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A maiden young, and good, and pure,
Of her own innocence secure,
All unsuspiciously may tread
Where Satan’s fatal net is spread.
And if she trust the flattering voice
Which bids her heedlessly rejoice,
The poison soon her heart will gain,
With death and sorrow in its train.
What kind of death is it which steals into a maiden’s heart? It is the death of innocence. It is like a worm gnawing at the root of a fair lily and causes it to wither and die. And where innocence is dead, there follows terrible remorse because of the irreparable loss. The unhappy girl becomes a prey to every kind of mental torment. This death of innocence is too often brought about by the enemy in what we hear and read. Therefore, you must learn how to recognize and how to shun this enemy.
I take it for granted that you would yourself never take pleasure in immodest conversation, or improper songs. For no decent, respectable young women could possibly do so, but only girls lost to all sense of modesty and propriety.
It is, however, a deplorable fact that unchaste conversation is frequently carried on, and it may chance to reach your ears. For conversation of this nature is carried on, not only in taverns, but in private houses when young people are gathered together without any supervision on the part of their elders; likewise in streets and squares, in field and forest, at work and at recreation, on the way to church, and if the truth must be told, even in the house of God itself. Those who talk in this way are, for the most part, young unmarried men, sometimes mere boys who have just left school, and, to their shame be it spoken, young girls also. Many of these persons seem to imagine that nothing can be amusing which is not seasoned with improprieties. He who can relate the most obviously shameless and indecent anecdotes is regarded as the most entertaining companion.
In regard to such doings as these, your duty is clear and plain. Leave the company at once, if it is in any way possible for you to do so! For if those around you show so little consideration for you and your feelings of delicacy, you need no longer keep any terms with them. You are then at liberty to express your righteous anger and displeasure in no measured language and if necessary, to administer a sharp reproof. This affords an opportunity for employing to good purpose that readiness of speech which belongs in a special manner to women, and thereby silencing unclean tongues once and forever.
The enemy in books, pamphlets, newspapers and magazines does if possible even more mischief than the enemy in speech. In the present day the number of books and periodicals fraught with danger to innocence is legion. Like a second deluge, they invade every class of society in villages, towns and cities, not sparing the most secluded mountain valleys. First and foremost in the foul flood are bad novels; and the greater part of novels have a more or less objectionable tendency. They treat, almost without exception, of love. By means of the glowing colors in which scenes are depicted, they heat the imagination, blind the understanding, weaken the will, and pervert the heart. Through the perusal of such novels and sentimental romances, poison is slowly, but surely, introduced into the soul it obtains a hold there, spreads, and in the end causes death. This fatal poison is mingled with the sugar of pleasing language and fascinating narrative. Every-day experience proves how destructive are its effects. I know many instances in which girls about your age have got all sorts of wild ideas into their heads through reading bad novels, have left their parents’ houses, taken up with the first man who made love to them, and thus brought about their own ruin.
It is therefore highly important for you to select your reading carefully. Do not read any book or pamphlet unless you are advised that it is harmless and good; if you are in doubt, lay it aside unread, or submit it to a competent authority for his opinion. Never keep any doubtful book lest perchance it should happen to you as it did to Eve in regard to the forbidden fruit. Curiosity night be too much tor you and in this way be fatal to your innocence. Do not be deceived by high-sounding, harmless or apparently religious title. Do not permit yourself to be misled by the elegant binding of a book; the name of the publisher, however, may frequently serve as a guide to its contents. If there is no name given, the work is probably mere trash; toss it into the fire. Do not amuse yourself by turning over the leaves of doubtful publications, lest perchance an impure expression or objectionable picture should strike your eye and kindle within your soul, hitherto innocent and pure, the fire of lust, which might end in a fearful conflagration.
Are you therefore to abstain from reading altogether? Certainly not; you ought to read, but you must discriminate as you do in eating; it is your duty to avoid everything either injurious or excessive. Do not allow your love of reading to grow into a passion, keep it within due bounds, and do not indulge in what is termed a rage for reading.
And what ought you to read? Above all, books and periodicals which have a sound Catholic tone; and these are surely to be met with in abundance. Of religious and edifying works, I would mention the “New Testament,” the “Imitation of Christ,’ and “Philothea,” by St. Francis of Sales. For lighter reading there are many excellent novels, interesting stories and periodicals issued by Catholic publishers.
In conclusion I will direct your attention to one book in particular, to the most sacred of all books, which contains in itself everything that is delightful, helpful and consoling; it is the divine Heart of Our Saviour Jesus Christ, which was opened upon the cross. Of this book you can never read enough; in it you can never meditate and study sufficiently. Before all else, commit to memory and seek to put into practice the injunction which stands inscribed upon it in letters of gold: “Learn of Me, because I am meek, and humble of heart.”