Full text of "The unmarried mother; a study of five hundred cases"

See other formats

Google

This is a digital copy of a book that was preserved for generations on library shelves before it was carefully scanned by Google as part of a project

to make the world's books discoverable online.

It has survived long enough for the copyright to expire and the book to enter the public domain. A public domain book is one that was never subject

to copyright or whose legal copyright term has expired. Whether a book is in the public domain may vary country to country. Public domain books

are our gateways to the past, representing a wealth of history, culture and knowledge that's often difficult to discover.

Marks, notations and other maiginalia present in the original volume will appear in this file - a reminder of this book's long journey from the

publisher to a library and finally to you.

Usage guidelines

Google is proud to partner with libraries to digitize public domain materials and make them widely accessible. Public domain books belong to the
public and we are merely their custodians. Nevertheless, this work is expensive, so in order to keep providing tliis resource, we liave taken steps to
prevent abuse by commercial parties, including placing technical restrictions on automated querying.
We also ask that you:

+ Make non-commercial use of the files We designed Google Book Search for use by individuals, and we request that you use these files for
personal, non-commercial purposes.

+ Refrain fivm automated querying Do not send automated queries of any sort to Google's system: If you are conducting research on machine
translation, optical character recognition or other areas where access to a large amount of text is helpful, please contact us. We encourage the
use of public domain materials for these purposes and may be able to help.

+ Maintain attributionTht GoogXt "watermark" you see on each file is essential for in forming people about this project and helping them find
additional materials through Google Book Search. Please do not remove it.

+ Keep it legal Whatever your use, remember that you are responsible for ensuring that what you are doing is legal. Do not assume that just
because we believe a book is in the public domain for users in the United States, that the work is also in the public domain for users in other
countries. Whether a book is still in copyright varies from country to country, and we can't offer guidance on whether any specific use of
any specific book is allowed. Please do not assume that a book's appearance in Google Book Search means it can be used in any manner
anywhere in the world. Copyright infringement liabili^ can be quite severe.

About Google Book Search

Google's mission is to organize the world's information and to make it universally accessible and useful. Google Book Search helps readers
discover the world's books while helping authors and publishers reach new audiences. You can search through the full text of this book on the web

at |http: //books .google .com/I

&^s^a«@

HENRY GIBBONS JUNIOR tlBRARYr
0JifPBSffiTglA?.;ASft^EJ5fMfflar/.

THE UNMARRIED MOTHER

"Since it is theory, then, which gives to
facts their value and significance, it ia often
very useful even if it ia in part untrue; for
it throws light on phenomena to which no
one had paid attention, it forces us to ex-
amine from various angles facts which no
one had been studying and impels us to
undertake investigations <^ wider scope,
destined to have more fruitful results."
GcouELUO Fekrebo,
" Lea Loi» Psyehdogiques
du SymholUme,"
Pa£I9, 1895.

CRIMINAL SCIENCE MONOGRAPH No. 8

Supplement to tlu Journal q

THE AMERICAN INSTITUTE OF CRIMINAL LAW

AND CRIMINOLOGY

THE UNMARRIED MOTHER

A STUDY OP FIVE HUNDRED CASES

PERCY GAMBLE KAMMEHER

With ak iNTBoODcnoH bt
WILLIAM HEALY, M.D.

BOSTON

LITTLE, BROWN, AND COMPANY
1918

iiU H^Ate reaeroad.

PabUahed, January, 1018

• • •

• •

* ■ •

8«l op nd thctwtjpiiJ hf J. S. Ouhing Co., Norwood, Mait.p U.SJL
rwwk bf S. J. FukUn & Co., Bom, Mms., U.SJL

EDITH N. BURLEIGH

or Tm onus paboui boabo

46477

EDITORIAL ANNOUNCEMENT

The rapid development of criminological research in this
country since the organization of the American Institute of
Criminal Law and Criminology, has made a place in America
for this series of Criminal Science Monographs, Their publica-
tion is authorized by the American Institute of Criminal Law
and Criminologj'. They appear as supplements to the Journal
of the Institute. We believe the present number will satisfy a
real need in America.

ROBERT H. GAULT, EdUor of\

the Journal of Criminal Law ana

Criminology.
FREDERIC B. CROSSLEY,

Northwestern University.
JAMES W. GARNER,

University of Illinois.
HORACE SECRIST,

Northwestern University.
H. C. STEVENS,

University of Chicago.
WILLIAM HEALY.

Judge Baker Foundation, Boston. ',

Committee on
Pdblicatignb op

THE AmBHICAN In-

stitutb of Crim-
i>fAL Law and
Cbiminoloqt.

INTRODUCTION

CoNBiDBRATiON of the problems of illegitimacy is always
hnportant for civilization, but uot in many a generation has
discussion of the whole subject been so timely as at present.
Even before the great war new interest in these problems
was being manifested, awakened largely, we may be glad to
note, as part of the forward development of common-sense
social consciousness. Now the nations will most unwontedly
have to face, in a very literal sense, the living issues of unlegiti-
matized sexual union. In some countries foreseeable exigencies
may even cause such production of offspring to be encouraged.
In order better to meet the ordinary situation and also this
unusual problem due to military conditions, we particularly
need the real facts about illegitimacy as it has existed with us
and elsewhere, and to know for comparison the various laws
and customs concerning treatment of "illegitimate parents"
and their children.

One of the best women I know, best in ideals and in family
life with her children, has for years been thinking earnestly
and well about illegitimacy. She finds that, first of all, the
ramifications of the problem must be brought into the full
daylight of thoughtful consideration. Who are these un-
married mothers ; what are they mentally, socially, physically ;
what becomes of them ; what are the traits of their offspring,
and how do they flourish, and whither do they tend ? To ful-
fill a large part of these requirements for more facts we now
have by Mr. Kammerer this study of collected field data.

When I saw the great gathering of records that forms the
basis of the present volume and from which the five hundred
cases for analysis have been selected, it seemed to me that for

X INTRODUCTION

the first time we might have in the hterature on illegitimacy
a trustworthy statement of personalities and life histories that
would go far toward setting us right concerning types and cir-
cumstances. It is well enough to have general principles and
outlooks, but there is a keen perception of the value of specific
knowledge among those who look forward to greater activities
in the field of applied ethics, and here was opportunity for a
solidly based study of grouped facts.

From years of experience during which considerable numbers
of ille^timate children have been brought to our attention,
I am inchned to strongly discount Mr. Kainmerer's modest
doubt concerning the entirely representative character of the
groups from which his data are obtained. The point that he
himself makes, namely, that in other social circles and in other
grades of intelligence means are found for preventing unlawful
child bearing, sufBciently explains the fact that nearly all the
illegitimate children one ever comes to know about anywhere
(and professional men learn family secrets pretty thoroughly)
have passed through the hands of public and private agencies.
Most unwedded mothers, then, may be fairly considered as
belonging to just such groups as are studied in this book.

Through initiation of the most important of biological pro-
cesses, the question of misconduct involved in conception
outside the bounds of legal marriage is to be taken up apart
from all other forms of delinquency. What may we think of
punishment or even of neglect of the unmarried mother when
we contemplate the essential fact that, whereas most infrac-
tion of laws coincides with destructive results, here we have a
law-breaker as a constructive agent, giving as concrete evidence
of her "misbehavior" nature's highest product, a human being.
She becomes tnily an object of great concern for us.

But in thinking of the mother as parent let us not for a minute
overestimate the part that she plays in the original affair and
its outcome. The father's sliding easily out of sight, as he so
often readily does, is not flattering to the sense of honor in
men, but laws can be made to cope somewhat with that cowardly
proceeding. What lovers of fair-minded truth should keep

INTRODUCTION

1 mind in deciding moral, apart from legal, responsibility is
tiie part that the man plays in temptation or persuasion.
And then even though the father and the father's family be
unknown or out of sight, the fact that the father half endows
the offspring with mental and physical qualities to be passed
on further into posterity is not fairly to be forgotten.

Appreciation of variations in regulations concerning illegiti-
macy and even in definitions of what constitutes bastardy
may be obtained from the many pages of history which show
how customs have differed from time to Ume. Very instruc-
tive it is, for example, to read of the conditions in Athens under
Pericles when the legitimate child was defined, not only as one
born of legally united parents, but also as one born with both
parents Athenians. This was one of the laws of Pericles,
and we are told that he once ordered five thousand bastards,
thus defined, to be sold as slaves. But when it came to the
question of his son by Aspasia, who was not his lawful wife,
a. boy who as a bastard had no right to citizenship, Pericles
had the law set aside as an exception. Or in thinldug of the
stigma that now is attached in great measure to the child bom
out of ordinary wedlock, let us remember William the Con-
queror, who proudly styled himself WUlelmua, cognomento
Baiardus. But, it may be suggested, as a point of interest for
those furthering new legal provisions for illegitimate children,
that perhaps William eould afford to be satisfied with his appel-
lation, since he had inherited his father's dominions.

So it has gone and undoubtedly will continue to go — there
are great divergencies in individual, local, and national con-
siderations anent illegitimacy. Grave concern is naturally
felt about the egregious maladjustments of our own present
slipshod lack of method, but doubts speedily arise in regard
lo any proposed systematic revisions of the legal code. The
thoroughgoing student already spoken of, after becoming
acquainted well with conditions here, in France, and in Ger-
many, took the trouble to visit Castberg, the originator of the
remarkable reform law concerning children born out of wedlock,
which weat into operation in Norway last yeair. She asked,

INTRODUCTION

"Are you not lowering the standards of ethica for women and
are you not eliminating the family as the unit of society?"
"The old Viking shook back his hair and brought his 6st down
on the table and said to me. 'No, absolutely no. That is nature,
the love of the man and the woman to care for their own child
— you cannot break that up.'" Notwithstanding ita excep-
tions which we all know only too well, Castberg trusts a funda-
mental law of life that we also must not forget.

After all, the one vital fact that is really the greatest concern
of society regarding illegitimacy is the illegitimate child: a
child that is fashioned the same as the rest of us, that bears
no mark of nature's ill favor, that develops according to all the
biological and psychological laws that control humanity in
general, giving no more and no less response to ill treatment,
reacting viciously only according to the same causes that operate
in general. A society that does not properly care for this in-
dividual, born or unborn, callously sins againat its own moral
and physical welfare.

To prevent the disastrous stigmatization of the so-called
tllf^timate child or to prevent in the fullest possible measure this
anomalous social phenomenon of illegitimacy, when nature
and civilization are clearly at outs, we must inevitably turn
to the deeper consideration of causes.

WlIXIAM H&AI.T.

Boston, October, 1917.

PREFACE

After every period of fruitful effort there comes the moment
lor thanksgiving. The harvest is gathered and now stands
ready for specific use. Blind indeed is that laborer who
does not know that he has added but little to the world's life-
giving goods, and yet is not grateful to all who have helped him
in his task. There lie under my hand to-day cold abstracts of
many lives which stress and passion have led to mistaken ends,
in which the reader may more readily perceive the element
of tragedy than the note of hope. Should the following pages,
however, do anything to better the condition of the unmarried
motlier and her child, it will be due to the help which these
unfortunate women have here procured for others of their sex.

The most casual reader will recognize my indebtedness to
Doctor Healy, without whom this material concerning the
unmarried mother could never have been presented in its present
form. His inspiration and guidance, particularly in regard
to the chapter on "Mental Abnormality", has been a constant
help. Most stimulating in their cooperation have been Miss
Edith N. Burleigh, Superintendent of the Girls' Parole Board
of the Massachusetts Training Schools, and Mrs. Jessie D.
Hodder of the Massachusetts Reformatory for Women at Sher-
bom. My thanks are also due to Doctor C. C. Carstens,
General Secretary of the Massachusetts Society for the Preven-
tion of Cruelty to Children, to Mr. J. Prentiss Murphy, of the
Children's Aid Society of Boston, to Mrs. Ada E. Sheffield,
formerly President of the Boston Conference on Illegitimacy,
Rod to many others whose counsel and assistance has been
invaluaUe.

ZIV

PREFACE

Particularly should my gratitude to Mrs. Bess L. Russell,
formerly of the Massachusetts General Hospital, find expression
here. For seven months she was my constant assistant in the
preparation of this material and her sympathetic under-
standing of the unmarried mother has vitalized the following
pages.

PERCY 6. KAMMERER.
St. SispmBN's Houbb, Boston.
June 16, 1017.

■^^B^I^H

CONTENTS

Editoeial Announcement

vii

xiji
1

Introductory

Working Mbthods

_ -"

Bad Environment

ft IV

Bad Companions

B "

Recreationai, Disadvantaqbb . ■ ,

W VI

Educational Di8advantaobb

Bad Home Conditions

lOX

vra

Earlt Sex Experience

178

1*^

181
183

Abnorual Physicai. Condition

m ^

Sexual SuGOBaTiBiLiTY

103

" xn

Sexually Suggestible by One Individual

203

XIU

Abnorual Sexualism

211

XIV

Mental Conflict

215

Assault, Incest and Rape

282

XVI

Mental Abnohmalitt

2i9

^xvn

The Unmabried Mother in Varioob Communitie8

265

Kvin

Conclusions

■

Statistics

S19

■

Appendix "B"

■

331

■

Rbterences

335

S38

«v

THE UNMARRIED MOTHER

Introddctoby

e problem — Distribution by nationality — Comparative tables —
Distribution according to religious belief — Comparative tables —
Illegitimacy and infant mortality — Dlegilimacy and crime —
Dbposition of illegitimate children — Community responsibility
— Conclusions.

The Problem. There are two angles from which one may
[■view the problem of the Unmarried Mother. The first deals
with those causes both innate and external, as a result of which
a girl or woman gives birth to a child outside of lawful wedlock.
The second concerns the question of the mother's relationship
to her offspring, involving, as it does, her status before the law
and the State's interest in the upbringing of her illegitimate
child. The greatest part of the following study will deal with
the former aspect of the problem in an attempt to estimate
by an inductive method those conditions which may be con-
sidered as causative factors in the pregnancy of an unmarried
woman. To gain perspective, however, it will be necessary to
review briefly the nature and the extent of the whole problem
of illegitimacy in order to understand the position of the indi-
vidual mother in relation to this instance of social maladju^t-
riaent.

The word " illegitimacy " is obviously derived from the
Xatin " illegitimus " meaning " not in accordance with law "
lUid hence born out of lawful wedlock, thus implying the state
id being of illegitimate birth. There have been illegitimate

d THE TJNMAHRIED MOTHER

children since there have been marriage laws. This phenom-
enon is one which varies to such an extent in different localities
that it is extremely doubtful whether or not it may be con-
sidered a guide to the sexual morality of thfc section under
consideration. It becomes less possible for us to view the rate
of illegitimacy as an indicator of the state of sex ethics when
one remembers that an illegitimate birth is the result of an un-
lawful sex act, but that many such acts do not result in ille-
gitimate births. The rate of illegitimacy in a community is
based largely upon births among a more ignorant group of the
population, and no accurate estimate can be secured which
would indicAe the sexual ethics of those who are intelligent
enough to rob the sex act of its normal results.

A further quahfication becomes necessary when one realizes
that the illegitimacy rate is rarely ever accurate, particularly
in the United States. A certain group of the population,
furthermore, is possessed of sufficient means to enable them
to secure abortions which again prevent the registration of
Iheir illicit sex intercourse from the pages of the birth re^s-
ter. It would be folly to attempt to compare the situation
existing in various countries without a thorough knowledge of
the social, climatic, and racial differences existing between
those coimtries, as well as of the distribution of unmarried men
and of women capable of bearing children within the various
communities investigated. No study has yet been made which
would justify any generalizations, and the problem remains
so complex that comparison reveals but little from which it is
pos^ble to draw conclusions.

No matter how difficult the problem is, however, it yet
demands solution. Within almost every social group this
evidence of the breakdown of the institution of marriage is
producing suffering and preventing uornuil social adjustment.
The unmarried mother may be found wKerever there are men
and women — sometimes ostracized by the community in
which she lives and often tolerated. Regardless of the attitude
of socnety towards her. there can be no doubt but that she
represents a direct cost to the community, that she is pre-

INTRODUCTORY

^H vented from much that the more fortunate woman is enabled
^H to accomplish, and that she constitutes in many instances
^^m a source of moral contamination in the environment in which
^B she lives. No'one who reads the chapter on " Mental Abnor-
mality " can fail to recognize not only the personal tragedies
involved in the Uves of hundreds of girls and women, but the
appalhng cost in health and efficiency which the unmarried

• mother occasions.
Of yet greater importance is the problem of the illegitimate
child. He is handicapped in life even before birth. Born
into a situation made difficult by the attitude of society,
his chances of normal development are minimized and
his opportunity for physical well-being lessened. Regard-
less of the attitude towards the mother, there can be only one
sane point of view towards the child. It is manifestly imjust
to throw upon any individual the burden which the illegitimate

■ child bears, and it is flagrantly shortsighted for the State to
create criminals and prostitutes by its social attitude in a mis-
taken attempt to solve the problem of sexual morals in this
manner. It is in the belief that enUghtened public opinion
may in time see fit to modify the community attitude towards
the unmarried mother and her child that the following pages
are written.

Distribution by NationalitieB and Cities. In order to present
the problem of illegitimacy as it exists in varioiis countries,
it will be necessary to draw upon statistical material. The
table on the following page is submitted from Professor Ingram's
article on " Illegitimacy " in the eleventh edition of the En-
cyclopiedia Britannica.'

Professor Ingram further draws attention to the generally
accepted idea that the inhabitants of the warmer countries of
southern Europe arjjproverbiaUy more ardent in tempera-
ment, with the remark that this is a surmise which finds but
little support in the following table, according to which the
illegitimacy rate of Sweden and Denmark, for instance, is higher
than that of Spain and Italy.

' EncyclopHdu BnUnnica. Eleventh Edition. Art. "lU^Umacjr."

^^^M

^H^^^H

■

H « THE CNMAfiBIED MOTHER ■

^M TABLE I ■

^m iLLEormuTB BtsTHs FEB 1000 BiBTHS (ezcludinq Stilliiosn) fl

IBTfl-

ISSl-

isse-

1901-

IS»S~

1901-

1880'

isss'

1890

isas'

1900

I EngUnd and Wales .

«s

■ ScoUuDd

■ Ir«l«ml .

101

100

101

■ Norwsy .

100

I0«

103

105

IIS

■ FinUnd .

■ Rusn> . .

■ Aitrtria .

198

145

147

146

141

■ Hungary .

■ Netberianda

■ Bdgium .

W Fnnce .

Portugd .

—

123

122

121

Spun . .

lUly . .

New So. W»J«

Victoria .

So. Australm

W. Aualralia

N«w Zealand

«3

■ Ingram also claims that it is probable that in those countries

■ where the standard of living is low, with resulting early mar-

^ riages, the illegitimate birth rate will be correspondingly low.

To this must be added the surprising fact that in those countries

in Europe where the elementary education is good, the rate of

illegitimacy is high, whereas in the more illiterate sections, such

as Ireland and Britanny, it is low. It should be kept in mind.

however, that there may be other causes affecting the rate in

these latter countries. Statistics for London, furthermore.

clearly disprove the belief that poverty is a determining factor

in this problem. Tbe figures here given indicate that the poorer

INTRODUCTORY

I parts of London have a lower illegitimacy rate than h
well-to-do sections.'

TABLE II
Rate op iLLEaiTOucT pgb 1000 BiSTas

U.^.

1«,.

i««

IMS

.»

Stepney

Bethna! Green

Mile End Old Town . . .

St. George's Hanover Square

Knuington

ise

186

198

188

Returning to the question of distribution by nationality
the 0uctuation in the number of illegitimate births per thou-
sand births may be noted in the following table ; *

TABLE III
Pes 1000 BmTHB

1861-1870

isfii-ieoo

German

115
178
74
55
78
61
9S
33
54
73
39
87
B3
118

En^od

Norway

Denmark

73
06

' Encyclopedia Britannica, Eleventh Edition. Art, "lUcptimacy."
* "Handbuch des Kinderschutzes und der Jugendttlraorge", HeUei^&^hiUer-
L TkUbe. Leipzig, 1911.

The figures for American cities cover only part of the coun-
try, since, owing to our backwardness in the registration of
vital statistics, only about two thirds of the United States
has anything hke an accurate system of birth registration.
Mangold and Essex ' give the following figures for various
American States and cities, making, however, no attempt
to estimate the ratio of illegitimate births to the number of
unmarried women and widows of child-bearing age :

TABLE IV

iLLBomMACY IN VaBIODS CiTIES ji

TU>

SS^

lL.^om»AT,. Bnm»

Total

Ratio to All Bitiba

leio

Detroit

1«,662

383

S.03 per cent

1912

Milwaultee ....

l*,17i

SOS

2.48

1910

> Cleveland ....

13,696

273

2.01

1911

""«--{S^

*.943
2.584

105

557

2.1
22.1

1911-1013
Average

— {S^ :

14.234
S44

555
143

3.9

16.9

per year

1910

Michigan ....

66.313

1,054

1.6

19Ii

Wiaconain ....

54.493

841

1,54

1618

'Ohio

85,079

1,646

1.92

According to an investigation made recently in Boston,*
one finds an interesting indication of the unreliability exist-
ing in American statistical methods and a warning against too
close a comparison with foreign illegitimacy rates. Here
the names of forty -one iUegitimate children were found
on the death registry whicli were not included in the registry
of births, three of these being cases in which physicians had
fiuled to submit the required information. From the study
just quoted it is possible to secure a comparison between Boston
and certain other cities in the following table :

'Mangold and Eswi : " III ecili mate Births in St. Louis, No. 4." Reports
of Social Investigation. Washington University, St. Louia, 1914.

' Eiicluiling stillbirths.

' "Studio of the Boston Conference on Ulegitimacr", September, 1914.

TABLE V

iLLBormucT IN Vabious Cities

for year 1910

Crrr

PO»DLA-

fiSi™

"aS^"

PBB Cbst of

Bcton

StLouii

670,585

I7.78Q
15,368
19,!13

673
764

3.783
S.97B

ForVea

ISIS

Boston

St. Louis

IhoebiSter, Engl&nd . . .

735,399

750.000

19.841
15.0U
lO.OSi

8e4
712
760

4.459

4.744
4.036

According to Moore,' the situation in Chicago is a grave one
as far as the registration of illegitimate births is concerned,

I After correcting the reports of the Bureau of Vital Statistics

j the author found that out of a group of 590 cases, 148 had
escaped registration in the bureau referred to. Taking into

' consideration the acknowledged illegitiniate births among
fifteen institutions, a rough estimate would place the number
in Chicago at 1350, to which Moore says must be added those
cared for at other hospitals, and those children born to women
who, on account of wealth and position, were able to shield them-
selves from public knowledge. A careful computation would
thus place the annual number of illegitimate births at more
than two thou-sand, and probably nearer to three thousand.

From the figures quoted above, it should be possible for the
reader to gain an idea of the wide variation in the illegitimacy
rates of different countries and of the need of adequate regis-
tration in order that it may be possible to recognize the extent
of the problem in the United States,

Distribution According to Religious Belief. One must be

L very careful in making an attempt to estimate the influence
■ Moor, Howard : "The Cue uf QlegiUmale Children in Chickgo."

S THE UNMARRIED MOTHER

of a particular religious creed upon the number of illegitimate
births. It 13 probable that no definite faith exerts a telling
influence when viewed as a causative factor in illegitimacy.
The question is less that of determining the belief of a girl or
woman, than how closely she is in touch with the religious
organization in which she believes. Partisan writers will, of
course, seek to prove that their particuJar faith exerts an influ-
ence upon illegitimacy.

One Roman Catholic author for instance holds that " the
higher the rate of illegitimacy in any given section of Germany,
the more exclusively Protestant is that community " ' and in
support of this statement he submits the following table :

TABLE VI
Oct of 1000 BiBTHB in Pbitbbia

JlWKB

1875-1880

10.11

6,33

2.08

2.85

1881-1885

10.81

0.90

3.11

2.81

1880-1800

10.08

7.01

2.73

2.82

1891-1885

10.36

6.78

2.10

3.03

_ 18(»-I900

10.54

6.48

2.57

3.60

Rost quotes Theilhaber in commenting on the low figures
found among the Jews, as convinced that this is owing to the fact
that the Prussian Jews are ordinarily in good economic cir-
cumstances, and that their daughters have little to do with fac-
tories or domestic service. Furthermore, Jewish women are pro-
tected by the custom among Jewish men of seeking Gentile
women for acts of illicit intercourse, due to the high respect in
which they hold the women of their own race.

In further support of the supposed influence of the kind of
religious belief on the rate of illegitimacy, Forberger* main-

^ Rost : "BeitrKgc zur M orals la tiEtik". Ptiderboni, 1913.
■Forberger: "MorabUlutik SUddeuUchkuds". Berlin, lOli.

INTRODUCTORY

^V tains that the influence of creed ia demonstrated in Catholic
South Germany where the illegitimate births in relation to
the number of the population have decreased by one half since
1871. Guillaume,' on the other hand, shows that among the
505 inmates of correctional institutions in Berne during the
year 1892, the distribution according to religion was practically
equal.

TABLE VII

TIONB, BeRNB. 1802

P.P^.™

P™»n«,

PiB 10,000 POPD-

^-u..

Oilholic

168.786
67,087

473

10.IS
10.88

TABLE Vni

EdITCATIONAL QCAUncATIONS AUOKO 100 CoNVICtlONB IS I

E....r,o.

LwoTDun

iLLBORDUTa

Good

I* *

Iteknown

The probability is that a statistical study of various com-
munities would reveal great changes of the illegitimacy rate
in sections of the same religious belief, and that no specific
creed can be said to possess a markedly deterrent force upon
the illegitimate birth rate. We are here interested merely in
» the distribution according to religious belief, and we assume
■ no causal relationship whatever between a given birth rate and
Fa particidar faith.

Illegitimacy and Infant Mortality. The incidence of the

problem of illegitimacy becomes apparent when we recognize

■Guillaume: "Juurool dc Ststialique Suisse ". Berne, IBBS.

THE UNMAHRIED MOTHER

the unusually high infant mortality to be found everywhere
among illegitimate children. Among the various causes, many
of them preventable, the attitude of society towards a child
bom out of wedlock is a potent contributing factor to the
high rate of mortality.

In Germany a comparison of the mortality rate of the legit-
imate and illegitimate children over a period of years reveals
the following figures : ^

MoHTAUTY Rate a

TABLE IX

1 LeorriHATB ani

iLLEOmHATE CHILDREN

LmmMiTB

Ill»oitim*t»

1901

10.4

33.9

loot

IT,3

89.3

190S

1B.3

M.7

1004

I8.Q

31.4

IMS

10.4

38.8

1908

17J

io.i

1907

i6.e

28.0

1008

16.9

te.s

1009

16.0

ee.a

1010

15.2

25.7

In 1893 there died for every legitimate child which died

Id Frankfurt
Hamburg
Bruslau .
I«ipcig .
MUnchen

The preponderant death rate among illegitimate children
in England ia shown by the following table :*

' "Ztitschrift fttr Sexual wiaseaschaft", Bono, October, 1B15.
' Itlagg. H. M. : "Sutbtical Aiwlyiis of Intsnt Mortality and Its Causes in
the United KingdoDi,"

mTRODUCTORY
TABLE X
Deaths peb 1000 Biktbh of EUch Kind

iLUiOITUtATI LiaTTIllATS

Brighton, 1908 . . .
Lester. Bverage 1001-1904

1005-1908

The foreign situation is further indicated by Tugendreich,'
who draws attention to the fact that there died

TABLE XI
Pbb 100 BiBTBB OP Each Kind

Yus

L«™„

iLummuATi

In GermaDy

In PniMA

InP«wn

1903
1904
1905
1906

19.S
18.6
19.4
17.S
18.4
19.7

32.7
31.4

sa.e

89.4
33.7
40.0

According to Tugendreich the deferred and insufficient
regulation of the child's diet, the frequent inability on the part
of the father to pro\'ide the means of support, the not uncommon
indifference on the part of the mother, towards her child's
welfare, and the necessity on her part of placing the child in
cheap care successfully to meet the expense of its support, are
th^chief causes for the high mortality rates among illegitimate
children. That the method of child nurture plays a large part
in the death rate is indicated by the fact that in the province
of Bavaria the difference in the death rate between legitimate
End illegitimate children, when both were artificially nourished,
; amounted to only 8.4 per cent.

I Tugendreich : "Die Mutter und SHugliagafUrwrge", IBIO.

THE UNMARRIED MOTHER

Referring to the methods in use, Spaim ' designates as
most unsatisfactory that by which the child is taken care
of by strangers, and as the next most unsatisfactory that
in which the mother takes care of her child alone. Better
than either of these is the situation in which the child remains
with its relatives without its mother. The most favorable of
all conditions is that in which the mother cares for her child her-
self, living at the same time with her relatives. That cliild who
is fortunate enough to be cared for among his own relatives,
has the greatest chance of growing up in a stable environment.

As a result of a study made in Boston,* there were, according
to the City Registry, 11,833 deaths in Boston during the year
1913, 96 of these being those of illegitimate children born within
the year. To this should be added nine infants whose names
were not on the Registry of Deaths, but whom agencies knew
to have died outside of the State, According to this calcula-
tion the deaths among illegitimate children amounted to
approximately 12.25 per cent of the number of illegitimates
born in 1914. The Boston investigation indicates that the
percentage would have been higher had it been computed so as
to include December 31, 1914, by which date every child born
in the year 1913 would have been at least one year old. The
BgiUTs here quoted refer only to those children whose death
occurred before December 31, 1913, and out of this number of
ninety-sL\ none seemed to have reached the age of one year,
only one lived to be eight months old, and fifty-sis died before
the end of their second month. It is worth noting in this con-
nection that the relation between illegitimacy and still birth
is vital. Mangold and Essex ' state that in Washington, D.C,
illegitimate births arc twice as numerous among the still births
as among the living births, whereas in Ohio their frequency
is about two and one halTtimes as great. According to them
the ratio in St. Louis is about two to one.

■Spann, O,: "Die Unehelichrn MQndel dea Tormundscluftagerichtes in
FrankTiirt am Main" and "Die Lege unddHaSchicksalderUnebelichenEiDder."
'"Studies o( Ihe Boslon Cnfen-ti™ on Illegitimacy". September, 1814.
' Mangold nod Essex ; "lUcgitinuite Births in Si. Loui«", St. Louis, 1914.

INTRODUCTORY

I
I

From the preceding paragraphs one can deduce a causal con-
nection between illegitimacy and infant mortality. The illegit-
imate child has less chance of life, not because of any inherent
weakness which he may possess but on account of the peculiar
social environment into which he and his mother fall. It Is
evident that the cost of illegitimacy estimated solely in terms
of infant mortality constitutes a heavy burden upon the race.

Illegitimacy and Crime. Not only does the problem seem
particularly grave because of the great wastage due to the high
mortality rate among the illegitimate children, but there is
evidence that such a child is more hkely to become a criminal
or a prostitute than is the child born within marriage. Accord-
ing to studies made in Germany by Spann,' those men and
women who are of illegitimate birth show a greater degree of
crime. According to his investigations in Prankfm-t, 10.9
per cent of the illegitimate bom studied at a given time had
court records in comparison to 7.7 per cent of the legitimate.
It was also noticeable that the sentences of the former were
longer. Much has been said in regard to the percentage of
crime among those of illegitimate birth which might seem to
indicate the existence of some congenital weakness among the
illegitimate as such in contradistinction to the rest of the popu-
lation. Spann, however, in the work referred to, claims that
at birth the illegitimate child has no less opportunity for de-
velopment along bodily, mental, or cultural hnes, than has
the legitimate child, and that its environment is responsible
for its frequent later inferiority. The percentage of illegitimate
men and women to be found in the criminal population is thus
due, not to innate mental or physical weakness, but to the
treatment which the illegitimate child gets during its develop-
mental period. Spann draws attention to the extremely bad
efifect of the necessarily frequent change of care (Pfiegewechsel),
stating that the transfer of an illegitimate child into an environ-
ment where it may lead a well-ordered life is analogous to an act
of moral regeneration.

'Spttim,0: " Die Unehcliche BcvOlkerung id Frankfurt am Main", Dresden,
UU.

THE UNMARRIED MOTHER

As throwing Turther light on the nurture which the ille-
gitimate children receive, Spann has collected some Interesting
facts. In Frankfurt about two thirds of the unmarried mothers
marry some man not the father of their child before such a
child has reached the age of six years. As a result, a " step-
father family" is established, and the child thereupon shows
no difference either for good or for bad from the legitimate
children of its own class and economic conditions. In those
instances, however, in which the mothers remain unmarried,
considerable degeneration appears. Illegitimate orphans fall
into a group which is in less advantageous cireumstances
than is that of the mothers who have married men not
the fathers of their children, but their condition remains
better than that of the child whose mother has remained
unmarried. The orphans' chance of growing up physically
strong and free from criminal tendencies are distinctly better
than are the prosj>ects of those whose mothers remain alive but
do not marry. Spann thus reaches the interesting conclusion
that it is better for an illegitimate child that its mother should
die and that the State should have full care of the infant, than
that she should continue to Uve unmarried.

Attention has been drawn to the fact that one of the chief
causes for the large ijereentage of crime among those of illegit-
imate birth is the frequent change of care which circumstances
necessitate. Such a child secures but sUght vocational train-
ing, thereby swelling the ranks of the unskilled laborers who
furnish the largest element in our criminal population. Neu-
mann ' agrees with Spann that the unfortunate conditions
under which the illegitimate child develops are chiefly re-
sponsible for his frequent participation in crime, such a child
necessarily remaining in the lowest walks of life and frequently
influenced towards delinquency by the effect of city dwelling.

The Disposition of Illegitimate Children. Prom what meager
information it is possible to obtain concerning the disposition
of the children in the United States, there appears to be a dis-
tinct discrepancy between the number of illegitimate births
1 Neumann. H. : "Die Uaehelicheu Kiader in Berlin", Jena, 1000.

INTRODUCTORY

and the total of such children whose whereabouts are known.
Moore ' states that more thao oae thousand infants are annually
lost sight of in Chicago, and raises the pertinent question as
to the whereabouts of these children who are known to have
been born, but from whom nothing further has been heard.
This investigator places the blame for this condition on the
lack of method existing in the recording of vital statistics in
Chicago, the laxity of institutions and individuals in reporting
promptly and fully the items which the law demands, and on
the inadequate provision for disposing of children who cannot
be kept by their mothers.

Mangold and Essex ' in their investigation of the conditions
in St, Louis, manifest the same suspicions as to the disposition
of the child in that city. According to them many children
are separated from their mothers and given for adoption;
such advertisements as the following teUing a most significant
story: "Ladies received before and during confinement;
adoption if desired; part pay in work; strictly confidential."
These authors are of the opinion that many mothers never see
their infants, and that therefore one of the principal checks on
illegitimacy liecomes inoperative. The majority of illegitimate
children, however, are kept, temporarily at least, with their
mothers, in a very small number of cases marriages being
brought about and homes established. St, Louis here affords
an interesting contrast to Chicago, where fully one third of the
bastardy cases handled by the Court of Domestic Relations are
settled by marriage.

The Boston Conference on Dtegitimacy found that out of
266 infants, whose after care was followed, 163 remained with
their mothers, while sixty -nine more were boarded by the mother.
Nine others were adopted by the families of either the mother or
the father, leaving only twenty-five to grow up without relatives.'

LefBngwell,* in commenting on the illegitimate child's chance of

' Moore. H. : "The Care of Illegitimate Children in Chicago."
* Mangold and Es.Kex: "Illegilimate Hirths in St. Louis," St. Louis, 1911.
*"Studieii of the Boston Conference on IllegiliniBcf ", Sept«inb«r, W\i.
•Leffingwetl. A.: "Ille^tiuuicy", LondoD, 1698.

THE UNMARRIED MOTHER

life, cites a table showing the results of coroners* inquests into the
"accidental"<irowning, poisoning, death by strangulation, or by
being scalded or burned alive. These "accidents" are four times
more likely to occur to illegitimate than to legitimate children-
Community ReBponeibilitf. With so grave a problem it is
only to be expected that attempts will be made towards a solu-
tion, and much has been done in the hope of alleviating the
condition of the unmarried mother and her child. That much
remains to be done through social action must be apparent to
all who are familiar with the burden which society bears be-
cause of this instance of social maladjustment. Unfortu-
nately, it is one of those problems which a community would
rather ignore and forget than attack. It deab with the most
intimate of human relationships and is therefore cloaked with
a reticence which is partly natural. The progressive elements
in many sections, however, are awakening to the futility of
many of the former ways of minimizing the evil of illegitimacy,
and this willingness to face conditions as they exist must even-
tually bear fruit. With the recognition that illegitimacy is not
only a question of individual sin but a problem which involves
the whole range of inherent and environmental factors, the
community will realize that it has a duty toward the unmarried
mother and her child.

Many of the European writers, and particularly those in Ger-
many, have emphasized the need of proper care for the child,
in order that the State may be saved as much loss as possible
coincident to an increase of crime and economic incapacity
among those l>om as illegitimate children. In Germany this
has resulted in what probably represents the highest develop-
ment of state control over the illegitimate child, in the form of a
group of professional guardians. The movement was begun
by Taube in 1886, and by 1005 there existed ninety-three
such professional guardians or " lierujsrormundsckajle " in
cities of over ten thousand population, whose object in most
cases it is to prevent the operation of just those conditions
which Spaim considers causative of crime and incapacity
among tliat group of the population born outside of marriage.

Unfortunately not all of these cities include the care of lUe-
fptimate children in their guardianship, but the example of
Leipzig, where illegitimate children first became automatically
the wards of state-appointed guardians, is likely to be fallowed
in other communities.' Taube himself * advocates the further
extension of this system of state guardianshi]), basing its neces-
sity upon the mental and emotional condition of most unmarried
mothers. According to him such a mother is frequently not
possessed of sufficient intelligence to institute the proceedings
necessary for securing support for her child, and is very often
temperamentally opposed to such a move because of her un-
willingness to have anything to do with the man who has been
the cause of her misfortune. He believes the average mother
of an illegitimate child to be led only by her emotions without
any consideration of the future and without the slightest re-
sponsibility for the child's welfare. Taube then advocates
the establishment of state guardians into whose charge all
illegitimate children will be placed automatically, considering
it the duty of such guardians to start the necessary proceed-
ings for the establiahmeut of paternity, and for support for
the child, this support to be paid to the State by the father
during the child's minority. The mother's marriage to another
than the father of her child should not cause a cessation of the
State's oversight over such a child, or the release of the father
from his responsibihty.

The institution of such a system of guardianship in various
cities, according to Taube, would have the effect of decreeing
rather than of increasing the illegitimate births. A man would
thereby be prevented from causing the pregnancy of a womaa
in one community, and from moving to another there to become
the father of a second child. Particularly would this be so if
he were made well aware of the fact that the institution of pro-
ceedings against him and the establishment of paternity was
not to be left in the hands of an incapable and unprotected
woman, but was of sufiScient importance to be taken up by the

'Klumker: "Zeitsrhrift tilr !v«inlH-iaseiuchart", Berlin, March. 1906.
■Taube, M.: "Dos UaltekisderweseD", Berlin, 1809.

THE UNMARRIED MOTHER

State. Neumann, too, is of the opinion that such an interest
on the part of the State would minimize rather than increase
the number of illegitimate births,

Conclusions. There is little doubt but that the situation
described above is relatively common in this country, indi-
cating a considerable proportion of illegitimate children in each
community, of whose fate httle is known, or who may be
considered to be dead, or living in an inferior environment.
The mortality of such children will remain high, and their
environment will continue to be productive of crime and im-
morality, as long as the supervision of the illegitimate child
does not become part of the duty of the State.

Such is the extent and the nature of the problem of illegiti-
macy indicated by figures relative to the situation both abroad
and in the United States. It is evident that a study of the
unmarried mother involves a consideration of her past and of
her future. This chapter has dealt with the relationship of
the unmarried mother to her child, and with that of illegit-
imacy itself to crime and delinquency. Enough has been
said to show the tremendous cost to society which illegitimacy
occasions, and to indicate the personal tragedies involved in
the lives of unmarried mothers and those who are of illegitimate
birth. Surely no progressive community can afford to remain
blind to the extent of this problem. It remains for the twen-
tieth century to assist society to function properly by reducing
illegitimacy to a minimum.

The preceding pages have dealt with results. Instead of at-
tempting a survey of the causes which lead girls and women
into sexual intercourse outside of marriage, we have dealt
with the results of such action as it shows itself in mor-
tality and crime. One cannot study illegitimacy without
understanding the women who give birth to illegitimate
children, and one cannot understand such women until a
thorough investigation of those forces inherent and environ-
mental which operate as causative factors has been made. There
now follows an intensive study of five hundred unmarried girls
and women who have given birth to illegitimate children, with a

INTRODUCTORY

delineation of those factors which may have caused their preg-
nancy. The material here included should indicate the posi-
tion of the individual woman in relation to society as a whole,
and in regard to the problem of illegitimacy in particular.
Only by increasing its knowledge of social conditions and of
the individual can society hope to effect the changes which
enlightened public opinion now demands.

CHAPTER n

Working Methods

A study of case records — Method of case study — Schedules used —
Causative factor cards built up inductively — List of causative
factors — Summaries illustrating causative factors — Outline

-Conclusions.

A Study of Case Records. This study of the unmarried
mother is based upon a thorough analysis of five hundred
case records secured from various sources. It would undoubt-
edly have been well if it had been possible to interview each girl
or woman personally, thus to secure the information from con-
tact at first band, but such a method would require years of
observation, as well as facilities not obtainable. It is prob-
able, however, that the method pursued affords sufficient ma-
terial for an understanding of the personality of each indi-
vidual, and that little has been lost which might throw light
on the life and character of each unmarried mother.

