Quite naturally it came about in the beginning of our understanding of the young people that we should take some action to protect them from the disastrous consequences of their ignorance; for it is difficult for the mothers to touch upon certain themes of great import. They are not indifferent, but rather helpless, in the face of the modern city’s demands upon motherhood. Rarely do they feel adequate to meet them. Yet they desire that their girls, and the boys too, should be guarded from the dangers that threaten them. Years ago we invited the school teachers of the neighborhood to a conference on sex problems and offered them speakers and literature. The public has since then become aroused on the subject of sex hygiene, and possibly, in some instances, the pendulum has swung too far; but we are convinced that this obligation to the young cannot be ignored without assuming grave risks. Never have I known an unfavorable reaction when the presentation of this subject has been well considered. It is impossible to give directions as to how it should be done; temperament, development, and environment influence the approach. The girl invariably responds to the glorification of her importance as woman and as future mother, and the theme leads on naturally to the miracle of nature that guards and then creates; and the young men have shown themselves far from indifferent to their future fatherhood. Fathers and mothers should be qualified, and an increasing number are trying to take this duty upon themselves; but where the parents confess their helplessness the duty plainly devolves upon those who have established confidential relations with the members of the family. [Illustration: At Riverholm.] WHITHER? (To a Young Girl) Say whither, whither, pretty one? The hour is young at present! How hushed is all the world around! Ere dawn—the streets hold not a sound. O whither, whither do you run? Sleep at this hour is pleasant. The flowers are dreaming, dewy-wet; The bird-nests they are silent yet. Where to, before the rising sun The world her light is giving? “To earn a living.” O whither, whither, pretty child, So late at night a-strolling? Alone—with darkness round you curled? All rests!—and sleeping is the world. Where drives you now the wind so wild? The midnight bells are tolling! Day hath not warmed you with her light; What aid canst hope then from the night? Night’s deaf and blind!—Oh, whither, child, Light-minded fancies weaving? “To earn a living.” [_From “Songs of Labor” by Morris Rosenfeld, translated by Rose Pastor Stokes and Helena Frank._] CHAPTER XI YOUTH AND TRADES UNIONS The portrayal of youth in a neighborhood such as ours cannot be dissociated from labor conditions, and it was not incongruous that some of the deeper implications of this problem should have been brought to us by young women.