates1 and to which you abandon    
him1 if you refuse to speak2 sources of 
unclean and lying information by which  
,i have no hesitation in saying that the
 mind and conscience of many men are    
more or less permanently defiled1 even  
when the life has been kept outwardly   
pure8 ,can you hesitate for one moment  
to allow that the springs of the life   
which you will be the first to          
acknowledge comes from ,god should well 
up from a pure source1 till1 like       
,wordsworth's stream--                  
,crowned with flowers1     ,the mountain
 infant to the sun laughs forth1  and   
that the whole subject should be so     

bound up in the boy's mind with his     
father's love for his mother1 his       
mother's love for his father1 with his  
own existence1 and that of his sisters1 
that he would shrink with utter loathing
 from the filthy so-called secrets that 
are bandied about among schoolboys8 ,i  
know that the task of conveying this    
knowledge presents many difficulties1   
but again ,i ask1 ,what is there in our 
life that is worth doing which is not   
difficult8 ,long ago the definition of a
 difficulty to me has become a thing to 
be overcome4 ,it is not in sitting down 
helplessly before a difficulty that the 
way will open4 ,with us1 as with the    
,israelites on the brink of that raging 
midnight sea1 it is in a brave obedience
 to the ,divine command1 ,go forward6   
that the path opens through the         
trackless sea1 and we find that the     
great waters that seem ready to         
overwhelm us are in reality a baptism   
into new life4   ,,iii  ,again ,i seem  
almost to hear the cry of your heart1 ,i

 know ,i ought to speak to my boy1 but  
how am ,i to do it8  ,now1 it is here   
that ,i earnestly desire to give you1 if
 ,i possibly can1 some helpful1         
practical suggestions1 for ,i feel that 
it is not in the recognition of a duty1 
but in its performance1 that the        
difficulty lies which is arresting so   
many educated mothers at the present    
time4  ,with very young children1       
whether girls or boys1 there should be  
no difficulty whatever4 ,they are too   
young to understand4 ,only1 when they   
come to you asking their innocent little
 questions as to where the little baby  
brother or sister comes from1 ,i would  
earnestly ask you never to allow        
yourself1 or your nurse1 to inflict on  
them the usual popular fables1 that the 
baby was brought by the doctor or that  
it was found under the gooseberry-bush4 
,a child is far quicker than we think to
 detect that mother is hiding something1
 and the first tiny seed of evil        
curiosity is sown4 ,make no mystery     

about it2 look your child full in the   
face1 and say1 ,my child1 you have asked
 me a question about what is very1 very 
sacred4 ,if ,i were to try to explain it
 to you1 you would not be old enough to 
understand2 for the present you must be 
content to know that the baby comes from
 ,god2 how it comes mother will tell you
 when you grow old enough to understand2
 only promise me that you will never ask
 any one but mother about it4 ,the child
 will then see that you are hiding      
nothing1 and will be satisfied to wait  
for the explanation that mother has     
promised4  ,but what when the child is  
old enough to understand8--an age which 
doubtless varies in different children1 
but which with boys must come before    
their first school1 if you are to occupy
 the ground of his heart with good seed1
 which leaves no room for the devil's   
sowing4  ,well1 with regard to the facts
 of birth1 ,i do not think we ought to  
find much difficulty4 ,you can point out
 how the baby seed has a soft1 downy    

place provided for it in the pod of the 
parent plant till it has ripened and is 
fit to be sown1 when the pod opens and  
lets it fall to the earth1 and it       
becomes a plant in its turn4 ,you can   
point out that the egg in a similar way 
is carried in the mother bird's body    
till the shell has hardened and is fit  
to be laid1 when she warms it with her  
own breast1 patiently sitting on it for 
days1 while the father bird feeds her1  
till the little chick is strong enough  
to break the walls of its tiny house1   
and come forth and peck and fend for    
itself4 ,you can explain how the little 
kitten the child plays with has in the  
same way a safe place provided for it in
 the mother's body1 where it grows and  
grows till all its organs are formed1   
and it can breathe and suck1 when1 like 
the seed from the pod1 and the chick    
from the egg it leaves the mother's     
body1 and is born1 a blind and helpless 
baby kitten1 to be fed and tenderly     
cared for by the mother cat4 ,you will  

explain that the baby comes in just the 
same way so far as its infant body is   
concerned1 growing like the kitten from 
a tiny cell--borne by the mother till   
all the organs are formed which it needs
 for its earthly life1 when it also is  
born and laid in its mother's arms1 to  
be nourished and cared for by the love  
of both father and mother1 not for a few
 weeks1 as with animals1 but through    
long years of helplessness4 ,and you    
mean to tell me that the sacred truth   
would not endear you to your child far  
more than the usual cock-and-bull story 
about the doctor and the                
gooseberry-bush8  ,a friend of mine has 
three boys of widely opposite character 
and temperament4 ,owing to              
circumstances1 the eldest lad had to be 
sent to school at an early age4 ,young  
as he was1 she resolved to follow ,dr4  
,butler's advice and tell him the facts 
of birth in the way ,i have suggested4  
,on realizing the truth1 the boy flung  
his arms round her neck and burst into  

tears4 ,but though she felt that she had
 done right1 she was not wholly without 
misgivings that she might have          
introduced some objectionable talk into 
her nursery4 ,when the time came to send
 the second lad to school1 she repeated 
the talk that she had had with his elder
 brother4 ,but to her surprise she found
 him in total ignorance of the facts3   
his elder brother had never confided    
them to him4 ,and so again with the     
third boy4 ,evidently the boys had      
considered it too sacred a thing to talk
 about--how much too sacred1 then1 to   
allow of their joining in with the      
unclean gossip of schoolboys6 ,its only 
result was to give them an added        
tenderness for their mother1 and to make
 them resent all such unclean talk as so
 much mud flung at her4  ,so far1 so    
good4 ,but we all of us realize that it 
is not the facts of birth1 but the facts
 of the origination of life1 that form  
the perennial source of obscene talk1   
and often of obscene action1 among boys2

 and it is in explaining these1 without 
violating those instincts of reserve and
 modesty with which nature herself      
surrounds the whole subject1 that what  
often seems an insuperable difficulty   
arises4 ,yet these functions are1 and   
must be1 the very shrine of a body which
 is a temple of the ,lord and ,giver of 
life2 and on the face of things1        
therefore1 there must be some method of 
conveying pure knowledge to the opening 
mind with regard to them4 ,the          
difficulty must be with ourselves1 and  
not in the very nature of things        
themselves4  ,has it not been created in
 a great measure by a wrong method8 ,we 
begin with human life instead of ending 
with it2 we isolate it from a great     
system to which it belongs1 and treat   
what is the roof and crown of things as 
a roof that tops no fair edifice1 and is
 therefore anomalous2 as a crown that   
rests on a head which has been severed  
from its body1 and is therefore         
unmeaning4 ,we obstinately refuse to    

live--to quote ,goethe's words          
again--not only in the beautiful and the
 good1 but also in the whole1 which is  
equally necessary for a well-ordered    
life4 ,what it seems to me we need is to
 teach the facts of life-giving1 or1 in 
other words1 of sex1 as a great1 wide1  
open-air law1 running right through     
animated creation1 an ever-ascending    
progression forming a golden ladder     
leading up to man4  ,in explaining the  
facts of reproduction1 ,i would         
therefore suggest that you should begin 
with the lowest rung of the ladder1 the 
simplest organisms1 such as the amoeba  
or the volvox4 ,i should show how these 
multiply by fission1 the creature       
dividing into two1 when it is impossible
 to tell which is the father and which  
is the mother4 ,i would then pass       
upwards to more complex organisms1 where
 two individuals are required to form   
the offspring4 ,you could explain the   
whole process by the method of          
fertilization in plants1 as urged in an 

excellent paper by a lady doctor1       
published in the ,parents' ,review4#af  
,let me quote her words3       ,the     
child can learn the difference of the   
names1 color1 and forms      of flowers 
as soon as it can learn anything4 ,the  
next step would be      to simple       
lessons in the different parts of a     
plant--the vegetative      organs of    
roots1 stem1 leaves1 passing on to the  
reproductive      organs in the         
flower--calyx1 corolla1 stamen1 and     
pistil4 ,let the      child be taught to
 notice that all flowers have not quite 
the same      organs1 some bearing      
stamens only1 which shed the powdery    
pollen      and are the male1 or little 
father flowers2 while others have the   
pistil only1 furnished with the stigma  
to catch the pollen1 and are      the   
females1 or little mothers2 that the one
 sort of flowers is      necessary to   
the other in producing the little seed  
or baby plant4  ,let us take a primrose4
 ,here the mother and father elements   

are found in the same flower4 ,at the   
base of the flower1 packed in a delicate
 casket1 which is called the ovary1 lie 
a number of small white objects no      
larger than butterfly-eggs4 ,these are  
the eggs or ova of the primrose4 ,into  
this casket1 by a secret opening1 filmy 
tubes thrown out by the pollen          
grains--now enticed from their          
hiding-place on the stamens and         
clustered on the stigma--enter and pour 
a fertilizing fluid1 called spermatozoa1
 through a microscopic gateway1 which   
opens in the wall of the egg and leads  
to its inmost heart4 ,the ovule1 or     
future seed1 is now fertilized and      
capable of producing a future primrose4 
,covered with many protecting coats1 it 
becomes a perfect seed4 ,the original   
casket swells1 hardens1 is transformed  
into a rounded capsule or seed-vessel1  
opening by valves or a deftly           
constructed hinge4 ,one day this        
seed-vessel1 crowded with seeds1 breaks 
open and completes the cycle of         

reproduction by dispersing them over the
 ground1 where they sow themselves1 and 
grow and become primrose plants in their
 turn1 starring the grass with their    
lovely blossoms4#ag  ,sometimes the male
 and female elements grow upon different
 plants1 as in the catkins children are 
so fond of gathering in the spring4     
,more than two thousand years ago       
,herodotus observed a remarkable        
custom in ,egypt4 ,at a certain season  
of the year the ,egyptians went         
into the desert1 cut off branches from  
the wild palms1 and bringing      them  
back to their gardens1 waved them over  
the flowers of the      date-palm4 ,why 
they performed this ceremony they did   
not know2 but      they knew that if    
they neglected it the date-crop would be
 poor or      wholly lost4 ,but the true
 reason is now explained4 ,palm-trees1  
like human beings1 are male and female4 
,the garden plants1 the date            
bearers1 were females1 the desert plants
 were males2 and the waving      of the 

branches over the females meant the     
transference of the      pollen dust    
from the one to the other4#ah  ,from    
these two elements1 the spermatozoa1 or 
male element1 and the ova1 or female    
element1 all life1 except in the lowest 
organisms1 is produced4  ,you could     
point out how it is by this marvellous  
process of reproduction1 not only that  
the world is made green and beautiful1  
but all animal life is fed4 ,corn and   
rice1 which are only fertilized seeds1  
form the staple food of a large         
proportion of mankind2 while even the   
animal in order to live has first to be 
nourished on corn or grass before it can
 become meat for man4  ,you could go on 
further to illustrate the facts of      
reproduction by bees and ants1 so       
familiar to children1 where the drone or
 male bee1 or the male ant1 in just the 
same way as in the plant1 fertilizes the
 eggs of the queen bee or ant by        
bringing the spermatozoa into contact   
with the unfertilized egg in the        

insect's body1 when the eggs thus       
fertilized are laid and carefully       
nurtured by the working bee or ant4 ,all
 children have observed the little      
neuter1#ai or working ant1 carrying in  
its mandibles an egg almost as large as 
itself with an air of extreme hurry and 
absorption1 to lay it in the sun till   
the warmth hatches it into a baby ant4  
,if it were further pointed out that not
 the male1 but the female1 as the mother
 of the species1 is ,nature's chief     
care2 that among ants the male is sent  
into the world so imperfectly endowed   
that he cannot even feed himself1 but is
 fed by his female relations1 and that  
as soon as he has performed his function
 of fertilizing the queen ant1 ,nature  
apparently dismisses him with           
contemptuous starvation2 or--to take the
 case of the drone or male bee--he is   
stung to death by the workers1 it might 
help to modify the preposterous         
pretensions of the male1 especially of  
the boy1 in higher circles4  ,you could 

then pass upwards through fish with the 
soft and hard roe1 or male and female   
elements which are familiar to children1
 and through frogs with their spawn to  
birds4 ,here comes in an upward step    
indeed4 ,a world that only cared for    
eggs becomes1 as ,professor ,drummond   
observes in his ,ascent of ,man1 a world
 that cares for its young4 ,the first   
faint trembling dawn1 or at least       
shadowing forth1 of a moral life1 in the
 care of the strong for the weak1 makes 
itself seen1 which henceforth becomes as
 pervasive an element in ,nature as the 
fierce struggle for existence in which  
the weak are destroyed by the strong4#bj
  ,in the bird--till now the free queen 
of the air1 living at her own wild will1
 suddenly fettered and brooding on her  
nest1 and covering her helpless young   
with her tender wings--we see some faint
 image of the ,divine tenderness4 ,in   
the ceaseless toil of both the parent   
birds from morning till night to fill   
the little gaping throats we begin to   

feel the duty of the strong to serve and
 protect the weak2 and in the little hen
 partridge1 still clinging to her nest1 
when the flash of the scythe is drawing 
nearer and nearer1 till reapers have    
told me they have feared the next sweep 
of the scythe might cut off her head1 we
 see more than a shadow of that mother's
 love which is stronger than death4 ,and
 when we pass lastly to the highest     
order of animals1 the mammalia1 we find 
them named after the mother's function  
of giving suck to her young from her own
 breast4 ,they are no longer matured in 
an external egg1 but are borne in her   
own body till they are able to breathe1 
and seek their nourishment from her1 and
 then they are born so helpless that1 as
 with kittens and puppies1 they often   
cannot even see4  ,in this higher order 
of animals nothing can exceed the       
devotion of the mother to her young in  
their helpless infancy4 ,the fierce bear
 will recklessly expose her shaggy      
breast to the hunter in their defence4  

,here1 too1 we find1 as the ,duke of    
,argyle points out in his book on ,the  
,unity of ,nature1       that the       
equality of the sexes1 as regards all   
the enjoyments as      well as the work 
of life1 is the universal rule2 and     
among those of      them in which the   
social instincts have been especially   
implanted1      and whose systems of    
polity are like the most civilized      
polities of      men1 the females of the
 race are treated with a strange mixture
 of      love1 loyalty1 and devotion4   
,man as the ,duke says1 is the ,great   
,exception1 and has been defined as the 
only animal that ill-treats and degrades
 his female4  ,and when at length we    
come to the topmost step1 the roof and  
crown of things1--,man1 as you have     
already explained the physical facts of 
life-giving on the plane of plants1 and 
ants1 and bees1 where they can excite no
 feeling of any kind1 you will have no  
need to go over them again1 but will    
find yourself free to express the       

physical in terms of the moral4 ,man1 as
 a spiritual being1 incarnate in an     
animal body1 takes this great law of sex
 which we have seen running through the 
animated creation1 and lifts it into the
 moral and the spiritual4 ,the physical 
love which in animals only lasts for the
 brief time that is needed for the      
production and rearing of               
offspring--becomes in him a love which  
inhabiteth eternity1 and unites him to  
the mother of his children in the       
indissoluble union of marriage4 ,his    
fatherhood becomes the very             
representative of the ,father in heaven4
 ,the mother becomes the very type and  
image of the ,love that has loved us    
with more than a mother's love1 borne   
with us with more than a mother's       
patience1 suffered for us1 in the ,cross
 and ,passion1 more than a mother's     
pangs1 to bring us into a higher life4  
,the love of brothers and sisters       
becomes the first faint beginning of the
 universal ,church and the brotherhood  

of man2 and the sweet babble of their   
voices grows choral at length in the    
songs of the ,church triumphant1 the    
unbroken family in heaven2 while the    
,christian home shadows forth the       
eternal home which awaits us            
hereafter4#ba  ,the only warning you    
would have to give your boy would be to 
point out that1 as a cathedral takes    
longer to build than a shanty1 so the   
human body1 which is meant to be the    
temple of the ,lord and ,giver of life1 
takes much longer to mature than an     
animal's4 ,many an animal lives and dies
 of old age in the fourteen years that  
leave man still an immature boy4 ,and   
you must earnestly impress upon him that
 the whole of this part of his nature   
which you have been explaining to him as
 a great law running through animated   
creation and finding its highest uses in
 ,man1 must be left to mature itself in 
absolute rest and quiet4 ,all premature 
use of it is fatal to perfect health of 
soul and body4 ,the less he thinks of   

it1 and the more he thinks of his work  
and his athletics1 the better for him4  
,above all1 you hope1 now that he knows 
the truth and his curiosity is          
satisfied1 he will loathe all filthy    
jests and stories about that which is   
the source of all beautiful living      
things on the pleasant earth and1 in his
 own little world1 of all happy family  
life and innocent home love and joy4    
,let me quote here1 in conclusion1 a    
little poem1 called ,the ,golden        
,ladder1 which seems to me to embody    
some of the teaching of this exquisite  
page of the illuminated ,word of        
,creation1 which man has so blotted and 
defiled with his obscenities1 but which 
to open hearts and love-lit eyes is the 
spring of all that is highest--the birth
 of the moral and the cradle of the     
divine4      ,when torn with ,passion's 
insecure delights1       ,by ,love's    
dear torments1 ceaseless changes worn1  
,as my swift sphere full twenty days and
 nights       ,did make1 ere one slow   

morn and eve were born2      ,i passed  
within the dim1 sweet world of flowers1 
,where only harmless lights1 not hearts1
 are broken1     ,and weep out the      
sweet-watered summer showers--          
,world of white joys1 cool dews1 and    
peace unspoken2      ,i started1 even   
there among the flowers1       ,to find 
the tokens mute of what ,i fled--       
,passions1 and forces1 and resistless   
powers1       ,that have uptorn the     
world and stirred the dead4      ,in    
secret bowers of amethyst and rose1     
,close wrapped in fragrant golden       
curtains laid1     ,where silver        
lattices to morn unclose1       ,the    
fairy lover clasps his flower-maid4     
,ye blessed children of the jocund day6 
,what mean these mysteries of love and  
birth8     ,caught up like solemn words 
by babes at play1       ,who know not   
what they babble in their mirth4        
,or of one stuff has some ,hand made us 
all1       ,baptized us all in one great
 sequent plan1     ,where deep to ever  

vaster deep may call1       ,and all    
their large expression find in ,man8    
,flowers climb to birds1 and birds and  
beasts to ,man1       ,and ,man to ,god1
 by some strong instinct driven2        
,and so the golden ladder upward ran1   
,its foot among the flowers1 its top in 
heaven4      ,all lives ,man lives2 of  
matter first then tends       ,to       
plants1 an animal next unconscious1 dim1
     ,a man1 a spirit last1 the cycle   
ends1--       ,thus all creation weds   
with ,god in him4      ,and if he fall1 
a world in him doth fall1       ,all    
things decline to lower uses2 while     
,the golden chain that bound the each to
 all       ,falls broken in the dust1 a 
linkless pile4      ,and ,love's fair   
sacraments and mystic rite       ,in    
,nature1 which their consummation find1 
,in wedded hearts1 and union infinite   
,with the ,divine1 of married mind with 
mind1      ,foul symbols of an idol     
temple grow1       ,and sun-white ,love 
is blackened into lust1     ,and man's  

impure doth into flower-cups flow1      
,and the fair ,kosmos mourneth in the   
dust4      ,o ,thou1 out-topping all we 
know or think1       ,far off yet nigh1 
out-reaching all we see1     ,hold ,thou
 my hand1 that so the top-most link     
,of the great chain may hold1 from us to
 ,thee2      ,and from my heaven-touched
 life may downward flow       ,prophetic
 promise of a grace to be2     ,and     
flower1 and bird1 and beast1 may upward 
grow1       ,and find their highest     
linked to ,god in me4  ,possibly you    
will say at once1 ,oh1 my boy has no    
taste for natural history1 and he would 
take no interest in this kind of thing4 
,all the better his finding it a bit    
dry--it will rid the subject of some of 
its dangerous attraction4 ,i have yet to
 find the boy for whom the ,latin       
,grammar has the least interest2 but we 
do not excuse him on that ground from   
grinding at it4 ,whether he takes an    
interest in it or not1 you have to teach
 him that he has got to know about these

 things before going to school1 to guard
 him from the danger of having all sorts
 of false1 and often foul1 notions      
palmed off on him4 ,i do not say that   
pure knowledge will necessarily save1   
but ,i do say that the pitcher which is 
full of clear spring-water has no room  
for foul4 ,i do say that you have gained
 a great step1 if in answer to the offer
 of enlightenment which he is certain to
 receive1 you have enabled your boy to  
acquit himself of the rough             
objurgation--forgive me for putting it  
in schoolboy language3 ,oh1 hold your   
jaw6 ,i know all about that1 and ,i     
don't want any of your rot4 ,i do say   
that early associations are most        
terribly strong1 and if you will secure 
that those early associations with      
regard to life and birth shall be bound 
up with all the sanctities of life--with
 home1 with his mother1 with family1    
with all that is best and highest in    
life2 then his whole attitude in life   
will be different4 ,but if these early  

associations are linked with all that is
 false and foul1 some subtle odor of the
 sewer will still cling about the heart 
of the shrine1 a nameless sense of      
something impure in the whole subject2  
an undefinable something in his way of  
looking at it1 which has often made the 
purity of men--blameless in their outer 
life--- sadden and perplex me almost as 
much as the actions and words of        
confessedly impure men4   ,,iv  ,but1   
whatever is the importance ,i attach to 
pure teaching1 ,i return to my old      
position1 that purity is an attitude of 
soul1 or1 perhaps ,i ought to say1 the  
snowy bloom of the soul's perfect       
health1 rather than anything you can    
embody in moral maxims or pure          
knowledge--that perfect bloom of        
spiritual health which may be as much   
the result of a mother's watchful care  
and training as the physical health of  
the body4 ,it is for you to train your  
boy in that knightly attitude of soul1  
that reverence for womanhood1 which is  

to men as fountains of sweet water in   
the bitter sea of life2 that chivalrous 
respect for the weak and the unprotected
 which1 next to faith in ,god1 will be  
the best guard to all the finer issues  
of his character4 ,truth of truth are   
the golden words of ,ruskin to young    
men3       ,whomsoever else you deceive1
 whomsoever else you injure1            
whomsoever else you leave unaided1 you  
must not deceive1 nor      injure1 nor  
leave unaided according to your power   
any woman      whatever1 of whatever    
rank4 ,believe me1 every virtue of the  
highest      phase of manly character   
begins and ends in this1 in truth and   
modesty before the face of all maidens1 
in truth and reverence or      truth and
 pity to all womanhood4  ,can we doubt  
or question this1 we who worship ,him   
who came to reveal the true man quite as
 much as to reveal the only true        
,god--the real manhood beneath the      
false1 perishable man with which it is  
so often overlaid by the influence of   

society and the world8 ,look at ,his    
attitude towards women1 ay1 even        
,eastern women1 who had not been        
ennobled by centuries of ,christian     
freedom and recognized equality of the  
sexes1 but who1 on the contrary1        
belonged to a nation tainted to some    
degree with that ,eastern contempt for  
women which made a ,hindu answer the    
question of the ,englishman1 perplexed  
by the multiplied of ,indian gods and   
sects1 ,is there no point of belief in  
which you all unite8 ,oh1 yes1 the      
,pundit replied1 we all believe in the  
sanctity of cows and the depravity of   
women6  ,these ,eastern women1          
therefore1 had much to enslave and lower
 them2 but see how instantly they rose  
to the touch of the true ,man1 just as  
they will rise1 the women of to-day1 to 
the touch of the true manhood of your   
sons1 if you will train them to be to us
 such men as ,jesus ,christ was4 ,see   
how ,he made women ,his friends1 and    
deigned to accept their ministry to ,his

 human needs4 ,many severe rebukes are  
recorded from ,his lips to men1 but not 
one to a woman4 ,it was a woman1 ay1    
even a degraded woman1 who by her kisses
 and her tears smote the ,rock of ,ages 
and the water of life flowed forth for  
the world1 who won for the world the    
words3 ,he who hath been forgiven much  
loveth much1 and the burden of guilt is 
changed into the burden of ,love4 ,it   
was to a woman ,he first gave the       
revelation of life1 that ,he first      
revealed ,himself as the ,water of      
,life1 and first uttered the words1 ,i  
am the ,resurrection and the ,life4 ,it 
was women who remained faithful when all
 forsook ,him and fled4 ,it was a woman 
who was the last to whom ,he spoke on   
the cross1 to a woman that the first    
words were spoken of ,his risen life4   
,it was a woman ,he made ,his first     
messenger of the risen life to the      
world4 ,nothing in the life of the true 
,man on earth stands out in more marked 
features than1 if ,i may venture to use 

the words1 ,his faith in women1 as if to
 stamp it forever as an attribute of all
 true manhood1 that without which a man 
cannot be a man4  ,now1 side by side    
with this attitude of the true ,man1    
this perfect loyalty to all womanhood as
 such1 ay1 even degraded womanhood1     
place the present debased attitude of   
men1 even of some ,christian men1 which 
we are looking to you mothers of boys to
 change in toto4 ,is not a powerful     
writer in the ,westminster ,review right
 when he says1 ,there is not found a    
chivalrous respect for womanhood as     
such4 ,that a woman has fallen is not   
the trumpet call to every noble and     
wise-hearted man to raise her up again  
as speedily as may be2 rather it is the 
signal to deepen her degradation and to 
doom her to moral death4 ,is it not a   
received code even among ,americans as  
well as ,englishmen that if a woman     
knows how to respect and protect herself
 men are to respect her--it is only a   
scoundrel that will dare to say an      

insulting word to her8 ,but if she is a 
bit fast and giddy1 if she has little or
 no respect for herself1 if her foolish 
feet have slipped ever so little1 then  
she is fair game4 ,she gave him         
encouragement2 what else could she      
expect8 ,it was her own fault4 ,to      
expect that any man with an ounce of    
true manhood in him would at once say1  
,that young girl does not in the least  
realize the danger she is in1 and ,i    
must get between her and the edge of the
 precipice1 and see that she comes to no
 harm4--this would be to expect the     
wildly impossible4 ,have we not made up 
our mind that the beast and not the     
,christ is our master here2 and does not
 every beast spring at once on a fallen 
prey8 ,it is human nature1 and you will 
never get men to think and act any      
differently4 ,as to faith in man as     
such1 not only in the church-going man1 
but in the rough-spoken fisherman1 the  
contemned publican1 the infidel         
,samaritan1 faith in his power of       

recognizing and rising to the truth1 the
 higher standard placed before him1 that
 ,i sometimes think lies buried in that 
,eastern garden--in the ,sepulchre      
wherein never man yet lay4#bb ,and yet  
it is the man as revealed in ,jesus     
,christ1 not the man as fashioned by the
 world1 with its low traditions and low 
public opinion1 that is true to human   
nature4 ,in moments of excitement or    
danger he reverts to this true nature1  
which has been so warped and overlaid by
 the world4 ,in the great mass meetings 
which ,i held for the purpose of        
pleading with men to come over on my    
side and help me in the work of saving  
women from the awful doom to which men  
sentence them1 ,i used to bring this    
home by saying to them3 ,if a fire were 
to break out in this vast hall1 who     
would be the first person that you would
 try to save8 ,it would be me because ,i
 am a woman2 and the roar of assent that
 burst forth from all parts of the      
building showed that ,i had struck home4

