ORIGINAL VERSE.

Taranaki Daily News, 24 April 1918, Page 3

ORIGINAL VERSE.

THE PRODIGAL GIRL. If the prodigal boy had been a g How would the story have run? Would the fatted calf have been US&. as quick For a daughter as for a son? Would the welcome back have been the same; Would the ring and shoes and all, With the robe been given a daughter, Had she the one to fall? The world applauds the father For receiving the wandering son, But turns it back on the daughter When she is the erring one; There seems to be two standards Of morals for maid and man; The sins of v .the boy are forgiven, • But the girl is under tho ban. The festal hall is .open wide, And tho banquet board is spread For tho prodigal son returning As one who onco was dead; But society shuns the daughter, Drawing its skirts aside, Lest they should brush against her And tarnish their hollow pride. The road to reform is made easy For the boy who wanders away; His mistakes, condoned and forgiven, Are forgotten in a day; But the path is rough for the girl who sins, Though her fault be ever so slight, Her sun of promise for ever sets, With no star of hope in sight. A double standard of morals Is wrong if the fault is the same; . Why should we make any difference In sex, when placing the blame? If both be weak and erring And either should seek to atone, Let the faultless, if any amongst us, Be the first to cast the atone. —FL.B.