nist is never known,
and many more linger for a few months or years, mere physical wrecks of
their former selves, till merciful Death folds them in his leaden arms.

Before the recent laws were passed, making it a punishable offense to
offer to produce abortions, either by medicine or instruments, there
were many nostrums, in the form of pills and powders, covertly
advertised for the alleged purpose of producing miscarriages. When a
person called on one of those quacks and explained the purpose for which
the medicine was needed, he was told that it was very dear--from five,
ten, to fifteen dollars a box. At the same time he would be assured that
his lady friend was merely suffering from "an obstruction arising from
cold." If he insisted on explaining, the hard face of the quack would
grow darker and harder, and a mysterious gleam of intelligence would
shoot from the speculative eye as he was told:

"I will not sell medicine for anything else but a cold; nor will I treat
any lady for anything else. Your young friend has only taken cold, and
if she is not relieved by these pills she had better come and see me
herself."

No doubt most of those medicines were deceptive, fraudulent and futile.
But they had the intended effect of advertising the person who sold
them, whose "professional" services were generally brought into request
when the pills proved inoperative. This was the secret of Madame
Restell's reputation and immense accumulated fortune. Her occupation was
that of a midwife, and in that assumed capacity she advertised her
"Female Pills." As all the world knows now, her real vocation was the
ante-natal destruction of unwelcome babies. To her gorgeous palace at
the corner of Fifth avenue and Fifty-second street went for years some
of the most wealthy and fashionable women of this metropolis. It is a
dreadful admission, and a sad commentary on our boasted civilization,
but the truth must be told. Some of her patrons were married ladies who,
finding themselves likely to become mothers, and being too heartless and
frivolous to desire the pains and cares of maternity, sought this
woman's aid and, in some instances, paid her fabulous sums to have their
innocent offspring destroyed before they saw the light. Others who
sought her services were unmarried girls, who, having sacrificed their
honor were prepared to pay any price to conceal their shame, by the
destruction of the little life which would blazon it to the wo