 ,i used to bring before them--and the  
sooner you bring it before your boys the
 better--the conduct of the men on the  
ill-fated ,birkenhead--ah6 dear men1    
voiceless and nameless1 and lost in that
 vast and wandering grave into which    
they sank1 what have they not done to   
raise the tone of ,england8 ,you will   
possibly remember that the ,birkenhead1 
with a troop of our soldiers on board1  
struck and foundered not far from land4 
,the women and children were at once    
crowded into the boats1 and it was only 
when1 in a few minutes1 the ship began  
to settle that the cry was heard among  
the men1 ,to the boats6 to the boats6   
every man for himself6 ,but the officer 
in command stood up and shouted1 ,what6 
and swamp the women and children8 ,die  
rather6 ,and those men did die4 ,drawn  
up in military array1 without moving a  
muscle1 those men sank into the bitter  
waters of death1 that the women and     
children might live4#bc ,that ,i contend
 is man's true nature1 to love the      

woman1 and1 if needs be1 to give himself
 for her4  ,it is1 therefore1 to        
recognize and strengthen this true      
nature of man1 to get it deeper into    
him1 and not to get it out of him1 as ,i
 cannot but feel we have hitherto more  
or less done1 to train your boys in this
 perfect loyalty to all womanhood as    
such2 and to send forth men into the    
world to die rather than save themselves
 at the cost of a woman1 to die rather  
than drive a woman down into those deep 
waters of degradation and death1 that we
 look to the mothers of the future as   
the sole hope of the world4 ,i say again
 you have got to see that they learn in 
relation to their own sisters what they 
have to practise towards all women1     
however humble1 ay1 and however         
degraded1 in their future life4 ,as the 
great ,english oaks are built up of tiny
 cells1 so this true manliness must be  
built up by a mother's watchful use of a
 thousand small daily incidents--by what
 ,wordsworth rightly calls the best part

 of a good man's life--      ,his little
 daily1 unremembered acts       ,of     
kindness and of love4  ,in themselves   
they seem almost too trivial to         
mention3--the easy chair instinctively  
given up on the sister's entrance2 the  
door opened for any woman passing out2  
the cap removed in the presence of      
ladies1 even though those ladies are his
 own relatives2 the deck-chair taken out
 by the seaside to make the mother      
comfortable2 the favorite cricket-match 
given up if an expedition has been fixed
 in which his services are needed2 the  
window raised and the door shut on      
leaving a railway-carriage in which     
women are travelling1 so as not to      
expose them to draught2 and1 when       
men-servants are not kept1 the sister's 
bicycle cleaned or the skates           
polished--all those little daily1       
unremembered acts of knightly service   
which the mere presence of a woman ought
 to inspire in a man4  ,i am well aware 
that here again1 as ,mr4 ,philip        

,hamerton points out1 the               
boarding-school presents a difficulty4  
,as he says1 ,the worst of the distant  
school system is that it deprives the   
home residence that remains of all      
beneficial discipline2 for the boys are 
guests during the holidays1 and the     
great business is to amuse them4#bd     
,but surely this needs only to be       
mentioned to be remedied4 ,you do not   
make your boys happier during their     
holidays by making them selfish3 what is
 really a novelty to a schoolboy1 fresh 
from the association with boys only1 is 
to have sisters to look after and a     
mother to depend upon him for all sorts 
of little services4 ,a joyous           
exclamation on your part1 ,oh1 what a   
comfort it is to have a boy in the house
 to do things for one6 will make him    
swell with manly pride2 and should he   
show the least tendency to put upon his 
sisters and make them fetch and carry   
for him1 as they are only too willing to
 do1 you can easily put a stop to that  

by a few caustic remarks that you don't 
want savages in your house2 and a       
pointed use of that delightful story in 
one of the ,white ,cross papers1#be of  
the ,zulu chief to whom the ,government 
sent a propitiatory present of wagons   
and wheelbarrows1 thinking that it would
 be sure to please him4 ,but he gazed on
 them with fine scorn1 exclaiming3      
,what's the use of those things for     
carrying our burdens when we have plenty
 of women6 ,or you can use that equally 
good story1 told by ,sir ,john ,lubbock 
at a sectional meeting of the ,british  
,association for the ,promotion of      
,science1 of a remote tribe of savages  
who had never seen a bullock1 and when  
the white man arrived with his bullock  
wagons1 after much perplexed discussion1
 they came to the conclusion that1 as   
they were used for heavy loads1 they    
must be the white man's wives6  ,a      
little wholesome1 if incisive1 raillery 
on your part will quickly extinguish any
 tendency to make willing slaves of his 

sisters4 ,if1 however1 you prefer to    
indulge your foolish fondness for him1  
that subtle self-indulgence which makes 
it easier for you to sacrifice yourself 
and his sisters to him rather than      
discipline him to work out his true     
nature1 remember you gratify yourself at
 his most cruel cost4 ,you produce the  
boy whose youth is marked by a tacit    
contempt for girls and whose manhood    
will be disfigured by a light estimation
 of the beauty and sanctity of          
womanhood4  ,i know well ,i shall be    
told that all this is quite out of date2
 that modern girls are so independent   
that they stand in no need of brothers1 
but like to place themselves on a level 
with them and share as good comrades in 
all their rough-and-tumble games4 ,let  
us be of good cheer4 ,sex is a very     
ancient institution1 the slow evolution 
of hundreds of centuries1 and is in no  
danger of being obliterated by the      
fashion of a day4 ,take the most        
advanced new woman2 yes1 concealed under

 that virile shirt-front1 unchoked by   
that manly necktie and turned-up collar1
 lurking beneath that masculine         
billy-cock2 nay1 hidden somewhere deeper
 down than the pockets of even those    
male knickerbockers1 you will find the  
involuntary pleasurable thrill at a     
strong man's chivalrous attention1 the  
delicious sense of a man's care and     
protection1 which centuries and         
centuries of physical weakness have     
woven into the very tissues of her      
being1 in however loud and strident a   
voice she may deny it4 ,whatever changes
 in the position of women may take      
place1 the basic fact remains1 and will 
always remain1 the man is stronger than 
the woman1 and his strength is given him
 to serve the weaker2 and you have got  
to get your girls to be your            
fellow-helpers in developing all that is
 best and most chivalrous in their      
brothers1 and not so to run riot in     
their independence as to substitute a   
boyish camaraderie for the exquisite    

relations of the true man to the true   
woman4  ,there rises up now before me a 
boy1 one of those delightful ,english   
boys overflowing with pluck and spirits4
 ,his mother had come to one of my      
meetings1 and1 like so many other       
mothers1 ,i am thankful to say1 had     
received a lifelong impression from what
 ,i said with regard to the training of 
boys1 and she resolved1 there and then1 
to act upon my advice with her own boys4
 ,she told me some two years after1 that
 this boy had come in late one afternoon
 and explained to her that a little girl
 had asked him to direct her to rather  
an out-of-the-way house4 ,i thought she 
might ask that question of some one who 
would tell her wrong1 or that she might 
come to some harm1 so ,i thought ,i had 
better go with her and see her safe to  
the house4 ,but what of the             
cricket-match that you wanted so to see8
 his mother asked4 ,oh1 ,i had to give  
that up4 ,there wasn't time for both4   
,on another occasion1 when a            

,christmas-tree was being prepared in   
the schoolroom for some choristers1 as  
he and his mother left at dusk a        
chorister tried to force himself past   
her and gain a private view2 and when   
she refused him admittance1 not         
recognizing who she was1 called her a   
very disrespectful name4 ,instantly the 
boy flew at him like a little tiger1    
,how dare you speak to my mother like   
that6 ,i didn't see it was your mother1 
the chorister pleaded1 trying to ward   
off the blows4 ,but you saw it was a    
woman1 and somebody's mother1 and you   
dare to speak to her like that6 ,and    
such a storm of fisticuffs fell on every
 part of that hulking young chorister's 
person as forced him at last to cry for 
mercy and promise that he would never do
 so again4 ,that boy's master wrote to  
his mother towards the end of his       
school-time--he was a ,bluecoat boy--and
 said that he positively dreaded his    
leaving1 as his influence on the side of
 everything good1 and pure1 and high was

 quite that of a master4  ,and now ,i   
come to the question of religious       
teaching1 which you may be surprised    
that ,i have not put first of all4      
,first of all1 in one sense1 ,i do put  
it4 ,there can be no greater safeguard  
to purity of life than vital religion4  
,i do not go so far as some evangelical 
mothers who have told me that nothing   
less than the conversion of their boys  
would be of the least avail to keep them
 morally straight2 on the contrary1 ,i  
have known men who have never come under
 any strong religious influence1 but    
have grown up sceptical scientific men1 
yet who have led lives as pure as any   
woman's4 ,common manhood1 with the      
,light that lighteth every man that     
cometh into the world2 common love for  
mother and sister1 which for their sakes
 maketh it impossible to wrong their    
womanhood1 even when fallen into the    
dust2 common self-respect1 which is so  
strong in some men1 and makes them      
shrink from anything in the nature of   

mud1 is often sufficient to accomplish  
this end4 ,but still1 when all is said1 
if in answer to your mother's prayers   
you can implant in your boy a sense of  
the ,divine ,presence and the cry of the
 quickened conscience1 ,how can ,i do   
this great sin and wickedness against   
,god8 you have doubtless given him the  
best panoply against the fiery darts of 
temptation4 ,only ,i would again warn   
you that there must be no forcing of the
 religious emotions1 no effort to gather
 the fruits of the spirit before the    
root1 in the shape of the great cardinal
 virtues everywhere presupposed in      
,christian ethics1 has been nourished1  
and strengthened1 and watered into      
strong1 healthy growth4 ,we have to bear
 in mind our ,lord's words1 which it    
seems to me religious parents sometimes 
forget1 that there is an order of growth
 in spiritual things as in              
natural--first the blade1 then the ear1 
and then the full corn in the ear2 and  
we are not to try to force the full corn

 in the ear before the stalk and the    
blade have grown4 ,for the want of      
laying to heart these words of the great
 ,teacher1 ,i have known much pulpy1    
emotional religion engrafted on young   
souls--admirably adapted to exhaust the 
soil1 but with the smallest possible    
bearing upon right conduct2 a religion  
perfectly at its ease with much scamping
 of lessons and hard work in general2   
indulgent of occasional cribbing1 and of
 skilful manipulation of awkward truth1 
of betting and small extravagances2 and 
innocent of all sense of dishonesty in  
allowing a struggling parent to pay     
large sums for education while the      
school-time so purchased1 often at the  
cost of home comforts and pleasant      
outings1 is squandered in idleness4     
,what a boy really needs1 and1 indeed1  
all immature things--for ,i found it    
equally true of immature men--is a      
simple1 practical religion1 based more  
on the facts of life and conscience than
 on doctrines and dogmas4 ,to know ,god 

as his ,father2 to know that he has a   
,redeemer who laid down ,his life to    
save him from sin and who takes account 
of his smallest and most broken effort  
to do what is right2 to realize that it 
is only so far as he is like ,christ and
 in ,christ that he can be really a man 
and work out what is highest in him2 to 
know that he has been baptized into a   
,divine ,society1 binding him to fight  
against all wrong1 both within and in   
the world without2 above all1 to know   
that there is a supreme spiritual ,power
 within him and about him to enable him 
to do right1 and that in the line of    
duty ,i can't is a lie in the lips that 
repeat1 ,i believe in the ,holy ,ghost2 
this is as much as his young soul can   
assimilate1 not as mere religious       
phrases1 but as realities to live by4   
,so nigh to glory is our dust1       ,so
 nigh to ,god is man1     ,when duty    
whispers low ',thou must1'       ,the   
soul replies1 ',i can4'  ,but see that  
beneath all this he has the special     

,christian teaching with regard to the  
sanctity of the body thoroughly         
instilled into him4 ,if the ,incarnation
 means anything1 it means not the       
salvation and sanctification of a ghost1
 but the salvation and consecration of  
the whole man1 of his body as well as   
his soul4 ,true1 the animal body to a   
spiritual being must always be a body of
 humiliation1 but nothing can be more   
unfortunate and misleading than the     
epithet in the ,authorized ,version of  
vile as a translation of the ,greek word
 used by ,st4 ,paul4 ,on the contrary1  
we are taught that even this mortal body
 is a temple of the ,holy ,ghost4  ,in  
teaching this there can be no           
difficulty2 you can make use of a       
child's natural reverence for a church4 
,you can say1 ,what would you think if  
you heard of some loose lads breaking   
into a church1 and just for the fun of  
the thing strewing the aisles with      
cinder dust and all sorts of loose      
rubbish2 tearing out the pages of       

,bibles and hymn-books to light their   
pipes1 and getting drunk out of the     
chalice8 ,you would be honestly shocked 
at such profanity4 ,nay1 even in the    
dire exigencies of war we do not think  
better of the ,germans for having       
stabled their horses in one of the      
,french churches and left their broken  
beer-bottles on the high altar and the  
refuse of a stable strewn up and down   
the nave4 ,yet a church is1 after all1  
only a poor earthly building1 built by  
human hands4 ,but there is one temple   
which ,god has built for ,himself1 the  
temple of man's body2 and of that the   
terrible words are written1 and ever    
fulfilled1 ,if any man defile that      
temple1 him will ,god destroy4 ,god's   
great gift of speech is not to be       
defiled by dirty talk1 by profane       
language1 by lies1 or evil speaking4    
,the organs which are given us for its  
sustenance are not to be denied by      
gluttony and piggishness1 either in food
 or drink4 ,the boy is not to use any   

part of his body in defiling ways which 
he would be ashamed for his own mother  
to know of4 ,to do so is not only to    
defile1 but--with the double meaning of 
the ,greek word1 which we cannot render 
into ,english--to destroy2 to weaken his
 brain-power1 which he wants for his    
work in life1 to weaken his nervous     
system1 lessening his strength thereby  
and rendering him less able to excel in 
athletics1 and often1 if carried to     
excess1 in after-life bringing results  
which are the very embodiment of the    
terrible words1 ,him will ,god destroy4 
,the full force and bearing of this     
teaching he may not apprehend4 ,i have  
already said that with a young boy the  
lower appeal never to do anything that  
is low and dirty and blackguardly will  
have far more practical weight1 and will
 also avoid laying undue stress on the  
religious emotions4 ,but ,i am quite    
sure that the ,christian teaching of the
 sanctity of the body must be laid deep 
and strong with all the force of early  

impression in a boy's inmost being1 in  
order that it may lie ready for future  
use when ,nature has developed those    
instincts of manhood which will teach   
him its full significance4  ,if you are 
an ,episcopalian1 you will of course    
find the time of your boy's confirmation
 simply invaluable as one of those      
turning-points which will enable you to 
speak1 or possibly write1 more          
unreservedly than is possible on more   
ordinary occasions4 ,i would earnestly  
ask you to give him a little ,white     
,cross confirmation paper called ,purity
 the ,guard of ,manhood1 a paper which  
an ,eton master pronounced the best     
thing he had met with of the kind1 and  
which has been widely used4 ,do not rest
 content with merely giving the paper in
 a perfunctory way1 but follow it up    
with a few living1 earnest words of your
 own4  ,of course ,i should do a wrong  
to your womanly instincts if ,i were to 
think it necessary to say that the      
inculcation of purity must be always in 

a mother's heart1 but only on her lips  
on some marked occasions1 such as the   
first going to school1 the last day of  
the holidays1 or when your boy himself  
gives the occasion by some question he  
may ask you1 but above all when he      
reaches a critical age1 when a few words
 from your own lips will be worth all   
the printed pages in the world4 ,only   
ever and always make it an essential    
element of his idea of manliness to be  
pure1 and do not forget constantly to   
couple the words brave and pure1 or     
manly and pure1 or pure and high        
character1 in his hearing2 that he may  
be endued1 not with that pale1          
emasculate thing that passes muster for 
purity nowadays1 which always seems to  
me chiefly conscious of its own         
indecency1 full of the old nervous touch
 not1 taste not1 handle not spirit1     
bandaged up with this restriction and   
that lest it fall to pieces1 and when it
 comes to saving another from defilement
 in body and soul shuffling uneasily    

into a pair of lavender kid-gloves and  
muttering something about its being such
 a very delicate subject--nay1 not this1
 but that militant sun-clad power which 
,milton dreamed of1 rushing down like a 
sword of ,god to smite everything low1  
and base and impure2 a purity as of     
mountain water or living fire1 whose    
very nature it is1 not only to be pure  
itself1 but to destroy impurity in      
others4   ,v  ,and now let me throw     
together two or three practical         
suggestions1 which will probably be     
superfluous to the most experienced     
mothers1 but may be useful to younger   
and more inexperienced parents4  ,in the
 first place1 ,i think there are few of 
the heads of the medical profession who 
would not agree with me that our        
,english dietary is too stimulating and 
too abundant4 ,sir ,andrew ,clark       
certainly held that a large proportion  
of our diseases spring from over-eating 
and over-drinking4 ,i don't suppose that
 for a boy it so much matters1 as he is 

eating for edification as well as for   
sustenance1 for the building up of his  
walls as well as for the nutrition of   
his existing frame4 ,but the boy is     
father to the man1 and ,i would ask you 
not to accustom your boys to a rich     
dietary1 as the habit once formed will  
be prolonged into early manhood1 and    
undoubtedly such stimulating diet does  
greatly increase the temptations with   
which young men have to contend4 ,it is 
perfectly unnecessary for the developing
 of strength and stature1 as is shown by
 the splendid ,scotchmen who yearly     
carry off some of our highest university
 distinctions and prizes--many of them  
farmer lads who have scarcely tasted    
meat in their boyhood1 but have been    
brought up on the simple farinaceous    
food of the country4 ,there was much    
force and meaning in the quaint         
congratulatory telegram sent by a friend
 to a ,cambridge ,senior ,wrangler      
hailing from ,scotland1 ,three cheers   
for the parritge6 ,and that curious and 

most impressive fact which ,mr4 ,bayard1
 the late ,american ,ambassador1 hunted 
up for our edification from various     
dictionaries of biography--the fact1    
namely1 that a large proportion of our  
most eminent men spring from the homes  
of the poorer clergy1 where certainly   
sumptuous fare and much meat do not     
obtain1 is a proof that abstemious      
living1 while forming a valuable        
discipline for the soul1 does not injure
 but promotes the health of the body and
 the strength of the brain4 ,our having 
given up the religious uses of fasting  
,i often think is a loss to young men2  
and it might1 therefore1 be as well if  
we were to imitate our ,corybantic      
brethren1 the ,salvationists1 and       
institute a week of self-denial1 leaving
 the children to work out an economical 
dietary1 with due care on our part that 
it should be fairly nutritious1 and     
allowing them to give what they have    
saved from the ordinary household       
expenses to any cause in which they may 

be interested4 ,it would give them a    
wholesome lesson in self-denial and     
cheap living2 both lessons much needed  
in these luxurious days4 ,but whether   
this suggestion finds favor or not1 we  
have always to bear in mind that plain  
living is the necessary companion of    
high thinking--the lowly earth-born twin
 who waits upon her heavenly sister4    
,on the vexed question of the use of    
alcohol there was but one point on which
 there was a consensus of opinion in the
 discussion by our leading medical men1 
which appeared some years ago in the    
pages of the ,contemporary ,review4 ,the
 point upon which they were all agreed  
was that alcohol is injurious to        
children1 and if the boy has been       
accustomed from his early youth to do   
without it1 and1 as he grows up1 remains
 a total abstainer1 there is no question
 that his abstinence will prove a great 
safeguard2 though ,i cannot go as far as
 some of my abstaining friends1 who seem
 to regard the use of alcohol as the    

root of what must1 in the nature of     
things1 be one of the strongest primal  
passions of human nature1 and therefore 
liable to abuse1 whether men are total  
abstainers or not4 ,anyhow1 though a lad
 can be trained to strict moderation1   
abstinence in both alcohol and tobacco  
must after a time come of the lad's own 
free will2 the last thing that answers  
is to multiply and enforce restrictions2
 the rebound is inevitable and often    
fatal4 ,but ,i do say that where there  
is a great pinching in the home in order
 to afford the educational advantages of
 school and university1 it does show    
some radical defect in the training of  
our boys that they should indulge in    
such expensive habits1 especially the   
expensive and wholly unnecessary habit  
of smoking1 when the dear mother and    
young sisters are doing without many a  
little home comfort in order to meet the
 expense of the young rascal's          
education4 ,one rich old grandmother    
whom ,i met abroad promised each of her 

grandsons fifty pounds if they would    
give up smoking2 and it was marvellous  
how that stern necessity of doing as    
other young men do disappeared like     
their own tobacco smoke before the      
promise of that fifty pounds for their  
own pockets6 ,they were all able to     
claim it one after the other4 ,if boys  
were not trained by their mothers to be 
systematically selfish1 might not the   
home-claims in the heart be as strong as
 those fifty pounds in the pocket8      
,secondly1 with regard to betting and   
gambling1 which may be classed with     
drinking1 as the fruitful parent of bad 
company1 and a descensus ad             
infernum3--do you not think a boy may be
 best guarded against a habit of        
betting1 which is so likely to lead on  
to gambling1 by taking the same line as 
a boy of my acquaintance took with his  
mother when she was warning him against 
it3 ,well1 mother1 you see1 it always   
does seem so mean to me to get a        
fellow's money from him without giving  

him anything in return2 it always does  
seem so like prigging1 and some of our  
fellows are awfully hard up1 and can't  
afford to lose a penny4 ,mr4 ,gladstone 
was evidently of the same opinion when  
he once said to his private secretary1  
,sir ,edward ,hamilton1 that he regarded
 gambling as nothing short of damnable4 
,what can be the fun of winning other   
people's money8 ,this strikes me as a   
way of putting it which would appeal    
most forcibly to a boy2 and if1 in      
addition1 we were to point out to him   
that1 like all shady things1 it has a   
tendency to grow and sharpen the man    
into a sharper and develop the          
blood-sucking apparatus of a leech1     
besides bringing wretchedness and misery
 on others1 he might be led to resist   
the first beginnings of a betting habit 
which may lead on to gambling in after  
years4  ,and here ,i would say that the 
absolute absence of any training given  
to a boy in the right use and value of  
money1 which has obtained till lately in

