REFORMATION OF FALLEN WOMEN.

Observer, Volume v, Issue 115, 25 November 1882, Page 162

REFORMATION OF FALLEN WOMEN.

The ladies of the city (or at least a sectio: them), after an unseemly and indiscreet agital about the CD. Act, which appearaj-te have en in a flash in the pan after,; all, not^^^istauJ all the grave words used^at public meetihgs ab: " moral purity," " dignitjy of the sex," "franip! upon degraded women,'! &c, — have allojved v virtue to go to sleep quietly once morjpretireii their respective family %»rcles, tjj^nking G that they are not as othe^g^^^even astl Magdalens. Things go on as before, the So: Evil as flourishing, and the guilty sisterhooi every place of public resort flaunt the wags sin in costly silks and satins and. jewellery, brazenly as ever, before the eyes of the wives* daughters of our citizens.

What remedy have tlie fair agitators at 1 V.M .C. Association's Eooms for this ? B save letting things slide. A grand opportur was before them if they had had the percept: ness and tact to have availed themselves of it when the public conscience was aroused tc aense of " The dread city burden of shame and despair, That palsieth pity, that silenceth prayer," — to enlist public sympathy ig^the establish^ of a Home for the Reseu</ of. Fallen Woib By doing so they would have Sfeown sornetk like practical sympathy for\he wlbtehed won whose cause they affected to *y.eaa!&and it mil have been said of them, as OE&nerof old, "8 hath done what she could." WertesJist that 8 a movement will yet be taken up by those q» thoughtful ladies who, if they do not find tl account in notoriety, are yet willing to do woffl* woi'k among a class of women who were tf pure as themselves — " Ere their woman's henrt \ras a tempter's to?) Ere their dainty body was sold in am."

The work of reforming such a class is soa what different to that in the Old Country. I this land no girl or woman nc*cl be driven to I streets through lack of bread, though man)! them are driven there bj the impu'Jse.? o£ feuf vanity and love of dress, beuvAf;*^ by the I example in that respect, in many peases, of | tuoua matrons and maidens. Thc4bqer-3od^ tatterdemalionr^amdana, who ar^§tti-u<? bji fires of their burM-out passions, ail £{• ~ ''^S^ pleasure i^ vice Si in causing the JL its fatal deSi^vities/may be given n'pV %$m hopeless. Gl-dS-'s^image has been ai:' *l^P out of their scared and seamed "vi3%j*ojfic[B last hope of refqrin, the shadow of ? |jj|j obliterated ; but something may yet &■ *¥$£

Lteung vroinen whd, though they h.£V4 fallen ilnfhe paths' of virtue, are not yet hopelessly i jfsMidl-if right steps vrere^aken might yet be S jived to society and to /riends. This work E only be accomplished By womenj but how | aiv willing to undertafe the tasK It is so A easier to gather up Meu^jMrxs and do |j duty to society by " passing by on the other H fou wrong yourselves — the woinan is so hard . Upon the woman."

One lady, some years ago, did attempt such t \ and if her discretion had been equal to her ■entioiis, much good might hare been done. jut is needed is tact, sympathy, and prudence. [he part of the workers, without which * every wji in this direction will prove abortive and |[ ess . A knowledge of the trials and temptans which beset their fallen sistera'is also neces- - to dealing with such c|ses successfully. jut these trials and teniptajaons are;- the City jjsionary and the police know| full wejl. Some {he fallen, who in one way gjr othWhave come j e r the ban of the la\v, haveiiad J#sure in the ,] a3 ion of Mount Eden G-aol l&^nect on their 4 career, and are sincerely desirous of leading new life. But almost in the very shadow of 5 gloomy prison porl als, those awaiting them [heir release, are not the apostles of Reform, ; j tlieir old yokefellows in vice, ready to drag jm down again to the paths of infamy, and to Iten afresh on their shame. Without a helping ad a word of advice, or a shelter to cover their sdsbufc the" house of her " whose steps lead to 3 th" is it strange that cases of relapse are .qaent, and of reform so rare ?

fhey are coldly told to go to service, servants s scarce. But when they do escape the toils ij afresh, for their wayward feet, and enter into aestic service, some "well meaning"- lady is is to rush off to the girl's mistre33 and maunder '(he erring one's antecedents, and lose her her sad, leaving the unfortunate girl no other art than to go back to the old life- with its iae and sorrow. There at least she finds ;lcome, such as it is. To show the pitch to iich this sort of thing is carried,' a servant girl it her place the other day/not that she had conducted herself, but fenat her mother had me so. What was ti£e result? Another session to the ranks ofjthe fallki ones. That stress was not bad-hearted, or crtfel, but a good ife and a good motherS. The^ct wa? done in rference to the exactions &f^a-sshventional social k; had that matron. instead felt that through ;e shortcomings of her mother, it was doubly eumbent on her to be a second mother to that mng girl, and to keep her under watchful ardianship she would have better fulfilled her ity. ■ But this is only one illustration out of a lousand, that " Evil is done by want of thought As well as want of heart."

i" suggestion has been thrown out that the formation of fallen women might be more aessfully accomplished if the societies formed each centre of population would, where practice, exchange with each other young women arous of reforming and of making " a new iparture." One great barrier to their doing so the community where they have fallen, is old aciations, old ties, old companionships, and the ti that the chance of obtaining honest ernployeafc is diminished through\heir antecedents ring known. In auother pro vind|,auiong strangers ft yet still under the guardianship of such a cietj 1 , they would have a fresh Jliance of running •race of life and of earning In honest living. Is proposal or suggestion"' is, aff least, worthy of »eful consideration if our prijjbipal streets are >be cleared of the young %irl§4ind young women at present after nightfall practically take Session ■of them. Many of our female tetics may think their own life of toiling and filing for overbearing masters and inconsiderate stresses a hard one, but it is happiness itself Spared to the life of her whose hollow and Red laughter awakens the echoes of the silent Rets at midnight, for A cold and crackling mirth , Is a part, poor fool, of her stock-in-trade ; Her pitiful bargains have never been made For a gloomy guilt, for a tearful sin. 0 loud lost laughter, thy devilish din - Is the awfullest music on earth !

