Ka Leo o ka Lahui, Volume II, Number 351, 23 December 1891 — Purity vs. Prudishness. [ARTICLE]

Purity vs. Prudishness.

When she read them the storv of Phi vne the Grecian; That touehing. sa<l poem of pleasnre and woe. When she epoke with emotion, with l'ervor, with feeling, Of the matmg of ainl poor . "Ostler Joe;" When her gilv'ry voiee(lehimed\vith the bells of the wedding. At the birth of the baby, at Joe's glad v snrprfse; Atul when shafne flnshe4 h«r face at the downfall of Annie, And wlien Joe's Godlikeaetion hronght tears to her eyes,— Thev tnrned from her bitterly, outraged, embarrassed r ludignant, afhearing he^,tale. These inothei*B! *rhese matronfs! These ieadeM oi women. Sat n\utely with fke** some erimw>ned, some pale! Wat» it Phryne, iny Mu^e, my Madonna. rnv Maker, % „ That eaiiB«d them to pale, atid tremhle, and bnrn? \Vas Guinevere sinlesB? Was» Helen ? Franeesca? And yet from Uiee»e Ptories no womaa would turn. Had the shaft wliieh ha»l piereed gī»ntle !"air l>opoua,

And that laveii had snnk into Phryne's stained soi*.l, Been aimed at the:r own breaste, half hidden, hilf showing. . And trembled Jtheir spirits M fear of ilie goal ?| v . T hope : I thinki still I must ?rieve for , The ahnomial| mortal who no \varbing . reads .■ . In the fate of frail Phryne, whope one hour of coadness Brought whole v;ears of tort\*re at whioh thōught r£cedes; Andfor those are powerless to find in Joe'fi action A lesson siipernal. heroic, diyine, r4 Tboag-h their faith be devout, and their j creed their one treasure, ] There'e naught that's congenial 'twixt their souls and mine. ' * * i .*■ * ■ ■. *. . I throw at the fjset of this gronp of iair women i Sweet garlands of-erimsoti,iof lilae and : rost. I give with its | emblenj my one lily j . - X' ■ . To her who fo!r suhject that old ballad ehoee. i —P. L.