Page:Wrong and Right Methods of Dealing with Social Evil - Elizabeth Blackwell (1883).djvu/79

Rh radical method which law should adopt for checking disorder and disease. It is on this central ground that the great fight between, virtue and vice must be fought out. All the forces of evil will rise in opposition to such protection, knowing well that the corruption of youth is the stronghold of vice. But in the defence of their children the mothers of the race must be heard; their right to act in such a cause is indisputable, and when women call on men to support them in this sacred duty of motherhood—the guardianship of the young—men will rally to their aid, and no power of ancient or modern evil custom can withstand their united energy.

The great and urgent need of our civilization is the united action of men and women in the mighty contest with social evil which is now beginning. The conflict will be tremendous; but this age is full of promise.

A new force has appeared upon the scene of action. Never before in the world's history have women of trained intelligence, large experience, and religious faith, broken through the bonds of hypocrisy, and, in united and increasing numbers, recognized the possibility, and maintained the necessity, of the great permanent law of national progress, viz., the equal purity of men and women. This is the new force born into the world, and it is hailed with joy by all far-sighted and large-hearted men.