"Were your parents "Protestants," "Catholics," or "non-professors?"
"Were you trained to any religion? If so, was it Protestant or
Catholic?
"Do you profess the same religion now?
"How long since you observed any of its requirements?"
In addition to this comprehensive series, space was left for any remarks
the examiner might wish, to make upon other points. The queries were
printed on a large sheet of paper, with sufficient blanks for the answers,
and the officer was desired, as soon as he had obtained all the
information required, to fold the sheet, and sign his name on a line left
for that purpose, with the date the inquiries were made, the locality of
the house in which the woman resided, and the police district in which it
was comprised. It is a matter of much regret that in the burning of the
Island Hospital, Blackwell's Island, on February 13th, 1858, all the
schedules were destroyed. They contained many facts which, from want of
space, are but slightly alluded to in the following pages, and would have
been of material service in any measures hereafter taken to mitigate the
sorrows or prevent the excesses of the abandoned women of New York.
Farther prelude is unnecessary. It only remains to give the answers as
received, with such deductions as may arise from them.
_Question._ HOW OLD WILL YOU BE NEXT BIRTH-DAY?
Age. Number.
15 years 2
16 " 17
17 " 62
18 " 143
19 " 258
20 " 268
21 " 206
22 " 176
23 " 153
24 " 96
25 " 97
26 " 75
27 " 53
28 " 58
29 " 49
30 " 44
31 " 18
32 " 16
33 " 29
34 " 15
35 " 19
36 " 23
37 " 11
38 " 9
39 " 7
40 " 25
41 " 7
42 " 6
43 " 6
44 " 3
45 " 6
46 " 2
47 " 2
48 " 5
49 " 3
50 " 4
51 " 1
52 " 3
53 " 3
55 " 5
57 " 3
58 " 2
59 " 2
60 " 2
62 " 1
63 " 1
66 " 2
71 " 1
77 " 1
----
Total 2000
The facts exhibited by this table are sufficiently palpable to render
remarks almost unnecessary, but the existence of juvenile degradation is
so clearly proven as to call for a few observations.
Between the ages of fifteen and twenty years are found about three eighths
of the whole number embraced in this return. Between the ages of
twenty-one and twenty-five years nearly three eighths more of the whole
number are included, giving in the first ten years of the table three
quarters of the aggregate prostitution, while the next period of five
years, or from twenty-six to thirty, contains one eighth more. It is thus
upon record that seven out of every eight women who came under this
investigation had not yet reached thirty years of age. Beyond this
standard each year shows but a few, and of these veterans the majority are
those who are now keeping houses of ill fame.
Comparing this with the ages of residents in New York as given in the
Census Reports, it will appear that prostitutes under twenty years of age
are in excess about twenty-five per cent.; as this inquiry shows that _for
every four abandoned women between the ages of twenty and thirty there are
three between fifteen and twenty_, but the official classification proves
that for every four women in the state between twenty and thirty years
old, there are _only two_ between fifteen and twenty.
While juvenile degradation is an inseparable adjunct of prostitution,
premature old age is its invariable result. Take, for example, the career
of a female who enters a house of prostitution at sixteen years of age.
Her step is elastic, her eye bright, she is the "observed of all
observers." The _habitués_ of the place flock around her, gloat over her
ruin while they praise her beauty, and try to drag her down to their own
level of depravity while flattering her vanity. As the last spark of
inherent virtue flickers and dies in her bosom, and she becomes sensible
that she is indeed lost, that her anticipated happiness proves but
splendid misery, she also becomes conscious that the door of reformation
is practically closed against her. But this life of gay depravity can not
last; her mind becomes tainted with the moral miasma in which she lives;
her physical powers wane under the trials imposed upon them, and her
career in a fashionable house of prostitution comes to an end; she must
descend in the ladder of vice. Follow her from one step to another in her
downward career. To-day you may find her in our aristocratic promenades;
to-morrow she will be forced to walk in more secluded streets. To-night
you may see her glittering at one of the fashionable theatres; to-morrow
she will be found in some one of the infamous resorts which abound in the
lower part of the city. To-day she may associate with the wealthy of the
land; to-morrow none will be too low for her company. To-day she has
servants to do her bidding; to-morrow she may be buried in a pauper's
coffin and a nameless grave. This is no fancy sketch, but an outline of
the course of many women now living as prostitutes of the lowest class in
the city of New York.
Any one conversant with the subject knows that there is a well understood
gradation in this life, and as soon as a woman ceases to be attractive in
the higher walks, as soon as her youth and beauty fade, she must either
descend in the scale _or starve_. Nor will any deny that of those who
commence a life of shame in their youth under the most specious and
flattering delusions, the majority are found, in a short time, plunged
into the deepest misery and degradation.
Here is seen, at a glance, a reason for the large number of juvenile
prostitutes. Youth is a marketable commodity, and when its charms are
lost, they must be replaced. The following cases, from life, will
substantiate this view. For obvious reasons, the names are suppressed.
C. B. is a native of New York, and now resides in the Eighth Police
District of the city. She is twenty years old, and became a prostitute at
the age of _sixteen_, through the harshness and unkind treatment of a
stepmother, her own mother having died when she was an infant. Take
another case from the same neighborhood. L. B. was born in Vermont; her
father died while she was a child. At the age of _fifteen_ she was enticed
to the city, and became an inmate of a house of prostitution. She is
described as an intelligent, well-educated girl, of temperate habits. One
more instance from the same locality. F. W. is a native of New York City;
is the child of honest, hard-working parents; has received a medium
education; at _seventeen_ years old was seduced under a promise of
marriage, and deserted. She then embraced a life of prostitution,
influenced mainly by shame, and the idea that she had no other means of
subsistence.
These women are residing in that part of the city which contains the
majority of the first-class houses of prostitution; they have not yet
descended in the scale. The ensuing selection, taken from the Fourth
Police District, the antipodes of the former locality, will forcibly
exhibit the operation of this gradual deterioration.
E. S. was seduced in Rochester, N. Y., at the age of _sixteen_. She
accompanied her seducer to this city, and for a season lived here in
luxury. She was finally deserted, and now drags out a wretched existence
in Water Street. E. C., residing in the same neighborhood, is now nineteen
years of age. She was married when but a child, and, five years since, or
when she was only _fourteen_ years old, was driven on the town through the
brutal conduct of her husband. Passing through the various gradations of
the scale, she has now become a confirmed drunkard; has endured much
physical suffering; and, lost to all sense of shame, will doubtless
continue in her wretched career till death puts an end to her misery.
To continue this chain of evidence, the following cases have been selected
from the registers of the Penitentiary Hospital (now remodeled, and called
the Island Hospital), Blackwell's Island. S. A., of New Jersey, was
admitted as a patient when only _fifteen_ years of age, suffering from
disease caused by leading a depraved life, and within six months was
received and treated therein no less than four times. A. B., born in
Scotland, was admitted and treated for venereal disease at _fourteen_
years of age. L. A. D., born in England, was admitted at _sixteen_ years
of age, two years since, with similar disease, and, with only short
intervals, has been an inmate of the hospital continuously from that time.
M. H. was admitted at _seventeen_ years of age, and endured a long and
painful illness. M. J. D., after following a course of depravity for a
year, was admitted at _eighteen_ years of age, lingered in agony for
twenty-five days, and then died, solely from the effects of a life of
prostitution.
It is not necessary to pursue this subject farther, as sufficient facts
have been adduced to support the assertion that youth is the grand
desideratum in the inmates of houses of ill fame. Young women have been
traced from the proudest resorts to the lowest haunts, and have been shown
as suffering pain and sickness in a public institution, or dying there in
torture. But no attempt has been made to calculate the misery produced in
the respective families they had abandoned. The excruciating parental
agony caused by the departure of a daughter from the paths of virtue seems
more a matter for private contemplation by each reader than for any
delineation here. We have witnessed the meetings of parents with their
lost children; have stood beside the bed where a frail, suffering woman
was yielding her last breath, and have shuddered at the awful mental agony
overpowering her physical suffering. No doubt can exist that, were it
possible to introduce the reader of these pages to such scenes, or even
could they be adequately described in all their accumulated horrors, the
cordial co-operation of all the friends of virtue and humanity would be
secured in furtherance of any plan which would check this mighty torrent
of vice and woe.