The conclusions reached and the method employed should
draw attention to the amount of material which is con-
tained in the records of the various private societies and
state departments, as well as to their .shortcomings. The
records were found to include much that was descriptive of the
mental habits of the various individuals. Many cases have been
read which it was not possible to use in this book, and cases have
been included in the total grouping of five hundred, which are
not reproduced in summary. This has been necessary either
because the case omitted was too brief to throw light upon the
psychological side of the problem, although it yet possessed
statistical value, or because the point at issue was sufficiently
illustrated by other cases which appeared to be more graphic.

H Son

WORKING METHODS

Something over two years ago the writer approached the
various private societies in Boston for permission to read their
"unmarried mother" records and after studying one hundred
cases a definite system of tabulation suggested itself which
will be described in a later paragraph. The sources of these
records had, of course, a direct influence on the material.
Of the five hundred cases included in this investigation,
all hut one hundred were secured from private societies
working in the metropolitan area; the remaining number
were secured after considerable effort from one of the
Massachusetts state boards. As a result, the material which
follows is obviously of a highly selected nature and cannot be
considered illustrative of more than one stratum among the
group of unmarried motliers in the community. It is drawn
from cases concerning either those girls or yoimg women who,
through financial or some other necessity, were forced to seek
aid from one of the private societies mentioned, or to individuals
whose development had become so antisocial as to warrant
intervention on the part of the State.

Undoubtedly a comprehensive study of the unmarried mother
can only be made by including those girls and women of different
social and financial status, who are no less given to illicit sexual
intercourse, but who through wealth, opportunity, or intelli-
gence are enabled to keep their pregnancy secret, or to avoid it
altogether. It is not possible to estimate the number of con-
finements and abortions in this social stratum in this book,
owing to the evident lack of descriptive material available.
It is, however, probable that this selection has in no way
reduced the value of this investigation as a social study,
for it is evident that any attempt to study the burdens which
fall upon society and the State for the support of its unfortunate
and delinquent individuals must deal primarily with those who
represent a direct cost upon the commimity. In the group
considered will be found the girls and women who through
mental defect, physical incapacity, or for some other reason,
become a charge on the community either themselves or
through their offspring.

SS THE UNMARRIED MOTHER

WithiD this number itself k wide variation appears, tbe sum-
maries included in the following pages containing extremely
varied types. The age table, for instance, ranges from thirteen
to forty years ; the list of occupations includes most of the well-
known avenues of employment open to women ; the nativity
table includes 38.2 per cent native-born girls whose parents
were native-bom, thirty per cent native-born whose parents
were foreign born, and thirty per cent who were themselves
born abroad. From the point of view, for instance, of the
number of pregnancies, the distribution ranges from one mis-
carriage to five pregnancies, while under the head of the dis-
crepancy between the age of the woman and the father of
her child the figures vary from one case in which the woman
was twelve years older than the man, to one in which the man
was forty-nine years her senior.

The Method of Case Study. Considering the novelty of
this method of study, it is surprising to note the amount of
information which had found its way to the records, which
lent itself to our tabulation. The mental attitude of the girl
was frequently frankly sought and recorded ; again an investi-
gator with a sense of the dramatic insisted upon writing into the
record as much color as would be consistent with a statement of
facts, while often the personality of the girl was unconsciously
reproduced because women investigators particularly are
often temperamentally interested in the emotional problems
of their charges. The ordinary good case record contains
a face card upon which are noted the outstanding events
of the individual's life, such as the date and place of
birth of the girl or woman in question, her family condition,
the number of her children, the society by whom the case was
referred, and other identifying material. This is frequently
supplemented by u chronological history of the society's ac-
tions in the case, recorded at considerable length, and includ-
ing the findings of the social investigator. Following this
there are usually appended copies of letters written by the
visitor to the individual who is the subject of the case, and
including her replies. It is needless to state that these records

WORKING METHODS «3

frequently constitute documents of intense human interest,
leading ouce more to the conviction that " truth is stranger
than fiction."

After reading over one hundred or more of these cases it
was apparent that the information could be transcribed by
meansof a questionnaire similar to that used by Doctor Healy,'
its form being determined only after it had been submitted
to various authorities for criticism. This schedule has been
found to include all of the information necessary for the study of
the unmarried mother, some sections however being proportion-
ally less useful owing to the uniform weakness of case records in
certain specific particulars. An attempt has been made to avoid
overlapping here, but the chief effort throughout the whole study
has been towards inclusiveness rather than exclusiveness. It is
less difficult to summarize information than to expand it.

The material most often lacking in case records is indicated
by the nature of the answers to the questions under " IV,
Mental and Moral Development", where for instance, in
answer to question " 3, Were bad companions sought or
forced? " it was almost invariably found that such companions
had been sought, as might have been expected in the majority
of cases, and under questions 5 and C that there was but slight
indication of any interest in reading on the part of the girl,
or of the development of any special talent.

The following is a copy of the schedule ;

rCue No. Referred by Date

L Family History.

]. Color and nationality.

3. Traits of parents as far l>ack as possible; inheritable and
non-inheritable.

3. Fraternity of girl or woman.
n. Girl or Woman.

1. Date of birth of girl or woman, place, number of children.

2. Reault o( mental examination. Date.
S, Reault of physical examination. Date.

4. Attitude of girl or woman towards child.

• Healy, Williuu: "The Individual Delinquent", Boston, IBH.

^r ^

THE UNMARRIED MOTHER H

Changes of living through immigration. ^H

Other residential changes. ^H

Effect of various languages in Family. Boarders? ^H

^b.

Effect on girl or woman of ^H

(o) disordered marital conditions of parents;

(6) effect of harmonious condition.

(a) Education and mental dispositions of parents and

(t) Parents' attitude toward girl or woman and her child.

Housing an<I financial conditions.

Recreational facilities. Occupation out of school.

Family control and influence of neglect. Girl's mother

works or is away.

Companionship, good or bad.

Religious opportunities and relationship.

Institutional life or period spent away from home influence.

Former efforts made to assist the individual.

If married, history of home life.

■ . IV. Mental and Moral Development.

School history and individual's reaction to it.

(a) duralion of attendance. Why left P

(b) grade reached ;

(d) much absence?

(e) teacher's report;

(f) best and worst studies ?

Effects of companionsliip. Good or bad.

Were bad companions sought or forced.

Character of association with other sex.

Kind of reading done.

Any special talents developed.

Occupation or employment history.

Development of girl or woman while at home.

General behavior, detailed.

Disposition and mental traits.

Habits, alcohol, drugs, sex, etc. (Pull outline of sex bis-

^H IS. Evideoce of abuormality not included above.

WORKING METHODS

V. Father of Child.

1. Age and nationality.

2. Occupation.

S. Personal qualities, physical and mental.

4. Attitude of fatlier towards girl or woman and child.

5. Attitude of girl or woman toward father.

6. Steps takeu toward support of child.
VL The Child.

1. Physical examination, results.
t. Disposition of child detailed.

(a) Child cared for by mother in old environment.
Child placed out by mother in old environment.
{6) Child cared for by mother in new environment.
Child placed out by mother in new environment.

(d) Child legitimatized by marriage of girl or woman to

father, or to another.
Vn. Relationship between Girl or Woman and Community,

1. Influence of community standards on girl or woman be-
fore pregnancy.
i. Influence of community standards on girl or woman after

pregnancy.
8. Beaction of girl or woman towards community before and
after pregnancy.
Vlil, Information worth noting, not classified above.

' At the risk of going too much into detail in regard to methods,
it may be stated that the information on the original record was
in each case transcribed on to a sheet of paper approximately
11 X 16 inches in size, upon which the numbers referring to
the question on the schedule above had been outlined. A full
case filled a sheet of this size comfortably, and it was rarely
possible to study more than twenty cases in a week's time,
an average of approximately two hours for each case. No
attempt at detailed classification of the material was made
at this stage, but one day in each week was set aside for a
review of the material that had been acquired, and for the
I purpose of rough classification. This classilication was so
I general, at this time, as to cousbt merely of an attempt to

06 THE UNMARRIED MOTHER

distribute the cases in regard to their major causative factors.
At the end of each week, through a card index system, the
cases were numbered on the basis of this tentative classifica-
tion. After some three hundred and fifty cases had been
catalogued in this manner, the more complicated task in-
volved in the determination of causative factors began.

Causative Factor Cards Built Up Inductively. A literal use
of the inductive method was employed in determining the
causative factors in these cases of unmarried mothers, and in
arran^ng them in a card index system. It is obvious that
such cards could not have been made without the complete
analysis of an individual case, and the first ste|> was such a
thorough study of the material. The best method of procediu^
was found to be one in which a considerable number of cases
were taken in order, factors which seemed thus to be caiisative
of pregnancy being underlined in red, and in blue those pre-
ventive of such a condition. This method has been followed
in each summarized case. As a result it was possible, upon
rereading a case, to pick by this color scheme those factors
operating under each head. As the analysis developed, how-
ever, and an attempt was made to group the information under
related heads, it was evident that it required a considerable
amount of material Iwfore any natural groups began to emerge,
and as a result what may l)e called " a picture puzzle method "
suggested itself. Each trait or factor working in the girl's
environment in a given case, both for good and for bad, was
now noted on an individual shp of paper until some sixty or
seventy such slips had accumulated from one case. These
were then grouped under related heads, such factors as " an
unsanitary home", and " father continually out of work ",
naturally gravitating towards a nucleus obviously determined
by the general heading " Bad Home Conditions." Again,
slips bearing the information " left school at 14 in the fifth
grade", and "could not do housework without supervision",
and again " Binet 1 1 ", grouped themselves by the same
process, under the broad heading of " Mental Defect and
Peculiarity." By following this method in a number of in-

WORKING METHODS

dividual cases it was possible to cover a range of data which
included all of the information, and to build up group headings
on this inductive basis, always retaining sufficient flexibility to
establish a new grouping should the ascertained facts demand
it. The causative factors were thus evolved in each case, there
being usually three or four such factors operative upon every in-
dividual, and a total list of fourteen general factors similarly re-
sulted from grouping a number of cases under their related heads.

DefinitionB. Here follows a list of these groups of causative
factors :

Group I, Bad Home Conditions.

tinder this heading will be considered the various forces
operating on the immediate family in which the girl or woman
lives. The definition of home here implies more than a place
of residence and assumes the existence of a more or less normal
family life. Thus a girl or woman living alone in disreputable
lodgings is not considered as living in a " Bad Home " but in a
" Bad Environment."

Group II. Bad Environment.

Those forces which are obviously environmental, like con-
taminating employment conditions, " vicious neighborhood ",
" away from home influence without protection ", will be con-
sidered here.

Group ni. Bad Companions.

There is little need of ejiplaining so obvious a phrase as
Bad Companions. There has been no hmitation a^ to age or
sex. Sometimes the man with whom a woman has cohabited
for years is referred to as a " Bad Companion."

Group IV. Early Sex Experience.

By " Early Sex Experience " is meant a physical contact or
strong mental suggestion of a sexual nature, experienced by a
girl before the age of 15 years.

Group V. Mental Abnormality.

The classifications under this head are based on p.sychological
examinations and on well-marked traits of behavior.

Group VI. Sexual Suggestibihty.

That girl or woman has been considered " Sexually Sug-

28 THE UNMARRIED MOTHER

gestible " who while mentally and physically normal is yet
unable to withstand the advances of various men who are
sexually attractive to her, and so accepts such advances with
nothing more than a momentary emotional attachment.

Group Vn. Heredity.

Such traits as have appeared in the ancestry of the individual
which might throw light on her behavior have here been
enumerated for descriptive purposes solely.

Group VIII. Recreational Disadvantages.

By " Recreational Disadvantages " is meant such a lack of
friends or normal opportunities for expression as might lead a
girl or woman to impulsive behavior of a sexual nature.

Group IX. Educational Disadvantages.

Under " Educational Disadvantages " are included such cases
as those in which the individual failed to learn the community
standards and the common information because of lack of
opportunity to do so.

Group X. Physical Abnormality.

Poor physical condition may be caused by such pathological
states as produce either weakness or irritation. Both of these
i[illuence behavior.

Group XI. Abnormal Sexualism,

It has been so difficult to define abnormal sexualism that
one case only is included here, one in which an examination
reveab a nymphomaniac condition.

Group XII. Mental Conflict.

A mental conflict is a -state of mental tension caused by some
emotion -producing experience, usually of a sexual nature.
Such states frequently lead to impulsive and antisocial behavior.

Group XIII. Sexual Suggestibility by One Individual.

That girl or woman has been considered " Sexually Suggestible
by One Individual " who while mentally and physically normal
has yet been sexually intimate with one man for a protracted
period, without being in any sense promiscuous.

Group XIV. Assault. R^pe. and Incest.

Here are included a few cases in which the man has been
convicted or the girl's story of assault accepted.

WOHKING METHODS

^B In order to facilitate the handliag of five hundred cases it

^^ was further necessary to evolve a card index catalogue with a
cross reference system, and it wa^ found advisable to devise
this upon the basis of classified prime and major factors.
E^b causative factor card has thus at its head the title of that
group which represents the major influence in the girl's or
woman's life, and this is followed by a few words describing the
individual situation. Below this appears a similar grouping of
those causative factors less determining than the prime factor, in
the order of their decreasing importance. In order to simplify

I the system even further, four main divisions of prime causa-
tive factors were adopted, classified by means of different
colored cards into " Environment ", " Mentahty ", " Sexually
Suggestible ", and " Sexually Suggestible by One Individual."
A cross reference system was now established upon the basis
of our causative factor cards, by listing on green cards the
major causative factors under their fourteen possible lieads,
and on red cards the minor causative factors under their corre-
sponding fourteen heads. Thus, if a causative factor card
indicated that the prime factor in the life of a certain young
woman was " Bad Envmjnment ", and that the minor factors
followed in order, " Bad Home Conditions ", " Bad Com-
panions ", and " Early Sex Experience ", the first was listed
on a green card under its appropriate head, and each of the
other three on red cards in their corresponding positions. Upon

»the completion of this system it was thus possible to refer directly
to the green cards in order to find, for instance, in how many
cases " Bad Home Conditions ", or " Abnormal SexuaUsm ", or
" Recreational Disadvantages "', had been the major or prime
causative factor, and it was also possible at the same time to
find by reference to each individual case in what particular
manner this factor had been operative in the life of the woman
in question. By the same procedure could be ascertained in
how many cases and in what manner " Early Sex Experience "
had been a factor in the lives of these individuals. This system
has been of great help in determining the facts which are
iDcluded in the appendix on " Statistics." At the bottom of

80 THE UNMARRIED MOTHER

each card is indicated the degree of sexual immoratity by a
system of plus marks, more marks being added as the individual
seemed more immoral. Cases of " Incest " are abbreviated
as " I " and " Assault " as " A." There is on each card also a
note on excessive lying and on stealing, as well as the age of the
girl or woman at the time of her first pregnancy. A summary of
the card will be found after each case in this book.

It may be well at this point to illustrate both the value and
the limitations of this causative factor system. Above all is
this worth reiterating to impress upon the reader the con-
viction that even such a careful method of analysis as
has been employed of very necessity fails in precision. In
dealing with the unmarried mother one is in touch with the
most fundamental impulses of human nature, impubes which
defy any method of classification, which are tinged and
colored with the mystery of life itself. The chief endeavor
has been, not to draw hard and fast lines, or to attempt to divide
human nature into prearranged groupings, but merely to indi-
cate those forces operating on individuals under given social
conditions which may tend to predispose the girl or woman
whom they influence to misconduct resulting in unmarried
motherhood. It is evident that these forces themselves are
extremely complex in their nature, and that they can never be
considered as operative with equal insistence upon each indi-
vidual; they may indeed have had an entirely different effect
upon another individual. It is obvious that no life, with its
multitudinous impulsions and impressions, can be handled
From the basis of one all-determining force. The actual situa-
tion is usually a complexity of causative factors. An alcoholic
parent, for instance, may be the cause of his daughter's en-
feebled constitution, which may itself make it difficult for her
to resist the temptations of modem city life ; or it may, on the
other hand, influence her through social, rather than biological,
heredity, causing her to find little opportunity for recreation in
her home. Such a girl may be dulled to the standards of right
living to such an extent that she accepts without thinking the
contaminating advances of certain male acquaintances.

WORKING METHODS

^B The question naturally arises as to the method of determining
^^ which of the various influences discovered in the life of an in-
dividual through the process of analysts was to be termed the
major factor. There can be no mathematical method of com-
puting the influence of such a force, nor can one say with
accuracy that a certain factor must beyond all doubt have been
of prime importance. There are cases in which there seems to
be but a shade of difference between the value of the prime
causative factor and that of the first minor factor. In the
majority, however, it was possible to evaluate the causative
factors without much difficulty. This is due to the fact that
when an analysis of the causative factors was made, some one
factor was easily recognizable as dominant. When this was
not the case, the judgment of the author and his assistant was
the determinant. Such analysis is undoubtedly open to error,
but an attempt was made to reduce such a posaibiUty to a
minimum by going over each case twice. When the case was
originally filed, it was listed solely under a tentative prime
causative factor, and months later the same case was consid-
ered in greater detail and reclassified if necessary. It is note-
worthy that this was imperative in relatively few instances.

A further means of checking up the results of analysis
was that of coSperatiou with those who had made the case study
and knew the girl or young woman iu question. Many of the
causative factor cards were submitted to individuals thoroughly

» familiar with the unmarried mother in question, and in the
larger majority of instances the prime causative factor found
in this investigation agreed with the conception of the case
worker. As a result, although the factors are necessarily of
hypothetical value, they approximate a correct analysis of the
influences operating u]>on the individual unmarried mother.

Throughout this study, both in the statistical findings and
in the delineation of causative factors, the emphasis has been
placed on tendencies, often definite and certain in their results,
but never accurate and never simple. The study of any aspect
of the sex problem must obviously deal with the most funda-
meatal and far-reachiug of human instincts.

fti THE UNMARRIED MOTHER

The Summaries UuBtiate the Causative Factors. An im'
portant part of this work ties in the coUectlon of summaries
illustrative of the histories of different girls and women who have
become UDmarried mothers, affording as it does a means by
which social workers may be enabled to meet with a greater
perspective the problem of each individual woman. It is in the
formation of these summaries that one of the chief difficulties
of this study has appeared, because the handling of such
varied material, within the reasonable limits of space, has
necessitated the condensation of what has often been a very
full case to the confines of a few pages of printed matter,

A uniform outline has been followed in the development of
these histories, each summary being divided into three para-
graphs, with each paragraph containing the same division of
the subject matter in every case. In certain instances the cases
were so long that some paragraphs had to be divided.

Outline for Ca*e Summariet

I. The Girl or Woman.

(A) Status, trails mental and physical.

(B) History of inheritance.

II, The Environment and Genetic Development.

(A) Neighborhood.

(B) Home conditions.

(P) Genetie history of girl or woman.

1. Childhood.

(a) Antenatal and postnatal.
(6) Childliood diseases.

2. Adolescence.

(a) Menstruation and general physical condition.

(b) Mental traits including school history.

S. Adult History.

(a) General physical condition. The child.
(6) Mental traits and employment history,
(e) Habits in general.

WORKING METHODS

^K|n. Sex History.

^^ft (A) Early experiences.

^^L (B) Gircumstiiacea preceding pr^nancy, including history of

^^M the child's father.

^r (C) Post-confinement history, and diapoaition of child.

In each summary as much emphasis has been placed on the
mental state of the individual as seemed consistent with the
prl's development as a whole personality. Oflen the original
investigator has been blind to the fact that all action is the result
of mental processes and that the indi\'idual herself should be
the subject of each study. The result has l>een an overvaluation
placed on the environmental history of the girl or young woman
in question and a neglect of that side which might indicate her
attitude towards the problems of her sexual life.

It is certain that in any study involving human beings, an
attempt should be made to gauge each individual's attitude
towards the various problems which he or she faces. Of value
in understanding the sexually delinquent girl is a knowledge
of her attitude towards the nature of her sex act. Any fair
estimate of the prevailing sex ethics of the factory girl, for
instance, is dependent upon a realization of the mental attitude
of such a girl toward this side of her emotional life. In social
investigations, if the results are to be of any real use, the in-
vestigator should place himself in the position of the person
whose Ufe he is studying, for only by so doing can he give to
his study any degree of reality or any hope of true success.
It matters little whether or not social workers dealing with
young working girls have the theory that they are possessed of
little sex life or sex interest ; but it is of great importance to
the community as a whole, to know just what these young
women consider to be ethical in regard to sex matters, and
, just how successful they are in squaring their individual
(lezual needs with the community conscience.

It is particularly along this line that the method of investi-
f Ration inaugurated by Doctor Healy is valuable as recognizing
ftbe supreme fact that these problems are, indirectly perhaps,
m&e problems of economic well-being and of environmental

84 THE UNMARRIED MOTHER

influence, but that they are directly problems of action deter-
mined by heredity and environment. Far from being the blind
impulses that they seem, they are in each case the result of
mental processes. It is a method which deals to an increasing
degree with the study of human psychology.

Conclusions. Such have been the working methods used in
this study of the unmarried mother. Basing the conclusions
on an analysis of five hundred case records, which were secured
from private societies and from one state board, a method of
studying the individual has been evolved. With this has de-
veloped a teclmique by which information upon a large num-
ber of girls and yomig women has been found and classifiedt
leading to the determination of a comprehensive group of causa-
tive factors. In warning against the belief that these motive
forces are to be viewed as operative singly or accurately in
any individual case, it has been stated emphatically that this
study deals with humaa instincts, so varied and so complex as
often to defy statistical tabulation.

This study is an attempt at an inductive treatment based
upon case summaries, carefully disguised so as to avoid identi-
fication, with special emphasis placed on the mental attitude
of the girl or woman in question. A student of the prob-
lem of the unmarried motlier can render greatest service by
portraying, as far as is possible, the attitude of girls and young
women towards sex experience. Any general change in sexual
behavior is dependent upon the realization of the fact that each
sex act is the result of the forces of heredity and environment
flowing through the mind of the individual. To effect actions
we must in future comprehend and modify the mentaJ back-
ground from which such actions spring.

IB can

CHAPTER ni

Bad Envihonment

d statement — Away from home influence without protection —
Vicious neighborhood — Living conditions (contaminating — Lived
with low-standard relatives — Employment conditions contami-
nating — Uncongenial surroundings.

General Statement. It has been necessary to distinguish
between bad home conditions and bad environment, although

ith might easily be considered as environmental influences,
'nder the head of " Bud Home Conditions " will be included
mich situations as those in which there was at least a pretense
of family life, whereas the heading " Bad En^^^onment "
would apply to such a case as one in which a lodging house,
although the residence of the girl or young woman in question,
contained nothing that could be called " family life." Again
it has been necessary to make a rather fine distinction in regard
to questions of employment, there being classified under the
head of " Employment Conditions Contaminating ", a case in
which a young girl met the father of her child while taking
eare of her married sister's children during the evening. Be-

iuse she received a small remuneration for her services,
has been considered as an employee, working under con-
temjnating conditions. Tliis difficulty of definition should,
however, cause but slight confusion.

The influence of environmental forces on a girl or young
woman must be estimated in terms of character. The impor-
tant thing here is not a generalization in regard to the situation
itself as much as an evaluation of the influence of such con-

S8 THE CNMAKRIED MOTHER ^

ditiotu on the mental attitude of tiie individual. Such an
aoatysis requires a detailed consideration of the environmental
background in which the girl or woman lives, it being constantly
kept in mind that one is not here dealing with a fixed determi-
nant, as is evident when one notes that the beha\'ior of two
individuab who have been subjected to the same environmental
influences frequently proves to be radically different. The
question regarding the relative importance of heredity and en-
vironment is not one which can be discussed in this place,
but attention should be drawn to the fact that many changes
have been effected in the behavior of certain indi^'iduals by
substituting a new enWronment for the old one, and that such
consequent improvement in behavior has frequently been lasting.

In the following cases the mind of the girl or woman in ques-
tion has been viewed as the focus point of all forces, both
inherent and environmental, and consequently it has frequently
been necessary to consider an influence brought to bear upon a
pri during a plastic period of her development, sometimes
four or five years previous to her pregnancy, as of greater im-
portance than some more recent and more spectacular expe-
rience. That this should be so will l>e admitted when on^
realizes that most habits are formed at an early age during a
period of distinct suggestibility to personal and social reactions.

Under separate headings will be found such cases as illustrate
the various conditions included under the general term of
"Bad Environment", grouped according to their relation to
this causative factor.

Away from Home Influence without Protection, So large a
part docs the girl who has recently immigrated play in a study
of the unmarried mother, tliat considerable space must be
given to cases illuslrutinf; her special condition. Obviously
the separation of u young girl from her home is in itself a situa-
tion dangerous to her welfare ; when one adds to this the extra
burden of an unassimilated environment, her predicament be-
comes even more grave. In support of the belief that such a
change of locality is not always accompanied by serious moral
danger, it may be said that the girls and young women who

BAD ENVmONMENT

f emigrate from the English-speaking provinces to the New
England States do not find themseh-es subjected to environ-
mental conditions basically different from those to which they
have been accustomed at home. At first glance one would
expect the largest proportion of unmarried mothers to spring
from non-English-speaking countries, because of the extra diffi-
culty which unfamiliarity with language and customs generates.
Closer investigation, however, reveals the fact that the pre-
ponderance of Irish and English -Canadian young women
among the unmarried mothers of this study is due to their
relatively larger proportional representation in our population.
Were the number of non- English-speaking women equal to those
who have come to this country from English-speaking communi-
ties, one might logically expect to find a greater representation
among the unmarried mothers if one were to leave out of con-
sideration other elements like custom and culture standards
^ which have a direct bearing upon the results.
I The mere fact of immigration in itself constitutes a danger
to the newly-arrived girl, a danger which is accentuated by the
positive exploitation to which such an individual is frequently
'Subjected, not only by her unscrupulous countrymen, but by
native Americans. The problem of assimilating foreign-bom
individuals into the civic and social life of a community is thus
rendered doubly difficult. It is then natural that the mind of
a yoimg woman who has separated herself from all of those
family ties to which she has been accustomed, and who, led on
by the hope of high wages, has come to this country at what
is often an extremely early age, should be lacking in that stable
attitude so necessary for a definite conviction on sexual ques-
tions. Not only is she likely to believe that in order to be
American she must adopt without question many of the false
standards which she sees about her, but being removed from
those whose good opinion she has valued, she naturally finds
little difficulty in persuading herself that what her new friends
I do is right. These associates are frequently selected without
rdiscrtmination. because a perfectly normal desire for friendship
litnd affection has been denied e]q>resaioa through her more or

THE UNMARRIED MOTHER

less solitaiy exii<tence, and she thus finds herself a member of a
group devoid of standards and of inhibitions.

The following summaries should indicate the dangers into
which such a girl may drift when away from home inSuence
without protection, irrespective of whether her home was in a
foreign country or merely in a neighboring community.

Case I. This case concerns an English girl of 24 who has
lived nearly all her life in the United States. Her mother died
when she was four, and soon after her father married again.
The stepmother was a sensible woman who made an excellent
mother, and the other children grew up to be respectable men
and women. The father was a. night watchman and provided
a good home. This girl became the mother of two illegitimate
children and later married when two months pregnant.

Little is known of her development as a child. She went to
school until 16 and left in her second year at high school to go
to work that she might help her family financially. After this
she took a course at evening school and finallj' decided that she
would become a nurse and started training at one of our state
hospitals. Here she was considered a good worker and left
only because she came to fear insane patients due to an injury
inflicted upon her by one of them. Her stepmother said that
she had always been considered the " black sheep " of the family
and was well known for her untruthfid and deceitful traits.
Another agency interested in this girl also remarked about her
ability to deceive by constant lying. Once while doing private
nursing she had been much appreciated by her employer who had
said, " 1 was convalescing after an operation. My daughter
had scarlet fever and there was a year-old baby to be looked
after, yet this girl undertook the whole responsibility and did
remarkably well."

In regard to her sex history this girl stated that while employed
at the hospital she met the man who became the father of her
first child. In a short time she left and went to another insti-
tution to work, whither he followed her, declaring that he was
sincerely attached to her, a feeling which later she reciprocated.
When he learned of her condition his attentions ceased, and
he soon eloped with a married woman. Her child, which was

f)remature, was born at the house of her employer and was
ater taken into the home of her stepmother. In a little over
a year, at the age of 23, she again became pregnant. She told
the following story about this second experience. She stated

BAD ENVIRONMENT

that she was out in the rain without an umhrella when a man,
happening to see her predicament, persisted in escorting her
home. He gave her his card and asked her to call him on the
telephone. She refrained from doing so for two weeks. This
nrnn had a good position, was married, and had grown children.
He arranged to have this girl meet him in the city and go to
hotels with him. Their sexual intimacy continued over a
period of some months. Detectives employed by the alleged
father insisted that this girl had been promiscuous and had
solicited on the streets. The man in question, however, made
a financial settlement. This girl maintained that she had no
desire to harm his wife and chUdren. The second child was
Iwrn at a private hospital and was later boarded out by another
agency.

Case No. 1. Causative factors : (a) Bad Environment:
Girl worked as nurse in hospital. No supervision. Father
of child worked in same place, (b) Bad Companions: man
followed girl from one state to another. Deserted her
when pregnant. " Picked up " second father in rain storm,
(c) Sexually Suggestible: Had relations with second father
night she met him. Some question whether girl not promis-
cuous. Lies. Sex -| — f-. Age 22,

Case 2. We have here the case of an Irish girl who emi-
grated to the United States seven years ago. Her mother
died when she was II years old. When the girl came to this
country she left a father and eleven brothers and sisters in
Ireland, who were, as far as is known, in good health. Other
facts concerning her family or her developmental history are
unknown.

The girl stated that she went to school in Ireland until she
was 15, When she first arrived in Boston she did housework
for two years, earning eventually as much as eight dollars a
week. For three years she worked in a laundry and two years
ago learned to be a manicure. She lived during these latter
years in a hall bedroom which was daintily arranged and she
showed much pride in displaying her toilet accessories. It was
evident that she felt that she had grasped opportunities to
better herself since her immigration and was rather proiid of
her occupation. She was an attractive girl of 22, with a de-
cidedly emotional nature. Her employers spoke well of her
and said that she was willing, honest, and moral. Apparently
she had verj' few associates, although her intimate friend,
with whom she Lived, had warned her not to allow the alleged

40 THE UNMARRIED MOTHER

father to be too familiar with her. This friend told the visitor
that the girl in question had never been lax morully and had
never had much to do with men.

This girl had known the father only a few months ; he had
immediately begun to urge her to have intercourse with him.
For three months she withstood these demands. When he
promised that if she became pregnant he would marry her,
she gave her consent. The alleged father admitted that he
used some force on the girl at first, but that after this inter-
course took place frequently. He was a married man with
two children, and his wife was suing him for non-support. He
was 24 years old, an electrician, and earned a fair wage. When
he heard of the girl's predicament he suggested that she have
an abortion performed. Later he disappeared. In explana-
tion of her condition this girl said," I must have been crazy. The
whole thing seems like a dream. I should die if my family found
out about my condition." She appeared to be very proud that
she had resisted the temptation to have an abortion performed
and looked upon her pregnancy and confinement as a burden
that she ought to bear. At the close of the record the child
was unborn, and the gir! had disappeared. It was rumored
that she and the alleged father had eloped.

Ca.se No. 2. Causative Factors; (a) Bad Environment:
Parents in Ireland. Girl lived in lodgings since 17. (b)
Bad Home Conditions: No family control, (c) Bad Com-
panions. Man promised marriage. Already married.
Deserts. Sex +. Age 22.

Vicious Neighborhood. The influence of a vicious neigh-
borhood upon a girl or young woman subjected to it is probably
apparent to all who have given the matter any consideration.
No one would deny the very evident contamination produced
upon adolescents by the proximity of saloons, and still more
by their contact with the inhabitants of houses of prostitution.

In certain localities the youth of the commimity congregate
to watch the arrival and departure of automobiles bearing
intoxicated men and women to particularly notorious caffes.
There can be little doubt but that the standards of the
young people of Imth sexes arc lowered by such examples as
they see on the part of people of wealth and of what seems to
be social standing. A single center of this sort may become
the source of a community's coDtamination. As has been

itioned, it is not only the fact that the child conies to
take the saloon or the brothel for granted as an integral part
of life, which is to be deplored, but the positive influence of those
individuals who frequent such places must have a distinctly
evil effect upon such girls us grow up in the neighborhood.

In many instances a floating population of " unemployables "
fills the various saloons and makes the near-by streets dan-
gerous for girls and young women. The men who form this
flotsam are often well-confirmed drug habitues, and under
the influence of alcohol less than ever responsible for
their actions. There are also, in such a population, many
individuals, male and female, who are sexual perverts, ex-
hibitionists, and homosexual is ts. Instances occur in which
the approach and the indecent exposure of drunken men must
have a distinctly contaminating influence on the minds of
adolescent girls. The attitude of the individual is often
much influenced by what she sees going on about her,
as is illustrated by the fact that morality frequently means
merely group consent to certain acts. The residt is often
nmilar in the individual's more personal environment. Such
things as seem to her an accepted part of the social structure
cannot but influence her mental attitude. Any one who has
witnessed the emotional shock which a protected young girl
ordinarily sustains when she first becomes conscious of the
practice of sexual intercourse for the sake of flnanciul gain
and of the whole problem of prostitution, will realize that it is
impossible for her to retain exactly the same standards in
regard to the sex act that .she once had. It is not impbed that
such knowledge must invariably lower the inhibitions of a
normally constituted girl, but an attitude towards sex questions
13 thus begun which frequently proves to be unfortunate.

Many of the girls studied in these cases have stated that they
felt sexual intercourse to l>e allowable as long as pregnancy
did not follow, or that Ihey considered the only difficulty to
arise in case the man refused to marry them should they " get
into trouble." Again it is often said, in excuse for youthful
promiscuity, " Why, everybody does it," Such an attitude

42 THE UNMARRIED MOTHER

is frequently the result of an eavironment which imposes a
false standard upon the minds of those who are subjected to
its influence, an attitude which is often the immediate ante-
cedent of sexual indulgence on the part of many young girls,
who, without the inhibitions produced by good example, find
these years particularly difficult and dangerous.

For a more detailed consideration of the above conditions
one may quote the report of the Chicago Vice Commission in
regard to the influence of immorality in a given community
upon the children inhabiting such a section, It seems un-
necessary to draw attention to the fact that the conditions
existing in Chicago are typical of many of our large cities-
According to this report : " It is a notorious fact that many
children of all ages are compelled by poverty or circumstances
to live within or in close proximity to the restricted districts
in Chicago. Because of this, these children are subjected to
great moral dangers. They become familiar with scenes of
debaueherj' and drunkenness imtil they are careless and in-
different. Their moral standards are lowered to such an extent
that it is difficult to fill tlieir minds with wholesome thoughts
and high ideals. In addition to the presence of prostitutes
near the homes, the children are in danger from vicious men
and boys who frequent such districts." '

This report also draws attention to the results of prostitu-
tion in residential sections, to the evil influences of disorderly
saloons when in proximity to the schools, and to the contam-
inating influence of vicious and degenerate men. In regard
to the latter : " The court records show that vicious and de-
generate men seek out young boys and girls and fill their minds
with filthy and obscene suggestions and teach them lewd and
unnatural practices. Some of these men frequent the neigh-
borhood of schoolhouses and distribute obscene cards and lit-
erature. They go to public parks and take liberties with in-
nocent children. . . . Within a period of two weeks the courts
tried three men on the charge of perverting the morals of young
girls. One offender was seventy-five years of age. He was
f'TbeSockt Evil in Chicago". Chicago, IDll, p. 237.

BAD ENVIRONMENT 43

found guilty of trying to seduce ten or twelve girls between
the ages of eight and twelve. One man was in the habit of

loitering about the School on the South Side. He drew

obscene pictures which he gave to little girls who went to the
school. He also offered them money and had ruined four or
five girls before he was indicted."

The influence of a vicious neighborhood becomes so apparent
when one takes into consideration conditions similar to those
quoted above, that there is little surprise possible at the fact
that many a young girl has been so accustomed to immorality
from an early age, both within her home and her immediate
neighborhood, that she falls into habits of sexual laxness without
having to overcome the standards which more fortunate girls
possess. One finds here a striking indication of the subtle
influence of example and community ideab, or lack of ideals,
upon the minds of adolescent girls. A girl who has been con-
scious of the most debasing aspect of human nature since first
she began to think at all, can hardly be expected to face the
problem of personal behavior with a correct sense of ethical
values. That many girls are subjected to this environment
and yet prove themselves virtuous is true. Action is always
the result of the interplay of environment and inherent traits,
and a girl who possesses underlying moral vitality may
undergo such evil influences without succumbing. Such a
girl, however, often " has her whole moral nature griUed,
harrowed and destroyed by tests and stri-jis that are well-nigh
overwhelming." '

The following cases Illustrate the condlUoos to which refer-
ence has been made.

Case 3. This colored girl gave birth to an illegitimate child
At the age of 17, she herself being illegitimate. She is in good
physical condition and a mental examination was not considered
necessary. Her father died when she was 18 months old,
whereupon her mother remarried, her stepfather, a small printer
by trade, being considered respectable and kind. The mother
is a good sensible woman who finds it necessary to work out
during the day.

'Woods and Keoned;; "Young Worldog GtiU", Boston, IBIS, p. 100.

THE UNMARRIED MOTHER

This family lived in a suburban town until the girl was 18,
whereupon they moved nearer the city. The move seems to
have been the beginning of the girl's troublesoraeness, for from
now on we find her associating with a group of loose girls.
The home, although in a poor neighborhood, was neat and
clean. The chief fact, however, seems to be that the girl
"[luckly outgrew the family control, owing to the necessity
if the mother's working out. She soon had little knowledge
of where her daughter was. The girl was given a chance in
her stepfather's printing office and did some housework, but she
seems to have been lazy and unwilling to work long. At home
she was unreliable and abused her paralytic half-sister. She
was sent to an organization giving institutional care at 17 and
was kept there only one month, it being foimd that she was
pregnant. Her child, which was born after she was placed
out. lived only a few months, and it is questionable whetlier ita
death was not a relief to its mother. From now on until the
age of 41 we find the girl doing fairly well, although she is still
low-minded. She finally married a widower, although some
say she is merely living with him. There is a rumor that she
and this man have enSced young girls into an empty tenement
for immoral purposes.

This girl says that at the age of 15 she figured in a well-
known case of abuse by a colored fakir. Since that time she
had been promiscuous. It was impossible to establish paternity.
Case No. 3. Causative factors : (a) Bad Environment:

Came to bad environment at 18. Up to then well behaved.

(6) Bad Home Conditions: No control. Girl's father dead.

Mother works out. (e) Bad Companions: Associated

with bad group of girb at IS. Abused by negro fakir at 15.

Sex + + . Age 17.

Case 4. In this instance an American girl of 19. healthy
and apparently normal, had Hved in the country with her par-
ents until within the last six months. This community afforded
few recreational opportunities, and the girl was often very
lonely while faiUng to use her leisure to good advantage. She
had laiown tiie alleged father from her childhood, and although
the families were friendly her parents did not approve of him
and forbade her to associate with him. Hence she met him
clandestinely and after six years of friendship had only recently
allowed him to have intercourse with her.

Her environment was undesirable, as the village became a
low-class resort in .summer, while throughout the year tliere
were evidences of poverty aud geueral stagnation about the

BAD ENVmONMENT

place. The parents were much respected in the community
where they had lived for years, and this girl frankly admitted
that her parents were in no way to blame for her delinquencies.
She had finished grammar school several years ago, graduating
with a good record. She did not go to work immediately,
but helped her mother at home, reading cheap novels and other
sensational literature in her leisure hours. The alleged father
seems to have been her only companion. A year and a half
ago she was employed at the summer hotel in the village, and
after coming to the city worked as a waitress, earning about
eight doUars a week, including her meals. When she discovered
her pregnancy, she went south to visit her only sister, and the
child was bom there. Leaving the child with her sister, she
returned to the north and boartled with on aunt of poor repu-
tation, who lived in questionable surroundings. Within two
months the sister's husband tired of having the child in the
house, and it was returned to its mother's home. This girl
first came to the attention of a charitable society when a south-
em agency applied to them for help in locating the young mother.
Her appearance gave one the impression that she was a dis-
reputable type, with her painted cheeks and flashy clothes,
but she was found to have a surprisingly good point of view.
She showed a real sense of shame about her predicament and
definitely promised to assume the care of her boy, for whom
she had a strong attachment. She was found to be working
in a restaurant situated in a poor section of the city and it was
felt that with her suggestible temperament andshallow.pleasure-
to\-ing tendencies, her present employment was an undesirable
influence In her life.

At first this girl stated that she was married, but later con-
fessed that her schoolboy friend was the father of her child and
that during the last six years they had gradually become much
attached to each other. She said that she bad expected mar-
riage mitil within a few weeks of her confinement, when he had
deserted her. She declared that she had never had intercourse
w"ith any other man and only with the alleged father for a short
time. When interviewed, this young man of 19 admitted
the paternity and was willing to marry the giri in question and
support the child. At our last report marriage was being con-
templated hy these young people.

Case No. 4. Causative factors: (a) Bad Environmenl:
Moved from lonely section to bad locality in city. (6) Rec-
reational Disadvantages: Girl not allowed to bring man to
bouse. Met him clandestinely. Sex +. Age 19,

M THE UNMARRIED MOTHER

Living Conditioas Contaminating;. All that has been said
under the heading of " Vicious Neighborhood " applies with
greater emphasis to situations in which a girl grows up under
contaminating living conditions, and it is felt that the matter
has beep dealt with both here and in the chapter on " Bad
Home Conditions." It would be needless to go into detail
again on this matter, and the following case should suffice
as an example of such contamination.

Case 5- We have here the case of a woman of American
parentage who gave birth to an illegitimate child when 29
years of age. She does not seem to be over-intelligent, but
there is no e\'idence which woidd lead us to consider her men-
tally abnormal. Her father, an employee on a country estate,
seems to be perfectly reliable, and her mother has a reputation
of being good-hearted and honest. The fraternity includes
two sisters and two brothers who are evidently doing well.