 our ,english schools1 is surely        
suicidal and must lend itself to every  
form of abuse4 ,i do not know whether it
 is the same with you1 but many of our  
boys know money only in the form of     
pocket-money1 when it becomes to him a  
metal token mostly signifying so much   
tuck2 becoming1 as he grows older1 more 
and more deleterious tuck in the shape  
of billiards1 betting1 etc41 and ending 
in a general going on tick1 which is    
worse still4 ,but in this matter we are 
improving4 ,i think most sensible       
parents nowadays place a small sum at   
their bank to the boy's account1 with a 
check-book1 making him responsible at   
first for small articles of clothing1   
neckties1 shirt-collars1 etc1 and as    
soon as he shows himself trustworthy1   
for all his expenses except school      
bills4 ,the boy is expected to keep     
accounts1 get nothing without first     
asking the price1 and to bring his      
receipted bills at the end of the term  
to his father1 and see that they tally  

with his foils2 and1 above all1 always  
to pay in ready money--unpaid bills     
being contemplated in the bald light of 
shop-lifting4 ,to this ,i would add1 if 
possible1 the habit of giving the       
,jewish tenth1 so as to make giving a   
steady principle1 and not a hap-hazard  
impulse4  ,thirdly1 it is a vital point 
to give your boys interesting pursuits4 
,there is great force in the rough old  
saying1 ,never give the devil an empty  
chair to sit down upon1 and you won't be
 much troubled with his company4 ,vice  
is constantly only idleness which has   
turned bad1--idleness being emphatically
 a thing that will not keep1 but turns  
rotten4 ,it is not the great industrial 
centres of our population that are      
chiefly ravaged by vice2 it is the      
fashionable watering-places1 the        
fashionable quarters of large towns1    
where idle men congregate1 in which it  
is a pestilence that walketh in         
darkness1 and slays its thousands of    
young girls4 ,empty by filling1 has     

always been a favorite motto of mine4   
,how many a young man has been driven to
 betting1 drinking1 and the race-course 
from the want of something of interest  
to fill his unoccupied hours1 because   
more wholesome tastes have never been   
developed in him6 ,of course1 tastes    
must be to a certain degree inborn1 but 
,i am quite sure that many a taste      
perishes1 like a frost-bitten bud1 full 
of the promise of blossom and fruit1    
because it has never been given the     
opportunity to develop4  ,take a boy's  
innate love of collecting4 ,could you   
not develop it by the offer of a little 
prize for the best collection of dried  
flowers1 of butterflies or insects1 of  
birds' eggs1 even1 in some cases1 of    
geological specimens1 but1 in any case1 
with the scientific and common names    
attached2 so forming a healthy taste for
 natural history1 which may be a source 
of perpetual interest and profit in     
after-life8 ,do not let your dislike of 
destroying life interfere2 reverence for

 life can be as well1 nay1 better taught
 by insisting that only the necessary   
specimens should be given of each       
species1 only one or two eggs taken from
 the nest1 and the nest itself disturbed
 as little as possible4 ,chemistry and  
electricity also appeal to a boy's love 
of experimentizing and of making        
electrical contrivances1 easily         
constructed of the commonest materials4 
,as to hand-work1 the lack of which in  
ill-health has made so many a man a     
torment both to himself and others1     
there ought to be no difficulty with    
regard to that4 ,carpentering1          
wood-carving1 repouss-work in metal1    
bent-iron work1 mosaic work1 any of     
these1 except possibly the last1 may be 
set on foot with very little expense1   
besides drawing1 modelling1 etc4 ,where 
there are sufficient means it would be a
 good thing if boys were taught1 as far 
as may be1 how things are made and the  
amount of toil that goes into the       
simplest article4 ,i remember giving a  

small printing-press to a boy of        
ours--an excellent gift1 by the by1 for 
a lad1 and it can be had for five or six
 shillings--and his coming to me soon   
after with a match-box in his hand1     
exclaiming with wonderment1 ,why1       
auntie1 there are six different kinds of
 type on this match-box6 ,if they could 
learn how to build1 how rafters and     
joists are put in1 and construct as much
 as a miniature summer-house in the     
garden1 how useful this being able to   
turn their hands to anything might prove
 to them in their after-life4 ,and with 
what added respect they would look upon 
all labor if they had never looked upon 
it as the part of a gentleman to stand  
aloof from it4  ,lastly1 but not least1 
,i would plead most earnestly for the   
frequent home-letter1 should your boy be
 sent to a boarding-school4 ,if you     
would have him resist the temptations of
 school life1 keep the home as close to 
his heart and as present to his mind as 
you can4 ,make it your first and        

paramount duty to write every day if you
 can1 if not every other day1 at least  
twice a week4  ,do not misunderstand me 
here4 ,god knows ,i do not go in for the
 devoted mother who thinks of nothing   
but her boys and to whom the whole world
 besides is nothing but an empty        
flourish of the pen about their names4  
,such mothers are like ,chinese teacups1
 with no perspective and everything out 
of proportion2 where the ,mandarin is as
 big as the ,pagoda1 and suffers from a 
pathetic inability to get in at his own 
door4 ,you must see things in moral     
perspective in order to train character 
on large and noble lines4 ,and it is    
from the rough quarry of the outside    
world1 with its suffering and sin1 that 
you must fetch the most precious stones 
for the building up of true manhood or  
womanhood4 ,the sooner children are     
taught that their small concerns must be
 subordinated at times to the needs of  
the sick1 the poor1 and the suffering1  
the better for them4 ,for a mother1     

therefore1 to undertake some outside    
work may and will prove the best element
 in their education1 enabling them in   
their turn to live in relation with the 
world in which ,god has placed them and 
do their part in the service of         
humanity4  ,all that ,i mean is1 do not 
so crowd your life with outside work or 
social engagements as to have no time to
 spare for this daily or at least       
bi-weekly letter to the boys at school4 
,bear in mind that the most important   
work you can do for the world is the    
formation of noble character1 building  
it up stone by stone as you alone can   
do4 ,do not be too busy to make yourself
 your boy's friend and throw yourself   
heartily into all that interests him4 ,i
 have known philanthropic mothers to    
whom cricket was nothing but an         
unmeaning scurrying backwards and       
forwards1 and who scarcely knew the     
stern of a boat from its bows6  ,and    
what a liberal education a mother's     
home-letters to her boys at school might

 be made6 ,the stirring incident in the 
newspapers1 the fine passage in the     
book1 a verse or two of a noble poem1 as
 well as all the loving thought and     
prayer that is for ever flying like     
homing birds to the dear absent lads1   
and the inculcation of all things lovely
 and pure and manly1 brightened by home 
jokes and the health of the last        
cherished pet--all these things might go
 to make up the home letters4 ,above    
all1 what an opportunity it would give  
for pleading the cause of the little    
chaps who1 by some strange insanity     
working in the brain of the ,british    
parent1 are sent into the rough world of
 a large school when they are fitter for
 the nursery1 and whom you might appeal 
to your boys to look after and protect1 
so far as they are able2 and not only   
these1 but to side with every boy who is
 being bullied for acting up to his     
conscience or because he has not the    
pluck to stand up for himself4  ,in     
conclusion1 ,i would earnestly ask you  

to believe in your own power when united
 to the knowledge which is necessary to 
direct it4 ,a man is what a woman makes 
him1 says the old saw4 ,look back upon  
the men you have known who have been    
touched to finest issues1 and you will  
find1 with few exceptions1 that they are
 the shaping of a noble woman's hands--a
 noble mother1 a noble wife1 a noble    
sister4 ,doubt not1 but earnestly       
believe that with those wonderful       
shaping hands of yours you can mould    
that boy of yours into the manhood of   
,sir ,galahad1 whose strength was as the
 strength of ten because his heart was  
pure2 that you can send him forth into  
the world like ,king ,arthur1 of whom   
our own poet1 ,spenser1 says1 that the  
poorest1 the most unprotected girl could
 feel that      ,all the while he by his
 side her bore     ,she was as safe as  
in a sanctuary4  ,nay1 may ,i not go    
further still and say that by the grace 
of ,god you can send him forth made of a
 woman in the image of the strong and   

tender ,manhood of ,jesus ,christ1 to   
,whom even the poor lost girls out of   
the street could come and know that here
 was a ,man who would not drag them     
down1 but lift them up2 believing in    
,whom1 clinging to ,whom1 trusting in   
,whom1 they grew no longer lost and     
degraded1 but splendid saints of the    
,christian ,church4  ,,footnotes3       
,footnote #aa3 ,morality in ,public     
,schools1 by ,dr4 ,butler1 ,master of   
,trinity ,college1 ,cambridge1 and late 
,head-,master of ,harrow4  ,footnote    
#ab3 ,the ,preservation of ,health1 by  
,clement ,dukes1 ,m4,d41 ,m4,r4,c4,s41  
,howard ,medallist1 ,statistical        
,society of ,london1 p4 #aej4  ,footnote
 #ac3 ,ibid41 p4 #aeg4  ,footnote #ad3  
,a ,confidential ,talk with the ,boys of
 ,america1 by ,j4,m4 ,dick4 ,fleming ,h4
 ,revell ,co4  ,footnote #ae3 ,see      
,appendix4  ,footnote #af3 ,see         
,parents' ,review1 ,no4 #e1 ,july1      
#ahie1 p4 #cea4  ,footnote #ag3 have    
quoted here from ,the ,ascent of ,man by

 ,professor ,drummond1 pp4 #bib1 #bic2  
but any standard work on botany will    
give you the method of the fertilization
 of plants in greater detail4  ,footnote
 #ah3 ,ibid41 p4 #caj4  ,footnote #ai3  
,erroneously called neuter1 as in       
reality it is an imperfectly developed  
female1 and is only capable of producing
 males4  ,footnote #bj3 ,i owe my first 
clear apprehension of the gradual       
evolution of the preservative and       
altruistic elements in nature1 arising  
from the struggle for existence1 to a   
sermon of ,dr4 ,abbott's called ,the    
,manifestation of the ,son of ,god1 now1
 ,i fear1 out of print4 ,of course      
,darwin recognized these factors as a   
necessary complement to the survival of 
the fittest1 else had there been no     
fittest to survive2 but the exigencies  
of proving his theory of the origin of  
species necessitated his dwelling on the
 destructive and weeding-out elements of
 ,nature--,nature red in tooth and claw1
 rather than the equally pervasive      

,nature of the brooding wing and the    
flowing breast4 ,had not ,professor     
,drummond unfortunately mixed it up with
 a good deal of extraneous sentiment1   
his main thesis would scarcely have been
 impugned4  ,footnote #ba3 ,in case this
 method of teaching should seem to some 
mothers too difficult1 ,i intend to     
embody it in a simple ,mother's ,talk on
 ,life and ,birth1 which a mother can   
read with her boys4  ,footnote #bb3 ,see
 a ,white ,cross paper of mine called   
,my ,little ,sister4 ,wells ,gardner1   
,darton and ,co41 ,london4  ,footnote   
#bc3 ,twice since the wreck of the      
,birkenhead has the same true manhood   
been evinced on the high seas in the    
face of almost certain death--once in   
the wreck of the troopship1 the ,warren 
,hastings1 and again by the crew and the
 civilian passengers of the ,stella4    
,perfect order was maintained1 and      
though1 ultimately all the men were     
saved1 not a man stirred hand or foot to
 save himself till the women and        

children had first been safely got on   
shore4  ,footnote #bd3 ,french and      
,english1 by ,philip ,hamerton1 p4 #dd4 
,footnote #be3 ,the ,british ,zulu4     
,wells ,gardner1 ,darton and ,co41      
,london4     ,,chapter ,,vii  ,,early   
,,manhood   ,if1 in the words of the    
great educator ,i have already quoted1  
the chief moral teaching and moral trend
 of the character must be given in the  
schoolboy days1 yet early manhood       
presents its own fruitful field for the 
influence of a mother on the side of    
whatsoever things are pure and lovely4  
,the methods of exerting this influence 
must change as your son grows from a boy
 into a man2 the inevitable reticence1  
the exquisite reserve of sex1 must      
interfere with the old boyish           
confidences and with your own freedom of
 speech4 ,other barriers1 too1 will most
 likely spring up as your son goes forth
 into the world and mixes freely with   
other young men of his own standing4    
,whether it be at college1 or in the    

army1 or in business1 he will inevitably
 be influenced by the views of the men  
he associates with1 which he will       
enlarge into the opinion of the world in
 general1 and will probably come home1  
if not to contradict his mother1 at     
least to patronize her and go his own   
way1 smiling at her with an air of manly
 superiority and with a lofty           
consciousness that he knows a thing or  
two which lie beyond a woman's ken4     
,probably enough he takes up with views 
on religion1 or politics1 or social     
questions which are emphatically not    
yours1 and which make you feel left very
 far behind1 instead of the old familiar
 walking together which was so sweet4   
,worse still1 he may evince for a time a
 cynical indifference to all great      
questions1 and all your teaching may    
seem to be lost in a desert flat4 ,the  
days of the latch-key and the           
independent life have come1 and you     
often seem to stand outside the walls   
which once admitted you into their      

dearest recesses1 left with but little  
clue as to what is going on within4     
,but have patience4 ,early teaching and 
influence1 though it may pass for a time
 into abeyance1 is the one thing that   
leaves an indelible impress which will  
in the end make itself felt1 only       
waiting for those eternal springs which 
well up sooner or later in every life to
 burst into upward growth2 it may be a  
pure attachment1 it may be a great      
sorrow1 it may be a sickness almost unto
 death1 it may be some awakening to     
spiritual realities4 ,i often think of  
that pathetic yet joyful resurrection   
cry1 ,this is our ,god1 we have waited  
for ,him--waited for ,him1 possibly     
through such long years of              
disappointment and heart hunger--only to
 cry at the last1 ,this is our ,god1 we 
have waited for ,him1 and ,he has saved 
us4  ,but it is not all waiting4 ,if    
with early manhood the old order has to 
give place to new1 and old methods and  
instruments have to be laid aside as no 

longer fitted for their task1 ,god puts 
into the hands of the mother new        
instruments1 new methods of appeal1     
which in some ways are more powerful    
than the old4 ,in early manhood she can 
appeal to the thought of the future     
wife4 ,i believe that this appeal is one
 of the strongest that you can bring to 
bear upon young men4  ,i once had to    
make it myself under circumstances of   
unparalleled difficulty2 and ,i was     
struck with the profound response that  
it evoked4 ,it was on the occasion of   
the inaugural ,white ,cross address to  
the students of the ,edinburgh          
,university1 now one of the first       
medical schools in the world4 ,the date 
of the address had been fixed1 the hall 
taken1 when an unforeseen difficulty    
arose4 ,eminent man after eminent man   
was asked to give the address1 but all  
with one consent began to make excuse4  
,spirit and flesh quailed before so     
difficult and rowdy an audience on so   
difficult and perilous a subject4 ,at   

last the professor who was chiefly      
interested implored me to give the      
address myself1 or the whole thing would
 go by default4 ,under these            
circumstances ,i had no choice but to do
 so4 ,but as ,i sat in the committee    
room while the order of the meeting was 
being arranged1 and heard my audience   
shouting1 singing1 crowing like cocks1  
whistling like parrots1 caterwauling    
like cats1 and keeping up a continuous  
uproar1 ,i thought to myself1 ,i have   
got to go into that1 and control it     
somehow so as to be heard2 ,i confess ,i
 did feel wrecked upon ,god4 ,professor 
,maclagan1 who took the chair1 agreed   
that a prayer was impossible1 a hymn was
 equally out of the question4 ,the only 
thing was to push me at once to the     
front2 and almost immediately after a   
few very brief words from the           
distinguished chairman ,i found myself  
face to face with an audience that      
evidently meant mischief4 ,by some      
instinct ,i told them at once about     

,james ,hinton1 whom1 of course1 they   
knew by name as the first aurist of his 
day2 how1 with all that this life could 
give him1 he had died of a broken heart1
 a heart broken over the lost and       
degraded womanhood of ,england1 the     
hosts of young girls slain in body and  
soul whom he met with at night in our   
terrible streets4 ,this seemed to strike
 and sober them1 that a man should      
actually die over a thing which to all  
of them was so familiar and to many had 
been only the subject of a coarse jest4 
,fortunately1 there is a stage of       
nervous terror which rounds again on    
desperate courage1 and having once got  
hold of my audience1 ,i determined to   
use the occasion to the uttermost and   
venture on the most perilous ground4 ,in
 the course of my address ,i asked them 
to take notice of a great silent change 
that was taking place all round them in 
the position of women1 the full         
significance of which they might not    
have grasped4 ,everywhere women were    

leaving the seclusion of their homes and
 were quietly coming forward and taking 
their place by their side in the great  
work of the world4 ,i thanked them for  
the generous welcome that they had      
accorded them4 ,but had they seized the 
full meaning1 the ulterior bearings of  
this changed attitude in women1 and the 
wider knowledge of the world that it    
brought with it8 ,not so long ago it was
 an understood thing that women should  
know nothing of the darker side of life2
 and there was nothing dishonorable in a
 man keeping the woman he loved in      
ignorance of the darker side of his own 
past1 if such there were4 ,but in the   
greater knowledge that has come to      
women1 and the anguish some of them feel
 over the misery and degradation of     
their lost sisters1 can this attitude   
any longer be maintained without        
conscious deception8 ,what would you    
say1 ,i asked1 if the woman you loved   
with the whole strength of your soul    
passed herself off as an undamaged      

article upon you1 and let you worship   
her as the very embodiment of all that  
is white and pure1 when something       
unspeakably sad and sinful had happened 
in her past life8 ,you know you would be
 half mad at the wrong done to you if   
after marriage you found it out4 ,and   
what are you going to do1 ,i ask some of
 you who are so careless as to the life 
you lead1 are you going to pass yourself
 off as an undamaged article on the     
woman who loves and worships you1 and   
who gives herself so unreservedly to you
 that she loses her very name and takes 
yours8 ,is it fair1 is it honorable1 is 
it even manly8 ,no1 ,i see by your faces
 you are saying1 ',i don't think it is1 
,i should have to confess4' ,well1 that 
is better than basing your life on a    
dishonorable lie4 ,but1 alas6 it is no  
way out of the misery4 ,at the very     
moment when you would give all you      
possess to be worthy of that great love 
she gives you1 you have to prove that   
you are unworthy2 and the whole of the  

only last gleam of ,eden that is left to
 this poor life of yours1 the pure love 
of a man to a pure woman1 is blotted out
 with bitter and jealous tears2 the     
trail of the serpent is over it all4 ,i 
know well that women can love1 and love 
passionately1 impure men2 but every     
woman will tell you that there is a love
 that a woman can only give to a man who
 has been faithful to her before        
marriage as well as after2 and for ever 
and for ever there will be a shut door  
at the very heart of your ,eden of which
 you have flung away the key1 a love    
that might have been yours had you kept 
yourself worthy of it4 ,there is but one
 way out of the difficulty1 now that in 
the changed position of women you can no
 longer honorably keep them in the      
dark--to make up your mind that you will
 come to the woman you love in the glory
 of your unfallen manhood1 as you expect
 her to come to you in the beauty of her
 spotless maidenhood4  ,i did not know  
for one moment whether they would not   

break out into cooing like doves2 but1  
on the contrary1 they listened to me    
with profound attention1 and ,i could   
see that none of my words went so home  
to them as those4 ,when ,i had finished 
my address a member of the committee    
said to one of the professors1 ,i think 
if she had asked them to go off and     
storm ,edinburgh ,castle they would have
 marched off in a body and done it4 ,so 
great is the power of a woman pleading  
for women4  ,if ,i could use this sacred
 plea with effect under circumstances   
of--,i think you will allow--such       
unspeakable difficulty1 must it not be  
possible to you1 the mother from whom   
such an appeal would come so naturally1 
to use this same influence1 and in the  
quiet ,sunday walk through the fields   
and woods where ,nature herself seems to
 breathe of the sanctity of life in     
every leaf and flower1 or in the quiet  
talk over the winter fireside before he 
leaves home1 to plead with your son to  
keep himself faithful to his future     

wife1 so that when he meets the woman he
 can love and make his wife1 he may have
 no shameful secrets to confess1 or1    
worse still1 to conceal from her1 no    
base tendencies to hand down to his     
unborn children after him8 ,thank ,god6 
how many an ,american and ,english wife 
and mother can speak here from personal 
experience of the perfect love and      
perfect trust which have been bred of a 
pure life before marriage1 and a        
knowledge that the sacraments of love   
and life had never been desecrated or   
defiled1 so that no shadow of distrust  
or suspicion can ever darken the path of
 her married happiness4 ,how powerful   
the pleading of such a mother may become
 with her son1 to give his future wife  
the same perfect trust and unclouded    
happiness in her husband's love6  ,i    
remember in a series of allegorical     
pictures by an old master in the        
,baptistery at ,florence1 how1 with the 
divine instinct of poets and artists1 in
 the beautiful symbolic figure of ,hope1

 the painter has placed a lily in her   
hands4 ,cannot we teach our sons that if
 they are to realize their dearest hope 
in life1 that divine hope must ever bear
 a lily in her hand as the only wand    
that can open to them the paradise of   
the ideal1 the divine vision which is   
the master light of all our seeing1 the 
deepest and most sacred joys of our     
life8      ,he safely walks in darkest  
ways       ,whose youth is lighted from 
above1     ,where1 through the senses'  
silvery haze1       ,dawns the veiled   
moon of nuptial love4      ,who is the  
happy husband8 ,he       ,who1 scanning 
his unwedded life1     ,thanks ,god1    
with all his conscience free1           
',twas faithful to his future wife4#bf  
,again1 could we not give our boys a    
little more teaching about the true     
nature and sacredness of fatherhood8 ,it
 always strikes me that the true ethics 
of fatherhood are not yet born4 ,were   
the true nature1 the sacredness1 and the
 immense responsibilities of fatherhood 

really and duly recognized1 men could   
not look with the appalling lightness   
with which they do on providing some    
substitute for marriage1 when they have 
not the means to marry in early life1   
and are under the very prevalent        
illusion that continent men who marry   
late run the risk of a childless        
marriage--a notion which so great an    
authority as ,acton pronounces to be    
absolutely false physiologically1 and   
without foundation in fact4 ,to bring a 
child into the world to whom he can     
perform no one of the duties of a       
father1 and to whom he deliberately     
gives a mother with a tarnished name--a 
mother who1 from the initial wrong done 
to her and the stigma which deprives her
 of the society of women1 will only too 
probably not stay her feet at the first 
wrong step1 but be drawn down that dread
 winding stair which ends in the despair
 of a lost soul--this1 ,i urge1 would be
 utterly abhorrent to every even fairly 
right-thinking man1 instead of the very 

common thing it is4 ,did we see it      
truly1 it would be a not venial sin1 but
 an unpardonable crime4  ,now1 surely   
mothers can supply some teaching here   
which must be wanting for public opinion
 to be what it is4 ,a quiet talk about  
the high nature1 the duties and         
responsibilities of fatherhood cannot   
present any great difficulties4  ,i     
remember many years ago hearing ,canon  
,knox ,little preach a sermon in ,york  
,cathedral to a large mixed             
congregation1 in which he touched on    
this subject4 ,at this distance of time 
,i can only give the freest rendering of
 his words1 the more so as ,i have so   
often used them in my own meetings that 
,i may have unconsciously moulded them  
after my own fashion4 ,look1 he said1 at
 that dying father--dying in the faith1 
having fought the good fight1 and all   
heaven now opening before his dying     
gaze4 ,yet he withdraws his thoughts    
from that great hereafter to centre them
 upon the little lad who stands at his  

bedside4 ,his hands wander over the     
golden head with      ',the vast sad    
tenderness of dying men4'  ,he triumphs 
over pain and weakness that he may plot 
and plan every detail of the young life 
which he can no longer live to guide and
 direct4 ,and when at length he seems to
 have passed into the last darkness1 and
 they hold up the child to see if he    
will yet recognize him1 suddenly the    
spirit seems to sweep back again over   
the dark river which it has almost      
crossed1 and an ineffable light         
illumines the dying face as his lips    
meet the lips of his little son in one  
last supreme kiss--the father's love for
 one moment vanquishing death itself4   
,and what1 ,i ask1 said the preacher1 in
 tones that thrilled that vast audience1
 must be the sin of desecrating and     
defiling such a function as this1 this  
function of fatherhood in which man     
seems to touch upon ,god ,himself and   
become the representative of the ,father
 in heaven--what must be the guilt of   

turning it into a subject of filthy     
jests and a source of unclean actions8  
,the friend with whom ,i was staying had
 brought with her her ,bible class of   
,industrial ,school lads1 and when the  
next day she asked what had struck them 
most in the sermon1 they answered       
promptly1 ,what he said about fathers1  
,let us go and teach likewise4  ,but    
perhaps the most precious sphere of     
influence is that which comes to a      
mother last and latest of all--too late1
 unless the moral training of all       
preceding years has been made one long  
disciplinary preparation in self-mastery
 and pureness of living1 for the higher 
and more difficult self-control1 the far
 sterner discipline1 of true marriage   
pure and undefiled4 ,but if through her 
training and influence the white flower 
of a blameless life has been worn       
,through all the years of passion in the
 blood1  then this is the time when her 
long patient sowing comes to its golden 
fruitage4 ,it is to his mother that a   

young man turns as his confidant in his 
engagement2 it is to her that he        
necessarily turns for counsel and advice
 with regard to his young wife in the   
early years of his marriage4 ,a young   
man in love is a man who can receive    
divine truth even of the hardest1 for   
love is of ,god1 and its very nature is 
self-giving4      ,love took up the harp
 of life1 and smote upon its chords with
 might--     ,smote the chord of self1  
that trembling passed in music out of   
sight4  ,a pure affection is an almost  
awful revelation in itself to a young   
man of the true nature of sensual sin4  
,he would gladly die for the woman he   
loves4 ,and we look1 therefore1 to you  
mothers to bring into the world that    
,christian ideal of marriage which at   
present is practically shut up between  
the covers of our ,bibles1 that the man 
is to love the woman1 the husband the   
wife1#bg as ,christ loved the ,church   
and gave ,himself for it2 not our ideal 
of the self-sacrificing woman--our      

patient ,griseldas and ,enids and all   
the rest of it--but the self-sacrificing
 man1 who is but poorly represented in  
our literature at all1--the man who     
loves the woman and gives himself for   
her1 holding all the strongest forces   
and passions of his nature for her good1
 to crown her with perfect wifehood and 
perfect motherhood4  ,this ,christian   
ideal was doubtless intended to fulfil  
those restrictions of the ,levitical    
,law which were to safeguard the health 
of the wife and secure the best         
conditions for the unborn child2 laws   
and regulations to the observance of    
which the ,jew doubtless owes his       
splendid physique and his still more    
splendid mental endowments1 which1      
though he is the fewest of all peoples1 
bring him everywhere to the             
forefront1--in finance1 in literature1  
in music1 in general capacity1--and to  
which1 ,i should be inclined to add1 he 
owes his comparatively slow rate of     
increase1 else it is difficult to       

understand the small numerical strength 
of this extraordinary race2 but ,i know 
that this is a disputed point4 ,no jot  
or tittle of these laws and regulations 
can pass away until they are fulfilled  
in some larger truth2 for ignore them or
 not1 they are founded on physiological 
laws2 and it is on mothers' recognizing 
this larger truth in the advice they    
give1 and on their bringing in the      
,christian ideal1 that the future of    
marriage mainly depends1 and its being  
made more consonant with the higher and 
more independent position of women than 
it at present is4  ,whilst the sight is 
so familiar of wives with health broken 
down and life made a burden1 possibly   
even premature death incurred1 by their 
being given no rest from the sacred     
duties of motherhood1 to say nothing of 
the health of the hapless child born    
under such circumstances1 can we wonder 
that the modern woman often shows a     
marked distaste to marriage and looks   
upon it as something low and sensual8   

