Publisher's Synopsis
This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1842 edition. Excerpt: ...authority and vigilance are not confined to those girls who belong to the town, as several of the sisters included in the above table are related to families residing in the country. Whole families have been known to come to Edinburgh and become common prostitutes. In tracing the history of these females, a most important fact has been developed, which merits the attention of every mother of a family. It has been discovered that, in almost every instance where two or more daughters belonging to the same family have become abandoned, there has been something in the conduct and example of the mother which was highly reprehensible. The disclosure of this fact led to the explanation of another difficulty, the solution of which had never been satisfactorily stated; namely, how it happens that the children of ministers and other exemplary individuals are sometimes as apt to go astray as those of persons who make no profession of piety. It has been previously remarked, that there were some females in Edinburgh pursuing a life of prostitution who were daughters or near relatives of ministers of different denominations. The improper behaviour of the mothers of all these, has been ascertained to be amply sufficient, to account for the licentiousness of the daughters. In four families of this description, every one of the children, male and female, have turned out profligates. In two of these, the fathers were ministers of irreproachable character and undoubted piety, and faithful in the discharge of all their pastoral duties; but the mothers of all of them were publicly known to have despised both the precepts of religion and morality. This leads to the inference, that the influence of the mother has more power in forming the character of the...