This family occupy a large and comfortable horae on the out-
skirts of the city, where they enjoy an enviable reputation. The
woman in question has been employed in a shoe shop at a dollar
and a quarter a day, and because her health was not good her
parents, who were always considerate of her condition, sent her
to South Carolina for two months to recuperate. It seemed
to them that she was in danger of tuberculosis.

While living at a small hotel in the South this woman met a
man of 35 who was a nurse in charge of a wealthy invalid.
There were very few people in the hotel, and she and this man
were thrown together continually, with the result that they
had intercourse and that she became pregnant. She showed
a peculiar point of view because of the fact that she was un-
willing to tell the man in question of her condition for fear that
he would consider her " bad." The child died at the end of
six months, the woman's father never knowing of its exMf^nce.
Case No. 5. Causative factors : (a) Bad Encironment:
Girl left good home and went South for health. In same
hotel with man. Lonesome. He was considerate, ib)
Physical: Not strong. Weak lungs. Sex +. Age 29.

Lived with Low Standard Relatives. In cases where for
some reason it has been necessary for a girl to take up her abode
with low standard relatives it becomes apparent that she ia
subjected to influences similar in their effect to those of " Bad

BAD ENVIRONMENT

^KBome Conditions." Frequeatly such a situation is evea worse
than the one referred to because such relatives are wanting
in that element of affection and oversight which exists on the
part of almost all parents, if only to a slight degree in some
instances.

Cases exist in which a father has refused to pay his daughter's
board, and she has consequently been shifted from one relative
to another, being unwelcome in each place. One can readily
imagine that such a condition frequently produces a lack of
control and supervision on the part of such relatives, not to

^w mention the more positive effect of abuse and exploitation.

^H The situation appeals to the imagination so readily that it

^V has been thought wise to give only the following case in illus-
tration.

Case 6. This colored girl had her illegitimate child when
she was 14 years of age. She is in extremely good health but
shows some mental dullness, although there has been no psy-
chological examination. The father, a teamster, is alcoholic
and has been arrested for non-support. His wife, who drank
and kept bad company, died when the girl in question was 12
and was buried by the Overseers. There is one son described
as a prize fighter and a colored " sport " who drinks and takes
no interest in the family.

The girl was boarded in seven places, only one of which could
be called respectable, the homes being poor and ill kept and the
various relatives with whom she lived exercising little or no
control. Her position in these families was not made easier
by the fact that her father frequently refused to pay her board.
In one sense slie cannot be said to have had a home. Her
developmental period includes a history of measles. At 11
she was in very good health and weighed 113 pounds; she
was fn* from gonorrhcea. She had reached tlie eighth grade
in school and had a record for good attendance. It was during
these years of constant shifting and poor supervision that we
note her unfortunate companionship, which was really a causa-
tive factor in her delinquency. She was out on the streets at
lught and was allowed to do as she pleased, frequenting the
moving-picture theaters and being seen with dissolute Greeks
at restaurants. At 13 this girl was committed to an organiza-
tion giving institutional care on the charge of " lewd and las-
civious conduct", being at the time five months pregnant.

49 THE UNM.VRRIED MOTHER '

While here she was untruthful and difficult, remaining only
two months. She was placed out at board, and her child
wa^ bom after normal labor, weighing over eight pounds.
One now notes the beginning of improvement on the part of
this girl, who became a well-behaved house girl, showing little or
no interest in men. She evinced a mixture of childishness and
maturity, developing some sense of responsibility. During this
time she had an attack of bronchitis which developed into
an infection and nearly proved fatal. She is now considered
a fairly capable helper. She shows an interest in music and
reading.

This girl, before commitment at 13, was intimate with a

colored boy with whom she freq^uently spent the noon hour.

She also acknowledges relation with many boys whom she did

not know. She did not succeed in mentioning any one who

could have been the father of her child. Her present good

behavior is stimulated by a desire to retain the care of her child.

Case No. 6. Causative factors : (a) Bad Environment:

Father boarded girl in various poor places. Low-class

relatives. (b) Bad Home- Conditions : Mother dead.

Father alcoholic. No supervision, (c) Bad Companions :

Early associates bad. (<f) Educational Disadvantages:

Frequently moved about. Sex -|--|-. Age 14.

Employment Conditions Contaminating. Much can be
said of the evil influence of certain conditions of employment
upon girls and young women in the trades, investigators fre-
quently underestimating the complexity of the forces operating
upon those engaged in industrial activities. Many of the cases
in this study deal with young women who have been em-
ployed in candy, cracker, and box factories, who thus represent
the lowest paid occupations open to women. Various inves-
tigations, such as those of the minimum wage commissions, have
taken into consideration the contaminating conditions existing
in such low-paid occupations, and studies have been made of
the evil influence of fatigue upon girls and women.

That there is a connection between long hours and fatigue
and a lax standard of morality, is brought out by the Chicago
Vice Commission, which emphasizes the general loss of moral
restraints, saying: "The dangers attendant upon excessive
working hours are shown also by the moral degeneration which

BAD ENVIRONMENT 49

■rjiesults from over-fatigue. Laxity of moral fiber follows physi-
1 cal debility. When the working day is so long that no time is

I left for a minimum of leisure and recreation, relief from the
strain of work is often sought in alcoholic stimulants. In ex-
treme cases the moral breakdown leads to mental degeneracy
and criminal acts." ' It will be easily understood that such
conditions producing a demand for intense excitement, as a
normal contrast to the monotony of the day, make the indi-
vidual particularly prone to the need of stimulants. Such
indulgence is frequently associated with the beginning of a
life of sexual laxity.

One must not overlook the direct influence of low-grade
operatives upon the young girl just entering industrial life.
According to Woods and Kennedy,' " The men and women
with whom the factory operative is brought into touch are a
critical factor in determining the fitness of any particular
form of work. ... In many places girls work side by side with
or in the near vicinity of men. They sometimes become care-

' less in their conduct, slack in manners and conversation, im-
modest in dress, and familiar to a degree that lays them open to
danger. In many factories, too, girls of loose or even bad morals
work in close association with children just starting their in-
dustrial career. Among these there are always some who
deliberately endeavor to win others to their own practices."

Turning to the conditions which exist in department stores,
we find the girl whose days are spent in this employment con-
fronted with certain very distinct temptations. According
to the Chicago Vice Commission,* these temptations appear
in the following guises :

The procuress, who frequently appears before the girl's

I counter, and complimenting her on her good looks, asks her to
come to her flat for dinner or to spend Sunday.

2. The " cadet." This boy or man can be seen any evening

I near the employees' exit of the department stores, with the

' "The Social Evil in Chioigo ", p. 200.

• Wowla and Kenneily : op. cii-, p. 23.

• '■The Social EvU in Chicago ", p. 813.

THE UNMARRIED MOTHER

avowed purpose of making the acquaintance of some attractive
girl.

3. Married men. Married men are among the worst of-
fenders against salesgirls. A complaint against their atten-
tions by the girl in question b often likely to result in her

4, Men employers, salesmen, and women. " A certain
floorwalker had been in the habit of taking girls out. He waa
continually harassing the girls who did not accept his invita-
tions."

6. Voluntary, There are, of course, a targe number of
girls engaged in voluntary prostitution, particularly among
those who find their wages insufficient. The following incident
is typical of this group. " Paulette (a prostitute), in speaking
further of her e:q)erience in department stores, says : ' One
can't live down-town; that is no district for a girl to live in;
she might as well be here. If a girl in a store wears soiled cloth-
ing, they will tell her about it. You have to work in a depart-
ment store for years and years and years before you get any tiling.
While in the store I heard of a case of a good girl getting $6 a
week. She asked for more money. She said she couldn't
live on that. The man said, ' Can't you get somebody to keep
you ? ' " '

Attention should be drawn to the serious problem connected
with employment agencies which sometimes make the practice
of sending young girls and women to houses of prostitution,
disreputable hotels, and fiats, as servants. It will be readily
understood that once in such an environment, the nest step is
not difficult.

Office work has its advantages and its disadvantages for girls
and young women, because they are thrown into direct relation
with a few people with whom they quickly get on terms of inti-
macy, the men often proving themselves " a httle too human." '

Among the trades most beset with danger for the young and
frequently ignorant girl may be mentioned employment in

> "The Social Evil in Chicago", p. «13.
•^ • ,lWop<ls^rid Kenncdt-, op. eiL

1
I

BAD ENVIRONMENT

^VhoteLs and restauraDts. The Juvenile Protective Association
of Chicago made a study in 1913 of girls employed iu these
occupations.' Fifty Chicago hotels were investigated, includ-
ing those considered first-class, second and third class, as well
as twelve veTy low-class institutions. It was found that in
the first-class hotels the chambermaids were Irish and German,
in the low-class houses they were colored or indigent Americans,
and that in almost all of the hotels, the kitchen and laundry
work was done by Poles. These are chosen because they come
from strong peasant stock, and are able to do a great deal of
hard work, because tliey are thorough in what they do, or
are willing to work for low wages, and are very submissive.
Furthermore, they are ignorant of the laws of this country,
and are easily imposed upon and never betray their superiors,
no matter what they see.

The highest wages go to the chambermaids and expert
ironers, these girls receiving from $16 to $18 a month in a good
hotel, as well as their hoard and lodging. A laundry or kitchen
girl receives from $14 to $18 a month, including her room and
meals. Aside from low wages, the accommodations provided for
the employees are in many instances of a very inferior quahty.
The girls are often expected to eat the " come-backs " from the

I guests" meals, which are only too often served in a room that is
poorly ventilated, and under conditions by no means cleanly.
Sleeping accommodations of girls working in hotels were almost
always inadequate. Most of the hotels violate the city or-
dinance which requires four hundred cubic feet of air for each
occupant of a room. Only three hotels were found in which
the sleeping accommodations could be considered fair. In most
instances two girls were made to sleep in the same bed, with
poor ventilation and a lack of the bare necessities. In all
of the houses visited, the girls complained of the long hours and
the constant fatigue, many of tliem being so tired at the end of
the day's work " that they did not take the trouble to undress."
This report considers the physical hardships endured by these
' Bofren, L. dcK. : "The Girl EmployedioHotd^jiiDdBcsUuraDU", Chicago,

girls as infinitely lighter than the moral dangers to which they
are exposed. It is evident that a girl entering hotel life is
usually moral, but it is equally evident that she does not remain
so. Many of the housekeepers of the hotels visited advised
the investigator not to allow any young girl to enter this occupa-
tion. The bad conduct of the guests is connived at by the man-
agement, and of course no oversight is kept over the girl during
her off hours. Attractive chambermaids receive all kinds of
invitations, and so slight is the opportunity for recreation
which most of the girls have that she is frequently dependent
on some man for assistance in enjoying what little time she
can take from her work. A great grievance is overwork and
constant fatigue, a condition which makes a young woman
peculiarly hable to temptation.

The association which conducted this investigation recom-
mends inspection of the employment agencies established by
the State, and a staff of workers who will look into the employ-
ment conditions under which these girls are working in hotels.
The largest proportion of girls whose sexual habits are lax are
impelled to such behavior, first because of lack of wholesome
recreation ; secondly because of immoral surroundings ; third,
because of their lonely condition and the indifference of people
toward them, and fourth because their work leaves them so
tired that they are willing to take any means of recreation that
may be offered. The association also advises a Registration
Bureau where girls who come from the country may leave
their names, and where they would find individuals willing to
give them advice and to look into their employment and rec-
reation. A further recommendation is the extension of social
service work to hotels by means of Welfare Secretaries whose
duty it would be to understand the life and the peculiar temp-
tations of these girls and to offer them friendly help and counsel.
There can be little doubt but that the conditions which are
thus revealed in Chicago are duplicated in many of our larger
cities, and that the employment of hotel work itself, because
of its very nature, is one which is singularly dangerous to the
overworked and ignorant girl.

BAD ENVIRONMENT

^V The Association referred to considers employment in a res-
taurant almost as difficult as that of a girl who works in a hotel.
Seventy-two restaurants in Chicago were visited, and it appears
that the majority of waitresses hud about the same amount of
schooling as has the average working woman, and that they usu-
ally live in a furnished room and get their meals in the restaurants
where they are employed. These girls became waitresses be-

» cause it does not require any skill, because they get their meals
away from home, and because there is a certain amount of
excitement in the work, which brings them in contact with a
large number of people. There is the usual complaint that the
work is very hard, and that a girl can only stand it for a few
years, the constant carrying of heavy trays and the long hours
on one's feet causing great fatigue. In only a few cases were
women employed in restauranLs where liquor was sold, those
who are thus engaged being looked dowu upon by the others.
As is usual in various occupations, attractive appearance is a
girl's best qualification.

Again, it was found in Chicago that many of these girls had
bad tittle training at home, and that most of them had left,
either because they could not remain without irritation, or
because they lived in the country and wanted to come to the
city. Frequently they realize their future limitations, and are
desirous of enjoying themselves while youth and attractiveness
last. These girls may be di\'idcd into two groups : those who
work all day and are called " three-meal " girts, and those who
work part of the day and are called " one- or two-meal " girls.
Almost alt of the restaurants investigated worked their em-
ployees at high tension. A considerable number disregarded
the Illinois 10-hour Law, although the majority observed it.
The largest number of hours worked by " full-time " waitresses
was found to be thirteen ; the lowest six. In sixteen out of
seventy-two restaurants they were obliged to work on Sundays.
The longest period worked by " part-time " girls was five hours,
and the shortest three and one-hatf hours.

The striking fact in connection with the living conditions of
these ffih is the large number who are without homes, although

THE UNMARRIED MOTHER

many of the " one-meal " girls are married women who take
this opportunity of earning extra money wlnle their husbands
are away at work. In the seventy-two restaurants investigated,
the steady workers were paid wages ranging from $6 to 89
per week and board ; twenty-three of the number paid 86 a
week, and thirty-six paid $7. Tlie wages paid the part-time
workers ranged from $3.50 per week to $5. It is interesting
to note that ninety per cent of the waitresses complained of their
occupation, chiefly because of bad health brought on from stand-
ing for so long a period. Some of them complained of the
humiliating position in which they were placed, and of the sug-
gestive remarks made to them by men. Many of them become
lax morally and rely upon a " gentleman friend " for partial
support. Obviously, close contact of this kind between men
patrons of the restaurant and the girl waitresses is likely to pro-
duce an intimacy which is dangerous.

It is further interesting to observe that many of the part-
time workers have other occupations Iwsides that of waitress ;
some study in the evening, either music, stenography, or tel-
ephone operating. Some fill two positions by working in one
place for lunch and in another for dinner, succeeding in earning
more by this means. One manager, for instance, would pay
$3.90 a week for services during the lunch hour, and the same
for the supper hour, while a girl working in the same place
for both these meals would probably only receive $6. Working
in two places in one day abo breaks the monotony of the long
day's work. It is e\'ident that a girl who is employed as a
waitress and studies in the evening is away from home
for a long period of time. Those girls who do only part-time
work and are not married find it verj' difficult to meet their
expenses. One girl when asked how she managed to live, said :
" I live on $3.90? Well. I don't; and I'm not going to kill
myself standing on my feet ten hours a day even to earn more."
Frequently the step to open prostitution is not difficult.

The Juvenile Protective Association of Chicago also advises
the establishmeut of rest rooms where girls working in restau-
rants can recuperate during their off-time, which is usually from

^ AD

BAD EN\TRONMENT

» to five in the afteraoon. Chicago is planning such a res-
taurant, provided nilh a m&troD and fitted up with couches.
In time it is hoped that various classes in domestic science,
etc., will be practicable. A further recommendation is the
abolition of tips.

The following cases should indicate some special details
worthy of consideration.

Case 7- This is the case of an American girl of 27 who ap-
peared to be normal and attractive and applied to a protective
agency for help in the support of her child. For years her
mother had been ill and the young woman had been left to her
own devices, being frequently subjected to many temptations
because of her attractive qualities. She earned her living as
A news girl at a hotel, so that her daily occupation also brought
liter many invitations from young men.

This girl stated that she had been devoted to her mother, and

>w realized that the mother's long continued illness had been a
decided drawback in her development and that in her occupation
the enforced tack of supervision had probably been responsible
for her present difficulty. Her mother died when her daughter
first became pregnant and never knew of her condition. The girl
had attended high school and appeared to be well educated. In
the months previous to her pregnancy she had enjoyed many
luxuries provided by the men mentioned above. Later it was
felt that she had shown much strength of character in giving
up these associates and in going to live in a modest suite with a
respectable girl friend. With her child for an incentive, she
has lived a decent life for a year and a half. This woman
worked at a summer hotel through her pregnancy, and when
unable to conceal her condition any longer, resorted to a cheap
lodging house where she was fortunate enough to find a motherly
landlady who cared for and made arrangements for her con-
finement at a good hospital. Her attachnjent for her child
was the strongest force that had ever come into her life, and
she declared that she would never part with him. A year and
a half of struggle and privation left an impression on this
woman's life, biit she was found to be breaking down nervously
when she made application to the charitable agency for guidance.

The alleged father was an attractive man in limited financial
circumstances. When he heard of the woman's pregnancy
he left home. She was too proud to press her need upon his
atteotiou. After more than a year, during which he wat«jied her

58 THE UNMiVRRIED MOTHER

struggles, he willingly married her. Although he had previously
associated with disreputable companions and had been some-
what addicted to drink, friends felt that the marriage would
have a desirable effect upon him. This woman claimed that
she had been much attached to this man and that he had ap-
peared anxious to be with her and had frequently spoken of
marriage to her, although not definitely, because of his small
earnings. She had never received money or expensive presents
from him and in spile of his temporary desertion had retained
her affection for him. At the last report they had married
with the intention of moving to another State with their child.
Case No. 7. Causative factors: (a) Bad Ent'iTonrmnt:
News girl in hotel. (5) Bad Home Conditimis: Mother in
sanitarium. No control, (c) Bad Companions: Flashy
group of men. Sex, Age 27.

Cose 8. Among those whose pregnancy resulted from
contaminating employment conditions is this woman of 31
who became pregnant by a married man for whom she was
keeping bouse. Her father, who bore an excellent reputation,
died some years ago of heart trouble, and his wife succumbed
to tuberculosis. The fraternity includes two married sisters
and a brother who are doing well.

This woman lived in a neighboring State until she reached
the age of 12, whereupon the family moved into this] vicinity.
Th^ were always in comfortable circumstances and were
considered respectable by those who came in touch with
them ; in fact there are several indications of culture and good
taste. The woman in question, who seems to be unusually in-
telligent, is described as possessed of " the artistic tempera-
ment with its accompanying impracticalities." Physically
she is anemic. She attended the district school until she was
12 years old and went as far as the second year of the high
school, where she did well in drawing and music and bore an
excellent reputation. From there she went to a conservatory,
securing a teacher's certificate four years later as a music teacher.
From 18 to 28 she supported herself by teaching and became
active in church work, being on various committees in her con-
gregation. In appearance this woman is of medium height and
possessed of an attractive personality. From what can be
learned, there is a lack of decision on her part in regard to her
plans for the future, with a tendency to follow her own judgment
without experience. She is perfectly willing to do all that she
can to protect the father of her children from notoriety and hep

BAD ENVIRONMENT 67

lily from disgrace, but refuses to give up her twins, believing
tliat it ia her duty to support them at any cost.

This woman has known the father of her two children for
several years, and when his frivolous wife deserted him and his
children she agreed to help him in the emergency and so kept
house for him. She claims that his behavior towards her had
always been correct until she became an inmate of his home,
but that after her arrival here they fell into an intimacy which
resulted in her pregnancy. She feels that it would be a mistake
for her to marry hira, because she is certain that he is still
attached to this wife and that no happiness would come to her
through marriage. The man in the case, an optician 35 years
old, a well-to-do church member, is not willing to do much
more than help 6nancially with the children. He expressed
himself as willing to pay two dollars and a half a week, the
children to be placed in a boarding home.

Case No. 8. Causative factors : (a) Bad Environment:

Woman lived as housekeeper for man whose wife bad

deserted him. Sex. Age 31.

UacongenJal Surroundings. It is not seldomthat mental stress
is produced In the mind of a girl or young woman by the fact
that her surroundings are inadequate for her needs, and the
result is frequently an impulsive attachment to some man
which may end in pregnancy. That such might be the case for
instance with a girl living in a rural section, deprived of all
of the satisfaction to which she had been accustomed during
a former life in the city, is easily imaginable. Again there may
arise a situation where a girl who has distinct intellectual
capacities may find in her surroimdings but little opportunity
for expression. In both instances there is likely to exist an
element of dissatisfaction .strong enough to make it probable
that the girl will grasp eagerly at the slightest chance of grati-
fying her star\'ed interests. This condition often manifests
itself in some seemingly unrelated action. A girl may run
away from home with no definite mtentions, simply because
her home conditions are uncongenial. She may again turn
to the first person who offers her any affection in order to fill
that side of her nature which under certain conditions the
family life fails to satisfy. It is under such circumstances that

58 THE UNMARRIED MOTHER

normal desires, not being normally expressed, have produced
a mental state directly causative of sexual laxness resulting
pregnancy.
The following case i.

illustrative of this condition.

Case g. This American girl was adopted when she was two
weeks old by a respectable couple living in a small New England
village, who gave her as many advantages as they could. The
home was comfortable, although devoid of social opportunities
of a normal kind. When about 20 years old she began to re-
ceive the attention of several older men, one of them, who was
married, becoming the father of her child.

Little is known of this girl's family except that she was the
youngest of ten children, and that her mother had been in such
unfortunate circura stances as to be unable to take care of her
daughter. The girl developed normally, was never wayward
and was considered obedient and truthful. Her father died when
the girl was 17, leaving his wife and daughter in comfortable cir-
cumstances. She had attended school regularly and had com.-
pleted the grammar grades, where she excelled in arithmetic, fail-
ing, however, in her entrance examinations to the high school.
Her activities in the small town in which she lived centered
around the church where she was a leader among the young
people. According to her minister, the girl was respected by
every one because of her self-sacrificing spirit. She once walked
four miles to a funeral, fearing that no one else would go. When
this girl became pregnant, she kept her condition secret for four
months in an attempt to save her mother the disgrace, and later
told a story of assault so \'ividly that all who were interested in
her welfare accepted it as true. She repeated this story a great
many times without variation, exhibiting no small amount of
cleverness in doing so. Temperamentally this young woman
seemed incapable of very deep feeling, manifesting no strong
affection for any one save her mother. Her child was bom at
a private maternity hospital, and the girl, who soon succeeded
in overcoming the criticism of the people of the town, refused
to give it in adoption.

In an effort to reduce the amount of criticism directed against
her. she pretended that she had been the victim of an assault.
Occasionally it had been her custom to help with the house
cleaning of the neighbors and at one time while employed in a
schoolhouse she claims that she was assaulted by the janitor,
a man of (Jl. After much pressure the girl broke down and
confessed that the father of her child was a married man 40

BAD ENVIRONMENT S9

years of age who had iiianaRed her mother's farm since her
father's death. The alleged father was a prosperous man of
excellent reputation in the community, deliljerate and strong-
willed, and quite capable of influencing this young girl into
illicit relations with him. She had known both him and his
wife for a long time, frequently going over his milk route with
him, with his wife's consent, and often having intercourse
with him on such occasions. The father, however, claimed
that she had been promiscuous and named two other men. At
the close of this record the question of paternity had not been
definitely settled. The girl and her child are reported as do-
ing well in her mother's home. It is felt that the background
in this case lay in the fact that living as this girl did in a rural
section without the normal social life of a more populous com-
munity and deprived of any companionship with young men, she
was particularly open to the attentions of this married man.

Case No. 9. Causative factors : (a) Bad Environment:
Girl an adopted child. living in rural community. Few
young men friends, (b) Recreatiimal Disadvantages: Little
opportunity for normal enjoyment, (c) Physical: Hyster-
ical type. Sex +. Age iO.

CHAPTER IV
Bad Companions

Bad companions — Contaminating influence of groups — Bad effect
of individuab — 111 success of institutional treatment — Age of
companions.

Bad Companions. It has not been deemed necessary to divide
this chapter on " Bad Companions " into different paragraphs
descriptive of various kinds of bad associates, and consequently
there appear under this general heading all of those cases in
which the fact of bad companions seems to be the prime causa-
tive factor. It should not be necessary to enumerate the many
ways in which one individual may have a formative influence
upon another, particularly at an early age.

The Contaminating Influence of Groups. The influence of
such companions involves the whole question of group psy-
chology and the degree to which one individual may be moved
by several others with whom he or she is in close contact. Of
great Importance is the contagious clement liberated by collective
activity. There are many instances in which a single individual
has proved herself so suggestible to her immediate personal
environment as to enter into misconduct which would never
have suggested itself under ordinary conditions. It is only
too evident that this influence operates on boys and girls,
causing one individual to " take color " from others with whom
he or she associates. A strong personality may dominate
such a group, but there are frequently instances to be found in
which a girl t>egins a career of sexual delinquency at the instiga-
tion and suggestion of those with whom she associates.

Cases appear in which two girls and two young men, for in-

BAD COMPANIONS

stance, one of the girls perhaps ah^ady promiscuous, have
started on some holiday or picnic. It is then that the girl
already initiated into sexual irregularity, by accepting the
advances of her companion, throws the other into a situation
where it is difficult for her to refuse consent. Many are un-
aware to what extent a false standard of sportsmanship may
lead a girl to her undoing. The whole tradition which calls
upon each individuul to enter into the spirit of the occasion forces
many a girl to give in rather than be found uncongenial.
Particularly unfortunate is such a situation when the girl her-
self finds it difficult enough to withstand the advances of young
men without the weakening influence of group association, for
it is often just such girls who are then supplied with the extra
impetus which their inhibitions now find it impossible to with-
stand. In another place attention is drawn to the fact that the
sex ethics of communities may be quite different so that a girl
may think that action to I>e right which is accepted by the
majority. Many believe, for instance, that a girl is not cul-
pable unless she accepts money in return for her consent or
has intercourse with difi^erent men. Again, the period preceding
marriage is often considered one in which sexual intimacy is
permissible, and misfortune comes only when a young man
refuses to marry Ihe girl who is pregnant by him.

The Bad Effect of Individuals. Attention has been drawn to
the evil effect which single individuals may exert upon othera
in relation to sexual delinquency. Such keen interest often
exists on the part of an older girl in introducing a younger one
into bad sex practices that the conclusion seems warranted that
many individuals possess a trait which takes satisfaction in
the moral and physical contamination of another. It would be
interesting to study the mental processes of a jjerson, for in-
stance, who takes delight in teaching a young child the use of
morphine or some other drug, removed as is his satisfaction
from the field of sense at least. Perhaps less difficult to under-
stand is that trait, existing in many, which will not pjermit inno-
cence to continue in its company, and which takes delight in
intfoducing an immature child into the depths of sexual perver-

e«

THE UNMARRIED MOTHER

sions. It must not be forgotten that this may be related
to a. sadistic tendency in an older individual which finds
satisfaction in the infiiction of even such a subtle degree
of pain as is involved in robbing a feUow being of his or
her moral innocence. In many instances young girls in these
cases have suffered an initiation into bad sex practices through
older p)er8on3 of tJieir own sex, a situation which it is difficult
to prevent because it is often almost impossible for parents to
exercise anything like a strict supervision over their daughter's

The student is
frequently brought face to face with the tragic failure of attempts
at reformation by the means of institutional care. Many a
girl has testified that the first ideas that she has had in regard
to bad sex practices have been given her by inmates of an
institution where she was sent in order that improvement might
be effected in her. Those who are not intimately connected
with such organizations are frequently unaware of the danger
incurred by a girl, not yet confirmed in habits of delinquency,
who is thus forced into the contagion of an ungraded institution.
The public has been so blind in regard to this matter that it
insists upon sending ^rls and young women t« reformatories
where reformation is rendered very difficult because of the State's
unwillingness to expend upon this part of our correctional system
the financial appropriations which would enable them to be
adequately constructed and supervised. Not only b it folly
to expect the reformation of a feeble-minded girl, but it in
equally unwise to place her in close contact with a girl of
normal mentality whose behavior we are attempting to im-
prove. The feeble-minded girl may , prove to be a positive
source of moral and physical contamination, often taking the
active part in teaching bad practices to a less vicious com-
panion. ^Tien one recognizes the tremendous amount of
mental imagery suggested by the gossip and conversation,
which take place in an institution, coupled with the fact
that the girls in such a situation find no normal emotional
outlet through dancing and other forms of association with

I
1

BAD COMPANIOKS

^B'boys and young men, it is not difBcuJt to imagine the large

^^ amount of bad sex practices and homosexual relationships which

may go on within such walls. Attention should be drawn

to the necessity of separating well-defined groups in iiistitu-

■ tions, as well as to the fact that such an artificial environ-
ment can frequently produce but slight ImprovemeDt in the
character of many an individual.
Ago of Companions. Under the head of " Bad Companions "
men of much older age have been frequently included, and in
one or two instances a man with whom a woman may have lived
for some time outside of marriage is referred to an a " bad com-
panion." The histories, however, have led to the belief, as is
indicated in the appendix on statistics, that in the majority
^_ of cases the difference in ages between the girl and the father of
^K lier child is ordinarily consistent with the range involved in
^HmxubI selection. Those individuals are drawn to each other
^H who are at an age most suited to each other sexually. There
^H are, however, instances in which an older man has exerted
^H an undeniably evil influence on a young child, and there
^^Lis at least one case which is indicative of what seems to
^V point to a common fallacy, based on an unwillingness to recog-
^H nize the possibility of erotic desire on the part of young girls
^H who may be just at the beginning of their adolescence. This is
^H frequently the result of one's unreadiness to aasociate the
^R immature physique of such a girl with the thought of reproduc-
es tioo, and the feeling that there is something almost abnormal
^H in the idea of a thirteen year old girl's giving birth to a
^^K child. Yet the fact remains that there are examples of intimacy
^H eusting between an uncle and a niece, for instance, in which
^B the uncle had been unsuspicious, until it was too late, that his
^H niece's feelings toward him were far from those ordinarily
^H associated with a relative of such close kin. He misunder-
^^m stands the complete nature of a growing girl who is unwilling to
^Hface the fact that the awakening of sex desire often precedes
^B not only a girl's full physical development, hut that it may be
^^Ka part of the conscious life of a very young child without
^H deviating from the line of what may be considered normal.

THE UNMARRIED MOTHER

The other complexities associated with the subject of bad
companions will be brought out in some of the cases which are
submitted. It should be repeated that the forces which are
being considered under this head do not work singly upon the
individual. In only a relatively small number of cases has it
seemed justifiable to consider this factor as of prime impor-
tance, and even in such cases it is almost invariably accompanied
by an inherent weakness on the part of the individual girl or
by bad home conditions. There is slight doubt, however, but
that this cause b a contributing factor of great importance, and
this should be clearly shown iu this and the other cases which
follow.

Case lo. This case is that of a ^1 whose parents were
Russian Jews, Her child was born when she was 17. She
seems fairly intelligent and in good shape physically, and
mental examinatioD was considered unnecessary. The father
is moral and industrious, although handicapped by his inability
to read and write. The mother is equally uneducated, haa
never worked out of the home, suffering from sore eyes, rheuma-
tism, and severe headaches. She has three married daughters
and one son, all of whom have good reputations. She lost two
children in infancy.

The family moved from Russia to London, where they re-
mained eight years, and emigrated to this country when the
gir! in question was 4. They occupy a tenement for which
they pay $15 per month in a crowded section near dance halla
and saloons. Although there are two boys, the home is orderly
and comfortable, and the girl has a room to herself. It cannot
be said that the home influence was in any sense degrading.
The parents, however, were ignorant of American ways and
took little interest in what their daughter did so long as she
brought in money. They did not even know which school she
attended or who her friends were, and they exercised a good deal
of leniency because this girl was the youngest in the family,
the child of their old age. She was not taught to work
or bear responsibility, and little effort was made to develop
her will power or to awaken her ambition. There is nothing
of significance in this girl's antenatal history ; she was weaned
at 18 months and walked at one year, .she had measles at 8,
mumps at 11, and suffered from sore eyes, defective teeth
and vision. During her developmental period she slept poorly

BAD COMPANIONS 65

and had little appetite. Her first menstruation occurred at 13
and continued irregularly, sometimes stopping 3 months or a
year. She was never told sex facta or instructed in personal
hygiene. Her school attendance was irregular, and she was
truant in the fifth grade, repeating grades three, four, and five
because of illness during these years. Her parents were anx-
ious for her to go on with her studies, but she left in
the seventh grade at 14 to go to work, having attained
her best rank in arithmetic and her lowest in history and
geography. Up to this time this girl had l>een fairly con-
tented in her home and thoroughly enjoyed playing games in
the evening with other children or going to the moving-picture
theaters and entertainments with her parents. She began
at this time to seek more freedom and associated with girls of
very questionable character, who cKcrted a formative infiuence
on her whole subsequent life. Comment has been made on the
fact that her parents took no trouble to investigate these friends,
which accounU for the fact that an intimacy with an immoral
girl living in the same building was allowed to grow undis-
turbed, this girl frequently vi.siting the family for two or three
days at a time. From her came all that the girl in question
knew of sex and immorality, and through her she became un-
chaste. From school the subject of this study went to work in
a department store for six months, then in a manufacturing
company from which she was discharged, then back to a series
of department stores, in which she averaged $3.50 a week in
pay. The family took the whole of her wages and gave her no
allowance. In each place in which she worked she seemed to
succeed in attaching herself to the most immoral girls. She
now began to he and steal, pawning the articles and giving the
money to her girl friends who seemed to have exerted a strong
influence over her, During the year previous to her commit-
ment, she worked only at intervals, the family never asking
questions, and she turned in to them the equivalent of her
weekly wages with money made by prostitution. With it all
she does not seem to have been vicious, although she enticed
a girl whom she met to leave home. Her fault lay in being
suggestible to the influence of companions who used her to their
own advantage.

At 15 this girl pretended to be at work when she was really
immoral. In the morning she would meet a girl friend and they
would solicit men in a crowded section of the city, from whom
they secured one to three doUars each. Her arrest foUowed her
delinquency, when with another girl she spent four days with

M THE UNMARRIED MOTHER

two men. As the girls were both under the age of consent, the
men were sentenced to a year each. At the time of her arrest
this girl was shockingly filthy, was suffering from pediculosis,
gonorrhoea, and was pregnant. She bore an eight and a half

Eouud child in good condition, which her parents took into their
ome. The experience seems to have had a salutary effect on
the girl, who is now much improved in behavior. She says,
" I thought because I was the baby of the family, I could do
as I wished. I wouldn't mind any one and went with bad
girls. That is why I am here. I first Began to be bad in the
fifth grade, when I played truant with a girl. Later wc picked
up men. This girl met me every morning and teased me to go
with her instead of to work. Sometimes I did. We went to
men's rooms, and I got some of the money. This girl told me
lots of bad things and was the first to start me wrong, I have
had more fellows in the last two days than I can remember."
When once away for fom- days she had intereourse with six
different men.

Case No. 10. Causative factors: (a) Bad Companions:
Taught immorabty by girl in same tenement and induced
to solicit by girls whom she met at stores, (b) Bad Home
Conditions: Family ignorant of American ways. Did
not investigate girl's friends. Spoiled because youngest
<rf family. Lies. Stole. Sex +++. Age 17.

CHAPTER V

Kecreational Disadvantages

General consideration
trol and reform.

-Demoralizing recreation — Methoda of Con-

I
I

General Conslderatioii. In no single instance has it seemed
justifiable to consider recreatioaai disadvantages as the main
causati\'e factor of a girl's pregnancy, and yet there can be little
doubt in regard to the bad effect of a lack of this kind in the
life of the normal girl. Any one possessed of slight imagina-
tive power will readily understand the connection between an
existence devoid of friends or opportunities of social contact,
a home too strict, where perhaps the young woman is not al-
lowed to entertain her friends, and such impulsive actions as
may result in pregnancy. A complicating factor is due to the
increased cost of entertainment, resulting as it does in many
a young woman's complete reliance upon men for her recrea-
tion, a state which frequently places her hopelessly under
obligation to him. Little has appeared in the materials handled
in this study to lead one to believe that men look upon the
giving enjoyment to their partners as sufficient return for
money so spent, and only too often they expect some personal
letnm, usually a new degree of intimacy.

A further situation arises when we consider the condition of
a girl who lives in an isolated community, where she has but
slight opportunity of normal association with men, and where
the logical result of such unnatural living is the absence of that
proper balance and reserve in relation to men which only ex-
perience develops. Such a girl quickly finds herself beyond
her inhibitory powers should she be accidentally thrown intg

THE UNMARRIED MOTHER

intimate relationship with some man who is at all attractive to
her, and clever enough to make use of her lack of understanding.

Demoralizing Recreation. Of more positive influence are
those recreational opportunities which are in fhemseives demor-
alizing, such as unsupervised dance lialls and the contaminating
influence to be found in some of the motion-picture theaters.
The working girl of to-day is frequently employed at such
arduous tasks that her energy can Snd recuperation only
through highly intensified and exciting recreation, which is
always accompanied by the danger of sexual overstimulation.
Of direct bearing on this point is an investigation conducted
by the Juvenile Protective Association of Chicago in 1916,
which illustrates conditions so typical that it has appeared
worth quoting in some detail.

For nine years this association has been carefully watching
both the physical conditions and the moral influences surround-
ing the theaters, daace halls, cabarets, amusement parks, and
lake boats in and around Chicago. As a result of their obser*
rations a situation has been disclosed which is extremely dan>
gerous for the young people in search of recreation.

Commenting first on the excursion steamers, this report'
states that there are two distinct types of excursion boats
operating on Lake Michigan, a fact that a young girl could
hardly be expected to know. One carries the holiday and
excursion crowds, and the other the regular passengers and
business traffic, the former being patronized by young women
who are professional prostitutes, as well as by men who are
looking for women recruits. There is another tyi>e of young
men and women passengers who are already acquainted, but
are drifting towards the " lover stage " of intimate relation-
ship.

These boats " rarely have more than one police officer on
board whose duty it is to supervise some 2800 peoj»le." Forty
trips were made by investigators, covering six different steam-
ship lines, and it was found that on most of the bouts, roulette

' Bowrn, L. UeK. : "The Itoad to D?aLnictioii Ma'Ic Easy in Chicago",
Cbicttgo, lOItt.

I
I

RECREATIONAL DISADVANTAGES B9

wheels were permitted, the dancing was vulgar and indecent,
liquor was often sold to minors, couples lay around in corapro-

' inising attitudes, and staterooms were rented indiscriminately
to young people, often under 18 years of age.

The Chicago Vice Commission, commenting on the condi-
tions existing on the lake steamers,' gives a. series of typical
instances found, from which may be quoted the following.
" September 3rd, 1910, in^'ealigator left Chicago on the steam-
ship for South Haven, Michigan. In the barroom there were

' about twenty young girls and boys sitting at tables drinking
beer. In stateroom No. 28, two boys and two girls were lying
in the berths, and all were under the influence of liquor. In
room No. 56 were found two men and two girls; one of the
girls appeared to be very drunk. Three boys visited atate-
m No. 51 during the trip. A young woman was in this
room. In stateroom No. 64 a man about sixty-five years old
was sitting at the door reading. Later he was seen in the crowd
talking very earnestly to a young woman. After a while they
went into stateroom No. 64 and locked the door, and did not
appear again until the boat arrived in South Haven."

The Juvenile Protective Association states that one may
naturally assume that an evening spent by young people in
the park, from the very fact that it is out*of-doors and fre-
quented by people of all ages, would be free from the more
open temptation associated with dance halls and cabarets.
This organization found, however, that there seems to be no
public opinion against the most open familiarity on the grounds
of these places, that indecencies are overlooked by a good-na-
liired crowd, that young people, after the excitement of the
evening, are allowed " to go down the most direct road to de-
struction " unchecked. One judge has referred to the prairies
around one of Chicago's parks as " the largest house of assigna-

I lion in the city."

An investigation made of one of these parks during six visits

, revealed many suggestive advertisements and gambling devices,

prls of 18 were drinking to excess, and small children with older

> "The SuvUI EvU in Cbioago". p. m.

THE UNMARRIED MOTHER

people were driDking beer. As it was Carnival Week, dozeiu
of girls were dressed in men's clothes, thus inviting the indigni-
tiea which they received. The ground was covered at mid-
night. The Chicago Vice Commission reports similar condi-
tions, and their investigators submitted data showing the large
number of prostitutes that frequented these places, and their
distinctly lowering inBuence on those young people with whom
they come in contact.

Although the moving-picture theaters are in many cases
distinctly educational, and although much has been done by the
National Board of Censors to improve the subjects of the films,
and by the owners themselves to better the local conditions,
there are of course many instances in which demoralizing influ-
ences exist. One may look upon the moving picture itself
as of distinct value in the educational life of the people, placing
good entertainment within reach of those who are only able
to pay moderately for it. The chief evils connected with some
theaters, however, are due to the physical environment and the
lock of supervision, although in many instances the perform-
ance itself is also of low order. The Juvenile Protective Asso-
ciation, while investigating many of the five and ten-cent
theaters in Chicago, in 1915 made frequent visits to fourteen
theaters, the results of which were found to be very discourage
ing. In only two of these fourteen theaters was the perform-
ance respectable. In eleven out of fourteen children were
present in the audience, in seven advertisements were objec-
tionable, in one they were indecent. In others the dances
were coarse and vulgar, in some of them women posed as
living pictures, while in two women danced almost nude.
The Vice Commission comments on the coarseness of the
vaudeville acts, and states this danger is one that always besets
children congregated without proper supervision. The condi-
tions surrounding some of these theaters frequently exert an
evil influence over young girls, and many men entice girls
into the performance and take liberties with tfiem when the
place is in total or semi -darkness. Worth mentioning are the
immoral features connected with the amateur nights and the

RECREATIONAL DISADVANTAGES

conditions back of the stage. Many young girls have a dra-
matic tendency, and hear of the money that is made so easily by
the profession. Often theaters have dressing rooms, and the
girls, who will do anything in order to get an opportunity of
performing before the public, will spend the night there with
various men connected with the establishment. There
are, of course, many cheap burlesque theaters which have a
demoralizing influence, where extremely suggestive perform-
ances are the rule.

