BLACKWELL FAMILY   From McLaren, Walter
ELIZABETH BLACKWELLSunny Mount,
Keighley.
October 18th/77
Dear Dr Blackwell,
I must thank you
very much for your kind and
interesting letter about the Social
Purity Alliance + for the sympathy
you express for its object: And
I must also apologise for the
long delay in acknowledging it.
I have been very busy with
work of all sorts since my
return + many letters have
had to be postponed.  You
will probably have returned 
to London by this time, so
that my letter will not need
to be forwarded far to you.
I read your views on the
subject with great interest, +regret much that I had not the
advantage of talking the matter
over with you.  With much
that you say I entirely agree.
The plan of having missionaries
of some sort to spread the
principles of the Alliance is
certainly a sound one.  I
should like however to see
them voluntary missionaries,
not in any way paid for their
work as the fact of their being
paid would greatly destroy
their usefulness.  I agree
with the Society of Friends that
a paid ministry has not
the influence which an
unpaid ministry would have,
& the objections would specially


apply in the case of the Alliance.  For
the present each person must
work in his or her own circle, but
one of the chief difficulties is to
convince people who lead quite
moral lives that it is worth
while to have an Alliance at all.
They either think the subject
should never be mentioned or
they think that if a person
becomes a real Christian character
he will lead a pure life
& therefore no Alliance is necessary.
The progress of the Alliance can
therefore only be slow, but I
trust it will steadily increase.
As regards pledges, I have
no personal objection to them,
but when the Alliance was
formed the question was
considered, & it was decided
that they were not desirable 
because many persons object toSUNNY MOUNT,
KEIGHLEY

pledges in the abstract as somewhat
degrading & implying an absence
of self restraint. Even if we 
had pledges, I doubt if they
could be renewed yearly. To
many persons the ceremony of
renewing them would give them
greater weight, but to the majority
I don't think it would make
much difference & the practical
difficulty of getting the renewal
would be great.
The younger members should
always be able to feel that they
can go to any of the elder ones
for counsel & support, even
though it were not arranged
beforehand that certain
persons should act as councillors.
When the Alliance really
becomes powerful I hope that
its social influence will be
to taboo all those who lead

SUNNY MOUNT
KEIGHLEY
immoral lives. As yet it is not
sufficiently known; but individual
ladies can now do
much by excluding from their
houses all men of bad character.
At present men of bad character
are just as welcome in most
houses as men of good character.
But by a little enquiry the
worst at any rate could easily
be found out & ostracised, 
& a good example thereby set.
I also think that ladies
can have much influence by
speaking to young men on the
subject, especially to very
young men or boys, & if
young men who come to towns
from the country could befound & introduced into pleasant
female society, many of these
would not go astray. The longing
for female society being natural
to men, if they can't get it of
one sort they will get it of another.
The question of providing
moral entertainments is another
branch of the subject, &
temperance is another branch.
Those who drink & frequent
public houses &c, even if they don't
get drunk, are far more likely
to fall into vice than are
teetotalers.
In fact the whole subject
is so vast that it is perfectly
appalling. The first thing to

be done is undoubtedly to band
together those who are already
moral & to enlist the young
who have not fallen.  When
that has been done, then a 
more successful attack may
be made upon the vicious.
But the first step is difficult
enough, & much patience, combined
with much energy, will
be needed to accomplish it.
I trust that this letter will
not have wearied you.  Some 
time when I am in London
or elsewhere I hope I may
meet you again.  In the meantime
please accept my
thanks for your letter, and 
believe me yours very truly
Walter S.B. McLaren