the price is nearly double that
of the best retail houses in the city. It is not pleasant to
contemplate, but it is nevertheless a fact, that the visitors include
some of the leading men of the country, men high in public life, and
eminent for their professional abilities. Even ministers of the gospel
visiting the city have been seen at these houses. The proportion of
married men is frightfully large. There is scarcely a night that does
not witness the visits of numbers of husbands and fathers to these
infamous palaces of sin. These same men would be merciless in their
resentment of any lapse of virtue on the part of their wives. New York
is not alone to blame for this. The city is full of strangers, and they
contribute largely to the support of these places, and the city is called
upon to bear the odium of their conduct. Men coming to New York from
other parts of the country seem to think themselves freed from all the
restraints of morality and religion, and while here commit acts of
dissipation and sin, such as they would not dream of indulging in in
their own communities, and they go home and denounce New York as the
worst place in the world.

The proprietress takes care that the visitors shall enjoy all the privacy
they desire. If one wishes to avoid the other visitors, he is shown into
a private room. Should the visitor desire an interview with any
particular person he is quickly admitted to her presence. If his visit
is "general," he awaits in the parlor the entrance of the inmates of the
house, who drop in at intervals.

The earnings of the inmates of these houses are very large, but their
expenses are in proportion. They are charged the most exorbitant board
by the proprietress, whose only object is to get all the money out of
them she can. They are obliged to dress handsomely, and their wants are
numerous, so that they save nothing. The proprietress cares for them
faithfully as long as they are of use to her, but she is not
disinterested, as a rule, and turns them out of doors without mercy in
case of sickness or loss of beauty.

The inmates of these first-class houses remain in them about one year.
Many go from them sooner. In entering upon their sin, and tasting the
sweets of wealth and luxury, they form false estimates of the life that
lies before them, and imagine that though others have failed, they will
always be able to retain their places in the aristocracy of shame. They
are mistake