Page:Remarkable life and death of Agnes Webster.pdf/5

5 by all kinds of men. We know well that the cause of this constant crime lies deeper. The many social customs which cramp woman’s power of earning bread, and the many laws and rules which fetter all kinds of industry, are among the obvious causes which place her at the mercy of man; while a materialised tone of society, making good dinners and strong stimulants the chief good, and innocent amusement an oddity, establish the dominance of man, and abridge woman’s domains,—the pleasure-ground, the ball-room, and the home. But strict equity in meting measure for measure to all who do wrong, would at least mark the public sense of justice, and bring a better social tone through the spirit rather than through the letter of a new legislation.

Young persons, especially females, are never so safe as under the inspection of prudent and pious parents; for their own inexperience and credulity, and the intoxicating nature of flattery, together with the artifice of those who are continually laying snares for them, expose them to imminent danger. They are therefore their own enemies, if they desire to go from home alone, especially among those who are strangers to God and true religion; but those parents are much more inexcusable who allow or