The day book. [volume], December 02, 1915, LAST EDITION, Image 28

About The day book. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1911-1917

Image provided by: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Library, Urbana, IL

                
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CAN GIRLS OF THE UNDERWORLD COME BACK?
SOCIETY ANSWERS IT WITH A "NO"
"The causes of girls going wrong
are varied. There is the moral imbe
cile, the girl who has no moral sense.
She is usually the kept woman and
seldom reaches this court. She will
justify her conduct by saying that
the man loves her best, even though
she takes him from his wife and chil
dren. She will see no reason why
she cannot do as she pleases with
out it being of any interest to the
world at large. She is the woman who
perhaps would not go wrong if she
had sufficient money to adorn her
self as she desires to be adorned or
did not happen to covet a man she
is unable to marry.
"There is the girl who through
force of circumstances drifted or
made her first mistake. Many girls
come to the city and live in hall
rooms, earning only enough to keep
body and soul together. They are
possessed of natural social instincts.
They meet some man and there is no
place to entertain him. They hold
tryst in the park or in other places
just as undesirable for the unpro-w
tected girl. They drift into a situa-.
tion that would never confront them;
if there were municiparplaces notv
run as charity, but as a duty toward ,
these girls and men where they,
could meet and talk and the girl
could have the protection of a homer
surrounding. ,
"There are the feeble-minded girls
who reach this court in the largest
number, the girls with developed r
bodies and under-developed brains, f
"There are girls who go wrong
through the loss of a mother early in
life, or through lack of any religiousY
training or ideals, or through bad.,
company. It is a fact that a bad girl
can have a more pernicious influ
ence on a girl than a bad man can. o
"But there are none of these girls, .
no matter how dissolute or aband
oned, who are beyond reclamation if
.sretety. yjguld. but make Jh ettpit
Does society refuse to give the
fallen woman a chance to rehabili
tate herself? Is it the attitude of
society that once a woman has left
the straight and narrow path she
must forevermore walk with those
unclean?
Dr. Anna Dwyer, physician to the
morals court, declares society does
refuse. She says that over the path
that leads to the underworld is a sign
placed there by society: "Abandon
hope all ye who enter here, for you
will never be permitted to travel back
over this road into the world you left
behind you."
"Every day the girls who enter the
Magdalene path find that they must
remain in that path, for society will
not welcome them back," Dr. Dwyer
told a Day Book reporter. "There is
a hopelessness about it Our expe
rience in the court has shown that
at least half of these girls are willing
to leave the life. They have the ear
nest intent to rehabilitate them
selves. They would be glad to have
some one help them back into the life
they left, but society says it will not
take them back.
"That does not refer to the atti
tude of women more than that of
men. The double standard is upheld
as much by men as it is by women.
And until there is a single standard,
until society looks upon the offense
of the woman as it looks upon the
offense of the man, women who have
fallen will have no chance to do other
than stay where they are.
"It is not impossible to rehabilitate
the woman of the underworld. In
one case a Magdalene pf 17 years in
the life became a splendid woman.
They do not perhaps make good all
at once they are like children who
must be taught to walk again. They
may fall back the first time or the
second, but they will eventually walk
on the clean path if they aie given
fin, opportunity.