From the fact that youth is the grand desideratum, it is evident that a
constant succession of young people will be driven into this arena, either
by force or treachery. _The average duration of life among these women
does not exceed four years from the beginning of their career!_ There are,
as in all cases, exceptions to this rule, but it is a tolerably well
established fact that one fourth of the total number of abandoned women in
this city die every year. Thus, by estimating the prostitutes in New York
at six thousand (and this is not an exaggerated calculation, as will be
proved hereafter), the appalling number of one thousand five hundred
erring women are hurried to their last, long homes each year of our
existence. Neglected and contemned while living, they pass from this world
unnoticed and unwept. But their deaths leave vacancies which must be
supplied: the inexorable demands of vice and dissipation must be
gratified, and who can tell what innocent and happy family circle may next
have to mourn the ruin and disgrace of one of its members? In a subsequent
portion of this work it will be necessary to notice the means employed for
ensnaring the innocent and unsuspecting, and to show that this is a danger
which threatens all classes of the community.
_Question._ WERE YOU BORN IN AMERICA? IF SO, IN WHAT STATE?
State. Number.
Alabama 1
Carolina, North 2
" South 4
Columbia, District of 1
Connecticut 42
Delaware 1
Georgia 1
Illinois 1
Kentucky 2
Louisiana 4
Maine 24
Maryland 15
Massachusetts 71
Missouri 1
New Hampshire 7
New Jersey 69
New York 394
Ohio 8
Pennsylvania 77
Rhode Island 18
Vermont 10
Virginia 9
---
Total born in United States 762
The number of prostitutes in New York who were born within the limits of
the United States slightly exceeds three eighths of the aggregate from
whom replies to these queries were obtained. They are natives of
twenty-one states and one district, and may be subdivided in geographical
order as follows:
1. The Eastern District, containing Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont,
Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Rhode Island, contributes one hundred and
seventy-two women to the prostitutes of New York City.
2. The Middle States, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, District of
Columbia, Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia, contribute five hundred and
sixty-six women.
3. The Southern States, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama,
and Louisiana, contribute twelve women.
4. The Western States, Ohio, Illinois, Missouri, and Kentucky, contribute
also twelve women.
On what hypothesis can these proportions be explained? Maine, on the
extreme northeast, with a rocky, surge-beaten coast fronting on the wild
Atlantic, with a harsh, cold climate, sends twenty-four women from her
population of 580,000, while Virginia, with 1,421,000 inhabitants,
contributes but nine! This difference in favor of the southern state can
not be explained on the ground of distance, for the boundaries of each
state are nearly equidistant from New York; nor can it be sustained by the
idea that Maine has more sea-coast, as the maritime coast of the southern
state is at least equal to that of the northern one, and the ordinary
tendencies to immorality in sea-port towns would be equally felt in each.
The case is still farther involved by the fact that in all southern cities
the majority of prostitutes are from the north; and it is a well-known
circumstance, that at certain periods large numbers of courtesans from New
York, Boston, and other cities emigrate southward. Were the generally
received opinion of the effects of a warm climate upon female organization
to be adopted in this connection, not only would there be no necessity for
this exodus, but the number of prostitutes received from Virginia should
largely exceed those from Maine. This fact is sufficient to confirm the
idea already expressed, that fraud or force is used to entrap these
females. The natives of a bleak northern state are far more likely to be
deceived by the artful misrepresentations of emissaries from New York than
the denizens of the southern portion of our Union. The former lead a life
of comparative hardship, the latter one of comparative ease. In Maine,
over six thousand women, or one in every forty-six of the female
population, are immured for six days in every week in a crowded factory;
in Virginia, over three thousand women, or one in every one hundred and
thirty-four of the female population, are similarly employed.[380] This
mode of life will form a matter for subsequent consideration, so far as
its tendencies to immorality are concerned.
Again: Place in contrast Rhode Island with eighteen women living by
prostitution in New York, and a population of only 140,000, and Maryland
with fifteen prostitutes in New York, and a population of 418,000, and a
more palpable difference in favor of the southern state is apparent. The
former sends one prostitute out of every eight thousand of her
inhabitants; the latter, one out of every twenty-eight thousand.
Calculating on the basis of the respective populations, Vermont and New
Hampshire have nearly the same proportion as Maine; Massachusetts exceeds
the average; and Connecticut (_par excellence_, "the land of steady
habits") has a still larger excess. New Jersey has the largest proportion
of any state in the union, and Pennsylvania shows about the average of
Maine. The Southern and Western States have but few representatives. New
York, the home state, will be noticed in due course. The preceding facts
will supply materials for reflection, in conjunction with the question,
"On what hypothesis can these proportions be explained?"
The self-evident answer to this query would seem to be that the excess
from the Eastern and Middle States arises from the employment of a much
larger proportion of females in manufacturing and sedentary occupations. A
young woman of ardent temperament can not but feel the hardship of this
position in life as compared with her more favored sisters in other
states, and when such an idea has once obtained possession of her mind, it
forms a subject for constant thought. Thus, when already predisposed in
favor of any change, she falls into the hands of the tempter a pliant
victim. Beyond the hardship attendant on her daily labor, the associations
which are formed in factories or workshops where both sexes are employed
very frequently result disastrously for the female. Notwithstanding all
the care which may be taken on the part of employers--and it is a subject
for national pride that American manufacturers are doing far more to
elevate the moral character of their employés than the same class of men
in other lands--it is morally impossible that these intimacies can be
entirely suppressed, nor can their ruinous effects be prevented. Study the
moral statistics of any of the manufacturing towns in Great Britain or on
the Continent of Europe, and the same results are presented, but in a more
alarming degree, because there the supervision is not only weak in itself,
but is frequently intrusted to improper persons, whose interest is often
in direct opposition to their duty.
A few words in respect to the State of New York. The number of prostitutes
in proportion to the population far exceeds the ratio from any other state
_except New Jersey_. Beyond the effect of manufactures, which operate here
to a corresponding extent as in other states, the immense maritime
business of New York City, and the constant flood of immigrants and
strangers passing through it, must be taken into consideration. This
constantly fills some localities with sailors, men proverbial for having
"in every port a wife," and many of whom are notorious frequenters of
houses of prostitution. This circumstance proves that this infernal
traffic is governed by the same rules which regulate commercial
transactions, namely, that the supply is in proportion to the demand. If,
by any miracle, all the seamen and strangers visiting New York could be
transformed into moral men, at least from one half to two thirds of the
houses of ill fame would be absolutely bankrupt.
The constant flood of immigration leaves a mass of _debris_ behind it,
consisting, in the first place, of men idle and vicious in their own
lands, who transfer their vices to the country of their adoption, and for
a time after arrival here devote what means they possess to the pursuit of
debauchery, and materially help to swell the torrent of immorality.
Another class of immigrants are women, many of whom are sent here by
charitable (?) associations or public bodies in foreign lands, as the most
economical way to get rid of them. Many of these females become mothers
almost as soon as they land on these shores; in fact, the probability of
such an event sometimes hastens their departure. They exist here in the
most squalid misery in some tenement house or hovel. Their children
receive none of the advantages of education; for, as soon as they can beg,
they are compelled to aid in the struggle for bread, and the most frequent
result is that the boys are arrested for some petty theft, and the girls
become prostitutes, thus contributing to meet the demand caused by the
classes already mentioned.
But, in addition to these foreign children born by accident in our state,
the proportion of prostitutes from New York is increased by the facility
offered for transit from the interior to the city. Doubtless there are
many courtesans from the eastern and southern districts who find their way
to some of the large cities in their own part of the country, and so, on
the same principle, when a woman in this state has fallen into vicious
habits her natural resort is to this metropolis. In addition to the more
extended market it offers for her charms, its advantages as a great
central rendezvous for the nation must not be overlooked. Here a
prostitute can live until her attractions wane, and hence she can easily
reach any southern or other point where abandoned women are in demand.
