Address upon illegitimacy to the working men of Scotland / by John M. Strachan.

  • Strachan, John M.
Date:
[between 1870 and 1879?]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Address upon illegitimacy to the working men of Scotland / by John M. Strachan. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    7/8 (page 7)
    be unusually indulgent, she may be allowed to have “one respectable young man” to visit her. And what is to become of those poor girls who have no “respectable young man?” With no acquaintances allowed, it is not easy to see how they are to get one. Now, I do not mean to say that servant maids ever do lead this hermit life. Of course they dont, but the evil is, that to gratify that innocent desire for intercourse with their equals which God has implanted within them, they are driven to receive their visitors clandestinely and at untimeous hours. I have now just a few words to say to young men. I shall not suppose that there is any one of you to whom I require to say a word against the crime of deliberate seduction. I shall merely repeat the following stanza from the “ Cottar’s Saturday Night,” chiefly on account of its beauty :*— “ Is there in human form that hears a heart, A wretch! a villain! lost to love and truth That can, with studied, sly, ensnaring art Betray sweet Jenny’s unsuspecting youth? Curse on his perjur’d arts, dissembling, smooth; Are honour, virtue, conscience, all exiled; Is there no pity, no relenting ruth, Points to the parents fondling o’er their child; Then paints the ruin’d maid, and their distraction wild.” But deliberate seduction is not what we have to guard against. In ninety-nine cases out of the hundred there has, I believe, been no previous criminal intention on either side, but the temptation to winch they thought¬ lessly exposed themselves has been too great for their virtue, weakened as it has been by previous indelicacy of thought and conduct. You, my young triends, may not unlikely be exposed to such temptation. May I beg of you seriously to think of the dreadful evils which flow from yield¬ ing to it. Should you afterwards marry the girl, this sin will probably be an injury to you both for life, by lessening your respect for each other, and may not unlikely be a source of bitter crimination in many an angry moment. If you do not marry, then, think on the load of misery and injury to the poor girl. To you the consequences of the crime may be compara¬ tively trifling, in so far as your success in the world is concerned, but to her they are dreadfully severe. The anger of her parents—the scorn of her friends and relatives—the burden of the child, probably destroying all pro¬ spect of marriage. Think on the misery inflicted on the parents. You have no idea how the hearts of parents may be bound up in their children, and what an amount of pleasure and pride there may be in the virtue and well-doing of a daughter. Think of the change—for pride, the deepest humiliation—for kindness, perhaps, life-long anger and reviling—for the deepest love, perhaps, bitter hatred. I have seen all this over and over again. I do not ask you to think of ail this at the moment of temptation, but, in your calm moments seriously thinking of these things may strengthen you when you need it. You will observe that I am avoiding speaking of religion as a means of strengthening you, because, although the strongest and best protection, it is scarcely in my province to dwell on it, and it is to other points that I feel called upon to lead your attention.