XXXIII. NEW YORK.--STATISTICS…

XXXIII. NEW YORK.--STATISTICS

Continuance of Prostitution.--Average in Paris and New York.--Dangers of Prostitution.--Disease.--Causes of Prostitution.--Inclination.-- Destitution.--Seduction.--Intemperance.--Ill-treatment.--Duties of Parents, Husbands, and Relatives.--Influence of Prostitutes.-- Intelligence Offices.--Boarding-schools.--Obscene Literature.

Question. FOR WHAT LENGTH OF TIME HAVE YOU BEEN A PROSTITUTE?

Time. Numbers. 1 month 71 2 months 49 3 " 76 4 " 62 5 " 51 6 " 126 7 " 129 8 " 17 9 " 21 10 " 32 1 year 325 2 years 55 3 " 245 4 " 203 5 " 125 6 " 87 7 " 56 8 " 69 9 " 32 10 " 26 11 " 8 12 " 14 13 " 6 14 " 7 15 " 9 16 " 13 17 " 3 18 " 4 19 " 8 20 " 4 21 " 2 22 " 1 23 " 2 24 " 2 25 " 1 27 " 1 29 " 1 30 " 1 32 " 1 34 " 1 35 " 1 Unascertained 53 ---- Total 2000

It has already been stated that the average duration of the life of a prostitute does not exceed four years from the commencement of her career. This is one year beyond the estimated duration as given by some English writers, but very far below the average, as ascertained in Paris, in which city, at the time M. Parent-Duchatelet instituted his elaborate system of investigation, he found in the gross number of 3517 prostitutes, two hundred and forty-two who had led that life for upward of fourteen years, and six hundred and forty-one who had continued their course upward of ten years. What a contrast to the table given above! In Paris, 6-2/3 per cent. had survived the horrors of courtesan life for fourteen years; in New York, only 2-3/4 per cent. have reached the same period. In Paris, 17-1/2 per cent. existed; in New York, 3-3/4 per cent. exist after ten years of exposure; or, in other words, where seven exist in Paris, only three have survived in New York, or where seventeen exist in Paris, only four survive in New York. It can not be asserted that Paris is a more healthy city than New York, and this difference must arise from the fact that, while judicious arrangements are enforced in the former, a similar policy has not been recognized in the latter. If this relative mortality were the only fact known on this matter, the economy of human life would be an irresistible argument in favor of measures of supervision judiciously conceived and promptly executed.

In the city of New York, six hundred and thirty-four women, more than thirty-one per cent., have been on the town less than one year, and three hundred and twenty-five, or more than seventeen per cent., for a space of time ranging from one to two years. Here, then, is one half of the total number, the experience of the remainder extending through various periods up to thirty-five years. With reference to those who assign such an extent of duration, it may be remarked, as was done in considering the question of age, that they are, with scarcely a solitary exception, those who, having been prostitutes in their younger days, are now engaged in brothel-keeping, and are thus exempted from many dangers attending the ordinary life of a harlot. If the same rule had been observed here in their cases as was done in the inquiries at Paris, namely, to exclude them from the list of prostitutes, the relative mortality given above would have shown still more unfavorably for New York.

It may be asked, What peculiar dangers attend the life of a prostitute in this city? There is a frightful physical malady to which all are liable, and which will be alluded to under its proper head. There are other dangers to which prostitutes, in a greater or less degree, are exposed. It is not necessary to remind the reader that at intervals the public is shocked by accounts in our daily papers of cowardly and outrageous assaults upon these unfortunate women, perpetrated by ruffians of the other sex. Sometimes it is an onslaught made by a party of men, for little or no provocation, on a number of females; or it may be an attack of a paramour on his victim. To this latter description of ill-treatment common women are peculiarly liable; for, beyond their habits of promiscuous intercourse, almost every one of them, particularly those in the middle or lower classes, has attached herself to some indolent fellow who acts as her protector ("bully" or "lover" is the common designation) when she becomes involved in any difficulty with strangers, but who exercises an arbitrary and brutal control over her at other times. In many cases, singular as it may appear, an actual love is felt by the woman for "her man." In others it is a mere arrangement for mutual convenience, the man taking her part in all quarrels, and the woman providing funds to maintain him in idleness. The intemperate habits of the prostitutes also tend materially to shorten their lives.

In addition to physical dangers must be considered the mental anguish they undergo, which inevitably preys upon the constitution. To this even the most depraved of them are at times subject. In the earlier stages of their career is an agonizing memory of the past; thoughts of home; regrets for the position they have lost. As they proceed in their course they suffer from an anticipation of the future; the grave, a nameless, pauper grave, yawns before them; thoughts of the inevitable eternity intrude; and a past of shame, a present of anguish, a future of dread, are the subjects of thought indulged by many who would never be suspected by the gay world of entertaining a serious reflection. It may be said, in the words of Byron,

"But in an instant o'er her soul Winters of memory seem to roll, And gather in that drop of time A life of pain, an age of crime."

The period for their nocturnal revelry returns, and, though with a breaking heart, they must deck themselves with tawdry finery, and forcing a smile upon their faces, resume a loathsome trade to earn their daily food. With such torments, physical and mental, can long life be expected as their lot? Can any human frame withstand these incessant attacks for a lengthened period? It would not be at all surprising if the ratio of mortality among prostitutes were greater than it is.

Question. HAVE YOU HAD ANY DISEASE INCIDENT TO PROSTITUTION? IF SO, WHAT?

Disease. Attacks. Numbers. Gonorrhoea 1 Attack 153 " 2 Attacks 53 " 3 " 44 Gonorrhoea and syphilis 36 Syphilis 1 Attack 395 " 2 Attacks 81 " 3 " 38 " 4 " 12 " 5 " 4 " 6 " 4 " 8 " 1 ---- Total attacked 821

The nature and effects of venereal disease have been already so fully specified in notices of the various systems adopted for its prevention, given in the preceding pages of this work, that it would be a needless repetition to dwell upon them here. It is sufficient, for the present purpose, to call attention to the fact that more than two fifths of the total number of prostitutes examined during the investigation CONFESS that they have suffered from syphilis or gonorrhoea. The probability is that the real number far exceeds this average; that, alarming as is the confession, the actual facts are much worse. This opinion is based upon the results of professional experience, and a knowledge of the difficulty which exists in obtaining any voluntary reliable statement on the subject.

Even assuming that the answers obtained are correct, they indicate ample cause for the perpetuation of the disease, and its introduction into almost every branch of society. One half of the total number who confess that they have suffered or are suffering from this disease, state that they have been so afflicted once only. In other forms of sickness which admit of a perfect cure this would be no cause for alarm, but in this instance it is a mooted point among medical writers whether the syphilitic taint can ever be eradicated from the system where it has been implanted, and the arguments on each side are urged with great ability. Without presuming to pass an opinion on the question, or expressing any doubt of the correctness of those learned men who think it possible to remove the taint from the body, it is policy to urge, in this case, the views of their opponents that it can not be eradicated. Upon this ground every citizen is competent to determine for himself the amount of public mischief resulting daily from a mass of prostitutes, two out of every five of whom are confessedly diseased.

Question. WHAT WAS THE CAUSE OF YOUR BECOMING A PROSTITUTE?

Causes. Numbers. Inclination 513 Destitution 525 Seduced and abandoned 258 Drink, and the desire to drink 181 Ill-treatment of parents, relatives, or husbands 164 As an easy life 124 Bad company 84 Persuaded by prostitutes 71 Too idle to work 29 Violated 27 Seduced on board emigrant ships 16 " in emigrant boarding houses 8 ---- Total 2000

This question is probably the most important of the series, as the replies lay open to a considerable extent those hidden springs of evil which have hitherto been known only from their results. First in order stands the reply "Inclination," which can only be understood as meaning a voluntary resort to prostitution in order to gratify the sexual passions. Five hundred and thirteen women, more than one fourth of the gross number, give this as their reason. If their representations were borne out by facts, it would make the task of grappling with the vice a most arduous one, and afford very slight grounds to hope for any amelioration; but it is imagined that the circumstances which induced the ruin of most of those who gave the answer will prove that, if a positive inclination to vice was the proximate cause of the fall, it was but the result of other and controlling influences. In itself such an answer would imply an innate depravity, a want of true womanly feeling, which is actually incredible. The force of desire can neither be denied nor disputed, but still in the bosoms of most females that force exists in a slumbering state until aroused by some outside influences. No woman can understand its power until some positive cause of excitement exists. What is sufficient to awaken the dormant passion is a question that admits innumerable answers. Acquaintance with the opposite sex, particularly if extended so far as to become a reciprocal affection, will tend to this; so will the companionship of females who have yielded to its power; and so will the excitement of intoxication. But it must be repeated, and most decidedly, that without these or some other equally stimulating cause, the full force of sexual desire is seldom known to a virtuous woman. In the male sex nature has provided a more susceptible organization than in females, apparently with the beneficent design of repressing those evils which must result from mutual appetite equally felt by both. In other words, man is the aggressive animal, so far as sexual desire is involved. Were it otherwise, and the passions in both sexes equal, illegitimacy and prostitution would be far more rife in our midst than at present.

Some few of the cases in which the reply "Inclination" was given are herewith submitted, with the explanation which accompanied each return. C. M.: while virtuous, this girl had visited dance-houses, where she became acquainted with prostitutes, who persuaded her that they led an easy, merry life; her inclination was the result of female persuasion. E. C. left her husband, and became a prostitute willingly, in order to obtain intoxicating liquors which had been refused her at home. E. R. was deserted by her husband because she drank to excess, and became a prostitute in order to obtain liquor. In this and the preceding case, inclination was the result solely of intemperance. A. J. willingly sacrificed her virtue to a man she loved. C. L.: her inclination was swayed by the advice of women already on the town. J. J. continued this course from inclination after having been seduced by her lover. S. C.: this girl's inclination arose from a love of liquor. Enough has been quoted to prove that, in many of the cases, what is called willing prostitution is the sequel of some communication or circumstances which undermine the principles of virtue and arouse the latent passions.

Destitution is assigned as a reason in five hundred and twenty-five cases. In many of these it is unquestionably true that positive, actual want, the apparent and dreaded approach of starvation, was the real cause of degradation. The following instances of this imperative necessity will appeal to the understanding and the heart more forcibly than any arguments that could be used. As in all the selections already made, or that may be made hereafter, these cases are taken indiscriminately from the replies received, and might be indefinitely extended.

During the progress of this investigation in one of the lower wards of the city, attention was drawn to a pale but interesting-looking girl, about seventeen years of age, from whose replies the following narrative is condensed, retaining her own words as nearly as possible.

"I have been leading this life from about the middle of last January (1856). It was absolute want that drove me to it. My sister, who was about three years older than I am, lived with me. She was deformed and a cripple from a fall she had while a child, and could not do any hard work. She could do a little sewing, and when we both were able to get work we could just make a living. When the heavy snow-storm came our work stopped, and we were in want of food and coals. One very cold morning, just after I had been to the store, the landlord's agent called for some rent we owed, and told us that, if we could not pay it, we should have to move. The agent was a kind man, and gave us a little money to buy some coals. We did not know what we were to do, and were both crying about it, when the woman who keeps this house (where she was then living) came in and brought some sewing for us to do that day. She said that she had been recommended to us by a woman who lived in the same house, but I found out since that she had watched me, and only said this for an excuse. When the work was done I brought it home here. I had heard of such places before, but had never been inside one. I was very cold, and she made me sit down by the fire, and began to talk to me, saying how much better off I should be if I would come and live with her. I told her I could not leave my sister, who was the only relation I had, and could not help herself; but she said I should be able to help my sister, and that she would find some light sewing for her to do, so that she should not want. She talked a good deal more, and I felt inclined to do as she wanted me, but then I thought how wicked it would be, and at last I told her I would think about it. When I got home and saw my sister so sick as she was, and wanting many little things that we had no money to buy, and no friends to help us to, my heart almost broke. However, I said nothing to her then. I laid awake all night thinking, and in the morning I made up my mind to come here. I told her what I was going to do, and she begged me not, but my mind was made up. She said it would be sin, and I told her that I should have to answer for that, and that I was forced to do it because there was no other way to keep myself and help her, and I knew she could not work much for herself, and I was sure she would not live a day if we were turned into the streets. She tried all she could to persuade me not, but I was determined, and so I came here. I hated the thoughts of such a life, and my only reason for coming was that I might help her. I thought that, if I had been alone, I would sooner have starved, but I could not bear to see her suffering. She only lived a few weeks after I came here. I broke her heart. I do not like the life. I would do almost any thing to get out of it; but, now that I have once done wrong, I can not get any one to give me work, and I must stop here unless I wish to be starved to death."

This plain and affecting narrative needs no comment. It reveals the history of many an unfortunate woman in this city, and while it must appeal to every sensitive heart, it argues most forcibly for some intervention in such cases. The following statements of other women who have suffered and fallen in a similar manner will show that the preceding is not an isolated case. M. M., a widow with one child, earned $1 50 per week as a tailoress. J. Y., a servant, was taken sick while in a situation, spent all her money, and could get no employment when she recovered. M. T. (quoting her own words) "had no work, no money, and no home." S. F., a widow with three children, could earn two dollars weekly at cap-making, but could not obtain steady employment even at those prices. M. F. had been out of place for some time, and had no money. E. H. earned from two to three dollars per week as tailoress, but had been out of employment for some time. L. C. G.: the examining officer reports in this case, "This girl (a tailoress) is a stranger, without any relations. She received a dollar and a half a week, which would not maintain her." M. C., a servant, was receiving five dollars a month. She sent all her earnings to her mother, and soon after lost her situation, when she had no means to support herself. M. S., also a servant, received one dollar a month wages. A. B. landed in Baltimore from Germany, and was robbed of all her money the very day she reached the shore. M. F., a shirt-maker, earned one dollar a week. E. M. G.: the captain of police in the district where this woman resides says, "This girl struggled hard with the world before she became a prostitute, sleeping in station-houses at night, and living on bread and water during the day." He adds: "In my experience of three years, I have known over fifty cases whose history would be similar to hers, and who are now prostitutes."

These details give some insight into the under-current of city life. The most prominent fact is that a large number of females, both operatives and domestics, earn so small wages that a temporary cessation of their business, or being a short time out of a situation, is sufficient to reduce them to absolute distress. Provident habits are useless in their cases; for, much as they may feel the necessity, they have nothing to save, and the very day that they encounter a reverse sees them penniless. The struggle a virtuous girl will wage against fate in such circumstances may be conceived: it is a literal battle for life, and in the result life is too often preserved only by the sacrifice of virtue.

"Seduced and abandoned." Two hundred and fifty-eight women make this reply. These numbers give but a faint idea of the actual total that should be recorded under the designation, as many who are included in other classes should doubtless have been returned in this. It has already been shown that under the answer "Inclination" are comprised the responses of many who were the victims of seduction before such inclination existed, and there can be no question that among those who assign "Drink, and the desire to drink" as the cause of their becoming prostitutes, may be found many whose first departure from the rules of sobriety was actuated by a desire to drive from their memories all recollections of their seducers' falsehoods. Of the number who were persuaded by women, themselves already fallen, to become public courtesans, it is but reasonable to conclude that many had previously yielded their honor to some lover under false protestations of attachment and fidelity.

It is needless to resort to argument to prove that seduction is a vast social wrong, involving in its consequences not only the entire loss of female character, but also totally destroying the consciousness of integrity on the part of the male sex. It matters not under what circumstances the crime may be perpetrated, none can be found that will exonerate the active offender from the imputation of fraud and treachery. A woman's heart longs for a reciprocal affection, and, to insure this, she will occasionally yield her honor to her lover's importunities, but only when her attachment has become so concentrated upon its object as to invest him with every attribute of perfection, to find in every word he utters and every action he performs but some token of his devotion to her. Love is then literally a passion, an idolatry, and its power is universally acknowledged.

But this passion can not be the growth of an hour. Its developments are gradual. From the first stage of mere acquaintance, it ripens progressively under the influence of tender words and solemn vows, frequently sincere, but often simulated, until the woman owns to herself and admits to her lover that she regards him with affection. Such an acknowledgment, virtually placing her future life in his custody, should inspire him with the high resolve to protect her name and fame, to justify the confidence she has reposed. But not unfrequently is it made the medium for dishonorable exactions, and for a momentary gratification, valueless to him except as a proof of her fervent adoration, and fatal in its consequences to her, he tramples on the priceless jewel of her honor, confidingly surrendered to this love and truth.

It should be remembered that, in order to accomplish this base end, he must have resorted to base means; must either have professed a love he did not feel, or have allowed his affection to cool as he approached its consummation. Pure and sincere attachment would effectually prevent the lover from performing any act which could possibly compromise the woman he adores. None but an unmitigated ruffian can calmly and deliberately wrong an unsuspecting female who has acknowledged a tender sentiment toward him, thus placing herself so entirely in his power. The crime of seduction can be viewed only as a mean and atrocious perjury, and strangely callous must he be whose conscience in after life does not pursue him with scorpion stings and fiery tortures.

But how account for the participation of the female in the crime? Simply by viewing it as an idolatry of devotion which is willing to surrender all to the demands of him she worships; to the intensity of her affections, which absorbs all other considerations; to a perfect insanity of love, excited and sustained by a supposed equal devotion to herself. As soon as this conviction of a mutual love possesses her mind, as soon as her heart responds to its magic touch, she lives in a new atmosphere; her individuality is lost; her thoughts revert only to her lover. Devoted to the promotion of his happiness, she thinks not of her own; and only when it is too late does she awake from the spell that lures her to destruction. In such a case as this, a woman does not merit the contempt with which her conduct is visited. She has sinned from weakness, not from vice; she has been made the victim of her own unbounded love, her heart's richest and purest affections.

Moralists say that all human passions should be held in check by reason and virtue, and none can deny the truthfulness of the assertion. But while they apply the sentiment to the weaker party, who is the sufferer, would it not be advisable to recommend the same restraining influences to him who is the inflictor? No woman possessed of the smallest share of decency or the slightest appreciation of virtue would voluntarily surrender herself without some powerful motive, not pre-existent in herself, but imparted by her destroyer. Well aware of the world's opinion, she would not recklessly defy it, and precipitate herself into an abyss of degradation and shame unless some overruling influence had urged her forward. This motive and this influence, it is believed, may be uniformly traced to her weak but truly feminine dependence upon another's vows. Naturally unsuspicious herself, she can not believe that the being whom she has almost deified can be aught but good, and noble, and trustworthy. Sincere in her own professions, she believes there is equal sincerity in his protestations. Willing to sacrifice all to him, she feels implicitly assured that he will protect her from harm. Thus there can be little doubt that, in most cases of seduction, female virtue is trustingly surrendered to the specious arguments and false promises of dishonorable men.[389]

The every-day experiences of life are amply sufficient to justify this opinion, for it is a fact that these specious arguments and false promises are continually resorted to by many men for the express purposes of seduction; and, nefarious as these cases confessedly are, still they form common incidents in the lives of some who claim to be what the world calls respectable! Men who, in the ordinary relations of life, would scruple to defraud their neighbors of a dollar, do not hesitate to rob a confiding woman of her chastity. They who, in a business point of view, would regard obtaining goods under false pretenses as an act to be visited with all the severity of the law, hesitate not to obtain by even viler fraud the surrender of woman's virtue to their fiendish lust. Is there no inconsistency in the social laws which condemn a swindler to the state prison for his offenses, and condemn a woman to perpetual infamy for her wrongs? Undoubtedly there are cases where the woman is the seducer, but these are so rare as to be hardly worth mentioning.

Seduction is a social wrong. Its entire consequences are not comprised in the injury inflicted on the woman, or the sense of perfidy oppressing the conscience of the man. Beyond the fact that she is, in the ordinary language of the day, ruined, the victim has endured an attack upon her principles which must materially affect her future life. The world may not know of her transgression, and, in consequence, public obloquy may not be added to her burden; but she is too painfully conscious of her fall, and every thought of her lacerated and bleeding heart is embittered with a sense of man's wrong and outrage. Memory points to the many bright passages in their acquaintance, and says, these shone but to ensnare you; to the many tokens of endearment received from her betrayer, and says, these were but so many arguments to effect your ruin; to the many vows he breathed, and says, these were but perjury; to the many smiles with which she was greeted, and says, these were but so many hypocritical devices. She remembers the thrill of joy with which her heart so gayly bounded when he first told her she was beloved, and she contrasts her ecstasy then with her agonies now. She remembers, with detestation, the caresses he was wont to bestow. But, above all, she remembers, and her blood boils with indignation as the thought is forced upon her, that by these means he has wrought her shame. She has learned in the school of sorrow that man's promises of fidelity are valueless; and her future life, whether spent in sorrow and repentance for the past, or in a wild, impetuous career of subsequent vice, will be indelibly marked with the remembrance of his treachery. It can not be a matter of surprise that, with this feeling of injustice and insult burning at her heart, her career should be one in which she becomes the aggressor, and man the victim; for it is a certain fact that in this desire of revenge upon the sex for the falsehood of one will be found a cause of the increase of prostitution.

