ur own country; yet so it is. European communities provide
asylums in which pregnant women may seek refuge, and, secure from the
curiosity or censure of their acquaintances, may be safely delivered of
their offspring at the completion of their natural period. Should they
desire to retain the child, they may do so; but should they be unwilling
to claim the proof of their shame, the little innocent may be placed
where it will be cared for and protected by the good Sisters of the
foundling hospitals, and the mother's hands are thus kept free from the
blood of her child. One does not see in the Old World the journals
crowded with such advertisements as we have referred to, or find such
wretches, either openly or secretly, practising their infamous trade
there. No European Government would tolerate such a state of affairs,
for if it cannot prevent adultery, it can protect the lives of its
people. Furthermore, there is in that part of the world a public
sentiment sufficiently pure in this respect, however it may be in others,
to prevent such practices. It is only in this land of boasted
intelligence and freedom that such wretches can thrive, that such
practices can be carried on with the full knowledge of the community, and
no effectual step be taken to put a stop to them.

That we have presented no over-drawn picture every candid reader will
confess. If proof is needed the reader has only to turn to the
advertising columns of the newspapers referred to, and he will find one
or more of the advertisements we have spoken of. In this city there are
over twenty of these wretches plying their trade, and advertising it in
the public prints. How well they succeed we have already shown, and in
order to make it evident how great are their profits, we quote the
following description of one of the most notorious female abortionists:

"By common consent, as well as by reason of her peculiar calling, Madam
---, of Fifth avenue, is styled 'The wickedest woman in New York.'
According to her advertisement in the papers and the City Directory, she
calls herself a 'female physician and professor of midwifery.'

"Madam --- is about fifty-five years of age, is a short, plump,
vulgar-looking woman, with dark, piercing eyes and jet-black hair. Once
she was handsome, but possesses now no traces of her former beauty. She
looks like an upstart or 'shoddy' female, but not particularly wicked or
heartless. She commenced business about twen