THE SCARLET WOMAN.
The pickpocket who steals your watch, the burglar who invades your
house in the middle of the night, or the foot-pad who knocks you down
with a sand-bag, are citizens whom it is rather unpleasant to have any
experience with, but it were better a thousand times to become the prey
of any of these hawks of the night than that of those pitiless kites—the
scarlet women of a great city. Against the thief the good burgher locks
his doors and bars his windows, but these legionaries of passion assail a
citadel where the master himself opens the gates and lets the insidious
foe enter unopposed, if not with welcome.
Every city on this continent, not to speak of other lands at all, is
afflicted with this army of iniquitous women. They form by far the
largest section of the vicious classes in every great community of
people. The evils they inflict on society, and the terrible consequences
of their manner of life to themselves, temporally and spiritually,
have constituted a theme for the moralist and a problem for the social
reformer in all lands and in all ages.
Toronto, as has been before remarked in these sketches, is not a
particularly wicked city. Few great crimes are perpetrated in our midst
and but few great criminals claim this city as their home. But the fact
that about 400 women openly live by a life of shame in this city speaks
for itself. In the day time the public promenades are liberally sprinkled
with
FLASHY FEMALES
arrayed in costly garments and costlier jewels. Beside these carrion
birds of beauteous plumage the poor man’s wife or daughter looks like a
daw. Other forms of crime skulk in the daylight, coming forth only when
the dark hours favor their calling, but these birds of prey hang out the
signs of their nefarious calling at high noon, and strut the streets
shaming the honest and demoralizing the weak. The girl who has worked
all day until brain and fingers and limbs are tired, returning homewards
at nightfall, compares her uneventful, dreary lot with the seemingly
joyous existence of these women, looks at her own shabby gown and at
their rich ones, and inwardly wonders if honesty, truth and worth are,
after all, the best. The foolish youth who returns their smiles as he
passes them on the pavement does not know that that little gloved hand is
as cruel as the tiger’s claws. That mother realized that the other day
when she heard her eighteen-year-old boy doomed to wear the disgraceful
livery of a convict. But her heartrending sobs did not ruffle a lace
on the stony front of the fair-haired, showy enchantress, to buy whose
mercenary caresses he had robbed his employer. He was a smooth-cheeked,
good-looking, clean-limbed boy, with candor marked in every line of his
face. His deeds found no record in the straightforward look of his blue
eyes. But drag him away from his mourning mother, policeman, and let him
break his spirit among the other jail-birds. Let Circe go free and entice
other boys into her toils. She didn’t know he was stealing the goods—no,
not she. Yes, let her go free, but before she goes to sleep each night
let her think of a room wherein another woman stands in
DUMB, TEARLESS AGONY,
before the picture of her son. Let there be no desire, however, to lessen
that son’s infamy who forgot a mother’s love and a sister’s devotion for
the smiles of a harlot.
“There is a great deal of soft-hearted nonsense talked about these
women of the town,” said a gentleman connected with the Society for
the Prevention of Vice. “My firm conviction is that not one in ten is
deserving of any more sympathy than we give to other criminals. People
talk about men’s brutal instincts and women’s weakness, but a long
experience and a good deal of thought on the subject has brought me
the conclusion that not one quarter of the bad women of this city have
drifted into their present lives through deceit on the part of men. What
I mean to say is that in the fall of the majority of those women they had
an equal share of sin with the men.”
“Oh, you take a cynical view of the matter. You know well the lengths to
which some men will go to accomplish their purposes. They seize some weak
point in their victim and work upon that. If they capture her affections
under promise of marriage they accomplish their purpose. If she is fond
of dress or ornaments the rich libertine captures her by rich presents.”
“You might as well excuse a thief on the same grounds. If a girl went
into a store and
STOLE A HANDSOME BONNET
or a fine pair of boots you wouldn’t pardon her, would you, because she
was fond of handsome bonnets or fine boots. In regard to being deceived
by men, I grant you that I know personally of some cases where women
have fallen through the machinations of villains—been brought to evil
by devilish, calculating, cold-blooded deceit. But I am certain that
the numbers of these in proportion to the others is very small indeed.
But even these, apart from the evil involved in their very struggle for
existence, work wickedness from the promptings of a heart which very
fast becomes hard and impressionless as marble. I tell you, if there is
any sympathy to be wasted on either, it is to be given to the victims
of these harridans. Let them once get their clutches on a man, and they
will hold him there until they have plucked him bare, and until he hasn’t
enough character left to dust a tumbler with.”
“I am afraid the discussions of your society have swamped your charity.”
“I have as much charity as most people, but what I do say is that the
social evil can’t be cured by petting and sympathy alone. Of course, in
the present condition of things, you can’t put in force those
REPRESSIVE MEASURES
which I believe to be the only way in which the evil can be permanently
lessened. You can’t start driving girls out of the houses they have to
cover them without providing some way in which they can get food and
shelter. But, sir, I am convinced that the way to cut off the supply of
recruits is to make life in a bagnio unpleasant, unprofitable, and less
seductive. Anyhow, by all means keep these flaming women off the streets.
That does more to attract light-headed, vain girls into the ranks than
any other one thing. I believe this could be done very easily. Just
intimate gently that any house whose inmates were constantly parading the
streets in their war-paint was liable to be raided, and I tell you this
promenading would stop suddenly.”
“Now, have you any clear idea how the social evil might be wiped out?”
“I don’t believe it can be wiped out while the world lasts, but what I do
believe is that if the matter were taken hold of with courage it could be
lessened and rendered less attractive to weak girls. I admit that even
this is quite a difficult thing to accomplish. You would not believe
the amount of sympathy that exists in high places for these women. You
would have to encounter and defeat all that and trample on a score of
prejudices, but the man or body of men who tackle the subject and deal
with it boldly and wisely will
SAVE MANY A GIRL
from a miserable life ending in all probability in a miserable death.
My leading thoughts about the whole business is that our kindness and
consideration for the women already ruined is cruelty to certain classes
of our females. Better be hard on the erring than be neglectful of the
influences and examples that surround those who are as yet uncorrupted.”
“What did you accomplish by the repressive measures put in force some
eighteen months ago?”
“There are others could answer that better than I can. I was out of town
for a while after the campaign was at its height. But I have been told
that the streets at least were free from the presence of the women. A
gentleman told me that he knew of three cases where keepers of houses had
abandoned the business and had been living quietly ever since. But I wish
you would see people who know more about this than I do.”