Much has been said of dance halls as an incentive to immoral-
ity, and many surveys have been made in recent years which
tend to confirm the belief that particularly where liquor is sold
in connection with public dances, if licenses are given indis-
criminately, there are likely to be grave consequences. The
Report of the Juvenile Protective Association, quoted above,
considers that the majority of young people dependent upon
public sources for recreation find it most often in public dance
halls. In most of them liquor was sold to young people under
an iniquitous law peculiar to Chicago, which provides that a
special bar permit can be issued by the mayor to any group of
people who call themselves a society organized for " fraternal,
educational or charitable purposes ", and who pay $6 for per-
mission to sell liquor from three o'clock in the afternoon until
three o'clock in the morning. Although such permits are
supposedly given only to responsible organizations, the privi-
lege has been much abused. In the latter part of 1914, an at-
tempt was made to pass an ordinance in the City Council pro-
hibiting the sale of liquor in any dance hall, but there was s;>
much objection that a compromise ordinance resulted which
provided that great care must be taken in an issuance of special
bar permits. Investigation has proved, however, that little
effort was made by the police to enforce these provisions. One
permit was given in the name of a man who had been dead for
several weeks, and many are granted to clubs who have no
financial or moral standards, such as " The Merry Whirlers ",
tlie ■■ Put Away Trouble Club ", and the " Girls' Taxi Club."

Investigation showed that the public dance halls were l&rgely

THE UNMARRIED MOTHER

controlled by the saloon and vice interests, many of the halls
being owned by the brewery companies. Out of 328 halls,
190 had saloons opening into them, and liquor was sold in 240
of the total. The report describes conditions at various dances
which were investigated, showing that general intoxication
and indecency, including improper conduct between the women
and men present, prevailed. At one dance an agent in livery
passed through the hall at three o'clock in the morning, advertis-
ing " nice rooms at Hotel." Tlie report of the Chicago

Vice Commission handles the dance-hall situation in detail,
and reports verbatim conversations with prostitutes in the
dance halls visited.

That the cabaret seems to be a source of temptation to many
a young couple is indicated by the Report of the Juvenile Pro-
tective Association. More than half of the Chicago saloona
have added entertainments of this kind during the last few
years, from one to ten young women being employed to sing
and dance in the majority of these establishments. It is not
required that there should be much proficiency in either of
these accomplishments, for the young women are engaged in
order that they may drink with the patrons, that girl being
most valuable who is able to induce a customer to order the
largest number of drinks. Girls secure these positions through
agents who lake anywhere from five to ten per cent a week of
the salary earned, there being considerable dishonesty among
them. The majority of young women who go into this sort of
work are from the country and feel that they are making easy
money, because the salary, ranging from 818 to $75 a week,
seems very large to an unsophisticated girl. The girls, how-
ever, are required to wear fashionable clothes, and usually save
very little. In some larger places three shifts of girls are em-
ployed, one from the afternoon until nine o'clock, one from nine
until two in the morning, and the third until sunri.se.

It goes without saying that under sucli conditions extremely
demoralizing behavior takes place, frequently ending in drunken
orgies and actual immorality. The girl employed here faces
three perils : Srst she is interviewed by an agent who is often

EECBEATIONAL DISADVANTAGES

disreputable, and if she succeeds in escaping from his atteatioDS
she finds herself in the power of the [)roprietor of the saloon,
who often makes indecent proposab. Finally, she is open to
the advances of drunken and disreputable patrons.

It seems justifiable to go to such length in describing the
conditions existing in Chicago, only because several interesting
investigations have been made there, and because the situation
repeats itself, perhaps on a smaller scale, in any large city com-
munity.

In a study of the causative factors operating in the lives of
girb and young women, there is found a surprising similarity.
All of the conditions which have Ijeen cited as existing in the
dance balb, amusement parks, and theaters are indications of
the exploitation of human passion for commercial purposes,
c»upled with a lack of supervision over immature and highly-
sensed individuals. Both of these forces operate in nearly
every modern community. They point to the supreme impor-
tance of recreation in the lives of girls and young women, and
of the necessity of control over this instinot by an enlightened
public opinion. Fortunately much is being done to give to the
young people of our cities opportunities of healthful recreation
as well as sane mental interests, both extremely important in
the subhm&tion of the sex instinct. Nothing is more conducive
to day dreaming and its accompanying state of sexual excite-
ment than mental and physical inactivity relieved by no absorb-
ing mental interest. It is probable that many of the problems
of sex may be solved by supplying just such healthy mental
interests for the community, something which at present the
best-intent ioned parents are frequently unable to do. All of
these influences, due to the absence of recreational opportunities
or to the presence of positively demoralizing means of enjoy-
ment, have the effect of causing girls and young women to satisfy
normal desire under abnormal and highly-stimulated conditions.

Methods of Control and Reform. That much can be expected
from a wise policy of this kind is indicated by Healy, who states.'
" It is safe to say that for any girl who has normal self-control,
■ Healy, William, op. tit., p. *VJ.

TBE UNMARRIED MOTHER

who is not suffering from mental defect or aberration, actjvities
that interest sufficient to outweigh physiological sex-impulf
can be found by skilled and understanding jjeople." In keep-
ing with this statement, one finds a promising factor in the use
of the school center as an opportunity of recreation for adoles-
cent girls. Woods and Kennedy ' feel that this would do much
to provide for the girls who now go to low-grade dance halls
as their only recreational resource. The existence of such a
center would make it easier, they feel, to secure the more drastic
legislation necessary for the regulation of commercial recreation
places. They draw attention to the fact, however, that if
thorough supervision is lacking in such a center, its influence
would be just as unfortunate as is that of a dance hall. Ideally,
the girls who attend should come from the same vicinity, and
thus find themselves among acquaintances. They would also
he in their own neighborhood when they leave even at the end
of the evening. The girl who attends such a dance would thus
be hedged in by the public opinion of her neighborhood and of
her accustomed companions, and the educational bond con-
nected with the school would in itself be elevating.

Until the school center becomes fully developed, much must
of necessity fall upon the settlement houses for solution. In
commercialized sections, such an organization can elevate the
tone of the recreational establishments in the vicinity, whereas
in more residential sections a settlement house may direct the
amusement of its local community. I,ectures should be given
in the public schools, exhibits prepared, and moving-picture
demonstrations provided which would set forth some of the
dangers associated with improper recreation. Social workers
should enlighten the mothers of young girls, and an attempt
should be made to build up a neighborhood standard on ques-
tions of this sort. Proper laws should be passed. The most
important need is supervision of commercial resorts themselves.
This should be largely in the hands of women wHth the neces-
snrj- police authority, and women of this kind should attend
all public dances.

' Wooda and Kennedy, op. eil., p. 1 12.

I
I

BSCreational disadvantages

Woods and Kennedy discuss the matter of constructive
recreation for working yirls in an illuiiiiuating chapter.' The
testimony among settlement workers seems to be that normal
recreational pro\'isions for young working girls should consist
of one half-holiday weekly, preferably in the open, one evening
devoted to a club, one evening for attendance at a party, theater,
or moving-picture show, with an occasional " red letter event "
in addition to this average. Under favorable conditions a
girl should be encouraged to attend evening school. The
consensus of opinion seems to be that girls spend too large a
proportion of their wages for commercialized recreation, with-
out securing a fair return in pleasure content. It is felt that
the average girl should receive at least ten per cent of her wages,
and never less than twenty-6ve cents a week to spend.

Among the most popular forms of recreation is dancing,
towards which the girls themselves take two attitudes when
such parties are held in settlements. Some of them consider
them to be " high-toned ", and attend commercial dances rarely.
To others, however, settlement dances are " slow ", and
there is insufficient freedom in dancing and in the selection of
partners. Dramatics are also of great recreational value,
affording as they do opportunities for personal expression and
achievement. Among other interests may be mentioned ath-
letics, group singing, theater parties, and other stimulating
methods of recreation. One of the most important develop-
ments of modem settlement house work has been the success
in securing the interest of the parents in the pleasures of their
children. Some settlement houses have organized entertain-
ment by the Mothers' Club.s for their daughters, and have
assisted the parents in the arrangement of parties and picnics
in which the daughter and her friends were the center of inter-
est. In a few instances it has been found possible to give
Sunday teas for whole faniiUes, where a wholesome contact has
been established between the family and the settlement worker.

The past pages have dealt with the means of providing suit-
able recreation for the norma! (rfrl, whereas all who have had
> Woodi &Dd Kennedy, op. ail., chap. IX.

78 THE UNMARRIED MOTHER '

anything to do with the problem realize that there are often
indoleDt and hyjjersesed girls in the community for whom little
can be done. Healy is of the opinion that such individuals
" are a menace to the welfare of society, tempters of the opposite
sex, purveyors of disease, and spreaders of vicious knowledge
among other girls." ' In recommending segregation and repres-
sion for tliis type, he feels that even though the happiness of
some individuals may be sacrificed by a restrictive policy, it ia
better that this should be so than that society as a whole should*
suflfer.

Such is a general discussion of the problem of recreational
disadvantages, and of its influence on the behavior of giria
and young women. Enough has been said to indicate the
importance of healthy mental interests, and of normal methods
of recreation and enjoyment, ^tany cases will be found under
other lieadings in whieh recreational disadvantages operate
as a minor causative factor in misconduct.

» Healy. WUliam. op. cii.. p. 217.

CHAPTER VI

EoncATioNAL Disadvantages

General statement — Lack o( knowledge of sex matters — Infantile
nialism — Freud and the school of psycho-analysis — Sexual
enlightenment for adolescent girls — Conclusions.

General Statement. Although the influence of educational
disadvantages has not appeared as a major factor in any one
case of this study, it will be readily appreciated that it is of
great importance in determining the behavior of the individual
girl or young woman. By noting it as operative in twenty cases
as a minor factor, it is not intended to imply that others in the
whole group did not suffer from disadvantages of this kind,
but rather that it did not seem justifiable to emphasize it in
8 larger number, because it was impossible to evaluate the
determining influence which this handicap caused in sucli cases.

It is obvious that the difficulty attendant upon educational
disadvantages may be the direct result of. the low intelligenc'C of
the parents. Again, the danger attendant upon lack of educa-
tion makes itself apparent when one finds an illiterate girl
thrown into a difficult situation without the ability to speak
English. A lack of this kind may also be occasioned by frequent
moving on the part of the family, necessitating irregular school
attendance by the daughter. Instances appear in which the
girl is backward through no fault of her own, and in which
family conditions were such that she was forced to leave school
at an early age.

Of importance in a study of the unmarried mother must be
the success or failure of education from a vocational point of
view. The girl who starts out upon Ufe with slight industrial

THE IWMARRIED MOTHER

or commercial aptitude often finds herself unable to retain
situation or to advance in her line of employment. Only too
frequently such cases lapse into clandestine or open prostitution.
More important still, as affecting the behavior of girls and
yoimg women, is the absence of healthy mental interests. It is
the type of vacant-minded dreamer who most readily suc-
cumbs to temptation and who possesses no capacity for sub-
stituting absorbing mental interests for preoccupation with the
affairs of sex.

Lack of Knowledge on Sex Matters. The largest number
of cases in which educational disadvantages was a minor factor,
were those in which the young woman claimed that her preg-
nancy was the result of lack of instruction on sex matters. Aside
from the fact that there may be a tendency on the part of in-
dividuals to excuse their misconduct on the basis of innocence,
a large number of girl.'^ are actually woefully ignorant of the
nature and espression of the most dominant instinct in life.
Sketching the attitude of the past towards sex matters, Stanley
Hall,' who considers this sphere the most important part
of moral education, is of the opinion that modern psychology,
in emphasizing the enormous influence of sex in the lives of
individuals, has placed before society of to-day a challenge to
bring this important matter out of darkness and filth into the
light of day.

" Every modern expert authority, without one exception
that I can find," says Stanley Hall, " agrees that sex is the most
im{>erious and all-pervading instinct in man; that nothing so
conditions his individual and social life; that it supplies the
strongest motivation to attain eminence, acquire property,
found a home; that it makes art, science, altruism, moral, and
religious life which cannot be understood without knowing its
primary and secondary qualities. It is strongly sexed men and
women in their period of maturity and vigor that have done
most of the great and good work of the world and done it be-
cause they were sexed, since nothing in the soul of man is so

'Hall, G. StAnley: " Educational Problems ". 1911, New York, voll, chap.

EDUCATIONAL DISADV^VNTAGES 79

I susceptible of traDsformation or has so many higher psycho-
r Jdnetic equivalents. For this reason nothing in us needs educa-
r tion and guidance in this plastic nascent period so much as
I this propensity which is most of all denied it."

Among other psychologists, one may quote Havelock Ellis/
t who says that " No doubt is any longer possible as to the
I- absolute necessity of taking deliberate and active part in this
I sexual initiation, instead of leaving it to the chance revelation
r of ignorant, and perhaps vicious companions or servants. It is
I becoming more and more widely felt that the risks of ignorant
b innocence are too great." Particularly important is it to
F this author that this " ignorant innocence ", when it regards
I women, is not only too fragile to be worth preservation, but
I that it is positively mischievous, depriving women of the knowl-
f edge necessary for intelligent sympathy with others of their
ex.

Of late years the subject of sex hygiene has been discussed

throughout the civilized world, and it is safe to state that the

consensus of opinion is in favor of sex instruction, the dis-

^_ agreements being occasioned only by the differences in regard

^B to the best methods of such enlightenment. Stanley Hall feels

^B that the child of to-day has inherited a stream of sex informa-

^B tion, correct and erroneous, always vulgar, which has percolated

through ail ages of society " as by constant seepage." " From

it come the obscenities that it is so impossible to eliminate

tfrom the environment and from the lives of our children to-day
on the streets, in the schools, and back alleys. . . . This
ancient lore is rank with contempt for woman, body and soul,
and with gross misrepresentation of her very nature. Nearly
all of it represents her as at heart sensual, passionate, and lust-
ful, but hypocritical. ... It is this idea, then, that is one of
I the most corruptive derivatives of this noxious, teaming mass
of folk-tradition that has survived from the worst ages of the
worst nations of ancient and modem times, and which is passed
on to our children to-day in direct line of continuity."
•Ei
bo Sod

80 THE UNMARRIED MOTHER

No matter how disillusioning such a review of the past may be,
it affords, according to Stanley Hall, an opportunity of realizing
the upward movement which decent men and races have
achieved by suppression and sublimation. It has been a hard
struggle, and probably represents the greatest achievement
of culture history. " By struggles, vows, prayers, falling and
rising again, defeats and victories , . . man has for untold ages
toiled, struggled, fought and battled with his desire, and
yearned and striven upward." There is, he says, something
sublime in contemplating the [history of a creatiu« hke man,
who is thus " dowered with the body of death and the sold
of light, and who is always lapsing, but always starting on
again ", since all the nations which have perished from the
world have been those who failed to solve aright the great
problems of sex.

It is into such a conflict as this that the child enters long
before he is aware. Many psychologists are now agreed
with Moll ' who says " We have, therefore, to recognize clearly
from the first, that in the education of the child the complete
exclusion of sexual stimuli is impossible." This author admits
that one of the difficulties connected with such education lies
in the imenlightened state of many of those who would be
educators. Summing up the matter, he states t " The sexual
enlightenment of the child is advisable. The biological processes
of ses in the vegetable and lower animal world may be taught
in school as early as the second period of childhood. A warn-
ing against the dangers of venereal infection may be given at
school to the senior pupils shortly before they leave, or at some
similar suitable opportunity. But for effecting enlightenment
regarding the processes of the individual sex life, the school is
unsuitable ; this matter can best be undertaken by some private
person, and above all by the mother. Choice of the time for
this last phase of the sexual enlightenment must be guided, in
part by the questions of the child, in part by the child's physical
maturity, but more especially by the indications of psycho-
sexual development."

' MoU. A.: "The Sexual Life of the Child", chap. IX. New York. lOU.

EDUCATIONAL DISADVANTAGES

Infantile Sexualism. Modern research has brought to the
attention of this generation the fact that the sex instinct mani-
fests itself at an early period in the life of the child. Havelock
Ellis maintains that auto-erotic manifestations may sometimes
be observed even in infants of less than twelve months.
Moll, in the work referred to, has given much information
which goes to show that sexual excitation and its accompanying
physiological manifestations occur at an extremeiy early age.
Further contributions of a valuable kind by S. Freud will be
considered later.'

Stanley Hall* holds that it was formerly believed that it
was hardly necessary to consider the sex instinct of childpeu
before the age of 10, but that recent investigations have shown
this to be a very grave mistake. He refers to Bell, who has
collected scores of cases showing sexual life in children under
12, even as young as 5, 3, or even 2 years of age,' whereas Freud
has described a boy of 5 years whose chief interests centered
in sex. In his discussion of the manifestation of the sex in-
stinct before puberty, this author maintains that the chief
evidence of active sex life in young children rests upon the
work of Freud, and the psycho-analytical school, which is of
such importance in relation to the whole realm of sex that
it is felt worthy of more detailed treatment here.

Freud and the School of Psycho-analysis. Stanley Hall *
sums up the Freudian school as concluding that nearly all
neuroses have their ultimate origin in some lesion or trauma of
the vita sexualis before puberty, perhaps averaging about the
age of 8 or 9. Many cases begin in some strong sex experience,
by which topics of this kind were forced upon the mind of
the individual to an excessive degree. Nervous children, es-
pecially girls and frequently those who are delicate, are
peculiarly liable to these influences. The Freudian concep-
tion of sex is that it is a composite of many elements, some

' Freud, S. : "Three Contributions to the Sexual Theory". New York. 1910.
» Hall. G. Stanley, op- n/„ vol. I. p. 413.

*Bell. Sanfiird. "A Preliminary Study ot the EmotioD ot Lore between the
Seiea", Ameriran Journal of Piychdngy, l\iiy, 1902, vol. 12; pp. 92fi-3H.
* Hall, G. Stanley, op. cil., p. US.

THE UNMARRIED MOTHER

manifest almost from birth, and that these components develop
more or less independently at first, all seeking expression
until a part are repressed by censure or shame, and fall into
disuse. Others are inhibited in their outward manifestations,
but possessed frequently with great vigor in the sphere of
the unconscious, where they are to all intents and purposes
forgotten. The other components in normal development join
together at puberty and become what is known as the sexual
instinct.

In children these components exist in both sexes, and are at
that time called sex neuter.'i ; later they enter into either sex,
although in different proportion. These components have their
specific traits, such as sucking, both that of nursing and thumb-
sucking, and various auto-erotic manifestations which may later
evolve into self-abuse. They also take on more objective forms
which Stanley Hall classifies as 1. extreme aggressiveness, which
may later sink to sadism or be sublimated and spiritualized
into creativeness and originality ; 2. abnormal passivity, which
may lapse to masochism, or rise to receptivity of high degree;
3. exhibitionism, or the impulse to show off, which has various
manifestations. Each of these instincts may become an ia-
dependent soiirce of pleasure, retaining at once the very best
and the very poorest traits of human nature. Hall feels that
if this theory is correct, the child is in a sense even more domi-
nated by sex components than the adolescent, since there are
more of them, because the process of repression has not yet
begun to take place, and since they are unconscious and there-
fore stronger. To Freud all of the perversions of sex are exag-
gerations of tendencies which are only normal in every child,
although art, science, and religion represent surrogate satis-
factions. The result is that by the time of puberty only part of
the original libido factors are used for the purpose of procreation,
while the rest are used for some of the most far-reaching
activities of human life.

Stanley Hall holds that if these views are accepted, it follows
that sex pedagof^v must not only begin in the cradle, but that it
b of prime necessity for the education of the feeling, will, and

I
I
I

EDUCATIONAL DISADVANTAGES 83

intellect, and that sex in its larger sense contains the promise
and potency of life. From the first moment of birth, nature
begins to prepare the infant for future parenthood, all else being
secondary. The Freudian school marks the end of the old
and the dawn of a new era. According to this author, it is the
" most triumphant indication of the genetic mode of conceiving
the mind, and marks an epoch in psycho-genesis,"

From what has been said above, the infantile state of the
child is clearly one in which particular care must be taken in
order that the sex instinct may not be submitted to traumatic
experiences. All erethic states, such as excessive coddling,
pattings, and strokings, should be avoided as far as possible, as
being possible precedents of later undesirable l»ehavior on the
partof the child. In a similar manner the love of being handled
may become abnormal, and lead to well-defined perversions.

Next to the interest in bodily organs, the child's chief curiosity
seems to he connected with the question of its own origin.
Hall refers to a letter submitted by Freud, in which a mother-
less girl of 11 J begs her aunt to write to her fully in regard to
the origin of children. This child later became neurotic, and
psycho-analysis showed that one of the elements in her neuroses
was an intense preoccupation with these unanswered questions.
It is probably universal that a craving for knowledge exists.
That it is only rarely met is illustrated by an incident in which
a teacher in one of the grades found on her desk a letter
signed by five of her best girls, ranging from 10 to 12 years of
age, which read : " Please explain to us how men originate."
In this case the school authorities felt themselves either too
timid or unauthorized to give the desired information.

Only recently have students come to recognize what a
tremendous proportion of energy is absorbed in the solution
of the sex question during childhood. Children oscillate for
months between the acceptance of fairy tales and the impressions
which drift into their consciousness from without, and so severe
is the strain of this reconciliation that some of them become
neurotic. It is at this time that the shock attendant upon the
realization uf tlie true sex processes, coming suddenly into a

THE UNMARRIED MOTHER

consciousness that is wholly unprepared for its reception, cau
unfortunate results. Especially to girls the method of re-
production appears to be nauseating, monstrous, and cruel,
creating an attitude of mind in which not only the parents who
have submitted to this degrading experience seem lowered,
but the whole question of sex as well. Weak nervous systems
can obviously be injured by a shock of this kind.

By the time of school days children accumulate a consider-
able amount of misinformation which slowly gives place to
knowledge, an incredible amount of mentation going on within
this field. Hall draws attention to the fact that we adults
forget this because we have submerged its traces. Here again
psycho-analysis penetrates into the earhest strata of psychic
evolution, and brings this material to light as the bases of
many perversions. Most sex aberrations are now being ex-
plained by their genesis, as due to arrest or magnification in
early life.

It is during this ferment that innocent young maidens spin
reveries full of flaring absurdities and contradictions, and the
whole horizon of consciousness is filled, now by one theory, now
by another. On top of this mental unrest begins the physiologi-
cal impulse normally productive of a state of tension, and the
individual sways between resolution and impulsion, between
restraint and the desire for gratification. It is just here, says
Stanley Hall, that the strain lies.

The result of this strain, due to the opposition of the two
elements of the psychic sphere, produces the peculiarity known
as the " effective submergence of experience." With every
forward step in insight and information, certain impulses and
desires must be tabooed. It is obvious that the result must be
a clearing of the mind from what has only recently seemed of
prime importance. This element is thus forgotten, but by
no means lost, for it is repressed into the realm of the imcon-
scious, where it continues to determine behavior. In this
manner children in their earliest 'teens have forgotten much,
and have assigned to oblivion much knowledge which they
once had craved.

EDUCATIONAL DISADVANTAGES

Probably no author has rivaled Stanley Hall in the treatment
of adolescent development, Combined with keen psychological
insight, he possesses a style full of color and imagery,
which nowhere finds better expression than in his descrip-
tions of the young girl. So he pictures her at about the
age of 12, demure and often absent-minded, silent in the pres-
ence of adults. She is unresponsive and imperturbable, loUing,
listless, and self -centered. Girls then have no suspicion of what
is going on in their souls. " But analyses and neuroses betray
their triply guarded secret. They are brooding over great
biological questions, of the origin of hfe, sex, death, their o
relation to their parents and brothers, musing about marriage,
about how to get at the truth, to both escape and to penetrate
the mesh of conventional lies of every sort, culminating with
those of sex, with which they are encompassed. . . . How
shall they know the truth of the truth, what they most of all
want to leam; and how can they do so without asking and
being put to shame, or without seeming ignorant when, in
fact, perhaps all assume that they do know ? They ought and
perhaps do sometimes blush in secret to think of these things ;
but they cannot escape the insistent questionings. How can
their elders be so blithe and cheery if the world is as they are
beginning to divine it ? How they muse on certain half-inciden-
tal words or allusions let fall by the grown-ups, which answer
perhaps some of their mule longings; while all the rest of the
wiser talk washes over them unnoted and leaving no trace !
These pregnant suggestions are pondered in the heart; and thus
the girl slowly orients her way to wisdom by them, constantly
casting old knowledge once thought precious as rubbish to the
void. She will reach the goal in the end; but how vastly
much might have been saved her by a little plain, sane teaching
betimes? And how this long stage, which is throughout so
very vulnerable to shock, might have been shortened and
facilitated. Whether they are saved to virtue or lost to vice
often depends upon their getting or failing to get the knowledge
their whole souls are consciously or unconsciously seeking."*
' Bail, G. SUoley, op. eit., p. US.

86 THE UNMARRIED MOTHER

It is in consideration of such mental contents as the previous
paragraphs have discussed, tliat the Freudian School of Psycho-
Analysis has done much to furnish information in regard to the
details of the psychic activities of pre-adolescent children, and to
point the way towards a new departure in the pedagogy of sex.
One of the best known expositors of Freud's teaching is Doctor
Ernest Jones, formerly of the University of Toronto, and now of
London. In his " Papers on Psycho- Analysis " ' he discusses the
whole range of the Freudian theory, including much that is not of
immediate interest in a study of the unmarried mother. Those
interested in the problem of education should consult this author-
Much opposition has actually been evoked by the significai
which Freud attributes to " the psycho-sexual " trend, and a
word must be said on this point. Much of this opposition is
due to a misunderstanding of the use of the term " sexual "
by Freud, his application being much more inclusive than is
customary. Freud holds that many psychical manifestations
not thought to be derived from the sexual instinct really are
developments of this trend. To him the mental processes
commonly called sexual are the outcome of a development from
a broader group of processes in early life, of which certain
ones have been selected and intensified, while others have
become suppressed. Those further interested in the theory
of psycho-analysis should see the later contribution of Freud '
and particularly the work of Jung.'

Sexual Enlightenment for Adolescent Girls. Sexual enlighten-
ment for adolescent girls, particularly for nervous girls under
modern conditions, as tlie initiation into the facts of sex life,
is a critical matter. Stanley Hall * maintains that the first
knowledge of parturition and of the fact of fecundation
m^ come to a girl with a shock provocative of intense

' Jone*, E. : "Papers on Psycho-Analysis", New York. 1813.

* Freud. S. : "Selected Paper on Hysteris and Other Psychoneuroses",
New York. lOlt.

'Jung. C, G. 1 "The Theory of PayehtanalysLi ". New York, 191B. Mul "The
PsychiJogy ot the Ilnconseious". New York. 1916.

> Hall. G. Stanley, np. dl., p. 455.

EDUCATIONAL DISADVANTAGES

£sgust and aversion. To delicate girls in the early teens the
physical relation of the sexea may seem bestial and repugnant,
so that one finds an abated attachment for their fathers, and
frequently a pathetic sympathy for their mothers, who are
looked upon as victims of brutality. Some never effect a rec-
onciliation with the facts of life. Hall agrees with Freud that
psycho-sexual traumata may be the cause of severe later dis-
orders, even if they are not always so unconscious, so general,
or so early as he thinks.

A questionnaire which Hall has propounded has led him to
include other sources of disturbance than those which Freud
mentions, and he holds as a result that many of the psychic
processes of sex occurring just before the age of first menstrua-
tioQ are not at all associated in the girl's mind with specific
anatomical or functional changes. To her they are merely
strongnew tide^of sentiment ; thus in this period love is idealized
in purity and romance and " sufTuses life with a golden haze."
Hall feeb that if this interest focuses in a person it is usually
innocent, and if there are occasional acts of endearment they
are chaste. But if into this state which Hall terms as " ecstatic
paradaisical " there are suddenly forced, by accident or inten-
tion, the brutal facts of sex, the results may be described as a
"psychic outrage of a vestal or nun." Healthy souls may in
time reject such an experience, but weak girls may acquire a
"coital or parturition phobia " that, being so opposed to the deep
instinct of a woman's nature, may precipitate internal conflicts
which may sometimes involve incalculable waste and permanent
warping. Hall feels that young working women are generally
strong enough to face the truth, and that it should be taught
to them without " bated breath " as one of the most interesting
and sacred of things.

In discussing the indirect methods of controlling and nor-
malizing sex, Stanley Hall ' advocates the inculcation of the
following ideals.

I. The ideal of physical perfection, trmning, body-keeping,
and health.

' Hall, G. SbuJey, op. oiL, p. 471.

THE UNMARRIED MOTHER

2. A cultivation of the intelligence. Every intellectu^
interest is abo a sedative or an alterative of sex on its sensuous
side. Formal school topics are insufficient, so that education
must be vocatioaal. " Sitting without mental interests invites
the devil."

8. Puberty is the birthday of the feelings and emotions.
This leads to the growth of athletic interests, to the thrill aroused
by heroism, and to the religious interests.

Stanley Hall feela, however, that we shall never solve the
complicated problem of sex education by the methods
enumerated above, unless we give to the subject of sex a central
position in education. In order to do this he would devise a
curriculum which would include,

1. Botany, with a discussion of the processes of certiun
fertilization. A girl's intense love of flowers affords a unique
opportunity for this enlightenment.

2. The same thing should be done in biology, beginning with
the lower forms of life-

3. In the field of human development there should be texts
that deal with the history of marriage and the family, and later
something rather specific concerning the virtues of parenthood.

To Hall the future of sex hygiene rests in the hands of women,
who, because more generic, intuitive, and conservative, stand
closer to the race, and are more interested in holding it to its
true destiny.

In agreement with what has been said above, one may refer
to Havelock Ellis ' once more, who maintains that the main
factor in the sexual and general invalidism of girls and young
women, is bad hygiene, manifesting itself in neglect of the
menstrual functions and in bad habits generally. With this
one cannot forget the disharmony so frequently existing within
the emotional sphere of self, owing to the contradictory nature
of the traditions impressed upon women. The tendency has
been to teach girls that sex is at once a sacred and an abominable
thing, and that its manifestations are both beautiful and impure.
Ellis draws attention to the grave risks which the Innocent young
' Ellb, Uavdock. op. oil., p. 71 £.

EDUCATIONAL DISADVANTAGES

r woman must run upon marriage. The young girl believes that
she possesses a certain character, and marries, whereupon, in a
considerable number of cases, she finds herself completely mis-
taken both in herself and in her husband. It is possible to
convey a certain amount of protection against a condition of
this sort, without departing from the most conventional con-
ceptions of marriage. Girls should be informed as to the exact
nature of the sex relationship, and be safeguarded from shocks
and disillusions.

Ellis b of the opinion that apart from such scientific informa-
tion which might be given in the schools in botany and zofilogy,
the sexual initiation of the child should be the exclusive privilege
of the mother. The ordinary teacher of either sex is yet quite

I incompetent to teach sexual hygiene. Ellis finds that once at
feast at the period of puberty, there should be an opportunity
for a confidential talk with a physician, girls being sent to women
doctors. Such talks should he entirely devoid of moral plati-
tudes. After puberty comes the natural period for spiritual
initiation with its accompanying religious or ethical teaching,
8uch as may indirectly aid the young individual " to escape
from sexual danger by harnessing his chariot to a star." He
recommends the use of hterature and art. particularly the
nude, making much of the fact that the simple and direct atti-
tude of the child towards nakedness is often so crushed out of
him that he is likely to notice only what is obscene. With
Holler, Ellis agrees that " he who has once learned to enjoy
peacefully nakedness in art, will be able to look on oakednes-s
in nature as on a work of art."

Turning from the considerations of youth of Stanley Hall
and Havelock Ellis, to the summary of the evidence of tlie
two thousand social workers, edited by Woods and Kennedy,'
one finds an equal insistence upon the necessity of preparation
for young womanhood. These authors feel that one should
always magnify the importance of the entrance into the status
I and full responsibility of this i>eriod, and that something anulo-
B to " a coming-out party " might be developed in the
' Woods sad Keooedy, op. eit., cbap. XIII.

THE UNMARRIED MOTHER

settlement club, as a climax to the home-making courses m the
form of a graduation exercise. According to this survey, the
adolescent girl spends much time in thoughts about marriage,
little of which is serious. Many of them marry before 18, some
simply " losing their heads ", tlie others taking the first offer
that comes, with the statement, " I don't wish to work all my
life, so I may as well take it." To the average girl marriage
is a step towards freedom, and an opportunity to be rid of dis-
agreeable work in the factory or home. Others attempt to
avoid marriage for fear that it may prevent her from enjoying
herself, or out of a recoil against bearing children and the
care of the family alike.

The romancing girl centers many of her thoughts upon the
management of a home, expecting to become competent after
marriage. A few are interested in cooking and other duties
beforehand, although this is by no means as serious an interest
as is the attitude of the Ijoy towards vocational training.
Woods and Kennedy feel that not until home conditions are
better than those existing in most of the tenement areas will
girls possess an incentive to undertake hard work in preparation
for marriage. The best means of eliciting such interest is the
model apartment, where by "supper clubs" much can be
pointed out which will be of later value.

As regards sex hygiene, the opinion of this summary is in
favor of instruction that should not be predominantly physical,
but rather ethical and spiritual. To them the definite problem
is that of building up a sound attitude towards life and human
nature, of lessening the hardships of living so that boys and
girls can realize the best that is in them, and of awakening
loyalty to the present and future self, home, and neighborhood.
There is a great advantage in beginning this teaching with
young children before the age of sex consciousness, and in
spreading it out over a considerable time. Mothers should be
the ones to discuss these matters with their daughters, but if
this cooperation cannot be secured, social workers may initiate
the instruction with the consent of the parent. Adolescent
girU should be interviewed individually, and the subject

EDUCATIONAL DISADVANTAGES 91

^H should be introduced incidentally. Everything that is pos.
^" sible should be done to ennoble the relation between the

sexes, and to purify the tradition of romance through the spread

of the great novels.

Coaclusions. From the preceding discussion it will be gained

that educational disadvantages may be of such importance as

to be the precedents of sexual misconduct in many girls and

I young women, which may lead to pregnancy. Primarily it is
necessary that the adolescent girl should be afforded healthy
mental interests, and that these should contain more than the
bald school curriculum. Stanley Hall, in a glowing chapter on
" The Budding Girl," ' asks " What does the girl at this age
care in her heart of hearts about the shopworn school studies
for their own sake? " She may accept them, but she does not
put her whole soul into them. " When I get mad and want to
swear," said one, " I say ' decimal fractions 1 ' for that is the
dreadfullcst thing I know," When she is interested in her
studies, it is frequently because of her desire to excel some boy
in the class, " Next term I am going to try German to see

■ what it is like, They say it is as easy as anything you can take ;
some of the nice boys in the school are going to take it, too."
In commenting on this lack of interest in the curricidum,
Stanley Hall asserts that in place of the examination knowl-
edge which the school seeks, there is little but vague informa-
tion, with a few points that have really struck vital root and
I sprouted. The matter that was thus retained was chiefly
concerned with details which threw light upon the sphere of
emotional experiences, and it is of interest to note that this
author asks which of the two kinds of knowledge is most worth
while, these naive, natural reactions to the curriculum, or a
collection of details stored away in the recitation memory.
" Is it not certain," asks he, " that the former will last longer
and is more humanistic and vital? "
The former paragraphs should lead to the belief that those
healtliy mental interests which it is important that a young
girl should possess, far from being connected solely with
> Hali. G. SUnley, op. cU.. vol. II, clup. IX.

THE UNMARRIED MOTHER

studies as such, should emphasize the relation between afl I
knowledge and life. It is of more value for a young woman to-V
appreciate her functions as an individual called upon to lead a
life in adjustment with her fellow-creatures of this age and
generation, than it is for her to have a knowledge of Greek
roots, unless the latter information is capable of wider
interpretation. One finds then the necessity for such mental
interests as are stimulated by play and athletic competition,
and by the fortifying of the knowledge of life by the means of
vide reading. That this is an age of sentimentality should
ever be kept in mind, and the parent or adult well-wisher
should keep from his conversations with the young girl all that ^m
may appear cynical or lead the younger person to feel that shfl^^
is not taken seriously. ^M

What can be more charming than a vision of the recurring
hope in the beauty of life, which contact with an adolescent
girl reveals, what more refreshing than the idealism of this age,
whose importunity the sordidness of life seems scarce able to
withstand? Fortunate indeed is that girl whose relatives and
associates furnish her with a means of expression for all the
crowding hopes and desires which force themselves into her
mind. It is those devoid of such friends and lacking in Uterary
and other opportunities, who find themselves thrown for reUef
into a state of constant day-dreaming, with its accompanying
sexual excitation. Such girls are singularly prone to temptation, .H
both from within and without. ■

The discussion of the place of sex in the life of the child and of
the adolescent girl, contained in the former pages, has resulted
in the conviction that the activity of the sexual impulse makes
itself evident at an extremely early age, Freud, developing
his theory of infantile sexuahty, finds the soiuxx;s of neuroses
in infantile pi^ychic traumata. Jung has somewhat modified
this conception, without doing away with the susceptibility
to shock, so noticeable during the ijre-pubertal stage. Any
one who considers the material contained in this book will
agree that impressions which must have been disturbing have
reached the psychic nature of many of the individuals con-

EDUCATIONAL DISADVANTAGES

Isidered, with an abruptness that must have been, to say the
least, emotionally upsetting.
Not all sexual misconduct is due to the lack of educational
advantages, for overcrowding, the taking of lodgers, the igno-
rance of the parents themselves, have in many instances been
causative of premature initiation into sex matters, quite capable
of producing mental conflicts and neuroses. A further knowl-
edge of the individual might reveal illuminating data which
would fit in with the Freudian theory, but for the purpose of
this study it will be necessary to confine the discussion to general
terms. Little has been found which would throw light upon
the psychic relationship between the parents and their children,
end not sufficient information exists for attributing those cases
of incest to such a psychic interdependence. Here again we find
that the solution can only be outlined in general terms. The
Freudians may have added to our information in regard to the
necessity of the early weaning away of the child from the parents
towards outside interests, but the value of such an adjustment
has long seemed important. The diflSculty with the cases here
considered lies in the too complete break found between parent
and child, so that at an extremely early age, owing to the
stimulus of a city life, and to the unattractiveness of the home,
a girl finds herself mentally independent. When the pay
envelope comes, there is but slight realization in many cases
of the old intimacy which once existed between the parent and

I the child. No matter how general the discussion of the questJon
of education in this chapter has been, there remains much that
is capable of definite treatment in the field of sex hygiene. Such
will be the purpose of the following paragraphs.
It is obvious that while the sex impulse is looked Upon as
being part of that side of human nature which is inherently
gross, and incapable of acting as a channel of the spirit, little
can be done towards establishing a system of sex hygiene which
will prevent the adolescent girl from falling into many of the
pitfalls which are so productive of misery, or from attaining an
attitude towards the most important issues of life which may
lead to mental conflicts and neuroses. Not until it has been

THE UNMARRIED MOTHER

possible to ennoble the sex instinct in the mind of society will.)
any far-reaching system of sejiual eolightenment prove success-'
ful. The promulgation of such a system, and the accom-
plishment of sucii an entl, is in itself one of the tasks of social
hygiene. He who aims to give to yoimg men and women knowl-
edge which may lead them to a rational use of the sex function,
and to a realization of its proper value, finds himself at the outset
subject to misinterpretation and handicapped by the traditions
of the past. The old dualistic teaching of the Church, stimu-
lated by the fact that the Gospels were written in opposition
to customs which condoned sexual license, has hampered the
development of a frank discussion of this matter. When how-
ever one looks upon the tremendous evils associated with the mis-
use of the sex instinct, there appears some excuse for asceticism,
and it becomes leas difficult to understand the attitude of the
early Church towards an instinct which at the time could be
viewed with no little justice as the scourge of life. Coupled
with this was the Paidine attitude towards marriage, which
depreciated the in.stitution because of a firm beUef in the end
of the world within the lifetime of the disciples. With these
allowances, however, it must be said that the emphasis of the
Church and State has been to let the taboo on questions of aez

Only of late years, and particularly since the wTitings of
Havelock EUis. JCraft-Ebbing, Moll. Forel, Foerster, Hall,
Freud, and Jung, have students realized that not only has
the ancient attitude towards matters related to sex been chiefly
negative in its results, but that it has been a positive agent in
the production of pathological conditions. The majority of
these conditions, it must be said, have been caused not so much
by sexual abstinence as by the psychic state due to unsublimated
impulses. The ascetic may be possessed of a richer emotional
life than is the libertine. It is in the sphere of the neuroses
that most of the harm appears, a harm due to a misunderstand-
ing of one of the most fundamental of all human instincts.

Particularly among girls and women has the practice of
allowing the taboo to remain upon sex questions been provoca-

^^ domi
^Lporta
^brere

EDUCATIONAL DISADVANTAGES

live of unfortunate results. Taught that technical virginity
is the one virtue of life, she has been forced into a conflict
between normal desires and prudish standards. Few parents
have realized, until the writings of Freud appeared, the enor-
mous influence of sex upon the whole psychic life of the child.
WTiether one accepts the whole Freudian theory or not, it
cannot be gainsaid that the daughter of many a well-informed
family has been allowed to grow up in such a state of ignorance
that the only information that she has been able to secure in
regard to the function which covers so much of woman's
emotional activities has been brought to her by the filthy hands
of her acquaintances from the race's storehouse of obscenity.
Small wonder is it then that girls have grown into adolescence,
dominated by an insatiable interest for knowledge on this im-
.portant matter, with the feeling that their normal impulses
akin to the powers of evil, and that life, far from having in

the beauty that their souls desire, is a morass of bestiality
and sexual oppression.

