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216 THE WHITE SLAVE MARKET
it is too late. It is often the case that these
men who wish to secure girls for the white slave
traffic do not dishonour them themselves at
once, or at any rate they do not take them until
they have quieted their suspicions
and have
acquired a hold on them. So between-times,
while the girl is hesitating, she might be saved.
Only the other day a generous lady who
had read Mrs. Mackirdy's speech in Prevention
sent an opal and diamond ring which
she wished Mrs. Mackirdy to sell for the
benefit of this home for girls and women.
She felt so strongly that women, at any rate,
ought to help to the uttermost the cause
that has for an end the protection and
help of girls and women. The difficulties
girls have to face in these days when they are
obliged to work for a living are very great.
Some of the less-enlightened firms, and those
who have determined to get every pennyworth
of use out of their employees, treat
them in some cases in a very disgraceful way,
and any shop-girl may be dismissed instantly
on a complaint of a shop-walker, although
a week's notice is her due. They often pay
a woman her week's wages and turn her out ;
and if one could only inquire into all the
cases it would come as a shocking revelation
to find that in many cases the girl's chief sin
consisted in not making herself agreeable
enough to the shop-walker. Of course in
good establishments the girls have a much
better time, and they are much better looked
after.