, and as he told me of his love I would not
allow myself to let him know I care as much as I do. Kindly tell me if
anyone who has abused her organs while so young could make a good wife
or become a mother, and can these marks of sin be removed?"

Another young girl writes, "It is just as you say, ignorance is the root
of evil in many cases such as mine. I have come to you for help,
information and advice. I have taken that fatal mis-step you write
about, but no one knows it besides myself and this man. He dare not
speak of this. He is very wealthy and influential. After reading your
article I found that you were the one to go to and make a confession. I
never have been warned or told of these dangers and now it is too late.
I am a young girl, eighteen years old, and have a lot of men friends
because I am considered attractive, but none of them have ever said one
word out of the way to me except this one and I yielded to the tempter.
I know I have done wrong, and now am trying to atone for it by being
awfully good. Now, what I want to know and want you to tell me is this,
'Can I ever marry a decent, respectable man without him knowing of this
affair?' There is a young man very much devoted to me (and I can assure
you it is mutual) who several times has asked me to marry him. I am
afraid to give him an answer. I cannot ask anyone else this question for
the simple reason that I am not sure whether they will tell me the truth
or whether they really know."

Both these girls were fortunate that they did not have any serious
consequences from their mis-step. Too many girls make only one mis-step
and as a result become pregnant or else contract one of the black
plagues. This week I have received several such letters. Laying aside
all moral points, it is too much risk for any girl to run.

Unfortunately a great many girls in their ignorance do make a mis-step.
That is no reason why they should not marry. We must take into
consideration the fact that the young man in question probably has made
several of these mis-steps. He should not expect his prospective wife to
be any stronger to resist temptation than he has been. If this were an
ideal world, all men, as well as all women, would be pure, but until the
millennium comes we must take things as they are, and proceed from that
standpoint. But because a girl has erred through ignorance is no reason
why she should be doomed to everlasting punishment in the shape of
social ostraci