The probabilities of a decrease in the crime of seduction are very slight, so long as the present public sentiment prevails; while the seducer is allowed to go unpunished, and the full measure of retribution is directed against his victim; while the offender escapes, but the offended is condemned. Unprincipled men, ready to take advantage of woman's trustful nature, abound, and they pursue their diabolical course unmolested. Legal enactments can scarcely ever reach them, although sometimes a poor man without friends or money is indicted and convicted. The remedy must be left to the world at large. When our domestic relations are such that a man known to be guilty of this crime can obtain no admission into the family circle; when the virtuous and respectable members of the community agree that no such man shall be welcomed to their society; when worth and honor assert their supremacy over wealth and boldness, there may be hopes of a reformation, but not till then.

The following cases will exhibit some of the results of seduction: M. C., a native of Pennsylvania, seventeen years of age, was induced to run away from home with her lover, who promised to marry her as soon as they reached Philadelphia. Instead of keeping his word, he deserted her. She was afraid to go home, and had no means of living except by prostitution, which she practiced for eight months in Philadelphia, and then came to New York to reside. Her father, a physician, died when she was about ten years old, and her mother subsequently married a hotel-keeper, in whose house the girl was reared, and to the associations of which she probably, to some extent, owes her fall from virtue.

In one of the most aristocratic houses of prostitution in New York was found the daughter of a merchant, a man of large property, residing in one of the Southern states. She was a beautiful girl, had received a superior education, spoke several languages fluently, and seemed keenly sensible of her degradation. Two years before this time she had been on a visit to some relations in Europe, and on her return voyage in one of her father's vessels, she was seduced by the captain, and became pregnant. He solemnly asserted that he would marry her as soon as they reached their port, but the ship had no sooner arrived than he left her. The poor girl's parents would not receive her back into their family, and she came to New York and prostituted herself for support.

A. B., the child of respectable parents in Germany, was seduced in her native place by a man to whom she was attached. He promised to marry her if she would accompany him to the United States. She obtained the permission and necessary funds from her parents, and two days after they landed in New York her seducer deserted her, carrying off all the money she had brought from home. H. P., a school-girl, sixteen years of age, was seduced by a married man who now visits her occasionally. C. A. was seduced in New Jersey, brought to New York, and deserted among strangers. M. R. was seduced by her employer, a married man. A. W. was seduced while at school in Troy, N. Y., and was ashamed to return to her parents. L. H. followed a lover from England who had promised to marry her. When she arrived in New York he seduced and diseased her, and then she discovered that he was a married man. There is no necessity to multiply these cases.

"Drink and the desire to drink." We will alter an old saying, and render it, "When a woman drinks she is lost." It will be conceded that the habit of intoxication in woman, if not an indication of the existence of actual depravity or vice, is a sure precursor of it, for drunkenness and debauchery are inseparable companions, one almost invariably following the other. In some cases a woman living in service becomes a drunkard; she forms acquaintances among the depraved of her own sex, and willingly joins their ranks. Married women acquire the habit of drinking, and forsake their husbands and families to gratify not so much their sexual appetite as their passion for liquor. Young women are often persuaded to take one or two glasses of liquor, and then their ruin may be soon expected. Others are induced to drink spirits in which a narcotic has been infused to render them insensible to their ruin. In short, it is scarcely possible to enumerate the many temptations which can be employed when intoxicating drinks are used as the agent.

"Ill-treatment of parents, husbands, or relatives" is a prolific cause of prostitution, one hundred and sixty-four women assigning it as a reason for their fall. In consideration of their important relations to society, it may be well to inquire, What are the duties of parents, husbands, and relatives?

In all countries where the obligations of the marriage contract are recognized, one of its most stringent requirements is found in the necessity to provide for the children of such union. This is acknowledged as a moral duty on account of the relationship between parents and children; it is recognized as a religious duty because specially enjoined in Holy Writ, and it is regarded as a civil duty because the future welfare of any community must depend upon the training of its future citizens.

As to the moral duty, what arguments would be effectual to prove to a hard-hearted parent the necessity of bestowing a kindly education upon his child? Surely nature itself would supply all the necessary reasons. The still, small voice of conscience will whisper to him, I have been the instrument of bringing this child into the world, and I am therefore responsible for its welfare. And even plain, old-fashioned common sense (despised as it is since a certain philosophy has come into fashion) would say, I am the father of a child, and it is my interest to do the best I can for it.

The religious duties are abundantly enforced in the Scriptures. These, while requiring in explicit terms the obedience of children to their parents, and annexing to such commandment the only promise which the Decalogue contains, are equally plain in specifying the duties of parents. These points are acknowledged by all sects and parties; and commentators or preachers, however much they may differ on questions of theology, or articles of faith, or rules of Church government, are unanimous upon the extent of parental obligation.

The civil duties are important for the reason already assigned. Children will be our successors in this arena, as we have succeeded the patriot fathers who achieved our independence, and made us the people that we are. The principles enunciated by every shot fired during the Revolutionary war have descended to us, but we are only trustees for their safe transmission to the next generation, and we shall be recreant to our duty, false to the memory of our ancestors, and traitors to our country, if we allow our children to assume the responsibilities that will naturally devolve upon them without due preparation for the sacred trust.

Having thus briefly alluded to the duties of parents, it remains to give some information as to the manner in which such obligations are performed, selected from the returns received in the progress of this investigation.

L. M., a very well educated girl: "I was seduced at eighteen years of age, and forced to leave home to hide my disgrace." Admitting that this girl had been led into an error, the plain duty of her parents, in every point of view, was to endeavor to reform her instead of driving her from home. Human nature, in its most favorable condition, is fallible; all are liable to error; but as all hope for forgiveness, so should they forgive. This is the doctrine of the sublime prayer taught by our Savior to his apostles; this is the duty of humanity. "The bruised reed He will not break," is a Divine promise from which poor finite man might draw a valuable lesson.

E. B.: "My parents wanted me to marry an old man, and I refused. I had a very unhappy home afterward." This case was directly in conflict with the dictates of nature. She had formed an attachment for a man who would, in all human probability, have made her a good husband, and caused her to remain a virtuous member of society; but her parents wanted her to marry an old man, and, in consequence of refusal, treated her with unkindness. She has now, poor girl, to answer for her sin of incontinence, but who can tell what other offenses would have been laid to her charge had she married as desired by her parents? How many awful deeds recorded in the annals of criminal jurisprudence have been produced by ill-assorted marriages! How many outrages, how much bloodshed, owe their origin to such a cause! Parents who, for their own selfish purposes, would drive a daughter into a marriage repugnant to her feelings, deserve the severest condemnation. So far from performing their duty in the matter, they are acting in diametrical opposition to it.

C. B.: "My stepmother ill-used me." The stepmother in this case stands in the place of the natural parent. In assuming the duties, she assumes all the responsibilities of the relation, and is equally guilty as if this girl were her own child. Women's feelings, in a normal state, are generally kind, gentle, and forgiving; but when they are perverted, she becomes more inveterate than man. So it was in this instance.

E. G.: "My mother ill-treated me and drove me from home. My father was very kind, but he died when I was seven years old." A similar case to the preceding in the perversion of feminine feelings, coupled with the melancholy fact that the girl's father, who had always used her kindly, died when she was a child. It would be natural to conclude that all the affections of a widow would concentrate upon her children, but the reverse of this is too frequently found to be true, and as soon as the husband to whom her vows were pledged is laid in the grave, and the children are deprived of his protecting hand, her love is alienated from them. A mother's duties to her offspring are increased by her husband's death, but she neglects them, and does violence to the maternal instinct.

M. B.: "I support my mother." It may possibly be objected that this case does not come within the scope of this section, as showing no positive neglect of parental duty, but, by implication, it is decidedly entitled to a place in the catalogue. It is, unfortunately for the sake of morality, but one of many similar instances which have been encountered, and some of which will be noticed in due course. The self-evident conclusion is, that if this mother had properly trained her daughter in early life, she would not now have to endure the agony arising from the knowledge that every morsel of food she eats, every article of clothing she wears, is purchased with the proceeds of her child's shame. It is difficult to imagine any position more disgusting than this--any circumstance more horrible than that of a mother quietly depending for existence upon the prostitution of a daughter, with the certainty that the inevitable result of such a vicious course of life will drive the child of her affection to a premature grave and a dreadful eternity.

J. C.: "My father accused me of being a prostitute when I was innocent. He would give me no clothes to wear. My mother was a confirmed drunkard, and used to be away from home most of the time." Here we have a combination of horrors scarcely equaled in the field of romance. The unjust accusations of the father, and his conduct in not supplying his child with the actual necessaries of life, joined with the drunkenness of the mother, present such an accumulation of cruelty and vice that it would have been a miracle had the girl remained virtuous. It is to be presumed that no one will claim for this couple the performance of any one of the duties enjoined by their position.

S. S.: "I had no work, and went home. My father was a drunkard, and ill-treated me and the rest of the family." Here is a specimen of a father's cruelty. His daughter is out of employment, and has no home but with her parents, and he, maddened with liquor, abuses her for flying to her natural protectors. Where was she to expect aid and comfort but from the authors of her being, and how was such expectation realized? She was forced to resort to prostitution as a means of living.

C. R.: "My parents are rich. They would not let me live at home, because I had been seduced." In this case there was no excuse for parental unkindness. Blessed with an ample supply of this world's treasures, they could calmly see their daughter exposed to want and penury. Living in the enjoyment of opulence themselves, they could doom her to earn a miserable subsistence by a life of shame. Satisfied with their own lot, and complacently surveying the comforts which surrounded them, they condemned her to a course of infamy in which no enjoyment could be found to cheer her path; where every day must add fresh tortures to her lot, every hour sink her yet lower in the social scale. Why? Because an indiscretion or a crime--call it which you please--had made her a fitting object for their kindness; because her own act had placed her in a position where she felt her disgrace, and asked their sympathy and aid to retrace her steps. Can there be a more pitiable object than a woman who has sacrificed her virtue to the importunity, the entreaties, or the vows of her lover, when she reflects upon her conduct? The delirium of love is past, but the overwhelming sense of shame is left; she feels that a momentary act has blasted her future life; she knows that the world will condemn her, and the only resource she has is an appeal to her parents. If they kindly take her by the hand, in all probability the evil will extend no farther, and she may regain her position in life. If they refuse their sympathy, they practically drive her to a course of vice, for there is no other road open to her. Who, then, is responsible for her after-career but those who have the power to preserve her from farther guilt and shame?

J. A.: "I am the eldest of a large family. My father is a drunkard, and would not support his children. I have supported my parents, brothers, and sisters for the last five years." This is an example of an outrageous social crime which can not be contemplated without horror; the parents of a family, with their remaining children, relying for subsistence upon the aid furnished from the sinful earnings of the first-born! In this instance the economy of nature is reversed. The filial affection which leads a child to support her aged and infirm parents can be understood and appreciated, but it is impossible to reprobate too severely the conduct of a man whose own actions have reduced him to poverty, and who then encourages his daughter to lead a life of prostitution that he may revel on money produced by a course of debauchery which he was mainly instrumental in producing.

A. B.: "My lover seduced and diseased me while I was working in a factory. I went home, and my parents turned me out." Neither loss of character nor physical suffering were sufficient punishment for this poor girl, only eighteen years of age; nor could the probability of a future moral life induce her parents to pardon the first offense. They had sent her to work amid associations which were almost certain to cause her ruin. This, of itself, is a sufficient ground for their condemnation, for they were in comfortable circumstances, and could not plead poverty as an excuse; and when this ruin was accomplished, they added to their former crime by refusing a shelter to the sufferer.

These cases are taken from actual facts. The words included in inverted commas are, as nearly as possible, those used by the women when being questioned. As to the truth of the statements, we hesitate not to believe them all to be substantially correct. They are not a fiftieth part of the instances in which similar disclosures have been made, but they are sufficient for the purpose of argument, and to prove that the assertions made in other places rest upon a solid foundation, and are not mere fancies of the brain. It would certainly be much more to the credit of society if their authenticity were not so indisputable.

The foregoing examples strongly suggest and justify a farther consideration of the duties of parents. While these include the obligation to furnish a child with food and clothing, they do not stop at that point. It would be erroneous, indeed, for any father to imagine he had fulfilled all the requirements of his position when he gave a child enough to eat and to wear. He would attend to the wants of his cattle in the same way, but there is something more to be done in the case of his children. He must so treat them as to induce, on their part, a sentiment of gratitude. Children are proverbially keen-sighted, and they seem to have a natural faculty for logic, so far as they themselves are concerned. They can very soon discriminate whether a parent is doing barely just as much as the laws of the country and the voice of public opinion require, or whether he is acting toward them with true paternal affection. In the former case they become selfish, and practice all their little arts to obtain as many advantages that the law allows them as possible, without entertaining any feelings of respect or affection toward their parents, because they know that such obligations can not be evaded without censure. In the latter case their gratitude and affection forms a return for the kindness bestowed. They immediately perceive that they are loved, and, as a natural consequence, endeavor to manifest love in return, by acting in a manner most pleasing to their parents. By simply encouraging this sentiment, children can be moulded much as the father wishes, whereas, by destroying it, he loses one of the most effective aids to his government. There are so many different ways by which this affection for children can be manifested, and they are all so simple and so certainly effective, that it is scarcely possible to conceive how any man or woman of the most ordinary intelligence can overlook them.

In addition to providing for the personal wants of his family, their education claims a large portion of the parents' care. Not only the mere tuition imparted in schools, but a careful training at home, as preliminary to their conflict with the world, is required. It is the instruction and advice given in the quiet of the domestic circle that exercises the most powerful influence, most effectually shapes the destiny of the future man or woman. No person is justified in delaying the performance of this duty. So soon as a child can talk and walk, so soon is this guidance necessary. It would be an interesting and important matter of investigation to ascertain, if possible, the time of life at which children become influenced by the temptations which surround them. The result would show a much earlier age than is generally supposed. A boy, when playing with his companions, overhears an improper expression from one of them. His mind retains it, and it may prove the germ from which habits of profanity subsequently spring. A girl may notice an improper action, which will rest upon her memory, and produce sad fruit hereafter. Thus the education of children for the ordinary duties of life can not be commenced too soon. If delayed, the probabilities are that, when you attempt to cultivate the soil in after years, you will find it already choked with weeds, which require more time and trouble to eradicate than would the inculcation of proper principles in early life. A lady remarked upon one occasion, in presence of an eminent preacher, that she thought children should not be trained to any religious exercises until they had arrived at an age when they could fully understand such subjects. The reply of the aged minister is appropriate to the present subject. He said, "Madam, if you do not implant good doctrines in your children's minds before that time, the devil will fill them with mischievous ones."

A somewhat prevalent error in the training of children must not be passed unnoticed, namely, excessive rigidity. This practice is common in many well-meaning but unthinking families professing Christianity. Every thing is conducted with as much mathematical precision as if they were demonstrating a problem in Euclid. Such a system is open to very grave objections, from the numerous cases in which it has proved prejudicial to the child's best interests. It acts precisely like the spring of a watch, which you can retain in a fixed position by a mechanical contrivance, but which resumes its elasticity and power the moment the pressure is removed. Children's minds are elastic also; you can confine them within any circle you please by the exercise of parental authority, but in a large proportion of cases the end sought to be attained is surely defeated. Many justly blame this cause for the mishaps of their future lives. It presents virtue and religion in a repulsive aspect, picturing them only as connected with asceticism, not recognizing the beauty and happiness which are their chief attractions. Thus is engendered in the minds of children an intuitive dislike for what they are taught to consider as a bondage. It is not uncommon to hear men describe the way in which their youthful Sabbaths were spent, and attribute to the irksome monotony of that day's discipline their subsequent distaste for even a few hours' confinement in church. This strictness, like ambition, "overleaps itself," and extinguishes the spirit it is designed to foster. The proper way to educate children for lives of usefulness, honor, and happiness, the most effective plan to reach the desired end, is to cultivate their affections and reason, instead of repressing the one and fettering the other by stringent applications of arbitrary rule.

But no man or woman can educate children properly unless their precepts are confirmed by example. Talk to your son as long as you please upon the advantages of temperance, and then let him see you in a state of intoxication the next day, and all your labor will be fruitless. Enlarge, in the presence of your daughter, upon the value of integrity, and then allow her to hear you utter a falsehood, and she will contrast the theory and practice, and conclude that the former is worthless. Parents must educate themselves before they can hope to instruct their children, and must lead a life in conformity with the principles they teach, if they expect any beneficial results from their endeavors.

Before leaving this part of the subject another matter may be mentioned, namely, the necessity of winning the confidence of children. Their hearts pine for sympathy. If they are in trouble, encourage them to reveal their perplexities to you; sigh with them when they are sad, and rejoice with them when they are happy. A girl who has been in the habit of imparting all her childish sorrows to her mother, and has there found a heart which would beat in unison with her own, will not withhold her confidence as she grows in years. Remember that children, while a blessing to their parents, are also a responsibility. You have the power to train them for good or evil; you can win their trust, or inspire them with distrust; you can make them useful members of society, or render them nuisances to the community; to you their destiny is confided to a great extent, and from you will be required an account of the stewardship.

The length to which these observations have been extended can be justified by the importance of the subject, and the conviction that a more careful fulfillment of parental duties would go very far toward diminishing prostitution. Every man must admit it to be his duty to aid in effecting this desirable consummation; and while it would be Utopian to imagine that the vice can be eradicated by family influences, it is reasonable to conclude that its extent may be materially curtailed.

Great as are the duties and responsibilities of a father, they are equaled by those devolving upon a husband. He has to provide for the welfare of his wife besides caring for the interests of his children. When he marries he vows to remain faithful to the woman of his choice, to "love, honor, and cherish her" so long as they both shall live. This is an implied oath, if not audibly expressed in all circumstances, and any violation of it is neither more nor less than perjury. Of course, the obligation is a mutual one; the wife is bound by the same ties, and in as stringent a form as the husband. It can not be said that every case of prostitution in a married woman is the result of her husband's misconduct, but it is notorious that many women are induced or compelled by such misconduct to abandon a life of virtue. All married prostitutes can not be exonerated from the charge of guilt, yet the facts which will be hereafter quoted prove that many were driven to a life of shame by those who had solemnly sworn to protect and cherish them.

The violation of any known duty is a positive crime against society, but it becomes increased in magnitude when it involves more than one person in the offense. It is then the cause of a second transgression, and sophistry would vainly attempt to prove that the man who committed the first and caused the commission of the second offense was not morally responsible for both. Descending from generalities, it may be truly asserted that the man whose conduct to his wife is such as to lead her to vicious practices is guilty in both respects. Here are some few cases in point.

C. C.: "My husband deserted me and four children. I had no means to live." In this case the husband violated the law of God in forcibly rending the matrimonial bond, and violated the laws of his country by leaving his wife and children as burdens on society. For the former of these offenses he must answer at the bar of Infinite Justice; for the latter he is liable to punishment in this world. "Then why not punish him?" asks some one. For the very simple reason that he could not be found. In this day the law does not assume the latitude claimed by the Spanish Inquisition, and sentence a man to punishment without giving him an opportunity to plead his cause. A woman in a state of destitution, with four hungry children looking to her for bread, has neither time nor means to pursue a delinquent husband. Her present necessities require her immediate attention, and so he escapes the penalty the laws have awarded, and can live (although it may be with an uneasy conscience) in some other place, and probably repeat there the iniquities he has practiced here. The custom of deserting wives and children would receive a severe check were it possible in every instance to enforce the legal provisions respecting abandonment.

J. S.: "My husband committed adultery. I caught him with another woman, and then he left me." This individual's turpitude was enhanced by his boldness. He seems to have recklessly defied all consequences, to have been entirely callous to any sense of shame, and, when detected in his adulterous intercourse, he adds desertion to his offense. He regarded not the feelings of her whom in early life he had won to his side by vows of affection; he outraged the laws of decency, and trampled upon the statutes of his country. His wife's agony may be conceived, although words would be faint to express it, and the mental sufferings she must have endured before she abandoned herself to indiscriminate prostitution as a means of living will not aggravate her offense.