,or can we wonder that married men1 with
 so sensual an ideal of so holy a state1
 should1 alas6 so largely minister to   
the existence of an outcast class of    
women8  ,on the other hand1 the remedy  
resorted to is often worse than the     
disease4 ,i confess ,i have stood aghast
 at the advice given by ,christian      
mothers1 often backed up by a doctor    
whom they affirm to be a ,christian man1
 in order to save the health of the wife
 or limit the increase of the family4   
,the heads of the profession1 in        
,england1 ,i believe1 are sound on this 
point1 a conference having been held    
some years ago by our leading medical   
men to denounce all such fruits of      
philosophy as physically injurious and  
morally lowering4  ,but if we want to   
know what their practical results are1  
the moral gangrene they are to the      
national life when once they have firmly
 taken hold of a nation1 we have only to
 look across the channel at             
,france--,france with her immense       

wealth1 but rapidly declining           
population1 which in less than a century
 will reduce her from a first-rate to a 
second-or third-rate power1 so that her 
statesmen have actually debated the     
expediency of offering a premium on     
illegitimacy in the shape of free       
nurture to all illegitimate             
children1--illegitimate citizens being  
better in their estimation than no      
citizens at all4  ,would we have the    
,anglo-,saxon race enter on this        
downward grade8 ,if not1 then let us    
women silently band together to preserve
 the sanctity of the family1 of the     
home1 and sternly to bar out the        
entrance of all that defileth--all that 
sensualizes her men and enfeebles their 
self-mastery1 all that renders the heart
 of her women too craven to encounter   
the burdens of being the mothers of a   
mighty race1 flowing out into all the   
lands to civilize and ,christianize1 and
 bear the white man's burthen4  ,one    
word more1 a sad and painful one1 but   

one which comes from my inmost heart4   
,do not pass by the sadder aspects of   
this great moral question and refuse to 
open thy mouth for the dumb1 for those  
who are appointed unto destruction4     
,you cannot keep your son in ignorance  
of the facts2 the state of our miserable
 streets1 every time he walks out in the
 evening in any of our large towns1     
absolutely forbids that possibility4    
,but you can place him in the right     
attitude to meet those facts whether in 
the streets or among his own companions4
 ,it is by fighting the evils without   
that we can best fight the evils within4
 ,it is in dragging them down that we   
are lifted up4 ,a noble passion for the 
wronged1 the weak1 the sinful1 and the  
lost is the best means for casting out  
the ignoble passions which would destroy
 another in order to have a good time   
one's self4 ,at present the stock phrase
 of a virtuous young man is1 ,i know how
 to take care of myself4 ,you have to   
put into his lips and heart a stronger  

and a nobler utterance than that3 ,i    
know how to take care of the weakest    
woman that comes in my path4 ,surely it 
is requiring no impossible moral        
attitude in our sons1 rather mere common
 manliness1 to expect that when spoken  
to by some poor wanderer1 he should make
 answer in his heart if not with his    
lips1 ,my girl1 ,i have got a sister1   
and it would break my heart to see her  
in your place1 and ,i would rather die  
than have any part in your degradation4 
,one mother ,i know1 who had been much  
engaged in rescue work1 and into whose  
heart the misery and degradation of our 
outcast girls had entered like iron1    
taught her young son always to take off 
his hat before passsing on1 whenever he 
was accosted4 ,he told a friend of mine 
that he had scarcely ever known it to   
fail4 ,either the poor girl would say1  
,sir1 ,i am very sorry ,i spoke to you2 
or more frequently still that little    
mark of human respect would prove too   
much1 and she would silently turn away  

and burst into tears4 ,if our sons      
cannot bare their heads before that     
bowed and ignoble object on whom the    
sins of us all seem to have met--the    
wild passions of men1 as well as the    
self-righteousness of the ,church--then 
our young men are not what ,i take them 
to be1--nay1 thank ,god6 what ,i know   
them to be1 sound of head and sound of  
heart4 ,they get hold of facts by the   
wrong end2 they cut into the middle of a
 chain1 and look upon the woman as the  
aggressor1 and contemplate her as an    
unclean bird of prey4 ,they do not in   
the least realize the slight and morally
 trivial things that cast too many of   
our working-class girls down into the   
pit of hell that skirts their daily     
path--often as mere children who know   
not what they do1 often from hunger and 
desperation1 often tricked and drugged1 
and always heavily bribed4 ,but let them
 know the facts1 let them read a little 
paper such as the ,black ,anchor1 the   
,ride of ,death1 or ,my ,little         

,sister1#bh and they will feel the whole
 thing to be1 in their own rough but    
expressive words1 a beastly shame1 and  
fight it both in themselves and in      
others1 for our sakes as well as their  
own4 ,for the misery as things are is   
this3--that men divide us into two      
classes--we pure women for whom nothing 
is too good2 and those others1 whom they
 never associate with us1 for whom      
nothing is too bad4 ,and what we have to
 teach them is this--that our womanhood 
is ,,one that a sin against them is a   
sin against us1 and so to link the      
thought of us to them that for the sake 
of their own mothers1 for the sake of   
their own sisters1 above all1 for the   
sake of the future wife1 they cannot    
wrong or degrade a woman or keep up a   
degraded class of women4  ,i am aware   
that1 besides the suggestions ,i have   
made1 young men require a plain1        
emphatic warning as to the physical     
dangers of licentiousness and of the    
possibility of contracting a taint which

 medical science is now pronouncing to  
be ineradicable and which they will     
transmit in some form or other to their 
children after them4 ,we want a strong  
cord made up of every strand we can lay 
hold of1 and one of these strands is    
doubtless self-preservation1 though in  
impulsive youth ,i do not think it the  
strongest4 ,but to give these warnings  
is manifestly the father's duty1 and not
 the mother's2 and ,i hope and believe  
that the number of fathers who are      
beginning to recognize their duty in    
this matter1 as moral teachers of their 
boys1 is steadily increasing4 ,in the   
case of widowed mothers1 or where the   
father absolutely refuses to say        
anything1 perhaps the paper ,i have     
already mentioned1 ,medical             
,testimony1#bi would be the best        
substitute for the father's living      
voice4  ,and now let me conclude this   
chapter1 as ,i concluded the last1 with 
a few scattered practical suggestions   
which may prove of use4 ,my experience  

has been that the vast majority of our  
young men go wrong not from any vicious 
tendencies1 but from want of thought1   
want of knowledge1 and a consequent     
yielding to the low moral tone of       
so-called men of the world1 and the fear
 of being chaffed as an innocent4 ,see  
that your boy is guarded from this want 
of thought and want of knowledge4 ,when 
your son is a ,sixth ,form boy--it is   
impossible to give the age more         
definitely1 as it must depend upon the  
character of the boy--place in his hands
 the ,white ,cross paper1 ,true         
,manliness which will give him the facts
 about his own manhood4 ,this paper was 
carefully revised by the late ,bishop of
 ,durham1 ,dr4 ,lightfoot1 whose        
specialty was young men2 and upwards of 
a million copies have been sold1 which  
in itself guarantees it as a safe paper4
 ,nor need you as a mother of sons fear 
to read over any of the ,white ,cross   
papers1 since they concern themselves1  
as their name denotes1 with purity and a

 high ideal of life--not with the sewer1
 but with the fountain of sweet waters4 
,should your boys be so inclined1 you   
might suggest their joining that band of
 modern knights1 the ,white ,cross      
,society4#cj ,it is a great thing to    
give a young man a high ideal to act up 
to1 and the ,white ,cross would         
certainly give him this1 as well as save
 him1 with its definite obligations1    
from evil that is incurred from sheer   
thoughtlessness and animal spirits1     
enforcing a respectful and chivalrous   
treatment of women1 even when by their  
fast ways those women show that they    
have no respect for themselves4 ,but    
more especially is this the case with   
regard to the second obligation1 to     
discountenance coarse jests and         
allusions and the by no means nice sort 
of talk that often goes on in           
smoking-rooms1 and by which1 ,i am      
convinced1 more than by any other agency
 the mind and conscience of young men is
 gradually deadened and defiled1 but in 

which they are apt to join from sheer   
thoughtlessness and sense of fun4 ,their
 ,white ,cross obligation might screw up
 their moral courage to utter some such 
pointed rebuke as ,dr4 ,jowett's to a   
lot of young men in a smoking-room1 ,i  
don't want to make myself out better    
than you are1 but is there not more dirt
 than wit in that story8 or that other  
still more public rebuke which he       
administered at his own dinner-table    
when1 the gentlemen having been left to 
their wine1 a well-known diplomat began 
telling some very unsavory stories1 till
 the still1 small1 high-pitched voice of
 the ,master made itself heard1 saying1 
,had we not better adjourn this         
conversation till we join the ladies in 
the drawing-room8 ,at least they can    
keep silence and a grave face2 and      
silence and a grave face are often the  
best damper to coarse wit4 ,why1 ,i ask1
 should men when they get together be   
one whit coarser than women8 ,it is     
simply an evil fashion1 and as an evil  

fashion can and will be put down as bad 
form4  ,i think also that joining the   
,white ,cross will make young men more  
active in trying to influence other     
young men and to guard and help their   
younger brothers1 with all the other    
priceless work that they can1 if they   
will1 do for our womanhood among men1   
but which1 from shyness and reserve and 
the dread of being looked upon as moral 
prigs1 they are apt to let go by        
default4  ,but whether you agree with me
 or not with regard to your sons'       
joining an organization1 see that they  
assume their rightful attitude of       
guardians of the purity of the home4 ,we
 women cannot know anything about the   
inner secrets of men's lives1 or know   
whom to exclude and whom to admit to the
 society of our girls4 ,this ought to be
 the part of the brothers4 ,god knows we
 do not want to make a pariah class of  
men on the same lines as are meted out  
to women4 ,the young man who wants to do
 better we are bound to help1 and no    

better work can be done in our large    
cities than to open our homes to young  
men in business or in ,government       
offices1 etc4 ,but men who are          
deliberately leading a fast life and who
 are deeply stained with the degradation
 of our own womanhood1 with no wish to  
rise out of their moral slough1 these   
must be to us as moral lepers1 to be    
gilded by no wealth1 to be cloaked by no
 insignia of noble birth1 or we stand   
betrayed as hypocrites and charlatans in
 our own cause4 ,if our position in     
society is such as obliges us to receive
 such men1 we all know the moral uses of
 ice1 and under the guise of the most   
frigid politeness we can make them feel 
their absolute exclusion from the inner 
circle of our friends and intimates4    
,there need be no discussion between you
 and your son--just the hint3 ,oh1      
mother1 ,i would not ask that fellow if 
,i were you1 and you will know what is  
meant4  ,much may also be done by       
keeping up the general high tone of the 

home4 ,one mother of eight sons1 who all
 turned out men of high1 pure life1 if  
ever they used in her presence such     
expressions as a well-groomed woman1 or 
commended their last partner at a ball  
as a pretty little filly1 would         
instantly interrupt them and ask        
incisively1 ,are you talking of a horse 
or a woman8 ,if you are talking of a    
woman1 you will be pleased to remember  
that you are speaking in the presence of
 your mother and your sisters4 ,and if  
any scandal about a woman was mooted1   
the conversation was at once quietly    
turned into another and more profitable 
channel4  ,a word of homely advice from 
you to your sons with regard to our     
streets at night3 never to loiter1 but  
to trudge on quickly1 when they would be
 rarely molested1 may be advisable and  
useful4  ,as to absolute watchfulness   
with regard to the young maid-servants  
in your house1 this is so obvious a     
point that it scarcely needs mentioning2
 though at the same time ,i have known  

the most culpably careless arrangements 
made when the family are away for their 
summer holidays1 young maid-servants    
being left alone in the house while the 
young men are still going backwards and 
forwards to their business2 or the whole
 family going out and no older woman    
being left in charge of the young       
domestics4 ,what can one expect but     
that1 having sown moral carelessness1 we
 shall reap corruption8  ,but even with 
no such culpable neglect of our         
responsibilities1 ,i do wish we would   
cultivate more human relations with our 
servants1 and so get them to work more  
consciously with us in maintaining a    
high ,christian tone in our homes4 ,if  
we would but take a more individual     
interest in them and their belongings1  
as we should do with those we count our 
friends2 getting a good situation for   
the younger sister who is just coming   
on1 possibly giving her a few weeks of  
good training in our own household2     
giving the delicate child of the family 

change of air and good food1 even taking
 in a baby to enable a sick mother to go
 for a short time into a hospital4 ,all 
these things ,i have found possible in  
my own household4 ,and surely such      
thought and care for those they hold    
dear would form a living bond between   
mistress and servant4 ,if we would take 
the same thought and care for pleasant  
breaks in the monotony of our young     
servants' lives as we do for our own    
girls1 would the servant difficulty     
press upon us to the same degree8 ,nay1 
if we could set going a weekly or       
fortnightly working party with our own  
servants in some cause which would      
interest us both1 reading out some      
interesting narrative in connection with
 it1 could we not even in this small way
 establish a bond of common service and 
make us feel that we were all working   
together for the same ,master1 so that  
our servants might become our helpers1  
and not1 as they sometimes are1 our     
hinderers1 in bringing up our children  

in a high and pure moral atmosphere8    
,but when all things are said and done1 
,i know that with every mother worthy   
the name there must be moments of deep  
discouragement and sense of failure--a  
sense of mistakes made with some        
difficult nature to which her own gives 
her but little clue2 a sense of         
difficulties in vain grappled with1 of  
shortcomings in vain striven against4   
,which of us have not had such moments  
of despondency in the face of a great   
task8 ,in such moments ,i have often    
called to mind one of those parables of 
,nature which are everywhere around us1 
unseen and unheeded1 like those         
exquisite fresco angels of the old      
masters1 in dim corners of ancient      
churches1 blowing silent trumpets of    
praise and adoration and touching mute  
viols into mystic melodies which are    
lost to us4 ,so thin has the material   
veil grown under the touch of modern    
science that everywhere the spiritual   
breaks through4 ,often in that nameless 

discouragement before unfinished tasks1 
unfulfilled aims1 and broken efforts1 ,i
 have thought of how the creative ,word 
has fashioned the opal1 made it of the  
same stuff as desert sands1 mere        
silica--not a crystallized stone like a 
diamond1 but rather a stone with a      
broken heart1 traversed by hundreds of  
small fissures which let in the air1 the
 breath1 as the ,spirit is called in the
 ,greek of our ,new ,testament2 and     
through these two transparent mediums of
 such different density it is enabled to
 refract the light and reflect every    
lovely hue of heaven1 while at its heart
 burns a mysterious spot of fire4 ,when 
we feel1 therefore1 as ,i have often    
done1 nothing but cracks and desert     
dust1 we can say1 ,so ,god maketh his   
precious opal4 ,our very sense of       
brokenness and failure makes room for   
the ,spirit to enter in1 and through    
,his strength made perfect in human     
weakness we are made able to reflect    
every tender hue of the eternal         

,loveliness and break up the white light
 of ,his truth into those rays which are
 fittest for different natures2 while   
that hidden lamp of the sanctuary will  
burn in your heart of hearts for ever a 
guide to your boy's feet in the devious 
ways of life4  ,in conclusion1 ,i should
 like to record an incident full of     
encouragement to mothers4 ,a young      
fellow of eighteen or nineteen1 whom his
 widowed mother had brought up on the   
principles which ,i have been           
advocating1 said to her one day1        
,mother1 you know that men don't always 
think like you about poor girls4 ,alas6 
she replied1 ,i know that but too well2 
but what makes you say so8 ,well1       
mother1 ,i was with a lot of college    
fellows yesterday1 and they were giving 
one another the best addresses in the   
,west ,end to go to4 ,but didn't you say
 anything8 ,no1 ,i only kept silence4   
,had ,i said anything1 they would only  
have called me a confounded prig4 ,there
 were three other fellows who kept      

silence1 and ,i could see they did not  
approve1 but we none of us spoke up4    
,oh1 my son1 exclaimed his mother in    
great distress1 how are we to help you  
young fellows8 ,do you think if the     
clergy were more faithful1 they could   
help you more than they do8 ,i don't    
think they would listen to what a parson
 says4 ,then if doctors were to warn you
 more plainly than they do8 ,i don't    
think it would be of much use2 they     
would not heed2 and then a fellow       
generally goes to a doctor too late4    
,then what can we do1 what can we do8   
,well1 ,i think there is only one person
 who can really help1 and that's a      
fellow's mother--she can save him1 if   
she would only try4  ,doubt not1 but    
earnestly believe4 ,in every man's      
breast is to be found a lotus-blossom1  
says the pretty old ,indian saying1 and1
 watered by your prayers and your tears1
 be sure it will blossom into the white 
flower of a blameless life4             
,,footnotes3  ,footnote #bf3 ,coventry  

,patmore4  ,footnote #bg3 ,the word in  
,greek is the same for woman and wife4  
,footnote #bh3 ,white ,cross            
,publications1 ,e4,p4 ,dutton  ,co41 #ca
 ,west ,twenty ,third ,street1 ,new     
,york4  ,footnote #bi3 ,office of ,white
 ,cross league1 #g ,dean's ,yard1       
,westminster ,abbey1 ,london4  ,footnote
 #cj3 ,,the ,,white ,,cross             
,,obligations4 ,i4 ,to treat all women  
with respect1 and endeavor to protect   
them from wrong and degradation4  ,,ii4 
,to endeavor to put down all indecent   
language and coarse jests4  ,,iii4 ,to  
maintain the law of purity as equally   
binding upon men and women4  ,,iv4 ,to  
endeavor to spread these principles     
among my companions1 and to try and help
 my younger brothers4  ,v4 ,to use every
 possible means to fulfil the command1  
,keep thyself pure4     ,,chapter ,,viii
  ,,the ,,influence ,,of ,,sisters      
,hitherto ,i have dealt exclusively with
 the moral training of boys and young   
men1 but ,i am aware that ,i have left  

out one of the great shaping influences 
of a boy's life1 which certainly comes  
next to the mother's where it           
exists--the influence of sisters4 ,the  
childish hand that he clasps in his is  
the hand that unconsciously moulds him  
to higher ends or the reverse4 ,for if  
the man is the director1 the ruler1 and 
defender1 the builder of the house as he
 is called in the grand old word        
husband1#ca the woman is the shaping and
 moulding influence of life2 and if ,god
 has placed her in the power of the man1
 both through the weakness of her frame 
and the strength of her affections1 on  
the other hand ,he has given into her   
hands the keys of his being1 and        
according as he fulfils or abuses his   
trust towards her1 she opens or closes  
the door of higher life to him4#cb  ,i  
often wonder whether we women           
sufficiently realize this truth for     
ourselves or our girls4 ,walter ,bagehot
 used to say in his blind1 masculine    
way1 ,it's a horrid scrape to be a      

woman1--a sentiment which1 ,i fear1 will
 find some echo in the hearts of a good 
many women themselves4 ,but is it so8   
,if to the man chiefly belongs power in 
all its forms1 does not the woman wield 
as her portion that far more potent but 
wholly silent1 and often unnoticed      
thing1 influence8 ,not the storm1 or the
 earthquake1 or the strong wind1 but the
 still1 small voice3 the benediction of 
dews and gentle rains1 the mute         
beatitudes of still waters flowing      
through sun-parched lands and           
transforming them into fruitful fields  
that the ,lord hath blest2 the silent   
but irresistible influence of the       
sunlight1 which in the baby palm of a   
little leaf becomes a golden key to     
unlock the secret treasures of the air  
and build up great oaks out of its      
invisible elements2 the still1 small    
voice of the moral sense1 so still1 so  
small1 so powerless to enforce its      
dictates1 but before which all the      
forces of the man do bow and obey1      

choosing death rather than              
disobedience--are not all these silent  
influences emblems of the supreme1      
shaping1 moulding influence that is     
given to the woman as the mother of all 
living1 coming without observation1 but 
making far more strongly than any       
external power for the kingdom of love  
and light8 ,truly we have a goodly      
heritage if only we had eyes to see it4 
,alas6 that we should have made so      
little comparative use of it in these   
great moral questions4 ,alas6 that we   
should have to acknowledge the truth and
 justice of the poet's words3      ,ah1 
wasteful woman6 she who may     ,on her 
sweet self set her own price1           
,knowing he cannot choose but pay--     
,how has she cheapen'd ,paradise1       
,how given for nought her priceless     
gift1     ,how spoiled the bread and    
spilt the wine1     ,which1 spent with  
due respective thrift1     ,had made    
brutes men1 and men divine6#cc  ,but    
even here is there not place for a      

hopeful thought1 that if women have made
 so little comparative use of their     
well-nigh irresistible influence in     
setting a high standard and shaping men 
to a diviner and less animal type1 it   
has been1 as ,i have already said1      
chiefly owing to ignorance8 ,the whole  
of one of the darkest sides of life has 
been sedulously kept from us4 ,educated 
mothers1 till lately1 have been         
profoundly ignorant of the moral evils  
of schools1 and have never dreamt that  
that young1 frank1 fresh-faced lad of   
theirs had any temptations of the kind4 
,their moral influence1 which the poet  
blames them so strongly for misusing1   
has been largely1 at least with good    
women1 not so much a misused as an      
undirected force1 and we know not1      
therefore1 what that force may          
accomplish when a larger and truer      
knowledge enables it to be persistently 
directed to a conscious aim4 ,this fact1
 at least1 has been stamped into my     
inmost being1 that men will rise to any 

moral standard which women choose to set
 them4  ,i ask1 therefore1 cannot we get
 our girls to help us here more than we 
do1 without being crippled by the fear  
of initiating them too much in the evil 
of the world or destroying that         
unconscious virginal purity which is1   
even as things are1 so strong and       
pathetic an influence for good over     
young men8  ,in the addresses that ,i   
have given to large numbers of educated 
girls1 ,i used often to begin by quoting
 a passage from the ,jewish             
,prayer-,book4 ,in a general            
thanksgiving for the mercies of life1   
the men say3 ,we thank ,thee1 ,o ,lord  
of heaven and earth1 that ,thou hast not
 made us a woman4 ,one a little wonders 
how the poor women could join in this   
thanksgiving4 ,but in one corner of the 
page there is a little rubric in very   
small print which directs1 ,here shall  
the women say3 ',we thank ,thee1 ,o     
,lord of heaven and earth1 that ,thou   
hast made us according unto ,thy will6' 