Despite of the large number of prostitutes ascertained to have been born
within the bounds of New York State, it can not be conceded that we are
any less moral than our neighbors in other parts of the confederation.
It is a matter for the most serious consideration, to be followed by sound
and judicious action, either legislative or personal, that so large a
number of American girls fall victims to this fell destroyer in a land
where a good education is within the reach of every one; where industry,
if properly applied in the right channels, will afford a comfortable
maintenance for all; where the natural resources are sufficient to support
nearly half the inhabitants of the world.
_Question._ WERE YOU BORN ABROAD? IF SO, IN WHAT COUNTRY?
Countries. Numbers.
Austria 2
Belgium 1
British North America 63
Denmark 1
England 104
France 13
Germany 249
Ireland 706
Italy 1
Poland 3
Prussia 6
Saxony 2
Scotland 52
Switzerland 17
Wales 1
West Indies 4
At Sea 13
----
Total born abroad 1238
It has been frequently remarked, and as generally believed, in the absence
of any satisfactory information on the subject, that a very large majority
of the prostitutes in New York are of foreign birth; but the facts already
developed, with the few remarks which will be made upon the above table of
nativities, go far toward falsifying that opinion. The enumeration shows
that five eighths only were born abroad, the dominions of Great Britain
furnishing the largest proportion. The ratio in which the several parts of
that kingdom supply the New World with courtesans may be stated in round
numbers as follows: Ireland contributes one prostitute to every four
thousand of her population; British North America, one prostitute to every
seven thousand of population; Scotland, one prostitute to every sixteen
thousand of population; England and Wales, one prostitute to every fifty
thousand of population. Of course, this will be understood as referring to
all prostitutes now living in this city, assuming the average nativities
of all to be fairly represented in the replies obtained from a portion.
But these numbers, being based upon the population of the several
countries, give but a very imperfect idea of the extent of vice among that
portion of their people who have settled in America, and a more
satisfactory comparison can be drawn from the records of emigration. Upon
an examination of the arrivals in each year from the time the existing
Board of Commissioners of Emigration was organized to the end of 1857 (a
period of ten years), it is found that the numbers average two hundred and
thirty thousand per annum, which gives a proportion of one prostitute to
every two hundred and fifty emigrants. This is based upon the theory that
one fourth of the abandoned women die or are otherwise removed from the
city every year. To repeat this fact in plainer words: of every two
hundred and fifty emigrants--men, women, and children, who land at our
docks, at least one woman eventually becomes known as a prostitute.
This demoralization may be accounted for in several ways. There is
frequently a protracted interval between the time when families arrive at
the intended port of departure and the day on which they sail; and during
this space they are exposed to all the malign influences invariably
existing in large sea-port towns, which must impart vicious ideas to young
people who have recently left some secluded part of the country. Take
Liverpool, for instance, the port whence the largest number of emigrants
come to us, and which contains one prostitute for every eighty-eight
inhabitants, and the wonder will be, not that so many are contaminated,
but that so many escape. When the dangers of the town are surmounted,
another source of immorality is found in the steerage passage across the
Atlantic. This occupies from one to three months, during which time the
females are necessarily in constant communication with the other sex, and
frequently exposed to scenes of indelicacy too glaring to be described
here; and this in addition to the constant machinations of the abandoned
and unprincipled men who are to be found, in greater or less numbers, in
every ship's complement of crew and passengers. Under such circumstances,
the germ implanted in the sea-port town often develops into its legitimate
fruit. But when the ship has reached her haven, and the perils of the sea
are passed, there are dangers to be encountered on land. The present
arrangements for disembarking emigrants at Castle Garden have removed many
of the most objectionable features formerly incident to their entry into
the land of their adoption, yet there are many still remaining. If a
family desire to travel to the interior of the country, they can do so at
once; but should they remain in the city, they are exposed to the tender
mercies of the emigrant boarding-house keepers, generally themselves
natives of the "old country," who, having been swindled on their arrival,
are both competent and willing to practice the same impositions on others.
It must not be concluded that all who follow the business are worthy of
this sweeping condemnation; many of them are undoubtedly honest, yet it
can not be denied that others do pursue this nefarious course; and when
they have drained all the resources of their customers, they turn them
adrift to beg, or starve, or sin for a subsistence.
To one or the other of these causes many girls owe their ruin. Indeed,
there can be no reasonable doubt that a majority of the prostitutes of
foreign birth are more or less influenced thereby. In addition to these,
there are other snares constantly set for strangers, to which we shall
hereafter allude.
It is scarcely within the province of this section to notice measures
calculated to remove the evils named. With the first, the American people
have no possible means of interfering. With regard to the second, many
difficulties must be encountered and overcome. The Commissioners of
Emigration have taken steps to avert some of the evils, and, in
consequence of their application to the present Congress, a bill has been
introduced making it a penal offense for any officer or sailor on emigrant
ships to have carnal intercourse with any passenger, whether with or
without her consent.
The third evil named is a local question peculiarly and entirely under our
own control, and, at the risk of anticipating the subject, it may be
suggested that the most effectual way of obviating it would be the
organization of a plan offering inducements and facilities for young women
to leave the city, thus removing them from its baneful influences to a
part of the country where their own labor would give them the means of a
comfortable subsistence and a virtuous life. It is but poor policy to
retain in New York numbers of persons who can by no possibility procure
employment in an already overcrowded field of labor, and who must
eventually consent to earn a precarious living by the sacrifice of virtue.
It matters not through what agency their ruin is effected, whether by the
oppression of a boarding-house keeper, the intrigues of an
intelligence-office, or the wiles of abandoned ones of their own sex. The
degradation is an indisputable fact, and the expenses to every citizen
from the extra cost of police supervision, courts of justice, hospitals,
and penitentiaries, would probably be enough to remove many from the city
who are debauched for the want of opportunity to leave. It would be far
better to try the system of prevention in the first instance, and this
would probably be successful in many cases; whereas any reformatory plan
is almost useless where the Rubicon has been passed.
_Question._ HOW LONG HAVE YOU RESIDED IN THE UNITED STATES?
Length of Residence. Numbers.
Under 2 months 9
" 3 " 11
" 6 " 21
" 1 year 75
" 2 years 159
" 3 " 99
" 4 " 83
" 5 " 106
" 10 " 352
10 years and upward 292
From Birth 762
Unascertained 31
----
Total 2000
In intimate connection with the subject of the nativities of prostitutes
now in New York are the answers to the above inquiry. Deducting the number
of native-born women, it will be found that five hundred and sixty-three,
or more than forty-five per cent. of the foreigners, have resided in the
United States less than five years; and of this number, one hundred and
fifteen, or nearly twenty-one per cent., have resided here less than one
year. These averages support, to some extent, the opinion already
advanced, that a large proportion of the prostitutes in New York City were
either seduced previous to leaving their port of departure, or on their
passage, or very soon after their arrival here, when they commenced
forthwith a practice which forces them eventually to become a burden upon
the tax-paying community. In a majority of cases, this must be the result
of their career; the successive fall from one gradation of their wretched
life to a lower finally landing them in the prisons or hospitals of a city
toward whose expenses neither their pecuniary ability nor their labor have
ever contributed a farthing. Their support thus falls upon the working
population, an argument of dollars and cents which will not be without its
influence in a consideration of the numerous evils of prostitution.
The remaining fifty-five per cent., having been in the United States more
than five years, are by law entitled to receive any assistance which their
necessities may demand from local funds, but of this number there are some
who have doubtless been chargeable to public institutions before they had
completed the required term of residence, as there are unquestionably many
who, in order to procure relief, make false representations as to the time
of their arrival. Reasoning from well-ascertained facts, there can be
little exaggeration in the estimate that from eighty to one hundred
thousand dollars per annum is the amount which the citizens of New York
contribute to the support of foreigners who have been less than five years
in the United States. Nor can this be prevented unless the claims of
suffering humanity are entirely ignored. Of course, the idea that a sick
or disabled man or woman is to be left to perish can not be entertained
for one moment. If they are in want or in pain, every dictate of our
common nature demands that they shall be relieved. But it may be suggested
to those interested in the question of local taxation to give their prompt
assistance to any practicable scheme which will diminish the amount of
vice, and consequently reduce the expenses resulting therefrom, such as a
carefully-devised plan for shielding emigrants from corrupting influences,
and forwarding the destitute to sections where labor may be obtained. Upon
the moral effects of such an arrangement it is unnecessary to remark, as
they are self-evident; of its successful working and eventual economy but
little doubt can be entertained.