A. G.: "My husband eloped with another woman. I support the child." Here the husband was morally as guilty as in the previous case, but without the disgusting bravado which characterized that. He had, however, another claim which should have secured his fidelity, namely, an infant child; but this tie was powerless to restrain him. Fascinated by the charms of another, forgetting all the rights of his wife, all the obligations of paternity, and all the requirements of morality, he basely abandoned those dependent on him, and forced the wife, whose virtue he was bound to protect, into a career of vice to support his child.

A. B.: "My husband accused me of infidelity, which was not true. I only lived with him five months. I was pregnant by him, and after my child was born I went on the town to support it." The first idea derived from this statement would be that five months of matrimonial life had been sufficient to change this husband from a devoted lover to a revengeful tyrant, who would not scruple to resort to a groundless accusation to effect his purpose. In this short space of time he conveniently forgot the promises he had made, repudiated the bonds in which his own act had placed him, and, to accomplish a separation from his wife, did not hesitate to bear false witness against her, placing her in a position from which she could extricate herself only by performing a logical impossibility, namely, by proving a negative. Nor could the probable destiny of his unborn child influence his determination. It mattered not to him whether the infant first saw the light in a den of infamy, nor whether his unkindness killed it before it was born, so that he could desert his wife. Neither did it make any difference to him whether she starved to death or maintained her existence by the most loathsome means. He was satiated with possession, and neither the voice of nature nor the dictates of conscience could arrest his purpose. The result was precisely what might have been expected: she became a prostitute rather than starve and let her child starve.

R. B.: "My husband brought me here (a house of ill fame). I did not know what kind of a place it was. He lives with me, and I follow prostitution." Another variety of unnatural conduct. The wife in this case was a very good-looking young woman, not exceeding eighteen years of age; the husband held a respectable and well-paid employment, and was in possession of ample means to support her. By false representations he induced her, within three months after marriage, to board in a fashionable house of prostitution. She soon discovered its character, but eventually succumbed to his orders, and became guilty. He resides with her, and is supported by her. What language can be used adequately to denounce such a cold-blooded piece of treachery on the part of a wretch claiming to be human?

L. W.: "I came to this city, from Illinois, with my husband. When we got here he deserted me. I have two children dependent on me." This man brought his wife from a distant state to a strange city, where she had no friends nor relatives to advise and assist her, and there abandoned her, with two helpless children, to the mercy of the world. Had he left her where she had been living previously, it is possible she might have found sufficient friends to assist her until she was able to support herself; but with a refinement of cruelty he transferred her to a place where she was unknown, and then effected his escape. The entire circumstances favor the supposed existence of a determination to abandon her as soon as they arrived in New York, where he could act thus with more safety than in her native place.

C. H.: "I was married when I was seventeen years old, and have had three children. The two boys are living now; the girl is dead. My oldest boy is nearly five years old, and the other one is eighteen months. My husband is a sailor. We lived very comfortably till my last child was born, and then he began to drink very hard, and did not support me, and I have not seen him or heard any thing about him for six months. After he left me I tried to keep my children by washing or going out to day's work, but I could not earn enough. I never could earn more than two or three dollars a week when I had work, which was not always. My father and mother died when I was a child. I had nobody to help me, and could not support my children, so I came to this place. My boys are now living in the city, and I support them with what I earn by prostitution. It was only to keep them that I came here." These were the words used by an honest, sorrowful looking woman encountered, in the course of this investigation, in the fourth police district of the city. No reasonable doubt can be entertained of the truth of the story; the manner in which she told it plainly indicated that she was narrating facts. Some inquiries were made respecting her of the keeper of the house, and he (for it was a man) stated that he knew her story to be correct. He had at first employed her as a servant because he wished to help her, but the wages he could pay were insufficient to support her children, and she eventually prostituted herself because she could earn more at this horrible calling, and was thus enabled to discharge her maternal duty. But at what a sacrifice was this obtained! In order to feed her helpless offspring she was forced to yield her honor; to prevent them suffering from the pains of hunger, she voluntarily chose to endure the pangs of a guilty conscience; to prolong their lives she periled her own. And at the time when this alternative was forced upon her, the husband was lavishing his money for intoxicating liquor. If she sinned--and this fact can not be denied, however charity may view it--it was the non-performance of his duty that urged, nay, positively forced her to sin. She must endure the punishment of her offenses, but, after reading her simple, heart-rending statement, let casuists decide what amount of condemnation will rest upon the man whose desertion compelled her to violate the law of chastity in order to support his children.

E. W.: "My husband had another wife when I married him. I left him when I found this out. I was pregnant by him, and had no other way to live than by prostitution." In point of law, this is not a married woman, the existence of the former wife rendering the second union invalid; but this is no excuse for the man's conduct; in fact, it materially aggravates his guilt. In the first place, he deserts a woman whom he was legally bound to support, leaving her to battle her way through life, to resist the temptations which would be sure to assail her, careless whether she lived or died, and heedless whether she retained her character or sank into vice; and then, with the greatest nonchalance, goes through the ceremony of marriage with another woman. It is easy to imagine the feelings of the latter when she discovered the fraud which had been practiced to secure her hand, and the indignation which caused her to leave him immediately, notwithstanding her condition; nor will it require much stretch of fancy to picture the mental suffering she endured, her agony during the hour of nature's trial, before she consented to earn a precarious living as a prostitute. Such cases are of frequent occurrence, and even the probability of a criminal indictment is insufficient to deter some men. No punishment could be too severe for such offenses, even considering them without any reference to this particular instance, because they pervert one of our most solemn contracts, and destroy all confidence in the security of the marriage tie.

C. H.: "My husband was a drunkard, and beat me." How much of misery and crime is contained in these few words! Either of the vices practiced by this fellow is enough to make a woman wretched; the combination is sufficient to drive her mad. She would doubtless sit and ponder during the long and weary night hours when he was carousing with his drunken companions, and would contrast her present wretched state with the happiness of early days. Her thoughts would revert to the time he won her love, to the day on which he brought her to his home a bride, and then she would cast her eyes around the room, now robbed of almost every thing portable to supply his insane appetite for liquor, and a heavy sigh would burst from her heart. But still she would continue her sad reminiscences, and think of the kindness he displayed then, and of his brutal ferocity now--would remember his considerate tenderness and compare it with his maniac fury. And then something would whisper to her, "Why do you endure it?" and her woman's nature would be aroused, resistance would take the place of submission, and she would leave her home and him who had desecrated it, and immolate herself upon the altar of vice, a victim to her husband's drunkenness and cruelty.

C. N.: "My husband left me because I was sickly and could not do hard work." This woman's husband may be pictured as a lazy, worthless fellow; probably one who married not to secure a helpmate and a partner, but to obtain a slave. Her health would not allow her to perform as much drudgery as he expected; the speculation did not turn out as well as he had anticipated, and he left her destitute, to starve or sin, as she thought fit.

P. T.: "My husband was intemperate, and turned out to be a thief. He was sent to prison." Still another victim of a drunken husband, but he carried his vicious habits to a point where the laws of his country would reach him. Had he merely deserted his wife, nobody would have thought it his business to arrest him, but he stole some person's property, and all the enginery of the law was forthwith arrayed against him. In the one instance, his conduct condemns his wife to shame in this world and perhaps perdition in the next, and the good-tempered public looks quietly on and says nothing. In the other case, he defrauds his neighbor of some dollars and cents, and the indignant community demands his condign punishment! What conclusion can be drawn from these facts? Honor, character, and life are ruined, and the offender escapes: money is stolen, and he is punished! Is money more valuable than the character and life of woman?

It requires no argument to prove that when the care of a child is assumed by its relatives, the parental obligations also devolve upon them; nor can there be any difference of opinion as to the duty of relations to assist, to the utmost of their power, any children whom death or other circumstances may have deprived of their natural protectors. Were not these principles generally recognized, all large cities would be crowded with destitute orphans. The beneficial results often arising from such guardianships argue very strongly in their favor; but still the imperative duty is frequently evaded, or acknowledged and made the opportunity for an exhibition of tyranny which naturally tends to the encouragement of vice. Take the following cases in illustration:

J. F.: "I support my aunt." In this case the duties of the aunt were not merely evaded, but she adds to her neglect a positive approval of the girl's abandoned life, by voluntarily receiving a portion of her earnings. What species of education she bestowed upon her niece may be inferred from its results. Such disclosures are almost too disgusting to be criticised.

S. B.: "My parents were dead. I came to this country with an uncle and aunt, who ill-used me from the time I landed till I ran away." The death of her parents should have been a passport to the affection of the relatives to whose charge she was intrusted, but, instead of producing such an effect, they brought her to a strange land, and practiced a succession of cruelties, until she could endure them no longer. It is more than probable that this was a plan intended to drive her from their home. They neither acknowledged their duty to supply the places of the father and mother she had lost, nor did they recognize the force of relationship, which, at least, should have protected her from positive unkindness. Nor did they possess any of those feelings of sympathy which every well-disposed person must entertain toward an orphan. They could not have been unaware of the probability of her falling into bad company and vicious habits if she left their care, but no regard for her happiness or character seems to have entered into their calculations, which may have been somewhat in this form: She is an expense to us, so we will contrive to drive her away; if she can make her living honestly, so much the better; if she turns out a prostitute, that is her own concern. It was not solely "her own concern," but it involved them also in its consequences, through their agency in its accomplishment, and, morally speaking, they are as liable for her ruin as if they had actually, and not indirectly, caused it.

The following cases closely resemble each other, and are presented in conjunction:

A. D.: "My parents were dead. I lived with my uncle, who treated me very unkindly."

L. S.: "My parents died when I was young. I lived with an uncle and aunt, who used me ill." The deprivation of each of these unfortunate women in the death of their parents, a loss almost incalculable in its results, placed them under the guardianship of those who alike neglected their duties and rendered the trust a medium for unkindness to the orphans. It seems surprising that the memory of a deceased brother or sister can not secure even ordinary care for their children. It can not be expected that the surviving relatives would exhibit the same amount of affection as would have been shown by the parents, but disappointment must be experienced if they make no pretensions to kindness. The dictates of nature are violated when harshness takes the place of sympathy, and destitution is considered a sufficient warrant for deliberate and continuous ill-treatment. Such conduct renders a girl reckless and misanthropic, and will drive her to seek, in unhallowed love, the affection her guardians have refused.

L. M.: "I was taken by my sister-in-law to a house of prostitution, and there violated." It is not often such a case of barbarity is found in civilized life, nor indeed in less polished communities, as this forcible violation of a young girl through the aid and connivance of her sister-in-law. The mind recoils, with disgust, from the instances of rape so frequently occurring, but this case is so peculiarly aggravated that it can not be contemplated without a feeling of shame for the depravity of human nature. In the one case, the brutal passions of a man are displayed in a brutal manner; in the other, the same cause exists to a similar extent, coupled with the blackest perfidy of a female relative. To such a shameless violation of the laws of consanguinity, such an outrageous conspiracy between a vile man and a monster of a woman, the sister must have been induced to lend her aid by some means best known to herself. It is quite impossible to imagine she possessed a single spark of virtue; on the contrary, she must have sunk, long before this occurrence, to the lowest depths of vice, or she never would have been an instrument in such an infernal scheme. The consideration she received is, of course, known only to the parties themselves, but it would give a farther insight to her character if the reader could be informed of the estimate set by a sister-in-law upon an orphan's virtue. The result of the outrage is, no doubt, exactly what the criminals anticipated. The victim knew that her character was ruined, that she had no alternative but prostitution, and, while the guilty pair who literally forced her to sin can congratulate each other on the success of their machinations, she must endure the penalty in a life of crime and misery.

G. H.: "I was detected and exposed by my brother." This girl, who had yielded to the entreaties of a man whom "she loved, not wisely, but too well," may assign her subsequent career of vice to the conduct of her brother. He must have been sadly deficient in all kindly feeling thus to parade his sister's dishonor, and also possessed of a very limited knowledge of human nature, or a large amount of malevolence. It can scarcely be imagined that he acted from ignorance, as he must have been certain that such an exposure would most probably induce his sister to continue an intercourse which was publicly known, and therefore could not augment her disgrace; nor can it be conceived that a malicious desire to blast her character governed his conduct. But, whatever his motive, the result was the same. She was forced to a life of prostitution, from which she might have been rescued had kind and affectionate means been employed, instead of the cruel and heedless course which was adopted.

C. W.: "My parents died when I was young. I was brought up by relatives who went to California when I was sixteen years old, and left me destitute. I had no trade." There is no allegation that this girl's relatives used her unkindly during the time she lived with them, but they deserted her, in a helpless condition, at the very time when she most needed their guardianship. They could not have been ignorant of the many temptations to which a young woman, without protectors or means of livelihood, is exposed in New York, and yet they removed to a distance, and left her to meet these trials alone. A girl whom they had reared from infancy, and for whom they must have entertained considerable affection, they tamely abandoned to an almost certain fate far worse than death. To say the least, it was a most inconsiderate step, and has resulted very disastrously.

E. R.: "My husband deserted me to live with another woman; my parents were dead; I went to my brother's house, and he turned me out." Fraternal unkindness farther exemplified! An orphan sister, deserted by her husband, asked from her brother the shelter of his roof, and he drove her from the house! Such conduct would have been barbarous if even a stranger had made the appeal; in the present instance, it exhibits a cruelty which can not be too severely reprobated.

C. B.: "My parents were dead. I was out of place. I had no relations but an uncle, who would not give me any shelter unless I paid him for it. I went on the town to get money to pay for my lodgings." This uncle's name ought to be handed down to posterity as a synonym of hard-hearted selfishness, and as indicating another manner in which money can be made. His miserly propensities must have been very strongly developed when he refused a shelter to his destitute niece unless she paid for it. It certainly did not matter to him how or where she obtained the means, and doubtless his equanimity was not disturbed when he ascertained that the money she paid him was the price of her shame. The coin was as bright in his hand, as useful to him to hoard or to spend, as if it had been her honest earning. Probably he would have been excessively annoyed (it is the characteristic of such men) if any plain-spoken person had told him that he was the means of making this girl a prostitute; but can it be denied that such was the fact, when he received some portion of the money earned by his niece's prostitution before he would allow her to sleep in his house?

L. S.: "My sister ill-treated me because I had no work." Here a sister seems to have regarded money as the chief good. The applicant was out of employment, in itself enough to enlist one's sympathies; she was in want, which should have been an additional reason for kindness; and yet, for these causes, a sister ill-treated her.

In thus endeavoring to show the several duties of parents, husbands, and relatives to those dependent females who are liable to be exposed at any moment to temptations leading from the path of virtue, cases have been exhibited in which a departure from the universally recognized obligations of these classes has added recruits to the ranks of prostitution. In these remarks, the endeavor has been to advance nothing resting on a theory; to advocate nothing unless supported by facts or acknowledged by common sense; to exonerate no one from blame when circumstances demanded a censure, and to condemn none in favor of whom there could be an existing doubt.

The recorded extracts, giving an insight beyond the scene of public view, exhibiting the secret machinery of the family circle, can not be contemplated without a mingled feeling of sorrow and shame. Sorrow, that so many females who might have been useful members of society have been forced into the ranks of sin; and shame, that the instruments in these proceedings were those who should have exerted every power to prevent such a result.

Cases have now been presented to the reader where a sorrowing, heart-broken girl has been denied the opportunity of repentance, and driven from a father's home; where another has been expelled from the family circle because she would not consent to an ill-assorted marriage; where stepfathers and stepmothers have violated their duties, and despised the obligations they had voluntarily assumed; where a mother's ill-treatment has driven her daughter to ruin; where parents were living and reveling upon the wages of their children's dishonor; where false accusations and unkind treatment were resorted to, and, from their natural effects, drove a girl from home and virtue; where drunkenness and debauchery made home a hell upon earth; where parents in affluent circumstances have driven a child from their home; where prostitution was willingly embraced as an escape from parental tyranny.

Again: Instances have been cited where husbands have deserted their wives and children; where the marital vow has been broken in the most glaring manner, and the crime followed by deliberate abandonment; where the wife's affections have been slighted, and her love relinquished for the purchased caresses of another woman; where a charge of infidelity has been made against a wife without cause; where a husband has deliberately brought his wife to a house of prostitution, and is now leading an idle, worthless life upon her earnings; where another husband brought his wife to a strange city in order to desert her and her children; where the solemn contract of marriage has been perverted; where a drunken husband has raised his hand against the woman he had sworn to protect; where a wife's sickness and incapacity for labor was made a reason for her husband's desertion; where a man's insane thirst for intoxicating liquor has forced a woman to prostitution for a maintenance; where the husband has been committed to prison for theft.

Farther: Cases have been given where an aunt lives upon the proceeds of a niece's prostitution; where uncles and aunts have systematically ill-used their orphan relatives; where a sister-in-law procured and assisted at the violation of a child; where a brother's unkindness forced his sister to continue a life of shame; where relatives to whom an orphan child was intrusted abandoned her when she most needed their care; where a brother refused an asylum to a deserted and suffering sister; where an uncle forced a girl to prostitute herself for money to pay him for her lodgings.

As already stated, these cases are all facts, collected in the course of this investigation, and are believed to be substantially correct. With such disclosures as these, can any one be surprised at the continued spread of prostitution? The family circle is one of the sources whence it emanates; so is the matrimonial bond; and so are the different branches of consanguinity. When fathers, husbands, and relatives thus forget their duties, and lend their influence to swell the tide of vice, it is no matter of surprise that strangers should be found ready and eager to contribute their share to the polluted current.

But the evil is not incurable, if public opinion can be enlisted on the side of public morals, and parents are satisfied, by unmistakable demonstrations, that the voice of an indignant people will be raised against them if practices similar to those narrated continue to occur. Husbands, too, must be convinced that any infraction of their marriage vows will expose them to popular odium; and if they have contracted an ill-assorted, hasty alliance, the responsibility must be borne by themselves. The contracts they voluntarily made must be fulfilled. Relatives also must be warned that the performance of their duties will be rigidly required. There is no deficiency of legislation on this subject; all that is wanted is determination to enforce existing laws; and when this is done, some of the main causes of prostitution will be removed.

To resume the analysis of the table of replies: Seventy-one women were persuaded by prostitutes to embrace a life of depravity. One of the most common modes by which this end is accomplished is to inveigle a girl into some house of prostitution as a servant, and this is frequently done through the medium of an intelligence office.

Most of the inhabitants of New York are acquainted with the arrangements and routine of business in those offices, but they may be described as a matter of information to others. Imagine a large room, generally a basement, in some leading thoroughfare. Upon entering from the street you will observe two doors, marked respectively "ENTRANCE FOR EMPLOYERS" and "ENTRANCE FOR SERVANTS." Passing through the first, you approach a desk, where the proprietor or his clerk is seated with his register books before him. You make known your wish to engage a servant, specifying her duties and the wages you are willing to pay. This is registered with your name and address, the fee is paid, and you are invited to walk into the other department, and ascertain whether any of the throng who are waiting there will suit your purpose. If successful in the search, it is merely necessary to inform the book-keeper that you are suited, and to take your servant home with you; but if you do not succeed, a woman will be sent to the registered address, and the office-keeper will continue to send until you are satisfied.

Servants who wish to obtain situations register their wants and pay a fee. If there are no places likely to suit them on the list of employers, they have permission to remain in the waiting-room until an applicant appears. In these waiting-rooms may be found a crowd of expectants varying from twenty to one hundred, according to the business transacted by the office.

In theory this arrangement is a very good one; in practice it is frequently abused. A respectable housekeeper who wishes to engage a servant will find but little trouble in doing so, and any person wishing to make the office a medium for securing females for improper purposes will seldom be disappointed. It is rarely that the proprietors notice the arrangements made; they merely act as brokers, and make known the wants of each party, and do not interfere with the character of either unless it is so notoriously bad as to force them to notice it for their own sake. So long as the employer and servant agree, the office-keeper is contented.

