The Studs Lonigan Trilogy - James T. Farrell [222]
“For, my friends, your minds and your bodies are vessels of the Lord, given unto your keeping. They must not be abused. They are not tools for the indiscriminate enjoyment of what the world calls pleasure. There is one commandment which, above all, you must not violate. God says, clearly and without equivocation: ‘Thou shalt not commit adultery!’ If you do, the torments of Hell await you for all eternity! That is clear and unmistakable.
“Today, sad to state, I come here as a priest of God, and I have to confess that the youth of this land neglects that commandment. On every side, they are encouraged. Books! Filthy movies. Newspapers. The doctrines in universities aimed to destroy morality. Men who cater to the purposes of the devil, and expose youth, tender girls and immature boys, to the danger of this sin, all because it is profitable, because a dirty, soiled thirty pieces of silver can be collected. Such men, I say, are worse than Judas.
“And what are the results? One result is this: today in America, there is a type, a class of young men, a recognizable young squirt. This squirt spends the money that his father earned and saved after long years of honest toil. He has an automobile. He has been miseducated at a godless university. He is fast, modern; he talks smartly, dresses smartly, acts smartly. He is always on the loose for a girl. He meets an innocent Catholic girl. She is pure and sweet and good, like Longfellow’s Evangeline. But as young girls often are, she is attracted by his clothes, his talk, and his automobile. He has what they call a line. He gives her a lot of soft soap. So Mary has a date with him. He is pleasing, and spends money. She thinks he is a nice boy! Like the spider, he is weaving his web. He takes her out again, and drives toward the country. He pulls out a bottle and has a drink. He offers it to her. She demurs. He looks at her as if she were a zoological exhibit. He can’t understand, because all the girls he knows drink. He laughs and asks if she is afraid. She shows her fear. So he tells her: `Come on Mary, don’t be a wet blanket. Once won’t hurt!’
“Cursed phrase; ‘Once won’t hurt.’ That first time seems so harmless and so easy. It seems to have such little effect. And it leads straight down the road to perdition and ruin. With it, he plays on Mary’s vanity. He convinces her with soft-soap talk that once won’t hurt. Then, he takes her to a roadhouse. There, they meet other couples. It is what they call a wild party. Everybody but Mary drinks. She is teased, and told not to be a kill-joy. Once hasn’t hurt her. Once more won’t, they tell her. Rather than spoil the party, Mary takes a second drink. Before she knows it, she is drunk. There is dancing, immoral animalistic dancing and petting. Then, there is another auto-mobile ride. Mary goes home, pillaged of her most precious treasure, robbed (he smacked his right fist into his left palm) of that gift which is a girl’s finest possession her virtue, her honor, her chastity.
“This is not an exceptional occurrence. Pray God that it were! It is ordinary, and happens every day. It is the way in which Catholic girls, girls like those of you here, girls like the sisters and sweethearts and old schoolmates of you lads here, are ruined, and dispatched along a path that can only end in misery, both in this world and the next. You girls who are now listening to me! If you have not already met such temptations, you will. And, you fellows, your sisters will meet them. For if these squirts had their way, there would not be a decent girl left in this country.