d beloved
mothers. But ask any of these girls, in her mature years, when her own
daughters are growing up around her, if she wants them to pass through
the same experiences. I once knew a beautiful young woman who thought
it was fun to have these familiar intimacies with young men, because,
as she said, she knew how far to go. I saw her in her maturity, with
daughters of her own, and heard her say that when she recalled her own
girlish escapades, even in the darkness of the night the blushes would
rush over her from head to foot, and in heartfelt agony she would say
to herself, "Oh, I wonder if my girls will ever do so?"

It was fun to her in her girlhood; it was shame to her in her mature
remembrance; it was agony when she saw it possible to her own
children.

True fun is fun in anticipation, fun in realization, fun in
retrospection, and fun in seeing it repeated by succeeding
generations. If it fails to be fun in any of these instances, it fails
to be genuine.

I like to see young people full of vivacity. I like to hear their
merry laughter, to witness their innocent pranks; but I do not like to
see them laughing at the sufferings of others, or amusing themselves
with dangers of any kind. Above all, I regret to see them playing with
the fire of physical passion.

Many a girl who to-day is lost to virtue had no idea that she was
starting on this downward road. She was only having a good time. She
was pretty, attractive, and admired. Young men flattered her with
words, and when they held her hand, or put their arm around her, she
took it as another compliment to her charms. She did not see that it
was only selfishness, only a desire to feel the thrills of physical
pleasure which this contact with her person aroused. She would have
felt humiliated had she recognized this fact, and it seems to me that
girls should understand the feelings that prompt young men to take
personal familiarities.

The young man might deny the fact to the girl, but he understands it
well enough as a fact, and he loses a measure of respect for her
because she is willing to permit his advances. The girl no doubt
imagines that these are sweet little secrets between herself and the
young man, when perhaps he is discussing her openly with his young men
friends. I have even heard such discussions on railway trains, carried
on in no very low tones, between young men, well dressed and with all
the outward appearances of gentlemen, and I have wond