The following facts illustrate the manner in which young women are sometimes entrapped. A respectably-dressed man went into an intelligence office, and represented himself as a storekeeper residing some twenty miles from New York. He wished to hire a girl as seamstress and chambermaid, who must go home with him the same afternoon. Glancing around the waiting-room, he soon saw one of sufficiently attractive appearance, to whom he made the proposition. The wages he offered were liberal, the work was described as light, and the woman made an arrangement to accompany him forthwith. He told her that he had a little business to transact before he could leave the city, but that she could wait for him at his sister's until the cars were ready to start. She had but slight knowledge of the temptations of New York, and went with him to a brothel, the keeper of which he stated to be his sister. Here she remained for some hours waiting his return. The "sister" expressed her surprise at his absence, but concluded that his business had detained him, and, with apparently a kindly feeling, told the girl that she would be welcome to sleep there that night. Her suspicions were lulled by the seeming respectability of the persons, and she remained. In the course of the evening the character of the house became evident, and then the proprietress offered to engage her as a servant, solemnly promising that she should not be exposed to any insult. Almost a total stranger in the city, and destitute of money, she consented. A very few days in such a hot-bed of vice was sufficient to deaden her sense of right and wrong, and within a fortnight she was enrolled as a prostitute.

Keepers of houses sometimes visit these offices themselves, but generally some unknown agent is employed, or, at times, one of the prostitutes is plainly dressed, and sent to register her name as wishing a situation, so as to be able to obtain admission to the waiting-room. There she enters into conversation with the other women, whom she uses all the art she possesses to induce to visit her employer, and very frequently with the same result as in the case just narrated.

There exists among many prostitutes a fiendish desire to reduce the virtuous of their own sex to a similar degradation with themselves. Since they can not elevate their own characters, they strive to debase those of others. To accomplish this, they spare neither trouble nor misrepresentation. One system in which they are commonly employed may be noted, although the mode is similar to the case of the servant-girl just given. A man had resolved to ruin a woman who placed implicit confidence in his sincerity, and admitted that she loved him. He found that her modesty and good sense were proof against his persuasive powers, and he finally resorted to stratagem, and invited her to walk with him to visit some relations. He took her to a brothel, introduced its keeper (who had already been instructed in her part) as his aunt, and one or two of the inmates represented her daughters. The deception was maintained for a time; family matters were discussed, and refreshments introduced. A glass of drugged wine was handed to the victim, and as soon as its effects were visible the villainous deed was effected. Such machinations as this show that not only are many of these prostitutes dangerous to society from their open and avowed life of crime, but also from the influences they exert to deceive the honest of their own sex.

Allusion has been already made to the numerous dangers which surround young women during their passage to this country on crowded emigrant ships, or after their arrival in the equally crowded emigrant boarding-houses, and it is needless to repeat them in this section; but an incomplete statement of the causes of prostitution would be presented if the injurious effects of some of our fashionable boarding-schools were suffered to pass without notice. Startling as such an assertion may appear, it is no more strange than true. A system of education, the prominent design of which is to impart a knowledge of the (so-called) modern accomplishments to the almost total exclusion of moral training; to make the pupils present the most dazzling appearance in society, regardless of their real interests and duties, does, in some cases, lead to unhappy results. Filial affection, or early training, or innate virtue, enable many to overcome these temptations, but others succumb to them. One case, in particular, it is desirable to record, although several of a similar nature were met with.

A girl, eighteen years of age, born in Louisiana, of highly respectable parents, was induced to elope from a boarding-school in the vicinity of New Orleans with a man who accorded with her romantic ideal of a lover. No marriage vows ever passed between them; she trusted him as the heroine of a modern novel would have done, and he deceived her, as all modern rakes deceive their victims. She lived with him for a considerable time. When he deserted her, she was left almost destitute. She was afraid to return to her parents, knowing that they were acquainted with the life she had been leading, and she had no other means of support than open and avowed prostitution. These features of her history should present a warning to both parents and daughters of the dangers attending a superficial and improper system of education.

Of course it must not be inferred that all schools are open to such objections. In the numerous institutions of the kind scattered throughout the land, the majority are worthy of every confidence. Instances like this are probably exceptions to the rule, but still, what has been pernicious in one case may be in another; and the education of young women, forming, as it does, their character for life, should be conducted, as far as possible, so as to secure their safety, honor, and usefulness. In a subsequent chapter, this superficial education will be farther noticed.

One of the real improvements of modern times is the introduction of physiology as a branch of education in our schools. Yet it is to be regretted that the knowledge communicated to youth upon a subject so important is still extremely limited. Indeed, such is the present state of public opinion, that any text-book or teacher that should impart thorough instruction in regard to all the organs and functions of the human body, would be considered entirely unfit for use or duty. Notwithstanding this, the young of both sexes do become informed upon the subjects of marriage, procreation, and maternity. And how? By force of natural curiosity and injurious association. It is the imperative duty of parents to rightly inform their children concerning the things which they must inevitably know. In consequence of their neglect of this duty, both boys and girls are left to find out all they can about the mysteries of their being from ignorant servants or corrupt companions. Let fathers teach their sons, and mothers their daughters, at the earliest practicable age, all that their future well-being makes it necessary for them to know. The information thus acquired will be invested with a sacredness and delicacy entirely wanting when obtained from unreliable and pernicious sources.

Thus would many of the injurious influences incident to the present secrecy upon such subjects be avoided. Of the evil habits and practices common among youth, physicians are well cognizant, and many a parent has had to mourn their sad results in the premature death or dethroned reason of children who, with proper physical training, might have been their pride and joy.

Next to the responsibility of parents in this matter is that of teachers, who, with all judiciousness and delicacy, should supply the deficiencies of ignorant or incapable parents in the physiological education of all committed to their care.

And here a word in regard to the bad effects of, so called, classical studies. Are they not oftentimes acquired at the risk of outraged delicacy or undermined moral principles? Mythology, in particular, introduces our youth to courtesans who are described as goddesses, and goddesses who are but courtesans in disguise. Poetry and history as frequently have for their themes the ecstasies of illicit love as the innocent joys of pure affection. Shall these branches of study be totally ignored? By no means; but let their harmless flowers and wholesome fruit alone be culled for youthful minds, to the utter exclusion of all poisonous ones, however beautiful.

This lack of information has resulted in another evil in the impetus it has given to the sale of obscene books and prints. Recent legal proceedings have checked this nefarious trade, but it still exists. Boys and young men may be found loitering at all hours round hotels, steam-boat docks, rail-road depôts, and other public places, ostensibly selling newspapers or pamphlets, but secretly offering vile, lecherous publications to those who are likely to be customers. They generally select young and inexperienced persons for two reasons. In the first place, these are the most probable purchasers, and will submit to the most extortion; and, in the second, they can be more easily imposed upon. The venders have a trick which they frequently perform, and which can scarcely be regretted. In a small bound volume they insert about half a dozen highly-colored obscene plates, which are cut to fit the size of the printed page. Having fixed upon a victim, they cautiously draw his attention to the pictures by rapidly turning over the leaves, but do not allow him to take the book into his hands, although they give him a good opportunity to note its binding. He never dreams that the plates are loose, and feels sure that in buying the book he buys the pictures also. When the price is agreed upon, the salesman hints that, as he is watched, the customer had better turn his back for a moment while taking the money from his pocket-book, and in this interval he slips the plates from between the leaves and conceals them. The next moment the parties are again face to face, the price is handed over, and the book he had seen before is handed to the purchaser under a renewed caution, and is carefully pocketed. The book-seller leaves, and at the first opportunity the prize is covertly drawn forth to be examined more minutely, and the unwary one finds that he has paid several dollars for some few printed pages, without pictures, which would have been dear at as many cents.

Despite all precautions, there is every reason to believe that the manufacture of these obscene books is largely carried on in this city. It is needless to remind any resident of the large seizures made in New York during the last two years, or to particularize the stock condemned. More caution is observed now, and the post-office is made the vehicle for distribution. Circulars are issued which describe the publications and their prices, modes of transmitting money are indicated, and the advertiser plainly says that he will not allow any personal interviews on account of the dangers which surround the traffic. By using an indefinite number of aliases, and often changing the address to which letters are sent, he succeeds in eluding the vigilance of the police, and secures many remittances.

Not less dangerous than the directly obscene publications is a class of voluptuous novels which is rapidly circulating. Some are translations from the French; but one man, now living in England, has written and published more disgustingly minute works, under the guise of honest fiction, than ever emanated from the Parisian presses. He writes in a strain eminently calculated to excite the passions, but so carefully guarded as to avoid absolute obscenity, and embellishes his works with wood-cuts which approach lasciviousness as nearly as possible without being indictable. It is to be regretted that publishers have been found, in this and other cities, who are willing to use their imprints on the title-pages of his trash, and sell works which can not but be productive of the worst consequences. Those who have seen much of the cheap pamphlets, or "yellow-covered" literature offered in New York, will have no difficulty in recalling the name of the author alluded to, and those who are ignorant of it would only be injured by its disclosure. There can be but one opinion as to the share obscene and voluptuous books have in ruining the character of the young, and they may justly be considered as causes, indirect it may be, of prostitution.

Some of the sources of prostitution have been thus examined. To expose them all would require a volume; but it is hoped that sufficient has been developed to induce observation and inquiry, and prompt action in the premises.

XXXIV. NEW YORK.--STATISTICS

Means of Support.--Occupation.--Treatment of Domestics.-- Needlewomen.--Weekly Earnings.--Female Labor in France.-- Competition.--Opportunity for Employment in the Country.--Effects of Female Occupations.--Temptations of Seamstresses.--Indiscriminate Employment of both Sexes in Shops.--Factory Life.--Business of the Fathers of Prostitutes.--Mothers' Business.--Assistance to Parents.-- Death of Parents.--Intoxication.--Drinking Habits of Prostitutes.-- Delirium Tremens.--Liquor Sold in Houses of Prostitution.--Parental Influences.--Religion of Parents and Prostitutes.--Amiable Feelings.-- Kindness and Fidelity to each other.

Question. IS PROSTITUTION YOUR ONLY MEANS OF SUPPORT?

Resources. Numbers. Dependent solely upon prostitution 1698 Have other means of support 302 ---- Total 2000

No surprise will be excited by the fact indicated above, that seventeen of every twenty women examined in New York reply to this question in the affirmative, for it is almost impossible to conceive that any honest occupation can be associated with vice of such character. The small minority who have other means consists principally of women who work at their trades or occupations at intervals, or who receive some slight payment for assisting in the ordinary work, or for sewing, in the houses of ill fame where they reside. It is difficult to believe women working as domestics in brothels are virtuous themselves; on the contrary, it is a well-known fact that they are, in every sense of the word, prostitutes; the only difference being that they work a portion of the time, while the "boarders" do not work at all.

Those who follow an employment at intervals are mostly women whose trades are uncertain, and who are liable at certain seasons of the year to be without employment. Then real necessity forces them on the town until a return of business provides them with work. They are more to be pitied than blamed.

There is another class not entirely dependent on prostitution. It consists mostly of German girls, who receive from five to six dollars per month as dancers in the public ball-rooms. In the first ward of New York there are several of these establishments, and the Captain of Police in that district has attached some interesting memoranda to his returns, from which is gleaned the following information respecting these places and their inhabitants. It is submitted to the reader, in order that he may draw his own conclusions as to the virtue of the dancers.

"These dance-houses are generally kept by Germans, who consider dancing a proper and legitimate business. They are in general very quiet. The girls employed to dance do not consider themselves prostitutes, because the proprietors will not allow them to be known as such. Each girl receives monthly from five to six dollars and her board, and almost every one of them hires a room in the neighborhood for the purpose of prostitution. I have classed them all as prostitutes, because, in addition to the previous fact, I know that the majority of them have lived as such. Very few of these girls are excessive drinkers. Although the regulations of the ball-room require them to drink after each dance with their partners, yet the proprietor has always a bottle of water slightly colored with port wine, from which they drink, and he charges the partner the same price as for liquor."

Alluding to the keeper of one of these places, the same officer says:

"The proprietress of this house is a German woman over seventy years of age. She established the house over eighteen years since, to my certain knowledge. Her husband had just then arrived from Germany with their four children. They were not worth one hundred dollars at that time. The man died three years ago, and by his will directed forty thousand dollars to be divided among his children. The widow is possessed of an equal amount in her own name."

Question. WHAT TRADE OR CALLING DID YOU FOLLOW BEFORE YOU BECAME A PROSTITUTE?

Occupations. Numbers. Artist 1 Nurse in Bellevue Hospital, N. Y. 1 School-teachers 3 Fruit-hawkers 4 Paper-box-makers 5 Tobacco-packers 7 Attended stores or bars 8 Attended school 8 Embroiderers 8 Fur-sewers 8 Hat-trimmers 8 Umbrella-makers 8 Flower-makers 9 Shoe-binders 16 Vest-makers 21 Cap-makers 24 Book-folders 27 Factory girls 37 Housekeepers 39 Milliners 41 Seamstresses 59 Tailoresses 105 Dress-makers 121 Servants 933 Lived with parents or friends 499 ---- Total 2000

Wherever the social condition of woman has been considered, one fact has always been painfully apparent, namely, the difficulties which surround her in any attempt to procure employment beyond the beaten track of needlework or domestic service. Numerous light or sedentary employments now pursued by men might with much greater propriety be confided to women, but custom seems to have fixed an arbitrary law which can not be altered. If a lady enters a dry goods store, she is waited upon by some stalwart young man, whose energy and muscle would be far more useful in tilling the ground, or in some other out-door employment. If she wishes to make a purchase of jewelry, she is served by the same class of attendants. Why should not females have this branch of employment at their command? It would in a majority of cases be more consonant with the feelings of the purchasers, and consequently more to the interest of store-keepers. It would open an honorable field of exertion to the women, and improve the condition of the men who now monopolize such employments, by forcing them to obtain work suitable to their sex and strength, and driving from the crowded cities into the open country some whose effeminacy is fast bringing them to positive idleness and ruin.

Many people are prepared to frown upon any attempt to improve the social condition of dependent women. They regard it as a part of that myth which they call opposition to constituted authorities, without any reference to the consideration which should form the basis of all society, namely, ensuring the greatest amount of good to the greatest number. Others who are opposed to any amelioration sustain their views by a libel upon woman, and upon her Almighty Creator. They assert that she has not sufficient intellect for any thing beyond routine employment, or blame her because she has received only such an imperfect education as the world has thought proper to award her, and thus has not had an opportunity to cultivate her faculties. It is not necessary to point to the productions and achievements of women even in our own days, omitting all mention of what has been done heretofore, to expose the fallacy of this proposition. The facts are patent to the world. With special reference to the subject in hand it may be asserted, unhesitatingly and without fear of contradiction, that were there more avenues of employment open to females there would be a corresponding decrease in prostitution, and many of those who are now ranked with the daughters of shame would be happy and virtuous members of the community.[390]

In the list of occupations pursued by the women who are now prostitutes in New York, a most lamentable monotony is visible. Domestic service and sewing are the two principal resources. From the gross number of two thousand deduct those who lived with their parents or friends, children attending school, domestic servants, and housekeepers, amounting in the aggregate to 1322, and there is a balance of 678, nearly six hundred of whom depend upon needles and thread for an existence. In the total number reported there are only four, or exactly one in every five hundred, who relied for support upon any occupation requiring mental culture, that is, one artist and three school-teachers. This fact in itself sustains the theories that mental cultivation and sufficient employment are restrictions to the spread of prostitution.

If women are compelled to undergo merely the slavery of life, no moral advancement can ever be expected from them. If every approach to remunerative employment is systematically closed against them, nothing but degradation can ensue, and the moralist who shuddered with horror at the bare possibility of a woman being allowed to earn a competent living in a respectable manner will ejaculate, "What awful depravity exists in the female sex!" He and others of his class drive a woman to starvation by refusing to give her employment, and then condemn her for maintaining a wretched existence at the price of virtue.

But to notice more particularly the employments which the courtesans of New York have followed. The domestic servants amount to 931. No modern fashion has yet been introduced to deprive females of this sphere of labor, but so progressive is the age that even that may be accomplished within a few years, and the advertising columns of the newspapers teem with announcements of some newly-invented "scrubbing-machine." The space will not permit any extended remarks on this employment, but, while allowing that many employers treat their servants as human beings gifted with the same sensibilities and feelings as themselves, it must be regretted that there are others who use them in a manner which would bring a blush to the cheek of a southern slave-driver. With such mistresses the incapacity of servants is a constant theme, nor do they ever ask themselves if they have learned the science of governing. Assuming that they themselves are right, they conclude that the "help" is, of course, wrong. Is it any wonder that girls are driven to intoxication and disgrace by this conduct? Another reason which forces servant-girls to prostitution is the excessive number who are constantly out of employment, estimated at one fourth of those resident in the city, an evil which would be diminished were there more opportunities for female labor.

What is the position of the needle-woman? Far worse than that of the servant. The latter has a home and food in addition to her wages; the former must lodge and keep herself out of earnings which do not much exceed in amount the servant's pay. The labor by which this miserable pittance is earned, so truthfully depicted in the universally known "Song of the Shirt," is distressing and enervating to a degree. Working from early dawn till late at night, with trembling fingers, aching head, and very often an empty stomach, the poor seamstress ruins her health to obtain a spare and insufficient living. There is no variety in her employment; it is the same endless round of stitches, varied only by a wearisome journey once or twice a week to the store whence she receives her work, and where the probabilities are that a portion of her scanty wages will be deducted for some alleged deficiency in the work. She has no redress, but must submit or be discharged.

Nor is the position of a milliner or dress-maker much superior to this. She has a room provided for her in the employer's establishment, and there she must remain so long as the inexorable demands of fashion, or the necessity of preparing bonnets or dresses for some special occasion require. It matters not if she faint from exhaustion and fatigue; Mrs. ---- wants her ball-dress to-morrow, and the poor slave (we use this word advisedly) must labor as if her eternal salvation rested on her nimble fingers. But the gay robe which is to deck the form of beauty is completed; the hour of release has come at last; and, as at night the wearied girl walks feebly through the almost deserted streets, she meets some of the frail of her own sex, bedecked in finery, with countenances beaming from the effects of their potations, and the thought flashes across her mind, "They are better off than I am." Her human nature can scarcely repress such an exclamation, which is too often but the precursor of her own ruin.

Paper-box-makers, tobacco-packers, and book-folders are no better off. They must work in crowded shops, must inhale each other's breath during the whole day (for such work-shops are not the best ventilated buildings in New York, generally speaking), and receive, as their remuneration, barely sufficient to find them food, clothes, and shelter.

It is needless to pursue this subject. Enough has surely been advanced to demonstrate the necessity of a more extended field of female labor.

Question. HOW LONG IS IT SINCE YOU ABANDONED YOUR TRADE AS A MEANS OF LIVING?

Length of Time. Numbers. 3 months 174 6 " 151 1 year 273 2 years 254 3 " 147 4 " 104 5 " 117 10 " 90 12 " and upward 16 Not abandoned 296 Unascertained 378 ---- Total 2000

A very few words will suffice on this table, as the remarks which would arise from it have been already made in reference to other questions. In most instances the occupation is abandoned as soon as the first false step is taken, unless in those cases of destitution where a previous want of employment renders prostitution necessary as the only means of living. Of course, as before observed, a life of prostitution must be incompatible with any description of honest employment, and, in those cases where a woman has followed any trade or occupation after she had yielded to promiscuous intercourse, it will generally be found that her motive was to deceive the world as to her own pursuits, or else to satisfy her conscience that she was not entirely depraved.

Question. WHAT WERE YOUR AVERAGE WEEKLY EARNINGS AT YOUR TRADE?

Average Earnings. Numbers. 1 dollar 534 2 dollars 336 3 " 230 4 " 127 5 " 68 6 " 27 7 " 8 8 " 5 20 " 1 50 " 1 Unascertained 663 ---- Total 2000

This question is of equal importance with that referring to the number of employments available for females, and the replies quoted above will give as many reasons for prostitution as in the former case. From the work of a French author on this subject the following is condensed as indicative of the hardships and insufficient remuneration of women employed in factories in France:

"Women are employed principally in the manufacture of cotton, silk, and wool. The preparation of cotton presents two dangerous features, in the 'beating' and 'dressing,' which are performed solely by women. In the manufacture of silk there are also two processes dangerous to life, and these are performed by women. The woolen manufacture has no real danger but in the 'carding,' and all the carders are women. Of these mortal occupations there is not one that will afford the workwoman a sufficient maintenance, the average wages being from sixteen to twenty-five sous per day, subject to the fluctuations of trade."[391]

Commenting upon these facts, the Westminster Review says,

"We took some pains to ascertain the relative wages of men and women employed in the same trades (in England), and almost in every instance it appeared that for the same work, performed in the same time, they received one third less, sometimes one half less than men, without any inferiority of skill being alleged. One master gravely said that he "paid women less because they ate less."[392]

In a subsequent chapter of this volume will be found some particulars of the wages paid in manufacturing districts of the United States, and the same disparity between male and female operatives will be noticed.