Who has not known yoimg women who have been rendered
neurotic by the agony of soul which the consciousness of their
" wickedness " produced ? It is often in the most high-minded
families who look upon the sex instinct as something of an un-
fortunate necessity to be used solely for the production of
children, that a daughter often passes into puberty without
preparation, and then lapses into a state of chronic self -depreci-
ation because she cannot understand that her new impulsions
spring from anything but innate depra\'ity. That something
can be done by parents in this field is evident. Many of them
remain ignorant of the causes of their daughters' difficulties
until it is too late, and unconscious of the environment in
which their daughters live, with its heightened capacity for
sex stimulation, unattended hy any increased opiwrtunity for
expression. It may be hoped that through a gradual and well-
planned propaganda, parents may recognize the value of
meeting the needs of their daughters with positive information,
or that they may delegate this duty, which should be a privilege,
to more properly qualified individuals. Thb can be done

THE UNMARRIED MOTHER

without destroying that new-boro sense of shame and modesty
wliich nature spreads over everything sexual at the dawn of
puberty, and which Stanley Hall feels that no amount of
teaching can replace. According to him ' " maidenly modesty
is a kind of placenta in which virtue grows to the maturity
of motherhood. It is not sidlied by, but carefully and com-
pletely assimilates, all knowledge in the environment that is
needful for life." When such a course has been pursued one
can hope that a girl may mingle among associates with less
fear of a moral contamination whose results may warp her
whole life. She will not enter marriage and motherhood with
views which may not only prevent her from adjusting herself
to her new requirements, but what is equally unfortunate,
which may prevent her from expressing herself completely
through the channels of her emotions.

One of the conclusions which Freud has reached concerns
itself with the influence of seduction upon the later life of the
child. He holds it to be particularly necessary that parents
should shield their children, not only from physical contact of
a sexual nature, but that tliey should be prevented from contact
by sight or hearing with the sexual experiences of others. There
is undoubtedly much neglect of this kind, as a result of which
children are allowed to sleep in the same room with their
parents long after they have become conscious of their environ-
ment. Many of the girls in this study have been forced through
economic necessity to live in overcrowded homes, and to witness
intimacies on the part of their parents and of others, which must
have developed a precocious contact with sexual life. The
community can do much to mitigate this e^-il by enforcing
more stringent laws against overcrowding and against the taking
of lodgers in families where young girls are growing up, thus
removing one of the chief causes for a later state of shameless-
ness due to an early familiarity with sexual actions.

Aside from the new attitude which is hoped may some day be

adopted by the race towards the sex instinct in general, and

from measures which may tend to alle^-iate the number of girU

■ Hall, G. Stanley, op. nl., p. 400.

EDUCATIONAL DISADVANTAGES

who have been subjected to pre-pubcrtal sexual experiences,
either through seductiou or eiuotioual shock, there yet remains
the problem of sex education for the healthy girl in the normal
community. Freud and Jung, together with Stanley Hall and
Havelock Ellis, have emphasized the need of euiightenmetit on
matters of sex, beginning before puberty when a girl first asks
questions spontaneously, Each of these authors agrees upon
the necessity of instruction, maintaining that the duty of ini-
tiation belongs primarily to the mother. There seems to be a
consensus of opinion that during the early years the subject
should be approached with the aid of botany, zoology, and
other allied sciences. At puberty instruction should be given on
the attitude needful towards bodily exercise and health. Some-
thing should be done to stimulate the emotional appreciation of
the girl, although ezhausive rehgious instruction should not pre-
cede puberty itself. Finally these authorities believe that during
high-school years there should be a more detailed course which
would teach the basic facts of human sex life, and of the responsi-
bilities for parenthood. By so doing they hope to reduce the
number of youth to whom innocence means ignorance, who are
thus more handicapfied than warned, and what is of great
importance, to prevent that state of tension, that wastage of
effort, which unenlightenment on this matter frequently pro-
duces, and which so often leads to a pathological condition.

The Freudian psychology regards the mind from a dynamic
point of view, as being composed of a series of desires, trends,
wishes, and ambitions which are constantly striving to find ex-
pressions and gratification.' Desire is a fundamental driving
force of mental activity. Mental life is seen to constitute a
mental chain of activity, and the inherited instincts or their en-
vironmental modifications thus constitute the basis of all mental
motivation. New desires are not independent occurrences,
but depend on the old trends. Consequently the main task of
educating a child should not be the mere addition of some new
knowledge, but the ordering of the influences that act on him in
such a way as to allow the freest scope to the development of
' Jooes, E.. op, cit., p. SM /.

96 THE UNMABHIED MOTHER

those capacities which will make him a useful citizen. Hence
education should be a more individual matter, and success is
best attained by gradually teaching the child social interests,
instead of merely suppressing the primitive ones without
prefacing them by others. Jones feels that the way to deprive
primitive powers of their harm is not to shun them or to repress
them, but to settle them one way or the other.

This writer holds that psycho-analysis has established the
necessity of developing the human side of the child, and not
exclusively the intellectual, and approves of such methods of
sex hygiene as have been shown above. Particularly un-
fortunate to him seems to be that effect of fairy tales and lies
on the part of the parents, which b followed by the child's loss
of faith in his father and mother. If a parent tells the child
an untruth in regard to facts of sex, it will lower his opinion
of that parent when he learns the truth. The first thing, aaya
Jones, which we are called upon to do is to atop doing harm,
after which perhaps we can do good.

That the attitude of the parent is of prime importance in
this field of sexual enlightenment as well as in the whole field
of ethics has been made clear by Holt in a recent publication.'
This author has developed the Freudian doctrine imtil he finds
for it a basis for rational living. He illustrates the method by
vhich the wish, or course of action in regard to the environment,
may be directed, by the analogy of the child possessed of an
innate tendency to put out his hand to touch the fire. If the
mother is present, she holds back her child's hand before it
reaches the flame. If the mother is always present every time
the child wishes to touch the flame, and prevents him from doing
30. the child may in time acquire the habit of stopping short
before reaching the flame. But the child has learned nothing
of the nature of fire, and will be in some measure imp>eded in
its dealings with fire by what one may call a taboo.

If, on the other hand, the mother lets the child put out its

hand towards the flame, being careful that no accident allows

it actually to touch the flame, the child will not be buraed,

> Holt, B. B. : "The Freudian WUb". chap. Ill, New York. 181S.

and its own reflex action will cause it to withdraw its hand, not
because the mother wished it, but because of the direct action of
the heat. Ten years later, says Holt, the first mother will call
to her child and tell him not to dare put his hand so near the
lamp, whereas the second mother will tell him to get the matches
and light the lamp, and put it down on the table. The first
child has learned nothing except that when its mother is
present it cannot touch the fire ; it has learned to fear its mother
more than the flame. The second child has learned that the
flame is a thing which is not to be touched, and so has ad-
justed it to his environment. This, says Holt, is a paradigm
of Freudian morals. The first mother suppressed the child's
desire to touch the fire, and gave rise to a complex ; the second,
however, did not put herself in the position of an alien force
frustrating the child, and so retained the capacity for sympathy.

In another application Holt cites an ilhi.stration of a young
woman who goes from a rural and pious home to earn her living.
Here she makes the acquaintance of other young workers who
often go to the theater. This young woman has been taught
at home that the theater is a place of all abomination. Shall
she now go to the theater or not ? Here is a conflict between
the desire of youth to see life, and the precept of parents and
religion. This young woman may meet this question in three
ways. She may resist the temptations, so suppressing her wish
for pleasure, usually finding herself later, as Freud thinks, a
nervously-diseased spinster. She may, however, suppress the
righteous principles learned at home, become a butterfly, live
for pleasure, and perhaps die a drunken prostitute. In both
cases the suppressed wishes burst forth in side channels of con-
duct. The third way is no better, representing a compromise.
This indi^-idual tries to do both ; she is religious on Sunday,
and goes to the theater during the week. In each instance
there is a conflict, and the young woman does neither of the
two things with her whole heart.

There is, however, a fourth way. which consists of a free play
of both involved tendencies. Suppose a young woman is
invited by a man to the theater ; suppose that she realizes that

100

THE DNMAHBIED MOTHER

many people whom she admires frequcDtly go there, and comes
to the conclusion by discrimination that some tlieatera are good
and some are bad. If this is the case she tells the young man
that she doesn't feel that the play which he has suggested, if it
happens to be a poor one, would interest them, but that they
might choose another. In this instance her whole nature is
participating, for a step of this kind involves not compromise
but diacriminalion. Here the moral conduct is discriminating
conduct, for morality is wisdom.

From this Holt develops the doctrine that suppressions occur
through lack of knowledge, and that there can be no dia-
crimination without wisdom. " The right is that conduct ob-
tained through discrimination of the fact which fulfills all of a
man*s wishes at once, suppressing none. The moral sanction
is fact." '

It thus appears that if we take into consideration the Freudian
teaching, with the emphasis placed upon the wish, we reach a
conclusion which shows that ignorance is a direct handicap
in the life of moral action. Undoubtedly this is applicable to
those girb and young women who have given birth to illegiti-
mate children, and upon whom there has fallen so large a heritage
of ignorance. Growing up without healthy mental interests,
under conditions extremely likely to stultify their moral develop-
ment, and frequently with insufficient parental control or in-
terest, these girls have come into adolescence weakened by the
possession of minds empty of good, and full of evil influences.
Early sex experiences have left their marks in subsequent mental
conflicts and predispositions. To those who are familiar with
the psychology of sex in the recent contributions of the
psycho-analytic school the part of the mind in human be-
havior is paramount, containing as it does both innate and
environmental stimuli. Educational disadvantages, particu-
larly in regard to the elemental facts of life, may thus act as
causative factors productive of sexual misconduct.

This chapter, by emphasizing the importance of sex during

infancy and the necessity of proper enlightenment on the

I Holt, E. B.. op. cit., p. 131.

I
I

EDUCATIONAL DISADVANTAGES

101

matter at the time of puberty, points the way towards a means
of alleviating the difficulty surrounding adolescent girls. Pri-
marily, one needs to infuse into the minds of those most sub-
jected to temptation, the type which is considered in this study,
that the sex function is one which may not be abused, and that
it is the source at once of the deepest misery as well as the fullest
joy that life contains. In order to give to growing girls an ap-
preciation of this fact, a curriculum of sex education, similar
to that suggested in this chapter, is needed. Once this has
been devised, one may look for a lesser amount of sexual
laxness, and for fewer illegitimate children. More than that, it
may be hoped that women will be saved much that at present
weighs heavily on their minds and bodies, and thus prevents
their self-expression. What has been said has indicated plainly
the handicap which lies in educational disadvantages. The
community is so aroused to the need of a system of sexual hy-
giene that the day cannot be far off in which it will be possible
to find disease and psychic maladjustment reduced to a mini-
mum in a society no longer ashamed or apologetic of that in-
stinct which, perhaps more thau any other, determines human
behavior.

It is towards such ends that a rational knowledge of sex
hygiene, based upon the investigation of the authors quoted in
this chapter, should lead. The sex instinct plays an im-
portant part in the lives of children, and colors most of the
activities of adults. Once this fact has been understood,
there follows the need of understanding and directing this
all-important impulse in human life. Much of the misery
which the girls and women in this study have endured might
have been prevented had they understood themselves and
their sexual environment.

Cases will be found throughout this book in which educational
disadvantages appear as a minor causative factor.

CHAPTER Vn

Bad Home Conditions

General statement — Quarreling, abuse, or other irritating conditions
— Father alcoholie, immoral, or criminalistic — Mother alcoholic,
immoral, or criminaliBlic — Both parents alcoholic, immoral, or
criminalistic — Other members of the family alcoholic, immoral,
or criminalistic — Poverty — Lock of parental control — Lack
of parental control through ignorance — Lack of parental control
through illness — Lack of parental control ; father away ^ Lack
of parental control ; mother away — Lack of control because of
parental inability ~ I^ack of control because family not immi-
grated — No supervision through parental neglect — Frequent
moving — Immorality in the home — Girl away from home —
Low-standard families — Father dead — Mother dead — Parenta
Beparated — Parents dead — Husband deserted — Husband dead.

General Statement. Of sucb importance in a study of the
UQmatTied mother are the conditions surrounding the girl or
young woman in her home, that sufficient space must be
devoted to a consideration of the place of this influence in their
lives. That this is second to none in its results is indicated
by the causative factor cards, according to which '* Bad Home
Conditions " operate, as a major factor in 194 cases, and as a
minor factor in 158 cases. At the outset, however, warning
must be given against an interpretation of this factor which
overlooks the evident truth that there are many girk whose
home conditions are even more contaminating than those dealt
with here, who have never become unmarried mothers. A
study of this kind must deal with influences productive of re-
sults, and the fact that many girls escape pregnancy although

BAD HOME CONDITIONS

108

subjected to demoralizing conditions within their own homes
is often expUcable on the basis of their underlying moral
vitality.

The influence of home conditions upon the individual is in
many ways obvious because of the importance of an environ-
mental influence of this kind upon girls at a peculiarly impres-
sionable age. Yet for this very reason it has seemed well to
go into some detail concerning the reaction of the girl to the
home in question, and its influence upon her behavior. The
following discussion is based upon a summary of evidence from
two thousand social workers included in the work of Woods and
Kennedy.' According to these authors, once a girl begins to
take her place in the industrial world, her personality expands
with almost startling rapidity. She assumes a " grown-up "
attitude, and affects a spirit of bravado. At this time also she
begins to seek intimate attachments with various girl compan-
ions, and enters into such free association with men that the
delicacy of her moral reserve is often in danger. As might be
expected, an entrance into the outer world such as this transi-
tion signifies cannot leave the girl with her old attitude towards
her home environment. Frequently she becomes discontented
and ashamed of her parents, following hitherto forbidden amuse-
ments with the excuse " I am now earning my own living, and
can do as I please." Of equal importance is the changed atti-
tude of the home toward the girl, for where formerly there was
restraint, one now finds an unwillingness to interfere with the
daughter whose capacity as a wage-earner has suddenly endowed
her with a new power.

The girl's attitude towards the neighborhood also is likely
to undergo transformation. Her new acquaintances are
scattered in various portions of the city, so that she often be-
comes ashamed of her home environment and looks down on
it in her own m'md. To be rescued from this dullness, many a
girl at this age seeks the companionship of unknown men, the
result of which is often demoralizing. This phase, however,
does not seem to be of long duration, many workers find-
' Woods and Keimcdy. op. cil,, chaps. IV and V.

104

THE UNMAHRIED MOTHER

ing that after a year or two the girl who has been led away
by the novelty of a wider life soon finds herself renewing her
old acquaintances in her original environment.

The result is thus a reen trance into those conditions most
intimately associated with the home, and the subjection of
the individual to all that is both good and bad which the home
contains. Certain characteristics stand out as of prime impor-
tance in determining the effect of a girl's home on her behavior,
chief among which may be mentioned that of overcrowding.
Congestion has its results in lowered vitality and stunted growth.
It breaks down a feeling of privacy, and so brings on a loss of
self-respect and of modesty. Its results are seen in family
disintegration and in an increased tendency on the part of the
children for a life on the streets, accompanied by the danger of
forming criminal habits.

Viewed from another aspect, the result of overcrowding ia
equally alarming. It is frequently necessary for several per-
sons to share the same sleeping room, and sometimes three or
more occupy the same bed. This has its normal results in the
dissemination of disease. Equally contaminating is the fact
that hardly a married couple in a congested neighborhood is
able to have a room for themselves, so that children are often
forced to sleep in the same room with their parents up to and
within the period of early adolescence. As an indirect conse-
quence of their early initiation into the intimacies of married
life, many children lose their chastity, and even participate
in gross immorality. Here again one is surprised to find
that the damage done is not nearly as great as one would
expect.

The physical vitality of an individual is of such importance
in determining her mental attitude that one can easily under-
stand that the diet of an adolescent girl is a question which
cannot be overlooked. The stores in the neighborhood in which
these girls grow up are almost universally poor, and the food
is frequently in a condition unfit for consumption. Unfor-
tunately the mother is often ignorant in regard to food values,
and ways of preparing food so that it may be most easily assim-

BAD HOME CONDITTONS 105

Dated. Too much is spent on crude luxury, and much under-
nourishment is due to a dietary made up largely of bread and
pastry, reinforced with tea and coffee. There is so little about
the meals to make them attractive that they are almost always
hastily eaten, with consequent ill-effects upon the health of
the family.

The chief cause of the breakdown of standards in a girl
appears to lie in family deterioration, the very heart of this
failure centering in the character of the parents. The work-
ing-class father often fails in interest and sympathy with his
children, his attitude towards them being largely impersonal,
with no desire of sharing his daughters' experiences. He 18
generally a ruler, liking " to boss " and be obeyed. His influ-
ence, however, is small compared to that of the mother unless
there is a crisis, at which time his words usually prevail. When
intoxicated he is frequently cruel to the younger children,
exercising a greater restraint towards those who are older,
because of their wage-earning capacity. The older girla do
not escape neglect or that sort of abuse which lies in forbidding
them to entertain their friends at home or prohibiting them
from participating in innocent recreation. In some families
one finds exploitation of the duughtere for family purposes,
the theory being that the daughter is a family possession, to be
relinquished only at marriage. Girls resent this when they
have no part in the family council, but are ordinarily quite
willing to cooperate in a plan if their views are taken into
consideration.

It is felt that the mother is always humanly interested in
her children, although frequently unable to master the problems
presented by her working daughters. She is frequently inex-
perienced in the fundamentals of modern life, and almost al-
ways outside of the range of her working daughters' dominant
interests. Mothers are thus sometimes incapable of giving
the proper advice, or of a desire to sympathize with her in
whate\'er predicament she may find herself. The girl who is
not allowed any time for recreation may well be expected to
supply it in some manner, even if she is forced to nm away

THE UNMARRIED MOTHER ^

with some man as her only means of expression. So frequently
is the mother absorbed by the necessity of making both ends
meet at home, and of acting as an intermediary between her
children and their fatlier, that the daughter seeks some outside
individual as a source of sympathy. Thus family conditions
conduce to those outbursts of homosexuality which constitute
a more or less morbid tendency among adolescent girls. The
natural result is that the girl is likely to look down upon her
mother, taking her heroines from among the women of the busi-
i world, and so often leaving home to board because slie
feels that her parents belittle her before others.

It is to an extent surprising to find that the relationship
between a girl and her brother and sisters is often less helpful
than might be expected. Where there are not too many chil-
dren, and not too great a difference in the ages, one often
finds a spirit of teamwork, with the result that the whole stand-
ard of the family is raised. But where there is the constant
pressure of poverty, the family relationship is often sordid, the
girb being forced to work at the earliest possible age, sometimes
in order that the boys may spend their time in idleness. It b
noteworthy that brothers hardly ever assume a fair share of
the resjKjnsibility in helping with the younger children, so that
many a girl is forced to sacrifice the opportunity of a home of
her own because of family duties.

The practice of taking boarders is always one beset with
evil. Where it is carried out to such an extent that the strange
is herded into the family sleeping rooms, it almost always
leads to the breakdown of modesty, and often to immorality.

The home situation is sometimes rendered difficult by the
fact that the parents insist that their daughters should turn
over all of their wages to them, from which they are to receive
a certain amount for spending money. The consensus of
opinion, however, among social workers, seems to be that this
custom is beneficial because the young working girl ordinarily
has very vague ideas in regard to the value of money. There
is, however, truth in the belief that this habit should be modified
when the daughter approaches adult life, and that she should

BAD HOME CONDITIONS

^V then be encouraged to take charge of her own wages and to
plan her own expenditures. A greater bond of understanding
might exist between the mother and her daughter, as well as
an opportunity for supervision, if the mother knew more in

^m regard to the conditioas under which her daughters worked.

^H Only too often one hears the statement, " I do not know where

^V she works, but 1 know what she gels a week." When tliis is
recognized it is not surprising to learn that few parents know
anything concerning the moral condition surrounding their
daughter's life, nor are they at all informed in regard to their

I daughter's behavior from the time she leaves her work to the
tune she arrives at home.
In a supplementary chapter to ECneeland's " Commercialised
Prostitution in New York City ", ' Doctor Katherine B. Davis
submits a study of prostitutes at the State Reformatory for
Women in New York, in which she draws attention to the influ-

>ence of size of the family upon this type of delinquency, main-
taining that " a very large family on verj- small means is largely
to blame for the downfall of the older daughters." The ma-
jority of the girls at Bedford came from families in which the
girls were one of three brothers and sisters. The average num-
ber of children in such families was 3.99, so that these figures
must be considered a qualification of the remark just quoted.
Miss Davis admits that since the average number of children
per family in the general community in New York is not much
H smaller than that of families from whom the Bedford girls spring,
^H one can draw no conclusions except that girls go wrong in fami-
^M lies of all sizes.

^^ Commenting on the home and living conditions of the un-
married mother, the report of the Philadelphia Municipal Court
for 1915 indicates that the important place of the home in the

I lives and character of these women cannot be questioned. In
only 31 cases out of 129 did the data recorded merit the apph-
cation of the term normal to the home under consideration.^
p. 16E

KBetlnnd, Gcorne J.: "Commercialised Prostitution in New York City",
p. 16», tipw Yurk, 1913.

~ Philadelphia Mimicipal Court Beport, 191S.

101

THE UNIVLVRRIED MOTHER

In a study of juvenile and other delinquents quoted in the
Report of the Vice Commission of Chicago, it was found that
in a large proportion of the 2.420 cases under review, the home
conditions had contributed to, if they had not caused, the
downfall of the daughters or wives. " The perversion of nat-
ural sex relationships by incest, by immorality of the mother
or guardian, or by the evil example of a brother, sister, or other
relative, and by the abuse of the marriage relation in prostitut-
ing the wife by and for the benefit of the husband, is tlie specific
source of the ruin of many of these lives. The failure of the
parental relation by reason of divorce and desertion, and, in
some instances, by the excessive demands upon the mother
by the care of a large household without sufficient income
or help, is also the occasion for many neglected children going
astray. The lack of home instruction in the use and abuse of
sex organs and relationships, together with a neglect to safe-
guard the leisure time, especially in the evening, and the failing
to supervise the reading and the associations of the children,
account for much of their demoralization." '

Again one finds comment on the unfavorable home conditions,
" first among these causes should be named unfavorable home
conditions and family relationships. Where the parents are
drunken, immoral, degraded, the home crowded and filthy,
and the child neglected and abused, there is little hope of the
girl escaping sex-violation. Such consequences are illustrated
by the experience of the girls now in the State Home for Girls at
Geneva. Among one hundred and sixty-eight girls in that
institution at one time (summer, 1908) thirty were the daughters
of drunken fathers, eight had drunken mothers, twenty had
fathers of vicious habits, sixteen were children of immoral or
vicious mothers. In the families of twelve there were others
of criminal or vicious habits; twenty-four were children of
fathers who had deserted the family ; eleven were illegitimate,
and ten were victims of gross cruelty. Twenty-nine of these
girls had already been in houses of prostitution, thirteen had
sisters who were immoral, thirty-one country girls at Geneva
' "The Sodal EvU In Chicago", p. 820.

BAD HOME CONDITIONS

I and sixteen Chicago girls each testified thiit the companion
I of her first experience was a member of her own family."
Turning to Germany, we learn from Aachaffenburg : '

" The unfortunate position of the children who are of illegiti-
mate birth of tl»e product of drunken families and criminal
environment, from their earliest years fall victim to mental
and moral corruption, has always cliallenged compassion and
energetic action. . . . Almost equally menaced are those
children who are the result of marriages which, in consequence
of extreme poverty, consist only of an outward living together
and the procreation of, usually, numerous progeny. — mar-
riages in which the husband is at work in the factory from early
till late, and the mother spends her time at the wash-tub, or,
as well 83 her husband, in the factory. No one is there to look
after and bring up the children ; at best, they are left to the
care of some neighbor or to themselves, but often enough they
begin at an early age to work too, delivering bread and news-
papers, selling flowers and matches. The street supplements
the events that take place before the eyes of the children in
the overcrowded home. Precocious, and without education
or training, the poor little mortals are an easy prey to the temp-
tations that surround them on every side."

As a further indication of the influence of home conditions
upon delinquency, one may quote Bonger, who maintains
that the environment is the preponderating influence in deter-
mining criminality.* In his discussion of prostitution, which
may well be a treatment of contaminating family environment
in general, he quotes Augagneur (" La prostitution des filles
mineures ", Arch, d'anthr. crim., IT) as follows :

"Their moral sense, if such may be called that which no one
has ever tried to awaken, is not shocked by their situation ;
they have prostituted themselves without shame and without

I regret. They have left normal and respectable society with-
out being really aware of its existence, without the desire
of ever returning thither. They have lacked the things neces-
sary to make them respectable women — instruction ui virtue,
UK

AschaSenburg : "Crime and Its RepressioD". Bostoa, 1913.

B<]Dger, W, A, : "CrimiDolity and Ek^Qomtc CooditioDs", p. 333, Boaton.

uie.

THE UNMARRIED MOTHER

the example of their relatives, the suspicious surveiltacce ol
their mothers, and material well-being. The daughters of the
people are not, at the day of their birth, of a clay inferior to
that of the daughters of the bourgeoisie or of the nobility;
they are naturally no less intelligent, no more perverse. And
yet if you examine the civil status of a hundred prostitutes,
you will find that 95 at least have sprung from the lowest strata
of society, the existing social inequality, that is to say, is alone
responsible for this unequal distribution."

Enough should now have been said to indicate the impor-
tance of home conditions as causative factors of delinquency in
the minds of the authors under consideration. The following
cases, subdivided under specific headings, should bring out in
detail the influence of bad home conditions on the girls and
women in this study who became unmarried mothers.

Quarreling, Abuse, or Other Irritating Conditions in the
Home. This condition appears to be that most frequently
met with as a causative factor under the descriptive heading of
" Bad Home Conditions ", occurring as it does sixty-sis times
in an analysis of this group. It is not difficult to recognize the
interrelation of abuse on the part of the parents and a repres-
sion which may lead directly to sex delinquency, nor is it hard
to understand how continuous " nagging " by the mother may
cause a girl to leave home for lodgings where she may be exposed
to new temptations. Conditions of this sort in the background
of a girl's life have an undoubted effect on the individual whose
environment they constitute. In many instances, however, a
girl may be completely surrounded by abuse and other irritat-
ing conditions, only to retain a spirit of cooperation and self-
sacrifice. Such giris, far from falling into the group of un-
married mothers, manifest their inherent good qualities as a
source of strength in an otherwise impossible home. Certain
individuals, on the other band, seem to be so predisposed to
sexual delinquency as to make it difficult to estimate the value
of an environment as a causative factor and to make the impos-
sibility of isolating a single force doubly evident.

With the conditions designated in this paragraph, there un-
doubtedly appear such other factors as " one parent dead '\

I
I

BAD HOME CONDITIONS

^H*" lack of control on account of illness of the mother ", etc.,
^fas well as the other minor factors which are enumerated on the
causative factor cards. The actual cases follow.

Case II, It is not possible, on the basis of this girl's history,
to classify her as mentally defective, although she was con-
sidered so by some of those who had her in charge. A mental
examination would have been of great assistance in sucJi a
case. This girl of American parentage gave birth to an ille-

tgitimate child at the age of 19. Her father, who is dying of
tuberculosis in a suburban hospital, was formerly a street-car
conductor of temperate habits. The mother, also temperate,
is described as a good indu.'^trious woman, although somewhat
easy-going at home, and works daily at a wage of $5 a week.
The fraternity includes four sisters under 19, the oldest of
whom has a good reputation ; a sister two years younger than
the girl in question was committed to an organization giving
institutional care at the same time. One child weighed 14
poimds at birth and died at the age of three months. The
family life is further complicated by the fact that the mother's
sister lives with them ; she has been in a hospital for the insane,
is immoral, and has had three illegitimate children.

Althougb this family are continually behind with the rent,

»they yet bear a fair reputation in the crowded neighborhood
in whjch they hve. The home is upset and dirty, but the
mother seems to be doing all that she can, and the situation
Es not made easier by the presence of the aunt, a domineering
type, or by the fact that the mother confesses that she is never
able to " get on " with her daughter. The father has recently
added to the difficulties by disappearing from the tuberculosis
hospital without permission and by arbitrarily attempting to
take charge of the morab of his daughters. This girl suffered
from catarrh of the stomach when a child and had frequent
fainting spells after which she felt drowsy for some time. Her
menstrual periods established themselves regularly, and at the
time of her confinement she was in excellent condition, getting
out of bed on the eighth day. She left school in the eighth
grade at the age of 14, having shown considerable general
intelligence and fondness for work, thereupon securing employ-
ment in a biscuit factory. At this time she began to roam the
streets, staying out late with yoimg men in the park, and finally,
^_ in company with a younger sister, she stayed out all night on
^K several occasions. Both girls claimed that they left home
^H t)ecause their father was too strict and because they quarreled

THE UNMARRIED MOTHER

with their aunt. As a result the girl in question was committed
to aa organization giving institutional care at the age of 16,
upon the complaint of her mother, who claimed that she was a
" stubborn child." Wliile here she was considered good-tem-
pered and fairly industrious, not given to stealing, and possessed
of a strong emotional nature. Nearly two years passed before
she was placed in a family, where she proved herself nervous,
weeping whenever corrected. She was then allowed to go back
to her home and to take up work in a laundry, after five or six
months of which she lost her position because she kept irregular
hours; soon thereafter, upon quarreling with her father, she
ran away from home. She was found to be pregnant and gave
birth to 3 child which she is now attempting to support in a
new environment.

This girl does not seera to have been immoral before the time
of her commitment, and her pregnancy was the result of loog-
continued intimacy with a married man who had a wife and
five children. When she became pregnant, he paid her board
for her at his sister's house, where he visited her frequently and
had sexual relations with her. Nothing has been done toward!'
securing a definite sum for the support of the child.

Case No. 11. Causative factors; (a) Bad Home Condi-
tions: Upset and dirty home. Father too strict, gu-1 quar-
reled with aunt who was immoral. Mother could not get
on with girl. No control, (6) Bad Companions: fte-
quented parks with young men. (c) Mentality: Possibly
subnormal. No examination. Sex + + . Age 19,

Father Alcoholic, Immoral, or Criminalistic. It has seemed
of interest to give aa illustrations of this group several cases
in which the behavior of the father may have had such a dis-
tinct influence upon the environment of the girl or young wo-
man in question as to constitute the prime causative factor
in her life. Exhaustive comment under thi.s head is evidently
unnecessary, for the relations existing l>etwecn these charac-
teristics on the part of the father and the atmosphere of the
iiome is obvious.

Particular emphasis may be laid on conditions which usually
accompany ak'ohollsm in the father, varying from indecent
language to actual sex assault, and from poverty at home to an
ensuing lack of physical stamina in the children, due to under-
nourishment. Nor can one forget the influence of the father's

BAD HOME CONDITIONS

lis

criminalistic habits upoD liis daughters, who thus are prone to
petty thiev*iiig and to other delinquencies so frequently connected
with sexual irregularity. It is in such homes that one might
expect to see the boy arrested for thieving, while the gitl
engaged in sexual misconduct. Abuse by the father has m
many instances been the cause of a daughter's departure from
home control and has often produced a mental conflict in the
girl's mind which has expressed itself through sexual immoral-
ity.

This group of characteristics in the father, although operat-
ing in relatively few instances as the prime causative factor, is
in many instances a minor factor of considerable importance,
as is shown in the appendix on " Statistics." An actual case
follows.

Case 12, We have here the case of an American girl of Irish
extraction who had known much abuse from her drunken father,
who gave birth to an illegitimate child when she was 17 years
of age. Her mother, a conscientious but forceless individual,
had been much humiliated by her husband's periodica! drink-
ing and had done her best to keep the family together. Two
other children were considered bright, one having done espe-
cially well in school. One child died of meningitis. On ac-
count of the frequent disturbances at home the children were
not allowed to bring their friends to the house, and therefore
when the girl in question became interested in a young teamster
she saw him frequently in the park instead, where later sexual
intercourse took place. There is no indication that this girl
has been promiscuous.

This girl's parents had lived in New England for twenty-five
years, and her father, a carpenter by trade, had succeeded in

Eroviding his family with a modest home in a fair neighbor-
ood where the hygienic conditions were very good. They
were able to live without the aid of charity, and had the father
been able to remain sober for any longlh of time, the home
life might have been happy and harmonious. While drinking,
however, he threw his whole family into a slate of terror, it
often being necessary for them to move out into the back yard
iji order to escape his abuse. It was because of her husband's
shiftlessness that the girl's mother found it necessary to work
out by the day in order to increase the family budget. We note
throughout this history this woman's eagerness to educate her

114

THE UNM.VBRIED MOTHER

children and to provide for their future welfare. From the
developmental point of view we find the girl's attitude towards
school to have been one of indifference, and she left in the
seventh grade at the age of 15. Her behavior, however, was
reported as excellent, and she was good in her studies, excellins
in the household arts. For a few months after leaving school
she worked in a hair factory and then for the next year did
general housework in a small boarding house. Her employer
did not consider her bright, yet found her faithful and able to
follow directions well. In appearance she was small-framed
but well-developed with an expressionless face and easy man-
ner. She was an emotional girl, responsive but vaciUating and
generally lacking in higher intelligence, yet she showed such
qualities as keen responsibility toward her family and a deter-
mination to rise above her past life. It was felt that she would
probably be able to do this in a new environment. At school
she bad never associated with boys and although friendly with
the girls was sometimes unpopular among them, because she
was considered rough. Later she associated with factory girls
and enjoyed her companionship with the maids at the boarding
house. That their influence was not good is evident, for in
roeaking of these girls in relation to her sexual delinquencies,
she remarked, " I didn't feel particularly bad about it at the
time, because I knew many otlier girls were doing the same."
Her child was born at a private maternity hospital after a
difficult labor, and she was allowed to return to her parents'
home with him. Before her child's birth she was sure that
she would have little affection for it, but she proved to have a
strong maternal instinct and was much affected by its death
at the age of four months. Site said in a moment of reffection,
" I feel I can make a greater success of life with this knowledge
and experience as a guide."

This girl met the alleged father of her child, a young man of
19, at the home of a friend. He became interested in her and
frequently asked her to go to the motion pictures with him.
As she was unable to receive him in her home, they spent their
leisure time in the park. Here she had intercourse with him
very often. She declared, however, that she had never been to
his room or accepted money from him and that she believed
him when he promised to marry her if she became pregnant.
Instead of doing this, he deserted her as soon as he learned of
her condition. There is every indication that this girl was
sincerely attached to the father of her child and that she bad
never been promiscuous. In spite of the fact that she was

BAD HOME CONDITIONS 115

fully acquainted with the possible results of the sex act, having
been warned against such dangers by her mother, ahe states
that she never worried over the chance of her becoming preg-
nant until it was t^X) late.

Case No. 12. Causative factors: (a) Bad Home Condi-
tions: Father alcohohc; abusive. Mother works out.
Very demoralizing influence. (6) Ueredhy: Father aico-
holic. Brother died of meningiljs. Sex + + . Age 17.

Hotfaer AJcoholic, Immoral, or Criminalistic. So much more
intimate is the relationship which exists between a mother and
her dai^jhter than that which is ordinarily found between a
daughter and a father that the situation which has been con-
sidered in the foregoing paragraph becomes even more intensi-
fied. An alcohohc, immoral, or abusive mother is imdoubtedly
a more contaminating influents in a home, for her daughter
is ordinarily imbued with the feeling that men can do things
because they are men. Coosequenlly she makes allowances
for her father and older brothers, but has no such attitude
toward her mother. The result is that often the prestige of
the mother is strong enough to endow her behavior with the
color of authority, as a result of which a girl brought up in such
an environment cannot but feel such actions to be more or less
permissible. The whole force of tradition has been brought
to bear upon her to make her think that what her mother does
is right. Particiilarly when we are dealing with questions

I involving the sex instinct do we find in the mind of the girls
broi^ht up in close association with an alcoholic or immoral
mother such warped ideas in regard to sex ethics as to make her
an easy victim of her own impulses. She secures little assist-
ance in her endeavor to lead a balanced life at an age when she
is in need of all the help that a good woman could give.
The case which follows will draw attention to such details
as cannot advantageously be mentioned here,
ha
lift
yei

Case 13. We have here the case of a Canadian girl who was
handicapped by the instaVilily and immorality of her home
life. Her father had looked after himself since he was 12
years old, and bad very cai'y fallen into a loose way of living.

lie

THE UNMARRIED MOTHER

often being drunk. He made & forced marriage with her mother
at 17 and divorced her before the birth of her second child
because he learned that she had had two illegitimate children
before their marriage. The father states that this experi-
ence has taught him a lesson, and that he has resolved to settle
down and make something better of his life. He has married
since, and he and his family enjoy a comfortable home in the
West. His attitude toward his daughter was sympathetic,
and he was willing to help her as much as he could, although
he was not willing to receive her into his home. He blamed
himself and her mother for her downfall. The mother con-
tinued in her loose way of living throughout the giri's childhood
and died of peritonitis a few months previous to her daughter's
confinement. It was rumored that this condition was brought
abodt when the girl kicked her mother in the abdomen during
a fit of anger. After living promiscuously for a few years, this
girl gave birth to an illegitimate child when 18 years of age.

Little is known of her earlier life. For about ten years she
lived in an institution, and her only brother was sent away to a
reform school. He was considered a bright and capable boy,
but at one tirae got into serious difficulty because he stole a
school flag. There was very little companionship or home life
for these children. At 15 the girl returned to her mother's
home and lived with her several years in a house of ill repute.
Her mother worked in a shoe shop during the day, which
allowed the daughter every opportunity for the bad compan-
ionship which her e\'it environment afforded. Mother and
daughter both had \'iolent tempers and never agreed. There
was quarreling and abuse at home, and the mother was always
suspicious of the giri. Once she stole her mother's diamond
ring and pawned it for S45. She felt the offence to have been
much less serious because the mother was in the room when she
took the ring. For months at a time she lived with cousins
in a New England city, where the influence was as degrading
as that in her own home. The cousins were immoral and al-
coholic, and one of them was at this time involved in the mur-
der of an immoral girl. This same cousin also made several
ineffectual attempts to have intercourse with her. This girt
was considered active and efficient when in a good humnr
but when crossed in her desires she became sullen and often
violent. Once she lost her temper with another girl over a trifle
and nearly tore her clothes off before she was restrained. In
appearance this girl was strong and possessed of an impulsive
manner. She finished the grammar school and determined to

BAD HOME CONDITIONS

117

take up dressmaking and millinery, as she seemed to possess
a good deal of ability with her needle. After learning the
miUinery trade, she was able to earn as much as $7 a week. This
girl also did factory work, which proved very distasteful to her.
When asked about her interests in religious matters she merely
said, " I cannot go to church as I have no suitable clothes to
wear." She had a passion for moving-picture shows and
dances and frequented these places with a group of bad com-
panions. She habitually " picked Up " men and showed an
intense desire to be with them. Shortly after her condition
became noticeable she was sent to a private maternity hospital,
where her child was born after a normal confinement, there being
no indication of any venereal disease. She told the doctor
there that she had always been troubled with great irritability
at menstruation. She was considered very troublesome at
this home, and some of the other girls were much afraid of her.
When so inclined she defied everybody and became so impudent
and unrestrained that no one could manage her. She always
showed, however, a fondness for her cliild and took good care
of him. She showed him to every one with pride and made no
attempt to hide the fact that she was not married. When
placed out with her child, however, she was not considered satis-
factory and was discharged several times, once taking a supply
of linen with her. At the end of two years she showed a good
deal of improvement in judgment and appreciation, and the
visitor interested in her welfare felt that she gave signs of
promise.

Ada met the alleged father while she was employed in a shoe
shop. She gave an address where she had uitercourse with
him at various times, which upon investigation proved to be
a house of prostitution. The man managed a cigar store and
disappeared when he learned of her condition. She admits
that a year previously she had regularly had intercourse with
another man. This girl had undoubtedly been very immoral
and had habitually frequented houses of prostitution. Even
after the birth of her child she became intimate with young
men where she was employed and persisted in staying out at
night with them. At our last report she was showing less desire
to be with men and had asked tlie agent to look up the father of
her child, as she had decided that she would marry him, if she
found that he was at all desirable. The child is now being sup-
ported by its mother in a boarding home.

Case No. 13. Causative factors : (o) Bad Home Condi-
tions: Lived with immoral mother in questionable house.

118 THE UNMARRIED MOTHER

Later lived with immoral relatives. (6) Bad Companions:
Low standard girl friends ; " picks up " men. (c) Men-
tality: Defective self-eontrol. Temper. Fights. (d)
Heredity: Mother had two illegitimate children. Prosti-
tute. Sex ++. Age 18.

Both Parents Alcoholic, Immoral, or Criminalistic. It will
be readily understood that when the influence attendant upon
alcoholism, immorality, or crime in one parent is intensified by
the fact that the beha^-ior of both parents is of this nature, the
effect on the home environment is doubly pernicious.

The following cases illustrate some of the causative factors
which have been considered in the preceding paragraphs and
indicate how slight the good influences are In a home where
both parents are in some way vicious.

Case 14. This is the case of a girl whose father was Frencli
Canadian and whose mother was Irish, who became pregnant
at the age of 17. She passed the mental tests and was consid-
ered not defective. Physically she was tall and of an unat-
tractive type, with a weak fa<« and a skin eruption, and is
suffering from tuberculosis, of recent origin. The father was
intemperate and considered subnormal, having made a forced
marriage when the mother was three n)onths pregnant. He
has a court record for drunkenness and has been in an insane
hospital suffering from general paralysis. The mother had
an illegitimate child before marriage and is also alcoholic
and immoral ; she is nervous and hot-headed and in spite of
the tests is described as "mentally off." Nothing is known as
to the whereabouts of the girl's illegitimate halt-brother. The
fraternity, furthermore, consists of a sister of 18 who is wild,
of a brother of 16 who is tubercular; and there are four other
sisters and a brother under 10 years of age.

