Delaware State journal and statesman., 1861-05-10
From The Courier aud Enquirer.
PRETTY WAITER GIRLS"

Mr.. Keats suggests that thing beauty is
joy forever; aud we presume that in general
way mankind are ready to endorse the PROPOSE
ton. There may DO some minor objections
such as are connected with the evanescent char
actor usually associated with things Of beauty (;
but in virtue of the ma or force of the apothegm,
we may dismiss such objections as hypercritcal.
Now among the things of beauty which from timS
immemOrial have appealed to the hearts and the
senses of mankind pretty girls must be conceded
to have filled the foremost rank, and to have
welded the most distinctive influence. Since
the misfortune Of our mother Eve, they have
never abandoned that rank, nor returned their
hold upon that influence. Neither need they be
Of exalted station to hold either immunity or
privilege pretty girl is pretty girl, wheth
er in royal robes or peasants smock. Her smile
is extremely apt to fascinate, whether it tops
the girdling glories of Fifth avenue crnoline, or
peeps from the modest hood of the poor sewing
girl /; and She knows the power of the spell better
tlan we can teach her. That spell has been
used over and over again by the cunning, and
sometimes by the yirtnOus, with resistless effect
for good or evil. Unscrupulous persons have
used the beauty of woman for all manner of IN
holy projects; but among the most grovelling
and debasng which we have ever had occasion
to notice in such connection, is the one which
seeks to line purses through the attractions of
'Pretty Waiter Girls" in the saloons on Broad
way. These girls are advertised for in certain
newspapers, engaged expressly and confessedly
for their personal charms, introduced to dens
foul with tobacco and spirits brought into rough
and sudden contact with the dissolute and I'M
serupulous of the opposite sex, and miserable
creatures already ruined Of their own, and for
what? That the keepers of these iniquitous
sinks may pocket few dirty dollars and that
successive relays Of uniortunates may be shortly
thrown upon the town, to augment crime, and
perhaps end lives of misery and shame in self
destruction. And yet these men who are daily
doing moro mischief in our midst than all the
pulpits Of tho city can repair, are absolutely
eulOgzed by presses assuming to be respectable,
for their public spirit their business TACT
and the cunning they exhibit in alluring from
each others orgies the bandsomest women in
Amcricar This is not subject upon which it
is useful to be too mealy mouthed. 1t is idle to
say that young women who are enticed into
these haunts remain yirtuous. No one believes
it, who has set foot within their portals. There
is every possible incentive and every ingenious
temptation to sin aud degradation. We protest
against the old pests which have been driven,
after hard fight out of the theatres, being re-
/ suscitated with ten times more disgusting and
Objectionable features, in the concert rooms of
/ Broadway Well may the friends of women
strive as they have never striven before to in
crease the sphere Of female employment, to lend
hand to the destitute whom the sewing machines
and hard times have thrown out of employment,
to move Heaven and earth in fact, rather than
let hundreds Of poor girls be tempted as they
now are, every week, into such unhallOwed
snures In the meantime, the Police should
have orders to watch for every new arrival at
these places, and inquire into her circumstances
with the view to arrest, if possible, the down e
ward career to which such nh advent is certain
to be the precursor. Let the respectable press
throw the weight of its influence toward dis
countenancing and crushing out this abOmina-
tion. Let good citizens strive to suppress it by
all means in their power. For if these, and
kindred evils are to continue unchecked to desc
crnie and pollute this beautiful island. the time
is not far distant when we shall richly deserve,
if we arc fortunate enough to escape, that wrath
of Heaven, which came down of old, and over
whelmed, forever the cities of the plain.