M. Parent-Duchatelet assigns insufficient wages as one of the principal causes of prostitution in Paris. He says,

"What are the earnings of our laundresses, our seamstresses, our milliners? Compare the wages of the most skillful with those of the more ordinary and moderately able, and we shall see if it be possible for these latter to procure even the strict necessaries of life; and if we farther compare the price of their work with that of their dishonor, we shall cease to be surprised that so great a number should fall into improprieties thus made almost inevitable."[393]

This low rate of wages is defended upon the plea of competition. A manufacturer practically says, "If one man or woman will do my work for five per cent. less than another, I must employ him or her unless I am prepared to carry on my business at a positive loss; for if I do not give them work, my neighbor will." Valid as this reason may be in the old countries, where the supply of labor far exceeds the demand, it is invalid in America, where there is a constant demand for workers. Our cities are overcrowded; remove some of their inhabitants to the country. In our cities work can not be obtained; in the country both male and female laborers are urgently required. In cities an unemployed woman is exposed to innumerable temptations; in the country she need never be unemployed, and consequently would escape such dangers. The difference between the New and Old worlds is simply that in the former the cities are overcrowded, but the country is free; in the latter, both cities and country are full to repletion.

In the city of New York one fourth part of the domestic servants are constantly out of employment; remove them, and, while the wants of the community will be amply supplied, the market value of a faithful servant would increase to a living rate. Send away a number of needle-women, reducing the supply of labor to meet the actual demand; tailors, shirt-makers, and dress-makers must employ seamstresses, and in such cases they could not obtain them without paying remunerative wages. The prices of our wearing apparel would probably be advanced five per cent., with a saving of fifteen per cent. taxation in the reduced expenses of police, judiciary, prisons, hospitals, and charitable institutions.

The experience of the winter of 1857-8 has proved that but very slight difficulties attend this plan when efficiently carried out, and to the "Children's Aid Society" and the other benevolent organizations, which have shown not only the possibility, but the success of the system, all praise is due. No man entering upon a farm in the West requires any argument to convince him that his property will increase in value as it is cultivated, and many will gladly advance the sum necessary to pay the expenses of a servant's journey out. As fast as men are sent to fell the timber or break the prairie, the farmer's necessities force him to engage women for the increasing work of his house and dairy, and to supply the places of those who obtain husbands in their new home. When the tide of emigration to the Australian colonies commenced, nearly the whole of those who left England were single men, and in a few months the cry was ringing from one end of the island to the other: "Send us female help, send us wives." A benevolent woman, resident in the colony, repeated the demand, and subsequently lent the aid of her powerful talents to it. She made a voyage to England, and there influenced public opinion to such an extent that the British government yielded to the outside pressure, and many ship-loads of well-recommended, healthy, and virtuous women were sent out at the national expense to supply the want. The subsequent advancement of the colony has proved that the measure was a judicious one, nor can the abuses to which it became subject detract from its merits.

Similar plans with respect to destitute children have been practiced in New York for several years, and their subsequent extension to meet the wants of adult females has been limited only by the means of the projectors. If the necessity and prospective benefit of this emigration were known and appreciated, the required funds could be raised without any difficulty. The citizens of New York are never dilatory in responding to calls upon their benevolence in aid of any practicable and judicious scheme of philanthropy, and, under the management of an energetic business committee, arrangements could be made which would render the movement self-supporting within a few years.

The competition which keeps wages at starvation point is aggravated by a notion entertained by many native women, and by some foreigners who have been long in the country, that domestic service is ungenteel. This idea drives them to needlework to maintain their respectability, and thus, while service is abandoned, the ranks of seamstresses are augmented. By decreasing the number to be employed, and consequently advancing their wages and insuring better treatment from their employers, the servant's life would be divested of many of its objections, and old-fashioned house-work would once more be deemed respectable. This consummation rests more with mistresses than servants. The former give tone to the manners of the latter. It can not be denied that many young women date their ruin from unkind or unwomanly treatment by their mistresses, who have given a free rein to their caprices, confident that if a girl left them they could soon supply her place. This confidence would be shaken if a housekeeper knew that servants were less plentiful, and her own interest would induce her to use well those who suited her. Such a conclusion would be an important step toward reducing prostitution, and elevating the character of the masses.[394]

It can not be expected that this vice will decrease in New York when five hundred and thirty-four, out of a total of two thousand, earn only one dollar weekly. No economist, however closely he may calculate, will pretend that fourteen cents a day will supply any woman with lodging, food, and clothes. She who should attempt to exist on such a sum would starve to death in less than a month, and yet it is a notorious fact that many are expected to support themselves upon it. How such expectations are realized, and the sad manner in which the deficiency is made up, are amply shown by the result of this and similar investigations, here and elsewhere.

Thus far manufacturers have been blamed for the depression of wages, but is not the consumer equally open to censure? He purchases an article of dress from A, because it is a trifle cheaper than in B's store. The cost of the raw material is the same to each, and each uses the same quantity in every article; but if A can find customers for three times the amount of goods which B can sell, on account of the saving he effects through paying lower wages, it is scarcely in human nature, decidedly not in commercial nature, to be expected that he will refuse the opportunity. He flatters himself that competition forces him to make the reduction, and as the public do not denounce his action, but flock to his store so long as his price continues lower than his neighbor's, he concludes that his customers should bear the blame. Nor are his conclusions false. The public sanction a system which enforces starvation or crime, and, for the sake of saving a few cents, add their influence to swell the ranks of prostitutes, and condemn many a poor woman to eternal ruin.[395]

Before leaving the question of employment, the effects of different branches of female occupation, as inducing or favoring immorality, must be noticed. Apart from the low rate of wages paid to women, thus causing destitution which forces them to vice, the associations of most of the few trades they are in the habit of pursuing are prejudicial to virtue. The trade of tailoress or seamstress may be cited as a case in point. One mode in which this business is conducted between employer and employed is as follows: The woman leaves either a cash deposit or the guarantee of some responsible person at the store, and receives a certain amount of materials to be made up by a specified time: when she returns the manufactured goods she is paid, and has more work given her to make up. This may seem a very simple course, and so it is, but one feature in it gives rather a sinister aspect. The person who delivers the materials, receives the work, and pronounces on its execution, is almost invariably a man, and upon his decision rests the question whether the operative shall be paid her full wages, or whether any portion of her miserable earnings shall be deducted because the work is not done to his satisfaction. In many cases he wields a power the determinations of which amount to this: "Shall I have any food to-day, or shall I starve?"

It is reasonable to conclude that hardly any thing short of positive want can force a girl to undertake this labor at its present price, and it is reasonable to imagine that her necessities will force her to use every means to accomplish her task in a satisfactory manner. If she finds that a smile bestowed upon her employer or his clerk will aid her in the struggle for bread, she will not present herself with a scowling face; or if a kind entreaty will be the means of procuring her a dinner as a favor, she will not expose herself to hunger by demanding it as a right. In this there is no moral or actual wrong, but there are instances where lubricity has exacted farther concessions, and the sacrifice of a woman's virtue been required as an equivalent for the privilege of sewing at almost nominal prices. If this is conceded, the victim may be assured of the best work and the most favors until her seducer becomes satiated with possession, when means will easily be found to displace her for some new favorite. If the outrageous request is denied, she will get no more work from that shop, and may seek other employment with almost a certainty of meeting the same indignity elsewhere. That this is a frequent occurrence, unfortunately, can not be denied: that it exercises much influence on public prostitution can not be doubted.

The employment of females in various trades in this city, in the pursuit of which they are forced into constant communication with male operatives has a disastrous effect upon their characters. The daily routine goes very far toward weakening that modesty and reserve which are the best protectives against the seducer, and renders them liable to temptation in many shapes. A girl frequently forms an attachment to a man working in the same shop, believing it to be a mutual one, and only finds out her mistake when she has yielded to his persuasions and is deserted. Or women contract acquaintance for the sake of having an escort on their holiday recreations, or because some other woman has done so, or as the mere gratification of an idle fancy; but all tend in the same direction, and aid to undermine principles and jeopardize character.

In this connection only city employments have been mentioned, but the same reasoning may be applied with greater force to factory life in any of our manufacturing districts. There the operatives of both sexes in one mill may sometimes be counted by hundreds, and their large numbers cause a more frequent and constant communication than in smaller workshops. It has been urged in support of the superior morality of such places, that the very nature of the employment requires the most constant attention to be paid to it, and precludes the possibility of any idle time. We freely concede to the apologists all the advantages they claim, and admit that during the time--say ten hours daily--when the machinery is running, neither males nor females can abandon their respective positions; but, unfortunately for the force of the argument, the motion is not a perpetual one. A steam-engine or a water-wheel can run for a week or a month without complaining of fatigue, but human machines become exhausted after a few hours' consecutive labor. Machinery can receive the necessary attention and supplies without arresting its progress, but men and women must sometimes cease work in order to eat and drink.

Granting, then, that during actual working hours a young woman can not leave her post, yet the mind is free, and the range of thought, when locomotion is denied her, will often turn to the hardships of her position. Busy as may be her hands, her brain is disengaged, and while her mechanical duties are adroitly performed, the mental faculties will be in full exercise, and for these she has ample scope. Dissatisfied with her close confinement in the factory, weary of the dreadful monotony which makes to-day but a repetition of yesterday and a sure type of to-morrow, she is happy, when the bell rings the signal to leave work, to escape from the building, and renew outside its walls an acquaintance she has formed before; and too frequently the persuasions and promises of her lover will induce her to seek, in some less guarded position, the independence for which she longs. It may be taken as a general rule that any confinement or restraint which is irksome to human nature must result injuriously.

Domestic servants are not exempt from temptation when employed in large establishments where both sexes are engaged, and many a poor girl ascribes her ruin to the associations formed in places of this description.

Thus far it has been supposed that man is the chief agent in the propagation of vice, nor is there any apparent reason to recede from that position. The numerous cases of seduction under false promises and subsequent desertion; of seduction by married men; of violations of helpless and unprotected females, are abundantly sufficient to prove this, much as it may be regretted for the credit of the stronger sex, and also to vindicate the opinion that employing males and females under one roof, in different branches of the same business, has a strong tendency to promote prostitution. Sometimes, however, it is true that woman, lost and abandoned herself, lends her aid to drag her fellow-women down to perdition. In many of the stores and workshops in our city, in every factory throughout the country, such are to be found, and their insidious influence is quickly felt. By false representations and elaborate coloring, they work upon the minds of the simple, or inflame the passions of the ambitious, but in either case their object is the same, and in it they frequently succeed.

Question. WHAT BUSINESS DID YOUR FATHER FOLLOW?

Fathers' business. Numbers. Architects 4 Auctioneer 1 Agents 5 Butchers 47 Blacksmiths 63 Barbers 2 Bakers 21 Builders 11 Book-keepers 3 Boatmen 7 Brothel-keeper 1 Bankers 2 Carpenters 139 Carmen 26 Coopers 19 Clerks 32 Coachmen 10 Clergymen 6 Coach-makers 9 Cabinet-makers 16 Diver 1 Drover 1 Dyers 3 Engineers 18 Engraver 1 Farmers 440 Fishermen 6 Grocers 14 Gilders 2 Gardeners 10 Glass-blowers 2 Hotel and Tavern keepers 36 Hatters 13 Jewelers 10 Laborers 259 Liquor-dealers 22 Lawyers 13 Lumber-merchants 7 Livery-stable-keepers 5 Millers 20 Masons 82 Merchants 37 Moulders 3 Manufacturers 24 Musicians 8 Men of Property 5 Naval Officers 31 Overseers 5 Peddlers 5 Policemen 15 Painters 16 Printers 3 Planters 5 Pavers 4 Physicians and Surgeons 19 Plumbers 2 Pawnbrokers 2 Ship-carpenters 23 Sailors 35 Shoe-makers 48 Stage-drivers 4 Store-keepers 37 Stone-cutters 20 School-teachers 14 Silversmiths 3 Soldiers 38 Sail-makers 4 Saddlers 14 Servants 4 Surveyor 1 Tailors 35 Traders 11 Tanners and Curriers 7 Tinsmiths 2 Weavers 20 Wheelwright 1 Unascertained 106 ---- Total 2000

This table shows that almost all classes of society are exposed to the influences which result in prostitution, from the children of men of property, bankers, merchants, and professional men, down to the families of mechanics and laborers. The numerous and varied occupations of the fathers of those women who answered the question renders any classification of them almost impossible. A majority of the parents were either mechanics or laborers, men who earned the daily food for themselves and families by manual labor, and whose resources would be governed by the ordinary fluctuations of trade.

In following the proportion of natives and foreigners as exhibited in previous tables, it must be remembered that about five eighths of these fathers were residents of other countries than the United States when those daughters were born whose replies form the bases of these statistics, and it is scarcely necessary to say that labor is nowhere so well remunerated as with us. The average wages, for instance, of a first-class mechanic in England or Ireland seldom exceed, and, indeed, rarely amount to, nine dollars per week, and an ordinary laborer is very well paid if he receives half that sum. This estimate refers to large cities, where the expenses of maintaining a family are as heavy as in New York, and it indicates poverty, which has already been proved to be one of the main causes of female depravity.

If the investigation is pursued into the rural districts of Great Britain, the wages of mechanics and laborers will be found lower than they are in large cities, without any material reduction in the necessary expenditure except in the item of house-rent. The pitiful amounts paid to agricultural laborers (often only twenty-five cents a day) will surprise any one who is not fully acquainted with the hardships endured by this unfortunate class, and the state of destitution in which they are compelled to exist (it can not, with any propriety, be called living), and to rear their families.

More than one half of the foreigners are from Ireland, and no person acquainted with the social history of that unhappy country need be told of the want and deprivation endured by its peasantry, of their useless efforts to benefit themselves, or of the ruin, starvation, and disease with which they are so frequently afflicted. To constitute a farmer in Ireland, a man must hire an acre or two of land, for which he pays a heavy rent, as two or sometimes three "middle-men" have to obtain their profits before the landlord receives his share. In this field he plants as many potatoes as can be crowded into it; and in his hut or cabin he keeps a pig or some fowls, regularly domesticated as members of the family, and receiving more attention than the children. From the sale of the pig the rent has to be obtained, and from the proceeds of the poultry, with the potatoes, all their wants have to be supplied. Thus, with the potatoes he raises for almost his sole means of support, with peat from some bog in the neighborhood to furnish him with fuel, he lives until the impoverished soil refuses to yield its annual crop, or yields it in a diseased and poisonous state, when fever and starvation come to fill his cup of misery, and render him dependent upon charity for an existence. And this in a land peculiarly rich in all that is necessary to make its people a great and happy nation.

This has been known as the state of Ireland for many years, and in this condition it unquestionably was when the women who here are now prostitutes were born there. Whether the severe lessons taught by the last famine, the more enlightened and liberal policy which has governed England, since that terrible calamity, in its legislation for the sister island, the introduction of Anglo-Saxon capital and enterprise, and the large exodus of the natives of the soil, have been of advantage to the country, it is difficult to determine in the face of the conflicting testimony furnished respectively by English and Irish partisans. It seems reasonable to conclude that an improvement must have taken place under these circumstances. But this is not the place to argue the political questions so often agitated there and elsewhere; it is enough for the purpose of this work to show the poverty of twenty years ago, and the vice resulting from it now, and to remind the reader that because of the lamentable manner in which the Irish have suffered in their own country, we must be taxed in New York for the support in hospitals, alms-houses, and prisons, of the women whose poverty compelled their crime.

Question. IF YOUR MOTHER HAD ANY BUSINESS INDEPENDENT OF YOUR FATHER, WHAT WAS IT?

Mothers' business. Numbers. No independent business 1880 Dress-makers 35 Tailoresses 26 Seamstresses 12 Store-keepers 9 Boarding-house-keepers 7 Servants 6 Vest-makers 6 Laundresses 4 Bakers 4 Hat-trimmers 3 Milliners 3 Artificial Flower-maker 1 Music teacher 1 Nurse 1 Umbrella-maker 1 House-cleaner 1 ---- Total 2000

Only one hundred and twenty of two thousand women answer that their mothers had any business independent of their fathers, and they were mostly of the same ill-paid class as those alluded to in the portion referring to the occupations of the women themselves. The exceptions were, boarding-house, store, and bakery-keepers, amounting to twenty only, the remaining one hundred being servants or needle-women. The fact that even this number found it necessary to augment the income of their families by their own exertions is another evidence of poverty.

Question. DID YOU ASSIST EITHER YOUR FATHER OR MOTHER IN THEIR BUSINESS? IF SO, WHICH OF THEM?

Assisted. Numbers. Assisted neither parent 1515 " both parents 149 " mothers 306 " fathers 30 --- ---- Totals 485 1515 --- 485 ---- Aggregate 2000

To this question, thirty women reply that they were in the habit of assisting their fathers, three hundred and six say they assisted their mothers, and one hundred and forty-nine assisted both parents. The two latter answers, embracing four hundred and fifty-five cases, must be construed to mean such assistance in the ordinary work of a family as usually falls to the lot of children. The residue say that they never assisted either father or mother, or, in other words, that they were brought up in habits of idleness, which can scarcely have forsaken them in after-life, and probably had some considerable agency in their fall.

Question. IS YOUR FATHER LIVING, OR HOW OLD WAS YOU WHEN HE DIED?

Age at fathers' death. Numbers. Fathers living 651 Under 5 years 289 From 5 " to 10 years 208 " 10 " to 15 " 252 " 15 " to 20 " 389 Unascertained 211 ---- ---- Totals 1349 651 ---- 1349 ---- Aggregate 2000

Question. IS YOUR MOTHER LIVING, OR HOW OLD WAS YOU WHEN SHE DIED?

Mothers living 766 Under 5 years 268 From 5 " to 10 years 195 " 10 " to 15 " 277 " 15 " to 20 " 281 Unascertained 213 ---- ---- Totals 1234 766 ---- 1234 ---- Aggregate 2000

From the preceding tables, it appears that more than half of these women are orphans, 1349 of them have lost their fathers, and 1234 were deprived of their mothers. In both cases, the ages of the children at the death of their parents are in nearly the same ratio; thus, two hundred and eighty-nine fathers and two hundred and sixty-eight mothers died when their children were under five years of age; two hundred and eight fathers and one hundred and ninety-five mothers died when their children were under ten years of age; two hundred and fifty-two fathers and two hundred and seventy-seven mothers died when their children were under fifteen years of age. The average of the deaths of either parent will therefore be, when the children were

Under 5 years of age 279 From 5 " to 10 years 202 " 10 " to 15 " 265

and the aggregate result that 1479 parents died before their daughters had reached the age at which a female most needs aid and advice.

At any time and under any circumstances the thought of death is dispiriting. The idea of rending all earthly ties; of bursting asunder bonds which have formed for years a part of our very existence, of leaving the world with its joys and pleasures, its cares and griefs, for the "undiscovered bourne," is appalling in contemplation; more appalling still when the family circle is invaded, and a father whom we have revered, or a mother whom we have loved, is taken from us.

The death of a father is a sad calamity for his children; the hand that has nourished and protected them, that has toiled for their support, is cold in the grave; their earthly support is gone. But a more grievous affliction still is the death of a mother. It is she to whom the children look in all their infant sufferings; it is her ear that is ever open to their sorrows; it is her bosom on which they are pillowed in sickness; her care which guides their steps in infancy; her love which warns them of the dangers that menace them in after life. Bereft of a mother's watchful tenderness, they are comparatively alone in the world, and many of their sorrows must be dated from that event.

The answers to these questions are full of material for mournful reflection, and strongly indicate the increased responsibilities of surviving relatives toward the orphans. This point has been already so strongly insisted upon that it would be a needless reiteration to argue its necessity.

Question. DO YOU DRINK INTOXICATING LIQUOR? IF SO, TO WHAT EXTENT?

