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THE CHARITY OF THE OUTCAST.

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her life. A 'woman of the city who was a sinner' applied at the hospital for permission to perform this loathsome office. The sufferer was an object hardly to be approached without shrinking, and a perfect stranger to the other woman, who taking her tenderly in her arms, with her lips drew from her breast the tainted nourishment. The patient recovered. A doctor of the hospital said he had never seen disinterested, Christ-like love to equal this. Vigliani said to me, you recollect, that when once a woman has lost chastity, she has lost all virtues, she possesses all vices!' Which among the virtuous and delicate ladies of the land would not have shrunk from such an act of love, worthy of St. Francis? I also have seen acts of high, heroic self-abnegation performed by some of these despised outcasts, which reveal the capabilities of the soul within, and are a kind of desperate stretching forth of the whole being, out of its accustomed darkness into the longed-for light. The Italian newspapers are already fighting about our cause; the fire is lighted, it seems. Tell Major Osio I found his Milanese very grave and earnest. People are active and punctual there, and one sees them walking quickly along the streets, looking at their watches, as in Birmingham or Manchester. I have charged Mr. Rimond, of Geneva, who has undertaken to make preparations for a meeting there, to send out all your notes of invitation."

Mrs. Butler saw several persons in Turin, who expressed strong sympathy with her mission, and almost reproached her for passing so quickly through the capital of Piedmont, where, they assured her, large meetings would easily have been convoked. It was from Turin, that the Regulations were first issued, which have had so demoralizing an influence on society in Italy, that Signora Maria Mozzoni, a keen observer and an independent thinker, wrote thus, in 1870, of the State Regulation of Vice: "The moral effect of this institution on the

general population is very sad. The regulations imposed by the authorities on prostitution are a legal sanction, slightly cloaked, in the eyes, not only of the populace, but of educated people: legal sanction produces public shamelessness. In fact, fathers themselves introduce their grown-up sons to the houses of infamy, looking upon them as safeguards from imprudent marriages; teachers and disciples meet there, and all look upon them simply as institutions of public usefulness. Accustomed to the encroachments of the authorities, the Italian people accept this interference of the police in private affairs as a needful provision, and do not think of the bitter hardships, the violence and slavery the miserable women are subjected to. The young men who come in contact with these unfortunate beings, who have been so carefully trained in vice, lose all generous feeling, and, corrupted before they are full-grown, they acquire that scepticism which withers the heart and falsifies the conscience. The number of the poor victims of misery and vice grows every day to excess. Marriage becomes always rarer and the number of exposed children increases fearfully."

The Italian people, including the people of Turin, have, however, now ceased to accept without protest this foul institution, as will be seen in a subsequent portion of this narrative.

CHAPTER III.

"Yes, great railroad age, who would exchange you, with all your sins, for any other time? for swiftly as rushes matter, more swiftly rushes mind; more swiftly still rushes the heavenly dawn up the eastern sky. The night is far spent, the day is at hand! blessed is that servant whom his Lord when he cometh shall find watching."

KINGSLEY.

HE narrative of the work done in Switzerland will be best given in the following letters, accompanied by quotations from Swiss newspapers.

To Mr. Butler.

Geneva, Feb. 2nd.

"I have been making many calls. Geneva is a very difficult place to work in; there are such extremes of religious and political opinion. Mr. Rimond has been very helpful. I called on Pére Hyacinthe and Madame Loyson. They were both out. The baby came trotting to the door, a stout little fellow called Paul; he seemed much impressed with the little beast's heads on my muff, with shiney beads for eyes, and was very coaxing. I had a pleasant conversation with Professor Hornung, to whose house I went. He came with me in my little carriage to call on M.Budé, president of the Society of Public Utility, who spoke and voted (with Mr. Hornung) in favour of the abolition of 'Regulation' at a meeting of that society. I called also on M. Turritini, Mr. Moynier, Pastor Borel, and others. Geneva looks very different from what we have been accustomed to see it in summer. The Jura range is

covered with snow. The lake, generally such a lively scene near Geneva, is almost deserted, and people run along the quays, with their cloaks rolled round their heads and mouths. The horses are well covered with blankets, and trot fast. I ran out at five last evening, with my cloak also over my head, to see the rosy sunset colours on Mont Blanc, who looked very gorgeous in his broad, regal garments of snow spreading out on all sides. Mr.

has just been calling on me, and arguing for the space of one hour, in favour of legalised vice, and the necessity of the dedication of a class of women to destruction. A nice specimen of a Christian! He bears a high character for piety. He told me he would not come to our meeting, as he could only come to oppose, and it would not be agreeable to him to say to me what he should be compelled to say."

Professor Stuart wrote to Mr. Butler of the meeting held at Geneva:

"Everything looked very dark for the meeting beforehand; the opposition threatened was of a different kind to that which we have met hitherto, which has been materialistic. Here in Geneva there is much talk about the police being such good Christian men, and about reclamations effected by them. Although Mrs. Butler comes out well in debate, yet debate in a foreign language gives her adversaries an advantage to start with. She therefore determined to prepare altogether a new address, and answer all the objections beforehand. She was particularly asked to go into the legal part of the question. This was no easy task, to be done in so short a time. We got Professor Hornung's pamphlet on the subject, which supplied us with many of the proper legal phrases. Our spirits fell to the lowest when a note came from Mr. Hornung to say that he was taken ill and perhaps could not come. Mrs. Butler looked anxious as the hour approached. How shall I tell you about the meeting,

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except to say it was a wonderful meeting? The room was quite crowded at the hour announced. The master of the hotel was most kind, and managed the arrangements well. Mrs. Butler answered all the objections beforehand, and when the objectors were called on to speak, behold they had disappeared! They had nothing to say, in fact, for she had anticipated their arguments. But one person after another stood up, and gave in his adhesion to our cause. Père Hyacinthe spoke eloquently, and after the meeting he wrote, from his house, a letter to Mrs. Butler, which she will send to you. The state of things in Switzerland is somewhat similar to that in England. There is some attempt on the part of certain people to introduce these laws into all the other towns, but the warning will now have been given. There was an American gentleman at the meeting, who had come to Geneva for the education of his children. He made an excellent speech, in which he said that they could not expect Geneva to continue to be a centre of education, unless they got rid of this corrupting system. I was glad to hear him say this, because educating children is one of the 'industries' of Geneva, and they had better look to it, or their gains will be gone."

The following is the letter alluded to from Père Hyacinthe:

February 4th, 1875.

"Dear Madam, I return to my house deeply moved by the words which we have heard from you. One feels that God is with you in this herioc crusade against what you have so well named 'the typical crime,' the gigantic iniquity of our race. God is with you, Madam; it is necessary that men should be with you also. I beg that you will count entirely upon my weak but sincere services, whether in Geneva or in England. I was not able to accept the invitation which you addressed to me some months ago. I wish to say to you, that if you should feel

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