Among the many methods used by these fiends in human form to
trap girls into houses of sin, is courtship and false marriage.
These men go into the country districts, and, under the guise
of commercial men, board at the best hotels, dress handsomely,
cultivate the most captivating manners, and then look for their
prey. Upon the streets they see a pretty girl and immediately
lay plans to become acquainted. Then the courtship begins. In
the present condition of society it is a very easy thing for
well-reared girls to begin a promiscuous acquaintance, with
ample opportunity for courtship. There was never a time when
the bars were so low. With the public dance, or even the more
exclusive german, the skating-rink and the moving-picture
arcades, all of which lend themselves to the making of intimate
and promiscuous acquaintances under questionable surroundings,
it is easy for a man to come into a community and in a few days
meet even the best class of girls, to say nothing of the girls
who are earning a living and who have no home influence. These
girls are flattered by the handsome, well-drest stranger paying
them marked attention, and are quick to accept invitations
to the theater or to walk or drive with him. If the girl
is religious, he is not above using the cloak of religion,
expressing fondness for church- and prayer-meetings, and is
frequently to be found at such places. When a girl’s confidence
and affection have been won, it is a comparatively easy thing
to accomplish her ruin, by proposing an elopement. Her scruples
and arguments are easily overcome by the skilled deceiver, and
trusting him implicitly as her accepted lover, she unwittingly
goes to her doom. (Text.)--ERNEST A. BELL, “War on the
White Slave Trade.”
(3283)
=Traveling in the Heights=--See CONFIDENCE.