Poverty and Vice in Paris.

Clutha Leader, Volume I, Issue 31, 11 February 1875, Page 2

Poverty and Vice in Paris.

q, , j.. ' Winter has^set in, andfthe pooreif classes ■ are begiunihg'*-' to- suffer, now that their small earnings are even mote depreciated by- the- extra'- expense ■-•, theyj are put to in providing* fire, lights, and warm' clothing against the tlark* evenings and cbld ; weather. -The 17 , greatest sufferers are; the, women, \yhose > position is most unenviable at the -best of tiriies, for their day's wages no longer suffice for their wants, ana many, of them have been forced in a Christian, lanii/iir the -*l-9th-*century, .-to-.-selL-jh.eir bodies .."to procure even the necessaries of life.. It has been remarked "tha-: durmgth£*lkst twenty: years: the number; of ■■•houses'bf ill-fame existing in Paris has gradually bu t steadily decreased,* siMJTsbme -pfeople felt inclined to assert that this fact was an overwhelming proof . f in- favour of public morality, * Suchjs not, however* the case. These houses" haye 1 ' been closed, it is true, but, on the;; other hand, any one walking along the Boule L yards' or ' great thoroughfares of the oity Gannot fail to see . that _.th&_s.o_cial evil isdn-th'e . increase, i [This state of things can excite no wonder when we consider^ the^-sdcial phsitiSrCof -women in Paris. We are, told that in_ the city alone" there are at least 120,000 women who are depehdent~on their needle 'j ani -whilst- a* pdrtiofi: of cthesevmay ear£ their four or_.fi.Ke~ francs a day, and others-fram yt}Ys -to [tbpee A?- 0 / 58 ** t-^P are about 70,000 unfortunate cr^ab|k;ep : who are only taken r on at busy times ak supernumeraries * and , «xtra- handstand are forced, when, trade is dull^ to fina* work to be done aThbm'e. The stern ci* sex-seems to- -'have -stepped-: in^^land-"de-prived thenft- of'; all ethos's employments' which they formerly- monopolised as a 5 kind .of: inheritance rqrrbirt-bright, and women . sae_trts__ tjO.,_h_aye ... been_ deniej} /access* to-*. any of .those occupations pf ja- * light character for which imtftrfc-seemisi to have fitped* her.:? Every thing apptfarjs to have been revolutionised. Men have adopted -'the ; prOTessi*oh^- which * afforded employment to women ; and, the disjcnh,ej*iteid ■has*-b'3enT forced to -ehoose— between-._po.verty_land.,yice,_apd Tusftifrtunat'Myy *^uman r is t tob prone to'enoose the* Yattef / ' ' l " __/ \ i