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260 LETTERS.
parents must always, to a certain degree, be visited upon
the children. Society cannot relinquish its idea of pure
morality. But charity, which is the crown of society,
adheres less severely to this idea, and takes therefore the
wronged ones in its supporting arms. This is done every
day, partly through private charities and partly by public
wise institutions.
How often, in the present time, when after the ravages
of the cholera, inquiries have been made into the condition
of the children of the poorer classes, have not fathers been
found, who have shaken off every care of their offspring, and
who have succeeded herein, as they could not be bound to
it by any certificate of lawful marriage. Several of these
abandoned little ones have been taken care of by our
* Ladies’ Association.” But you will one day, perhaps, be
yourself a father, and although I am fully aware that your
heart is to you a power more binding than all outward
legal forms, still, in looking at your children, you may prob-
ably feel yourself, in your character of father, also in the
position of society ; and you will then, in the name of the
parental society, demand the assistance both of the laws and
of the clergyman in order to secure the moral and economical
guardianship over the rising generation. If this guardian-
ship could be extended so as to protect also the innocent
so-called illegitimate little ones, it would be still better.
But I have too long detained you on this subject. I
agree fully and most heartily with you in regard to the
question of woman’s majority, and I see the only safe
guarantee for a better future of the rising generation, in
woman’s moral and social elevation amongst all classes.
My remaining days shall be devoted to labor for this end,
as far as in my power lies. In the second and third
volume of my work, “The Homes in the New World,”
you will see my opinions and my thoughts on this subject.
Christmas is at the door with its darkness, and will soon
come with all its lights. The Stockholm “ Ladies’ Associa-
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