After having made fourteen changes in residence in eighteen
years, often living in bad communities, this family now occu-
pies an eight-room cottage in an outlying section of a manu-
facturing city which they keep in dirt and disorder, the girl
and three of her .sisters sleeping together in one room. The
children were frequently abused by their alcoholic father, who
kicked them and swore at them when drunk, and the parents
often neglected their family in order to attend the motion-pic-
ture theaters, during which time the girl's older sister brought
her questioEable friends ioto the house. This girl herself

BAD HOME CONDITIONS

was never allowed to play with the chUdren of the reputable
neighbors nor to ha\e any of her friends visit her in her home.
As a result she got into the habit of going around alone on the
street and of attending the theaters without the knowledge of
her parents. At school she reached the seventh grade and seems
to have been good in drawing and poor in history, giving indi-
cations of ability without concentration. The girl was con-
ceived when the parents were 39 years old, the father hav-ing
smoked since the age of eight, and the mother drinking exces-
sively durinK her pregnancy. She weighed nine pounds at the
time of her birth, which was normal, and was fed at the breast,
talking and walking at 14 monlh.s. She went through the
measles and mumps and began to suffer from enuresis at the
age of four. During her developmental period we find her
frequently going to school without breakfast and contracting
other detrimental habits; her menstrual periods established
themselves when she was 14, continuing painless and regular.
After leaving school this girl secured employment in an elec-
trical company, where she earned ten cents an hour for ten hours
a day reading meters, and gave her wages to her mother, wlio
allowed her twenty-five cents for spending money. Her ei
ployers considered her smart but inattentive and filthy, as well
as lacking in ambition. About this time she began to show dis-
tinct delinquent tendencies and became unmanageable, largely
through neglect and mistreatment. She lied and stole from
her mother, was defiant about her misbehavior, never wept

I when punished, fought her brothers and sisters and stayed out
over night, sleeping in sheds and under bushes. Her lying
was always for a purpose, and at one time she conceived the
plan of giving her sister a surprise party for which she had
tickets printed, selling them for twenty-five cents apiece. On
the proceeds of the sale she ran away and was gone for several
days- This girl was committed as a " stubborn child " to an
organization giving institutional care when just under 15 years

I of age. In court she was indifferent and hardened and while
in the institution she became unpopular. There she mani-
fested a talent for drawing and was fond of fancy work. After
a year and a half her mother fractured her hip, and the girl
was allowed to go home to help with her family. They were
evicted for non-imyment of rent and succeeded in moving into
a better place, where the girl found work to do outside the house.
One day she appeared completely battered, with a black eye,
and it was found that her parents had discovered that she was
two months pregnant and had gotten drunk with the intention

120

THE UNMARRIED MOTHER

of killiog her. At pre-sent she is awaiting confinement in a
hospital.

This girl began tfl be sejcually immoral at 12 and admitted
relations with a neighbor and a few others whom she did not
know, at that age. She says that her pregnancy is the result of
recent intercom-se with one man, although she had been with
two or three others in the last six months, and that he told her
that he would take precautionary measures, which she believed.
Nothing has been done to establish paternity. The young
woman claims that her condition is the result of the fact that
she was unliappy at home and did not have a fair chance. She
says that her runaways and her various delinquencies were due
to the fact that she wa3 not treated right, was beaten, once with
a rope, and that she was never allowed to have any pretty clothes
or to bring her friends to the house.

Case No. 14. Causative factors : (a) Bad Home Condi-
tions: Parents forced marriage. Mother had illegitimate
child. Father alcoholic, abusive. Mother alcoholic, shift-
less. Girl's sister wild. Drunken brawls ; abuse ; neg-
lect. (&) Bad Enrironment: Fourteen changes in 18 yeara,
among bad families, (c) Recreational Disadvantages: No
girl or boy friends. Unpopular, (d) Early Sex Experi-
ence: Began to be immoral at 12. {c) Heredity: Parents
thought subnormal. Father in Insane Asylum. General
paralysis. Both alcoholic and immoral. Brother tuber-
cular. (J) Physical: Tubercular. Stole. Sex ++. Age 17.

Case 15. Among those cases in which a complexity of
factors seems to have been operative is this one of an Ameri-
can girl who became pregnant at 17, after having experienced
both abuse at home and the contamination of institutional life.
She appears to be suffering from tuberculosis and hysteria.
The girl's father, who has been a conductor on the railroad for
twenty years, earning *21 a week, has been immoral and has
indulged in abusive behavior at home. The only good point
which he is considered to possess is that he tried to live with
his wife, a hard-drinking woman from whom he was later di-
vorced. The man remarried, his second wife also being a
woman of rather low standards. The fraternity includes a
sister who is immoral and committed to an organization giving
institutional care, another much given to running away, two
brothers, and three other sisters, one of whom succeeded in
graduating from the high school, and two children who died
in infancy.

BAD HOME CONDITIONS HI

rWhen the girl in this case was 7 years old, her father applied
to a child-helping society for care for his children, stating that
his wife had been drinking heavily, and that she had deserted
them. The mother was later sent to a correctional institution for
drunkenness, because she had frequently been away from home
on various debauches. That the girl's father himself was
equally worthless is indicated by the fact that he is reported
to have attempted incestuous relations with one of his daughters

I when she was 10 years of age, as a result of which she did not
speak to him for a year. According to this girl's story he suc-
ceeded in having intercourse with her sister when she was 16
years old. This sister became completely unmanageable and at
the age of 17 was committed to an organization giving insti-
tutional care, where she caused a great deal of trouble. It is
interesting to note that this sister later returned home and be-
came pre^ant, securing a forced marriage and later an abor-
tion. This sister soon became infatuated with a physician
living in a near-by town, and became addicted to the use of
drugs. She was extremely attractive physically. She com-

■ mitted suicide by drinking carbolic acid in a railway station,
after leaving a note stating that she had taken her life because
the physician in question had told her that he was tired of her
and would do nothing more for her. The home conditions
under which the children were brought up were, physically
speaking, good, as the father sometimes earned $40 a week and
was able to rent a comfortable apartment. Little control,
^^ however, was exercised over his children, and when the girl in
^L question was 14 she was removed to an institution for a period
^H of seven months, where she states that she was much influenced
^V by her contaminating environment, being constantly thrown
^^ with girls who had been promiscuous and had had illegitimate
children, who indulged in a great deal of obscenity, with the
result that this girl liegan to feel that it was hardly worth while
to make an attempt at decency. Upon her return home she
began to work as a domestic in various homes, finally return-
ing to her father's when nearly 17. This girl has suffered with
tubercular glands for some time, ha\nng been operated upon
for gallstones as well. We also note the presence of hysterical
symptoms and of a neurasthenic condition. Her schooling was
intermittent, it being necessary for her to change her residence
so frequently during the time that she was doing housework
that she did not progress beyond the sixth grade. When 14
or 15 years of age she was under observation for traces of mental
abnormality, but a psychological examination revealed her to

IW THE UNMARRIED MOTHER

be neither feeble-minded nor insane. She is possessed of a
quick temper, is successful in expressing herself fluently, and
has been somewhat upset ever since she experienced the shock
of being the only one of four persons saved from drowning in
ao accident. This girl is unable to live contentedly with her
parents, stating that she has no respect for them. She never
took any interest in her work, because she was forced to do
housework against her will, it being an unsuitable occupa-
tion for a girl of her nature who bad never learned to practice
self-control. She appeared to have possessed good memory
ability and to have shown some keenness in analyzing
various situations and her own shortcomings, According to a
visitor much interested in her she is anxious to do better but is
unsuccessful because of her emotional instability.

It appears that this girl has no hesitancy whatever in speak-
ing of her personal history, showing a good deal of sophistica-
tion and knowledge of life in general. Her pregnancy was the
result of an attraction which she felt for a rather dominant
type of yoimg man who had taken her to dances and various
entertainments and with whom she in time became immoral.
When told of her condition he gave her medicine to produce an
abortion, which made her ill but failed to bring about the de-
sired result. He seems to have bad little interest in her predica-
ment, claiming that he was about to marry another. This
girl blames her mother for her condition, stating that it was on
her advice that she began to as.sociate with the man in question.
There is no e\'idence of self-pity on her part, and she is looking
forward to her confinement as a logical result of actions for
which she is herself also to blame.

Case No. 15. Causative factors : (a) Bad Home Condi-
tions: Father immoral, abusive. Mother immoral, alco-
holic, abusive. Mother led girl to associate with man.
Immoral home. Incest, (b) Bad Companions: Much
influenced by evil companions while in institution. Sister
immoral, suicide, (c) Physical: Tuberculosis. Hysteria.
(rf) Heredity: Father immoral, alcoholic. Mother im-
moral, alcoholic. Sex -t-. Age 17.

Other Members of the Family Alcoholic, Immoral, or Crim-
inalistic. The previous three paragraphs draw attention to the
influence of alcoholic or immoral parents upon the lives of their
daughters. In many cases this constitutes a direct causative
factor in their pregnancy. No review of home conditions

BAD HOME CONDITIONS 189

would be satisfactory which did not bring to light the
idilion in which the contuniinating ioBuence comes not so
:h from the parents as from other members of the family.
Although such an inSucnce is unaccompanied by the prestige
of authority, it may be equally effective be^'ause of the con-
tinuity which exists in the relationship between one member
of the family and an alcoholic or immoral brother or sister.
While a parent may cause the lowering of standards in a girl's
mind, thus indirectly leading to sexual delinquency, a sister
who is herself immoral may be the direct cause of a girl's begin-
ning a similar career, through her constant companionship
and example. This situation repeats itself under prime causa-
tive factors which have proved to be more influential ; for in-
stance, it may be a minor cause in a case where the prime factor
is the girl's subnormal mentahty, and consequently will come
up frequently in the discussion in other chapters. Here fol-
lows a case illustrative of this condition.

Case i6. This colored family was weU known for its immoral
tendencies. The mother was considered immoral, the oldest
daughter had had an illegitimate child 6ve years ago, another
daughter had three illegitimate children, and two other sisters
had a reputation for moral laxity. The subject of this study,
a slight, attractive girl of medium height, had had a miscarriage
and one child when 20 years of age.

This family lived in an extremely bad neighborhood. The
father was a steady, hard-working man, a laborer of good repu-
tation, but the mother complained bitterly of her husband.
She said that he was abusive and used vile language and was
altogether too strict with the children. At the time of Ida's
second pregnancy the mother had died, and the father appeared

I to be very kind to her, allowing her to bring her child home
after her confinement at a local ho.'spital. There was no informa-
tion obtained about this girl's early history except a general
statetnent that there had never be«i any control exercised by
the parents. At school the teacher said that all the children
were slow thinking and unruly, with immoral tendencies. This
girl did average work for her grade, however, graduating from
the grammar school and reaching the second year at high school
by the time that she was 17, She then began to work as a
domestic which she continued until her sister, who was keep-

124 THE UNMARRIED MOTHER ■

ing house for her father, ran away, whereupon the girl in ques-
tion returned home in order to help him. For some time she
had associated witli a group of immoral girls.

This girl admits that she began to be immoral at 15, stating
that she met a colored boy who was a sailor on a ship and had
iutercourse with him. She also admits having bad relatioa-
ahips with other men since then. The father of her child is a
weU-developed youug colored man of 19 who bore an excellent J
reputation and came of a good family, earning about SIS aJ
week in a garage. He seems to ha\e been ambitious and to n
have attended night school. The girl said that she had known
this man for a long time, and that they had been school friendd.
Meeting him recently she began to associate with him con-
stantly, his evident intention being to marry her. When he
learned of her condition, he promised that he would provide
for her, but she felt that his plan no longer included marriage.
The man said that he was afraid to marry the girl, as he knew
that she had had a miscarriage by another man two years
ago, and that she had received money from him for the expenses
incurred. He admitted that he was attached to her and felt
an obligation to marry her if he were certain that he was respon-
sible for her condition, although he would be decidedly sorry to
ally himself with a family bearing a reputation such as hers.
The girl finally secured his arrest and he was required to contrib-
ute towards the support of the child. She herself is seemingly
untouched by her experience.

Case No, 16. Causative factors : (a) Bad Home Cortdi-
iions: Mother dead. Father much too strict. Used bad
language. One sister had illegitimate child. Two sisters
immoral. Mother immoral. Another sister had three
illegitimate children. (&) Bad Companions: Promiscuous
girls. Sex 4- + + . Age 17.

Poverty. It is not the intention of this study to view the I
element of poverty as a fixed factor in sexual delinquent^,
for it is obvious that in many poor homes there is no indieatioa
of delinquency of any kind. It is highly probable that the
influence of low wages as a cause of sexual immorality, on the
part of the girls and women here considered, is in nearly all
cases indirect. In not more than a very few instances does the
girl become pregnant as a result of intercourse which is indulged
in for the sake of profit. This draws attention to a fact often

BAD HOME CONDITIONS 1«6

overlooked, namely the distinction between those girls and
young women who give birth to iUegitimate children, and those
who are prostitutes. It may be that illegitimacy is a condi-
tion which frequently leads to prostitution after the birth of
a child, but it is evident that the sexual laxneas leading to
pregnancy is in the large majority of cases to be distinguished
clearly from prostitution. E\'en in the cases where the girl
has undoubtedly been promiscuous, one frequently finds that
she has not profited thereby, and in many instances the histories
show that pregnancy was the result of intercourse with only
one man.

The conclusion is that poverty operates by intensifying the
bad conditions often already existing in the home. From the
point of physical development, for instance, one can appreciate
that undernourishment may easily weaken a young woman's
power of resistance to sex temptation, and one can understand
how the lack of spending money operates as a factor, prevent-
ing wholesome recreation and normal social life, and so making
these girls too dependent on men for their enjoyments. It is
not the intention of this study to develop the relation between
alcoholism and poverty, or to discuss in detail families where
the budget is not capable of meeting the household needs.
So frequently does an improvement in the economic condition
of the family mean an improvement in the general standards
of the home that it requires little comment.

Here follows a case illustrating home conditions in which
poverty appears to be a determining factor.

Case 17. In the case of this colored girl who had an illegiti-
mate child at 16, we find that she was brought up in a very
bad environment. Her father died of tuberculosis five years
ago and before his death the family had known the direst pov-
erty. Her mother was well known for her licentious conduct,
and three others of the eight children were known to the police
for stealing and immorality. The mother reported that her
father had died in an insane hospital and that she had been
forced to work at the age of 9, knowing nothing but ill-treat-
ment and abuse during her earlier days. Her children did not
appear to be very robust or strong. Que died of rheumatism,

126 THE UNMARRIED MOTHER

another was a cripple suffering from curvature of the spine, a.
third died of erysipelas, and several of the others appeared to
be anemic and underfed. When this girl under observation
waa examined during her pregnancy she was found to be suffer-
ing from rheumatism, an infectious arthritis, and gonorrhcea.
She had undoubtedly lived a very promiscuous life.

The family in this case was considered low-grade and had for
years been in such desperate need that it was necessary for
them to secure assistance from the town. Until recently they
had made their home in a small suburban section where they
had been under the constant surveillance of the police. The
girl and her two sisters were well known for their habit of solicit-
ing sailors and disreputable men on the streets. One of these
sisters had been arrested for stealing a considerable sum of
money, and the brother stole a watch and was put on probation
for three months. The mother told a pathetic story of a hard
life, stating that at the time of the birth of one of her children
there had been neither food or money in the house and they
were forced to dig under the snow for turnip roots to keep them-
selves from starving. Some of this poverty was undoubtedly
due to dissipation and general shiftlessness, a teacher who
visited the home once finding the mother in a compromising
position with a man, and it being the statement of the neighbors
that there were men around the house at all hours. Owing
to the fact that the mother worked, the three older girls were
subjected to many temptations to which they succumbed and
became prostitutes. At the time of this girl's pregnancy, the
family were probably in better financial condition than they
bad been for years, living in a light and airy tenement but keep-
ing their rooms in dirt and disorder. It seems that the girl
in question had been wild and uncontrolled since before her
thirteenth year. Her teacher said that she had never ob-
served any signs of mental deficiency, although a psychological
examination was never made. Although this girl evidently
enjoyed school, her record for scholarship was poor, and she
was absent a great deal for the most trivial reasons. When in
the fourth grade she made an effort to improve, but her teacher
felt that she was much handicapped by the fact that she did not
secure siifficient nourishment at home. The school authorities
were constantly hearing of the poverty and loose living in this
girl's home. She left at 13 in the seventh grade and went to
work to help her mother. After that she did nursery work for
two years, where she was considered unusually capable with
children, associating at this time with white men and with her

BAD HOME CONDITIONS

147

immoral sisters. In regard to interests, this young colored girl
appears to have been very fond of outdoor activities, being an
excellent swimmer, and when asked about her fondness for
reading she stated that she " loved fairy stories." She ga\-e
the impression of being a timid, innocent, and exceedingly child-
like young colored girl, but investigation proved her to be using
her immaturity as a cloak to cover a well-thought-out plan of
sohcitation. Her employer called her a pleasant, responsive
girl with a selfish disposition and a propensity for lying. At
one time this girl had charge of four children, and at a time when
her employer's mother was dying, she ran away and left her
without a helper, although she knew her to be so remotely situ-
ated that it would be impossible for her to secure any other help.
When confined at a private maternity hospital, this girl showed
the same spirit and was lazy as well as tacking in gratitude.
When she lost track of the alleged father she applied at the
navy yard herself and told her story, insisting that the authori-
ties look into the matter. After a normal confinement she
became exceedingly fond of her healthy daughter and gave her
the most devoted care, her family welcoming them both home,
and the mother and sisters trying to outdo each other in their
kindness towards them.

The physicians at the hospital listened with much sympathy
to her story of rape. It furnishes a good example of her ability
to shield herself from censure by creating a sympathetic at-
mosphere about her. She states that one evening she was
accosted by a tall man in naval uniform near an elevated sta-
tion. He asked her if she liked candy and also if she would
not like to have a nice blouse such as he was wearing. After
saj'ing that if she woidd take a walk with him that he would
get these things for her, he took her to a secluded spot and asked
her to sit down with him. When she became frightened and
refused to do so he threatened her, saying that " she would if
she knew what was good for her," She claims that she was
afraid to struggle with him and that her weeping was of no avail.
He assaulted her, and she ran h()me and never saw him again,
being emphatic in her statement that this was the only time she
had ever had intercourse. The police, however, reported that
this girl solicited regularly near this particidar elevated station
and stated that curiously enough she was immoral only with
white men. An employer also gave evidence that this girl
had been wild for some years, being continually out at night
' with men and boys and leading a promiscuous life. The prose-
cution of the alleged father was abandoned on account of the

THE UNMAHRIED MOTHER

girl's bad reputation. At the last report she was still living at
home with her child but had recently asked a protective agency
to board her baby, as she and her mother worked, and as she
felt that her young and crippled sister could not give her child
adequate care.

Case No. 17. Causative factors : (a) Bad Home Condi-
lions: Mother immoral. Older girls all solicit. Girl im-
moral only with white men. Immoral home. Poverty.
(6) Bad Companions: Immoral sisters and sailors, (c)
Educational Disadvantages: Left school at seventh grade.
Worked at 13. Sex + + + . Age 16.

Lack of Parental Control. Among the factors directly oper-
ating towards a breakdown of good standards during the
formative period of a girl's life is that of lack of parental control.
This manifests itself in many various ways which must be
considered imder separate heads. Suffice it to say here that
nothing can be more dangerous for the moral welfare of the
growing girl than lack of control on the part of the parents for
any cause whatever. The impul.ws which force themselves
into the consciousness of the adolescent girl are so closely con-
nected with the physical changes accompanying them, and
with an attendant lack of mental stability, that it becomes
obviously necessary that control of some sort be exercised at
this critical period. In many cases it is found that such con-
trol exists, but is operative only in a negative way.

Aside from the restraining influence which parents can ex-
ercise upon their growing daughters, there is the positive in-
fluence, only too rarely found, through which a mother can in-
terpret to her daughter the meaning of the mysterious forces
working upon her. She thus acquires a mental attitude to-
wards the problem of sex which will be of inestimable value
to her, not only during her developmental period but during
her whole later life. So many of tlie problems of married life
are problems of sexual maladjustment and conflict that the
influence of sane advice at the formative period of adolescence
can do much to prevent such lack of iinderstanding.

There is also no doubt of the value of such control viewed
purely as a protective influence, as is ahown by those cases ia

BAD HOME CONDITIONS

129

which, with the bext intentions possible, a young girl has been
possessed of insufficient judgment to enable her to escape a
situation into which a wiser person would never have allowed
her to fall. Such detailed cases will be considered under special
paragraph headings.

Lack of Parental Control through Ignorance. One of the
conditions existing in the home which it is frequently almost
impossible to correct is that of parental ignorance in the control
of children. Much as one may attempt, through social organ-
izations, to bring parents to a realization of the subtleties in-
volved in child care, many obstinate cases remain in which
nothing can be done. Particularly is this true of families in
which the parents are themselves mentally defective or ren-
dered incapable of cooperation through bad habits, so that
in situations of this sort the only solution lies in breaking up
the home. Much, however, can be done through tactful visit-
ing, towards changing the attitude of the parents towards thdr
daughters, and towards impressing upon them the necessity of
wise supervision. It is to this end that so many of our social
agencies are directing efforts which wiU undoubtedly find r^
sponse in many instances.

As an example of cases in which the lack of parental control
has been due to ignorance, the following may be cited.

Case i8. Among those who became unmarried mothers at
a relatively early age is the case of this girl of French-Canadian
parentage who bore a child when she was 16 years old. She
is probably raentsUy dull, althouRh there is no p-sychological
examination to help in our classification, whereas physically
there is nothing of particular interest aside from valvular heart
trouble. The father, an intemperate fisherman, who could
cam $?5 a week if he ^Hshed to, deserted his family and has
twice been sent to the in.iane asylum. The mother, ignorant
but temperate, speaks no English. There are two brothers
and four sisters under 16 in the family. One of the sisters is
immoral and at present in a reform school in a neighboring
State. Another is under correctional care here.

The family occupy a fairly neat tenement in a near-by manu-
facturing city which they are able to keep in good coadition

THE UNMABfilED MOTHER

when the father is not with them. The mother seems to care
for her children as much as she is capable of, but the difficulties
at home are occasioned by the fact that the father became ex-
tremely abusive when drunk and at such times turned the
whole family out of the house. It is naturally a low-standard
home in which the children hear vicious talk uround them and
where they are allowed to frequent the cheap theaters and
dances several evenings of the week. The girl's developmental
history shows that she was operated on for appendicitis, and
that she was afflicted with scabies and falling of the uterus.
In school she went as far as the fourth grade, and through her
older sister began to associate with a crowd of tough boys and
girb with whom she became delinquent. Being an attractive
type, she enjoys associating with her older immoral sister, and
after an attempt to support herself by working in a mill, she
and her sister were both committed to an organization giving
institutional care on the charge of larceny for shoplifting. It
was found that she was pregnant and she bore an eight-pound
child in good condition. When placed at housework under
family care she improved, although she seemed to suffer from
heart trouble, and married a neighbor when her child was nine
months old. After a brief happiness she ran back to her
family, claiming that her husband had been cruel to her and
had misused her. There was at this time a suspicion of her
being tubercular and she gave evidence of gonorrhcea. She
aeon began to receive attention from a man evidently de-
sirous of marrying her, and she was last heard of in an attempt
to aecnre a divorce in order that she might remarry. She
aeema to have improved in her habits and to be conscious of
the responsibility of her child, really attempting to keep from
immorality on its account.

There is little doubt but that this girl was immoral before her
commitment at 15, for she spent several nights with different
boys in a park, once admitting that she had accepted money.
When sent to a hospital for appendicitis, she was discharged
without notice being given to her guardian, and meeting two
men as she left the hospital, she had relations with them and
contracted gonorrhoea. She claims that her mother and her
aunt had the same disease, and she could see no seriousness
in the fact that she had been immoral, claiming that her lapse
was due to the effect of the ether, and that she would not have
relations with a man unless he were attractive to her. She
wai imable to give any information as to the paternity of her
child.

BAD HOME CONDITIONS

Case No, 18. Causative factors: (a) Bad tJome Con-
ditiona: Father iatemperate ; abusive. Possible psy-
chosis. Mother ignorant. Brother and sister in correc-
tional institutions. (6) Bad Companions: Immoral older
sister, (c) Mentality: Dull. Sex + + . Age 16.

Lack of Parental Control through Illness. Illness, particu-
larly on the part of the mother, is frequently the cause of inade-
quate control and supervision over the children. There are
other physical handicaps, such as deafness and defective vbion,
which operate in the same manner, and it is evident that any-
thing which lowers the physical capacity of the mother in any
way has a direct effect upon her parental control. So obvious
is the condition in which illness plays a part that the situation
has not been discussed in detail, and the following case is relied
upon to give the necessary illustrations.

Case ip. This Jewish girl of 19, apparently a normal type,
was born in one of our large cities, and for the last two years had
been uncontrolled owing to much sickness at home, the sick-
ness ending in her mother's becoming mentally unbalanced.
The father had been ill for some years with diabetes, and the
mother had been forced to take lodgers and go out to do day
work, in order to keep her family of three children together.
Some time ago the youngest child was killed by a street car,
and since that time the mother had shown aberrational tend-
encies. Both parents were very kind to their daughter when
they learned of her pregnancy, however, and allowed her to
be confined at home. Doubtless unlicensed recreation with
low associates who frequented cheap dance halls had a de-
moralizing effect upon the girl. Even after the birth of her
child she persisted in looking upon her past offenses lightly,
and exhibited no shame over her predicament, although she
dreaded the neighborhood gossip. It was rumored that she
had been promiscuous and had received money for her licentious
conduct. It was impossible to verify this report. There does
not seem to have been any control on the part of the invalid
mother.

The parents came from Russia 25 years ago and were still
unable to speak English with any fluency. They lived in a
six-room tenement for which they paid $18 a month, subletting
two rooms for $6 a week. The home was situated in a crowded

I8«

THE UNMARRIED MOTHER

Jewish district, but within it was decidedly homelike and con-
fortable. The mother paid her bills regularly, and the family
bore a good reputation, altliough we heard that the parents
sometimes quarreled. Until within a year or two this girl
had associated with quiet and respectable friends and showed
no waywardness until she came under the alleged father's
influence. She now began to associate with disreputable friends
who were her companions at the factory. After her confine-
ment she showed a desire to put this life behind her and was
heard to say, " When a girl works in a factory she forgets the
things higher up and talks about dances, from which no good
thing ever comes ; and 1 mean to give them up and my bad
friends, too, and lead a decent life."

This girl was medium sized, with a nervous, confident man-
ner and rather pale In appearance, yet with something of in-
terest in her face, and gave the impression of having definite
ideas. She felt that she had done well not to have an abortion
performed or to go to an institution with the intention of giving
up her child, and she thought that she had shown a remarkable
amount of stamina in remaining in her own home and facing
the neighborhood gossip. This girl finished grammar school
and continued tluough the first year in high school, leaving
only because of her father's failing health and because of her
mother's inability to earn as much as she had done while ia
normal physical condition. It is interesting to note that
not only was her scholarship good but this girl secured a cer-
tificate of credit for favorable effort and behavior. After leav-
ing school she went to work in a factory as a clerk at $6 a week
and was considered steady, prompt, and efficient. For two
winters she was employed in a candy factory, becoming more
and more unsatisfactory and associating with the most disrepu-
table employees there until she was finally discharged.

This girl had known the father of her child, a young machinist
of 25, and a Gentile, for some time, and had associated with
him for three months before allowing him to be sexually inti-
mate with her, finally acquiescing, according to her own story,
only after much pleading on his part. She went to his room at
a lodging house on two occasions. She insisted that she waa
infatuated with this man and felt certain that her .ittachment
for him would have increased had he lived up to his responsi-
bility for the child. He deserted her when he learned of her
condition, having previously asked her to solicit men on the
street, which she refused to do. Both families had opposed
their marriage on the ground of difference in reUgious bebef.

BAD HOME CONDITIONS

Case No. 19. Causative factors: (a) Bad Rome Con-
diliona: Father long ill. Mother mentally unbalanced.
Workedout. Nocootrol. {b) Bad Companions : Lowgrade
friends, (c) Recreational Disadvantages: Cheap dances.
(d) Heredity: Mother mentally unbalanced. Father dia-
betes. Lies. Sex +. Age 19.

Lack of Parental Control ; Father Away. In families where
the mother is dead or permanently absent from the home for
some other reason, the control naturally falls upon the father.
Under such conditions the fact that he has been unable to su-
pervise his children l>ecause of enforced or voluntary absence
has often been the direct cause of a daughter's illicit sexual
relations. An illustrative case follows.

Case 30. This is the case of a capable girl of German-Ameri-
can parentage who gave birth to an illegitimate child when
she was 21 years of age. Her father, who is a hunchback,
averaged $11.50 in a rubber shoe factorj', and her mother,
who died when the girl was 16 years old after an attaek of
paralysis, was so attached to her children that she couid not
be persuaded to go to a hospital. The fraternity includes two
sisters and a brother under 17, against whom nothing is known.

After the death of this girl's mother, there was absolutely
no control in the family. The father left the girl at home alone
durisg the day and was frequently absent two or three evenings
a week. He does not seem to have wasted any care whatever
on his children, who did just about what they pleased, provid-
ing them with no recreation under proper guidance. The
girl in question has borne the largest burden in the family, for
after the paralysis of her mother, the whole responsibility fell
on her at an age when she should have had greater freedom for
wholesome interests. She became discouraged and unhappy,
turning very naturally to any manifestation of affection and
becoming pregnant by a man who probably represented her
sole opportunity for companionship and recreation.

The girl's father did not like the man in question and forbade
him to come to the house, the result being that he came to see
her when her father was out and when she was absolutely with-
out supervision. She seems to have been anxious to marry
him. but he declined to do so. The case was settled out of court
for $150, and the child was taken into its mother's home. The
girl herself died one week after coofinemeot.

1S4 THE UNMARRIED MOTHER

Case No. 20. Causative factors : (a) Bad Home Con-
ditions: Father hunchback. Mother died when girl was 16.
Burden fell on girl. Father away three evenings a week.
Young man called when father was away. (6) Bad Com-
■paniona : Young man called against father's wishes, (c)
Recreational Disadvantages: Girl worked too hard. Sex +.
Age 21.

Lack of Parental Control; Mother Away. Of great im-
portance in this study has been the influence of the mother's
voluntary or enforced absence on the girl in question. Case
after case appears in which the existence of homes with no one
in charge has been a direct invitation to sexual immorality on
the part of the young girls inhabiting them. Particularly in
communities where two and three family houses or tenements
accustom the neighbors to the frequent visits of strangers is
the situation made doubly dangerous by the absence of the
mother. It is often easy for a boy or young man to enter a
house or a building in which several families live without
any one's becoming suspicious or knowing whom he is about
to visit, and there are consequently many homes in which a
girl has carried on illicit relations with one or more boys over
a long period of time.

The new development of mothers' pensions is an admission
of the importance of keeping the mother at home when she
has children to care for. and it is hoped that the following case.'^
will give added emphasi.'^ to the necessity of adequate supervision
of the adolescent girl by her mother. Rarely does one find
that the mother's absence is voluntary, and one is thus led to
the conclusion that the cause is generally cither the death oE
the father or his insufficient earning capacity. In such cases
there is nothing for the mother to do but to seek employment
outside of the home, the economic condition of the family thus
becoming a direct factor in the girl's sexual irregularity.

The following cases are illustrative of home conditions in
which the fact that the mother was away for some reason has
placed the girl in a dangerous situation to which she has suc-
cumbed.

BAD HOME CONDITIONS IW

Case 31. In this instance an American girl of 15, apparently
normal and of good reputation, became pregnant while she was
left some weeka without supervision because her parents were
called to a distant city. They had been indulgent and had
rather spoiled this girl at home, and yet their attitude toward
out.side activities was most conservative and strict, never
allowing their daughter to mingle with the young people in
the neighborhood. Consequently, when she found herself
absolutely free of restraint for a sliort time, she felt that this
wa.s her opportunity to enjoy herself, and went to walk with
a young man who lived next door. According to her story
she did not realize her condition until she was six months'
pregnant, when her mother took Iier to a physician for anemia.
Both the girl and her mother appeared to be greatly shocked
at the diagnosis, and the mother said, " I cannot see how my
girl, with a good inheritance and upbringing, could so easily
have fallen into temptation." On the paternal side the grand-
father died of old age, the grandmother of pneumonia, while
the father had never been robust. In the maternal history we
found that the mother had always been well except for uterine
trouble, although her mother had died of cancer. Otherwise
the heredity was not significant. This girl was an only child,
and there had been no miscarriages. Her mother had suffered
with a severe attack of grippe through this pregnancy and
had had a long labor, followed by a normal birth.

For 12 years this family had lived in the country on a farm
and had then moved to the city where the father was employed
as a machinist. The mother, an unusually fine type of woman,
impressed those who met her with her dignity and refinement.
She was anxious to shield her daughter from public opinion and
had immediately sent her to another city to live with her aunt,
whose home proved to be an acceptable shelter for this girl.
The mother showed a certain keenness in analyzing the influ-
ence of their home life on her daughter, acknowledging freely
her responsibility in so restricting her recreation and providing
no normal outlet for her spirits. She said that she had never
allowed her to play with boys or to bring her companions to
the house or go to evening parties. She had nevertheless had
a good deal of outdoor life and had taken some pleasure tn the
church which she attended regularly. We found that she had
developed fairly normally as a child, walking at 14 months,
and having some difficulty with her teeth. She had no serious
difficulty in passing through the childhood diseases, but was
quite ill with pneumonia. Enuresis persisted until her ninth

136

THE UNMARRIED MOTHER

year. Menstruation occurred at 13, scanty but regular. For
some years this girl had been a restless sleeper, dreaming con-
tinually, and walking in her sleep. She left school because
of her pregnancy, having reached the eighth grade and expect-
ing to graduate in a few months. Although she did not like
to atu(^ she did well, especially in arithmetic and algebra.
She was an exceedingly childish young girl and had only put
her dolls away the previous summer and was at this time read-
ing such Ijooks as " Heidi " and other child stories. She took
a hvely interest in her home life and even through her pregnancy
was usually happy and enthusiastic. Her mother could not
determine whether her light-heartedness was due to lack of
appreciation of the gravity of the situation or to an optimistic
self-control. Thevisilorinteresteddescribed her as an immature
child with hair hanging in braids down her back, decidedly at-
tractive, but lacking in expression and in depth of character.

The story of this girl's sex experience was very simple.
While her mother whs away from home caring for her sick aunt,
ahe often rivn into a boarding house next door for the sake of
computiion^hip. Here she met a young man whom she had
knonn cusimliy for a year or more, a teamster of rather doubt-
ful reputation, who was intelligent enough to command a fairly
good wiige. On her way from school she met him often with
her sehiHil chum.'), and occasionally with these girls she made
apiKtintinents with him to go walking in the park. Later she
went with him alone. She told us that she objected at first
to hiJt familiHrity, and after bis third and last intercourse with
her she ehanm-ii from an attitude of indifference to one of
loalhinu imd M\"oided him whenever she could, never informing
hill) of Tier pregnancy, .\llliough her mother had told her two
veurs liefore tilnmt -icv malters and warned her of such dangers,
iiheiMid Mill! ihv li'iil 1111 fnirof any consequences resulting from
titix ititiimny. She iiii|inTiiilod that she was doing wrong in
Allowing the n-liilionthi]), but never worried about it and had
m-ver oiwiieintcd her run-down phj'sical condition with a pos-
ijlii* |tivK»i"»<',V' l''\Tn her coming confinement aroused no
iHiftwl "r fe^lii'K "f dread. At our last report the child was
vuilHiru, tlie mother iH'ing insistent that it should l>e adopted,
' i> fell that « girl of 15 was too young for such a responsi-
hllliv> Hit fHlher was willing to bear all the expenses, and
l)(^tl)t>r of the imrentit were imxiinis to consider the prosecution
,4 !!.•' father.

t'me Nil. tfl. CiiunntixT factors: (a) Had TIoTne Condi-
tivmt: Mother e«llrtl away by lUness. Father out often.

I
I

BAD HOME CONDITIONS 187

Home strict. First freedom when girl was 15, (6) Recre-
ational Disadvantages: No chance for normal social life.
Sex. Age 15.

Lack of Control because of Parental Inabtlitj. In many of
these cases pareuta who had sought to exercise their powers
in attempting to control their unruly daughters found them-
selves frankly unable to achieve success, and consequently an
incorrigible girl would often have to be sent to an organization
giving institutional care upon her parents' complaint. Fre-
quently a girl who spent time on the streets at night or ran away
from home failed to secure the necessary correctional treatment,
and because hopelessly immoral, disappeared entirely from
view. Another chapter deals with the qualities inherent in
the girls and young women themselves which might cause
such conditions, as for instance adolescent instability, so fre-
quently at the bottom of such delinquency. In this section
attention is given only to those cases in which there is no well-
marked mental peculiarity or conflict, and the girl's delinquency
is thus viewed from the angle of parental control. It goes
without saying that in many instances a change of method on
the part of the mother might have resulted in a corresponding
change in her daughter's behavior, but one can only base one's
findings upon existing conditions. Such cases have been con-
sidered as those in which normal parents with a reasonable
amount of effort have been unable to prevent the delinquency
of daughters who are not mentally deficient.

The following cases illustrate the actual conditions.

Case 33. This girl of 18, of normal mentality, had never
been controlled at home by her mother, and was allowed xm-
licensed recreation with more than a dozen boys within three
years. She had a bad reputation in the neighborhood. Her
excuse, in discussing her pregnancy, was based on her ignorance
of sex facts and on her unsuspected sexual suggestibility which
left her unprepared to control her easily aroused sex desires.
Her heredity also is noteworthy. Her father's brother was an
inmate of an insane hospital, and her mother's brother, who
had been insane for yeiirs, had died in an asylum. A maternal
sister was also so " queer " as to be called insane, and her mother

1S8

THE UNMARRIED MOTHER

was certainly unbalanced. This mother was garrulous and
obsessed by the ideas of poverty and fear. She would never
visit in the neighborhood or receive even her own relations for
a few days on account of the expense incurred. She had a
horror of people seeing her and kept the window shades down,
hiding if any one attempted to enter the home. When she
learned of the child's existence, she scolded the girl persistently
and made such remarks as " I'd like to take that brat and
smash him through his father's windows." The girl's sister
was also considered unruly and overfond of boys' society.

This home was situated in a good neighborhood and was a
double house which was owned by the father. He had inherited
some money which was well invested, and through his wife's
ability to save had succeeded in purchasing the home, renting
the up-stairs tenement. Their five rooms were attractively
furnished in oak and walnut and contained such luxuries as a
piano. The father earned $18 a week as a switchman. He
was a steady worker, did not drink, and was timid and much
afraid of his wife, although quite persistent in his desire to
give his children a good education. The younger daughter
attended a well-known seminary, and the only son was away
at college. This girl had finished high school and had just
completed her college entrance examinations when she became
pregnant. We learned that she had been a full term, normal
child, having been niirsed for a year and a half. She had had
measles and chicken pox and jaundice, and had been con-
tinually troubled with a cough for many winters. As a child
she was active, fond of outdoor sports, and called a " tomboy."
It was noted that she was unusually truthful. As she grew
up, she developed into a girl of good appearance, not pretty
but well bred, with a childish expression which betrayed hei
shallow, unformed character. She persisted in her love of
outdoor sports and was so full of life that she «TestIed not only
with the members of her own family, but with any one who
came to the house. Her desire for enjoyment caused her
to seek the theater, dances, church, and opera. To all these
entertainments she was constantly escorted by neighborhood
boys, and her parents seemingly made no objections to her
unchaperoned excursions and appeared to be oblivious to the
gossip of the neighborhood concerning their daughter's repu-
tation. One finds that she had always preferred hoys to girls
as companions, but it was interesting to note her defense of
an unmarried mother in the neighborhood who had been ban-
ished from neighborly pastimes, and her desire to rectify this

^^ BAD HOME CONDITIONS

injustice by becoming friendly with the girl and by accompany-
ing her to church and to other gatherings. Her child was
bom at 8 private maternity hospital when this girl was 18.
Her affection for her son developed very fast, and she was eager
to begin a domestic science course so as to be able to support
him more quickly. At this home she was considered a very

Eromising type, and the matron reported that she had found
er to be " a delightful girl with splendid spirit and a distinct
personality; she likes work and does it well, and has never
shown any bad side here, but rather has demonstrated a good
development of character and appears not to need close super-
vision." Later this matron showed a little less ardor in the
following report, " She lacks will power to overcome difficulties
and has little backbone; nevertheless, on the whole, she ap-
pears to be one of our most hopeful cases."

In regard to her sex experiences this girl said that she had
cared for the father of her child and that on their many canoe-
ing excursions when they had remained out until midnight,
the father had urged her to have intercourse with him, long
before she had actually succumbed to the temptation. After
this it became a common occurrence and continued until her
mother discovered her condition in the fifth month of her
pregnancy. The alleged father, a young clerk earning only a
meager salary, claimed that the girl took the initiative, and
denied paternity, saying that both had taken such precautions
that her pregnancy by him was impossible. Later he added
that she had acknowledged a previous illicit relationship with
a boy when she was 16, and that therefore he would rather go
to jail than marry her. Nevertheless he paid the confinement
expenses and promised to contribute $150 if the child lived
more than thirty days. From the girl herself we learned the
particulars of her former sex experience ; she had gone to keep
nouse for her brother while his wife was ill in the hospital and
had received frequent visits from a young man living near by.
She did not resist his advances, and because of their isolation
it became very easy for their intimacy to grow. Her mother
felt that this girl's susceptible nature in an unprotected envi-
ronment had been the cause of this experience. This girl's
child has been placed at board by a protective agency, and she
herself is anxious to continue her studies.

