families decency is wantonly and of a set
purpose disregarded, but stern necessity leads to a coarseness and
indelicacy which hardens the mind and deadens the natural modesty even
of the best girls. Then the low scandals of the village talked over from
cottage to cottage, the rude jokes of the hayfield, the general
looseness and indifference which prevail as to morality, all prepare the
girl for the too common fall. If she remains at home and works in the
fields after the age of fifteen, unless uncommonly strong-minded, it is
an open question whether she will or will not succumb. If she goes into
a farmhouse as servant, the chances are in favour of her escaping
temptation. But in farmhouses she may also sometimes run into the very
jaws of danger. It is not uncommon in some districts for young labourers
to sleep in the house, one or two who milk and have to be on the spot
early. These take their supper in the kitchen or the brewhouse, and,
despite the strictest precautions on the part of the mistress, enjoy
plenty of opportunities for flirting with the girl. Young, full of
animal spirits, giddy and ignorant, she thinks no harm of a romp, and
finally falls, and has to leave her service. If a little may be said in
favour of the poor girls, not a word can be said in favour of the
agricultural men, who are immoral almost without exception, and will
remain so until a better-educated generation with more self-respect
arises. The number of poor girls, from fifteen to five-and-twenty, in
agricultural parishes who have illegitimate offspring is extremely
large, and is illustrated by the fact that, out of the marriages that
take place--and agricultural poor are a marrying class--scarcely any
occur until the condition of the girl is too manifest to be any longer
concealed. Instances could be mentioned where the clergyman's wife, with
a view to check the immorality around her, has offered a reward of a
piece of furniture to the first married woman who does not bear a child
till nine months after marriage; the custom being within three months.
The frequency of the appeals to the petty sessions in rural districts
for orders of contribution, by young unmarried girls, also illustrates
the prevalent immorality. Of late the magistrates have taken the line of
ordering contributions on a higher scale, on the grounds that the
labourer earns larger wages, and that the cost of living has risen, and
also as a check upon the men. This well-intent