s. If he deceives her and betrays her, continuing such betrayal
until the victim becomes pregnant, he will, in the average case, leave
her to bear her child in shame, while he slips away to other scenes of
activity. We cannot wonder then, that the girl--deserted, humiliated,
crushed by the one in whom she reposed absolute confidence; cast out
of society, perhaps thrust from the protection of her own father's
roof--gives up the struggle and says--"_What's the use?_"

A vast majority of such poor girls make their way to houses of ill
fame and give themselves over to a life of prostitution. Hardly one of
these women, if married by the man who brought her to this condition,
would have failed to make a true and loving wife and mother. So
society, while it casts these women out, has come to recognize that
men are the real sinners in such cases.

It may be added here, that an occasional girl goes wrong through
temperamental shortcomings within herself--perhaps she may even be a
degenerate; but the proportion of women who would willingly and
deliberately sacrifice their virtue is vanishingly small as compared
with the proportion of young men who seem to be willing to sacrifice
their virtue. This is probably in part due to their training.
Mothers, as a rule, instruct their daughters carefully regarding their
relations with boys and men. It is in part due to the instinctive and
inherent purity of mind of the normal woman.

Nature has devised a retribution for illicit intercourse in the form
of venereal disease. If the parties observe fidelity to the marriage
vows venereal disease is experienced in wedlock only on very rare
occasions, and then through some accidental infection, as from contact
with some public utensils, as a public water closet, a public towel or
drinking cup. So rare is this unfortunate accident, however, that we
may say, that intercourse in undefiled wedlock results normally in
pleasure and gratification to both parties, while intercourse out of
wedlock, or illicit intercourse, is destined, as a rule, to be visited
with retribution.

What form does this retribution that nature metes out to the vice of
illicit intercourse take? Besides the various psychic punishments, the
principal of which are remorse, and impure thoughts, there are
physical punishments in the form of venereal diseases. So prevalent
are these venereal diseases among lewd women, whether prostitutes or
clandestines, that specialists in this fi