"I claim no credit to myself--young as I was, placed as I was
between the easy life of Vice and the hard life of Virtue--for
acting as I did. The man simply horrified me: my natural impulse
was to escape from him. But let it be remembered, before I
approach the saddest part of my sad story, that I was an innocent
girl, and that I was at least not to blame.
"Forgive me for dwelling as I have done on my early years. I
shrink from speaking of the events that are still to come.
"In losing the esteem of my first benefactress, I had, in my
friendless position, lost all hold on an honest life--except the
one frail hold of needle-work. The only reference of which I
could now dispose was the recommendation of me by my landlady to
a place of business which largely employed expert needle-women.
It is needless for me to tell you how miserably work of that sort
is remunerated: you have read about it in the newspapers. As long
as my health lasted I contrived to live and to keep out of debt.
Few girls could have resisted as long as I did the
slowly-poisoning influences of crowded work-room, insufficient
nourishment, and almost total privation of exercise.
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