Case No. 22. Causative factors : (a) Bad Home Con-
ditions: Mother " queer." No control. Allowed girl to
go out at night, (b) Sexually mtggeslible: Easily influ-
enced. " Soft." (c) Heredity: Insane ancestry on both

140 THE UNMARRIED MOTHER

sides, (d) EdiKotional Disadvantages: Knew little of sex
facts, (e) Bad Companions: Group of wayward boys.
Sex. Age 18.

Case 23. We liave here the case of a high school graduate
of American parentage who gave birth to an illegitimate child
whea 32 years of age. The father died of tuberculosis when
the girl was six years old and the mother, who married him when
three months pregnant, was a weak and nervous woman who
died of tuberculosis when the girl was two. Tlie fraternity
includes two children who died in infancy. The father's sister
is an unusually fine woman, manifesting considerable interest
in the girl in question.

Everything possible seems to have been done to bring this
girl up into decent womanhood. After the death of her mother
she hved with her father's mother until her death, whereupon
she moved to her aunt's, with whom she remained until she
graduated from high school. This woman did all that she could
to help her, saying " I have strained every nerve for the last
ten years in order to educate and clothe her." After graduating
from the high school of a country town she came to Boston to
attend a business college. She soon became irregular, however,
and was discharged. In the past she had had private lessons
in drawing, painting, and dancing and there is some question
whether or not the aunt, in her desire to do everything that she
could for the girl, did not succeed in giving her the impression
that she could behave as she pleased, It is certain that hep
inability to exert any control over the girl was directly due to
her lenience. In stature this girl is smalt, neat in appearance,
and with a refined manner. There is some evidence of affec-
tation, and she is frequently thoroughly depressed. For some
time after her arrival in the city she found employment at
coloring postal cards and later as a dentist's assistant. She
does not seem to have possessed much physical strength, hav-
ing inherited a frail constitution, and with it she manifested a
strong desire for men, many of whom she picked up on the
street, in company with a hopelessly immoral girl who had
also had a good education.

The summer after this girl graduated from the high school
she met several young men, all brothers, who were summer
boarders near her. After their departure for the city she cor-
responded with one of them and in the fall, on the pretense of
visiting a friend in a rear-by cily, she came to Boston and
was found by her auiil in the home of these three young

BAD HOME CONDITIONS 141

She was removed to a good boarding home and soon
began to pick up men on the street, taking with her a
young country girl, who was living in the same house, in
whose company she solicited. The two spent the night at a
hotel with two men, and as a result this young child, whom the
girl in question led into immorality, became pregnant and
contracted syphilis. Soon thereafter she and another gir!
kept a furnished apartment for the purpose of prostitution, for
which they paid a high rental, being supported by men who
frequented the place. At this time she was drinking heavily
and pregnant. Her aunt, to whom she wrote for help, sent her
fifty dollars with which to secure an abortion and then, be-
coming frightened, hurried to the city herself and placed the
girl in a boarding home. She spent SBOO on her care, redeem-
ing her pawned jewelry and doing all that she could to help.
When the girl proved to be suffering from syphilis, the aunt
read up on the subject in order to convince her niece of the
necessity of having treatment. Through it all she maintained
an affectionate attitude, saying " Perhaps with your tempta-
tions I would not have been any bettor." The father of this
^rl's child is supposedly a musician 85 years of age for whom
she possesses no affection. Her child died when three months
old of congenital syphilis. The girl returned to her aunt's in
New Hampshire and promised to begin life over again.

Case No. 23. Causative factors: (a) Bad Home Con-
dition*: Parents dead. Aunt lenient ; spoils girl, who
comes to city at 19. No supervision, (fe) Bad Enmrtm-
meni: Disreputable lodgings, (e) Bad Companions: Pro-
miscuous before coming to city and also after, (t/) Hered-
ity: Father died of tuberculosis when girl was six. Mother
died of same illness when girl was two. Two children
died in infancy. Lies. Sex +-(- + + . Age 22.

Lack of Control because Family not Immigrated. The pre-
vious paragraphs have dealt with conditions existing within
the home ; attention must now be directed to a state of affurs
in which the home itself is lacking. Many of these cases are
concerned with girls and young women who have emigrated
from various foreign countries, and have gone into domestic
service here, among whom one would readily expect to find a
lack of those restraints which the normal home affords. Al-
though one readily understands that the housekeeper is fre-

148

THE UNMARRIED MOTHER

quently unable to shoulder the moral responsibility oF her
employees' actions, there are yet iostauces in which her con-
tact with the servants in her employ is so slight as to produce
in the mind of one of these recently immigrated young women
the impression that their employer has absolutely no interest
in them as long as they do their work. Much could often
have been done in such cases by a reasonably frank relation-
ship between the employer and her maid which would have
prevented not only much loneliness on the part of the latter,
but often real misfortune. This is not the place to emphasize
the poor facilities which such a girl has for entertaining men,
particularly in those homes where she shares the kitchen with
other employees. Suffice it to say that much of the laxness
in sex matters noticeable among this group is due to the fact
that they are often forced to meet men outside of their em-
ployer's home, under conditions in which there is no super-
vision. For these and other reasons a girl or young woman
living under new conditions without the influence of her family
is in a dangerous situation.

The following case is illustrative of histories in which this
factor operates.

Case 34. We have here the case of a girl of good mentality
and in good physical condition who gave birth to two illegiti-
mate children, the first when she was 19 years old. Little ia
known about her parents, who are Norwegian, save that the
mother had buried three husbands, and that her son refuses
to remain at home if she marries again. Her influence over
her daughter does not seem to have been a very good one, her
morals being open to question. The fraternity includes a
brother and two sisters about whom nothing is known.

This girl came to Boston alone at the age of 17 and was set
adrift in the city. Soon after her arrival she secured a position
in a second-class hotel. There was some difficulty regarding
her permission to land in this country, but when finally allowed
to do so she sat on a near-by rock and began to cry ; here some
sailors from the ship found her and sent her to an immigrants'
home, where she remained until all her money had been used
up for board. For days she looked for work, often without
food, spending the nights in doorways. Once two men spoke

^H to her ai
^r while he

BAD HOME CONDITIONS 143

to her and finding her homeless, one of them told her to wait
while he brought a box of fruit, and he would take her home to
his people. While he was gone, the other man told her that
his friend meant her no good and gave her five dollars, telling
her to get away as fast as she could. She soon met a Swedish
policeman who had seen her wandering about the streets for
days, and he secured her a position in the hotel referred to above.
This girl is a pleasant-faced, clean, and wholesome type, al-
ways laughing, but also possessed of a temper which she fre-
quently had difficulty in controlling. Her difficulty lay in
not being able to be good and have a good time as well. While
doing housework in the hotel she became acquainted with a
girl who was little belter than a prostitute and through her
got into bad habits. The environmental difficulties were made
more severe for this girl because she possessed a very emotional
nature with a distinct fondness for dances and suppers and
a lack of control over herself in regard to pleasure.

While working at the hotel, this girl saw a good deal of a
young man who was frequently away and was looking forward
to marrying Mm. There had been no sexual intimacy between
them. One evening the girl friend referred to invited her to
spend the evening with some sailor friends of hers, and after
some singing and general boisterousness, she was further pre-
vailed upon to spend the night with one of thera. The record
omits the details of her treatment by this man as being too
brutal to repeat. When the girl objected he told her not to
mind, that all women were sexually immoral. Since that time
this man has asked her to marry him, but .she has refused to
pay any attention to him. When the girl informed the man to
whom she was engaged of the fact that she was pregnant,
he was at first obdurate, but after visiting her made extended
plans for their marriage, but left her and was never heard from
again, the inference being that he changed his mind in a cooler
moment. Finally, after much discouragement, the girl went

I away with a man working on a near-by farm, with an evident
desire to secure a father for her child. Unfortunately, how-
ever, this man proved to be married. He was arrested and
sent to prison for two years for bigamy. The girl gave birth
to a second illegitimate child, whereupon it was necessary for
her to give the older one to the State. She is now making an
attempt to support herself and the youngest.
Case No. 24, Causative factors : (a) Bad Home Condi-
tions: Mother loose; gave girl no standards. Came to this
country at 17. (6) Bad EntiTonment: Alone at 17. Pov-

144 THE UNMARRIED MOTHER

erty. (c) Bad Companions: Led into immorality by pro-
iniscuoiis girl, {d) Recrealional Disadvantages: No friends.
Sex +. Age 19.

No Supervision through Parental Neglect. It is impossible
to mention all of the various conditions which may be generally
called parental neglect, for they are too familiar to require
comment. One might consider under this heading cases in
which parental neglect was due to sheer inability to understand
the needs of their daughters, but it has seemed best to narrow
the field to those in which the neglect is willful on the part oi
the parents.

The importance of this group is so great that several histories
have been submitted in illustration.

Case ag. This is the ease of a girl of American parentage
whose child was bom when she was 19 years old, the girl having
had a long career of delinquency. This girl is well developed
and well nourished physically and has pa.ssed three mental
examinations without showing any definite mental defect. Of
particular interest is her heredity ; her father, who works in
the freight department of a railway as an unskilled laborer, has
a court record for drunkenness. He bad quarreled with his
wife, who died when the girl was 12, and for some time had
failed to support her. The mother comes from a. family who
have been paupers and criminals for over one hundred and
fifty years; she was deformed and thoroughly immoral, had
an illegitimate child before her marriage, contracted syphUis,
and died of tulserculosis. This Illegitimate child is feeble-
minded and now is In an institution. The fraternity includes
a sister and half brother who died in infancy. The heredity of
this girl has been studied by an investigator from one of our
schools for the feeble-minded, and a summaiy of the report
follows.

FraUmal

Sister died in infancy

Hair brother feeble-minded, criminal

Half brother died in infancy
Faterrtat

Father immoral, criminal, alcoholic, probably feeble-minded

Grandfather immoral

BAD HOME CONDITIONS

1*5

Great-grandfather and Krcat-grandmother tubercular
Grandmother immoral, died, tubercular
G rest-grand father alcoholic, feeble-minded
Great-unele and aunt alcoholic
Cousin immoral, alcoholic. Cousin feeble-minded
Malemai

Mother immor^, alcoholic, probably syphilitic

Grandmother immoral, probably feeble-minded

Great-grandmother immoral

Grandfather alcoholic, criminal, immoral

Great-grandfather immoral, alcoholic, died, tubercular

Great great-grandfather immoral, criminalistic

Great-aunt, IS cousins immoral

Great great-uncle, three cousins immoral, criminalistic

Aunt, three cousins, immoral, tubercular

Great-uncle, 10 cousins tubercular

Cousin feeble-minded, criminal

Aunt immoral, tubercular, died, cancer

Aunt immoral. s>"philitic

Four uncles and cousin immoral, alcoholic, criminalistic

Cousin immoral, confirmed runaway

Cousin alcoholic, confirmed runaway

Uncle immoral, criminal istie. alcoholic, fecble-minded

Three cousins feeble-minded

Uncle immoral, criminalistic, alcoholic, tubercular

Cousin criminal

Uncle, four cousins alcoholic

Three cousins alcoholic, criminalistic

Three cousins neurotic

Cousin tubercular, syphilitic, paralytic

Three cousins feeble-minded

Great'Uncle immoral, alcoholic

Great-imcle immoral, alcoholic, tubercular

Cousin paralytic, one immoral, gonorrhoea, one tubercular.

criminaliBtic, one cancer, one immoral, alcoholic, criminalistic,

paralytic

_ This Family lived in one room in a very congested and unde-
sirable neighborhood, being poverty-stricken and alcoliolic
and having no ideas of morality. At times they have been
helped by the Overseers of the Poor, and an uncle contributes

THE UNMARRIED MOTHER

something to the support of the girl, he himself being alcoholic
and having had this girl living with him for some time. There
was no sort of control exercised during the developmental period ;
nothing preventing her from sleeping out at any time she
so desired and running the streets at w^ill with her immoral
friends. It is noteworthy that after the death of the mother
the father married again, and as a result completely changed
his mode of life, gave up drinking, and has since been a steady
worker in a livery stable. The stepmother, however, did not
succeed in exercising an equally reformative influence over the
girl, although she made an attempt to do so ; in fact, the ad-
dition of a new member to the household seems to have caused
her to spend more time away from home and to increase her
vagrant tendencies. At this time she lived on the streets,
sleeping in doorways and parks, and resented any form of dis-
ciphne. Little is known of this girl's childhood history i at
the time of her commitment to an organization giving institu-
tional care at the age of 14 she weighed 95 pounds and was
five feet tall. She had a repulsive skin eruption and had suf-
fered from pneumonia, measles, scabies, malaria, and gonor-
rhcea. At 20 she weighed 115 pounds and seemed well devel-
oped. This girl has undergone three mental examinations :
the first gave her Binet age as 11. and she failed in definitions,
in the arrangement of weights, in the names of the months,
and in the repetition of words ; the second examination showed
her to have a mentality of Binet 10 and reported her not feeble-
minded, not insane, and not defective. The last and most
complete examination made at the age of 18 gave her mental
age as Binet 9 and indicated a possible psychosis. In school
this girl, whose attendance was very irregular, did not go beyond
the third grade, and although she was 14 she was rated with
nine and ten-year-old girls. At 15 she could multiply and do
long division. During the whole period preceding her com-
mitment she ran wild around the town with a group of street-
walkers, although now and then she would work for a time as
dishwasher or waitress in a local hotel. No companionship
could have produced worse results ; when arrested for being a
runaway at 14 she was a half-starved, diseased, and savage
prostitute. Under institutional care she showed herself irritable
and dishonest, having previously stolen small articles, and
could not live up to the new standards surrounding her. She
suffered from spells of depression and bursts of temper during
which she " smashed things " ; her whole attitude towards
life aeems summed up in her remark, " I don't care what hap-

I
I

BAD HOME CONDITIONS 147

pens." She possessed oo appreciation of the rules of civilized
life. " No one cared wliat I did, why should they begin to
now ? " She once succeeded in escaping from the institution
but was found the next day. After three years and more of
institutional care she was placed out, but proved herself un-
satisfactory and stole as well as becoming pregnant, until at
the age of 19 .she was returned to her family, it being felt that
her stepmother's good influence warranted the move. She
went from here to a hospital for extended care and was de-
Uvered of a normal child after a normal confinement.

This girl has masturbated since earliest childhood, learning
the practice in her own home. Her sole interest seemed to lie
in sex matters, and she was regularly promiscuous with boys
in parks and doorways before 14. She reports incestuous re-
lations with her father and with her mother's cousin and seems
to have been quite accustomed to a life of immorality. She
finds it impossible to remember with how many men she has
had intercourse and from whomshe has received various amounts.
She seems to have beeu particularly attractive to colored men.
While placed out she succeeded in spending the night with a
railway flagman, by whom she later became pregnant. He was
a young man of fair reputation who absolutely denied having
had any criminal relations with the girl. According to him
" nothing happened." The girl had " nothing against " the
father and was willing to marry liira- The approaching con-
finement seems to have brought out hidden capacities in this
girl, although it is difficult to determine how permanent they

I will be. While in the hospital she objected to the vulgarities
of the other girls, claiming that she had " learned her lesson."
" I won't look at the best man living " and " I will live it
down," she says. Her visitor muntjtins that she has never
seen a girl feel so remorseful for her actions. The mother and
child are still under hospital care, the girl showing great fond-
ness for her boy. This girl's career is less surprising when one
considers her wretched inJieritance and environment.
Case No. is. Causative factors: (o) Bad Home Con-
ditions: Father neglectful ; alcoholic. Mother dejid ; was
tubercular ; very immoral ; had illegitimate child. No
control. Girl learned immorality at home, (b) Herediiy:
Mother comea from family of degenerates ; deformed ; had
one feeble-minded child. Two died in infancy, (c) Men-
ttdUy: Possible psychosis, (d) Early Sex Experience:
Learned immorality at home at early age. Stole. Lies,
Sex -t- + + + I. Age 19.

148

THE UNMARRIED MOTHER

Case 36. In this case a girl of American parentage was a
bright and attractive type. Her mother had l>eeii a prostitute
for years and had provided a home in which the standards were
so degrading that the courts had given the five other daughters
to relatives six years previous. The girl in question was sent
to live with a widowed uncle and his two daughters, who wel-
comed her to a home of many comforts and interests, but al-
lowed at the sanie time much unsupervised recreational time.
During afternoons of leisure she found many opportunities
to spend hours in the company of a married man in the neigh-
borhood, and a few years later at the age of 16 she gave birth
to an illegitimate child.

The father died when she was two years old. During the
next few years the home life was deplorable. The family suf-
fered much through poverty, and the mother was so neglect-
ful of her children that the neighbors brought about her arrest.
At an early age this girl had witnessed many immoral scenes,
and she said that when she was only 8 years old she remembered
seeing her mother in bed with a man. It was also reported
that she had locked one of the daughters in a room with a man,
receiving payment from him for this opportunity. I.,ater this
sister became incorrigible and was sent to prison for stealing
and street walking. After her release she returned to her
mother's home and continued to make her living in a question-
able manner. As far as known the other sisters were reputable.
When this young girl went to live with her uncle and two
older cousins in her tenth year, she found an excellent home.
The family attended church regularly, and she took an active
part in the services. It was noted that after she started an
mtimacy with the father of her child she failed to speak at
the prayer meeting. At school she was considered one of the
most promising girls in her class and much above the average
in her school work. She reached the sophomore year and left
because of her pregnancy. She was associated with a group
of good friends and was much enjoyed by her cousins. They
had Uttle time to give her, as one attended college and the other
held a responsible position in a business house. After school
hours she had the afternoon to herself. She was not allowed
to go out evenings except when chaperoned by older people.
In appearance she was an attractive type, with fresh coloring
and a childish, innocent expression. Her uncle stated that
she had always been a good girl, was quiet and obedient, and
had never showed any tendency to run after the boys. Her
child was bom at a private maternity home and was healthy

^B and rol
^ that sh

BAD HOME CONDITIONS

149

and robust and greatly beloved by the mother, who declared
that she would never give her up. Later the ehild was placed
out with the mother and both did extremely well.

Her sex history is as follows. She met the father by chance
going home from school, when she accidentally ran into him.
After this she happened to see him occa-sionally, and their casual
meetings finally terminated in an intimacy. She knew the
father three years and had relationships with him in the woods
for a year and a half before the birth of her child. This girl
said, " When I was !3 there came to me an awful longing for
someone to love me and kiss me at night. I IhouglU it was a
mother's lore I wanted, but when this man talked to me I thought
that wa-s what I wanted. I had no wish to do wrong but longed
to be loved." For some time this man made love to her and
represented himself as her truest friend. He told her that
because she was an orphan she neetled such a friendship. For
many months there was no sexual intimacy between them.
Finally he began to ask her questions concerning her menstrual
periods and afterwards generally instructed her in sex matters.
Following this conversation she frequently had relationships
with him and did not learn that he was married until some
months later. She declared that she loved and trusted the
father of her child, and even after she l>ecame pregnant said
that she could not regret her sexual relations with him or feel
that she had done wrong. The man was 26 years old, came from
a good family in the town, and had been well educated. He
drank some and was generally considered a worthless lot.
Previously he had made a forced marriage, but he promised
the girl that he would divorce his wife and marry her. This
case was greatly complicated, as the girl was said to have been
raped by a man of loo.se moral character at about the time of
her conception. It was rumored that the father of her child
connived in these two assaults to substantiate his claim that
she had been promiscuous. The first assault was witnessed
at a distance by some sclioollwys. who spread the story of the
relationship throughout the neighlmrhood. l^ter this man
coaxed the girl to come to a lonely place to talk over the situa-
tion created by the gossip. This is her statement regarding
her attitude at this time. " He was not wholly to blame,
because as soon as a man speaks to me concerning these things
' get so arou.sed that I do not know what I am doing." Both
len were arrested, and the judge was imable to establish pater-
nity. He gave the father, so called, a suspended sentence of
one year and ordered him to support the child. The other man

160

THE UNMARRIED MOTHER

was sent to the house of correction for one year. It was inter-
esting to note the girl's altitude after confinement. She said,
" I wonder if these men who had intercourse with me didn't
feel beforehand that it would be an easy thing to do, since my
mother had been so bad."

Ca.se No. 26. Causative factors : (a) Bad Home Con-
ditions: No home life, no control. Mother a prostitute.
(b) Bad Companions: Two dissolute lovers. Sex + + .
Age 17.

Frequent Moving. The former paragraphs have indicated
tlie necessity for control and good standards in the home if
one is to expect girls to grow up with ideas which will lead to
good behavior. Not only is it necessary for such an inBuenee
to exist, but it is important that this infiuence should be per-
manent. In many instances one sees that frequent moving
on the part of the family subjects tlie growing girl to such a
varied environment that she is unable to receive that continuous
impression which is necessary if her character is to be fixed in
the right direction. A few months spent in a bad environment
may suffice to counteract the good influence of years, with the
result that frequent moving may be considered an actual factor
in a girl's delinquency. Not only does this apply to good home
standards, hut also to school achievement, for many of those
girls who are lacking in educational advantages are thus handi-
capped because their parents moved so frequently as to neces-
sitate a repeated change of school. It will be rcLidily under-
stood that this prevents anything like the normal progress
through a curriculum of graded courses.

One cannot overlook the great influence which this moving
has upon the mental attitude of the girl in question, accustom-
ing her as it does to a change of scene and associations which
tends to breed in her a species of " wanderlust." Many a
girl reaches maturity with no " association of place " and feels
that she has never had a home with all that a home impUes.
Particularly in the sphere of the emotions do we need those
inhibitions which are built up through the strength of sentiment,
and it often happens that the simple thought of the family
and her parents gathered in an accustomed place at home is

BAD HOME CONDITIONS

151

more influential with a girl during a moment of indecision
than are a hundred sermons. It is just this influence which
is lacking when the girl in question, through frequent moving,
has not had a stable home influence. Often, unfortunately, one
finds this to be the case in instances where the death or neglect
of the parents has necessitated the child's being given to an
agency, with the result that she is " placed " in a series of homes.
No matter how great an improvement over the old system of
institutional care this may be, one can state that not even the
most fervid upholders of the placing-out system would con-
sider it the equivalent of a good home. With the best super-
vision possible, mistakes wilt occur, and girls will have to be
moved from one home to another. It is under such conditions
that one finds the dangers attendant to frequent moving on the
part of the family intensified, with the result that again the
girl secures no permanent home influence.
The following cases illustrate this group.

Case 37. Among those girls who lost their mothers at an
early age and who afterward.s nioved about among questionable
relatives, there is the case of this girl whose mother died when
she was eight. She gave birth to a stillborn child when 15
years of age. The girl's father was employed in a sawmiU
in a rural town and bore a poor reputation, spending most of
his time away from home. T.he fraternity includes three sisters
and three brothers who are respectable.

The father of this girl has boarded the two younger children,
but has supported them up to a few months ago. when as a
result of an injury to his hand, he was unable to continue at
work. The whole family are in need, but stiU anxious to pre-
vent the fact of this girl's pregnancy from becoming known.
For the la.st eight years she has lived with various families whose
influence has been decidedly bad, and this unstable mode of
living seems to have produced a corresponding irresponsibility
in her, with the result that she gives little evidence of pos-
sessing any moral standards. She is, however, not looked upon
as wayward in the community in which she lives and may in
fact be said to hear a fair reputation. Prom what the record
states, this girl is intelligent and well developed mentally,
although her physical history reveals the fact that she has
suffered from typhoid and general debility. Her menstrual

THE UNMARRIED MOTHER

periods established themselves at 14. occurring regula
This girl graduated from the grammar achool in the ninth grade
and was ready to enter the high sehool when she became preg-
nant. We note that her development is good for her age and
that she is attractive in appearance, but there is evidence that
she is surprisingly ignorant in regard to the facts of sex, the
cessationof her menstrual periods causing her no alarm whatever.
This girl claims that one evening about nine o'clock she
and several other girls were persuaded to have intercourse with
a group of boys, and that they all " took a chance", she being
the only one who became pregnant. There is sorae indication
that at about this time her behavior with various boys had
been open to criticism. The father of this girl's child, a school-
boy of 17, moved west with liis family when tliey learned of
her condition, and the girl herself has returned to high school
and means to forget her experience and do well.

Case No. 27. Causative factors: (a) Bad Home Con-
ditions: Mother died when girl was eight. Moved about
among questionable families. {6) Bad Companions: Had
intercourse in company with group of boys and girls after
entertainment. Ses. Age 15.

Immorality in the Home. There is little need of indicating
in detail the obvious fact that sexual immorality on the part
of either parent or of both may be a direct cause for a daughter's
sex indulgence and consequent pregnancy. The cases will
illustrate the situation, in which, for instance, a mother has
engaged in prostitution in the home or has even used her daugh-
ters in this way as a source of income. There are instances
in which the mother has been sexually intimate with her own.
son to her daughter's knowledge, and of similar conditions
which it is not necessary to mention here. It is probable that
among the most contaminating of all c-qteriences which a
young girl may go through, short of actual physical intercourse,
is that produced by the knowledge and sight of parental im-
morality.

The mental state consequent to such an experience produces
such a conflict that the results are frequently ineradicable,
and it is highly probable that much of the morbidness on sex
subjects so frequently experienced finds its origin in some sit-
uation of this kind. How readily these mental dates produce

BAD HOME CONDITIONS

153

physical consequences may be understood when one realizes
that only by building up tbe strongest inhibitions and by ex-
erting the greatest care is it possible to prevent many adoles-
cent girls from mental and physical contamination. This
study contains cases in which it may truly be said that on
account of the actions which she has witnessed, a girl has grown
into immoral behavior without thought and with practically
no realisation of its consequences.
The following cases are illustrative of this condition.

Case 38. This is the case of an American girl of Irish ex-
traction who was apparently normal and was brought up in
a home of dissipation and drunkenness. She was allowed by
her mother to have intercourse with the landlord and with one
of her boarders for financial gain, which reverted to the mother.
This girl became pregnant when she was 20. Her father had
always been a hard drinker and died of tuberculosis. The
mother was alcoholic and immoral and had had an illegitimate
child. One brother died of a tubercular hip and another of
heart trouble.

A brother and sister beside this daughter lived at home with
their mother. Since her earliest recollection, she coiild re-
member only the most deplorable home conditions, which had
included much sickness and death besides poverty and drunken-
ness. Her mother was drunk six days out of seven and was
often insensible for days at a time, She worked out when she
was sober. Often the children became so frightened with the
drinking and carousing that they would stay in the yard all
night and once barricaded themselves in the attic to escape

I abuse. They frequently were starved and were constantly
aided by the city for over ten years. Despite all these draw-
backs, this girl grew to be a cheerful and attractive type, al-
though she had always been more or less frail. She did not
like school, although she proved to be a fair student. She
left because her family needed her to help financially, and went
to work in a rubber factory, where she earned $5 a week. By
her employers she was considered a faithful worker and gen-
erally promising. She finally left home on account of the bad
conditions, claiming that it was impossible to go to bed before
three o'clock in the morning on accoimt of the drunken crowd
constantly invited by her mother to their home. She also
claimed that she had often gone to work without her breakfast,
and had returned at night findini; neither food nor fire. She

154

THE UNMARRIED MOTHER

rented a hall bedroom and secured her food from the baker's
shop. After this her mother kept house for a negro and was
reported to be living with him immorally. This girl was fond
of reading and was familiar with some good books. When
asked if she read Mary J. Holmes' books, she replied, " Those
books are too thin ti.ssue for me." She lacked self-confidence
but had an active mind, showing a discerning judgment, and
also had the ability to learn quickly. She had decided views
and thought out her own problems. She said, for instance,
that she did not attend ohurch in certain forms of observance,
yet she thought it was wicked to play ball on Sunday. Again
we noted that she questioned her right to use the word " Mrs."
as a protection to herself. She also felt that the fisherman
who had befriended her and saved her from want and hunger
had a right to have intercourse with her. When people gossiped
about her unmarried state, she generalized thus, " Public
opinion means a lot. Why, the things that we do are done for
what people think of us." When watched by the foster mother
in cleaning a boarder's bedroom, she remonstrated with her
for this close supervision. The foster mother rephed, " I
could not trust you. You know that you have been in trouble
once." The girl retaliated with much resentment, saying,
" What do you think I am ? Common ? " She showed a
keen insight as she reviewed her past experiences and with a
eood deal of determination resolved to begin a new life and to
ao all that she could for her child. She appeared to be willing
to win a good reputation at the cost of much patient endeavor.
She was able to find enjoyment in the simple things in her
environment and to find stimulation in anticipating those
problems that were just beyond her reach. Her child was bom
at a local hospital and was ill of malnutrition for a long time.
Her labor was long and difficult, but she made a rapid recovery.
Later she worked out with her child as a domestic.

When this girl was 15, her mother allowed a fisherman 50
years old and a boarder in their home to have intercourse with
her. This man was married but had not hved with his wife
for years. He treated this girl kindly and besides paying the
mother for this opportunity bought food and clothing for the
girl and often gave her a little spending money. She said
that she was fond of this man, because he was the first to show
her any degree of consideration. After this the landlord, who
became the father of the child a few years later, frequently
reimbursed the mother for her rent because of his sexual inti-
macy with her daughter. When she was 19 she lived in ao

rtmeiit with tlie fislierrnaa for a year, and he declared that
i a good fiirl for whom he had a sincere attachment.
He would have married her had he heen free to do so. This
girl did not work during this period. Neighbors say that she
entertained many men at the apartment. While the fisher-
man was away on a sea trip, the alleged father visited her
also, and she became pregnant at this time. He was a married
man with a family and was considered well-to-do. He endeav-
ored to blame the paternity of the child on the other man and
thus avoid his responsibility by claiming that the girl had been
promiscuous. The fisherman forced him, however, to con-
tribute, and these two men paid her expenses through preg-
nancy and confinement. The alleged father declared that the
mother would have sold the girl to any man for a bottle of
rum. He also maintained that with a fair chance she would
develop into a promising woman and agreed to pay $5 a week
in support of the child.

Case No. 28. Causative factors: (a) Bad Home Con-
ditions: Mother immoral. Allowed girl to have inter-
course at 15 with two men at home, profiting thereby.
(6) Bad Environment: Befriended by man when destitute
and starving, (c) Herediiy: Mother immoral. Has ille-
gitimate child. Both sides alcoholic. Father and brother
tubercular. Sex -|- -i- . Age 20.

Case 3Q. As an indication of bad home conditions coupled
with bad inheritance may be cited the case of this girl of Ameri-
can parentage who had an illegitimate child at the age of 17,
There has been no reliable mental examination, and conse-
quently one is not justified in considering her to be even sub-
normal. Physically she appears to be a very well developed
young woman weighing 154 pounds and being five feet four
inches tall at the age of 16, at which time she seemed fully 20.
This girl's father, an alcoholic simpleton, was employed in a
sugar factory in one of the north New England States, and his
intelligence is indicated by the fact that when he came to the
city to find his daughter he asked the first man whom he met
to direct him to a bathing beach and to be kind enough to hold
his money for him while he took a bath. The man very natu-
rally disappeared. The mother died at the birth of this child,
and little is known of her history. There is a married sister
who has a very poor reputation, and who was immoral before
her marriage. She followed her father to the city in his attempt
to locate his daughter, aud both were so overcome by the ex-

156

THE UNMARRIED MOTHER

citement of metropolitan life that tliey were arrested together I
for drunkenness. There was a brother who died of infaatite J
paralysis and another sister who died at an early age.

This is another case in which the later delinquency is ag^ J
traceable to frequent change of residence during the formative I
period of later childhood and to immorality in the home. The J
mother being dead and the father a drunkard, an attempt wae I
made to put this girl at board with various relatives. It be-i
came necessary for her, when two of her aunts died, to go to 1
live with her married sister whom we have already described
as immoral, and whose home life was further contaminated
by her husband, who was a moral degenerate. It will be
readily understood that under such conditions it was only natu-
ral that the girl should grow up in the company of immoral
friends and possessed of no standards or control, and yet we
find that she reached the ninth grade at school before she was
14, and that she had manifested considerable intelligence and
reasoning power.

This girl began to be immoral at the age of 11, and at the
age of 13 ran away from home with an Italian and left him after
six weeks, claiming that he was diseased. She states that she
knew that he was diseased, because her father was suffering
from the same trouble. The man maintains that he contracted
the disease from her married sister. After leaving him, she
came to the city and " picked up " a marine with whom she
went to a hired room. She says that a man came up to them
and offered to find them a place to stay overnight. This man
was arrested and stated that he had secured rooms for twenty
couples that evening, Ijeing paid a comrai.ssion of twenty-five
cents on each room rented. The girl was arrested and com-
mitted to an organization giving institutional care when still
under 14 years of age. She had the apjwarance of a thorough
prostitute at the time of her arrest, although {wssessed of a
lieautiful complexion and free from venereal disease. While
under institutional care she showed no sign of shame, in fact
considered herself something of a heroine. She improved,
however, in her care of herself and showed herself agreeable
and courteous in her behavior.

After a little over two years she was placed in the community
at housework, and after three months ran away and marriea
the Italian to whom we have referred above. She maintains
that her employers assisted her to escape, supplying her with
sufficient money to go to a city somewhat distant, at the same
time informing the Italian of her whereabouts. This they

BAD HOME CONDITIONS 167

did because she was pregnant by her employer's husband,
and because he and his wife Iiad sought this means of covering
up his responsibility- She neglected to inform her husband
of the fact that she was pregnant at the time of her marriage
to him imtd two months later, whereupon he left her. At
about this time the employer's husband also disappeared from
home, leaving his wife as sole support for their child. This
girl refused to have anything to do with the maldng of clothes
for her unborn child, manifesting absolutely no desire to give
birth to it. and insisting that the child be taken from her at
birth, to which, strangely enough, those in control agreed.
The child was born at the home of the mother, who was immedi-
ately moved to the hospital, whereupon, according to agree-
ment, the child was taken from her care and died in a little
over two weeks of meningitis. The Italian was the only one
who seemed to regret its death, because of the fact that he was
anxious to use it as a lever for securing money from its father.
Incidentally, one may mention that the father in this case was a
wholesome countryman of 35 whose habits had been uniforndy
good. He was expet-ting to contribute to the child's support
and had already paid a himdred dollars when it died. It is
interesting to note the dominant qualities possessed by the Ital-
ian husband. Although a thief who had served a term in prison
for sodomy, he succeeded in dominating both the ^1 and her
employer, and one is of the opinion that his name may yet
appear in some other criminal case. At present he and his
wife are living together in seeming harmony and the girl's
former employer has outgrown her dependence upon him.
Case No. 29. Causative factors: (a) Bad Home Con-
ditions: Mother died at birth of girl. Sister immoral.
Brother delinquent. Fatlier " simpleton," Lived with
immoral sister. (6) Bad Environment: Moved about
among relatives, (c) Bad Companions: Bad influence
of immoral sister, {d) Early Sex Experience: Began

» intercourse at 11. (e) Heredity: Sister immoral. Brother
alcoholic. Two dial in infancy. Father alcoholic. Sex
+ -I-I-+. Age 17.

Girl Away from Home. In many instances one is able to

trace the causes of a girl's pregnancy to the fact that she is

- living in lodgings without the control of her family, and fre-

lently withovit the interest of friends. It will be readily

iderstood that such a situation has to do not only with the

158 THE UNMARRIED MOTHER

lack of supervision on the part of older people over a girl or
young womaa, with the lack of compaaioasbip and enjoyment
which exists in almost every home. It is easy for the girl
living in good lodgings to behave as she desires as long as she
does not conduct herself improperly in the house itself, and it
is natural for such a girl, at a period when she demands strong
and intimate attachments, to feel dissatisfied with a life devoid
of the companionship of friends under her own roof.

Such a condition is often necessitated by a girl's emigration
from her home in the hope of finding better means of employ-
ment. More frequently, however, girls and young women
seek a life in lodgings because their parents have been over-
severe, or because they have desired more license than their
parents were willing to allow. It is obvious that such a con-
dition is one of extreme danger for a young woman, partic-
ularly when it accompanies her transition from rural to city
life, and one is consequently not surprised to find that in many
of these cases the fact that the girl had lived away from home
was of great importance in determining her career.

The following case is submitted in illustration of this situ-
ation.

Case 30. We have here the case of a young Swedish girl
of 17 who came to America alone. She is reported to have
had a comfortable home in Sweden. Her grandfather was a
man of some importance in the community, a railroad president.
In bis youth he had been very wild and later misappropriated
funds. Her family life had been harmonious. The father
and sister died of tuberculosis, and the remaining sister also
in Sweden had suffered with chorea. The mother, a respected
and hard-working woman, kept the home together by taking
lodgers. When this girl arrived in this country, she went to
live with an aunt but soon disagreed with her and thereafter
lived an unprotected life in lodgings, supporting herself as a
waitress. Within a short time she met a university studentt
a Jew. and according to her story, became enpnj?ed to him.
For a long time she had lived morally but finally succunil>ed to;
this infatuation. The child was born when the mother was 21.
There is some indication that she struggled against temptation
for a while after the child's birth, but later it appeared evident
that she was promiscuous. There is acme question also as to

BAD HOME CONDITIONS

this girl's mentality, although there seem to be no indications
of subnormality or feeble- mindedness.

She had always been a delicate child. When she came to
America, she was tall, slight, and attractive. There was an
unverified report that she had had some land of " fits " earlier
in her history^ Because of her frail health she was often miable
to work. At a she was treated for gonorrhoea. This girl
had been well educated, having been through high school and
one year at college in Sweden. She spoke German and English
fluently and was considered a good pianist. Before preg-
nancy little was known of her character, but later the father
of her child said that he believed that she was naturally a good
woman and had tried for a long time to retain a moral standard.
After her confinement she became very frail and was forced
to move constantly about from one lodging house to another
with her small daughter, often being evicted for nonpayment
of rent, and at times being without suflScient food or clothing.
Gradually she became neglectful of the child. The alleged
father paid the child's board sporadically, and sometimes
gave the mother estra money. Several days after her confine-
ment, this girl began to receive attentions from many men,
allowing them to visit her at aU hours at her lodging houxe.
At times she paeked her suitcase and was missing for some
days, and upon her return was found to be well supplied with
clothes. Her landlady felt sure that her salary of ten diillars
a week was insufficient to allow of such luxuries, and willi her
aunt agreed that .she was probably a prostitute. During tliix
time she appeared to be discouraged, and was also found to
be very untruthful, often threatening suicide and was occasion-
ally slightly intemperate. Her improbable story that whe had
19 brothers and sisters stone deaf in Sweden arouited itonm
question as to her mentality.

Upon application to a charitable society, this girl preiicnted
herself as a widow and gave her husband's and guardiun'n
name as if they were by chance the aame. She claimed Hint
she had been left with only a small life insurance controlled by
her guardian. This story proved to be a tissue of licH, and her
guardian was later revealed to be the father of her child ; Ihi'W
falsehoods had been fabricated by her to shield him ngiiiiipil
suspicion. When interviewed, he was found to be a. \triiti>tH'nii\it\
man of good reputation and of considerable intelligcFu-f, I limigh
somewhat imreliable and willing to shirk his rei)|>oii'iil>ililli->t,
He told the following story. White a ittudent he met IIiim girl,
who lodged at his boarding house. He paid her uttenliun

THE UNMARRIED MOTHER

and found her to be a good woman. When he suggested inl
course, she refused, and for a long time he tried to live up
her standards. Suddenly she began to come to his room and
became exceedingly affectionate toward him, thus taking the
initiative in the sexual intimacy. He maintained that the child
was born six months later and could not have been his. Over
against this story is that of the girl, in which she claims that,
she had expected marriage, and under such a consideration waai
induced to allow this relationship. As far as known, this girf'
had never indulged in sex relationship with any other man
for months before or after this conception. Later the alleged
father married a woman of his own faith. This girl confessed
that in her adolescent days in Sweden she had had inter-
course with young boys. At our last report we heard that this
woman was deteriorating rapidly and had become promiscuous.
She so neglected her child that the state authorities had been
asked to take up the matter, and it was reported that they
intended to establish paternity and hold the father to his r
sponsibility.

Case No. 30. Causative factors: (a) Bad Home Con-
ditions: Immigrated at 17. Quarreled with aunt and mov-ed
to lodgings. (6) Bad Companioits: Associated with student,
(c) Early Sex Experience: Immoral with boy at 12. (d)
Heredity: Father dead, tubercular. Sister dead, tuber-
cular. Sister chorea. Lies +■ Sex +. Age 21.

Low-Stan dard Families. Under this head are included
such families as have seemed to possess standards which must
be considered anti-social. Nearly all that has been said under
the head of " Bad Home Conditions " might be included here,
but it has been found usefid to make special mention of condi*
tions in which the contaminating influence has not been
as, for instance, would have been the case ha<i there been open
immorality in the home, or had the father been habitually
alcoholic. Of great importance in the forming of character
and habit is that dullness to all ethical considerations which
one finds so frequently in many homes. Although often ao
companied by ignorance on the part of the parents, there are
yet many homes where the low standards were due to an im-
willingness on the part of the parents to take the trouble toi
exert a good influence on their children. It is not m

itepjH

f BAD BOSCE COXDmON^

fooaBm^it flB the Eart tint hvqooUl; a nsy gtblleii

may hxTc a denied effect oa a gal's behavior, and Uiat a atmJbi

■ad Tsipr baflj' He hi^ be aa upartaat a oaasatitv lactar

Cbm 31. ABong Uioae ca«s in wUcb tlie wcomb b eoa-
aidnrnfa^ olda- tbaa the average b the case of lUs New Biglawl
wnna W jcan at age. In ^ifiearaDce she- was vrfl drescd
■ad lopeebUe. She cane firaia aaotltcr State, applyiag; to
■ ho^Ntal for aa abortka, and was icftnvd to a Childmi's
Sodelj for padaaoe. She stated that she had maintained a

d Rpatation in a dtv wbav she hai hvtd for y«ais. thrash
cmnljr jcan of immurality, and could not now bear' the dn-
^nee a haviag a ddld. There seented to be sooie ooniict

■■ nuod about aUoving her child to be borttt

becaaw her father had denied the paternity of her mother's
oldest dAL and she had seen this cfaild often iU-treated in their
hoDw. She abo frequently remarbd that iU>e had prubahly
inherited her tendency toward immoraEly from her mother.

