The new Northwest. [volume] (Portland, Or.) 1871-1887, 1872-05-24
From the Banner OF Light.l !
Abandoned Women.

ADauuOneu women,
abandoned womenn-thars the
phrase in common parlance. Abandoned
of whom? Not of God; for owning, low
ing all, "his mercy endureth forever;'i
not of Jesus, for from that pure, affec-
tiOnal soul there still comes the gentle
words, "neither do / condemn thee-po
and sin no more;n not of the angels, for
there continues to be '.joy i'm heaven, -
when, through angelic pleadings and in
I tercedings, an erring one is brought 10
repentance; not of the spirits of the
'just made perfect" for they delight to
minister to the least and lowest for
redemptive purposes; not of philan-
thropists, or refOrmers, of the good or
| the true. Abandoned of whom? If by
anybody, by those passional men in
strumental in their temporary ruin, and
such OF their sister sex as, from a vivid
consciousness of being themselves
human, with taking tendency to the
weakness of yielded temptation, put on
the eXtraneous airs of purity too ex-
allied to touch or snatch from further
degradation sister, once pure as the
crystal snow, and still Gods child, bear
ing the divine image. These pretensions,
not Jesusonian, are thoroughly Shak-
spearean-'If thou hast no virtue, as
sumo to have it,"
In the sight of God angels, heavenly
hosts, and consultations of philanthro-
pists on earth quite unknown to fame,
there are no abandoned women, no
abandoned men, for God, heaven, SYM
pathy, mercy, love and redemptivee efforts
are over and around ali.
Under the oily crust of city life there
lies half-concealed a huge, hideous vice,
that often those who are too delicate to
talk about, are not too delicate to prac-
tice. 1t is frequently termed the ''sOcial
cancer.n With venOmous roots pushing
out and down in every direction, it is
the destroyer of inward peace, the
enemy of happy households, and fatal
to the mental and spiritual growth of
the soul.
Saying nothing of Brooklyn and ad-
joining cities, New York has, at least,
twelve thousand of those styled "aban-
doned women The actual census of
1858 gave the number then as seven
thousand eight hundred and fifty. The
increase of population, with the demor-
aliZing influences of the war, have
numerically greatly increased this
CHASTITY army. Credible testimony
proves that more than one half of these
frail women are under twenty years of
age. After fully yielding themselves to
boily trade and traffic, their average life
is less than four years. Wines and
champagnes, midnight revelry, and
poisonous rum, with back-brain in
dulgencies, reduce the earthly of fresh
beautiful giTlhood to loathsome masses
Ofdisease, to be hidden quietly, tearlessly
in paupers' graves.
Besides these twelve thousand public
fallen ones, it is estimated there are
thirty thousand who are either kept as
"mistresses," or frequenters of houses of
assignatiOn. Were the full names of
these published in the city dailies, as
they are kept in the souls memory
chamber, and read by angels, it would
produce a most fearful social earthquake
Dazzling behind marble halls and i'm
posing brown fronts, are the glittering
| fruits of sin, as under silks, Partisan
laces and "Grecian bends are aching,
cankering hearts, and souls too, stung
with keenest remorse.
Great social crimes abound most in
populous cities, under sanctimOnious
pretences to piety and respectability.
/ Fifth avenue, Fourteenth, and even
Bond street, were shocked, few years
since, from reading in the New York
morning papers of a licentious husband,
rich in this worlds goods, being con-
Quoted by friend to house of infamy
and there finding his own wife awaiting
I her paramOur. Each, till then, had sup
posed the other faithful.
The facts touching these cancerous
crimes are apparent. Enough of statis-
| tics. Causes and remedies are the sub
jects that most interest living thought
| full men. With the more positive and
| guiltier sex, il is generally animal in
diligence and violent outbreaks of pas
sion, rooted in aute-natal perversions,
often intensified by rich diet, tobabcco
liquors and other stimulants. Relative
to the other sex, in majority of cases
the primal causes are ante-natal ten
denotes, psychological siIsceptibilities
and stern life necessities. Not choice
but poverty, love of costly dress, tenn
tations to Incidence, harsh treatment ol
parents, sensual crossness of husbands
and the wiles and false promises of Sc.
ducers-these are the more immediate
and prominent causes.
Full one-third Of the women wander.
ing in towns and cities, under the gas.
light, are driven into the streets anf
dens of pollution from pressure of pov.
erty and extreme want. Think OF if
Woman, with the original seal of limo.
cence and sweetness upon her counte
nance, compelled to choose betweer
starvation and prostitution
Society-anothern name forgilded shan
and even women in the higher walk,
OF life, of whom We are heartiI,
ashamed, will, while smiling upon
waltzing and flirting with the iibertin,
full fed and gay, turn sneeringly away q,
mercilessly trample upon the staryec
victim of his lust. To the fallen sistei
their language virtually is: "Iam holiel
than thouu' Heaven save us from ,
pharisaic self-righteousness! None i
good absolutely good)," said Jesus
"but one, that is God. A boasting, sat
isfied, selfish, dO-nothing purity will fine