,and1 looking upon that bed of spring   
flowers before me1 ,i used to tell them 
that it made me feel what a fair and    
gracious and beautiful thing it was to  
be made according unto ,god's will1 to  
be made a woman4  ,now1 in the first    
place1 could we not get them to realize 
this great truth a little more than they
 do1 and not in their heart of hearts to
 wish that they were men8 ,could we not 
get them to realize a little more the   
divine possibilities of their womanhood1
 and instead of making it their ambition
 to figure as a weaker form of man1 and 
become lawyers1 stockbrokers1 and other 
queer things the modern woman is        
striving after1 to make it their        
ambition to become stronger and truer   
women8  ,but how is this to be done8 ,i 
remember on one occasion1 when ,i was   
going in the evening to address a mass  
meeting of working-class girls1 a stout1
 middle-aged lady bustling up to me in a
 morning conference we were holding1 and
 exclaiming3 ,and what are you going to 

say to them8 ,what can you say to them1 
except to tell them to take care of     
themselves and keep the men at arm's    
length8  ,now1 this old-fashioned       
method1 which we have adopted in dealing
 with the girls of the poor1 ,i contend 
traverses the central and most          
fundamental facts of a woman's being4 ,a
 woman will never find salvation in     
being told to take care of herself1 and 
least of all for the purpose of keeping 
the man1 for whom she was created to be 
a helpmate1 at arm's length4 ,gospels of
 self-culture may take seeming root here
 and there in the exotic woman2 but even
 in her1 at some moment of swift passion
 or strong emotion1 they will crumple up
 and fall off from her like a withered  
leaf4 ,james ,hinton knew a woman's     
nature but too well when he said that   
she would respond to the appeal ,lay    
down your life more readily and more    
surely than to the appeal ,take up your 
rights4 ,she certainly has a most divine
 power of flinging herself away1 whether

 nobly or ignobly1 which forms both her 
strength and her weakness4 ,but ,i have 
never yet known a woman who would not1  
at any rate to some degree1 respond to  
an appeal to save1 not herself1 but     
another3 ,do not let him do this wrong  
thing1 for his sake4 ,you can do        
anything you like with a man who loves  
you4 ,god has given him body and soul   
into your hands1 and you can lift him up
 into something of ,his image and make a
 true man of him2 or you can let his    
love for you sink him into a selfish    
beast of prey4 ,do not let him do       
anything that will for ever lower his   
manhood1 but use your power over him to 
keep him true to all that is best and   
highest in him4 ,i have never yet known 
the woman who will not be moved by such 
an appeal as this4 ,in other words1 the 
central motive force of a woman's       
nature1 the key of her whole being1 is1 
and must ever be1 the mother in her1    
that divine motherhood which is at the  
heart of every woman worthy of the name1

 married or unmarried4 ,it is this      
divine motherhood1 which all evolution1 
the whole process of the suns1 has gone 
to strengthen1 and which ,christianity  
has enshrined at her very heart--it is  
this that makes her for ever the ,christ
 factor in the world1 the supreme       
expression of the redeeming ,love--that 
care of the strong for the weak which   
even in ,nature comes trembling into    
existence beneath the tender wing of the
 nesting bird1 or forces itself into    
notice in the fierce lioness's care for 
her whelps1 and which we believe will   
work out the ultimate consummation of   
the whole creation that groaneth and    
travaileth in pain until now4 ,and ,i   
contend that if we are to have in the   
future such women as ,lady ,augusta     
,stanley1 round whose lifeless form were
 united in one common sorrow the ,queen 
on her throne and the poorest of the    
poor1 such women as ,browning's wife and
 ,browning's mother1 of whom he used to 
say1 with a slight tremor in his voice1 

,she was a divine woman1 it will be by  
strengthening and appealing to this     
element of divine motherhood in a       
woman's nature4  ,what ,i would1        
therefore1 teach the girls is this3 that
 they have got to mother the boys1 that 
they are the guardians of all that is   
best and highest in them1 of all that   
makes for the chivalrous ,american      
gentleman1 and that their womanhood     
should therefore be to them a fountain  
of fine manners1 of high thoughts1 and  
noble actions4 ,i would rub into their  
very bones1 if ,i could1 the old saw ,i 
have already quoted3 ,a man is what a   
woman makes him2 that if there were more
 high womanhood there would be less low 
manhood2 and that if the boys are rude  
and rough and slangy1 and loutish in    
their manner to women1 the blame lies   
with their sisters who1 in their foolish
 fondness and indulgence1 or in their   
boyish camaraderie1 have allowed them to
 slouch up into a slovenly manhood4 ,the
 man at most is the fine prose of life1 

but the woman ought to be its poetry and
 inspiration4 ,it is her hand that sets 
its key1 whether      ,to feed the high 
tradition of the world1  or add to its  
low discords4 ,surely ,ruskin's noble   
words apply here3 ,it is the type of an 
eternal truth that the soul's armor is  
never well set to the heart unless a    
woman's hand has braced it2 and it is   
only when she has braced it loosely that
 the honor of manhood fails2 or those   
other still stronger and nobler words of
 ,frederick ,robertson's3 ,there are two
 rocks in a man's life on which he must 
either anchor or split3 ,god and ,woman4
  ,and could we not appeal to our girls 
to make their womanhood a rock which    
bears a light to all in peril on the    
rough sea of life--a light to save from 
moral shipwreck and lead to the safe    
haven beneath the ,rock of ,ages8       
,surely we might appeal to them1 in the 
name of their own brothers and others   
with whom they are intimately thrown1 to
 work out these higher possibilities of 

their own womanhood2 not to lower it by 
picking up slang words from their       
brothers--a woman ought to be above     
coarsening and vulgarizing ,god's great 
gift of speech--not to engage in games  
or romps that involve a rude            
rough-and-tumble with boys1 which may   
develop a healthy hoyden1 but is utterly
 destructive of the gracious dignity of 
the true woman2 not to adopt fast ways  
of either dress or bearing which lead to
 young men making remarks behind their  
backs which they ought not to make on   
any woman2 above all1 never in girlish  
flightiness1 or1 worse still1 in order  
to boast of the number of offers they   
have received1 to flirt or trifle in any
 way with a man's affections2 but to    
remember that to every man they have to 
make a woman only the other name for    
truth and constancy4 ,god only knows the
 number of young men who have received  
their first downward bent from what to a
 young girl1 in the wilfulness of her   
high spirits and her ignorance of life1 

has been only a bit of fun1 but which to
 the young man has been the first fatal 
break in his faith in woman--that faith 
which in his soul dwells so hard by his 
faith in the ,divine that in making     
shipwreck of the one is only too likely 
to make shipwreck of the other4  ,as to 
the mothers who send out their young    
girls into society the victims of their 
fashionable dressmakers1 to be a        
fountain1 not of high1 pure thoughts to 
young men1 but a spring of low          
temptations and impure suggestions1 ,i  
do not blame the young girls here2 but  
surely the severest blame is due to the 
criminal folly1 or worse1 of their      
mothers1 who must know what the         
consequences of immodest dressing       
necessarily are to the inflammable mind 
of youth4  ,but that that unlovely      
phenomenon the girl of the period1 is   
also deeply to blame for the lowered    
traditions of ,english society1 and     
consequently of ,english manhood1 ,i    
have only too sorrowfully to            

acknowledge4 ,i remember ,mrs4 ,herbert 
of ,vauxhall telling a very fashionable 
audience how on one occasion she had to 
rebuke a young man moving in the first  
,london society for using some          
contemptuous expression with regard to  
women1 and was led to appeal very       
earnestly to him to reverence all women 
for his mother's sake4 ,he turned upon  
her with a sort of divine rage and said3
 ,i long to reverence women1 but the    
girls ,i meet with in society won't let 
me4 ,they like me to make free with     
them2 they like me to talk to them about
 doubtful subjects1 and they make       
me--and he ground his teeth as he said  
it--what ,i just hate myself for being4 
,alas6 alas6 can sadder words knell in a
 woman's ears than these8  ,but side by 
side with this desecrating womanhood    
there rises up before me the vision of a
 young girl1 not ,english1 nor          
,american1 but ,french--now a mature    
woman1 with girls and boys of her own1  
but who in her young days was the very  

embodiment of all that ,i have been     
urging that our girls might become to   
their brothers4 ,she was a daughter of  
the great ,french preacher1 ,frederick  
,monod1 and had an only brother who was 
all in all to her4 ,she knew enough of  
the evil of the world to know that a    
medical student in ,paris was exposed to
 great temptations2 and she was         
resolved1 so far as she could1 to make  
her womanhood a crystal shield between  
him and them4 ,she entered into all his 
pursuits2 she took an interest in all   
his friends and companions2 she had     
always leisure for sympathy and counsel 
in his difficulties and troubles4 ,she  
had a little room of her own to which   
she used to get him to come every       
evening and talk over the day with her1 
so that she might keep herself heart to 
heart with him in all that concerned    
him4 ,she even overcame her girlish     
reserve1 and would get him to kneel down
 by her side and pour out her sweet     
girlish heart in prayer that ,god would 

guide him in all his ways1 and keep him 
unspotted from the world4 ,years after1 
when he was a married man1 with boys of 
his own1 he said to her3 ,you little    
know all that you were to me as a young 
man4 ,my temptations were so maddening  
that ,i used sometimes to think that ,i 
must yield to them and do as other young
 men did all round me4 ,but then a      
vision of you used to rise up before me1
 and ,i used to say to myself3 ',no2 if 
,i do this thing1 ,i can never go and   
sit with her in her own little room2 ,i 
can never look into her dear face       
again4' ,and the thought of that young  
girl1 the angel of her presence in the  
midst of the furnace1 kept that young   
man unspotted from the world through all
 the gutters of ,paris life4 ,could not 
our sweet ,english and ,american girls  
be to their brothers what that young    
,french girl was to hers8  ,but perhaps 
some pessimistic mother will exclaim1   
,what is the use of making these        
old-fashioned appeals to our modern     

girls8 ,they are so taken up with the   
delights of their freedom1 so absorbed  
in the pleasure of cycling and athletic 
games1 so full of manly ambitions1 so   
persuaded that the proper cultivated    
attitude is to be an agnostic1 and to   
look at ,god and the universe through a 
sceptical and somewhat supercilious     
eyeglass1 that if we did make an appeal 
to them such as you suggest they would  
only laugh at such old-fashioned        
notions4 ,i can only say that ,i have   
not found it so4 ,i can bear the highest
 testimony at least to our ,english     
girls1 of whom ,i have addressed        
thousands1 all over the three kingdoms4 
,occasionally it has happened that      
maturer women have left me stranded1    
stretching out hands of vain appeal to  
them2 but my girls1 my dear girls1 never
 once failed me4 ,not only could ,i see 
by the expression of their faces how    
deeply they responded to my appeal to   
work out the latent possibilities of    
their womanhood1 and be the uplifting   

influence to their brothers1 and other  
young men with whom they were thrown1   
that a true woman can be2 but they came 
forward in troops to take up the        
position ,i assigned to them in our     
woman's movement towards a higher and   
purer life4 ,nobly did those young girls
 respond1 joining a movement for opening
 club-rooms and classes for working     
girls1 a movement initiated not by me1  
but by educated girls like themselves1  
and which has since spread all over     
,england and ,scotland4  ,and if this is
 true of our ,english girls1 still more 
would it be true of the ,american girl1 
who has a unique position and influence 
of her own1 and is dowered with that    
peculiar capacity and graciousness which
 seem to belong by divine right to the  
,american woman4  ,i cannot but think   
that if we were to teach our girls less 
in religious phraseology and more from  
the great realities of life2 if they    
were taught that ,christianity is only  
human life rightly seen and divinely    

ordered1 that the ,cross is only the    
uncovering of what is going on all round
 us1 though hidden to a careless        
gaze1--the sin1 the pain1 the misery1   
which are forever crucifying and forever
 calling forth that great passion of    
redeeming ,love to which1 through the   
motherhood that is in us1 one touch of  
nature makes us kin2 and that the       
central truth of ,christianity is not1  
as we have too often taught1 saving our 
own souls1 but a life poured out for the
 good of others1 and personal salvation 
as a means for having a life to pour    
forth--,i cannot but think that much    
fashionable girlish agnosticism would   
disappear1 and the true woman would     
reach forth to that divine humanity to  
which she belongs4  ,,footnotes3        
,footnote #ca3 ,husband is derived from 
two words--house and the ,saxon word to 
build1 ,german bauen4  ,footnote #cb3   
,see a little ,white ,cross paper called
 ,my ,little ,sister1 which ,i wish     
mothers would get into the hands of     

their sons just entering into manhood to
 read1 mark1 learn1 digest4 7,wells     
,gardner1 ,darton and ,co47  ,footnote  
#cc3 ,coventry ,patmore4     ,,chapter  
,,ix  ,,the ,,modern ,,woman ,,and ,,her
 ,,future   ,up to this point ,i have   
dealt only with the great shaping and   
moulding principles of life1 with       
indirect influence rather than direct4  
,how far direct teaching on matters of  
sex should be given to our girls has    
been a far greater perplexity to me than
 in the case of boys4 ,in the present   
state of our schools and our streets our
 boys must get to know evil4 ,hitherto  
it was possible to say that our girls   
might get to know evil1 and between that
 must and might lay a great and         
perplexing chasm4 ,we do not want our   
garden lilies to smell of anything but  
pure dews and rains and sun-warmed      
fragrance4 ,but is this ideal possible  
any longer1 except in a few secluded    
country homes1 where1 hidden like       
,keats's nightingale among the leaves1  

they may remain innocent and ignorant of
 the world's evil8  ,but with the       
ordinary conditions of the present day1 
with the greater freedom accorded to    
women1 the wider range of education1    
involving a wider range of reading1 with
 modern newspapers left about1 ,i ask1  
,how is it possible for a mother to keep
 her girls in ignorance and unconscious 
innocence8 ,a volume of short stories   
comes into the house from the           
circulating library2 they are clever and
 apparently absolutely harmless4 ,yet   
embedded in the heart of one such       
volume1 which shall be nameless1 ,i came
 upon a story almost as vile as anything
 in a ,french novel1 and conveying the  
most corrupt knowledge4 ,how1 ,i ask1   
can a busy mother read through every    
book of short stories before letting it 
fall into the hands of her girls2 or    
how1 if they are to read ,latin and     
,greek1 or even carefully to study our  
own old literature1 is she to guard them
 from a knowledge of evil conveyed in   

classical allusions1 or in the coarse   
plainness of speech of an earlier age8  
,i know as a fact1 whether we recognize 
it or not1 that behind our mature backs 
our girls are discussing these moral    
problems with quite an alarming amount  
of freedom1 and some at least1 guided by
 no teaching1 and with no practical     
knowledge of the great laws of human    
life1 are coming to quite startling     
conclusions1 which would make their     
mothers' hair stand on end4 ,and one    
most undesirable1 and ,i may add        
unnatural1 result noticeable among the  
more advanced section is a certain      
distaste for marriage1 a tendency to    
look upon it as something low and       
animal1 which strikes me as simply a    
fatal attitude for women to take up4    
,have we not1 therefore1 got clearly to 
recognize that the old order has        
changed1 giving place to new1 and       
requiring1 therefore1 new methods4 ,we  
may or we may not like the new order1   
but it is there4 ,under the changed     

conditions of modern life it is         
inevitable2 therefore it must be in the 
providence of ,god2 it cannot be wholly 
bad1 and if we will work in with it     
loyally1 and not thrust it aside for    
some old order of our own1 it may be1   
nay1 it will be1 wholly for good4 ,let  
us remember that the two most           
conservative organic forms1 the two that
 have most resisted progressive         
evolution1 are the donkey and the goose4
 ,to ignore the new order1 to cling to  
the old views and methods1 is to court  
moral extinction as a living force4 ,as 
well think to find safety in escaping   
from the advance of an express engine by
 adopting the stately pace of our       
grandmothers1 which was perfectly       
adapted for getting out of the way of a 
lumbering stage-coach4 ,may not ,he     
,whose large plan ripens slowly to a    
whole  be working out a progressive     
ideal such as we trace in the great     
spiritual records of our race8 ,the     
,bible1 thank ,god6 neither begins nor  

ends with sin2 but it begins with a     
sinless garden1 it ends with a strong   
city of ,god1 with evil known and       
recognized1 but cast out beyond its     
walls4 ,may ,he not be leading us to    
form a wiser1 deeper1 stronger ideal2 to
 aim for our girls not so much at       
,innocence1 with her fading wreath of   
flowers--fading1 as1 alas6 they must    
ever fade in a world like this--but to  
aim at ,virtue1 with her victor's crown 
of gold1 tried in the fire8 ,may it not 
be that ,his divine providence is       
constraining us to take as our ideal for
 our womanhood1 not the old sheltered   
garden1 but a strong city of ,god1      
having foundations1 whose very gates are
 made of pearl1 through which nothing   
that defileth is suffered to enter1 and 
whose common ways are paved with pure   
gold1 gold of no earthly temper1 but    
pure and clear as crystal2--a city of   
refuge for all who are oppressed with   
wrong1 and from which all foul forms of 
evil are banned by the one word         

,without8 ,sure ,i am that if we will   
accept this deeper and larger ideal1 and
 endeavor1 however imperfectly1 to work 
it out on the earth1 in the midst of it1
 as in the old garden ideal1 will be    
found the tree of life2 but then its    
very leaves will be for the healing of  
the nations4  ,but whether you go with  
me as far as this or not1 ,i think you  
will agree with me that we must not     
leave our girls to their own crude      
notions on the deepest matters of life4 
,still less must we leave them to get   
their teaching on marriage and matters  
of sex from some modern novels1 which ,i
 can only characterize as tuberculosis  
of the moral sense1 but from which1 as  
,i have already pointed out1 we cannot  
always guard them4 ,we must give them   
direct teaching of some kind4  ,first1  
,i think our girls1 as well as our boys1
 need far more direct teaching than has 
been customary as to the sanctity of the
 body4 ,this is especially true of girls
 who are sent to boarding-schools1 as   

some of the moral evils of boys' schools
 are not1 ,i am sorry to say1 altogether
 unknown in girls' schools1 though1 as  
far as ,i can ascertain1 the evil is    
much less in extent1 and in some is     
non-existent4 ,still1 all girls need to 
be taught that the body is the temple of
 the ,lord and ,giver of life1 and that 
from the crown of their heads to the    
sole of their feet those bodies belong  
to ,christ4  ,secondly1 ,i think that   
they ought to have some such teaching   
about life and birth as that which ,i   
have already recommended for boys1 that 
they may see how through the marital tie
 and the consequent rise of the parental
 relation1 a world of blind mechanical  
force gradually developed into a world  
of life and beauty1 and at last crowned 
itself with a conscious love in an      
indissoluble union1 which makes marriage
 the very type of the union of the soul 
with ,god1 of ,christ with ,his ,church4
  ,thirdly1 they need to be taught that 
much in their own physical constitution1

 which they rebel against as            
handicapping them in the struggle of    
life1 is ,nature's provision for them   
that no merely physical function should 
press upon them as we see it do in the  
animal creation at certain periods of   
the year1 but that they should be free  
to serve ,god1 whether in the married or
 in the unmarried state1 in quietness   
and godly living4  ,fourthly1 above all 
they need definite teaching on the true 
nature1 the sanctity1 and the beauty of 
marriage4 ,it appears that the line of  
progress is always a spiral1 and it     
would seem as if we were in the backward
 sweep of the spiral which looks like   
retrogression1 but will doubtless bring 
us out further up in the end4 ,the      
masculine view that marriage is the one 
aim and end of a woman's existence1     
adopted also by some careful mothers1 is
 now exploded4 ,young men are no longer 
led to look upon every girl that they   
meet as furtively1 to use a vulgarism1  
setting her cap for him1 and only too   

ready to fling herself at his feet4 ,so 
far so good4 ,but have we not suffered  
our girls to drift into the opposite    
extreme8 ,in the heyday of their bright 
young life1 with so many new interests  
and amusements open to them1 in the     
pride of their freedom and independence1
 they are no longer so inclined to      
marry1 and are even apt to look down    
upon the married state4 ,they form so   
high an ideal of the man to whom they   
would surrender their independence--an  
ideal which they fortunately do not     
apply to their fathers and brothers1    
whom they find it quite possible to love
 on a far lower and more human          
level--that because a man does not      
fulfil this ideal1 and is not a fairy   
prince dowered with every possible gift1
 they refuse men who1 though not angels1
 would have made them happy as wife and 
mother4 ,would not a little sound1      
sensible teaching be of great good here8
 ,could we not point out that1 though in
 so vital and complex a union as the    

family there must be some seat of       
ultimate authority1 some court of final 
appeal somewhere1 and that the woman    
herself would not wish it to rest       
anywhere else than in the man1 if she is
 to respect him2 yet there is no        
subservience on the part of the wife in 
the obedience she renders1 but rather in
 ,south's grand words1 ,it is that of a 
queen to her king1 who both owns a      
subjection and remains a majesty8       
,cannot we contend against this         
falsehood of the age which seems so to  
underlie our modern life1 and which     
inclines us to look upon all obedience  
as a slavish thing--that obedience which
 doth preserve the stars from wrong1 and
 through which the most ancient heavens 
are fresh and strong2 that obedience    
which when absolute and implicit to the 
,divine will is a service of perfect    
freedom8 ,it is the profession which    
exacts unquestionable obedience that    
forms the finest school for character1  
as ,i have already pointed out4 ,we do  

not hear of a ,wellington or a ,roberts 
refusing to enter the service because   
they could not give up their            
independence4 ,our military heroes at   
least know that it is through discipline
 and obedience that they gain their real
 independence--the independence of a    
strong character4  ,again1 our girls    
need to be taught not only that there is
 nothing derogatory in the married      
relation to the freest and fullest      
independence of character1 but surely in
 these days of open advocacy by some    
popular writers of les unions libres and
 a freedom of divorce that comes to much
 the same thing1 they need to be taught 
the sanctity of marriage--those first   
principles which hitherto we have taken 
for granted1 but which now1 like        
everything else1 is thrown into the     
crucible and brought into question4     
,they need definite teaching as to the  
true nature of marriage2 that it is no  
mere contract to be broken or kept      
according to the individual contractor's

 convenience--,i never yet heard of a   
contract for bringing into existence1   
not a successful machine1 but a moral   
and spiritual being with infinite       
possibilities of weal or woe1 of heaven 
or hell--but a sacramental union of love
 and life1 with sacramental grace given 
to those who will seek it to live       
happily and endure nobly within its     
sacred bounds--a union so deep and      
mystical that even on its physical side 
our great physiologists are wholly at a 
loss to account for some of its         
effects2#cd a union of which permanence 
is the very essence1 as on its          
permanence rests the permanence and     
stability of the whole fabric of our    
life4 ,it can never be treated on an    
individualistic basis1 though that is   
always the tendency with every man and  
woman who has ever loved4 ,in ,mrs4     
,humphry ,ward's words3       ,that is  
always the way2 each man imagines the   
matter is still for      his deciding1  
and he can no more decide it than he can

 tamper with      the fact that fire    
burns or water drowns4 ,all these       
centuries the      human animal has     
fought with the human soul4 ,and step by
 step the      soul has registered her  
victories4 ,she has won them only by    
feeling      for the law and finding    
it--uncovering1 bringing into light the 
firm rocks beneath her feet4 ,and on    
these rocks she rears her               
landmarks--marriage1 the family1 the    
,state1 the ,church4 ,neglect      them 
and you sink into the quagmire from     
which the soul of the race      has been
 for generations struggling to save     
you4#ce  ,fall on this rock1 stumble    
into unhappiness and discontent1 as so  
many do in marriage1 and you will be    
broken4 ,but be faithful to it and to   
the high traditions which generations of
 suffering men and women have worked out
 for you1 and you will be broken as the 
bud is broken into the blossom1 as the  
acorn is broken into the oak--broken    
into a higher and stronger life4 ,on the

 other hand rebel against it1 attempt to
 drag it down or cast it from its place1
 and it will crush you1 and grind some  
part of your higher nature to powder4   
,how strangely and sadly is this shown  
in the case of one of our greatest      
writers1 who thought that the influence 
of her writings would far outweigh the  
influence of her example1 but whose name
 and example are now constantly used by 
bad men to overcome the virtue of young 
educated girls struggling alone in      
,london1 and often half starving on the 
miserable pittance which is all they can
 earn4 ,but still more is it shown in   
the life of the nation which tampers    
with the laws of marriage and admits    
freedom of divorce4 ,either such suits  
must be heard in camera without the     
shame of exposure1 when divorce is so   
facilitated that the family and the     
,state rest rather on a superstructure  
of rickety boards than on a rock2 or    
they must be heard in public court and  
form a moral sewer laid on to the whole 