Extent. Numbers. Do not drink liquor 359 Drink moderately 647 " intemperately 754 Habitual drunkards 240 ---- ---- Totals 1641 359 ---- 1641 ---- Aggregate 2000

It may be assumed as an almost invariable rule, that courtesans in all countries are in the habit of using alcoholic stimulants to a greater or less degree, in order to maintain that artificial state of excitement which is indispensably necessary to their calling. One of the class in London said to Mr. Mayhew, when he was making the inquiries alluded to in the chapters upon English prostitution, "No girls COULD lead the life we do without gin;" and drinking is undoubtedly universal among abandoned women. Even according to the most favorable view of the replies to the query now under consideration, and admitting them to be strictly correct, it will be found that five sixths of the total number confess they are in the habit of using intoxicating liquors. But with the knowledge of facts already ascertained in other cases, the inquirer will be compelled to believe that this is not the whole truth, for it is almost certain that the three hundred and fifty-nine who claim to be total abstinents indulge themselves in occasional potations. In prosecuting investigations like the present, there are many difficulties to encounter. A woman who is found residing in a house of ill fame will scarcely attempt to deny that she is a prostitute, although even this has been done in some cases, yet she will equivocate upon other matters. The facts of her birth, family, and life will probably be given correctly, because there exists no motive for concealment; but the answers to any questions which she deems degrading, such as relate, for example, to her habits or the state of her health, must be received with some considerable allowance, and compared with well-ascertained facts.

Among the more aristocratic prostitutes it is considered a disgrace to be absolutely intoxicated, and the keeper of a first-class house would scarcely retain a boarder who was addicted to habitual inebriety. Still, the most fastidious are ready and eager to sell champagne, or what passes for it, to any visitor of liberal disposition, and will generally condescend to assist him to drink it, of course inviting all the ladies to participate. In the lower grades it is not deemed disreputable to be inebriated, but the proprietors, knowing intoxication would interfere with their business, interdict it until late at night, when "the mirth and fun grows fast and furious," and when visitors, women, proprietors, bar-keepers, and servants frequently all contrive to be drunk, and close the night with a general saturnalia. The following morning, every thing is changed. The proprietor takes his stand behind the bar, and tenders the inmates, as they appear, their "bitters," namely a bumper of raw spirits. The visitors depart about their business, and the women await, with all the patience they can command, the result of another day's campaign, anxiously watching for any contingency which may arise likely to bring them another glass of liquor. Even in this case they are narrowly watched, and as soon as the depression from the previous night's debauch has been overcome, they must either take "temperance drinks," or colored water, when any stray customer invites them to the bar. Our decided impression is that not one per cent. of the prostitutes in New York practice their calling without partaking of intoxicating drinks.

The effects of this habit are well known. In the first instance the woman drinks but little, probably just enough to cause a slight artificial excitement, and bring a color to her cheeks. After a time the proportion must be increased as the effect upon the system is diminished, until the finale is a habit of confirmed and constant drinking. As a general rule, the horrible consequences then become apparent. The whole frame is relaxed, and every movement of the limbs is a motion of uncertainty; the brain is impaired; the reasoning faculties are destroyed; the powers of the stomach and digestive organs are weakened, and an attack of delirium tremens is the ultimatum, usually cured, if cured at all, at the public expense in a hospital or prison.

A work of fiction, published some ten years ago, gives the following truthful account of the effects of drunkenness on prostitutes, by one of whom the words are supposed to be used:

"I must have drink. Such as live like me could not bear life without drink. It's the only thing to keep us from suicide. If we did not drink we could not stand the memory of what we have been, and the thought of what we are, for a day. If I go without food and without shelter, I must have my dram. Oh! what awful nights I have had in prison for want of it." She glared round with terrified eyes as if dreading to see some supernatural creature near her, and then continued: "It is dreadful to see them. There they go round and round my bed the whole night through. My mother carrying my baby, and sister Mary, and all looking at me with their sad stony eyes. Oh! it is terrible. They don't turn back either, but pass behind the head of the bed, and I feel their eyes on me every where. If I creep under the clothes I still see them, and, what is worse, they see me. I must have drink. I can not pass to-night without a dram. I dare not."[396]

Although this is an imaginary picture its counterpart can be seen at almost any time in the hospitals under the charge of the Governors of the Alms House on Blackwell's Island, New York City, where large numbers of such cases are constantly treated. In 1854, in the Penitentiary Hospital alone, more than fourteen hundred persons received medical assistance for delirium tremens and other maladies arising from excess in drinking. This fact induced the remarks in the report for that year, that the "cases actually treated here during the last year were directly caused by the lowest and foulest kinds of dissipation and vice, a fact which speaks trumpet-tongued in favor of shutting up 'grog shops,' and shows the absolute necessity of adopting some plan whereby the enormous amount of prostitution now among us shall be decreased."[397] Since then an alteration in the law has sentenced drunken persons to an incarceration in the City Prison, and the number sent to Blackwell's Island has diminished, but not to the extent which would be supposed, as, during 1857, the hospitals thereon afforded relief to seven hundred and ninety-one inebriates.

The fearful havoc upon the constitution is produced as well by the quality as the quantity of the liquors consumed. Let any man not thoroughly informed on these subjects taste a glass of the compounds retailed at these places, and he will be immediately convinced that it would be quite as judicious an act to swallow the same quantity of camphene or sulphuric acid if diluted, sweetened, and colored. The various liquors, gin, rum, brandy, whisky, or wine, having nothing in common with the genuine articles of commerce but the name, are so many varieties of the cheapest and most poisonous "raw spirits" that the markets afford, and are manufactured in this city in large quantities to meet the demands arising from such places. Instances have been known where liquors subsequently sold in houses of ill fame as pure French brandy have been furnished by wholesale dealers at prices ranging from thirty-six to fifty cents a gallon. There may be exceptions; some few brothels of the higher rank may sell what is called "good liquor," but they are very rare indeed. Is it any matter of surprise that drunkenness, or, more properly speaking, stupefaction and insensibility are so rife; that so many constitutions are ruined and so many characters destroyed when agencies like these are tolerated?

Question. DID YOUR FATHER DRINK INTOXICATING LIQUORS? IF SO, TO WHAT EXTENT?

Fathers' habits. Numbers. Did not drink liquor 548 Drank moderately 636 " intemperately 596 Unascertained 220 ---- ---- Totals 1452 548 ---- 1452 ---- Aggregate 2000

Question. DID YOUR MOTHER DRINK INTOXICATING LIQUORS? IF SO, TO WHAT EXTENT?

Mothers' habits. Numbers. Did not drink liquor 875 Drank moderately 574 " intemperately 347 Unascertained 204 ---- ---- Totals 1125 875 ---- 1125 ---- Aggregate 2000

How much of the intemperate habits of these women must be traced to the influence of the parent's example? One thousand four hundred and fifty-two fathers; one thousand one hundred and twenty-five mothers, are represented as having been addicted to the use of liquors in various degrees, the moderate in both cases exceeding the intemperate drinkers. And yet even moderate drinking, when pursued by parents in the presence of, or to the knowledge of children, is a practice open to the gravest censure. In the mind of a child any action is deemed right if performed by a father or mother. As the children advance in years parental customs are followed, and, in such a case as this, probably the single glass of beer or wine of the father lays the foundation of intemperance in the children. Without undertaking to argue the question of the absolute necessity for a total abstinence from all liquors under all circumstances, the proposition may be seriously submitted that the effect of this personal example upon children is satisfactorily ascertained, from many different sources, to be prejudicial to their best interests, and a natural deduction therefore is that it is the duty of parents to abstain.

Instances are upon record where both fathers and mothers, in the temporary insanity of intoxication, have turned their daughters from home into the streets, and that, too, in cases where not even the remotest grounds existed for any suspicion of improper conduct on the part of these children. Occurrences like this are sufficient to enforce the necessity of temperance on the part of parents, in view of the fearful responsibility which rests upon them.

Question. WERE YOUR PARENTS PROTESTANTS, CATHOLICS, OR NON-PROFESSORS?

Religion. Numbers. Protestants 960 Roman Catholics 977 Non-professors 63 ---- Total 2000

Question. WERE YOU TRAINED TO ANY RELIGION? IF SO, WAS IT PROTESTANT OR CATHOLIC?

Religion. Numbers. Protestant 972 Roman Catholic 977 No religious training 51 ---- Total 2000

Question. DO YOU PROFESS THE SAME RELIGION NOW?

Profession. Numbers. Profess religion as educated 1909 Non-professors 91 ---- Total 2000

Question. HOW LONG IS IT SINCE YOU HAVE OBSERVED ANY OF ITS REQUIREMENTS?

Time. Numbers. 1 year and under 861 From 1 " to 2 years 310 " 2 " " 3 " 226 " 3 " " 4 " 135 " 4 " " 5 " 106 " 5 " " 6 " 72 " 6 " " 7 " 42 " 7 " " 8 " 42 " 8 " " 9 " 20 " 9 " " 10 " 36 " 10 " " 12 " 20 Unascertained 130 ---- Totals 2000

It certainly seems a very incongruous association to connect religion and prostitution; to place in juxtaposition the most noble aspirations of which the mind is capable, and the lowest degradation to which, the body can descend. But such a contrast is not without its moral. It is not too great a stretch of imagination to suppose that of those unfortunate women who subsequently lost their position in society, some had the advantages of an early Christian education; were taught to believe in and reverence the Inspired Writings; were taught that there is a God who judgeth the world, and that there exists for all a future state. Reflecting upon this, and considering how deplorably such have fallen from the observance of precepts inculcated in the days of childhood, all persons will feel the necessity of watchfulness and care that the same fate does not befall themselves or their connections. The facts may teach another lesson. It may be presumed that some of these women were trained in the rigid and austere manner animadverted upon in the remarks on the causes of prostitution, and that their present career is but the recoil from that unnatural restraint. Such conclusion would afford a solemn warning to all who have charge of the education of children to choose the happy mean between the extremes of careless laxity and excessive harshness. Either course is alike fatal to the welfare of their trust, and must end in disappointment and sorrow.

If it were consistent with propriety, it would not be possible to make any comparison between the results of Protestant and Roman Catholic teachings, because of the nearly equal number in each case. In the table exhibiting the religions professed by the parents there are seventeen more Roman Catholics than Protestants; in the table of the religions professed by the prostitutes themselves there are five more Roman Catholics than Protestants. The relative value of the two creeds as rules of life can not therefore be made the subject of argument from such data. So far as our duties to the Almighty, to our fellow-men, and to ourselves--so far as the obligations to virtue and morality are concerned, the adherents of both parties are agreed, and in the investigation of the intricate social problem of female depravity it matters but little whether a majority of the pitiable subjects of the inquiry were educated in the tenets of the Church of Rome or in the doctrines of the Reformation. If the articles of faith of either Church are honestly observed by those who professedly believe in them, they will be effective in preventing immorality; but when this observance is confined to words, and not exemplified by actions, neither the simple rituals of Protestantism nor the more elaborate and artistically arranged ceremonials of Roman Catholicism can be of any avail. Neither, if our lives accord not with our profession, will it make an iota of difference in our future destiny whether we have bowed the knee in a temple devoted to Roman Catholic service before the image of a crucified Savior, and endeavored to train our thoughts to a contemplation of his mercy and beneficence, or have knelt in a Protestant Church, and there joined in the public confession that we are sinners.

The facts exhibited in the tables show that 1937 women had parents who were professedly members of one or the other of these communions; that 1949 women out of 2000 were taught to believe in the necessity of some religion, and that 1909 of these women still assert their confidence in the creed in which they were educated.

It can not be expected that, living in the constant practice of that which their consciences must teach them is sinful, these women would have continued to observe the outward form of religion. By comparing the table upon this point with the one framed from the replies to the question, "For what length of time have you been a prostitute?" it will be observed that 1674 admit they have been prostitutes for six years and upward, and 1710 confess they have neglected to observe the requirements of religion for the same space of time; a coincidence which leads us charitably to suppose that the crime and the omission are nearly parallel, so far as dates are concerned, and that hypocritical professions of religion do not rank among prostitutes' offenses.

But even with their neglect of the outward requirements of faith, and while in the actual commission of known and acknowledged sin, they still preserve many traits which are much to their credit. They possess one of the chief virtues belonging to the female character, which never seems to become extinct or materially impaired; namely, kindness to each other when sick or destitute, and indeed to all who are in suffering or distress. This has attracted the attention, and called forth the admiration, of every one who has been thrown into contact with them. A very touching instance of these amiable feelings occurred some years ago, and is narrated in the Westminster Review for July, 1850. A poor girl, who was rapidly sinking into a decline, after a short but impetuous course of infamy, had no means of support but from the continued exercise of her calling. With a mixture of kindness and conscientiousness which may well surprise us under the circumstances, her companions in degradation resolved among themselves that, as they said, "at least she should not be compelled to die in sin," and contributed from their own sad earnings a sufficient sum to enable her to pass her few remaining days in comfort and repentance.

This is far from being an exceptional case. An extended hospital experience has brought under our personal observation many acts of real sympathy and kindness toward each other among the prostitute class. If one of their number is discharged, and is unprovided with suitable clothing, they will club their scanty resources to supply her needs, frequently contributing articles they really want themselves. In any case of serious sickness, where prompt attention is required, they form most reliable nurses, and will cheerfully sacrifice their own rest at any time to minister to the sufferer, performing their duties with the utmost care and tenderness. Their fidelity to each other is strongly marked. It is literally impossible, in any case where a breach of discipline has occurred, to find a woman who will bear witness against any of her companions, and neither threats nor promises are sufficiently potent to extract the desired information.

These traits are not submitted with any intention of offering them as an equivalent to the morality which has been violated, but merely to prove that hearts which can conceive and execute such kindly purposes can not be entirely lost to the sense of virtue or the claims of benevolence. Truly they are but as an atom in the balance, but, like an oasis in the desert, they show that all is not arid and sterile.

XXXV. NEW YORK.--PROSTITUTES AND HOUSES OF PROSTITUTION

First Class, or "Parlor Houses."--Luxury.--Semi-refinement.--Rate of Board.--Dress.--Money.--Lavish Extravagance.--Instance of Economy.-- Means of Amusement.--House-keepers.--Rents.--Estimated Receipts.-- Management of Houses.--Assumed Respectability.--Consequences of Exactions from Prostitutes.--Affection for Lovers.--Second Class Houses.--Street-walkers.--Drunkenness.--Syphilitic Infection.--Third Class Houses.--Germans.--Sailors.--Ball-rooms.--Intoxication.--Fourth Class Houses.--Repulsive Features.--Visitors.--Action of the Police.-- First Class Houses of Assignation.--Secrecy and Exclusiveness.-- Keepers.--Arrangements.--Visitors.--Origin of some Houses of Assignation.--Prevalence of Intrigue.--Foreign Manners.--Effects of Travel.--Dress.--Second Class Houses.--Visitors.--Prostitutes.-- Arrangements.--Wine and Liquor.--Third Class Houses.--Kept Mistresses.--Sewing and Shop Girls.--Disease.--Fourth Class Houses.-- "Panel Houses."

It will not be out of place here to say somewhat concerning the manner of life among prostitutes; how they occupy the time, and what facilities they possess for mental or bodily recreation. The domestic life of a number of women whose every action is contrary to all the rules of virtue, who are living in the constant violation of the law, with a daily subsistence contributed by those whose folly or passions make them visitors to their abode, can not but possess considerable interest to all who have followed thus far in this painful task. In entering upon the subject, the endeavor will be to give such particulars as will enable the reader to form satisfactory conclusions, without recording what would merely minister to a prurient curiosity. The object is to give information as explicitly as possible without offending the most sensitive delicacy, wounding the most refined feelings, or unnecessarily parading these poor women before the public eye. The subject is invested with such an array of real and palpable horrors as to render unnecessary any endeavor to excite undue emotion by penetrating the mysteries of the saturnalia.

There is a wide diversity among the various grades of prostitutes in New York. The first class are those who reside in what are technically called "Parlor Houses." These very seldom leave their abodes, unless for the purpose of making purchases of dress, jewelry, or articles of toilette, or taking an afternoon promenade on the fashionable side of Broadway, excepting when they accompany their lovers or visitors in a ride, or to some public place of amusement. These utterly repudiate the name of "street-walkers," and very seldom perform any act in public which would expose them to reprobation, or attract the attention of the police. They assume to be, and are, in fact, the most respectable of their class, if any respectability can be associated with so vicious a course. Being almost invariably young and handsome, and always very well dressed, they pass through the streets without their real character being suspected by the uninitiated.

The houses in which this class of courtesans reside are furnished with a lavish display of luxury, scarcely in accordance with the dictates of good taste however, and mostly exhibiting a quantity of magnificent furniture crowded together without taste or judgment for the sake of ostentation. The most costly cabinet and upholstery work is freely employed in their decoration, particularly in the rooms used as reception parlors. Large mirrors adorn the walls, which are frequently handsomely frescoed and gilt. Paintings and engravings in rich frames, vases and statuettes, add their charms. Carpets of luxurious softness cover the floors, while sofas, ottomans, and easy chairs abound. Music has its representative in a beautiful pianoforte, upon which some professed player is paid a liberal salary to perform. Even the bed-chambers, passages, halls, and stairways are furnished in a similar style. In such an abode as this probably dwell from three to ten prostitutes, each paying weekly for her board from ten to sixteen dollars, exclusive of extras, which will be noticed hereafter. Their active life comprises about twelve or fourteen hours daily, ranging from noon to midnight or early morning. Their visitors are mostly of what may be called the aristocratic class; young, middle aged, and even old men of property, of all callings and professions; any one who can command a liberal supply of money is welcome, but without this indispensable requisite his company is not sought or appreciated.

None of the disgusting practices common in houses of a lower grade are met with here. There is no palpable obscenity, and but little that can outrage propriety. Of course there is a perfect freedom of manner between prostitutes and visitors, but so far as the public eye can penetrate, the requirements of common decency are not openly violated. Profanity, as may naturally be expected, exists to some extent; it is an almost invariable accompaniment of prostitution, but even that is divested of its grossness, and is not of frequent occurrence. There is no bar-room or public drinking place in the house, but it is a general custom for each visitor to invite his pro tempore inamorata and her companions to take champagne with him, which is supplied by the keeper of the place at the charge of three dollars a bottle. As remarked in the preceding chapter, excessive drunkenness is rare, both prostitutes and keepers trying to suppress it, because an intoxicated man would be likely to give them trouble, damage their furniture, and injure the reputation of the house. By means of a small aperture in the front door, covered by a wrought-iron lattice-work, the candidates for admission can be examined before entrance is given, and the door is kept closed against any person who is likely to prove an annoyance.

As a natural consequence of their position, the women exert all their powers of fascination, by adopting the latest and most superb fashions in dress, and by a very tasteful arrangement of their hair, for which purpose a hair dresser visits them every day, charging each woman two or three dollars a week for his assistance. Besides these they practice a thousand other artifices, unknown to mere lookers on, in order to secure the favor of their visitors.

About three fourths of the courtesans of this grade are natives of the United States, and mostly from New England or the Middle States. Some of them are very well educated; accomplished musicians and artists are sometimes found among them, while others aspire to literature. With the greater number much elegance and refinement of manner, or a close observance of what may be called the conventionalities of life, is seen. Their income is large, but so are their expenses. It is no exaggeration to state that their individual receipts very seldom fall short of fifty dollars per week. From this amount deduct the sum charged for their board, an additional fee which they pay the proprietress for every visitor they entertain, the expenses of hair-dressing, perfumery, etc., the cost of their washing, which is all done at their own charge, away from the house, and must be considerable, and the remainder will give their expenditure for dress. All are not equally extravagant. Some seem to consider prostitution a business, and act upon the idea of saving as much money as possible. In one case a woman asserted that she had seven thousand dollars in the bank, which she had accumulated by prostitution in a few years, and her statement was confirmed by the captain of police for the district. The economical ones are generally shrewd, calculating "down-Easters," who argue that if they can save enough during the zenith of their charms to support them when their attractions fail, or to help them establish a house of this description on their own account, they are only doing their duty. Others have dependent relatives whom they support, or illegitimate children whom they maintain and educate, frequently appropriating considerable sums for these purposes. In nearly all of them, kindness toward the unfortunate of their own sex and grade is a striking trait. Much as they may quarrel among each other when all are alike in health, let one be visited with sickness, or overcome by misfortune, and, as a general rule, their envy or jealousy is forgotten, and they freely contribute to her support.

Their means of amusement are limited. When they have no visitors they generally indulge in a luxurious indolence. For any useful employment, such as even sewing or fancy needlework, they have but little inclination, and their general refuge from ennui is found in reading novels. These are not, as would be generally supposed, works of lascivious character; to these they seem to have an objection, most probably because their own experience has proved the fallacies of the highly-colored descriptions of the delights of love which abound in such productions. To one source of recreation they are extremely partial, namely, driving in carriages some few miles out of town, and they frequently persuade their visitors to indulge them in these rural excursions. They are well acquainted with the most pleasant drives, and know exactly where to find quiet and retired hotels where all the delicacies of the season can be served in the most approved style. If they can not induce their friends to gratify them in this manner, they will endeavor to secure an invitation to take luncheon or oysters at some fashionable saloon. Dress, gay life, and excitement seem necessary to their existence.