THE NEW LullD MAYOR OF LONDON. give a portrait of the new j'{r l> or °- London, who is a brother-in-law ;."f I'-usLiT, oi' this city. Henry Edmund ifti J^ungest son of the late J. W. Knight, of v and St. Albans, was born 25th March, M. educated at the City of London School, he was very successful as a prize taker. mmenced his business career with Messrs le and Co., Manchester, warehousemen and leveers, and afterwards started by himself i:; Lore Lave, Cheapside, where he erected usinesa premises. In 1867 he was elected on councilman for Cripplegate within, and. ortly afterwards -appointed one of the

Commissioners of Sewers ; elected Alderman on September 1, 1874, and Sheriff in 1875. In 1854---married IDlizabeth, only daughter of J. Manning, of Clapham, since, dead, by whom he has a large family. His private residence is at Hampton^ near Hampton Court. ;

W. W. ROBINSON.

Mr W. W. Robinson, an engraving of whom, in cricket costume, is given herewith, is the gentleman who has been unanimously elected captain of our cricket team which is now doing battle for Auckland against the Southern provincial districts. He is eminently fitted for the position, being himself one of the beat all round players in New Zealand, a fine bat, a good bowler, active field, and possessing a perfect acquaintance with the game. Combined with all these qualifications a great amount of judgment in the working of his team, and a quiet gentlemanly manner, which never makes him an enemy, and yet possesses the necessary firmness, the iron hand under the velvet glove, that is an inseparable component of a good captain. Mr Robinson, who is universally known and liked under his soubriquet of " Captain Billy " is a native of Wellingborough, Kent, and learned his cricket rudiments at Epsom College. He is quite an old Colonist, however, having come out here about the time the Thames (xoldfield was rosy. In 1880 he paid a visit to the Old Country and^ played for ' Wellingborough Club doing fair execution with the ball against ex 'Varsity and County eleven men, knocking up such good scores as 48, 39, and 36 against their bowling, and topping the score for the season in his own and other clubs he played for, his average for the former being over 20. Mr Robinson has so far this season shown excellent form and we fully expect that both he and his merrie men will do themselves and Auckland credit on this venture. Mr Robinson was also captain of the vicrorious cricket team which travelled South in 1873.

A FIGHT FOB A LOVER— THE RIVAL AMAZONS. They. were both young and passing fail' and had good prospects, being well shaped, youflif ul, active, well looking (ijar a bad point here and dress which went for nothing in the tout ensemble), and each held a fairly lucrative billet : the one as chief engineer of a sewing machine and the other nsfemme de chambre in an hotel. So one would reasonably have thought that beings so gifted and so blessed by fortune would have been supremely happy and above the petty cares and heartburnings of this troublous world. But, alas, it was not so. They both loved, and loved with all the fierce ardour of their romantic natures, one and the same " feller," and he, why he wasn't particular, but was equally happy in the society of both or either. It was a case of " How happy could I he with either Were t'other dear charmer away."

In fact the too easy nature of this solitary " him " has for sometime been the cause of serious heartburnings and muttering of gathering storms between the two damsels, which on Sunday last drew to a terrible denoument. It would appear that on this particular evening this " last beau of the Tillage " had (faithless wretch) promised to take the red haired one with the tooth out in front for a stroll and then to church at St. Patrick's, and he had also arranged with the other smart built charmer with the snappy black eyes and pigeon toes to wander to the Albert Park and there hold sweet communion of the soul beneath the soft mild light of the young moon. As the gallant could not be übiquitous and was far from religious, he looked upon the last as the best thing, and passed over the short toothed one with the greatest sang froicl. The damsel with the gap in front, waited and watched in Tain She said the night is dreary, He coineth not, she said. She said, I am a weary, But I won't go off to bed ! *

And she didn't ; but just sat on to fox her card till she saw him take an affectionate leave of her rival. Then a sudden determination filled her soul with unquenchable valour and thirst for revenge. She confronted her rival with quivering lips and flashing eyes. Her fiery locks flashed in the fitful glare of the lamp in front of the A Hotel and she hissed through the hole in her teeth some desperate words which once uttered could, never be recalled. Her opponent straightway fled, but the injured fair one giving a " view halloo" gave eager chase, and in a twinkling both clutched and were rolling in the gutter clawing, biting, kicking, and cursing like two torn cats. A valiant publican separated the combatants and attempted . to soothe their troubled souls. The one wiiih the absont dental was not to be appeased, Lmfc yelling out, " I've not got fairplay wid my glove's on me tin. commandmints," bolted into the

hotel, and began to divest herself of her hat and mantle with a view to finish off her opponent. In her absence, however, the other girl put out for home, and now what troubles the publican who had the temerity to interfere is, "which of the three it will be safest to meet first : the "feller," who is sure to be looking for the man who dared to lay hands on his girl or girls ; the one that got away, who owes him a grudge for not allowing her the use of that precious five minutes when the other had her gloves on ; or the cocky little 'un who is looking out for him for letting the other one off while she was preparing and unmasking her batteries. Moreover we should not be surprised if his wife was to be asking an explanation as to what he wanted to be mixed up in girl's quarrels at all for. Altogether we think that man is in a tight place.