"
Yes, these things are hard to think about--harder yet to write
about! The very persons who would send the white soul into arms
whose mere touch is a dishonor will be the first to cry out with
indignation against that writer as shameless who but utters the
truth concerning the things they mean and do; they fear lest
their innocent daughters, into whose hands his books might
chance, by ill luck, to fall, should learn that it is _their_
business to keep themselves pure.--Ah, sweet mothers! do
not be afraid. You have brought them up so carefully,
that they suspect you no more than they do the well-bred
gentlemen you would have them marry. And have they not your blood
in them? That will go far. Never heed the foolish puritan. Your
mothers succeeded with you: you will succeed with your daughters.
But it is a shame to speak of those things that are done of you
in secret, and I will forbear. Thank God, the day will come--it
may be thousands of years away--when there shall be no such
things for a man to think of, any more than for a girl to shudder
at! There is a purification in progress, and the kingdom of
heaven _will_ come, thanks to the Man who was holy,
harmless, undefined, and separate from sinners. You have heard a
little, probably only a little, about him at church sometimes.
But, when that day comes, what part will you have had in causing
evil to cease from the earth?
There had been a time in the mother's life when she herself
regarded her approaching marriage, with a man she did not love,
as a horror to which her natural maidenliness--a thing she could
not help--had to be compelled and subjected: of the true
maidenliness--that before which the angels make obeisance, and
the lion cowers--she never had had any; for that must be gained
by the pure will yielding itself to the power of the highest.
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