f their
daughters, and be vigilant and cautious in permitting them to accept the
society of young men. Parents who desire to save their daughters from a
fate which is worse than death, should endeavor by every means in their
power to keep them from falling into traps cunningly devised by some
cunning lover. There are many good young men, but not all are safe friends
to an innocent, confiding young girl.

8. PROSTITUTION.--Some girls inherit their vicious tendency; others fall
because of misplaced affections; many sin through a love of dress, which is
fostered by society and {382} by the surroundings amidst which they may be
placed; many, very many, embrace a life of shame to escape poverty. While
each of these different phases of prostitution require a different remedy,
we need better men, better women, better laws and better protection for the
young girls.

[Illustration: A RUSSIAN SPINNING GIRL.]

9. A STARTLING FACT.--Startling as it may seem to some, it is a fact in our
large cities that there are many girls raised {383} by parents with no
other aim than to make them harlots. At a tender age they are sold by
fathers and mothers into an existence which is worse than slavery itself.
It is not uncommon to see girls at the tender age of thirteen or
fourteen--mere children--hardened courtesans, lost to all sense of shame
and decency. They are reared in ignorance, surrounded by demoralizing
influences, cut off from the blessings of church and Sabbath school, see
nothing but licentiousness, intemperance and crime. These young girls are
lost forever. They are beyond the reach of the moralist or preacher and
have no comprehension of modesty and purity. Virtue to them is a stranger,
and has been from the cradle.

10. A GREAT WRONG.--Parents too poor to clothe themselves bring children
into the world, children for whom they have no bread, consequently the girl
easily falls a victim in early womanhood to the heartless libertine. The
boy with no other schooling but that of the streets soon masters all the
qualifications for a professional criminal. If there could be a law
forbidding people to marry who have no visible means of supporting a
family, or if they should marry, if their children could be taken from them
and properly educated by the State, it would cost the country less and be a
great step in advancing our civilization.

11. THE FIRST STEP.--Thousands of fallen women could have been saved from
lives of degradation