_Question._ HOW LONG HAVE YOU RESIDED IN NEW YORK STATE?
Length of Residence. Numbers.
Under 2 months 35
" 3 " 20
" 6 " 43
" 1 year 132
" 2 years 186
" 3 " 152
" 4 " 110
" 5 " 127
" 10 " 374
10 years and upward 433
From Birth 353
Unascertained 35
----
Total 2000
_Question._ HOW LONG HAVE YOU RESIDED IN NEW YORK CITY?
Length of Residence. Numbers.
Under 2 months 46
" 3 " 30
" 6 " 56
" 1 year 140
" 2 years 236
" 3 " 189
" 4 " 128
" 5 " 135
" 10 " 388
10 years and upward 427
From Birth 185
Unascertained 40
----
Total 2000
These tables require no comment. The attention of the reader may merely be
called to the fact that three hundred and ninety-four women have been
already reported as born in the State of New York, of which number three
hundred and fifty-three have resided within its limits continuously from
the time of their birth, and that one hundred and eighty-five, or nearly
one half, were natives of New York City, and have resided therein from the
day they were born. This fact alone demonstrates that the influences of
metropolitan life are not very favorable to the advance of female
morality.
_Question._ WHAT INDUCED YOU TO EMIGRATE TO THE UNITED STATES?
Reasons. Numbers.
Came as stewardesses 2
Ran away from home 18
Ill usage of parents 34
Came with their seducers 39
Came to improve their condition 411
Sent out by parents or friends 81
Came with relatives or to
join relatives already in
the United States 619
No special cause assigned 34
----
Total of foreigners 1238
This table shows that a majority of the prostitutes of foreign birth were
induced to emigrate to the United States either by considerations of
policy--four hundred and eleven assigning as their reason a desire to
improve their condition in life--or from family connections, six hundred
and nineteen having arrived with relatives and friends, or with the
purpose of joining relatives and friends already in this country.
It will not be denied by any one familiar with the subject that one main
reason for emigration is always found in the comparative difficulty of
earning a livelihood in the place of the emigrant's nativity, and the
expectation of doing better in a strange land; a conclusion sustained by
the fact that a prosperous year in Europe serves to check the arrivals
here, and _vice versa_. With the difficult problem of labor and
remuneration in the Old World it would be out of place to interfere; but
it may be remarked that, badly as many branches of female employment are
paid for with us, they are still worse paid for in England. Reference to a
previous chapter, treating of the causes of prostitution in that country,
will at once establish this point, and the instances therein quoted of the
wages paid in London will remove all surprise that this country should be
a receptacle for underpaid operatives, or that the hope of realizing
better wages should be sufficiently powerful to sever all ties of
birth-place and home. But many of these impoverished women were actually
dependent upon friends for the payment of their passage-money, and
consequently arrived here almost literally penniless, with very slight
prospects of obtaining work, and frequently with but one alternative, and
the only one they had before coming here, which they must embrace or
starve.
Another class assign as a reason for expatriation the ill usage of
parents, in itself a prolific cause of prostitution under any
circumstances, but more especially when its effects have been to drive the
girl a distance of four thousand miles from home.
From an examination of these causes alone, it is apparent that, however
well qualified, physically and morally, to add their quota to the
prosperity of the United States, had their exertions been properly
directed, yet the circumstances under which these women emigrated were so
embarrassing as to render them easy victims to those whose special
business seems to be to ensnare the friendless and unfortunate.
This branch of inquiry may be continued by a reference to the following
table, giving a summary of answers to the
_Question._ DID YOU RECEIVE ANY ASSISTANCE, AND IF SO, TO WHAT AMOUNT, TO
ENABLE YOU TO EMIGRATE TO THE UNITED STATES?
Amount of Assistance. Numbers.
Paid their own expenses 262
Rec'd assistance, amount not specified 618
Rec'd assistance, $20 each, 89
" " 25 " 94
" " 30 " 43
" " 35 " 15
" " 40 " 24
" " 45 " 6
" " 50 " 28
" " 55 " 3
" " 60 " 12
" " 65 " 2
" " 70 " 2
" " 75 " 2
" " 100 " 12
" " 110 " 1
" " 120 " 3
" " 140 " 2
" " 150 " 3
" " 175 " 1
" " 180 " 2
" " 200 " 5
" " 220 " 1
" " 250 " 2
" " 300 " 4
" " 400 " 1
" " 600 " 1
--- ---
Totals 976 262
--- 976
----
Total of foreign-born prostitutes 1238
It appears that only two hundred and sixty-two, or about one fifth of the
total number, paid their own passage-money, the remainder having received
pecuniary assistance toward that object ranging from an unspecified
amount, which, in all probability, was not more than the positive expenses
of the voyage, to six hundred dollars. It will be observed that the
majority did not receive more than forty dollars each, eight hundred and
eighty-three of those assisted stating that such help did not exceed that
sum. This certainly was but a very inadequate amount to pay the expenses
of an outfit and a voyage across the Atlantic, and then to support a
person in a strange land until employment could be secured; particularly
if she was but one of a family each member of which had the same
imperative necessity for work as herself. These remarks may be thought
inconsistent with the statements published in 1856 of the amount of money
brought to this country by immigrants; but it may be suggested that,
although these reports gave a correct statement of the sum in the
possession of all the passengers by a certain vessel, they are altogether
silent as to the numbers who were destitute. They merely proved what has
been universally conceded within the last three or four years, namely,
that among the immigrants arriving are many with considerable cash means.
But it does not require much reflection to convince any one that when a
family bring available funds with them, they will leave New York as
quickly as possible in search of some locality where their money may be
advantageously employed. This is still more likely, as the fact of their
being possessed of capital proves them to have practiced habits of
industry and economy at home, which would scarcely abandon them when they
reached the New World. The aggregated facts as to property do not touch
isolated cases of poverty, the most dangerous to this community, because
individuals who are forced to remain in the city from want of means to
leave it not only swell its long list of paupers, but are in circumstances
which may materially influence them to become prostitutes, and have the
spur of necessity to urge them forward in this or any other course which
may offer a respite from starvation.
The following table corroborates this theory; it consists of replies to
the other part of the same
_Question._ DID YOU RECEIVE ANY ASSISTANCE, AND IF SO, FROM WHOM, TO
ENABLE YOU TO EMIGRATE TO THE UNITED STATES?
By whom assisted. Numbers.
Paid their own expenses 262
By relatives or friends 805
By money remitted by relatives or friends in the U. S. 100
Stole money from their friends 34
By seducers 28
By public authorities 9
---
Totals 976 262
--- 976
----
Total of foreign-born prostitutes 1238
As a general rule, the parties by whom assistance was rendered were not
likely to advance any amount beyond what was absolutely required. Even
this amount would perhaps be reduced before the termination of the
voyage, if it should prove a protracted one, and the provisions of the
passengers be exhausted, as there are on board every ship persons who are
willing to sell articles of food at prices ranging from three to six times
their value, and who are equally ready to supply demands for brandy or
tobacco also. On a review of the responses given to the three questions
which have been under consideration in this section, it appears that the
opinions expressed are legitimate deductions from the premises. They may
be thus recapitulated: The majority of those immigrants who subsequently
become prostitutes in New York were almost destitute in their own country;
they arrive here with little or no means of support; their poverty renders
them peculiarly liable to yield to temptation, if, indeed, many of them
have not previously fallen. Thus, if we do not receive them as prostitutes
when they reach our shores, we receive them in a condition immediately to
become such for the sake of subsistence.
_Question._ CAN YOU READ AND WRITE?
Degree of education. Numbers.