nation1 poisoning the deepest springs of
 its life1 and through that polluted    
life producing far more individual      
misery than it endeavors to remedy in   
dissolving an unhappy marriage4 ,god    
only knows what ,i suffered when a cause
 clbre came on1 and ,i felt that the    
whole nation was being provided with    
something worse and more vitally        
mischievous than the most corrupt       
,french novel4  ,deeply do ,i           
regret--and in this ,i think most       
thoughtful minds will agree with        
me--that the ,reformers in their        
inevitable rebound from the             
superstitions of ,rome1 rejected her    
teaching of the sacramental nature of   
marriage1 which has made so many        
,protestant nations tend to that freedom
 of divorce which is carried to so great
 an extent in some parts of ,america1   
and is spreading1 alas6 to many of our  
own colonies--a laxity fatally          
undermining the sanctity and stability  
of the family4 ,if marriage be not a    

sacrament1 an outward and visible sign  
of an inward and spiritual life and     
grace1 ,i ask what is8  ,i would        
therefore earnestly beseech you to      
oppose your direct teaching to the whole
 tendency of modern life1 and to much of
 the direct teaching of modern          
fiction--even of so great a novelist as 
,george ,meredith--which inculcates the 
subordination of the marriage bond to   
what is called the higher law of love1  
or rather1 passion4 ,in teaching your   
sons1 and especially your girls1 who are
 far more likely to be led astray by    
this specious doctrine1 base marriage   
not on emotion1 not on sentiment1 but on
 duty4 ,to build upon emotion1 with the 
unruly wills and affections of sinful   
men1 is to build1 not upon the sand1 but
 upon the wind4 ,there is but one       
immovable rock on which steadfast       
character1 steadfast relations1         
steadfast subordination of the lower and
 personal desires1 to the higher and    
immutable obligations and trusts and    

responsibilities of life can be         
built--duty4 ,when this rock has been   
faithfully clung to1 when in the midst  
of disillusionment and shattered ideals 
the noble resolution has been clung to  
never to base personal happiness on a   
broken trust or another's pain1 ,i have 
over and over again known the1 most     
imperfect marriage prove in the end to  
be happy and contented4 ,here again ,i  
quote some words of ,mrs4 ,humphry      
,ward1 which she puts into the mouth of 
her hero3 ,no1 he said with deep        
emphasis--,no2 ,i have come to think the
 most disappointing and hopeless        
marriage1 nobly borne1 to be better     
worth having than what people call an   
'ideal passion'--if the ideal passion   
must be enjoyed at the expense of one of
 those fundamental rules which poor     
human nature has worked out1 with such  
infinite difficulty and pain1 for the   
protection and help of its own          
weakness1#cf ,i am aware that neither   
,mr4 ,grant ,allen with his hill-top    

novels1 nor ,mrs4 ,mona ,caird need be  
taken too seriously1 but when the latter
 says1 ,there is something pathetically 
absurd in this sacrifice to their       
children of generation after generation 
of grown people1#cg ,i would suggest    
that it would be still more pathetically
 absurd to see the whole upward-striving
 past1 the whole noble future of the    
human race1 sacrificed to their unruly  
wills and affections1 their passions and
 desires4 ,if as ,goldwin ,smith says in
 his rough1 incisive way1 ,there is not 
much union of heart in marriage1 ,i do  
not see that there would be any more    
union of heart in adultery4  ,i have    
dwelt thus earnestly upon this point    
because the sooner we realize for       
ourselves and our girls that any        
relaxation of the marriage bond will in 
its disastrous consequences fall upon   
us1 and not upon men1 the better4 ,it is
 the woman who first grows old and loses
 her personal attractions1 while a man  
often preserves his beauty into extreme 

old age4 ,it is the burdened mother of a
 family who cannot compete in           
companionship with the highly cultured  
young unmarried lady1 with the leisure  
to post herself up in the last          
interesting book or the newest political
 movement4 ,it is the man who is the    
more variable in his affections than the
 woman2 more constant as she is by      
nature1 as well as firmly anchored down 
by the strength of her maternal love4   
,it is therefore on the woman that any  
loosening of the permanence of the      
marriage tie will chiefly fall in untold
 suffering4 ,le mariage c'est la        
justice1 say the ,french1 who have had  
experience enough of les unions         
libres--justice to the wife and mother1 
securing her the stability of her right 
to her husband's affections1 the        
stability to her right of maintenance   
after she has given up her means of     
support1 above all1 the stability of her
 right to the care of her own children4 
,if we want to study the innate misery  

to women arising from the relaxation of 
the married tie1 or transient unions1 we
 had better read ,professor ,dowden's   
,life of ,shelley--misery not the result
 of public stigma1 for there was no such
 stigma in the circle in which ,shelley 
moved1 but misery brought about by the  
facts themselves1 and producing state of
 things which ,matthew ,arnold could    
only characterize by the untranslatable 
,french word sale4 ,but nearer home1 one
 of your most brilliant writers1 ,mr4   
,henry ,james1 has given us an equally  
profitable study in his novelette1 ,what
 ,maisie ,knew1 which ,i presume is     
intended as a satire on freedom of      
divorce1 but which again can only be    
characterized by the ,french word sale4 
,i confess it does fill me with sardonic
 laughter to find this oldest and       
stalest of all experiments1 this oldest 
and flattest of failures1 paraded as a  
brand new and original panacea for all  
the woes of our family life1--woes      
which1 if nobly borne1 at least make    

perfect through suffering4  ,there is   
but one great rock-hewn dam successfully
 reared against the lawless passions of 
men and women1 and that is ,christian   
marriage4 ,it has at least given us the 
,christian home1 and pure family life4  
,and sometimes it fills me with despair 
to see enlightened nations1 like        
,america and ,australia1 whittling away 
and slowly undermining this great       
bulwark against the devastating sea of  
human passion4 ,if only ,i could feel   
that any poor words of mine could in any
 faint measure rouse ,american women to 
set themselves against what must in the 
end affect the depth and steadfastness  
of those family affections on which the 
beauty and solidity of the national     
character mainly rest1 ,i should feel   
indeed ,i had not lived in vain4  ,at   
least ,i can claim that one of your     
greatest women1 ,frances ,willard1 was  
heart and soul with me on this point4   
,and now to descend to lower levels4    
,could we not do a little more to save  

our young girls from sacrificing their  
happiness to false ideals by opportunely
 obtruding a little mature common-sense 
into their day visions and their        
inexperienced way of looking at things8 
,it is all very well in the heyday of   
life1 when existence is full of delight 
and home affection1 to refuse a man who 
could make them happy1 because they     
don't quite like the shape of his nose1 
or because he is a little untidy in his 
dress1 or simply because they are       
waiting for some impossible demigod to  
whom alone they could surrender their   
independence4 ,but could we not mildly  
point out that darker days must come1   
when life will not be all enjoyment1 and
 that a lonely old age1 with only too   
possible penury to be encountered1 must 
be taken into consideration8  ,god knows
 ,i am no advocate for loveless1 and    
least of all for mercenary marriages1   
but ,i think we want some vi media      
between the ,french mariage de          
convenance and our ,english and         

,american method of leaving so grave a  
question as marriage entirely to the    
whimsies and romantic fancies of young  
girls4 ,we need not go back to the old  
fallacy that marriage is the aim and end
 of a woman's existence1 and absolutely 
necessary for her happiness4 ,some women
 are doubtless called to be mothers of  
the race1 and to do the social work     
which is so necessary to our complex    
civilization4 ,some women may feel      
themselves called to some literary or   
artistic pursuit1 or some other         
profession1 for which they require the  
freedom of unmarried life4 ,but ,i think
 ,i shall carry most women with me in   
saying that for the ordinary woman      
marriage is the happiest state1 and that
 she rarely realizes the deepest and    
highest in her nature except in wifehood
 and motherhood4 ,rarely1 indeed1 can   
any public work that she can do for the 
world equal the value of that priceless 
work of building up1 stone by stone1 the
 temple of a good man's character which 

falls to the lot of his mother4 ,truly  
is she called the wife1 the weaver1     
since day and night1 without hasting and
 without resting1 she is weaving the    
temple hangings1 wrought about with     
pomegranates and lilies1 of the very    
shrine of his being4 ,and if our girls  
could be led to see this1 at least it   
would overcome that adverseness to      
marriage which many are now so curiously
 showing1 and which inevitably makes    
them more fastidious and fanciful in    
their choice1 ,and1 on the other hand1  
without falling back into the old       
match-making mamma1 exposing her wares  
in the marriage market to be knocked    
down to the highest bidder1 might not   
parents recognize a little more than    
they do how incumbent on them it is to  
make every effort to give their         
daughters that free and healthy         
intercourse with young men which would  
yield them a wider choice1 and which    
forms the best method for insuring a    
happy marriage8  ,at least1 let us open 

our eyes to the fact that we are face to
 face with some terrible problems with  
regard to the future of our girls4 ,with
 safe investments yielding less and less
 interest1 it must become more and more 
difficult to make a provision for the   
unmarried daughters2 and if the money is
 spent instead on training them to earn 
their own bread1 we are still met by the
 problem of the early superannuation of 
women's labor1 which rests on physical  
causes1 and cannot therefore be removed4
 ,this at least is no time to despise   
marriage1 or for women of strong and    
independent character to adopt an       
attitude which deprives the nation of   
many of its noblest mothers4  ,but if we
 are to facilitate marriage1 which must 
form1 at any rate1 the main solution of 
the problems of the near future to which
 ,i have alluded1 if we are to prevent1 
or even lessen1 the degradation of      
women1 if we are to extinguish this pit 
of destruction in our midst1 into which 
so many a fair and promising young life 

disappears1 and which perpetually       
threatens the moral and physical welfare
 of our own sons1 if we are to stay the 
seeds of moral decay in our own nation1 
we must be content to revolutionize much
 in the order of our own life1 and adopt
 a lower and simpler standard of living4
 ,it is we1 and not men1 who set the    
standard2 it is we who have been guilty 
of the vulgar ambition of following the 
last social fashion1 and doing as our   
richer neighbors do1 until in ,england  
we have made our girls such expensive   
articles that many young men simply dare
 not indulge in them1 and are led to    
seek in their luxurious clubs the       
comfort which they should find in a home
 of their own1 with all that relaxation 
of moral fibre which comes from club    
life4 ,do we seriously think that we are
 likely successfully to contend against 
the degradation of women by our ,rescue 
,societies and our ,refuges when we are 
deliberately bringing about a social    
condition that ministers to it8 ,oh1 of 

course1 said a near relative of my own1 
no girl can marry comfortably and live  
in ,london with less than a thousand a  
year4 ,all ,i can answer is that if this
 be so1 it means the degradation of     
women writ large4  ,and have we even    
secured the happiness of our own        
daughters by this high standard of      
living which prevents so many of them   
from marrying at all8 ,these unmarried  
girls1 with no worthy object in life to 
call out the noble energies that lie    
dormant within them1 lasting rather than
 living1--are they really happy8 ,is not
 ,robert ,louis ,stevenson right when he
 says that the ideal of the stalled ox  
is the one ideal that will never satisfy
 either man or woman8 ,were not the     
hardships of a smaller income and a     
larger life--a life that would at least 
satisfy a woman's worst foe1 heart      
hunger1--more adapted to their true     
nature1 their true happiness8  ,and to  
what further admirable results have we  
attained by this high standard of       

comfort and luxury8 ,nature has         
carefully provided for the equality of  
the sexes by sending rather more boys   
than girls into the world1 since fewer  
boys are reared2 but we have managed to 
derange this order4 ,we have sent our   
boys out into the world1 but we have    
kept our girls at home1 refusing to     
allow them to rough it with husbands and
 brothers or to endure the least        
hardness4 ,the consequence is that we   
have nearly a million of surplus women  
in the old country1 while in ,america1  
and in our own colonies1 we have a      
corresponding surplus of men1 with all  
the evil moral consequences that belong 
to a disproportion between the sexes4   
,truly we may congratulate ourselves6   
,i would therefore urge that if we are  
really to grapple with these moral      
evils1 we should simplify our standard  
of living1 and educate our girls very   
differently to what1 at least in        
,england1 we are doing4 ,culture is     
good1 and the more we have of it the    

better2 it gives a woman a wider sphere 
of influence1 as well as more           
enlightened methods of using that       
influence4 ,but if dead languages are to
 take the place of living service2 if   
high mathematics are to work out a low  
plane of cooking and household          
management2 if a first class in moral   
science is to involve third class       
performance of the moral duties involved
 in family life1 then ,i deliberately   
say it were better that1 like           
,tennyson's mother1 we should be        
,not learned save in gracious household 
ways4  ,i protest with the uttermost    
earnestness against the care of human   
life1 of human health1 and of human     
comfort being considered a lower thing  
and of less importance than good        
scholarship2 or that1 when we recognize 
that months and even years will have to 
be devoted to the attainment of the one1
 the arts by which we can fulfil those  
great human trusts which devolve more or
 less upon every woman can be practised 

without ever having been learnt at all4 
,do not misunderstand me4 ,do not think 
,i am decrying a classical education2   
and1 as the daughter of a great         
mathematician1 it is not likely that ,i 
should underrate mathematics as a mental
 discipline4 ,i am only urging that they
 should be subordinated to higher and   
more practical issues4  ,i am thankfully
 aware that these remarks do not apply  
to ,american women to the same degree in
 which they apply to our ,english girls4
 ,the paucity of domestic servants1 and 
the consequent pressure of necessity1   
have saved you from the fine lady ideal 
which we have adopted for our girls and 
the exclusively book education into     
which we have almost unconsciously      
drifted4 ,you have been constrained to  
choose some nobler type on which to     
mould your scheme of female education   
than that of the tadpole1 which is all  
head1 no hands1 a much active and       
frivolous tail4 ,your girls are brought 
up not to consider it beneath them to   

take part in the work of the house2 and 
something of the all round capability of
 ,american women which so strikes us is 
doubtless owing to their not having     
incurred this ,nemesis of disproportion1
 and therefore to their combining       
intellectual culture with practical     
efficiency4  ,why we should have taken  
this fine lady ideal for our girls1 when
 we take such a much more practical     
standard for our boys1 has always       
puzzled me4 ,if an excellent opening    
offered itself to one of our sons at a  
bank1 we should agree with his father in
 expecting him to take it1 though it    
would involve the drudgery of sitting in
 a cramped attitude on a tall stool for 
hours and hours every day4 ,why should  
we accept life's necessary drudgery for 
our boys and refuse it for our girls8   
,no life worth living can be had without
 drudgery1--the most brilliant as well  
as the dullest4 ,darwin spent eight of  
the best years of his life in an        
exhaustive investigation into the       

organization of a barnacle--labor       
accompanied1 as all intellectual work   
was with him1 by a constant sense of    
physical nausea from which he suffered1 
till1 from sheer weariness and disgust  
at the drudgery1 he ends his researches 
in his emphatic way with the            
exclamation1 ,d---- the barnacles6 ,at  
least a woman's household drudgery does 
not end in a barnacle1 or in dead coin1 
but in a living and loved personality   
whose comfort and health it secures4    
,blessed is drudgery1 the homely mother 
of ,patience1 that young and rose-lipped
 cherubim1 of quiet endurance1 of       
persistency in well-doing1 of all the   
stablest elements of character4  ,do not
 let us refuse to our girls the divine  
hardness which is the very heart of a   
diviner joy and of that fuller life of  
which our veins are scant1 nor refuse   
for them and for ourselves the words of 
life3 ,as the ,father hath sent ,me into
 the world1 even so send ,i you2 but be 
content to send them into the world to  

love1 to suffer1 to endure1 to live and 
die for the good of others4             
,,footnotes3  ,footnote #cd3 ,see some  
curious facts given in ,darwin's ,origin
 of ,species4  ,footnote #ce3 ,david    
,grieve1 by ,mrs4 ,humphry ,ward1 sixth 
edition1 p4 #dja4  ,footnote #cf3 ,david
 ,grieve1 p4 #ebd4  ,footnote #cg3      
,nineteenth ,century1 ,may1 #ahib4      
,,chapter ,x  ,,national ,,and          
,,imperial ,,aspects   ,i cannot        
conclude these imperfect suggestions as 
to how we may best carry up the moral   
training of our children1 and especially
 of our boys1 to a higher level1 without
 touching on the wider and national     
aspect of the problems we have been     
considering4 ,especially is this        
necessary in relation to that attribute 
which1 in common parlance1 arrogates to 
itself the name that covers the vast    
sweep of all moral obligation and calls 
itself emphatically morality4 ,language1
 ,dr4 ,martineau has finely said1 is the
 great confessional of the human heart2 

and it may be in some instinctive sense 
that this question of personal purity or
 the reverse is the determining force   
for good or evil to the nation1 as well 
as to the family1 that has given this   
restricted sense to the words morality  
and immorality4 ,yet we are possessed   
with an inveterate and almost           
irreclaimable tendency to look at the   
question of purity of life from a purely
 individualistic standpoint1 and to     
regard it as a matter concerning the    
individual rather than the social       
organism4 ,in electing a member for the 
,legislature how often have we not been 
told that we are only concerned with his
 public career1 and have nothing        
whatever to do with his private life1   
though the private life is only another 
expression for the man himself2 and how 
can we be called upon to entrust the    
destinies of our country to a libertine 
who habitually violates the obligations 
of his own manhood and does his best to 
lower and degrade the womanhood of the  

people he is called as a member of the  
,legislature to protect and to raise8   
,when shall we learn that whatever      
touches the higher life and well-being  
of the family still more vitally affects
 the wider family of the ,state1 and    
threatens its disintegration8 ,the      
family in some lower form will survive  
in the most corrupt form of society2 but
 the ,state1 as an organized polity1    
capable of embodying1 preserving1 and   
promoting the higher life of the nation1
 perishes4  ,i am the more led to dwell 
earnestly on these wider aspects1 since 
that great epoch-making commemoration   
which marked the sixtieth year of the   
reign of our ,queen1 and which brought  
home to the consciousness of the nation1
 as nothing else has ever done1 its vast
 world-wide responsibilities4 ,that     
great national festival1 with its proud 
imperial note1 in which we celebrated   
the rise and progress of that larger    
,venice with no narrow canals1 but the  
sea itself for streets1 will forever    

form a landmark in ,english history4    
,none who witnessed it will ever forget 
that spectacle1 of men of all races and 
color1 of all creeds and traditions1    
assembled together as brothers and      
fellow-subjects1 to do honor to a       
woman's gracious sway of sixty years4   
,and is there not a deep significance in
 the fact that these men of warring     
creeds and opposed traditions came      
together to do homage to no commanding  
personality1 no ,semiramis or ,boadicea 
of old1 no ,catherine of ,russia or     
,elizabeth of ,england2 but to a        
sovereign whose chief characteristic has
 been that of being a true woman1 with a
 true woman's instinctive sagacity and  
wisdom of the heart3 a woman with no    
glamour of youth and beauty1 but bowed  
with the weight of years and widowhood  
and cares of ,state2 a ,queen who1 on   
the morning of her crowning triumph1    
sent forth no royal proclamation couched
 in set and pompous periods1 but laid   
her trembling hands on the bowed head of

 her people1 and gave them a simple     
mother's blessing3 ,tell my beloved     
people that ,i pray from the bottom of  
my heart that ,god may bless them8  ,may
 ,i not take it as the very embodiment  
of all that ,i have been urging on the  
women of this day1 the immense          
possibilities of good that lie latent in
 our womanhood1 the vast issues of good 
to the nation1 and through it to the    
world1 if that womanhood is only true to
 itself8  ,for let us clearly realize   
that this great moral question is no    
question confined to the narrow limits  
of the home1 but a question of the rise 
and fall of nations4 ,this is a truism  
of history4 ,all history teaches us that
 the welfare and very life of a nation  
is determined by moral causes2 and that 
it is the pure races that respect their 
women and guard them jealously from     
defilement that are the tough1 prolific1
 ascendant races1 the noblest in type   
and the most fruitful in propagating    
themselves4 ,you will never find a      

permanently progressive race where the  
position of women is low1 the men       
libertine1 and the state of society     
corrupt4 ,what was it that made the most
 brilliant civilization the world has   
ever seen--the civilization which still 
gives us the inexhaustible wells of our 
intellectual life--what was it that made
 it the shortest-lived8 ,few1 ,i think1 
would deny that the rapid decadence of  
,greece1 despite her splendid           
intellectual life1 was due to moral     
causes4 ,not the pure1 but the          
impure--the brilliant ,hetair--were the 
companions of men1 and the men          
themselves were stained with nameless   
vices4 ,speaking of the decay of the    
,athenian people1 ,mr4 ,francis ,galton 
says3 ,we know1 and may guess something 
more1 of the reason why this            
marvellously gifted race declined4      
,social morality grew exceedingly lax2  
marriage became unfashionable and was   
avoided2 many of the more ambitious and 
accomplished women were avowed          

courtesans1 and consequently infertile2 
and the mothers of the incoming         
population were of a heterogeneous      
class4#ch ,what was it that made the    
,egyptian civilization one of the       
longest-lived of ancient civilizations8 
,was it not1 as we now find by her      
monuments1 that the position of women   
was high2 the wife was enthroned by the 
side of her husband1 and impurity was   
condemned by the moral sense of the     
nation8 ,what was it that enabled our   
barbaric ancestors1 the ,teutons1 to    
overthrow the whole power of civilized  
,rome8 ,on the authority of ,tacitus1 we
 know that they were singularly pure4   
,their women were held in the highest   
reverence1 and believed to have         
something divine about them1 some breath
 of prophetic insight4 ,their young men 
were not allowed to marry till they were
 five-and-twenty--in other words1 till  
their frame was thoroughly matured4     
,impurity before marriage was strongly  
discountenanced in both sexes4          

