Page:An address delivered by the Hon. Mrs. Welby to the married women of Newton on the first Thursday in Lent, 1872.djvu/11

7 "Oh, if I had only been helped! if my mother had only taught me that this sin was the worst that a woman can commit, that I should be utterly disgraced if I did this, and still worse, that I should dishonour my Christian profession, and offer a deliberate offence to the sinless purity of Him who died to save me, if I even thought of such a thing, how much happier I should be now, and how much easier I should find it to bring up my girls in that holiness without which no man or woman either shall see the Lord." Oh, my friends! will you not promise me to try and save the girls of this village and all those over whom you have influence, from the chance of ever feeling this sad self-reproach? Will you not all do this in your several positions, those to whom my words could not apply as well as those to whom they may?

You will observe that I say nothing about men or boys; I speak as a woman only and to women; and I say solemnly, that when we respect ourselves, whatever our position in life, men will respect us. Teach your daughters, I