Can read and write well 714
Can read and write imperfectly 546
Can read only 219
Uneducated 521
----
Total 2000
Seven hundred and fourteen of the women who were examined in New York City
say that they can read and write _well_. This must not be regarded as
proof that they have received a superior, or even a medium education, but
is a phrase which may be interpreted to mean that they can read a page of
printed matter without much trouble, and can sign their names, although
truth compels the admission that their writing is very often a species of
penmanship extremely difficult to decipher. Beyond such acquirements as
these, very few, scarcely one in each five hundred, have progressed. Five
hundred and forty-six can read and write _imperfectly_, a grade of
education which may be defined as midway between the amount of knowledge
already described and a state of total ignorance; enough, in fact, to
relieve them from the suspicion of being altogether illiterate, which is
the sole advantage they can claim over the two hundred and nineteen who
can _read only_, or the five hundred and twenty-one who confess that they
_can neither read nor write_. As a whole, there is little doubt that the
prostitutes in New York believe, "where ignorance is bliss, 'tis folly to
be wise." These remarks are made from observations upon this class during
a long hospital experience.
But, seriously, such a state of ignorance is most deplorable. To give an
idea of the facilities for acquiring education in the various countries
from which these prostitutes reach us, the following statement from the
United States Census for 1850[381] is submitted:
The ratio of persons receiving education is as follows:
United States, 1 to every 5 of total population.
Denmark, 1 " " 5 " " "
Sweden, 1 " " 6 " " "
Prussia, 1 " " 6 " " "
Norway, 1 " " 7 " " "
Great Britain, 1 " " 8 " " "
France, 1 " " 10 " " "
Austria, 1 " " 13 " " "
Holland, 1 " " 14 " " "
Ireland, 1 " " 14 " " "
The following is a fair average estimate of the acquirements of native and
foreign-born prostitutes:
Degree of Education. Natives. Foreigners.
Can read and write well 25 per cent. 10 per cent.
" " " " imperfectly 50 " " 50 " "
Uneducated 25 " " 40 " "
--- ---
100 100
The average of educational facilities in the United States is as one to
five; in European countries it is one to ten. In other words, every one in
this country has twice the opportunities for education compared with those
born in the Old World: opportunities which, in the cases of these women at
least, have not been improved to their full extent. Of those who claim to
be well educated, the United States show more than the average. In the
class imperfectly educated, foreigners show one half of their number, and
the superior advantages in this country only produce exactly the same
proportion. The proportion of those uneducated is not much more favorable
in natives than in foreigners. Some allowances must be made, however, in
this calculation, for the fact that many children of foreign birth arrive
here at an early age, and gain such education as they possess in American
institutions; but even this will but slightly affect the disproportion
alluded to. But no possible modification of the facts can be conceived
sufficient to excuse the negligence of the parents or friends of one
fourth of the native-born prostitutes in this city at the present day,
when education may be obtained literally "without money and without
price."
Sectarian bigotry must be held responsible for much of this offense. "If
our children can not be educated as we please, they shall not be educated
at all. If they must not read the books we wish, they shall never learn
the alphabet," is, in effect, if not in words, the language of thousands
in this country to-day. What are the results of this cruel policy? The
children go forth into the world: the boys, to earn a precarious living by
the sweat of their brow; the girls, condemned to the most servile work in
any family where their stupidity may find a shelter, until they meet with
some man of their own mental calibre, whom they marry, and forthwith bring
up their unfortunate children in the same manner in which they themselves
were reared. This is the brightest view of the future of ignorant
children; the darker shades are depicted in the annals of vice and
crime--may be seen daily in our prisons, hospitals, poor-houses, and
pauper burying-grounds.
The picture is not overdrawn; nor will the reply so common in this
generation, "These are the children of foreigners," serve to exonerate the
parents; for even if all the uneducated native women who have answered
these questions were born of foreign parentage, a fact which must be
proved before it is admitted, but which we are not inclined to concede,
yet they were born on our soil, where public schools were open to receive
them, and their intelligence would enhance the credit of the land in the
same proportion that their ignorance diminishes it. A love of their
adopted country, its institutions and its fame, is not too much to ask of
parents who derive their maintenance from its resources. It is a libel
upon the parental instinct (it can not be called feeling) to allow any
child in the United States to arrive at years of maturity without
acquiring a good plain, solid education. Fathers or mothers who pursue
such a course as this would consider themselves unjustly accused if told
they were training their daughters to become prostitutes, but such is the
fact. It is scarcely possible to imagine any thing so likely to lead a
woman from the paths of rectitude as ignorance, coupled with the
conviction that such ignorance is an insurmountable barrier to her
progress in life; it drives her to intoxication to drown her reflections,
and from intoxication to prostitution the transition is easy and almost
certain.
Here, then, are a number of young women thrown into society every year
without the least education; untrained for good, and only fit for evil.
Ignorant of their duties to themselves or to the world; with sensibilities
callous because they have never been cultivated; with faculties on a level
with the inferior animals from the same cause, they are expected to
succeed in life! It would be as consistent to take a man who had never
seen a steam-engine, and give him the control of a locomotive and a train
of cars without anticipating an accident, as it is to presume in this day
of knowledge that an uneducated man or woman can ever become a respectable
and useful member of society.
Could our liberal facilities for education be duly improved, much would be
done to prevent the vice of prostitution. No classical or extraordinary
tuition is required to accomplish this end; merely common sense rightly
cultivated, and conscience enlightened and developed, so as to appreciate
the difference between right and wrong, will do much to aid a woman to
pass unscathed through trials which constantly ruin the ignorant.
The question has sometimes arisen whether it should not be made compulsory
on parents to educate their children. The present is not the place to
discuss that subject, but the following statistics will show to what
extent the duty is neglected.
The United States Census for 1850 reports:
Population of New York City 515,547
Proportion of population between the ages
of five and fifteen years 101,006
Children attending school 76,685
Percentage of children attending school 75-9/10
The New York State Census for 1855 reports:
Population of New York City 629,904
Proportion of population between the
ages of five and fifteen years 116,627
No returns are made of the numbers attending schools, and these must be
sought from other sources. The report of the Board of Education for 1856
states the average daily attendance at the ward or public schools to be
44,598. The same document gives data from which the attendance at
religious, corporate, or other public schools can be calculated, but says
nothing of private schools. An approximate estimate of the latter can,
however, be made with the help of the United States Census. In 1850, the
proportions were about one private to every twelve public scholars, and
since that period there has probably been but little change in the ratio.
From these facts the subjoined may be assumed a reasonably correct
statement:
Average attendance at public schools 44,598
Allowance of twenty per cent. for absentees, whose names
are on the school registers, but who attend irregularly 8,920
Corporate schools receiving state assistance 7,517
" " without " " (estimated) 10,000
Private schools " 6,000
------
Total children attending school 77,035
This would give a school attendance of sixty-six per cent. of the
population between the ages of five and fifteen years, or ten per cent.
less than in 1850.
That the proportionate numbers receiving education are diminishing is
susceptible of proof from one fact. In 1856, the pupils in the public
schools were 347 more than in 1855. During the last fifteen years the
population of the city has increased more than twenty thousand per annum,
and of this increase about one fifth (or four thousand) are between the
ages of five and fifteen. It follows that in 1856 there were four thousand
additional children in New York as compared with 1855, but there were only
347 additional attendants at the public schools. Admitting that other
schools received the same increase of pupils--an admission more liberal
than facts would warrant--the education of seven hundred only would be
provided for, leaving three thousand three hundred destitute of
instruction.
In the course of the year 1856, the attention of the Board of Education
was directed to the large number of children not attending any school, and
upon the basis of a partial census of the city they were assumed to amount
to sixty thousand. This was conceded to be an over-estimate. The figures
given above would make the number 39,594, which may very likely be nearer
the truth; but even this may be in excess, and, to allow for all possible
contingencies, we will place it at thirty thousand. Even this is an
alarming statement: the suggestion that of all the children in our city
nearly twenty-seven per cent. are growing up in a state of perfect
ignorance, presents so many frightful considerations that the mind revolts
at the bare possibility. But the facts will not permit any other
construction. If this criminal neglect be continued, it must produce fatal
consequences to society, and the view of impending results would almost
sanction a compulsory education.[382]
_Question._ ARE YOU SINGLE, MARRIED, OR WIDOWED?
