If all mothers would only take the care of their girls when
fourteen years old into their own hands a great deal of trouble
might be spared to them. The three years from the 14th to the 17th
is such a critical time for most girls, and should be passed under
the care of the mother and under her care alone, and every mother
ought to try to become the best friend of her daughter, not the
stern mother who has forgotten that she herself was young once, and
who finds it too much trouble to listen to her daughter's little
tales, by which she alone is able to guide her child, and save her
in many instances from eternal destruction. Thus poor Martha had no
mother who would listen to her girlish stories. She found plenty
companions in school and very bad advisers. When the truth of her
misfortune dawned upon her, she thought of nothing but to fly from
the place to where she did not know, till the destroyer of her
virtue advised her to go to Montreal, where he would in short join
and marry her. To confess to her mother she could never, and her
father she knew would never look at her again, so she followed his
advice, left her home under some pretence, and came to the place
where I found her. She was very glad to get somebody to take the
child from her, for she was fully resolved to lead a better life,
and how could she ever do it with a baby; she was hardly fit to earn
her own living.
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