Northern Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1859-01-22 00:00:00

S SATURDAY, JANUARY 22, 1859

accumulated quite a fund for them, lucky pair that
they seemed likely to be, when the girl turned up,
as happy as it was possible for a light-hearted
fine de joie to be,—for such, it has been ascertained,
was her character and position ; and her mother
was found to have been mainly troubled, because
her daughter's incognito deprived her, for the time
being, of any participation in the wages of her
infamy ! The girl had simply gone to spend a few
days, without her mother's knowledge, at a house
of ill-fame of the more " respectable
other and politel; terms, to be the guest of a
fashionable lady who " received the visits " of

class,—in

still more fashionable " gentlemen,"—a sort of
procuress, or bawd, in whose hands such a girl
can always be turned to profitable, • however
abominable account. Of course, all this iniquity
having been brought to light, all this infamy
having been found to attach to the case, the
Magistrate very properly withheld the money that
had been sent to him far the relief of the mother
and daughter ; and he awaits the directions of the
donors as to its disposal.

Now, there are reflections very naturally arise,
in contemplating such a case as this, which have a
very important bearing not only upon the objects
of " social science," but upon the interests of
morality and virtue. In the first place, one cannot
reflect upon it without asking, how a case, having
little or nothing but its dash of romance, and its
connection with a naughty ballet girl, to recommend
it to serious attention, could draw forth such a
golden stream of sympathy, whilst there are so
many hundreds of real instances of most virtuous

suffering which these very persons can pass un-
heeded by ? Take the laudable efforts that are
being made to arrest the progress of prostitution

to rescue some few, at least, of the
thousands and tens of thousands who infest
the streets of London from their infamous course

of life—to provide for them places of refuge from
its vices, and its miseries, and its vilenesses,—such
persons will not allow themselves to take any
interest in these truly charitable objects, will not
be prevailed upon to contribute to their promotion,
but rather, it may be feared, would discourage,
perhaps ridicule them. Yet no sooner do they
hear of the mother of a ballet girl being in trouble
about her daughter, whose character for either
virtue or chastity there was no reason whatever to

take for granted, but rather the reverse, than their
deepest feelings appear to be aroused, and their
utmost liberality is immediately exerted.

Then, in the next place, there is the reflection of

a girl like this, of but some seventeen years old,
found as familiar with a life of infamy as if she
had been a prostitute of mature years. And there
is, besides, those revolting considerations which
such a fact involves, of seduction, and procuration,
and systematic harlotry—all of which, it is but
too painfully evident, the world regards with sad
indifference, and will not lift a finger to suppress ;
but, on the contrary, will be eager to show its
sympathy with those who are the most ready to
yield to such debasing influences, provided only
there is a bit of romance in the way, to give a
stimulus to their morbid sensibilities. There is
actually no small amusement in it for the world ;
and heartless witlings can have no difficulty, in
their own way, in being humorous upon it.
There are many other considerations. One
cannot but think that something ought to be done
for the detection and punishment of those who
seduce poor and often unprotected girls into the
paths of vice and infamy, and initiate them into
a life of vileness and wretchedness ; and, when
their short-lived attraction is gone, leave them to
become the inmates of our hospitals or our
Some more vigorous effort might be
made, also, one would imagine, to protect such
girls, in their, maiden innocency and purity, from

prisons

becoming the victims of the various temptations
which beset them to embrace such lives of shame
and misery,—by looking after their proper educa-
tion and training, by finding them suitable and
profitable employment, and by guarding them
against the wiles of those who, under so many
plausible pretences, are seeking to lead them
astray. Were there but the same eagerness in the
world to grapple with these social evils in some
such ways as these, as there is to sympathise with
the escapades, actual or apprehended, of a ballet-
dancer, one might have hope for their alleviation,
if not for their cure. But the worst of it is that,
while, in the one case, as we have seen, money, at
least, " is no object "—and money as the represen-
tative of sympathy—in the other, there is only
either the_most heartless prudery, or the coldest
unconcern,—or even, it may be, an almost fiendish
merriment and mockery !