Condition. Numbers.
Single 1216
Married 490
Widowed 294
----
Total 2000
The civil condition of the prostitutes in New York City furnishes matter
of serious consideration in view of the slight restraints which the
ordinarily received rules of society place upon the passions, and the
utter inefficiency of such regulations to counteract the influences
tending to female degradation; influences, in fact, which they very
frequently augment rather than check. In the cases of many females now
under notice, marriage was invested not only with the sanctions of a civil
contract between the parties, as recognized by our state laws, but,
according to the tenets of the Roman Catholic Church, was regarded as one
of the seven holy sacraments which it is deemed an act of sacrilege to
violate. Yet, in the face of these ordinances, the civil contract is
broken, the sacrament is profaned in one fourth of the total number of
cases, or four hundred and ninety out of two thousand which are now under
notice. It would be out of place to enter here on any disquisition
respecting the duties of the married state; regarded in its abuses as
provocative of prostitution it is noticed hereafter. Enjoined by the
precepts of Holy Writ, supported by the sentiment of the world, and
respected by all virtuous men, marriage is an institution which needs no
argument to enforce its claims to the most rigid observance.
That this sacred compact is too frequently violated by one or other of the
contracting parties is proved by almost daily experience either in courts
of law or by intercourse with the world. Conflicting testimony sometimes
renders it doubtful to whom the blame ought to be imputed, but there can
be no uncertainty whatever as to the opinions entertained by society at
large in such cases. If the husband has been guilty of a breach of his
conjugal duties, he reads the whole of the evidence, graphically reported,
with occasional embellishments, in the columns of the daily papers,
flatters himself that he is acquiring notoriety, is congratulated by
friends of his own predilections on his success, and in a short time is
fully reinstated in his former social position. On the contrary, if the
weight of evidence is against the wife, the whole artillery of the world's
scorn is leveled at her head. She is driven from society, crushed by the
proudly virtuous frowns of her own sex and the contemptuous sneers of the
other. Dishonored and despised, she is too often left with no means of
existence but indiscriminate prostitution, the temptation to such
degradation being aggravated by the consciousness of her previous
infidelity and its results. There is no possibility of salvation for her.
The moral world has resolved she shall not repent, and the least attempt
on her part to atone for an error over which she mourns with all the
intensity of her nature is sternly resisted by the virtuous indignation of
society, which erects an impassable barrier between herself and her hopes
of reformation.
Of the prostitutes in New York, one thousand two hundred and sixteen have
never been married. Their sin is the less because they have not to answer
for broken vows, nor have they any outraged confidence on which to brood,
but to endure only the sin and odium attached to their present condition.
Two hundred and ninety-five prostitutes are widowed. In their cases death
has put an end to the marital contract, and, thus left free to act for
themselves, they stand in nearly the same condition as single women.
An investigation of the nativities of these women shows that about one
third each of the single and married prostitutes are natives of the United
States, and of widows about one half were born in this country.
The question may arise as to the causes to be assigned for the depravity
of married women, and for the large proportion of widows in the ranks of
the abandoned. It would certainly appear that one of the principal, if not
_the_ principal cause which can be specified is the very early age at
which such marriages are contracted. Young people yield to the impulse of
a moment, acknowledge the charms of a person they meet in a ball-room or
public assembly, and are married with a very imperfect knowledge of each
other's character, with but little reflection on the probable result of
the alliance, and with but a slight appreciation of the obligations they
are contracting. It was a wise regulation, whether regarded physically or
morally, which fixed the earliest period of marriage in ancient Germany at
twenty-five years, and declared the union invalid if the parties had not
reached that time of life; nor would the morality of New York suffer if a
similar restriction was the rule instead of the exception here. The
annexed cases, selected at random from the replies received, are submitted
in support of this opinion.
E. C., now nineteen years of age, is a married woman, who has been
separated from her husband five years, and must therefore have been
married when less than fourteen years old. C. W., now twenty-one years of
age, has been a widow for five years, and was married at fifteen. A. S.
was married at sixteen, and E. R. at fifteen. C. C., now twenty-eight
years old, has been a widow more than twelve years. C. G., aged
twenty-four, has been a widow seven years. Both these women were under
sixteen when married. The list might be extended almost indefinitely.
The following inquiry, as a continuation of the same branch of the
subject, is embodied in this section.
_Question._ IF MARRIED, IS YOUR HUSBAND LIVING WITH YOU, OR WHAT CAUSED
THE SEPARATION?
Causes. Numbers.
Living together 71
Ill-usage of husbands 103
Desertion of " 60
" " " to live with other women 43
Intemperance 45
Husbands went to sea 39
" refused to support them 29
Infidelity 25
No cause assigned 75
--- ---
Totals 419 71
--- 419
---
Aggregate of married women 490
The most striking and painful fact in these answers is revealed in the
first line of the table, which contains an announcement so disgraceful to
humanity that, but for the positive evidence adduced by the figures, it
would be scarcely credited, namely, that of four hundred and ninety
married women now living as prostitutes, seventy-one (more than one
seventh) are cohabiting with their husbands. It can not be controverted
that such cohabitation necessarily implies a knowledge of the wife's
degradation, and a participation in the wages of her shame. Nor will any
argument, however plausible, succeed in removing from the public mind the
conviction that the man is far the more guilty party of the two, and he
can not escape the suspicion that he was the primary agent in leading his
wife to prostitution, or, in legal parlance, he was "an accessory before
the fact," While such a consideration will not exonerate the woman from
her offenses, it may be justly pleaded in extenuation; although it will
not prove her guiltless, it will sink him to the lowest depths of
disgrace.
The conduct of husbands is alleged in a majority of the cases as the cause
of separation; two hundred and thirty-five out of four hundred and
nineteen women give the following causes:
Husbands refused to support their wives 29
" deserted their wives 60
" " " " to live with other women 43
Ill-usage of husbands 103
---
Total 235
The cases wherein "intemperance," "infidelity," or "no cause assigned"
were replied, are vague, and may be construed to attach blame to either,
or both.
Sufficient has been proved to show that in many cases prostitution among
married women is the result of circumstances which must have exercised a
very powerful influence over them. The refusal of a husband to support his
wife, his desertion of her, or an act of adultery with another woman, are
each occurrences which must operate injuriously upon the mind of any
female, and, by the keen torture such outrages inflict on the
sensitiveness of her nature, must drive her into a course of dissipation.
Many women thus circumstanced have actually confessed that they made the
first false step while smarting from injuries inflicted by their natural
protectors, with the idea of being revenged upon their brutal or faithless
companions for their unkindness. Morality will argue, and very truly, that
this is no excuse for crime; but much allowance must be made for the
extreme nature of the provocation, and the fact that most of these women
are uneducated, and have not sufficient mental or moral illumination to
reason correctly upon the nature and consequences of their voluntary
debauchery, or even to curb the violence of their passions.
"Ill-usage of husbands," a crime particularly rife in England, and
apparently fast becoming naturalized here, also stands as a prominent
cause of vice, and is one which can not be too pointedly condemned. It
strikes at the root of the social fabric, and must invariably be denounced
both on account of its enormity as an offense, and of its almost
inevitable consequences to the woman, a sense of degradation, too often
followed by the sacrifice of rectitude as the only means to escape such
brutal tyranny. Without advocating capital punishment, it may be
allowable to suggest the query whether our city would not be benefited if
all such unmanly offenders against propriety were to be tried by a jury of
married women, and hanged without benefit of clergy.
The following table will conclude this section:
_Question._ IF WIDOWED, HOW LONG HAS YOUR HUSBAND BEEN DEAD?
Length of Time. Numbers.
