238 PLAIN FACTS FOR OLD AND YOUNG 



THE SOCIAL EVIL 



Illicit intercourse has been a common vice of hu- 

 manity from the earliest period of history. At the 

 present moment, it is a loathsome ulcer, eating at the 

 heart of civilization ; a malignant leprosy, which shows 

 its hideoiis deformities amidst the fairest results of 

 modern culture. Our large cities abound with dens 

 of vice whose habitues shamelessly promenade the most 

 public streets, and flaunt their infamy in the face of 

 every passer-by. In many large cities, especially in 

 those of Continental Europe, these holds of vice are 

 placed under the supervision of the law by the require- 

 ment that every keeper of a house of prostitution must 

 pay a license; in other words, must buy the right to 

 lead his f ellowmen ' ' down to the lowest depths of hell. ' ' 



In small cities, as well as in large ones, in fact, from 

 the great metropolis down to the country village, the 

 haunts of vice are found. Every army is flanked by 

 bands of courtesans. Wherever men go, loose women 

 follow, penetrating even to the wildness of the miner's 

 camp, far beyond the verge of civilization. 



But brothels and traveling strumpets do not fully 

 represent the vast extent of this monster evil. There 

 is a class of immoral women— probably exceeding in 

 numbers the grosser class just referred to— who con- 

 sider themselves respectable, indeed, who are so con- 

 sidered by the public. Few are acquainted with their 

 character. They live in elegant style and mingle in 

 genteel society. Privately, they prosecute the most 

 unbounded licentiousness, for the purpose of gain, or 

 merely to gratify their lewdness. "Kept mistresses" 

 are much more numerous than common prostitutes. 



