FEMALE REFORMATION.

Lyttelton Times, Volume XXI, Issue 1229, 30 April 1864, Page 5

FEMALE REFORMATION.

A pamphlet* has lately been published among us, addressed to the " Women of Canterbury," on that subject, which has been fully discussed by the press in London and other towns in Great Britain, and which, for want of a polite name, is termed the social evil. The appearance of this pamphlet reminds that we are beginning to pay the usual penalty of the concentration of population in large and busy towns, and is calculated to alarm us into action. The subject is a delicate and difficult one, and yet it cannot be right to shirk the consideration of it, or to refrain from attempting to redress so much of its evils as may be within our power. If we applied to other evil practices the principle of non-interference which is commonly applied to this, the condition of society would become unendurable. It is manifestly unwise, therefore, to abandon this great evil to its free course.

It appears that the projector of this scheme refrains from urging any enthusiastic scheme for abolishing the evil, and proposes simply to provide a home for those fallen creatures who may be' desirous of reforming, and at the same time to train them to those habits of industry which would enable them to gain an honest livelihood. The results that have been attained in England by means of reformatory agencies are very encouraging to us in any attempt we may be able to enter upon here. In order to convince our readers of this, we cannot do better than quote extracts from Mayliew's well-known book, " London Labor and the London Poor." The author says—" The oldest reformatory institution in the metropolis for the reception of fallen women is the ' Magdalen Hospital,' founded in 1758. During the last 100 years of its existence, nearly 9,000 women have been admitted, about twothirds of whom have been restored to friends or relations. At the time when this charity was first instituted, the notion of providing a house for the reception and maintenance of ' Penitent Prostitutes' seems not to have suggested itself to the public mind.

"Even good and actively benevolent men were startled at the novelty of the proposition, while they doubted the wisdom, and still more, the success, of such an attempt. The newspapers of that period contained both arguments against, and ridicule of. the plan and its promoters. God, however, blessed the undertaking, and raised up friends and supporters in every direction. # * * #

" So that eighteen years after its incorporation its friends were able to use the following cheerful language:— ' '

"We see many fellow-creatures, by means of this happy asylum, rescued from sorrow in which they had been involved by ail the iniquitous stratagems of seduction; in which condition they had been detained by a species of horrid necessity; from which they had no probable or possible retreat; and in which they must, therefore, according to all human appearance, have perished. We see them restored to their God, to their parents, to their friends, their country, and themselves. What charitable heart, what truly Christian hand can withhold its best endeavours to promote an undertaking so laudable, so beneficent ? Who would not desire to add to the number of souls preserved from the deepest guilt—of bodies rescued from shame, misery, and death ? Who would not wish to wipe the tears from a parent's eyes—to save the hoary head from being brought down with sorrow to the grave ?

" It not unfrequently happens, however, that the benevolent promoters of such schemes are perplexed and disheartened by those who use a tone of expediency, and argue thus. 'Yes, it is all very true, and we can sympathise with your efforts, and pity'the poor unhappy objects of your solicitude ; but then this is a necessary evil, and any attempts to remove it are altogether mistaken, and are sure to end in failure, or to produce greater mischief. Besides the demand will always create the supply; and for every fallen woman you snatch from the streets, an innocent and hitherto virtuous girl must be sacrificed. No, we are sorry for them, but better let them perish thai) save them at the sacrifice of other victims.

" First, then, this is ' a necyssary evil.' Falsehood is sufficiently patent upon the face of this foolish and monstrous assertion. Could the Creator have pronounced his work 4 very good,' with such an inseparable appendage to social life. * * *

" We are not, however, afraid to meet such arguments on philosophical grounds; and we affirm confidently that the rescue of every fallen woman is a social boon. * * * * * * *

" Who can tell the pestiferous influence exercised on society by one single fallen woman? Who can calculate the evils of such a system? Woman, waylaid, tempted, deceived, becomes in turn the terrible avenger of her sex. Armed with a power which is all but irresistible, and striptof that which can alone restrain and purify her influence, she steps upon the arena of life qualified to act her part in the re-organization of society. The lex talionis—the law of retaliation — is hers. Society has made her what she is, and she must now be governed by her potent influence. The weight of this influence is untold. View it in the dissolution of domestic ties, in the sacrifice of family peace, in the cold desolation of promising homes: but above all, in the growth of practical atheism, and in the downward tendency of all that is pure and holy in life 1 One and another who has been educated in an atmosphere redolent of virtue and principle, and lias given promise of high and noble qualities, falls a victim to the prevalence of meretricious allurements and carries back to his hitherto untainted home the noxious influence he has imbibed. Another and another, within the range of that influence, is made to suffer for his sacrifice of moral rectitude; anil they, in turn, become the agents and originators of fresh evils. Who, in contemplating this pedigree of profligacy resulting from a solitary temptation, will venture to affirm that the temporary withdrawal of a single prostitute is not a social blessing? Surely for such immediate results, we are justified in dispensing witli such considerations of future expediency, and, acting upon the first principles of Christian ethics, may help to reform the vicious and profligate, leaving it in the hands of a merciful God to avert the contingency of ruin overtaking the as yet unfallen woman."

The fact of reformative agencies having, been established in England, and their successful operation, seems to justify the writer of the pamphlet in advocating the establishment of a refuge here. And he has very clearly shown that it is the interest as well as the duty of the Government to promote this object, as, at present, necessitous cases must be sent to the hospital or gaol to be supported at the expense of thecountry, and with themanifestinjusticeto the innocent inmates of those institutions. We trust the Government may see their duty in this light. But the public contribution should not extend beyond assisting to erect the building, as it may fairly be expected that the institution will be supported by the work of the inmates, and the voluntary contributions of private individuals. The author has made out an excellent prima facie case. He gives good reason for his assertion that the important object which he urges the public to *An Appeal to the Women qf Canterbury, by the Bev. H. Torlesse, Ward and Beeves,

strive after will not be difficult in the ordinary sense of the word, or a burden to any great extent upon either public or private means. As compared with other benevolent undertakings* and so far as it travels tiVer the same ground, it is simple in plan aiid easy of execution. But it involves preliminary work of a most delicate—we might almost say repulsive nature. The magnitude of the evil alone is the inducement to enter upon the task. Nothing else could tempt into such an arena, where vice must be met face to face, the good pure woman, by whom nevertheless the work must be done if it be done at all. The author of the pamphlet before us calls therefore with reason to the women of Canterbury, reminds theui of their responsibility, and stimulates them to the holy enterprise. We have confidence that he does not appeal in vain to woman's love and pity and to the charity which rejoiceth not in iniquity, yet thinketh no evil,