Under 6 weeks 2
" 3 months 6
" 6 " 8
" 7 " 1
" 8 " 2
" 1 year 22
" 2 years 30
" 3 " 38
" 4 " 33
" 5 " 24
" 6 " 21
" 7 " 17
" 8 " 18
" 9 " 16
" 10 " 13
10 years and upward 32
Time not specified 11
---
Total 294
It will be perceived that nineteen prostitutes have been widows less than
one year, twenty-two for one year, thirty for two years, and so throughout
the scale. The table presents but little necessity for observation, the
principal conclusion to be drawn from it being that the majority of this
class are driven to a course of vice from the destitution ensuing on the
husband's death. It has been shown that a large number of them are very
young, and it can be scarcely necessary to repeat that any young woman in
a state of poverty will be surrounded with temptations she can with
difficulty resist. Much as this state of society may be deplored, its
existence can not be denied.
_Question._ HAVE YOU HAD ANY CHILDREN?
Condition of Replies. Total of
Women. Yes. No. Women.
Single 357 859 1216
Married 357 133 490
Widowed 233 61 294
---- --- ----
Totals 947 1053 2000
The women who reply to this question in the affirmative are
Single women 357, or 30 per cent.
Married " 357, " 73 "
Widows " 233, " 79 "
In continuation of this subject is the
_Question._ IF YOU HAVE HAD CHILDREN, HOW MANY?
Number of Number of
Women. Condition of Women. Children Born.
357 Single women 490
357 Married women 791
233 Widows 636
--- ----
947 Women were mothers of 1917
The replies give the total number of children borne by each class: thus
the single women have given birth to four hundred and ninety-one children,
the married women to seven hundred and ninety-one children, and the widows
to six hundred and thirty-six children. The following tables exhibit the
same facts in a more extended form, showing the number of children which
each woman has borne, and specifying the sex.
_Question._ IF YOU HAVE HAD CHILDREN, HOW MANY?
REPLIES OF SINGLE WOMEN.
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+
|Number| | Borne by each. | Totals. |
| of | |----------------------|---------------------------------|
|Women.| |Boys.|Girls.|Abortions|Boys.|Girls.|Abortions.|Aggregate|
|------|-------|-----|------|---------|-----|------|----------|---------|
| 1 |Mother | 8 | 2 | | 8 | 2 | | 10 |
| 2 |Mothers| 3 | 3 | | 6 | 6 | | 12 |
| 2 | " | 2 | 3 | | 4 | 6 | | 10 |
| 1 |Mother | 1 | 4 | | 1 | 4 | | 5 |
| 1 | " | 3 | 2 | | 3 | 2 | | 5 |
| 1 | " | 1 | 3 | | 1 | 3 | | 4 |
| 1 | " | 4 | | | 4 | | | 4 |
| 1 | " | 3 | 1 | | 3 | 1 | | 4 |
| 5 |Mothers| 2 | 1 | | 10 | 5 | | 15 |
| 6 | " | 1 | 2 | | 6 | 12 | | 18 |
| 3 | " | 3 | | | 9 | | | 9 |
| 2 | " | | 3 | | | 6 | | 6 |
| 33 | " | 1 | 1 | | 33 | 33 | | 66 |
| 4 | " | | 2 | | | 8 | | 8 |
| 17 | " | 2 | | | 34 | | | 34 |
| 150 | " | 1 | | | 150 | | | 150 |
| 99 | " | | 1 | | | 99 | | 99 |
| 27 | " | | | | | | 27 | 27 |
| 1 |Mother | | | 4 | | | 4 | 4 |
|------|-------|-----|------|---------|-----|------|----------|---------|
| 357 | | | | | 272 | 187 | 31 | 490 |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+
REPLIES OF MARRIED WOMEN.
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+
|Number| | Borne by each. | Totals. |
| of | |-----------------------|--------------------------------|
|Women.| |Boys.|Girls.|Abortions|Boys.|Girls.|Abortions.|Aggregate|
|------|-------|-----|------|---------|-----|------|----------|---------|
| 1 |Mother | 7 | 8 | | 7 | 8 | | 15 |
| 2 |Mothers| 7 | 7 | | 14 | 14 | | 28 |
| 1 |Mother | 7 | 6 | | 7 | 6 | | 13 |
| 1 | " | 8 | 4 | | 8 | 4 | | 12 |
| 1 | " | 6 | 6 | | 6 | 6 | | 12 |
| 1 | " | 4 | 6 | | 4 | 6 | | 10 |
| 1 | " | 5 | 4 | | 5 | 4 | | 9 |
| 2 |Mothers| 4 | 4 | | 8 | 8 | | 16 |
| 2 | " | 3 | 4 | | 6 | 8 | | 14 |
| 1 |Mother | 7 | | | 7 | | | 7 |
| 1 | " | 2 | 4 | | 2 | 4 | | 6 |
| 6 |Mothers| 4 | 2 | | 24 | 12 | | 36 |
| 3 |Mothers| 2 | 3 | | 6 | 9 | | 15 |
| 7 | " | 3 | 2 | | 21 | 14 | | 35 |
| 5 | " | 4 | 1 | | 20 | 5 | | 25 |
| 3 | " | 4 | | | 12 | | | 12 |
| 8 | " | 2 | 2 | | 16 | 16 | | 32 |
| 7 | " | 3 | 1 | | 21 | 7 | | 28 |
| 5 | " | | 3 | | | 15 | | 15 |
| 11 | " | 3 | | | 33 | | | 33 |
| 11 | " | 1 | 2 | | 11 | 22 | | 33 |
| 23 | " | 2 | 1 | | 46 | 23 | | 69 |
| 4 | " | 1 | 1 | | 4 | 4 | | 8 |
| 28 | " | | 2 | | | 56 | | 56 |
| 28 | " | 2 | | | 56 | | | 56 |
| 74 | " | | 1 | | | 74 | | 74 |
| 115 | " | 1 | | | 115 | | | 115 |
| 4 | " | | | 1 | | | 4 | 4 |
| 1 |Mother | | | 3 | | | 3 | 3 |
|------|-------|-----|------|---------|-----|------|----------|---------|
| 357 | | | | | 459 | 325 | 7 | 791 |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+
REPLIES OF WIDOWS.
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+
|Number| | Borne by each. | Totals. |
| of | |-----------------------|--------------------------------|
|Women.| |Boys.|Girls.|Abortions|Boys.|Girls.|Abortions.|Aggregate|
|------|-------|-----|------|---------|-----|------|----------|---------|
| 1 |Mother | 6 | 4 | | 6 | 4 | | 10 |
| 3 |Mothers| 5 | 4 | | 15 | 12 | | 27 |
| 2 | " | 6 | 3 | | 12 | 6 | | 18 |
| 1 |Mother | 6 | 2 | | 6 | 2 | | 8 |
| 6 |Mothers| 3 | 4 | | 18 | 24 | | 42 |
| 1 |Mother | 5 | 3 | | 5 | 3 | | 8 |
| 4 |Mothers| 3 | 3 | | 12 | 12 | | 24 |
| 1 |Mother | 5 | 1 | | 5 | 1 | | 6 |
| 1 | " | 2 | 4 | | 2 | 4 | | 6 |
| 1 | " | 4 | 2 | | 4 | 2 | | 6 |
| 9 |Mothers| 3 | 2 | | 27 | 18 | | 45 |
| 5 | " | 2 | 3 | | 10 | 15 | | 25 |
| 2 | " | 4 | 1 | | 8 | 2 | | 10 |
| 1 |Mother | 1 | 4 | | 1 | 4 | | 5 |
| 1 | " | 5 | | | 5 | | | 5 |
| 3 |Mothers| 4 | | | 12 | | | 12 |
| 9 | " | 2 | 2 | | 18 | 18 | | 36 |
| 4 | " | 1 | 3 | | 4 | 12 | | 16 |
| 1 |Mother | 3 | 1 | | 3 | 1 | | 4 |
| 4 |Mothers| | 3 | | | 12 | | 12 |
| 10 | " | 3 | | | 30 | | | 30 |
| 11 | " | 1 | 2 | | 11 | 22 | | 33 |
| 20 | " | 2 | | | 40 | | | 40 |
| 47 | " | 1 | 1 | | 47 | 47 | | 94 |
| 30 | " | | 1 | | | 30 | | 30 |
| 40 | " | 1 | | | 40 | | | 40 |
| 1 |Mother | | | 2 | | | 2 | 2 |
|------|-------|-----|------|---------|-----|------|----------|---------|
| 233 | | | | | 369 | 265 | 2 | 636 |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+
Commencing with the offspring of single women, it will be seen that one
was the mother of ten children, eight boys and two girls. Two women gave
birth to six children each. Four gave birth to five children each. Three
gave birth to four children each. Sixteen gave birth to three children
each. Fifty-four gave birth to two children each. Two hundred and
forty-nine gave birth to one child each. Twenty-seven have suffered
abortion once, and one has suffered in the same manner four times. The
corresponding tables for married women and widows express similar facts in
the same form. It is not necessary to quote them, as the figures give all
the required information. The results may be recapitulated thus:
Boys. Girls. Abortions. Totals.
