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imbedded is it that no normal girl gives it up without a great, desperate,
struggle, If it were not so we could at once despair of the future of. the
race.' A great'progeny could not be produced from a loose5' womankind.
, Among normal girls and I would say there is no more ,than one ab
normal girl to every -hundred rightly-instincted girlsr-there. are only two
reasons for partlngjwith their innocence. . .
One of these is ignorance-the ignorance of childhood andv'lack..of
parental care rand the other is ec&orimic pressure.
. And economic pressure means low wages!
Youth the girls who. work, for slender pittances in the, great stores
and shops does not, label it "economic pressure." T
The-young girl craves joy thejoy tharlghtly.belongs to the young.
She grpwB very tired, of her sordid existence, whether it. is. spent in a little
hall bedrppm or ip anovercrowded tenement 1 Her scanty meals, the same
old clothes and'JaclCQf -recreation month in and month outTdrive her to -desperation.
' .
And, as Bhe stands behin(J the counter thinking of. these things and
longing for .something brighter, while great streams of brilliantly gowned
women flow past'she firics herself wishing that she, too, could livfc. such a
beautiful Ufe as these wpmeu these iwpmen. who get these things because
somebody else LQypS tjiem. .
At first she puts he thought away from -her because she-feels it can
never be fulled, but latter a while the throught "grows 4he longing for
the bright tilings and" the longing, too, for love.-, '
The environment grows more and- more monotonous, the meals more
and more tasteless, the'pld clothes shinier and'-shinier: '
And then the man cpmes. v '
Mo'ney can buy brightness. Youth has a right' ito- the brightness it"
earns, ray our girls what they worjc for and fewer of them wul fau-for
the, priceof the gaiety they seeall aroundVthemv
Twelve dollar? a';week is little enough to buy for. the girl who works
-the brightness that theSvord qy9s her for legitimate toil!
o-i-o- ' I
.promptly had the girl arrested, and
taken before Judge Scully.
The girl told her story-to the court,
and then the virtuous representative
of the store arose to say a few words.
"You understand we do not-wish
to persecute. anyone, your honor," he.
said. "You Understand that,. But
there is no question, but thai the girl
stole the money" here" the speaker's"
expression became horrified "and
something out to be done about it,
your honor."
"Something is," said Judge Scully.
"Tfte girj is -put on probation'., Call
the next case."
The next case also happened to be
connected with "commercial iristitu
tjonsnnd low wagps.
It was that of Charles B. Wesley,
what low wages did for two
yoOnggipls '
An 18-year-rold girl, 4t) Princeton
avenue, worked.ip the S-S.Kresge's
5 and 10.scent store at Madison and
State streets, and was paid only $5
. ' On this salary she tried to support
) her mother and four yojupger sisters
and brothers'. And'she dfd it,, too, for
sopje Ume, although God alope
knows" how.
But she fpund it pj-ettyhard sledr
dihg, and last week she found it ab
solutely Impossible. And her. mother
and brothers and sisters were hun-.
So she stole $6-83 from theystpre,
The store, found out about it, and
