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110 THE WHITE SLAVE MARKET
women whom they have deceived and enslaved
that it is the very rarest thing possible for
one of them to betray a man. Some women
who follow the trade are by nature well fitted
for it. They are abnormal creatures, and seem
to need a reckless, licentious, exciting life ;
but for one such there are at least a hundred
who would give their very souls to be free of
the life if there was anything else for them to
do. They will not of course face the question
of going into rescue homes and putting
themselves into the hands of rescue workers,
because they have been told, and in some
cases also they know from experience of these
places, that they are hard and cruel. The
women are looked upon with suspicion and
with immense contempt. I myself visited a
Home once when I first came to this country.
I did not know quite what I was going to see,
but was invited to inspect the work of some
"
sisters," and I was taken into what was
called a ef
Magdalenes' Home." A number
of women with close-cropped hair were at
work over wash-tubs in a semi-underground
place. They had hideous little caps tied
partly over their heads, and stiff straight
gowns of a very ugly material. They were,
in fact, branded ; and the " "
saintly sisters
went among
them with the same sort of air
that one would have if compelled to walk
among lepers or plague-stricken people. I
have never been more surprised at anything
in my life, because even then, ignorant as I
was of the conditions of these women's lives,