357 single women bore 272 187 31 490
357 married " " 459 325 7 791
233 widows bore 369 265 2 636
---- --- -- ----
947 1100 777 40 1917
Excess of male over female births, 223.
Ratio of excess upon the total number born, 11-6/10 per cent.
The next point claiming attention is the number of illegitimate children
resulting from prostitution, based upon answers to the
_Question._ WERE THESE CHILDREN BORN IN WEDLOCK?
Legitimate children of married women 469
" " " widows 358
Total legitimate 827
Illegitimate children of single women 490
" " " married " 322
" " " widows 279
---
Total illegitimate 1090
----
Aggregate 1917
The whole of the children borne by single women are, of course,
illegitimate. Of the children of married women over forty per cent., and
of the children of widows forty-four per cent. are illegitimate. Taking
the total number of children of the three classes, and calculating upon
this broad basis, it will appear that 1090 illegitimate children were
born, giving an average of fifty-seven per cent.; or, to speak in plain
terms, of every hundred children borne by women who are now prostitutes,
forty-three were born before the mothers (married women or widows) had
embraced this course of life, and the remaining fifty-seven were the fruit
of promiscuous intercourse, liable physically to inherit the diseases of
the mother, morally to endure the disgrace attached to their birth, and
very probably to be reared in the midst of blasphemy, obscenity, and vice,
to follow in the footsteps of their parents, and perpetuate the sin to
which they owe their origin.
The excessive mortality among this class of children is developed in the
following replies to the
_Question._ ARE THESE CHILDREN LIVING OR DEAD?
Living children of single women 133
" " " married " 334
" " " widows 265
---
Total living 732
Dead children of single women 357
" " " married " 457
" " " widows 371
---
Total dead 1185
----
Aggregate 1917
The ratio of mortality will be as follows:
Children of single women 73 per cent.
" " married " 58 " "
" " widows 59 " "
--
Average on the total number 62 " "
or more than six deaths for every ten children born. The average infantile
mortality of New York City for three years is,
Under 1 year of age 8499
From 1 " to 2 years 3259
" 2 " to 5 " 2578
------
Total 14,336[383]
The population between those ages in 1855 was 77,568.[384] This would give
a mortality of 18-1/2 per cent., or about 1-3/4 to every ten children
under five years of age. It is not exceeding the bounds of probability to
assume that the greater part of the children of prostitutes die before
they reach the age of five years, which will give a _pro rata_ mortality
among that class of nearly _four times the average ratio of New York
City_. This calculation must be taken in connection with the cases of
abortion produced by extraneous means, not admitted in the replies to the
interrogatories, and which will probably never be known. It is impossible
to doubt that these are far more frequent than recorded in the tables.
Under the heads of "Premature Births" and "Still-born" the following
numbers are reported.[385]
Years. Premature Births. Still-born. Total.
1854 435 1615 2050
1855 374 1564 1938
1856 387 1556 1943
---- ---- ----
1196 4735 5931
The births during the same period were:
1854 17,979
1855 14,145
1856 16,199
Total 48,323
This would show a proportion of 12-1/2 per cent., or one to every eight of
all the children born in New York City. It is not to be taken for granted
that all these are the result of improper conduct, although unquestionably
many are so. Applying the same ratio to the children of prostitutes, and
calculating the 1917 births in these tables as extending over a period of
five years, would give forty-eight cases each year; but multiplying the
average by four (the proportion of deaths from natural causes), we shall
find the appalling number of one hundred and ninety-two cases each
year--an array of infantile mortality presenting features which place it
almost on a level with the infanticide of some Eastern nations. Were it
possible to form any definite idea of the abortions actually procured, and
which are suspected, on reasonable grounds, to amount to a very
considerable number, the amount would be startling. The sacrifice of
infant life, attribute it to what cause you may, is one of the most
deplorable results of prostitution, and urgently demands active
interference.
The attention of the American Medical Association has been drawn to this
subject, and from a "Report on Infant Mortality in large Cities, by D.
Meredith Reese, M.D., LL.D., etc.," published in their Transactions, we
extract: "The causes of mortality among children of tender age are, in a
multitude of cases, to be found only by extending our inquiries to their
_intra-uterine_ life, and the physiological state of the parents, but
especially the sanitary condition of the mothers, their hygienic and moral
habits and circumstances.[386] * * * Celibacy should be required of all
syphilitic persons of either sex."[387] It will at once occur to the mind
of the reader that enforced celibacy would not affect the maternity of
prostitutes. They are liable to give birth to children, and, as their
physiological condition is such as to preclude the possibility of their
children being healthy, the only way to check infant mortality in this
class is to deal with the mothers, and adopt means, if not to prevent
their infection, at least to limit the ravages of disease as much as
possible. This point is discussed more fully in the chapter on Remedial
Measures. To men tainted with syphilis the same course of reasoning would
apply. If debarred from marriage, the sexual appetite would drive them to
commerce with prostitutes, and their illegitimate children swell the total
of mortality. The health of parents must be protected before we can hope
for healthy children.
Dr. Reese's very able pamphlet contains some remarks upon abortionism, and
its extent, thus: "The ghastly crime of abortionism has become a murderous
trade in many of our large cities, tolerated, connived at, and even
protected by corrupt civil authorities. These murderers--for such they
are--are well known to the police authorities: their names, residence, and
even their guilty customers are no secret. Would that it were only the
profligate, or even the unfortunate of their sex, whose guilty fear or
shame thus seeks to hide the evidence of illicit amours."[388] That
prostitution largely contributes to this crime can not be doubted, but to
what extent must remain unknown, from the secrecy which surrounds it. The
revolting cases which appear at intervals in the daily papers are but a
mere fraction of the total.
_Question._ ARE THESE CHILDREN LIVING WITH YOU, OR WHERE ARE THEY?
Numbers.
Children living with the mothers 73
" boarding at the expense of mothers 247
" " with mothers' relatives 140
" supporting themselves 129
" living with the fathers 59
" in public or charitable institutions 36
" adopted by families 20
" unascertained 28
--- --
Totals 659 73
--
73
---
Aggregate of children 732
This table shows the social influences to which the survivors of this
ill-fated band of children are exposed. There are seventy-three stated to
be living with their mothers, and, so far as they are concerned, no
reasonable person can entertain any hopes as to their future morality.
Born in the abodes of vice, their dwelling is in an atmosphere of squalid
misery or sordid guilt; they never have a glimpse of a better life; they
are marked from their cradles for a career of degradation; they can fall
no lower, for they stand already on the lowest level. Such as these are
denominated "dangerous classes" by the French authorities, and from their
ranks are obtained many of the inmates of prisons and brothels. The
children stated to be with their fathers, fifty-nine in number, it may be
concluded were born before the mother's fall from virtue, and are
decidedly the most fortunate of any coming under notice, while those
living with the parents or relatives of the mother, amounting to one
hundred and forty, or boarding at the mother's expense, of whom there are
two hundred and forty-seven, stand less chance of contamination than if
actually residing within the domains of vice. Those living in public or
charitable institutions exhibit one cause of taxation upon the general
body of the citizens, and show that, indirectly, every man in New York is
compelled to contribute toward the maintenance of vice or its offspring. A
visit to the public institutions on Blackwell's and Randall's Islands will
prove that this is but one item of the expenses which prostitution
inflicts upon the community.
CHAPTER 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.