And amid all this array of luxurious homes, of splendid dresses, of comparative affluence, the question arises, Are they happy? A moment's consideration will prompt the answer that they can not be. Continued indulgence in their course of life tends to obliterate the sense of degradation, and makes their career almost second nature, but even the most confirmed must at times reflect. The memory of what they have been, the thought of what they are, the dread of what they must be, haunt their minds; conscience will make itself heard. Many a poor girl dressed in silks or satins, gleaming with jewelry, and receiving with a gay smile the lavish compliments of her "friend," is mentally racked with a keen appreciation of her true position. She knows that the world condemns her, and her own heart admits the justice of the verdict. She knows that he who is so ostentatiously parading his admiration regards her but as a purchased instrument to minister to his gratification. She feels that she is, emphatically, alone in the world, and her merry laugh but ill conceals a breaking heart.

These houses are generally kept by middle-aged women who have themselves passed through the initiatory course of a prostitute's life. In some cases they own the real estate and furniture. In others they hire or lease the house, paying an exorbitant rent (often to some wealthy man who considers himself a respectable member of society), and provide their own furniture; in other cases they rent both house and furniture. In one house in this city the enormous sum of nine thousand one hundred (9100) dollars is, or was at the time of examination, paid annually for rent and use of furniture, the owner being a woman who formerly kept the place, but who is now living in the enjoyment of a large income in one of the Italian cities.

The following extracts from information obtained on this subject will give a very good idea of the facts:

E. M. pays $1300 per year for rent and use of furniture, which is owned by a woman who formerly kept the house.

M. S. pays $1000 per year rent, and owns the furniture.

M. L. owns the house and furniture, estimated to be worth $15,000.

M. A. T. pays $700 per year rent, and owns furniture valued at $5000.

J. G. pays $700 per year rent, and owns furniture valued at $3000.

E. T. owns the real estate and furniture, valued at $30,000.

C. G. pays $1800 per year rent, and owns furniture valued at $6000.

M. C. K. pays $3900 per year for rent and use of furniture.

C. E. pays $1400 per annum rent, and owns furniture valued at $6000.

M. B. owns the house and furniture, valued at $15,000.

J. B. pays $560 per year rent, and owns furniture valued at $2000.

E. B. pays $1000 per year rent, and owns furniture valued at $3000.

M. M. owns house and furniture, valued at $15,000.

C. C. pays $850 per year rent, and owns furniture valued at $8000.

M. M. pays $750 per year rent, and owns furniture valued at $2000.

M. G. pays $625 per year rent, and owns furniture valued at $1000.

V. N. pays $1300 per year rent, and owns furniture valued at $3000.

C. E. pays $1400 per year rent, and owns furniture valued at $6000.

L. C. pays $1000 per year rent, and owns furniture valued at $2000.

A. T. pays $1000 per year rent, and owns furniture valued at $3000.

The financial effects of the system of prostitution will furnish a theme for some remarks hereafter. These facts are quoted now to explain the expenses connected with first-class houses. Of course, where such outlays are incurred the receipts must correspond. The following statement will exhibit the minimum weekly receipts in a house where ten boarders reside:

Board for ten women, at $16 00 per week each $160 00 Fees for visitors, say one each day to each woman ($1 00 each) 70 00 Profit from sale of one basket of Champagne each day (weekly) 168 00 ------- Total $398 00

This estimate does not reach the daily average of visitors, and a more correct statement would be:

Board for ten women, at $16 00 per week each $160 00 Fees for visitors, say two each day to each woman ($1 00 each) 140 00 Profit from sale of two baskets of Champagne each day (weekly) 336 00 ------- Total $616 00

Taking the mean of these two calculations will give receipts exceeding twenty-six thousand dollars per year, or five hundred dollars weekly. The cost of maintaining these luxurious establishments, in addition to the rent, is considerable, but still there is a very large excess. This is satisfactorily proved by the fact that the women who own the houses in which they conduct their traffic have, almost without exception, purchased them since they commenced housekeeping, and also that many of them own considerable personal property in addition to the real estate. One woman is positively affirmed to be worth over one hundred thousand dollars, many are reported as worth sums ranging from fifty thousand downward, and many more are reputed to be rich, but no special amount mentioned.

The management of many of the houses is confided to a housekeeper, acting for the principal, who is rarely visible unless specially called for, and under this housekeeper are a number of servants, varying from three to seven, according to the size of the house and the number of boarders it accommodates. These servants are almost invariably colored women, and no difficulty is ever experienced in obtaining a full complement. Their wages are liberal, their perquisites considerable, and their work light. A neat and well-arranged breakfast is prepared for the "lady boarders" about eleven or twelve o'clock, and their dinner is served about five or six o'clock. As a general rule these are the only meals supplied them in the course of the day. If they require any thing more they send out for it, or persuade their visitors to escort them to some saloon.

The proprietors of this class of houses assume to be respectable women when they are away from the scenes of their business. An anecdote, and a true one, has been related of one of them who, on a recent visit to Newport, so effectually carried out her disguise as to receive the escort of a reverend gentleman, a D.D. of this city, to the dinner-table and elsewhere, with his family, he thinking her a most amiable and deeply afflicted widow. Some of them have private residences up town, in the quiet respectable streets, and come to their houses of prostitution every forenoon, returning at night. A portion of them profess to be religious, frequently attending some place of worship the better to preserve their mask. Naturally benevolent, as are all women, they contribute liberally to charitable objects, and freely relieve any indigent persons who may ask their assistance. Even in political matters they have some weight, their resources and connections proving valuable to some aspirant for local distinction who has promised them that he will, if elected, use all his influence to protect them from annoyance.

Toward the miserable women whose vice is the source of their wealth, these proprietors act as interest dictates. A girl who has not the tact or disposition to attract visitors is seldom treated with much consideration, while one who is successful receives more favors, but favors, generally speaking, of a nature to render her subservient to their wishes; such as the loan of money to purchase new and fashionable articles of dress, a short credit for her board, or some equivalent which will place her under an obligation, and render it difficult for her to leave the house. They are actuated in this by a desire to retain an attractive girl; for, in addition to the actual cash payments she makes, she also possesses the power of inducing her visitors to be liberal in their orders for wine, and the profit from its sale, about two hundred per cent., is an important source of revenue.

The excessive demands made upon the earnings of prostitutes by these women has been productive of a serious social evil. Many unfortunate girls can not appreciate the advantages of leading a vicious life for the benefit of a landlady, and in self-defense have hired apartments in some private house, so as to secure their earnings for themselves. This is generally arranged so that two of them engage a suite of rooms, say a parlor and two bed-rooms, representing themselves as virtuous women, governesses or seamstresses, and frequently as the wives of sailors or of men who are in California or some other distant land. Here they either board themselves or resort to some saloon, and to this lodging, or to the house of assignation, which will be noticed in due course, they introduce their visitors. It is a fact more than suspected that many prostitutes are living in this manner in our city. It is needless to enlarge upon the injurious effects likely to result therefrom.

Before leaving this branch of the subject, there is another characteristic of keepers of these houses which must be noticed, namely, an exaggerated affection for some man to whom they are passionately attached. Some few of them are professedly living with their husbands, but this is an exception to the ordinary rule. Generally speaking, they are the mistresses of some persons upon whom they lavish all their tenderness, and for whose gratification they willingly incur any amount of expense. Some of these individuals are men upon town, gamblers, or rowdies of the higher class, whose noblest aspirations are satisfied by a liberal supply of money. They will readily ignore all social virtues for the same consideration. It is related as a fact concerning a celebrated brothel-keeper in the city, that when she was residing in the interior of the State, some years since, she became desperately enamored of a young man whose friends discovered the connection. They removed him to the far West. Undaunted by the dangers and difficulties which surrounded her, she followed him, and during her journey through the large towns had many offers of protection from men acquainted with her antecedents. True to her affection, she refused them all, and traced her lover to the forests. Here she remained with him, living in a log hut, deprived of many of the necessaries and all of the comforts and elegances of life, for three years. At least, infidelity to her love can not be charged against this woman, and is it not a natural conclusion that a heart so sincere and devoted in its attachment could have been led to a more virtuous course had a different social feeling existed toward her and her former transgressions?

As a general rule, the keepers of these first-class houses will not permit the boarders to have the men whom they style their "lovers" residing with them, although they allow them to visit; a constant residence is considered as likely to engross too much of the girl's time to the neglect of the interest of the proprietress.

We come now to the second grade of prostitutes and houses of prostitution. Many of the women of this rank are those who made their début in first-class houses, but left them when their charms began to fade. To some extent, they endeavor to carry out the same rules of conduct which governed them while there, and, generally speaking, the management of some portion of the houses of this grade assimilates very much with the former, the same privacy being observed, though in a less expensive manner. In others a marked difference is perceptible, and these will now claim attention.

A longer continuance in the habits of prostitution, and the association with a less aristocratic class of visitors, has diminished the refinement of the women and imparted to them coarser manners. There is not the same desire to "assume a virtue, if they have it not," or the same ambition to make vice seem unlike itself. Degradation has had its effect upon them, and now that they are reduced to a humbler sphere they feel more of the world's pressure, and become more daring and reckless in their conduct. Many of the street-walkers and women frequenting theatres are of this class, and any one who has ever come in contact with them would have found no difficulty in at once assigning their true position. It is right to say here, that many of the managers of our best theatres have abolished the third tier, so called, and if any improper woman visits them she must do so under the assumed garb of respectability, and conduct herself accordingly.

Other women in this grade, or rather this section of the second grade, commenced their life of vice in it, and as the natural tendency of prostitution is to depress instead of elevating its followers, they have very little chance of ever rising beyond their present rank, although such instances do occasionally happen, the keeper of a first-class house sometimes consenting to receive a boarder from a lower rank, if she has only recently commenced prostitution and is sufficiently prepossessing in manners and appearance for this exaltation. A great number of foreign-born women are found in this class, victims of emigrant boarding-houses, or of seduction on board ship during their passage to this country.

The houses are generally conducted in a similar manner to those of the first class, with this distinction, that what is costly luxury in the one is replaced by tawdry finery in the other, and for expensive mirrors and valuable paintings they substitute cheaper ornamentation. Their reception-rooms are of much inferior finish. They also furnish wine and brandy to customers who wish for them. Drunkenness is more general, both with the prostitutes and their visitors, and the most revolting scenes are not uncommon. Profanity is indulged in to a considerable extent, and in some places seems the vernacular language. The attempts at fascination made by the women are more excessive, and frequently vulgar to a degree which, while it excites a smile, also inspires disgust. The general charge for board here will be from six to ten dollars a week, rarely reaching the latter figure.

When evening approaches, if there is little or no company in the house, the girls resort to the streets, dressed in their most attractive finery, in the expectation of finding some man whom they can induce to accompany them home. They are seldom unsuccessful in this search, and very frequently repeat it several times in the course of the evening. Others of them visit the third tier of such theatres as will admit them, and there exert their charms to secure conquest. Intercourse with these women is attended with considerable danger, professional experience having shown many of them to be infected with syphilis, while numbers are connected with dishonest men who would not scruple to rob a stranger, if any opportunity offered for the purpose, such opportunity being not unfrequently afforded by some arrangement of the woman herself.

In such places vice presents comparatively few attractions, and yet these houses are numerously visited, principally by travelers, clerks from stores, the higher class of mechanics, etc., some of whom will spend in an evening the earnings of a week.

The women who preside over these brothels are usually of the strong-minded, and frequently of the strong-handed order, the latter being those who can by their own strength suppress any riot that may occur without calling in aid from the police, and generally calculate to preserve a moderate decorum in their establishments. Their profits are very large, derived not merely from the board money and extras paid by the women, but also from the wines and liquors they sell. They do not endeavor to screen their own character, as do those of the upper class, but openly acknowledge what they are, and do not hesitate to give their personal attention to the business of the place. Anxious to accumulate money as rapidly as possible, they are not very particular about the means they employ, and although they would not allow any positive act of dishonesty to be performed toward a visitor while he was in the house, on account of the trouble to which it might subsequently expose them, yet they would scarcely consider it their duty to warn him against the proceedings of the men who live as "lovers" with the prostitutes under their roofs. The virtue of these keepers is certainly not of a very rigid order, and their favored lovers are universally selected from among men of the same character as themselves.

The meals provided for boarders are served at about the same hours as in the fashionable houses, but they lack that neatness and arrangement which a good cook would give, the domestic matters being mostly confided to inexperienced servants, and frequently to some old prostitutes who are retained at nominal wages to do as much work as they can, and in their own style.

It has been already stated that some of the second-class houses of prostitution are conducted in a similar manner to those of the first, and therefore no attempt has been made to give any detailed account of them, which would be a mere repetition of what has been once described. The lower class have been taken as illustrating the second grade, and consequently the account must not be taken as a sweeping condemnation of the whole.

The next, or third grade of prostitutes and houses of prostitution may be found very fully developed in the first police district, among the Germans; in the fourth district, where sailors mostly resort; and also in the third, fifth, sixth, and fourteenth districts. A majority of the women in these districts are of foreign birth, the largest proportion being Irish and German. Although rated as third-class houses, some of them are equal in all respects, and sometimes superior in many, to houses of the second class. Most of the women are young, and many of them are very good-looking, while the houses, particularly those kept by Germans, are in general conducted very quietly. Even in those places resorted to by sailors, the principal part of any noise which may occur is caused by the boisterous mirth and practical jokes of the visitors themselves. The houses are, in every sense of the word, "public" places of prostitution, and neither women nor keepers seek to disguise the fact in any manner, the general argument seeming to be, "We live by prostitution, no matter who knows it."

There are many distinctive features in the several districts, but the first and the fourth will be fair average types of the whole, and these we will notice briefly, commencing with the German houses in the first district.

Here drinking is openly carried on, although seldom to such an extent as to cause absolute intoxication. There is a public bar-room opening directly from the street, where can be obtained lager beer and German wines, as well as the usual liquors sold in porter-houses. This is the reception-room of the establishment, and a stranger in the city, who might walk in to get a glass of lager beer, without knowing the character of the place, or being aware of the signification of the crimson and white curtains festooned over the windows, would find himself followed to the bar by some German girl, who would ask him in broken English if he would "treat her." If he feels inclined to gaze around him and study human nature in this phase, he sees that the room is very clean; a common sofa, one or two settees, and a number of chairs are ranged round the walls; there is a small table with some German newspapers upon it; a piano, upon which the proprietor or his bar-keeper at intervals performs a national melody; and a few prints or engravings complete its furniture. Two or three girls are in different parts of the room engaged in knitting or sewing; for German girls, whether virtuous or prostitute, seem to have a horror of idleness, and even in such a place as this are seldom seen without their work. Every thing bears an unmistakable Teutonic appearance; from the heavily-mustached proprietor, or the recently-imported bar-keeper, to the mistress, or madame as she is generally called, and the women themselves, all plainly tell their origin. He is surprised at the entire absence of all those noisy elements generally considered inseparable from a low-class house of prostitution. He can sit there and smoke his cigar in as much peace as at any hotel in the city; and if he once tells a woman he does not wish to have any conversation with her, he will scarcely be annoyed again, unless he makes the first advances. If he thinks proper to enter into conversation with the proprietor, he will be certain of a courteous reply, and will frequently find him an intelligent and communicative man. Finally, concluding to resist the temptations around him, he leaves the place in the most perfect security, and without the least fear of being insulted.

The majority of the girls here have recently arrived in the United States. Some have embraced this course of life from absolute poverty and friendlessness; some have followed it in their own country; others have been the victims of seduction; and with some the ruling motive seems to have been a desire to speak and be spoken to in their native tongue. Their pecuniary arrangement with the proprietor, for there is almost invariably a man at the head of each establishment, is that they shall give him one half of all the money they receive, for which he provides them with board and lodging. They are not generally intemperate women, the light German wines being their principal beverage, and although they frequently indulge in profanity, yet, as it is in their national language, it is unintelligible to those who understand only English, and the annoyance is consequently restricted. They are generally honest; in fact, it is the testimony of those best qualified to judge, that there is very seldom much disturbance, and very rarely any dishonesty practiced in this class of brothels. It can not be said that literally there is not much noise, for any one who has been in a room where two or three Germans of each sex were talking and gesticulating with their characteristic earnestness will be of opinion that they talked quite loud enough; but by disturbance is to be understood quarreling or fighting, which sometimes occurs, but not very frequently.

As before remarked, a man and his wife are mostly the keepers of such houses. The man, sometimes with a lad for his assistant, attends to the bar-room, and takes charge of the money, the wife does the cooking and general house-work, and the girls attend to their own rooms. By this division of labor the work is generally done to the satisfaction of all parties, and, the expenses being light, a considerable profit is made. There are mostly three or four girls in each house, seldom exceeding that number, and the rule among house-keepers is to consider any girl an unprofitable acquisition who does not pay them about ten dollars a week. Their rents are low, because they have but little room. The basement of an ordinary-sized house is generally the extent of their accommodation; the front part of this forms the bar-room, and the remainder is partitioned into very small bed-rooms.

There is another feature connected with German prostitution, and exhibited in the same neighborhood, which has already received a cursory notice on a former page, namely, their dancing-saloons. Saltatory amusements are carried on, more or less, in all their houses of prostitution, but in these saloons it is considered a respectable business enterprise, although the morality of the establishments is, at least, questionable. The ball-room is a large, open apartment devoid of all furniture excepting chairs or benches round the walls; the musical arrangements generally comprise a piano and violin, and the dances are national waltzes and polkas. No charge is made for admission, and the bar is the only source of revenue. The "orchestra" occasionally appeal to the charitable for assistance, and the call is mostly responded to in a liberal manner. The business commences in the evening, and is invariably discontinued at midnight. The places are frequented by very few but Germans, and order is well maintained.

Leaving the Germans of the first district, the reader's attention will now be asked to the brothels of the fourth police district. Here the principal part of the women are of Irish parentage; some few are natives of the United States. The greater part of the visitors are sailors. When a succession of storms which have driven homeward-bound vessels off the coast is followed by a fair wind, so as to allow them to enter the harbor in large numbers, these houses are crowded, and for a few days, or while the sailors' wages last, a very extensive business is carried on. The bar-room, as in the case of the German houses, is the reception-room, and here may be seen at almost any hour of the day a number of weather-beaten sailors, verifying the truth of the old proverb, which says they resemble two distinct animals in earning and spending their money. It matters not who it may be, but any one who enters the room is almost sure to be asked to take a drink immediately, and if he remains, in less than five minutes somebody else will ask him to take another. A sailor with cash in his pocket has a decided antipathy to drinking alone, and generally invites every one in the room, male and female, to partake with him. By such a course he very soon gets intoxicated, when the girl whom he has honored with his special attention convoys him to bed, and leaves him there to sleep himself sober.

In these houses less neatness is observable than in those just noticed, but they have entirely a different class of customers. A German, in the midst of his pleasures, likes to see every thing neat and orderly about him; a sailor is not particular, so that his pleasures are unobstructed. A curious observer, also, does not meet with the same civility: if he comes to spend money he is welcome; if not, the landlord does not care about his company. Considerable card-playing is practiced; not what may be termed gambling, but for amusement, the stakes being seldom more than intoxicating drinks for the players. There is less noisy rowdyism than might be expected, since the men who generally cause such disturbances lack the courage to impose upon a crowd of hard-fisted sailors, who are always able and willing to take their own part, and resent any interference. Still, occasional quarrels occur among the visitors themselves, frequently resulting in a pitched battle. The landlord is then called for, and his knowledge of his customers enables him speedily to discover the aggressor, who always happens to be the man that has the least money, and he is forthwith pushed into the street without any ceremony, as a kind of peace-offering to the rest of the company.

The landlord is a character in his way. He is a man who has been to sea himself, for no one else would be deemed fit to keep a house where sailors resort, and is usually a large, powerful man. By the freemasonry of the craft, and by freely joining his visitors whenever they ask him to drink, and occasionally treating them in return, he is sure of their custom until their wages are all spent and they are obliged to go to sea again.

The women in these houses use liquor very freely, but they are not permitted to get drunk in the daytime. If the landlord observes any symptom of intoxication he gives them water, instead of gin, the next time they are asked to drink, as he knows very well his prospects for business would be injured unless the girls were kept sufficiently sober to be on the watch for contingencies, or, as he phrases it, "to look out for chances."

