The-Conquest-of-Happiness-by-Bertrand-Russell

inclination for sexual adventure, which she herself
profoundly believed to be an abomination except
within marriage. If, in spite of all safeguards, she
lost her virtue through the wiles of some designing
fascinator, her situation was pitiable in the
extreme. It is delineated quite accurately in The
Vicar of Wakefield:
The only art her guilt to cover,
To hide her shame from ev’ry eye,
To give repentance to her lover
And wring his bosom is - to die.
The modern spinster does not consider death
necessary in these circumstances. If she has had a
good education, she has no difficulty in making a
comfortable living, and is therefore independent of
parental approval. Since parents have lost their
economic power over their daughters, they have
become much more chary of expressing moral
disapproval of them; there is not much use in
scolding a person who won’t stay to be scolded.
The unmarried young woman of the professional