,therefore the whole power of ,rome1    
honeycombed as it was by moral          
corruption and sexual vice1 could not   
stand before these pure barbarians4     
,and if these mighty civilizations have 
perished from moral causes1 do we really
 think that the moral law--will      ,of
 which the solid earth and sky     ,are 
but the fitful shadows cast on high--   
suspend its operation out of compliment 
to the greatness of the ,british empire 
or of the ,american ,republic1 if they1 
too1 become morally corrupt2 or will not
 those old vanished nations1 in the     
magnificent words of the ,hebrew        
prophet1 greet the phantom of their     
departed greatness in the land of       
shadows3 ,what1 art thou1 also1 become  
weak as we8 ,art thou also like unto us8
 ,thy pomp is brought down to the grave2
 the worm is spread under thee1 and the 
worms cover thee4       ,we talk of our 
greatness1 says ,mr4 ,froude2 do we     
really know in      what a nation's     
greatness consists8 ,whether it be great

 or little      depends entirely on what
 sort of men and women it is producing4 
,a      sound nation is a nation that is
 made up of sound human beings1         
healthy in body1 strong of limb1 true in
 word and deed1 brave1      sober1      
temperate1 and chaste1 to whom morals   
are of more importance      than wealth 
or knowledge2 where duty is first and   
the rights of man      are second2      
where1 in short1 men grow up1 and live1 
and work1      having in them what our  
ancestors called 'the fear of ,god4' ,it
 is      to form a character of this    
kind that human beings are sent into    
the world4 ,unless ,england's greatness 
in this sense has the      principle of 
growth in it1 it were better for us that
 a millstone      were hanged about our 
neck1 and that we were drowned in the   
midst      of the sea4       ,i feel    
more and more1 said ,mrs4 ,fawcett in   
words addressed to a      great meeting 
of men in the ,manchester ,free ,trade  
,hall--words that      ,i wish could be 

written upon every heart-- that the     
great question      whether the         
relations of men and women shall be pure
 and virtuous      or impure and vile   
lies at the root of all national        
well-being and      progress4 ,the main 
requisite towards a better state of     
things than      now exists cannot be   
brought about by any outside agency4    
,there is      no royal road to virtue  
and purity4 ,law can do something to    
punish      wickedness1 but improvement 
in the law is mainly valuable as an     
indication that the public standard of  
morality is raised4 ,let us      get    
good laws if we can2 but there is only  
one way of really      obtaining a      
nobler national existence1 and that is  
by each of us      individually learning
 to hate and detest the vile            
self-indulgence      that covers the    
life of those who are the victims of it 
with shame      and degradation4        
,self-control and respect for the rights
 of others      are the only cure for   

the terrible national danger which      
threatens      us4 ,if men and women    
would learn never to take pleasure in   
what      brings pain1 shame1 misery1   
and moral death to others1 earth would  
be turned into a heaven4 ,it would be   
incredible if it were not true      that
 for mere selfish indulgence thousands  
of men are willing to      drag women   
down to what even these men themselves  
recognize as the      lowest dregs of   
humanity4 ,where is their chivalry8     
,where is their      common humanity8   
,some would say that such men do not    
possess      either4 ,for my part1 ,i do
 not believe this4 ,let women thankfully
      acknowledge that1 so far as other 
matters are concerned1 they are         
constantly indebted to the chivalrous   
self-sacrifice of men4      ,chivalry is
 not dead2 generous self-sacrifice is   
not dead2 but in      far too many      
cases1 with regard to the all-important 
question of      personal purity1 they  
are sleeping4 ,our efforts must be      

directed to      awakening them4 ,we    
must try and make men realize the       
callous      cruelty of all actions     
which lower the womanhood of even the   
poorest and most degraded of women4     
,and if we refuse1 sunk in our own      
selfish interests and pleasures1 and    
content that the daughters of the people
 should perish as long as our own are   
safe1 then it will not be by an         
,european coalition that the ,british   
,empire will perish1 it will be by moral
 decay from within2 in ,blake's rough1  
strong words3      ,the harlot's curse  
from street to street     ,shall be old 
,england's winding sheet4  ,the ,british
 ,empire1 the great ,american ,republic1
 the two greatest civilizing1           
order-spreading1 ,christianizing        
world-powers ever known1 can only be    
saved by a solemn league and covenant of
 their women to bring back simplicity of
 life1 plain living1 high thinking1     
reverence for marriage laws1 chivalrous 
respect for all womanhood1 and a high   

standard of purity for men and women    
alike4  ,suffer me to lay before you    
three considerations1 which will prove  
to you at once that this great moral    
question is more vital to our two       
nations than to any other1 and that we  
are peculiarly vulnerable to the action 
of moral causes4  ,firstly1 ,england1   
and in one sense ,england alone1 is the 
mighty mother of nations4 ,three great  
nations have already sprung from her    
loins2 a fourth in ,africa is already in
 process of consolidation4 ,from the    
narrow confines of our sea-girt island  
our people pour into all quarters of the
 globe2 and if we suffer ,england to    
know corruption we send forth polluted  
waters into all lands4 ,your great      
,republic1 on the other hand1 is a      
mother of nations in another sense1     
since she receives into her mighty bosom
 vast numbers drawn from the suffering  
peoples of the old world1 and gives them
 a mother's welcome4 ,according as your 
civilization is high and pure1 or low   

and corrupt1 so will those naturalized  
citizens be4 ,decay with great empires1 
as with fish1 sets in at the head2 and  
the moral decadence of ,england and     
,america will sensibly lower the moral  
standard of nearly one-third of the     
population of the world4#ci ,the heart  
of the two nations is still sound4 ,it  
is not too late4 ,we are at least free  
from the continental system1 by which   
the degradation of women is reduced to a
 systematized slavery1 to meet what is  
openly called a necessity of nature4    
,the comparative purity of ,englishmen  
and ,americans is still a wonder1 and   
often a derision to foreigners4 ,our    
women are a greater power than in any   
other country4 ,we still start from a   
good vantage-ground4  ,england1         
certainly through no merit of her own1  
has been called by the providence of    
,god to lead in great moral causes4 ,we 
led in the matter of slavery--the open  
sore of the world4 ,we ,english and     
,american women are now called to lead1 

in this its hidden sore1 for the healing
 of the nations4  ,secondly1 since you  
have elected to go beyond your own      
confines and have dependencies1 and so  
take up the white man's burden of       
civilizing and ,christianizing the      
world1 your men as well as ours will be 
exposed to that dangerously lowering    
influence1 contact with lower races and 
alien civilizations4 ,an ,englishman in 
,india1 if he be not a religious man1 is
 apt to blind himself to wrongs done to 
womanhood1 because those wrongs are     
often done to a pariah caste who are    
already set apart for infamy2 though ,i 
have not yet heard of an ,englishman    
possessing himself of slaves on the     
ground that they were slaves already to 
their native masters4 ,worse still1 in  
savage or semi-civilized countries the  
native girl1 far from feeling herself   
degraded1 considers that she is raised  
by any union1 however illicit1 with a   
white man4 ,it is the native men who are
 furious4 ,which of us in ,england did  

not feel an ache of shame in our hearts 
over the plea of the ,matabele to the   
white man3 ,you have taken our lands1   
and our hunting-grounds are gone4 ,you  
have taken our herds1 and we want for   
food4 ,you have taken our young men1 and
 made them slaves in your mines4 ,you   
have taken our women and done what you  
like with them4 ,how many of our native 
wars may not have had as their cause    
that last sentence in the plaint of the 
,matabele1 a cause carefully concealed  
from the public eye8 ,for ,god's sake1  
let mothers teach their sons that first 
rudiment in manly character1 the        
recognition that the girls of a         
conquered race1 or of a barbarian tribe 
inhabiting one of our spheres of        
influence1 from the very fact that they 
are a conquered race1 or1 if not        
conquered1 hopelessly and piteously in  
our power1 are ipso facto a most sacred 
trust to us1 which it is both unmanly   
and bestial to violate4 ,especially ,i  
would plead with mothers to send us pure

 men for our army--officers who will set
 their men a high example of chivalry   
towards the weakest native woman1 and   
who will so influence them by example   
and personal influence that they may    
look upon voluntarily disabling         
themselves from active service1 while   
still taking the government pay1 as     
unmanly and unsoldierly4 ,give us men   
who can say with a non-commissioned     
officer writing home to one of our      
,white ,cross secretaries3 ,i have been 
out in ,india now eleven years and have 
never had a day's illness2 and ,i think 
the whole secret of my good health is   
total abstinence from all that          
intoxicates1 and that ,i honor all women
 as ,i honor my mother or any of my     
sisters4  ,thirdly1 the hardest thing on
 earth is not to slay a sin1 but to get 
it buried2 and the hardest of all sins  
to get under ground is the sin of       
impurity4 ,it is largely due to the low 
standard of purity among men that we owe
 the almost insoluble problem presented 

by the existence of the large ,eurasian 
population in ,india1 and of the        
half-caste generally4       ,the        
universal unanimity of the popular      
verdict on the half-caste      is       
remarkable1 says ,olive ,schreiner in   
some powerful articles      published in
 ,blackwood on the problems presented by
 our ,colonial      ,empire4 ,the       
half-caste1 it is asserted in every     
country where he      is known1 whether 
it be in ,america1 ,asia1 or ,africa1   
and whether      his ancestors be       
,english and negroid ,spanish and       
,indian1 or ,boer      and              
,hottentot1--the self-caste is by nature
 anti-social4 ,it is      always        
asserted that he possesses the vices of 
both parent races      and the virtues  
of neither3 that he is born especially  
with a      tendency to be a liar1      
cowardly1 licentious1 and without       
self-respect4  ,olive ,schreiner herself
 is the first to admit that there are   
exceptions4 ,she says3       ,the fact  

that amongst the most despised class of 
our laboring      half-castes we have   
all met individuals1 not only of the    
highest      integrity1 but of rare     
moral beauty and of heroic and fully    
developed social feelings1 does not     
impugn the theory of his                
unfortunate position4 ,if you should sow
 human seed inside the door      of     
hell1 some of it would yet come up white
 lilies4 ,but as a rule      the popular
 verdict on the half-caste is not       
overdrawn4  ,i strongly agree with ,mrs4
 ,schreiner that this lamentable result 
is not due solely1 or even chiefly1 to  
the admixture of races1 but far more to 
the circumstances in which he has been  
born and bred4 ,he has originated in    
almost all cases1 not from the union of 
average individuals of the two races    
uniting under average conditions1 but as
 the result of a sexual union between   
the most helpless and enslaved females  
of the dark race and the most recklessly
 dominant males of the white4 ,he enters

 a world in which there was no place    
prepared for him4 ,his father was about 
as sensible of his parental obligations 
towards him as a toad towards its spawn 
in the next ditch4 ,to him he was a     
broken wineglass from last night's      
feast4 ,often without a family1 always  
without a nation or race1 without       
education or moral training1 and        
despised by the society in which he was 
born1 is it any wonder that the         
half-caste is the curse of the community
 in which he is found2--one of those    
whips1 as ,shakespeare reminds us1 that 
heaven makes out of our pleasant vices  
to scourge us into some sense of their  
seriousness8  ,if you would not incur   
that curse1 that insoluble problem of   
the half-caste1 then in both your civil 
and military services send out men of   
clean hearts and lives into your        
dependencies1 ,alas6 in your great      
military camps during your ,spanish war 
a moral laxity was allowed1 which1 had  
it been attempted in the ,egyptian      

campaign1 ,lord ,kitchener would have   
stamped out with a divine fury4 ,i had  
it from an eyewitness1 but the details  
are wholly unfit for publication4  ,i do
 not hold with our little ,englanders   
that the possession of an empire is a   
disaster2 on the contrary1 ,i hold that 
it constitutes a splendid school for the
 formation of strong character1--of men 
who are the very salt of the earth1--and
 that the sense of a great mission to be
 fulfilled tends to give a nobility of  
soul to the whole nation2 while even the
 wars it may involve prove the vultures 
of ,god swooping down on the hidden     
social rottennesses which in prolonged  
peace may breed unnoticed and           
unreproved4 ,we have never forgotten the
 bitter lessons of the ,crimean war     
which laid bare our miserable           
incompetence in organizing1 and the     
moral rottenness of our ,english firms  
that could supply our soldiers with     
paper-soled boots and bayonets that bent
 at a thrust1 when the very life of our 

brave fellows depended on their being   
well armed and well shod4  ,america will
 never forget the sufferings of her     
wounded in the ,spanish war1 sufferings 
caused by the like dishonesty in the    
goods supplied and the like criminal    
incompetency which failed to provide    
them even with necessaries4  ,but ,i do 
say that an empire presents many        
difficult problems1 and that the men who
 accept its responsibilities need a     
sound head1 clean hands1 and above all a
 pure heart4  ,let me in conclusion     
relate an incident which happened in the
 wreck of the ,warren ,hastings1 to     
which ,i have already alluded1--an      
incident which ,i can never tell without
 a breaking voice and eyes full of      
tears4 ,in that awful night of storm and
 darkness and iminent shipwreck1 the    
officer in command1 after ordering his  
men below to lighten the crowded deck1  
stationed two of his men at a narrow    
gangway through which he feared an ugly 
rush for life might be made1 while the  

women and children were being embarked1 
bidding them on no account to leave     
their post till he gave them the word of
 command4 ,at length the women and the  
sick had all been saved in the boats4   
,this done1 and not till then1 the men  
had saved themselves1 some by boats1    
some by life preservers2 and last of all
 the captain and officer in command were
 proceeding to leave the fast foundering
 ship1 when the latter heard a voice    
close to him1 saying1 ,colonel1 may we  
leave now8 ,it was the voice of one of  
his two sentinels4 ,in the stress and   
strain of the awful scenes of that night
 he had for the moment forgotten that he
 had ordered them not to leave their    
post until he gave the word of command4 
,and he said that the water was almost  
up to their lips6  ,oh ye mothers of    
,america and of our great ,empire6 send 
us such men as these1--men who will     
mount guard over women and children in  
all lands1 and see1 as far as in them   
lies1 that they do not make shipwreck of

 what is dearer than life2--men who1    
even with the bitter waters of          
temptation up to their own lips1 will   
still hold their post and see that no   
man1 to save himself1 drives them down  
into that dread sea of perdition which  
never gives up its dead4  ,then ,east1  
,west1 ,north1 ,south1 the ,american    
flag will witness in the face of all    
nations to the true manhood that steers 
its course by no earth-born fires of    
passion and selfish lust1 but by the    
eternal stars1 the heavenly lights of   
,god1 and mother1 and duty1 and home4   
,east1 ,west1 ,north1 ,south1 by its    
side our flag1 twice scored with the    
,white ,cross1 will float wide in the   
face of all nations the ,englishman's   
faith1 reverence for womanhood1         
self-giving manhood1 and the pure heart 
that sees ,god4  ,,footnotes3  ,footnote
 #ch3 ,hereditary ,genius1 by ,francis  
,galton1 p4 #cca4  ,footnote #ci3 ,great
 ,britain1 since the conquest of the    
,soudan1 rules one-fourth of the        

population of the world4     ,,chapter  
,,xi  ,,the ,,dynamic ,,aspect ,,of     
,,evil#dj   ,there remains yet one other
 way in which ,i earnestly desire to    
help you if ,i can4 ,i would fain afford
 you some light on this difficult       
problem and give you a spring of hope   
within by enabling you to see what it is
 working out in the world without4      
,some1 ,i know1 do not need this help4  
,some wholesome souls seem to gaze on   
all evil with sun-dazzled eyes--eyes    
that see ,him in whom they walk1 and not
 it1 and in ,his light they see light4  
,they are the naturally ,christian souls
 who lead melodious days amid all the   
jars and discords of the world around   
them4 ,others there are who seem to look
 upon these great social evils as       
especially provided to afford a sphere  
for their beneficent activities2 and who
 if1 by some sudden rise in public      
opinion1 some passionate sense of the   
wrong done to women1 the degraded class 
should almost cease to exist1 would in  

their heart of hearts secretly regret so
 many empty beds in their little ,rescue
 ,home and the possibility that it might
 have to be shut up1 when the girls did 
turn out so well4 ,others1 again1 there 
are who never trouble their heads or    
hearts about the misery and sin of the  
world1 or any social problem1 however   
dark1 as long as their own house is     
comfortable1 their own bed soft1 and    
their own children healthy and well     
cared for1 never dreaming how those     
social evils may press upon those       
children in their after-life4 ,these are
 in no need of this kind of help4 ,but  
there are many thoughtful mothers1      
possibly an increasing number with the  
increase of knowledge that is coming to 
all women1 from whose heart there is    
going up a bitter cry1 ,why1 oh why is  
all this evil permitted8 ,why is there  
this nameless moral difficulty at the   
very heart of our life which our whole  
soul revolts from contemplating8 ,why   
has ,nature made these passions so      

strong that she seems wholly regardless 
of all considerations of morality8#da   
,some there are who feel that all       
infidel books are mere curl-paper in    
comparison with the terrible facts of   
life1 some who are in danger of having  
all faith crushed out of them--         
,beneath the weary and the heavy weight 
,of all this unintelligible world4  ,it 
is these who need1 like myself1 as a    
first step to strong action1 to see     
something of what ,god is working out by
 the evil and suffering of the world1 to
 see it as a part of a vast redemptive  
whole1 not as a great exception in our  
life1 but working under the same law by 
which1 in the words of the ancient      
collect1 things which are cast down are 
being raised up1 and things which had   
grown old are being made new1 and all   
things are returning to perfection      
through ,him from whom they had their   
origin4  ,now1 do not think that ,i am  
going to indulge in a dissertation on   
the origin of evil or why the world is  

so full of sin and misery4 ,this is     
insoluble4 ,you cannot solve a problem  
which has only one term4 ,your unknown  
quantity must have some known factor or 
factors related to it1 or you cannot    
resolve it into the known4 ,in this     
great claim of cause and effect1 where  
all things are related and              
interdependent1 you can only know a     
related thing through its relations4    
,try to account for a bit of chalk1 for 
instance1 and consider all you must know
 in order to enable you to do so4 ,to   
account for its weight you must know    
something about the motion of the whole 
planetary system and the law of gravity 
that controls that system2 to account   
for the weather-stains upon it1 you must
 know something about chemical reaction2
 to account for its being chalk and not 
flint1 you must know something of the   
geological ages of the earth1 and how it
 comes to be built up of little         
sea-shells2 to account for its hardness1
 you must know something of the         

intricacies of molecular physics4 ,all  
this you must know to account for a mere
 bit of chalk4 ,how1 then1 can we expect
 to understand the problem of the world 
when we know absolutely nothing of its  
relations with the great moral and      
spiritual whole to which it belongs1 and
 without the knowledge of which it must 
for ever remain an insoluble problem1   
presenting one term only1 an enigma of  
which we do not possess the key8  ,but  
though we cannot understand the origin  
of evil and why the world is as it is1  
we can understand something of the      
processes which are at work for good or 
ill4 ,we can in a measure trace whether 
these processes are making slowly but   
surely for righteousness1 or whether all
 the sin and the suffering are aimless  
and purposeless1 a voice that cries     
believe no more1         ,an ever       
breaking shore     ,that tumbles in a   
godless deep4  ,now1 ,i contend that the
 only ground of despair1 the only thing 
that might-shut us up to pessimism and  

to a philosophy only just above suicide 
mark1 would be not the presence but the 
absence of these great world evils4 ,if 
this world presented a dead-level of    
comfortable selfishness that on the     
whole answered fairly well all round1 an
 economy of petty self-interests in     
stable equilibrium1 a world generally   
wrong1 but working out no evil in       
particular to set it right1 a society in
 which every man was for himself1 and   
not the devil1 as at present1 but ,god  
for us all--then indeed we might        
despair4 ,but who can contemplate       
humanity as it is1 that broken stair of 
the ,divinity1 whose top is in the      
unapproachable light of heaven and whose
 lowest step rests not on earth but in  
hell1 without feeling that it is        
destined for an infinite progress1      
destined for the ascending feet of      
angels8 ,who that gazes on this world1  
with its infinite depths of pain1 its   
heavy weight of evil1 its abysmal falls1
 its stupendous pressures of wrong and  

misery1 but feels that here1 if         
anywhere1 we are in the presence of     
kinetic energies1 of immense moral and  
spiritual forces1 capable of raising the
 whole of fallen humanity to the heights
 of the ,divine4 ,for let us remember   
that in the moral and spiritual world1  
as well as in the physical1 no fall but 
carries with it the force that can be   
converted into a rise2 no dread         
resistance of wrong to the right but    
creates an accumulated force which once 
let loose can transform an empire2 no   
weight of evil but1 in pulling it down1 
can be made to raise the whole bent of  
our life4      ,man partly is1 and      
wholly hopes to be4  ,he is no finite   
and finished clod4 ,progress1 as        
,browning says1 is his distinctive mark1
 and these deep evils are the gigantic  
steps by which he rises as he treads    
them under foot4 ,once recognize the    
fact that he is a fallen being--and by  
that ,i mean no theological dogma1 but a
 truth of life1 which1 whatever our     

creed may be1 must stare us in the      
face--the fact that he is a being       
knowing good but choosing evil1 capable 
of an ideal but habitually falling below
 it1 no mere automaton1 but possessed of
 a spiritual will and an accusing       
conscience--,i ask how else can he be   
educated1 in the true sense of the word1
 and raised from death unto life except 
by being made to educe his own results  
and work out his evil premiss to the    
bitter end1 till he is forced to go back
 upon himself1 and recognize the right  
principle which he has violated8 ,the   
very law of his being1 of every being   
who is being raised from death unto     
life1 is1 that he can only know life    
through death1 only grasp good by       
grappling with evil1 only gain knowledge
 by knowing ignorance2 his highest must 
be sown in weakness before it can be    
raised in power1 must be sown in        
dishonor before it can be raised in     
glory4  ,look back over the past and see
 if it is not in conflict with these    

great world evils1 themselves the       
results of man's moral blindness and    
sin1 that we have worked out the true   
principles of our life1 the higher      
possibilities of our humanity4  ,take   
the most elementary case first1 man's   
disobedience to the physical laws under 
which he must live to have a sound mind 
in a sound body4 ,man in his primitive  
stages is emphatically not a clean      
animal4 ,on the contrary1 he is a very  
dirty one4 ,he has none of the cat's    
dainty neatness and cleanliness1 none of
 her instinctive recognition of the     
deodorizing and purifying power of the  
earth1 that makes the foulest thing once
 buried spring up in fresh grass and    
fragrant flowers4 ,he has nothing of the
 imperative impulse of the little ant   
which he treads under his lordly feet to
 shampoo his brother1 let alone himself4
 ,it has needed the discipline and the  
suffering of the ages to evolve that    
great banner of progress1 the clean     
shirt4 ,from what great world           

pestilences has he not had to suffer as 
the consequences of his own             
uncleanliness6 ,cholera has been rightly
 called the beneficent sanitary         
inspector of the world4 ,with what foul 
diseases1 the very details of which     
would sicken1 has he not had to be      
scourged withal to get him to recognize 
and obey the one ,divine injunction1    
,wash and be clean6 ,truly his knowledge
 and recognition of sanitary law1 his   
physical righteousness1 has had to be   
sown in the weakness and corruption of  
disease before it could be raised to the
 power of a recognized law of life1     
insuring that cleanliness which is next 
to godliness4  ,again1 take the great   
principle of national freedom1--that a  
nation has a right to govern its own    
destinies4 ,with what world tyrannies   
and oppressions1 the outcome of man's   
selfish lust of power and wealth1 have  
not the peoples had to fight and        
struggle in order at length to win and  
get recognized that principle of freedom

 without which a nation can be neither  
strong nor holy1 neither a citadel nor a
 temple6 ,the ,iron ,duke used to say1  
,there is but one thing worse than a    
battle gained1 and that is a battle     
lost4 ,yet what battles lost and what   
battles gained1 with all their sickening
 sights and sounds--      ,oaths1       
insults1 filth1 and monstrous           
blasphemies1     ,sweat1 writhings1     
anguish1 laboring of lungs1     ,in that
 close mist1 and cryings for the light1 
,moans of the dying and voices of the   
dead2  what bloody conflicts through the
 long ages have not had to be fought out
 to gain this freedom6 ,truly we might  
apostrophize ,freedom in the words of   
the ,hebrew prophet3 ,who is this that  
cometh with her garments dyed in blood8 
,through what long centuries did not    
what ,sir ,john ,seeley called the      
mechanical theory of government survive1
 the theory which recognized no vital   
bond of blood and historical tradition  
between a people and its government1 but

 looked upon nations as royal appanages1
 to be banded about with royal alliances
 and passed under an alien sway without 
consent on its own part6 ,did it not    
require a ,napoleon to work out this    
false premiss to its bitter end1        
drenching ,europe in blood to gratify   
his own greed of power1 and reducing    
nation after nation to his alien and    
despotic rule1 till it was felt to be   
intolerable1 and with a convulsive      
struggle ,europe threw off the yoke8    
,truly a struggle which was the         
birth-throes of national sentiment and  
the recognition that the tie between the
 governed and the governing must be an  
organic one1 a tie of blood from within1
 not a force from without--in one word1 
the recognition of the great principle  
of national freedom which1 when the     
nation is sufficiently developed and    
self-disciplined to be fit for it1 is   
the great mother of progress4 ,sown in  
the corruption of those mangled and     
decaying corpses on many an awful       

battle-field1 freedom is raised to the  
glory of an incorruptible truth of      
national life4  ,once again1 was it not 
in his age-long conflict with the great 
world evil of slavery that man worked   
out the true nature of a moral          
personality8 ,man started at the outset 
with the evil premiss of the right of   
the strong to possess himself of the    
weak and the conquered1 and enslave him 
for his own use1 shunting the toil and  
burden of life upon his bowed shoulders4
 ,through long ages he had to work out  
this wrong premiss in disaster to       
empires through the laziness and        
worthlessness of their ruling classes   
engendered by slave labor1 in the dumb  
suffering and bitter wrongs of millions 
of enslaved men and women4 ,through     
centuries the ,church protested against 
these wrongs in vain1 since the evil    
root1 in the face of all protests1 will 
go on bearing the evil fruit4 ,england1 
herself the mother of free peoples1 was 
stained with the guilt of being one of  

the first to originate the worst form of
 slavery that the world has ever seen1  
the ,african slave-trade1 her great     
,queen ,elizabeth not scorning to enrich
 her royal coffers out of the profits of
 slave-raiding expeditions conducted by 
her sea-captains4 ,it needed the horrors
 of this latest development of the      
principle of slavery1 the horrors of the
 middle passage1 of whole regions of    
,africa decimated to supply the slave   
market1 of mothers torn from their      
children1 or1 worse still1 compelled to 
bear them to their slave masters1 only  
to see them in their turn sold to some  
far-off station2 of the degradation of  
men and women brought up in heathen     
ignorance lest they should use their    
knowledge to rebel--it needed all this  
weight of evil and disaster at last to  
rouse the conscience of ,europe to      
recognize that slavery was wrong in     
itself and to cast out the evil premiss 
on which it rested4 ,by the mere force  
of moral revulsion in ,england1 by the  

throes of a great civil war engendered  
by slavery in ,america1 at last the true
 nature of a moral personality got      
itself recognized1--the inviolability of
 personal responsibility1 the sanctity  
of the individual1 the sacredness of    
freedom1--those great principles on     
which the whole of our public and       
political life are founded4 ,and ,i make
 bold to say that these principles were 
gained as a heritage for all time1 not  
by the preaching of abstract justice1   
not by any consideration of the moral   
beauty of liberty1 but mainly by a      
remorseful passion over the wrongs and  
the degradation of the slave4 ,these    
great principles were sown in weakness  
and dishonor1 to be raised in honor and 
in the power of an endless life4  ,when1
 therefore1 the ,church of the living   
,god awakes1 as she is just beginning to
 do1 and closes in a life and death     
struggle with this far deeper and more  
pervasive evil of the degradation of    
women and children1 which she has too   