In some of these houses it is the rule that all the money received by the girls is to be given to the landlord, who provides them with clothing and necessaries, but in others a fixed rate of board--six or eight dollars a week--is paid, and the women retain the surplus. In either case it is a very profitable business, particularly where many girls are kept. In one house that we visited, in the fourth district, the keeper informed us that his expenses amounted to about one hundred and fifty dollars weekly, and of course some estimate can be made from this as to the amount of business he transacted.

The dancing-saloons in this neighborhood are not conducted on the platonic principles of the Germans. They are, in fact, so many accessories to prostitution, and many scenes there witnessed will not permit description. The women residing in the house are there, dressed in the most tawdry finery they can command, many of them assuming the bloomer costume. The band consists of a violin, a banjo, and a tambourine, and whatever is wanting in musical ability is adequately supplied by vigorous execution. The bar is very liberally patronized, and before midnight drunkenness is the rule and sobriety the exception.

Passing now to the fourth grade of this vice, we find prostitution in a most repulsive form; the women themselves diseased and dirty, the houses redolent of bad rum. The prostitutes are the refuse of the other classes who have fallen through the successive gradations on account of disease and drunkenness, or they are some of those children of iniquity who, born in scenes of vice and squalid misery, know nothing of a virtuous or happy course of life. Destiny seems from their birth to have intended them for vagrants, and has planted them so low in the moral scale that they can scarcely hope to rise.

It would be useless to attempt a specification of the localities of these houses; any one who has been through the purlieus of New York City must have observed some of them, and it will be quite sufficient to glance at a few of their peculiarities. They are generally kept by an old prostitute, who gathers around her some of the most debased of her class, takes a cheap basement wherever she can obtain possession of one suited to her purpose, erects a small bar furnished with three or four bottles of the commonest liquor she can procure, partitions off one or two small hovels of bed-rooms, and forthwith begins housekeeping. Her arrangements are about as extensive as her preparations. She seldom professes to board the girls, generally making a charge for every visitor they entertain, and giving them the privilege of cooking any thing they want. These dens are largely patronized by the vilest of the male sex; the petty thieves who hang around the public markets, stealing from the wagons, or who haunt the doors of grocery stores and abstract whatever they can reach; as they find them convenient places of concealment, and can frequently dispose of their booty by means of the women. Another class of visitors consists of the lowest order of rowdies, who assume a free license to perpetrate any mischief they please, because there is no one to interfere with them. A fatal case of this nature, which occurred but a few months since, will be fresh in the recollection of all citizens.

It is dangerous for a stranger to enter a place of this description, for if he does not get his pocket picked by the one, he will most probably be assaulted by the other class of visitors. Upon such establishments the police are compelled to keep a watchful eye, and although they have no power to enter them except some actual necessity calls for their services, yet they frequently induce a neighbor to make a complaint against the keepers for maintaining a disorderly house, and then, duly armed with a warrant, they enter, and arrest every one found on the premises. The finale of such an experiment at housekeeping as this is very frequently a commitment for vagrancy to Blackwell's Island. The character of the place will be a sufficient proof that syphilis abounds there, and its dangers must be added to those already enumerated.

The divisions thus made are presumed to be accurate as far as the distinctive characters of the various grades are concerned, but the lines of demarkation are of course arbitrary. Any attempt to classify so large a social evil must, from its very nature, be incomplete, and in this case farther experience or a more extended inquiry would very probably warrant an alteration in the arrangement. But there is another class of whom a few words must be said, namely, those truly wretched beings, the outcasts of the outcasts. In many cases destitute of home or shelter, diseased, starving, and afflicted with an insatiable thirst for ardent spirits, they present most ghastly and heart-rending spectacles, retaining scarcely any vestiges of humanity. These wretched beings can be found clustered round the bars of liquor-stores in low neighborhoods, begging for the price of a glass of gin. Much of their time is spent in the prisons on Blackwell's Island, from which they are no sooner released than they return to their old haunts and habits. They can scarcely be called prostitutes, for their aspect is so disgustingly hideous that all feminine characteristics are blotted out, and thoroughly sensual and animalized must he be who could accept their favors. They are, in every sense of the word, outcasts; compelled, for the short time they may be in the city--and this is seldom more than a few days at once--to eke out a wretched existence by stealing or begging; frequently so miserable that they gladly hail the day on which they are returned to prison. They present subjects for mournful consideration, and the reflection that they are experiencing the degradation to which every prostitute in the city is rapidly tending, should be a powerful argument in favor of any remedial measures which can be devised to ameliorate the condition of the frail women of New York, and prevent them from falling so far below humanity.

HOUSES OF ASSIGNATION.

Every resident of New York is aware of the existence of houses used especially as places for the meeting of the sexes with a view to illicit intercourse; but so carefully have all particulars respecting them been concealed from the public gaze, that very little more than this mere fact is generally known, particularly with reference to those of a higher grade. Secrecy is necessary to their continuance, and essential for the maintenance of the social position of their patrons.

The most exclusive are generally situated in the quietest and most respectable portion of the city. They are fitted up neatly, and even luxuriously, but without any extravagant or gaudy display. Their arrangements, of course, do not require reception or sitting rooms, and the whole care bestowed upon them is lavished on the bed-chambers, the appointments of which contain every possible comfort and convenience.

The keepers of this class of houses are generally very shrewd, quiet, cautious women, who never seek to penetrate into any engagements made by their visitors, who never know any person that enters their house, and from whom it is impossible to obtain information by any means. In fact, it has been said that the keepers and servants around these places have neither eyes, ears, nor tongues. Money is confessedly their object, and, as they receive liberal pay, self-interest dictates quietness, because if they adopted any other course, their houses would inevitably become known to the public, which would be an effectual barrier against visitors, and result in an entire loss of their customers. Consequently, if a liberal bribe could ever induce treachery, their shrewdness enables them to discern that such an act would at once and forever close their establishments.

It will be readily understood that, as the intrinsic value of these houses as places for meeting depends upon the secrecy and selectness with which they are operated, in order to carry out this principle fully, arrangements are made with much precision. Two parties are not allowed to meet casually in the halls or staircases. The keeper maintains a strict watch, in order that ingress and egress may be free and uninterrupted, and there can be little doubt that the desire to make money on her side, and the fascination of illicit passion on the part of her visitors, conjointly tend to insure more actual secrecy than could be obtained by any system of oaths or discipline. In some of the most exclusive, the system is carried to such an extreme that no accommodation will be afforded to parties unless the gentleman has been previously introduced to the proprietress, and his character for secrecy and integrity vouched for by some person with whom she is acquainted. This rule is adopted to prevent the possibility of the house becoming known as a place of assignation to any one who might use his knowledge to the prejudice of the keeper or her visitors.

No public women reside in these houses, nor would they be admitted under any pretext, as such a course would attract attention and defeat the purposes contemplated. Many of them are open for months without the knowledge of the neighbors or of the police of the district, as visitors very rarely enter or leave together, and to prevent any delay the outer door is generally kept unlocked, so that persons pass immediately into the hall, where a second door, with a bell attached, is generally found.

The business of these houses is done mainly during the promenade hours of Broadway, say from eleven or twelve to four or five o'clock. The visitors are confined to the upper walks of life, the men being of all sorts of business, and the women exclusively from our fashionable society. If the mysterious "personal" advertisements in the daily papers could be understood by the outside world, it would be seen that appointments are not unfrequently made through their agency. Arrangements for a meeting are generally made with the keepers in advance, and at the designated time the parties arrive from different directions and proceed direct to the room which has been already selected. If they wish it they can obtain wine or refreshments by ringing a bell in their apartment.

A majority of the females who visit these places can scarcely be called prostitutes, notwithstanding their undeniable fall from virtue. They sin but with one individual, and that, in many cases, from positive affection, and in others from the desire of sexual gratification. Whatever may be the motive, it does not concern the keeper of the house, whose only business is to receive the rent of her room, which ranges from two or three dollars upward to any amount that policy or the desire to insure secrecy may dictate. Doubtless very few of the visitors regard money in their negotiations. Females are very frequently closely veiled when they enter the house, so that their features can not be recognized, as has been illustrated in trials for divorce in this city, especially if the prior arrangements for the meeting have been made by the gentlemen. If, on the other hand, the lady takes the preliminary steps, she can scarcely be unknown to the proprietress, in whose keeping she consequently places her character.

The unsuspecting moral men of New York will scarcely credit these facts, but men of the world know that such meetings and places for meeting are not uncommon. It may be objected that the exposure of these mysteries imparts information which may lead the uninitiated into similar practices. It is believed that the information here given is not sufficiently definite for this end, and, certainly, nothing could be farther from the design of this work than to aid an immoral purpose. But it is a duty to record the general facts, in order that our citizens may be aware of the dangers that abound on every side; and particularly is it necessary because many of the female visitors are married women, who take advantage of the absence of their husbands at business.

A question will arise: "Who are the women that keep these houses?" That they can not have lived as common prostitutes, or been the keepers of houses of prostitution, is evident. In the first place, the acquaintances they would have made in either of those avocations would preclude the possibility of their maintaining the inviolable secrecy necessary in a house of assignation; and, again, no female would enter a place of this description, the keeper of which would be likely to betray her. It is apprehended that some of these houses originate in the following manner; in fact, we know of more than one that did commence so:

A female engaged in an intrigue which she can not carry out at her own residence, and desiring a place of security for her meetings, has an acquaintance with some shrewd woman, possibly one who works for her as seamstress, or in some other capacity, whom she makes partially a confidant. She tells her that she is desirous of seeing a gentleman, whom, for some particular reason, she can not invite to her house, and asks if she will accommodate her with a room in which the interview can take place. It is not likely that a person who felt under any obligation to her employer would refuse such a request, especially for so simple a purpose as a short conversation. The meeting accordingly takes place, and a handsome present is made her. It is frequently repeated, until she becomes suspicious, and finally satisfied that these interviews are for the purpose of sexual intercourse. By this time it has become a question of policy with her. She argues that if she refuses to extend any future accommodation she will lose not only a considerable income from the presents, but also all employment from the lady. She knows that by allowing such meetings she realizes considerably more than she can procure by her daily labor, and self-interest is generally strong enough to overcome her scruples. She goes on extending her accommodations, and enlarging the circle of her visitors, until she becomes mistress of a select house of assignation, which will be always liberally patronized so long as her power of maintaining the requisite secrecy remains unimpeached. Some of these women are from distant cities; entire strangers in New York, except to their immediate customers. If they are widows who have children, these are invariably educated away from home. From the privacy observed it is very difficult to estimate their receipts, which must be large. They sometimes degenerate into keepers of houses of public prostitution, and then become dangerous members of society, on account of the secrets which have been intrusted to them.

Probably some of our ultra-fashionable citizens might be enabled to give more particulars of these houses than are here collected. What has been stated is gathered from authentic sources, and may command implicit belief. Indeed, so trustworthy is the authority that it may be confidently asserted that even Fifth Avenue and Union Square are not exempt from these resorts.

Such houses must be regarded as the connecting link between the licentious excesses of the capitals of Europe and this city of the New World. They are dangerous from their secrecy and exclusiveness. As yet they are rare; and it speaks well for the morals of our upper classes that they are so. It shows that the majority of people in the higher walks of life are untainted. But the course of deterioration has commenced. Will not American good sense and American morality check this base imitation of a foreign custom?

The recently avowed sentiments, or rather the resuscitation of sentiments which were proclaimed years ago respecting the obligations of marriage and the theory of "free love," have doubtless increased the patrons of houses of assignation among our fashionable novel-reading people, or weak romantic heads made giddy by the sudden acquisition of wealth. For the last fifteen years a loose code of morals has been promulgated among us, the foreign apostles of which--many of them pretending to nobility, but being in truth mere adventurers--have visited us, and by them and through their influence many intrigues have originated. A spice of romance in the American character has induced many to join this movement in search of adventure, while a portion of our female society are ardent admirers of every thing foreign, be it a lord or a lace veil, and these delight in an intrigue because it is an exotic.

The facilities of communication with Europe are now so great that American travel on that continent is largely on the increase, and perhaps there are at this time in the cities of continental Europe more representatives of our society than of any other nation. Many of our people go there with the laudable desire to improve their minds by general culture, or for the study of particular branches of science or art, but it is to be regretted that some come back to our shores with ideas calculated to be any thing but beneficial to their native country in a social or moral point of view. The sons of our staid and "solid men" go to the capital of the French empire to study medicine. Apart from the impropriety of this course when there are the same facilities for study here, where a few seconds of lightning intercourse will place them in immediate communication with their friends, instead of their being separated four thousand miles from parents and guardians, does the end justify the means? What course do these young men frequently pursue? Unable to speak the language intelligibly, they resort to the acquaintance of a grisette, in order to study in her company. The language they acquire by this means is, at best, a vulgar patois; but they also obtain a knowledge of intrigue entirely incompatible with the simplicity and purity of our republican institutions--a species of male and female diplomacy foreign to the character of our people.

Young ladies, too, when they return from a foreign tour, are more fascinated with the charms and successes of the favored mistress of some European prince or potentate than benefited by the useful solid lessons of travel. With them, as with the others, it is all superficiality. Superficial when they started, superficial while traveling, they are still more superficial when they return. There are always weak-minded people in this country who will ape foreign manners, and to this cause must be assigned the gradual approximation of our fashionable society to the vices of the European capitals, their ladylike and gentlemanlike frailties, their genteel peccadilloes and affectations. The effects of foreign travel upon such persons can not but be injurious. It demands a clear head and a sound heart to decide between the vicious frivolities and the positive good submitted to their notice, and with the class mentioned it requires but little judgment to know which will first attract them. They must see Lord A---- or Count B----, no matter what valuable opportunities for instruction they miss. They must become au fait in the observances of courts and the manners of courtiers, no matter what else they leave undone.

As remedial measures for another evil are elsewhere spoken of, this may be an appropriate place to suggest for profound consideration whether it would not be a wise policy to adopt some preventive system for this evil. We might establish a phrenological and psychological bureau, armed with full powers to examine all persons desiring to travel, so as to ascertain whether they may safely make the grand tour, and have sufficient strength of intellect and firmness of principle to resist the vitiating influences and examples which will surround them there, so that they may return only with a knowledge of the good and valuable lessons taught!

But the evils of foreign manners and customs are not imported solely by the traveling class of our own community. The political turmoils of Europe, in the last eight or ten years, have thrown among us numerous refugees who have been reared in the hot-beds of intrigue, and who, styling themselves artistes, depend upon our unexampled prosperity, the increase of our wealth, the improvement of our country, and our known predilections for foreigners, to enable them to make a living, and also to establish the same state of morals and manners existing in the cities whence they came. The United States are now the great harvest-field for art, which, with science, music, and poetry, aids to improve the mind. At the same time these bring with them an excessive devotion to fashion, both in dress and manners, as the low-necked dress and the lascivious waltz, which are so decidedly positive degenerations from our normal state that none but the most superficial will ever copy.

That we are rapidly introducing many of the most absurd follies and worst vices of Europe is a patent fact. Almost every one can specify acts now tolerated in respectable families which, so far from being permitted fifteen years ago, would have been thought by our plain common-sense parents amply sufficient to warrant the exclusion of the offender from the domestic circle; and it is an equally conspicuous fact that our social morality is deteriorating in a direct ratio to the introduction of these habits. Every day makes the system of New York more like that of the most depraved capitals of continental Europe, and it remains for the good innate sense of the bulk of the American people to say how much farther we shall proceed in this frivolous, intriguing, and despicable manner of living; or whether they will not strive to perpetuate the stern morality of the Puritan fathers, our great moral safeguard so far, and thus put an effectual barrier against the inroads of a torrent which must undermine our whole social fabric, and finally crush us beneath the ruins.

The second class of assignation-houses are, to a great extent, private, but not so rigidly exclusive as the others. Their furniture is of the same luxurious style, but of a more gaudy character. Generally the same routine is observed in regard to entrance as in those of the first class. The principal portion of the females who resort to them are married women, most of whom are from the upper classes, whose sexual passions are not gratified elsewhere, or who resort to this means to obtain more money to expend in dress; kept mistresses, residing with their lovers as husband and wife in hotels or boarding-houses, whose attachment is not strong enough to keep them faithful to one man; occasionally the best class of serving-women, or shop-women, or females whose occupations, such as milliners, artificial florists, etc., lead them into contact with the fashionable classes. It is told on good authority that there are husbands cognizant of the fact that their wives visit such places, and who live wholly or in part upon money earned in this way. These cases are not supposed to be numerous, but it is to be hoped, for the credit of our national character, that the number will become still smaller. A few prostitutes of the upper grades sometimes visit this class of houses; they are known to the keeper, and she encourages them for the following reason: An habitué of the place will make an appointment to visit it at a specified time, and he tells the keeper he would wish to meet a female there. At the appointed day his wishes are gratified, the keeper having acted as negotiator with one of the girls mentioned. More wine is consumed in these houses than in the strictly select ones, probably from the different class who frequent them.

The third-class houses of assignation are not situated in such select parts of the city as are the other two classes. Some of them are managed with much privacy and seclusion, while others are simply houses of public prostitution on a large scale. Their principal female patrons are those prostitutes who have rebelled against the exorbitant charges made by keepers of fashionable houses, and shop-girls who resort to prostitution to augment their income. Many of these live some distance up town, and any one who is journeying downward in the after part of the day may see numbers of them going to these places in the cars and stages. This is another imitation of the French and English systems. Very little disguise is attempted about these third-class houses. Each has a parlor or reception-room, where a man can have a bottle of wine, and one or two of the girls named will join him. Of course many couples visit there, but a large number of men go alone, knowing that there are always women in the house. Fast young men about town are in the habit of keeping their mistresses at these houses, as more economical than boarding with them at hotels. Considerable disease is propagated in such places, a contingency from which the first and second classes are almost entirely exempt. Business is generally over here in three or four hours, commencing in the dusk of the evening; but it is unquestionably a source of considerable revenue to the keeper, particularly in those cases where she acts as procuress, since, in addition to the rent of the room which the man pays, she always receives a present from the woman.

There is another or fourth class of assignation-houses to which the commonest portion of street-walkers take their company, and these may be emphatically described by an old saying, "Cheap and nasty." Dirty and insufficient accommodations are the equivalents for low prices, and such places are, in the general estimation of connoiseurs, very low and despicable. Notwithstanding this they thrive and multiply, from which it may safely be inferred that they are profitable in a business point of view, repulsive as they may be in their features and arrangements. Some of them are ingeniously arranged with a view to robbery, and are called "panel-houses." The plan adopted is somewhat as follows: Some man, generally a countryman not very well informed in the tricks of the metropolis, meets with a prostitute, and agrees to ac-company her to an assignation-house. She is in league with the "panel thieves," and therefore introduces her victim to one of their rooms. The apartment seldom contains more furniture than a bed and a chair or lounge, with the floor covered with a thick carpet. To make "assurance doubly sure," the man himself locks the door by which he enters, and, when undressing, naturally throws his clothes upon the chair or lounge. The bedstead is placed so that the feet come toward the only apparent door in the room, with one side against the wall, and the head and other side hung with curtains, which the woman carefully draws as soon as the man lies down by her side. At the head of the bed, and of course concealed by the drapery from any one occupying it, is another door, which forms the secret entrance. It is so adroitly arranged, and so neatly covered with paper the same as the walls, that no one would suspect its existence. The hinges and fastening on the outside are oiled, so that no noise can be perceived when it is opened, and the operator steals with cat-like step over the carpet, and quietly examines the clothes without alarming the unsuspecting stranger. The thief completes his inspection, appropriates as much as he thinks proper, and the temporary occupant of the apartment resumes his clothes and prepares to leave. If his suspicions are excited by the circumstance that his wallet looks less plethoric than it did, and an examination reveals that some of its contents are missing, he knows not how to account for it. He is perfectly certain that no one has entered that room while he was there, and if he has "visited" much before meeting the girl, he concludes that he must have lost some of his money in his career, and that the only way is to take the loss contentedly, and avoid New York fascinations in future. Sometimes the loser has not enough philosophy for this, and if he can be certain that his money was right when he entered the room, will call in the police, and thus expose the secret arrangements of the establishment. This is comparatively a rare case, as most men would rather submit to a pecuniary loss than encounter the trouble and exposure attending a criminal prosecution, and the knowledge of this reluctance enables the "panel thieves" to pursue their operations almost with impunity.