MISERABLE MOTHERS.

NZ Truth, Issue 70, 20 October 1906, Page 8

MISERABLE MOTHERS.

Bawdy House-keeper's Mixed Brood. There are probably more young children rescued from the contaminating influence of immoral surroundings by ;the police m Christchurch than m any other part of the colony. The unfortunate diminutives come up regularly m batches to be dealt with by the magistrate presiding over the Juvenile Court, and thoy are always consigned •to the Receiving Home, which, by the way, must be getting pretty fulf by this time. The number of women who follow the street strolling profession, and who have families, m the city is really surprising, and this is attributable to various causes, chief of which is that they are lacking m moral' fibre at the outset, and when they can't get remunerative work, and have to graft like the devil for plutocratic piiichbeclcs when they do obtain it, the streets appeal to them as th§ mare enticing, and down the declivity to Avernus they glide. There was xather a scandalous case at Christchurch last week when three young girls were brought before court because they, were living m a house tenanted by undesirable persons. They were bright enough youngsters, and their ' shameless mother ("oh, what it is to have a loving mother!") 1 appeared, and intimated that she. was 'willing that they should be sent to a Government institution. They would have gone whether she liked it or not, as she was running a disreputable '"drum," to which all .sorts of shady characters resorted. What beautiful sijrhts those unfortunate girls must have seen ! Further, it may be mentioned that each of them had a different father ; three fathers for three children, and all three girls and bastards ! 'It is a pitiable state of affairs, of course, but there was a similar case not. long agf) when a woman with fciur of 'em admitted that all possessed different duds Parsons may hold up their lilywhite hands m pious horror at these avowals, and aver that they would scarcely believe that such a (deplorable condition of things existi'di and all that sort of flam, but the police court records don't lie, and the police officers could put. them on to ally "number o! these beastly bawdy 1 lioiises. which aye badly conducted, and where m others sell their daughter}: -nt a di.sjrustinsly early age. •There h no humbug about this ; it is ilir> rjosr.-el truth. But the unspeak-nb]p''*MKspel-mon!£ers. who are supnosed to make an'attempt, to .reclaim ihe.se female after-darkers, wouldn't dream oi culling; at tueh loathsome

places of unbridled licentiousness ; nor would they care to walk through the unrespectable thoroughfares m which they are located. The "block," and the highly respectable and toney streets are the only ones affected by the . coves m • black at any time. When they preach against immorality' between the sexes, from the pulpit, on the Sawba^h, no doubt they hit a number of well-dressed adulterers and adulteresses hard, but the frowsy frumps of the sidewalk are no concern ■ of theirs ; they can remain m the outer darkness and be damned to them. The pratings of these alleged pious pulpiteers are sickening to people who are behind the scenes, and who are thoroughly acquainted with all the ramifications of the seamy •side of life ; parsons confine their exhortations to those ■ who are likely to part up when the plate is placed underneath their smeller, and utterly neglect the sinner lowest down m the social scale, who never mentions the name of God unless it is by way of an oath. The parson who would make a special mission of attacking the slums would soon make a name for himself m Christchurch or any other place ; the blasphemous, brazen brayings of hook-nosed Booth's brigade m those localities arc at present viewed with derision and scorn ; they are jeered at by the rising generation, m whom they do not inspire the slightest reverential awe for religion : they are cursed by their elders for the damnable row they create, and their efforts m the way of uplifting humanity and reclaiming sinners are of a negative character. All they really want where the "submerged tenth" is concerned is what they can squeeze out pE them m cash or labor m their precious sweating dens, miscalled "rescue homes."