The Norfolk Virginian. [volume] (Norfolk, Va.) 186?-189?, 1895-05-26

ele enough consideration; in White
chapel she gots none. She drinks quite
as freely Us docs tho man, and attends
tho public house as often and as regu-
larly. 1t is by no means uncommon
to find women predominnting In tie
barroou crowds down there, and the
Woodworking matron is quite as nu-
VIGOROUSLY in evidence Us is the woman
of the streets Indeed. they rub shout
dcrs constantly, and this rubbing has
SO FAR worn away tho moral class dis
tinctioa that tho mother of daughters
who drops into the pub" for O social
glass of bitter beer, taking her whole
brood with her, in no way resents tho
presence of the frail sisterhood, nor
objects to her daughters observations
of the miserable spectacle
The result Of all this was strapg ely
illustrated the other day. On HiCh
street, oldgatc, in the Whitechapei dis
trict, is n cigar factory, fanked by
public house. l happened to be near
whom the days work Was ended, and
the fourteen girls employed in making
cigars passed out Every one, without
exception, turned into the public house.
It was as much part of these hard
working girls lives to spend portion
OF the day in this low saloon as it WIGS
for them TO spend 4 part of it on the
benches. y statement which nv com
penion made, wlrcn l remarked the af-
fair with surprise, seemed to me to be
too dreadful to be true
"Of course they GO to the public
house he said, land of course they
drink as much there as they can pay for.
The vile influences of such Il place is
only ono of the vile influences which
surround them from the day of their
birth to that Of their death. 1t is prob
ably the worst Of them all, and very
likely does more than anything else to
make virtue almost unknown among
the young women of the London slums. :"
You do not mean to say that even
the working girls down here are habit
ually depravedp" l exclaimed
Quite SO. may be wrong, but
will venture to state that there is not
one in that group of fourtcen-and you
just saw them como from their work
who would not sell herself without
hesitation for half sovereign. These
people have no home life as your poor
know it i'll America. This is the region
of the horrible one-room crowding
They cannot possibly know what mod
csty means, and the only thing that
keeps them from the streets as trade
is the fact that there are so many there
already that they could not make liv-
ing at it, | do not mean to say that
there are no pure women down hero
sometimes the whitcst blossoms will
spring from the most horrid of corrup-
Jlon-but l do mean that virtue is
actually the exception. not the rule"
This man knows WhiteGhapel and its
residents thoroughly. He has worked
among them very earnestly for many
years, and he is not likely to be wrong.
1t Is pleasant to think that in no city in
America could similar statement DO
truthfully made of the working girlsin
any neighborhood. So. nc matter how
far London may be in advance of New
York and other centers of American
population in the matter of suppression
of crimes of violence and like offenscs.
she is dreadfuuy behind in her sexual
morality. The two characteristics
which l have mentioned-the freedom
of the public houses and the absolute
absence OF any organized effort to lie.
gally suppress vice-may be blamed for
it, l think.
There is no street in Whi4cchapcl
through which IL stranger who knows
how to mind his own business mn v not
pass by night or day, with reass,nn ole
safety, because of the ovcrpoySerinp
constabula=y, which is now everywhere
III evidence. But there is SCARCELY a
street in Whitcchapel from Whose
crowds an old detective cannot single
out many persons whose criminal rec
ords are known to the police; and nv
guide, whose forte has been the recrw
cry of stolen goods, pointed out to NO
more than dozen places which he deg
| ignated as the resorts of habitnaI
thieves. We went into ore of thcso
receivers shops"-they would bo
called fences" in America. 1t was
nearly midnight. and there were half "a
dozen mon and boys, besides one WON
an in the place, In addition to the man
who kept IT, The detective was we'll
known there, and his arrival created a
great commotion, the proprietor run
ming forward, rubbing his hands, to
explain that he had done nothing
wrong.
no, no" said the detective assuring
ly. II know you nint. Whatever
made YOU think ! Thought You hada I