long accepted as a melancholy necessity 
of human nature1 may we not find in the 
course of that conflict that wholly new 
powers and new principles are being     
evolved1 and that the apparent          
impossibilities of our nature are only  
its divine possibilities in disguise8   
,may we not work out the true           
principles1 not now of our public and   
political life1 but of the home1 of the 
family1 of personal conduct and         
character--all those great moral bases  
on which the whole social structure     
rests for its stability8 ,granted that  
this is the deepest and strongest of all
 our world evils1 that which is the most
 firmly based on the original forces of 
our nature1 and of that part of our     
nature which has shown the deepest      
disorder--does not all this point to    
some great issue8 ,that which has been  
sown in such deep dishonor1 will it not 
be raised in some glory that excelleth8 
,if ,god has suffered mighty empires and
 whole kingdoms to be wrecked on this   

one evil2 if ,he has made it throughout 
the ,old ,scriptures the symbol of      
departure from ,himself1 and closely    
associated monogamic love with          
monotheistic worship1 teaching us by the
 history of all ancient idolatries that 
the race which is impure spawns unclean 
idols and ,phrygian rites2 if ,nature   
attaches such preciousness to purity in 
man that the statistics of insurance    
offices value a young man's life at     
twenty-five1 the very prime of          
well-regulated manhood1 at exactly      
one-half of what it is worth at         
fourteen1 owing1 ,dr4 ,carpenter does   
not hesitate to say1 to the indulgence  
of the passions of youth2 if the tender 
,father1 who sits by the death-bed of   
the little sparrow1 has not thought it  
too great a price to pay that countless 
women and children should be sunk to    
hell without a chance in this life1 in a
 degradation that has no name1 but      
which1 in its very depth1 measures the  
height of the sanctity of womanhood2 do 

we think that all these stupendous      
issues are for no end and to work out no
 purpose8 ,do we not feel at once that  
we stand here at the very centre of the 
mighty forces that are moulding men to  
nobler shape and higher use8  ,here1 at 
least1 is a force1 if we will only use  
it1 so weighted with public disaster1   
with national decay1 with private       
misery1 that it insists on making itself
 felt if there be a spark of life left  
and the nation has not become mere dead 
carcase for the vultures of ,god's      
judgments to prey upon4 ,here alone is a
 power strong enough to compel us to    
simplify our life and restore its old   
divine order of marriage and hard work1 
of plain living and high thinking1 which
 luxury and self-ease are fast          
undermining4 ,here1 in the slain of the 
daughters of our people1 is a stinging  
wrong that will goad us into seeing that
 the people are so housed that a human  
life is possible to them4 ,here1 if     
anywhere1 is a passion of conscience1   

and pity1 and duty1 and interest        
combined1 strong enough1 a heaped-up    
weight of evil heavy enough1 to raise us
 to a self-giving manhood and a         
self-reverencing womanhood4  ,and from  
this secret place of thunder is not ,god
 now calling ,his chosen ones to come   
forward and be fellow-workers with ,him8
 ,and when that call is obeyed1 when1 to
 summarize what ,i have already said1   
the wrongs and degradation of women and 
hapless children take hold of men1 as1  
thank ,god1 they are beginning to take  
hold1 with a remorseful passion1 that   
passion for the weak1 the wronged1 and  
the defenceless1 which surely is the    
divine in flower in a human soul2 when  
women rise up in a wild revolt against  
,the law that now is paramount1     ,the
 common law by which the poor and weak  
,are trampled under foot of vicious men1
     ,and loathed forever after by the  
good2  when the ,christian ,church at   
length hears the persistent             
interrogation of her ,lord1 ,seest thou 

this woman8 and makes answer1 ,yea1     
,lord1 ,i see that she is young1 and    
poor1 and outcast1 and degraded1 and    
speaks to young men with something of   
the passion of the true ,man--,it were  
better for you that a millstone were    
hanged about your neck and you cast into
 the depths of the sea1 than that you   
should cause one of these little ones to
 stumble2 when the fact that a foolish1 
giddy girl's feet have slipped and      
fallen is no longer the signal for every
 man to look upon her as fair game1 and 
to trample her deeper into the mire1 but
 the signal to every man calling himself
 a man to hasten to her side1 to raise  
her up again and restore her to her lost
 womanhood2 when boys are taught from   
their earliest years that if they would 
have a clear brain1 a firm nerve1 and a 
strong muscle1 they must be pure1 and   
purity is looked upon as manly1 at      
least1 as much as truth and courage2    
when women are no longer so lost to the 
dignity of their own womanhood as to    

make companions of the very men who     
insult and degrade it2 when the woman   
requires the man to come to her in holy 
marriage in the glory of his unfallen   
manhood1 as he requires her to come to  
him in the beauty of her spotless       
maidenhood2 then1 when these things     
begin to be1 will not ,god's order      
slowly evolve itself out of our         
disorder1 and the man will become the   
head of the woman1 to guard her from all
 that makes her unfit to be the mother  
of the race1 and the woman will be the  
heart of the man1 to inspire him with   
all noble purpose8 ,as we stand by this 
great world-sepulchre of corruption our 
unbelieving heart can only exclaim3 ,it 
stinketh4 ,but the ,christ meets us with
 the words1 ,said ,i not unto thee that 
if thou wouldst believe1 thou shouldst  
see the glory of ,god8 ,that which has  
been sown in human weakness must be     
raised in divine power2 that which has  
been sown in deep dishonor must be      
raised in glory4 ,for this corruptible  

must put on incorruption1 even the      
self-giving manhood of ,him who is the  
,prince of ,passion and the ,lord of    
,love1 the manhood lifted into ,god4    
,,footnotes3  ,footnote #dj3 ,in this   
chapter ,i have quoted some passages    
from an article of mine1 ,the           
,apocalypse of ,evil1 which appeared in 
the ,contemporary ,review1 and received 
the strong commendation of ,dr4         
,lightfoot1 then ,bishop of ,durham4    
,many of the thoughts ,i owe to my      
friend1 ,james ,hinton1 to whom my      
obligations on this subject are         
absolute4  ,footnote #da3 ,we must be   
careful1 however1 in urging this        
difficulty1 to remember ,dr4            
,martineau's teaching1 which ,i have    
given in the third chapter1 and bear in 
mind that the evil here is due to man's 
disorder1 and not to ,nature's order4   
,in the animal world the reproductive   
instincts work out as orderly results as
 all other natural instincts1 and are no
 stronger than is necessary for the     

preservation of the race4               
,,conclusion   ,and it is this great    
upward movement1 lifting man to a higher
 level1 which is given into the hands of
 us women1 touching1 as it does1 all the
 great trusts of our womanhood4 ,what   
are we women going to do in the face of 
such vast issues for good or evil8      
,undoubtedly we stand at the parting of 
the ways4 ,in ,england undoubtedly the  
old high traditions of ,english society 
have1 at least in what is called the    
,upper ,ten1 been lowered and           
vulgarized4 ,our literature is no longer
 as clean and wholesome as it was4 ,the 
greater freedom that women enjoy has not
 always been put to high uses4 ,and all 
around us in both countries the old     
order is changing1 and the new order is 
not yet born4 ,old positions are        
becoming untenable1 with the higher     
position and culture of women4 ,it is   
becoming an impossibility for           
intelligent women with a knowledge of   
physiology and an added sense of their  

own dignity to accept the lower moral   
standard for men1 which exposes them to 
the risk of exchanging monogamy for a   
peculiarly vile polygamy--polygamy with 
its sensuality1 but without its         
duties--bringing physical risks to their
 children and the terrible likelihood of
 an inherited moral taint to their sons4
 ,it is an impossibility1 now that      
mothers know1 that they should remain   
indifferent as to what sort of manhood  
they send out into the world--the       
so-called manhood that either makes and 
maintains the miserable sinner of our   
streets or is content to give a tainted 
name to the mother of his child1 or the 
true manhood lifted into ,god1 whose    
marriage is the type of the eternal     
union of ,god and the soul1 of ,christ  
and the ,church1 and whose fatherhood   
claims kinship with the ,father of      
lights4 ,it is impossible for women who 
are agitating for the enfranchisement of
 their sex to accept as a necessary     
class in the midst of a democratical    

society a class of citizens who1 in ,dr4
 ,welldon's#db words1 addressed to the  
,university of ,cambridge1 have lost    
once for all time the rights of         
citizenship--who are nobody's wives1    
nobody's sisters1 nobody's friends1 who 
live a living death in the world of men4
 ,there are one hundred and fifty       
thousand such citizens1--perhaps far    
more1 in ,england and ,wales--and all   
are women4  ,these old positions are    
simply impossible1 each a moral reductio
 ad absurdam4 ,we must institute a new  
and higher order4 ,to do so we women    
must unite in a great silent movement1 a
 temple slowly rising up beneath our    
hands without sound of axe or hammer4   
,it will not make itself heard on       
platforms2 its cry will not be heard in 
our streets4 ,it will go on beneath the 
surface of our life1 probably unheeded  
and unnoticed of men4 ,women must       
educate women2 those who know must teach
 those who are in ignorance4 ,let       
mothers who have been roused to the     

greatness of the issues at stake take as
 their field of labor the young mothers 
whom they may know--possibly their own  
married daughters or nieces1 possibly   
those who are only bound to them by ties
 of friendship4 ,use this book1 if you  
will4 ,if there are things in it which  
you don't approve of--and oh1 how much  
of the divine patience of our ,lord do  
we need with one another in dealing with
 this difficult question--cut out those 
pages1 erase that passage1 but do not   
deny those young mothers the necessary  
knowledge to guard the nursery or save  
their boys at school4 ,and then try and 
follow it up by quietly talking over the
 difficulties and the best method of    
encountering them4 ,let us deny         
ourselves in order to give to           
associations or institutions for the    
elevation of women1 as well as to that  
excellent society for men1 the ,white   
,cross1 which is spreading its purifying
 work through both countries4#dc ,let us
 do what we can to help in organizing   

women's labor1 so that a living wage may
 be secured and no woman be driven by   
starvation into selling herself for a   
morsel of bread4 ,let us endeavor to    
secure the franchise that we may have   
the power of legislating for the        
protection of women on the one point on 
which we stand in sharp opposition to   
all but good men2 especially such       
measures as raising the age of consent1 
so deplorably low in some of your       
,states1 that your children are almost  
without legal protection2 resisting     
,state regulation of vice in the army2  
cleansing the streets by an ,act        
pressing equally on men and women1 and  
many others which will suggest          
themselves to you4 ,but let us1 at the  
same time1 clearly recognize that the   
remedy must lie deeper than any external
 agency--must be as deep as life itself1
 and must be worked out in the silence  
of our own hearts and of our own homes4 
,we must restore the law of ,god1       
quietly but firmly insisting on the     

equal moral standard for men and women  
alike2 and we must maintain the sanctity
 and permanence of the marriage bond as 
ordained by ,christ himself4  ,i say    
again ,i do not think1 ,i simply know1  
by my own experience1 that men will rise
 to any standard which women choose to  
set them4 ,ruskin's noble words are the 
simple truth3       ,their whole course 
and character are in your hands2 what   
you would      have them be they shall  
be1 if you not only desire to have them 
so1      but deserve to have them so1   
for they are but mirrors in which you   
will see yourselves imaged4444 ,you     
fancy1 perhaps1 as you have been        
told so often1 that a wife's rule should
 only be over her husband's      house1 
not over his mind4 ,ah no6 the true rule
 is just the reverse      of that3 a    
true wife1 in her husband's house1 is   
his servant2 it is      in his heart    
that she is queen4 ,whatever of best he 
can conceive1      it is her part to be2
 whatever of highest he can hope1 it is 

hers      to promise4 ,all that is dark 
in him she must purge into purity2 all  
that is failing in him she must         
strengthen into truth2 from her1        
through all the world's clamor1 he must 
win his praise2 in her1      through all
 the world's warfare1 he must find his  
peace4  ,last1 but not least1 we must   
set ourselves to make our lives simpler 
and plainer1 and oppose the             
ever-increasing luxury and love of      
pleasure1 with its sure and certain     
result1 a relaxed moral fibre1 which1 to
 a race called to such high destinies   
and difficult tasks as our ,anglo-,saxon
 race1 is simply fatal4 ,it can1 and it 
must be done4 ,as ,philip ,hammerton    
remarks3       ,it is entirely within   
the power of public opinion to relieve  
the      world from the weariness of    
this burthen of expensive living2 it    
has actually been done to a great extent
 with regard to the      costliness of  
funerals1 a matter in which public      
opinion has always      been very       

authoritative4 ,if it will now permit a 
man to be buried      simply when he is 
dead1 why cannot it allow him to exist  
simply      whilst he is living8  ,to   
lessen the expense of dress1 which has  
risen twenty per cent1 within the last  
thirty years2 to restore amusements to  
their proper place1 as recreation after 
hard work for the good of others2 to    
resist the ever-increasing restlessness 
of our day1 leading to such constant    
absences from home as seriously to      
threaten all steady work for the        
amelioration of the stay-at-home        
classes1 and use up the funds which are 
needed for that work2 to keep a simple  
table1 so that the future ,sir ,andrew  
,clark may no longer have to say that   
more than half of our diseases come from
 over-eating2 to resist the vulgar      
tendency to compete with our richer or  
more fashionable neighbors in their     
style of living--surely these sacrifices
 are not beyond us1 to attain a great   
end1 both for ourselves and our empire4 

,if indeed we think we can meet this    
evil without making sacrifices amounting
 to a silent revolution in our life2 if 
we think1 as ,i have sometimes thought  
some women do think1 that we can quench 
this pit of perdition in our midst by1  
as it were1 emptying our scent-bottles  
upon it1--shedding a few empty tears1   
heaving a few sentimental sighs3 ,it is 
very sad6 of course ,i can't do         
anything1 but ,i am sure ,i wish all    
success to your noble work--possibly    
even giving a very little money1 say a  
guinea a year1 to a penitentiary--all ,i
 can say is1 ,god is not mocked4 ,i know
 but one thing in heaven or earth that  
will quench it1 and that is life-blood4 
,sometimes ,i have asked in anguish of  
spirit3 ,will women give it8 ,i believe 
they will4 ,but1 whether we give it or  
not1 what ,matthew ,arnold called the   
noblest of religious utterances holds   
good here3 ,without shedding of blood   
there is no remission of this sin4  ,and
 it is because ,i know that mothers will

 spend their heart's blood in saving    
their sons1 and because ,i believe that 
women1 with their new-born position and 
dignity1 will not go on accepting as a  
matter of course that their womanhood   
should be fashioned like the ,egyptian  
sphinx1 half pure woman1 crowned with   
intellectual and moral beauty1 dowered  
with the homage of men2 and half unclean
 beast of prey1 seeking whom it may     
slay1 outcast and abandoned and forced  
to snare or starve--it is because of    
this1 my rooted faith in women1 that ,i 
have hope4  ,as long ago as #ahhj       
,professor ,max ,mller1 ever anxious for
 the interests of his ,indian           
fellow-subjects1 when ,mr4 ,malabari    
came to ask him how he could rouse      
,english public opinion with regard to  
the injuries inflicted on young girls by
 ,hindu child-marriages1 answered him at
 once1 ,write a short pamphlet and send 
it to the women of ,england4 ,they begin
 to be a power1 and they have one       
splendid quality1 they are never        

beaten4#dd ,and if this can be said of  
,english women1 still more may it be    
said of the women of ,america4  ,but1   
further1 to strengthen us in this       
splendid quality1 have we sufficiently  
recognized the new moral forces that are
 coming into the world8 ,have our eyes  
been opened to see the horses and       
chariots of fire which are silently     
taking up their position around us1 to  
guard us and fight for us1 that we may  
not be beaten2 the deepened sense of    
moral obligation1 the added power of    
conscience1 the altogether new          
altruistic sense which makes the misery 
and degradation of others cling to us   
like a garment we cannot shake off1 a   
sense of others' woes for which we have 
had to invent a new word8 ,lord         
,shaftesbury's legislation does not date
 so very far back2 and yet when his     
,bill for delivering women and children 
from working in our mines was hanging in
 the balance1 and the loss of a single  
vote might wreck it--women1 be it       

remembered1 who were working naked to   
the waist in the coal-mines1 and little 
children of eight or nine who were      
carrying half a sack of coals twelve    
times a day the height of ,st4 ,paul's  
,cathedral--the ,archbishop of          
,canterbury and the ,bishop of ,london  
left the ,house of ,lords without       
voting1 as the subject did not interest 
them2 while in the lower ,house ,bright 
and ,gladstone both voted against the   
,bill1 ,gladstone being the only member 
who1 when the ,bill was passed by a bare
 majority1 endeavored to delay its      
coming into operation6 ,i ask1 ,would   
such a state of things be possible in   
these days8 ,am ,i not right in saying  
that new moral forces and sensibilities 
have been born within us which make such
 a state of things not only impossible1 
but simply incomprehensible8  ,why then 
should we despair8 ,what6 ,has ,god     
built up ,his everlasting marble of     
broken shells1 and will ,he not build up
 his temple of the future out of these  

broken efforts of ours8 ,has ,he made   
,his pure and splendid diamond out of   
mere soot1 and shall we refuse to see in
 the blackest and foulest moral problem 
the possibilities of the diamond1 of a  
higher life worked out in the process of
 its solution1 reflecting ,his light and
 ,his love8 ,has ,he made ,his precious 
sapphire of the mere mud that we tread  
under our feet1 and1 when we insist on  
our little sisters' being no longer     
trodden like mud under foot of vicious  
men1 may they not in the course of their
 redemption bring an added hue of heaven
 to our life1 an added purity to home   
and family1 and behold1 instead of the  
old mud1 a sapphire throne1 and above it
 the likeness as of a divine man8#de    
,but to those who still hang back with a
 feeling of almost angry repulsion from 
the whole subject which makes them      
refuse even to face the perils and      
temptations of their own boys1 ,i would 
address no hard words1 remembering but  
too well the terrible struggle it cost  

me to make this my life work4 ,only ,i  
would remind them of that greatest act  
in all history1 by which the world was  
redeemed4 ,the ,cross to us is so       
associated with the adoration of the    
ages1 so glorified by art1 and music1   
and lofty thought1 that we have ceased  
to realize what it was in actual fact   
such as no painter has ever dared to    
portray it2 the ,cross1 not elevated as 
in sacred pictures1 but huddled up with 
the jeering crowd2 the ,cross with its  
ribald blasphemies1 its shameful        
nakedness1 its coarse mockeries1 its    
brutal long-drawn torture4 ,do you think
 it cost the women of that day nothing  
to bear all this on their tender hearts8
 ,yet what was it that made men draw    
nearer and nearer1 till the women who at
 first stood afar off1 beholding these  
things1 we are told1 at last stood by   
the cross of ,jesus2 and1 when all men  
forsook ,him and fled1 placed themselves
 heart to heart with the ,divine ,love  
bearing the sins of the world and       

casting them into the abysmal depths of 
its own being1 deeper even than the     
depths of man's sin8 ,what was it but   
their faithfulness to the ,highest that 
they had known which made them endure   
the ,cross1 despising the shame8  ,and  
now1 when at the end of the ages ,he    
once again calls us women to stand heart
 to heart with ,him in a great          
redemptive purpose1 shall we hang back8 
,shall we not rather obey the ,divine   
call1 enduring the ,cross1 despising the
 shame1 and1 like those women of old1   
winning for ourselves1 by faithfulness  
unto death1 the joy of being made the   
messengers of a higher and risen life to
 the world8  ,god grant that the power  
of the ,holy ,ghost may overshadow us   
and enable us to make answer with her   
whom all generations have called        
blessed3 ,behold the hand-maiden of the 
,lord6  ,,footnotes3  ,footnote #db3    
,late ,head-,master of ,harrow2 now     
,metropolitan of ,india4  ,footnote #dc3
 ,i would especially commend this modern

 order of knighthood to the prayers and 
support of women4 ,it is bravely        
fighting our battle for us and doing the
 public work among men4 ,as it attacks  
what is especially the sin of the       
moneyed classes1 it is unpopular1 men   
resenting its interference with what    
they call their private life1 and it is 
always in peril for want of funds4 ,the 
,white ,cross league admits women       
associates for intercessory prayer--and 
what mother will not be thankful for    
that8--for any work where women's aid is
 needed1 and for raising funds for what 
is so emphatically our own cause4 ,i    
would earnestly suggest to women who    
have incomes of their own that they     
should leave the ,white ,cross a small  
legacy1 so as to place it on a firmer   
basis4 ,i hope myself to leave the      
,english branch #bjjj4  ,footnote #dd3  
,from an article in the ,nineteenth     
,century on ,meddling with ,hindu       
,marriages4  ,footnote #de3 ,ezek4 i41  
#bf4     ,,appendix   ,in ,mr4 ,edward  

,thring's address to the ,church        
,congress at ,carlisle in #ahda1 he     
said3  ,curiosity1 ignorance1 and lies  
form a very hot-bed of impurity4 ,we pay
 heavily for our civilized habits in    
false shame and the mystery in which sex
 is wrapped4  ,i confess that for       
curiosity ,i have no remedy to propose4 
,ignorance and lies are on a different  
footing4 ,i suppose everyone is         
acquainted with some of the current lies
 about the impossibility of being pure4 
,the only answer to this is a flat      
denial from experience4 ,i know it is   
possible1 and1 when once attained1 easy4
 ,the means1 under ,god1 in my own case1
 was a letter from my father4 ,a quiet1 
simple statement of the sinfulness of   
the sin and a few of the plain texts    
from ,st4 ,paul saved me4 ,a film fell  
from my eyes at my father's letter4 ,my 
first statement is that all fathers     
ought to write such a letter to their   
sons4 ,it is not difficult if done in a 
common-sense way4 ,following out this   

plan at ,uppingham in the morning ,bible
 lessons1 ,i have always spoken as      
occasion arose with perfect plainness on
 lust and its devil-worship1            
particularly noting its deadly effect on
 human life and its early and dishonored
 graves4 ,ignorance is deadly1 because  
perfect ignorance in a boy is           
impossible4 ,i consider the             
half-ignorance so deadly that once a    
year1 at the time of confirmation1 ,i   
speak openly to the whole school1       
divided into three different sets4      
,first ,i take the confirmees1 then the 
communicants and older boys1 then the   
younger boys1 on three following nights 
after evening prayers4 ,the first two   
sets ,i speak very plainly to1 the last 
only warn against all indecency in      
thought1 word1 or deed1 whether alone or
 with companions4 ,thus no boy who has  
been at school a whole year can sin in  
ignorance1 and a boy who despises this  
warning is justly turned out of the     
school on conviction4       ,finally1 he

 dwelt upon the necessity of school life
 having joined      to it a home life4  
,the purifying influence of a good woman
 and a      fuller recognition of       
woman's work and place in the world he  
looked      upon as that which promised 
most for lifting mankind into a higher  
atmosphere of pure life4   ,,the ,,end4 
,white ,cross ,series of ,tracts4       
,white ,cross ,manual4 ,containing an   
,account of the ,origin and ,progress of
 the ,movement1 ,a ,statement of its    
,objects and ,methods1 ,plan of         
,organization1 ,suggestions on the      
,conduct of the ,work1 ,devotional      
,offices1 etc4 ,paper1 #fd pages 444    
#j4je  #a4 ,,an ,,address ,,to ,,the    
,,members ,,of ,,the ,,white ,,cross    
,,army4    ,by the ,right ,rev4 the     
,,bishop ,,of ,,durham4  #b4 ,,the      
,,white ,,cross ,,army4    ,a ,statement
 of the ,bishop of ,durham's ,movement4 
,,by ,,ellice ,,hopkins4  #c4 ,,per     
,,angusta ,,ad ,,augusta4 ,,by ,j4,e4,h4
  #g4 ,,the ,,ride ,,of ,,death4 ,by    

,,ellice ,,hopkins4  #h4 ,,the ,,black  
,,anchor4 ,by ,,ellice ,,hopkins4  #i4  
,,the ,,american ,,zulu4 ,by ,,ellice   
,,hopkins4  ,price1 #c cents each4 #b4jj
 a hundred1 direct from the ,publishers4
   ,shorter papers4  #a4jj a hundred4   
,,lost ,,in ,,quicksand4 ,by ,j4,e4,h4  
,,is ,,it ,,natural8 ,by ,j4,e4,h4      
,,moral ,,money ,,clippers4 ,by         
,j4,e4,h4  ,,who ,,holds ,,the ,,rope8  
,by ,j4,e4,h4  ,,rolling ,,away ,,the   
,,stone4 ,by ,,ellice ,,hopkins4        
,,touching ,,pitch4 ,by ,,ellice        
,,hopkins4  ,,the ,,defaced ,,image     
,,restored4 ,by ,,ellice ,,hopkins4     
,,power ,,to ,,let4 ,by ,,ellice        
,,hopkins4   ,e4,p4 ,,dutton  ,,co41    
,,publishers4  #ca ,west #bc;d ,street1 
,new ,york4