Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1858-06-29
THE FALLEN GIRLS OF PARIS,
A Paris correspondent makes the following
highly interesting statements

n Iarls correspondent makes the following
highly interesting statements
In London, no lady dare walk out unat.
tended after o'clock in the evening and
after ii o'clock she will have her eyes and
ears lnsulted, no matter how well attended
while at Paris she may remain in the streets
to any hour of the night, and neither have her
eyes offended nor her ears insulted
How Is this happy result accomplished? In
1851, the official register of the police of Paris
showed 1890 public girls on its books the
number now may be stated at 5000 These
girls, and the houses in which they live, are
submitted to series of stringent laws which
renders them innOxious and inOffensiye to the
eommunity-the police adopting the principle
that, since 1T Is impossible to suppress the evil
1T should be rendered as inoffensive to the
public eye and to the public salubrity as DOS
sible All these houses are obliged to be closed
at III O'Clock precisely. The girls are Obliged
to remain In the house, and the windows are
always covered with blinds, night and day. A
few girls are permitted, here and there to
walk up and down, in front of their door, from
to III O'Clock precisely but it is against the
law to aceost the passers by. The houses are
visited once week by medical and an ordi.
nary inspector-real inspectors, appointed by
Government, and not humbugging ward poll
ticians.
Another class Of girls, and much the larger
class, are those who frequent the public balls,
concerts, and theatres-grls who live alone in
public lodging houses, and who, for the most
part, are not enrolled on the police books, nor
submitted to the ordinary sanitary regulations.
But this class are no moe permitted than the
rest, either In the street or at their favorite
evening resorts, to accost people for the pur-
poses OF commerce. The streets and the public
balls are full Of policemen in citizens dress
whose business is to detect such girls as violate
the law in regard to addressing people, and to
put their names on the police books, thus re-
quIrlrg them to take out license, and to SUBJ
init to all the police regulations in the new
class to which they have entered. As a girl
regards herself as forever lost when her name
is once placed on the police book, and rs she
never knows when an officers eye may be upon
her, she takes good care not to violate, if pos
slble, this law prohibiting solicitations in pub
llc This class are always elegantly dressed
1t Is notorious even that they are the first to
initiate and to propagate those very fashions
which make the tour of the world as the latest
Paris modes. Many of them are reserved and
elegant In their manners, and require a pune
tiliousness of etiquette which would not be out
of place in the most arstOcratic saloon. But
one of the great aids to the Paris police, in the
maintenance of public decency in this class, is
the fact that they do not use strong drinks; a
drunken public woman is never seen AS liquor
is the greatest debaser of mankind, this one
fact strikes out a marked line of distinction
between this class here and in England and
the United States. The great majority do net
lose their selfrespect, and they take good care
Of their health, hoping later on to reform and
get married This is here the rule, whereas in
England and the United States, they throw
themselves away as fast as possible.