The History of Prostitution Part 42

GREENLAND.

The population of Greenland is partly composed of European colonists and partly of Esquimaux. They are a vain and indolent people, whose virtues consist in the negation of active vice. Their women occupy an inferior position. Marriage is essentially a contract for mutual convenience, dissolved when it ceases to be agreeable. It is considered etiquette for a girl, when any man demands her in marriage, to fly to the hills and hide herself, in order to be dragged home with a great show of violence by her suitor. If courted by a man she dislikes, she cuts off her hair, which is a sign of great horror, and usually rids her of her lover.

The Greenlanders consider themselves the only civilized people in the world, and consequently pride themselves on decorum. They do not allow marriages within three degrees of affinity, and consider it disreputable for persons who have been educated in the same house to marry, even if no relationship exists between them. Prost.i.tution prevails to a considerable extent, widows and divorced women almost invariably adopting it as a means of living. There are numerous habitations in the large communities which can only be considered as brothels, but the life of an abandoned woman is generally reprobated, and those following it incur the most undisguised odium of the people at large.

CHAPTER x.x.xII.

NEW YORK.--STATISTICS.

Schedule of Questions.--Age.--Juvenile Depravity.--Premature Old Age.--Gradual Descent.--Average Duration of a Prost.i.tute's Life.-- Nativity.--Proportion of Prost.i.tutes from various States.--New York.-- Effects of Immigration.--Foreigners.--Proportion to Population.-- Proportion to Emigration.--Dangers of Ports of Departure, Emigrant Ships, and Boarding-houses.--Length of Residence in the United States.--Prost.i.tution a Burden to Tax-payers.--Length of Residence in New York State.--Length of Residence in New York City.--Inducements to emigrate.--Labor and Remuneration in Europe.--a.s.sistance to emigrate; its Amount, and from whom.--Education.--Neglect of Facilities in New York.--Social Condition.--Single Women.--Widows.--Early and Injudicious Marriages.--Husbands.--Children.--Illegitimate Children.-- Mortality of Children.--Infanticide.--Influences to which Children are exposed.

It is to be hoped the reader has already perused the introduction to this volume, containing a description of the _modus operandi_ adopted to obtain the necessary information from the prost.i.tutes of New York City. The following schedule of questions was prepared for this purpose, and the ensuing pages present in tabular form the answers received thereto.

"How old will you be next birth-day?

"Were you born in America? and, if so, in what state?

"How long have you resided in New York City?

"If born abroad, in what country?

"How long have you resided in the United States?

"How long have you resided in the State of New York?

"What induced you to emigrate to the United States?

"Did you receive any a.s.sistance, and, if so, from whom, and to what amount, to enable you to emigrate to the United States?

"Can you read and write?

"Are you single, married, or widowed?

"If married, is your husband living with you, or what caused the separation?

"If widowed, how long has your husband been dead?

"Have you had any children?

"How many? -- Boys -- Girls

"Were these children born in wedlock?

"Are they living or dead?

"If living, are they with you now, or where are they?

"For what length of time have you been a prost.i.tute?

"Have you had any disease incident to prost.i.tution? If so, what?

"What was the cause of your becoming a prost.i.tute?

"Is prost.i.tution your only means of support?

"If not, what other means have you?

"What trade or calling did you follow before you became a prost.i.tute?

"How long is it since you abandoned your trade as a means of living?

"What were your average weekly earnings at your trade?

"What business did your father follow?

"If your mother had any business independent of your father, what was it?

"Did you a.s.sist either your mother or your father in their business?

If so, which of them?

"Is your father living? or how old were you when he died?

"Is your mother living? or how old were you when she died?

"Do you drink intoxicating liquors? If so, to what extent?

"Did your father drink intoxicating liquors? If so, to what extent?

"Did your mother drink intoxicating liquors? If so, to what extent?

"Were your parents "Protestants," "Catholics," or "non-professors?"

"Were you trained to any religion? If so, was it Protestant or Catholic?

"Do you profess the same religion now?

"How long since you observed any of its requirements?"

In addition to this comprehensive series, s.p.a.ce was left for any remarks the examiner might wish, to make upon other points. The queries were printed on a large sheet of paper, with sufficient blanks for the answers, and the officer was desired, as soon as he had obtained all the information required, to fold the sheet, and sign his name on a line left for that purpose, with the date the inquiries were made, the locality of the house in which the woman resided, and the police district in which it was comprised. It is a matter of much regret that in the burning of the Island Hospital, Blackwell's Island, on February 13th, 1858, all the schedules were destroyed. They contained many facts which, from want of s.p.a.ce, are but slightly alluded to in the following pages, and would have been of material service in any measures hereafter taken to mitigate the sorrows or prevent the excesses of the abandoned women of New York.

Farther prelude is unnecessary. It only remains to give the answers as received, with such deductions as may arise from them.

_Question._ HOW OLD WILL YOU BE NEXT BIRTH-DAY?

Age. Number.