BLACK-EYED SUSAN.

NZ Truth, Issue 68, 6 October 1906, Page 6

BLACK-EYED SUSAN.

Naughty Girl's Sudden Repentance. There was a quaint happening at the Christchurch Police Station one day last week. It was just after dinner, and the officials m thc complaint department were feeling good and at peace with the world and its occupants. Stepped there m a dainty maiden with a full-blown grievance laden and she was told to wadein and tell her story to the coppereven though it were improper. It was improper. Tears welled to the eyes of the damsel who averred that she. was "m trouble" from a maternal viewpoint"; she wasn't spliced nor had she any promise m that direction from the man who had ruined her and deprived her of woman's most precious asset. The police professed sympathy, but it was only assumed ; cases of this' sort arc so common with them that they expect to 'hear 6f a few every week, and if they don't begin to think that feminine morality is looking up, and that girls are guarding- their virtue with commendable zeal. However, the girl m this case was interrogated as to the length of time since her "fall," and the name of the gay deceiver. Also, she was asked if the man was living m, Christchurch, and if she thought he contemplated doing a get. The reply was that he was clearing out from Maoriland and she wanted him stopped. She had seen it m the papers (oh, those educative papers !) that . THE PUTATIVE FATHER OF A CHILD could be brought to book and compelled to find security for provision for . his unborn infant, if it was thought he was going to smoke from the district. She , spoke jauntily, and let the police see that she knew all about the legal aspect of the Question. . One uniform present observed ■witn ••■'a faded smirk that she had put the case perfectly. Then he asked her once again how long ago was it since advantage had been taken of her innocence, who was the man, and what did he do for a living. She replied that he was a Jack Tar on King Ned's gunboat then at the Port, and that . he had put her m the family way on the previous Monday evening (this was Wednesday), and he would be the father of her child. On hearing this the police fairly rent the roof with uproarious laughter, which flew out .the doorway and knocked passers-by into an attitude of complete surprise. The girl was flabbergasted, as also was her mother who accompanied her ; latter seemed something of a simpleton, and she must.be to take her daughter to the police barracks on such a silly mission as that. She was quickly told that she ought to have more sense, being the mother of a family herself. In this she eventually meekly acquiesced. On the girl being asked why she thought she was enciente after a lapse of only two days she, replied that she guessed it. Well, asa guesser she isn't much chop, nohow. Such VOLCANIC SUDDENNESS m the way of becoming m an interesting condition, and the girl possessing a. cocksure knowledge of it, would upset the equilibrium of a statue. Jack Tar— whose name wasn't known for certain— had picked up the "tart," as Jack Tars only know how to pick 'em up, had taken her for a stroll, and intercourse hap r pened as __ climax to the evening's delightful ramble, the girl being a. consenting party. Repentance came on Wednesday morning when she told of her sad indiscretion to ma, who wanted the man-o'-war marooned, or something, until, she had received some sort of satisfaction, the nature of which she wasn't too clear about. In every city where these men-o"---warsmen put m a holiday they are to "be seen day and night with girls whom ! they have never seen before— flighty hits '/of muslin who like to strut alongside a uniform and who steal out from home at night, sincerely hoping and praying to be tu-in-tea, A tthlfdrinyhas afl uhdehittblg ftts-/ iftftlffih JBr /this eiassLbHeittfile, and

are of a negative character, doesn't care a uuid o' 'bacca what mischief he causes, so long as he can satisfy his crude, animal desires,, and why should he when, as Shakespeare says, "if, they come to it." Street walking pirls who throw themselves m the way of these boys -of the bulldog breed are reckoned legitimate prey by the "tarry ropes," whose concupiscent antics generally leaVe a trail ' of woe and birth-rate . behind them. The ordinary round-the-world sailor is supposed to have a temporary wife at' every port, but the crafty cove m uniform often goes more than one better than that and brags about it. And it is the street walking, man tempting girl, dressed m all her tawdry Sunday finery who gains the undesirable experience.