The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1895-01-21
4 WORD FOR TaE oyERTURFs.
They Cannot BE Ignored, and the Evil
Demands Treatment.

TO the Editor of the Indianapolis Journal:
In Winnie Smith there appears to be at
.least' a trace left of the human as opposed
TO the purely bestial. 1t is to be found in
his persistent clinging, in the midst OF his
misery and degradation, to the poor girl,
Overturf. This is not approval of such
relationship but simply expression of
qualification at sign of possible good re-
naming in Winnie Smith. OF his society
associates, the respectable friends to
whose toleration-if no worse-of his
vicious habits Ais destruction is, in large
part, chargeable, he will now have none
But this outcast creature. his companion
IN his orgies, who is also one of 'society's"
victims, to her he will still be true. 1t is
much to his credit; is about the only thing
have even heard to his credit. His contempt
for the mice" people who so complacently
coddle such as he while they mercilessly
condemn such as she, did not need to be
emphasized. may be, but this attitude of
his towards this girl emphasizes 1t, never
theless, and it might be well worth So
cietyS while to look a little carefully at
the problem here presented for it's consid-
Grafton and determine, far as possible,
the measure of it's responsibility for Winnie
Smiths career and all it stands for.
and all she stands for, rather than for
Winnie and his relationships. In SO far
aratefy, that is to say, Winnie is provided
for for the present. Can nothing be done
for the girl?
Any help fer her must come from women.
it would at first glance appear, and must
approach her on her human side, not on
her animal. In other words, she must be
approached as an admittedly merely venal
offender should be approached whom one
would lead to repentance, and not as one
upon whom the bestowal of a bare civility
were almost too great a favor.
And to say that this is pretty nearly to
close the case against the Overturfs SO far
goes. For while Christian woman's
sympathies reach as far as to the boule-
wards of Paris. and Greenland's icy noun
tains. and Africa's sunny fountains, they
cannot, to any good purpose. reach down
to degraded female thing in sum Of
own town. Or they do not. But, then,
she is SO busy with the things just enumer-
ated; with her Flower Mission and other
inently as an angel of light, and with
"emancipating' herself. The last is her,
at present, most onerous task, no doubt,
owing to the apathy, if not the active OPP
position, Of the men. But soon she will
have accomplished it in spite of the men;
and then can find time, may be, to consider
her fallen sister.
But meantime the case is desperate for
this most hopelessly desolate of all Gods
come to her. aid, the which, it is plain,
they show little disposition to do; the
Daasb is equally y plain or it is ar m
the woman will not attempt she will not
willingly have her brother attempt The
average; knowing woman profoundly dis
trusts the average man. 1t is her opinion
he will take anything he can get. She is
not disposed to blame him for that; her
blame is all for the bad woman, but all the
same she would keep a sharp eye on him
and, as far as possible, sequesters him
there is but too good grounds for her
view, while it may just as well be said
that her contention demonstrates that she
has been unfortunate in her masculine
The situation seems to be about like this:
The thoroughly good woman, who stands
much in awe of the average womans
tongue, busies herself with nice, easy, self
imposed, conscience-quelling, far-off tasks.
therefore unrebuked, lies fattening on the
body of her son that most horrible, most
which we. euphoniously name the social
evil" while the man, her brother, who
is also thoroughly good. dazed and dis
fronting him., hampered and confused by
social and business relations, rendered
prehension of his action by the thoughtless
and misrepresentation of his mo-
conscience to the thing, though he knows
ri de fdn , and that it's ramifica-
life. And all the while the Winnies and
the Overturfs go on perishing, usually in
obscurity, and, for the most part, amiably
Until one day this good woman's son, may
be, or this good mans son, having been
school of the brothel. brings up legitimately
as an actor in a brutal, savage, pig-sticK,
ing murder scene, the light breaks in on
it's horrible secrets known to ALL" and all
the, Pecksniffs profess amazement that
woman.
The root of this evil is in an instinct that
lies deep in human nature, is ineradicable,
and is not in itself an evil. But the abuse
Of the instinct is destruction, and is prac-
ticed to frfghtful extent, by no means
in the brothels only. A cure for the abuse
is not obvious, but certainly does not lie
in ignoring its existence until it issues in
crime that must be dealt with. Two
ably will not soon be, that would work in
the right direction. Nc one who will look
over the subject carefully can doubt that
these women are, in the first instance, ex-
cept in the fewest cases, more sinned
against than SHINING. To such there must
intensified by despair that cannot but
arouse frenzied desire to turn again to
right ways Let it be made possible, then
step, for one thing, and for the other, let
1t be brought about that more of re-
any case than attaches to the man in the
case. These would be, furthermore, two
long steps forward in the cause of the
emancipation of woman. Give the woman
at least an equal chance with the man
Everybody knows that practically, the
woman is now condemned without a hear
ing, while the man is acquitted without a
hearing The ladies should see to this,
and only they can see to it to any purpose
And the case is urgent, for these people
are perishing, and social fabric IS rot
ten with their putrescence; while the
heathen, whom we would save" they on
India's coral strand, for instance have
their tongues stuck in their cheeks at us
because of this reproach upon our so-called
civilization. O. w SEARS
Indianapolis, Jan. 49,
INSTR ANCEN NEWS AMI NOrrrc