Thb woman was one of the aUm ddhuen in a la^e family.
Her brothers and nsters worfenl in the nuU. Oae brotho-
was s teamster, and another a gardener. As far as known,
all bore good reputations. Her mother had been immoral
and made a forced laamage. Her father was considered a
sbiftJeaa aitd unsuccessful business man.

Thb woman said that for years she had been receiving good
wages in various hotels abont New Bi^land, always making
tnm nine to twelve dollars a week as cook. At applKation
to the society she had »400 in the bank. As a young girl she
had been engaged to a young man wbo died, and with wbom
she declares she bad ne%Tr i^ iatercourse. .\t IS she began
to have sexual relations «ith a traveling man. whom she met
whenever be was in her part of the countrj-. This intimacy
continued for nearly twenty years. .\t other times she wen*
with various men. For the last 6ve years she had been inti-
mate with the proprietor of the hotel where she worked. She
said that after this intimacy had been established, she had
<*ased her intercourse with the traveling man. This woman
maintained that the alleged father had ne^-e^ paid her money,
Ijut had given her expensive presents. When she found that
she was pregnant, he gave her money to come to the city for
an abortion. She was persistent in her idea to have an ahor-

102

THE UNMARRIED MOTHER

lion, and very reluctantly gave her eonsent and made plana
for her confinement. She admitted that it would be very
difficult to break off her intimacy with the father. When
interviewed at his hotel, he was very nervous and resented
the fact that she had told her story to any one. He was an
American man of about 40 and had formerly been a sea captain.
He was well known and respected in the community and con-
ducted a prosperous hotel. He was very much afraid that
his wife would learn of the affair, and maintained that she and
the woman in question were ^ood friends. He said that she
did not suspect the relationship, because they had been very
careful and had met at another hotel in the city. He claimed
that his wife had refused to have intercourse with him, and that
he had told her that if this decision remained final he would
seek a mistress. With some degree of pride he declared that
he had never injured a young girl. He admitted intercourse
with this woman over a long period of time, but indicated that
although he liked her. he had no strong affection for her, and
that he had never spent the entire night with her. He called
her a promiscuous woman and said that he knew that at one
lime she had been sexually intimate with three men. He
was willing, however, to pay her expenses but would assume
no responsibility for the child and urged an abortion. The
woman's family doctor was interviewed and stated that he
could only say good concerning her. He had known her for
ten years and had always considered her a good woman and
an efficient worker and was greatly surprised to learn of her
mode of living. This history was unexpectedly brought to a
close when she wrote to the society, stating that she had suc-
ceeded in having an abortion performed in her own city.

Case No. 31. Causative factors: (a) Bad Home Con-
ditions: Parents had forced marriage. Father denied
paternity of first child. Low standards. Shiftless, (fc)
Bad Companiuns: Alany low men friends. Promiscuous
since 18. Sex + + +. Age 10.

Case 3a. This girl, who comes from New England stock,
had an illegitimate child at the age of IS. As a result of a
psychological examination, we find her to be neither feeble-
minded nor insane. Physically she is fairly well developed
and well nourished. At 14 she weighed 148 pounds and was
four feet nine inches tall. Her father has nothing against
him, excepting that he served a term in jail for falsifying his
daughter's age. The mother, whose second marriage th^ is,

^H ha^ alct
^V weak v

BAD HOME CONDITIONS 163

ha^ alcoholic teDdencJes and seems to be weU meaning but
weak willed. The fraternity includes two brothers, one of
whom is low-minded and shiftless, and two sisters under ten
years. Another brother and a sister died in infancy.

The family hve in a very poor section of a near-by manu-
facturing city, occupying four rooms which they maintain in
dirty condition, and relying upon the city and other charita-
ble agencies for Snancial assistance. The neighbors consider
the parents to be of degenerate stock, and the whole family
is looked upon as shiftless and lazy and unwilling to be anything
but paupers. They are described as " professional dependents.'
It is not hard to understand that under such conditions there
can be httle disciplinary control or standard of morals in the
family. The parents frequently quarrel among themselves
and often send the girl out to beg. All of the children are
dirty and show extrenie neglect. In school this girl, whose
attendance was irregular, had reached the fifth grade at the
age of 14, when she left to go to work. She attempted for a
while to work in a mill but was so slow and inattentive that
she never succeeded in keeping one place for any length of time.
At this time she associated with a low class of men and par-
Ocularly with an older girl of immoral character. At the age
of 14 her father falsified her age, and she married, li\'ing with
her husband for only a few days at that time. She left him
and began to be promiscuous, coming to the city, where she
was arrested and committed to an organization giving institu-
tional care for idle and disorderly conduct. After two years,
during which time she had shown herself to be good-natured
and tractable, she was placed at housework, where she soon
attempted suicide, being found unconscious, with the gas
turned on. After meetinga man, she seemed in far better spints,
although she was hardly able to control her desire for mascu-
line society. She succeeded in becoming pregnant and was
dehvered of a stillborn child. When placed at housework once
more, she again attempted suicide by inhaling gas and was
violent. A psychological investigation at this time gave her
Binet age as 18. Her developmental history shows evidence
of frequent nosebleeds, measles, whooping cough, scarlet fever,
pneumonia, and painful and irregular menstruation. She was
not considered committable and after being given a position
at housework, she ran away again and was found living with
the man whom she had married five years before.

This girt admits having been immoral at the age of 14 and of
becoming so infatuated with the man that the family consented

164 THE UNMARRIED MOTHER

to the marriage. While placed out, she admitted having had
relations with a conductor on the street car; also, when a r
away, she spent two nights with her husband. She was evi-
dently a promiscuous type. From last accounts this gir! and
her husband have moved to another State where they seem to
be living happily.

Case No. 38. Causative factors : (a) Bad Home Con-
ditions: Father alcohohc. Prison for falsifying age, allow-
ing daughter to marry at 14. She lived with him only a
few days ; a degenerate. Mother alcoholic. Professional
dependents. (6) Had Companions: Left husband for low
associates, (c) Educaiional Disadvantages: Left at 14 in
fifth grade. Sex + + -1-. Age 18.

Father Dead. Although in most instances one finds the in-
fluence of the mother to be of great importance in forming
the character of a girl, there are yet cases in which the death
of the father may be considered the most direct cause in her
moral breakdown. Not only does this mean an increased
financial hardship, often necessitating the mother's absence
from home at work, but at times a situation exists in which
the father is the only controlling influence in the home, and
it can be readily understood that under such conditions his
death is a real calamity. The difliculty here concerns not so
much those economic questions which are the indirect results
of the death of the father, such as [>overty and bad housing,
but the situation in which the family loses the controlling force
itself.

Here follows a case in illustration of this situation.

Caae 33. In this instance a colored girl nf American parent-
age became an unmarried mother when 17 years of age. Al-
though there does not seem to have been a jisychological ex-
amination, no traits appear which would indicate mental defect.
Physically the girl is in good condition. Her futher died when
she was 12 years old and seems to have been the main source
of control ui a rather easy-going family. The mother is some-
what slack and descritied as " not all a woman should be."
The fraternity includes five brothers and two married sisters.
Two of the boys are in the care of a neighboring State. The
yoimgest sister is a cripple, and the youngest brother has spent
three years to the first grade of school

BAD HOME CONDITIONS

This family Bves with an auol in a poor Deighborhood of a
near-by city, occupying a six-room tenrairat for wtiicfa tbe
rent is tra doQara per montfa. The motber succeeds in keeping
tbe home in good caeditiaA. de^te the fact that she goes out
to work and i^ likely to neglect her children white visiting
relatives. It is evident that the death of the father lemo^'ed
the one steadying influeoce from tbe famili>~ life, resulting in
an increasing lack of ooutrol on tbe part of tbe mother over
the children. The family historj- as well as the de^'elopmental
history contains nothing oi significance. One notes a ilUturb-
ing riement in tbe ^rl's life, due to the fact that upon the death
of her father when she was \i sbe was seat to an aunt in New
York, where she ^lent three months before being transferred
to the home of another relati^'e in New Jersey*. She left school
in order to make these vbits and did not succeed in progressing
beyond tbe fourth grade. Coincident with tbe lack of a stab^
home appears the fact that at the time wben she was in New
York this girl went with a group which bad a reputation for
immorality. At this time she attempted to do a little house-
work in her own town and also was employed in a bakery
for three weeks, where she gained a reputation for dishonesty.
Sbe began to stay out overnight, to swear and to steal, with
the result that at 16 she was sent to jail for a week " to think
things over " and because of her defiant attitude was committed
to an oi^anizatioD gi^Hng institutional care. Sbe n'as found
to be pregnant and to be suffering from gonorrhoea. The
child, a girl, was bom after a normal confinement, suffering
with an infected eye. but impro^■ing under treatment. ;Vfter
the birth of tbe child, its mother was placed in a wage home
where sbe did not prove successful in pleasing her employer.
It became necessary to return her to an institution for medical
care on account of her old infection, and later on when Aig]un
placed out sbe bad to undergo several minor operations. This
did not increase her good nature, and the result has been that
the motber is at present anxious to turn the child o^■er to state
care, feeling that sbe is unable to bear tbe burden of its support.

This girl's sex history indicates that she possessed no idea of
any moral standards, for which the lack of home training was
probably somewhat responsible. While li\-ing with her rela-
tives and also during tbe months just previous to her commit-
ment she seems to have been sexually promiscuous. She
takes the whole situation casually, maintaining, however, that
the child is not going to be brought up as sbe was. There is
no clue as to the paternity of tbe child.

THE UNMAKRIED MOTHER

Case No. S3. Causative factors: (a) Bad Borne Con-
ditions: Father who had the control died. Mother easy-
going. (6) Bad Enrironmenl: Moved about among rela-
tives, (c) Bad Companions: Associated with immoral
group. Stole. Sex + + . Age 17.

Mother Dead. All that has been said as regards the un-
happy situation arising in a family through the death of the
father applies more particularly to such conditions as arise
when the mother is dead. Of paramount importance in the
development of the adolescent girl is the influence which a wise
mother may exert in molding her attitude towards life and the
correction and guidance which she uses in the home. As a
result, the girl who loses her mother during adolescence is like
a ship without a rudder, dependent as she is on her mother, if
not for the interpretation of what she sees in life about her, at
least for the right estimate of such facts. Furthermore, owing
to the faot that the father is of necessity often absent during
the day, the supervision which a young girl should have is
orxUnarily lacking, and she thus becomes the prey of bad
companions.

So obvious is the bad influence of such a situation that it is
illustrated with only two cases.

, Case 34. This case deals with a girt of Irish parentage who
I gave birth to an illegitimate child at the age of 20. Her father
IS a good worker, and occasional indulgence in alcohol does not
seem to have interfered with his livelihood ; her mother died
of a complication of diseases when the girl was Ifi years of age.
She had exerted a considerable amount of control over the
fraternity, which consisted of five sisters and three brothers,
of whom all but one sister bore a good reputation.

The death of the mother represents the turning point in this
girl's life. Her father, who now began to drink more than he
had formerly done, was able to exert no supervision over hia
children, with the result that they grew up on the streets with-
out teaching, and without any warning of the dangers involved.
Our evidence is that this girl, who behaved herself well, spending
her spare time at home before her mother's death, now became
extremely uncontrolled, and associated with a low-standard
group of friends. She left school at 15 in the eighth grade, and

^H immed
^F a week

BAD HOME CONDITIONS

167

immediately went to work in a factory where she earned $7
a week. In appearance this young woman is distinctly un-
attractive, with a prominent lower Jaw and a poor complexion.
She is a weak and ignorant representative of somewhat poor
stock, being mentally a rather inferior type. Her health, how-
ever, has always been extremely good.

This girl met the father of her child some three years l>efore
its birth, and says that she would have married him had he
asked her to. He showed her some attention, taking her to
the movies, but she did not become intimate with him until
a year before the birth of her child, at wliich time she began to
have sexual relations with him. She claims that he forced her
the first time, and had persuaded her on three other occasions
to go with him to a hotel, as a result of which she became preg-
nant. When she told him of her condition, he stated that he
could not marry her as he was only earning $7 a week, but he
gave her some medicine to produce a miscarriage. This proving
unsuccessful, she sought to have an abortion performed by a
physician, but he refused to accommodate her. This girl, who
had never received much attention from men, was never im-
moral with any one else, and as a result it was impossible for
the father, when arrested, to escape the payment of her con-
finement expenses. The child lived only three days, and the
girl feels that she has learned her lesson and that she will
hereafter be able to avoid a similar situation.

Case No. 34, Causative factors : (a) Bad Home Condi-
tions: Father alcoholic. Mother died when girl was 16
years old. No control since. No standards. (6) Bad
Companions: Low-class friends. Sex +. Age 20.

Caee 35. In this case we have the history of a young woman
who gave birth to an illegitimate child at 18, who knew nothing
of her parentage, having been adopted by foster parents at
an early age. Little is known of them except that her foster
mother, who had exerted some influence over her, died when she
was 15 years of age, after which her foster father found himself
incapable of controlling her.

The foster father seems to have made several attempts at
supervision, but with poor results, for one notes that soon after
his wife's death, the girl began to stay away all night and to
associate with an immoral girl friend. She left high school in
her second year in order to keep house for her father, and it was
at this time that her delinquency began. She appears to have
been a girl of peculiar disposition, showing such traits as the

168 THE UNIVLVRRIED MOTHER

following: when 14 she bleached her hair and then, becoming
tired of it, cut it off, remaining in seclusion for a year and a
half while it was growing back in its natural color. When
she became pregnant she laid her plans carefully, telling her
father several weeks ahead that she intended to leave after
Christmas in order to go on the stage, She later confessed
that she had remained at home until after Christmas because
she thought that she might just as well enjoy a Christmas dinner
before leaving. There is no indication of her mental defect,
and from all reports she is in good physical condition, very
attractive in appearance, although much painted, with the
appearance of a streetwalker.

This girl claims that she was assaulted when 14 by two men
one evening on the street. Two years later she went with a
girl friend to a garage where she claims she was again assaulted.
The man who assaulted her apologized several months after-
wards for his behavior, whereupon she allowed him to take her
upon various automobile trips, having intercourse with him
several times within a few months. When she left home in a
pregnant condition, she took rooms in a lodging house where
she received a man, whom she told her landlady was her cousin,
every afternoon. She frequented a garage in the neighborhood,
sometimes going there at two o'clock in the morning, and several
of the men employed were willing to state that they had been
sexually intimate with her. One of them, a married man, admits
having intercourse with her, but denies paternity. The girl
claimed that he took her to his house during his wife's absence,
and that he gave her $32 for a wrist watch and pendant. There
is every reason to believe that this girl is promiscuous. She is at
present anxious to board her child in order that she may return
to her foster father, and excuses her behavior on the ground that
it was the result of an assault which she was unable to prevent.
Case No. 35, Causative factors: ia) Bad Hi>me Condi-
tions: Foster mother died when girl was 15. Foster father
incapable of control. (6) Bad Companions: Girl friend
who was immoral. Sex +++. Age 18,

Parents Separated. As may be readily understood, a condi-
tion in which the parents are sejjarated may be practicaUy
analogous to that in which one parent is dead. All that has
been said m the former paragraph applies to this group i
equal emphasis, and the separation of parents must certainly
be considered of prime importance in the life of a growing

1
I

BAD HOME CONDITIONS

^H'daughter. There is, however, one element which this group
^^r possesses which is not found in most instances where the situa-
tion is simply one in which one parent is dead, for the mental
state of a girl is influenced by a separation in a different way-
There are cases in which such a situation may produce in the
mind of a daughter something of a conflict over the fact that
she feels disgraced because of her parent's action, particularly
when the separation is the result of some notorious bad behavior
on the part of either parent. Again, her whole attitude toward
the question of marriage may be warped by the abuse which she
bears one parent heap upon the other, with the result that such

»a girl frequently grows up with a. distorted view of life. There
is also a certain further source of danger in the fact that fre-
quently the parent with whom the girl lives is in the anomalous
position of being neither married nor single, with the result
that often illicit sexual relationships occur which come to the
knowledge of the girl with bad effect. For these reasons it
has seemed well to include this factor as of real importance in
this study.
^^ Here follows a case in illustration.

Case 36. In this case the girl's home has always been an
unhappy one. Her parents had quarreled and had separated
when she was 8 years old. and for some years she had lived with
her mother in Nova Scotia, helping her to manage the farm
which was their main support. At 15 she came to the United
States and kept house for her father, who was a carpenter.
He drank and was hard to get along with, but provided a well-
furnished home in a respectable neighborhood. The eight
brothers and sisters were aU of good reputation and quite able
to take care of themselves. It was reported that there was
no feeble- mi ndedness or insanity in the family on either side.
There had been no psychological examination, but her own
family and other people competent to judge felt that she was
below par mentally. From many points of view she seemed to
he subnormal and exhibited some extreme traits. She smoked,
drank. u.«ed mor|>hine and cocaine, po-sed as " The Queen of the
Yeggs ", and had indulged in the most revolting immorality.
At 23 she had become the mother of two illegitimate children.

Since childhood this girl had been physically frail, having had

convulsions in infancy. She was thought to have weak lungs
and was later known to have had a hemorrhage. At the time
of this history she was found to be suffering from gonorrhcea
and probably from syphilis. Her school history was not
obtained. As early as 16 she became familiar with men on the
street, associating constantly with a group of low companions,
and often visited cheap hotels and houses of ill fame with them.
In appearance she was a tall, slight girl with a certain aggressive-
ness of manner which indicated a familiarity with street life.
She was shallow, with but little thought for anything except
clothes. Her quick temper and vindictive brooding, coupled
with dishonesty and lying and with a suggestible type of mind,
allowed this girl to get into many difBculties, and at Itt she was
arrested and sent to a penal institution for a year for disorderly
conduct. Her first child was bom at the expense of the State,
and while under their care she was reported to have been the
most difficult girl that they had ever had to manage. She
kept her child for a while but constantly ill used it and finally
gave it for adoption. This girl worked as a waitress and in
candy and box factories. Only one employer spoke satis-
factorily of her work, Wlien she applied for help during her
second pregnancy, she was keeping house for her father and
brothers, and she begged that the agency would not tell them
of her condition as they had been so bitter about her Brst
child.

It is quite evident from the history that this girl had been
promiscuous over a long period of time. She stated that she
met the first father only once, when she was visiting a friend.
She told the following story. Two men came to the house and
without consulting their wishes locked the door and kept these
two girls with them all night. She claimed that she had known
the second father six months, and had had no other sex relation-
ships with men during this time. She was introduced to him on
the street by a friend and later saw a great deal of him. It was
her custom to meet him at the wharf and then go to a room with
him, sometimes staying the entire night. She said, " We very
often went to one of those regular houses." She declared that
she was much infatuated with him, and that she feared because
he had once found her in the parlor drinking beer with a group
of men and girls that he would protest that she had been untrue
to him. The father was interviewed and found to be a sailor
of about a, with an unusually frank and generous disposition.
He said that he had lived a loose life, never thinking of conse-
quences, and that the saloon bad been the source of all hia

BAD HOME CONDITIONS

171

lOubles. He did not deny intercoiir9e with thb ^rl, but de-
clared that she had forced hira while he was drunk, and that
she was positively revolting in her sex desires. He, however,
showed a certain fondness for her and after due deliberatioD
married her. It was later reported that this man had given
up dritdf aud that they had established a happy home life.
Case No, 36. Causative factors, (a) Bad Home Condi-
tions: Broken home. Parents separated. Kept hou.se
for father. Girl's father alcohohc. {b) Mentality: Perhaps
subnormal, (c) Bad Companions: Girl sought low asso-
ciates, (rf) Physical: Always sickly. Suspected weak
lungs. Convulsions. Girl alcoholic. Uses drugs. Lies.
■ Sex++-(-+. Age 20.

H Parents Dead. The death of both parents at an early age
■is in most cases one of the most dangerous occurrences that
could happen to an adolescent girl. The result with the girls
who are being considered is ordinarily nothing short of an up-
heaval, and one frequently finds a complete change of environ-
ment and standards which does much to prevent a stable
development on the part of the girl in question.

There are cases in which nothing remains but to break up the
family and to turn the children over to public or private care,
with the result that they are frequently placed in .separate
homes and lose all contact with each other. It will be readily
seen that it is thus impossible for a girl to grow up with the same
feeling of attachment to her foster parents which she would
ordinarily have felt towards her own parents under normal
conditions, and it is doubtful if the influence and interest of the
best of foster parents can be compared with that brought to
bear by the parents upon their own children in a good home.
In those cases where both parents have been dead, it has
usually been found the main factor in a girl's delinquency.
I Two cases follow in illustration of this group.

B Case 37- In this case the girl's father died during her in-

Fianey, and her mother about seven years ago. During her

last illness the mother worried about her daughter, fearing that

she might be " led astray " and repeatedly said that she wished

that she could have married before she died. The daughter

172

THE UNMARRIED MOTHER

was attractive in appearance and 26 years of age. After h<
mother's death she went to live with an aunt, who found her
very difficult to control and was never able to gain any influence
over her. When she learned of her pregnancy, she condemned
her in no uncertain terms, yet she was the one person who seemed
to retain any real affection for her. This aunt stated that the
parents were respectable, and that the home life had been
harmooious. Her only brother held a good position and was
said to be doiag well. The child was born at a hospital for
dependents, and while there it was discovered that the girl
had gonorrhcea and syphilis. The child was also infected, and
both remained for some months for treatment. Before con-
Snement she gladly anticipated the coming of her child and was
much attached to it after its birth. The doctor in charge stud
that he could find no evidence of deficiency in this girl. Her
school history showed that she had been backward, and she
did not leave the grammar school until her 16th year. After
this she went to work in a factory, where she earned from six to
eight dollars a week. In her last place of employment she bore
an excellent reputation and was considered efficient and ambi-
tious. Other employers, however, referred to her as being
lazy, selfish, and untruthful. After confinement she showed
an excellent spirit and was heard to remark, " I'm getting my
pay now for my actions, but I am going to take it quietly,"

This girl said she first began to have intercourse with men at
17. She tells this story. A traveling salesman, canva^ing
for a directory, came to her home about noontime, and her
mother invited him to come to lunch. Later she saw him a
few times, and she said, " I fell very easily. I seemed to have
a blind affection for him." She stated that after her mother's
death other men tempted her after this, and during the next
eight or nine years she had intercoiu-se with men at least once
a month. She said that at first she felt very badly but later
became hardened and only feared her aunt's detection. She
met the alleged father three years ago, and two weeks after
their first meeting had intercourse with him. He called regu-
larly at her aimt's house on Sunday afternoon. When she had
known him five months, he told her that he was married. She
stated that she had never received money from him and did not
go with any other man during this time. Efforts to locate the
alleged father were imsuccessful.

Case No. 37. Causative factors; (a) Bad Home Condi-
tions: Mother encouraged attention of man when girl was
17, without supervision. Parents dead when girl was 10.

BAD HOME CONDITIONS

Father died during her infancy. Little sympathy between
mother and girl. (&) Bad Companions: Only low-standard
men. Sex + ++- Age 26.

Case 38. This is the case of a girl of French-Canadian
parentage who had an illegitimate child at the age of 18. Her
father, a stone mason of good physical condition, has been
dead for some years, having remarried after the death of bis
wife, which was due to cancer, when the children were all
young. This girl's mentality seems normal as a result of an
examination, and she is attractive, although somewhat over-
developed. At 14 she weighed 189 pounds and was four feet
ten inches tall.

Upon the death of the mother this girl, with a sister and two
brothers, were placed in various homes under state care, the
girl herself being then 11 years old. Until this time she had
lived in a good home in a good neighborhood, but began to go
with a group of questionable friends when she was put into her
new environment. She had a long record of truancy in school.
She now began to show a desire to stay out late and ran away
when 14 in order' to be with her friends. She was then com-
mitted to an organization giving institutional care, where she
showed herself fond of reading but quarrelsome and anxious
for excitement. She lied and wrote obscene letters. She
coidd do good work when she desired to. Twice she ran from
the institution and was not found for a considerable period of
time. After nearly two years, she was placed out and imme-
diately tried to run away, was returned to an institution for
three months, and when put into the community again she
once more ran away, this time taking some of her employer's
articles with her. Placed once more, she absconded with $20
and a siutcase full of clothes and escaped detection for two
months. She was found to be three months pregnant and
gave birth to a girl who died when four months old from causes
that seemed purely accidental. The girl was returned to an
institution, and when one more attempt was made to place her
in the community, she ran away again and has not been located
since. One notes here a marked instability maintaining itself
throughout adolescence.

This girl was grossly immoral before her commitment at the
age of 14 and continually obsessed by a desire for men, being
immoral whenever the occasion presented itself. When a run-
away at 17 she met a man in a house of prostitution, who told
her it was no place for her and took her to live with him. She

174

THE UNMARRIED MOTHER

became pregnant by him, although she admits intercourae |

with any number of men.

Case No. 38. Causative factors ; (a) Bad Home Condi-
tions: Parents dead. Children all placed by state, {b)
Bad Com-panioaa: Associated with bad group when placed.
Ran away, (c) Mentality: Probable " Adole.scent In-
stability." Ranawayfrequently and was immoral. Stole.
Sex + + + . Age 18.

Husband Deserted. In those cases where a woman has
been married, one finds the desertion of her hu.sband to have
been of such importance in determining her later life that it
is frequently connected with her giving birth to an illegitimate
child. Undoubtedly the situation is usually not simply that
of the desertion by the husband, and is often complicated
by inherent mental and moral weaknesses on the part of the
woman in question, but we have here again one of those un-
fortunate situations in which a woman who has been accustomed
to the sexual life attendant upon marriage finds herself deprived
of a husband and yet not able to remarry. The very natural
result of such a condition ia often illicit sex intercourse, resulting
in pregnancy. Again it may be said that many a woman who
is deserted by her husband devotes her.self in a roost self-
sacriGcing spirit to the welfare of her children alone, but such
a situation is manifestly abnormal for the young woman whose
ses nature has been aroused by married life.

Here follows a case in illustration of the condition in which
the desertion of the husband seems to have been the mun
factor in causing the woman to give birth to an illegitimate
child.

Case 39. In this case a woman of American pareotagei
upon being deserted by her husband, gave birth to an illegitimate
child at the age of 33. She appears to be distinctly normal in
intelhgence and in good physical condition. Her father seeroa
to have been indiistrioux and capable, and her mother, who
suffers from heart trouble, is sympathetic. The fraternity
includes two brothers and a sister whose history is negative.

The home atmosphere in which this woman grew up seems to
have been one of refinement and comfort. The parents are

BAD HOME CONDITIONS

I evidently in good financial standing and did all they could to
help their daughter in her predicament. This woman, who
went through high school, had no particular training which
would enable her to support herself, and consequently became
a ticket seller on the elevated railway. This occupation, how-
ever, did not take place until the family had had some financial
» reverses, and they succeeded in keeping their daughter at home
throughout her youth. At the age of 84 this woman married
a man who was alcoholic and abusive, by whom she had two
children, and who deserted her when she was 30 years of age-
She then began to work in a drug store and to associate with a
saleswoman who had been married, and who was at the time
keeping a young Jew in her apartment and receiving calls from
many men. As a result of her association with this woman, we
find that the woman under consideration began to frequent
cafes and hotels with various men. In appearance she is
taU, stylishly dressed, with a bold manner, and shows herself

t to be a glib talker. She was unwilling to give much informa-
tion about herself.
According to this woman's mother, her abuse by her husband
was the cause of her condition. She soon found that it was
impossible for her to accept the attentions of men without
giving something in return, and the result was that the double
attraction of gay caf4 life and sexual indulgence proved too
much for her. After the birth of her child, one hears of her
being asked to vacate an apartment because of the frequency
with which she entertained men in her room. Nothing b
known of the father of this woman's child, who was a traveling
salesman, a married man. The child is at present being boarded
by its mother.

Case No. 39. Causative factors : (a) Bad Home Condi-

Itions: Married woman abused and deserted by husband.
(b) Bad Companiona: Intimate with immoral woman
friend, (c) Bad Environment: Employed in place where
she met father of her child. Sex ++- Age 33.
Husband Dead. Less important in its Infiuence upon sexual
irregularity and consequent pregnancy is the fact of the hus-
band's death, for the evident reason that it is always possible
for such a woman to marry again if the opportunity exists.
There are instances, however, in which the situation of the
married woman without a husband is somewhat analogous to
that of the young girl, and in many ways more diiEcult. The

176 THE UNMARRIED MOTHER

thsfl

preceding paragraph has drawn attention to the fact
several years of married life make it difficult for a woman to
contented without many of those intimacies which are ordinarily
to be foimd within marriage, and for this reason a married
woman may be more susceptible to masculine approach.
There is frequently absent from the mind of a married woman
the feeling that a sex act after marriage is as important, con-
sidered ethically, as one occurring before. Whether it b*
because the woman who has never been married is anxious to
preserve her physical virginity in her desire to go into marriage
without the evidence of deSoration, or whether there is in the
mind of such a woman a natural desire for continence, there is
no gainsaying the fact that it is an attitude of mind which the
married woman frequently does not possess. Very often one
finds married women who look upon sexual intercourse from an
entirely different point of view, once Uiey have lost their physical
virginity, a point of view which may be partially due to the
fact that many of them have accustomed themselves to the
of contraceptive methods and therefore have partially dis^J
associated the thought of the sex act from its consequences.

The married woman whose husband has deserted her or ia
dead is thus in a particularly precarious situation, one which the
following case should illustrate.

Case 40. This is an instance of an English widow of 36 who
was left with her three children to support. Several years
after the death of her husband she had two children by a negro.
Her lack of race prejudice and her attitude toward this man
are interesting, and may be accounted for by her foreign point
of view.as she had never seenanegro until she came to America.

This woman was born in England and came to the United
States twelve years ago and worked out as a domestic. Her
family lived on a large farm and had a'comfortable home. Her
father, an iron molder. had worked for forty years in the same
foundry and was able to provide well for his family. There
were ten children, nine of whom lived to jirow up. Her father
was ambitious for his children and sent several of them to the
[Ktlytechnic school. This woman went through the seventh
grade. In appearance she was a strong, stocky woman and
appeared to be intelligent. Two years after she came to Una

BAD HOME CONDITIONS 177

coitntry she married lier husband, a mulatto, who had been a
coachman for a family for 15 years. This was a forced marriage.
After her husband's death, the fraternal order to which he
belonged took up a collection, and the alleged father brought the
money to her home. He was a negro 55 years old, a bricklayer
by trade, and gave music lessons at odd times. He attended
one of the leading institutions of music and conducted several
church choirs. He had evidently hved harmoniously with his
wife, a high-grade colored woman. When the alleged father
first visited this woman, he helped her about the home repairs,
and after a short time they became sexually intimate. After
the birth of the first child she felt that she was friendless and so
turned to the father again aa the only one who would have any
sympathy for her, and consequently a child was born two
years later. When they realized that another child was coming,
they decided that they could not keep it. Therefore this man
made a bargain with her that he should pay a hundred dollars
for the child and would then induce his wife to adopt it as a
foundling. During the pregnancy he paid her $80 on the bill,
and after the birth explained the project to his nife ; later he
appeared at this woman's house with a blanket for the child's
transfer. Her attachment for the cliild proved to be too
strong, and she refused to part with it. Several times the father
convinced her of the desirability of the plan, but each time he
returned to his wife with the empty blanket. After these
unsuccessful attempts, the wife became suspicious, and finally
learned the whereabouts of this woman's home. She visited her,
and though realizing that she had two illegitimate children,
did not at this time appreciate that her husband was responsible,
A subsequent visit disclosed the real situation, and she magnani-
mously volunteered to take the two children into her own home,
stating that she did not object to her husband's bringing the
children home, but that " she certainty did not like the way he
got them." A year later the charitable society which was
supervising the children reported that this wife cored for them
aa if they were her own. and that they were developing into
robust children. As far as known, the intimacy between this
woman and the alleged father was broken off after this dis-
closure.

Case No. 40. Causative factors r (a) Bad Home Condi-
tUma: Husband dead. Woman dependent on outside
help. Colored man assisted her. Sex -|~- Age 34.

CHAPTER Vm

Eablt Sex Experience
General cx)iisideratioii — Sex experience by suggestion a

General Consideration. Although it has not seemed justi-
fiable to consider early sex experience of any sort to be the main
causative factor in the life of an individual in this study, one
reaches the conclusion that a misfortune of this kind ranks aa
of almost equal importance with any other in the life of the girl.
Doctor Healy has drawn attention to the fact that such experi-
ences often leave " an ineradicable stain", and that the men-
tal content of the individual is thus forever poisoned. Com-
menting on the statement that such a seed must have fallen
on fallow ground in order that it might produce such a per-
manent result, he states that almost all people possess a sus-
ceptibility which would have caused them to develop in a
similar manner, had they been exposed to the same pernicious
mBuence. Speaking of the degrading effect of immoral prac-
tices existing in the home, he says, " There seems to be little
reason for the individual pursuing any paths of rectitude,
when the most intimate relations of life are morally awry." '

Sez Experience by Suggestion or Contact. This study con-
tains instances in which sexual intercourse began at the age
of nine, and numerous cases in which it began between nine
and 14, and it may be stated that there are not included in
this chapter any experiences which may have occurred later
than the girl's fourteenth year. There are a few cases in which
a girl has been sexually promiscuous before 14, Not of least
importance in this section is the influence of older people on
> Healf. William, op eit.. p. 410.

tiie girl in question, for although it is hard to agree with the
popular attitude which looks upon the young girl who becomes
an unmarried mother as invariably the prey of some older and
designing male, one reaches the conclusion that a small per-
centage have been led into immoral practices before the age
of Ifi by some older individual, although this individual is
Hot always a member of the opposite sex.

This study contains nine cases in which the girl was intro-
duced into illicit sexual relations before the age of 15 by a par-
ent or some other relative, an experience which requires little
comment in regard to its influence on a girl's later develop-
ment. Undoubtedly an initiation of this kind normally pro-
duces such an antipathy towards anything possessing a sexual
connotation that there is danger that the individual may never
regain that mental poise necessary for a proper evaluation of
the place of this fimction in life. The mental imagery con-
jured up by such early practices, even when they are not
connected with incestuous relationships, is intensified by the
faet that they soon become habitual. There is little room in
the mind of an adolescent girl for those Ideas, practical and
unromantic, which are necessary if her mental background is
not to be one of continuous sexual stimulation.

Such is the result in instances where an early sex experience
has colored the thought of an individual whose powers of con-
trol are not yet strong enough to prevent such an experience
from absorbing the whole field of consciousness. There are
two cases in which excessive masturbation appeared to exist to
a degree worthy of notice, although one should ordinarily be
careful about regarding it as a causative factor. The con-
sensus of opinion seems to be that it is much more frequently
the accompaniment of a mental defect or of a lack of self-con-
trol than the cause of either. Its influence on girb in par-
ticular is relatively slight, not l>ecause of its infrequency, but
chiefly because there has never been a campaign waged against
the practice among them. Possibly It has seemed indelicate
to discuss such a subject with girls, No matter for what
leasoD this may have been, the results of this absence of teach-

ing among girls h&s been beneficial, and women have thus been
deprived of the chief bad effect of masturbation. This comes
from a weakening of the will, and from the fear caused by the
erroneous belief that this habit condemns the individual to
insanity or a neurosis.

As usual in those cases in which the cause under discussion
does not enter as a major factor, the cases illustrative of the
conditions which we have been discussing in this paragraph
will be found distributed through the various chapters of this
book.

CHAPTER IX

Heheditt
General conaidcrat ion-— -Insufficient data.

General Consideration. Important as is the study of the
I heredity of various individuals forming a group of delinquents,
it is yet the least conclusive section of this investigation.
Many of the records which have been studied possess little or
no information on the question of heredity, and even the data
which can be found is frequently vague and not open to verifi-
Lcation. The result has been that in every ease where it has
|<})een possible, all of the information which could be gained on
the subject of the ancestry of the individual under consideration
has been noted, with the intention of submitting it as a single
descriptive factor in an attempt to portray the mental and
physical state of the girl or young woman in question. Never
has it been found justifiable to consider heredity as a major
factor, although there are cases in which a fairly full history
of the inlieritance is given.

Insufficient Data. The limitations of a study of this kind
are so obvious that it has been felt wise to place heredity last
among the minor factors in nearly all of the cases where the
data has been sufficient to warrant any conclusions whatever.
Not only on account of a paucity of material, however, has it
been difficult to attribute to heredity a prime position as a
determinant of action, but also because of the relatively un-
settled state of mind among scientists themselves in regard to
the comparative influence of heredity and environment upon
human action. Eugenists cannot yet speak with precision.
The temptation to consider a girl's sexual behavior as being
181

18!

THE UNMARRIED MOTHER

due to tlie fact that her father and mother were both sexually
immoral has thus been avoided, and it has been consistently
kept in mind that environmental influences alone may have
been operative.

The transmission of ethical qualities or the lack of ethical
qualities by biological means is generally discounted, the
majority of such traits being absorbed through the social
environment in which the child grows up, which of course re-
moves it from the realm of biologj'. One notes a tendency on
the part of some social workers to solve the complexities of
human motivation by the easy method of throwing the re-
sponsibility upon the ancestors, and the result is often fallacious
reasoning, resulting as it does in assumptions for which there is
no real scientific foundation. A trait in an ancestor may have
had no influence whatever upon the individual under con-
sideration, no matter how definite one feels such a trait should
have been, as a cause of certain behavior in the offspring.

There have been placed under the head of heredity, on th«
causative factor cards, many of those traits — physical and
mental — which are ordinarily looked upon as possibly trans-
mittable. The information upon which this is done is ad-
mittedly meager. It is hoped, however, that the material in-
dicated in the various cases may be sufficiently descriptive to
lead to a more detailed study of the influence of heredity upon
those girls and young women who become unmarried mothers
— an influence whose importance no student can deny.

The cases in which heredity operates as a minor factor will
be found distributed under their appropriate heads throughout
the various chapters.

CHAPTER X

Abnorhai. Physical Conditions

(Ceneral statement — CoDditions causing weakness or irritation —
Epilepsy — Probable epilepsy — Tubercular and cancerous hip.

General Statement. According to Healy, abnormal devel-
opmental conditions and their consequent physical resiJts
" are to be regarded as causes of delinquency only inasmucli
Bs they do produce discoverable effects or peculiarities ; they
can never be in any way regarded as directly responsible for
delinquency. From this it may easily be seen why, although
we would not in any way undervalue this group of causes, in
our classification such antecedents never emerged as major
factors." This author states that the old age of the father at
the time of conception, for instance, should not be considered
as having any relationship to delinquency unless the offspring
is mentally or physically inferior.

Referring to the bodily characteristics of criminals taken as
a class, Healy holds that we should expect them to show anom-
alies of brain and skull, and says that " the large, well sub-
stantiated correlations that should at once be grasped by the
student of criminalistic genetics, are first, that the mentally
weak readily become members of the chronic offender class,
and second, that innate mental weakness is very often ac-
companied by signs of physical defect or anomaly." The gist
of the matter, he feels, is expressed by Goring (" The English
b Convict, A Statistical Study", page 370), who says, "The
r physical and mental constitution of both criminal and law-
I abiding persons, of the same age, stature, class and intelligence,
B identical." '

* Bealy, William, op. eit.. p. 211 jf.

184 THE UNMARRIED MOTHER

Conditions Causing Weakness or Irritation. The pbysical
conditions most directly concerned with delinquency may be
divided into two classes, those which cause weakness and
those which cause irritation, both of these having a direct
effect upoa the beliavior of a girl or young woman under con-
sideration. Any physical condition which weakens the bodily
functioning at the same time weakens the powers of resist-
ance to suggestion, and renders the individual more subject
to influence from both without and within. Those con-
ditions which cause irritation produce an identical effect by
different methods, causing the individual to manifest traits
of character which therapeutic treatment frequently removes.
It is not the intention of this study to go into the various ab-
normal physical conditions which have been included as minor
factors in the histories of those girls and young women who
have become unmarried mothers. A detailed analysis of the
effect of such conditions upon delinquency may be found in
many standard works.

Although the physical condition of the girl or young woman
has been considered a prime causative factor in only six cases,
various physical abnormalities have yet been enumerated aa
minor causative factors in 102 cases, with the conviction that
a more thorough examination would have revealed the fact
that some abnormality, whether antenatal, natal, or developH
mentul, existed in even a larger number. It is evident that
some of these 102 abnormalities are found in the same individual,
so that it is not implied that 102 individuals were suffering from
some physical abnormality which was considered of sufficient
importance to be listed as a causative factor.

Most of the conditions which have been enumerated in the
appendix on " Statistics " fall obviously into a group that haa
been thoroughly discussed by many writers, and their effect
is so evident as to require no comment here. The effect of
congenital syphilis, for instance, on the offspring as a cause of
general debility i."? too well known to require citations on the
matter, and a similar situation exists when any extremely bad
antenatal conditions are involved. Under the subdivisioD

ABNORMAL PHYSIC^VL CONDITIONS

Ide&ling with those coaditions which are traceable to the natal
period, it becomes evident that premature birth may be the
cause of poor general development. Under the head of de-
velopmental conditions, the influence of general poor physical
condition, delayed adolescence, and general overdevelopment,
may be quickly apprehended.

A word may be said on the subject of premature puberty as
indicative of the onset of physical changes before a correspond-
ing mental development has been reached, which thus exposes
the girl in question to unusual temptation. According to
Englemann, the age of first menstruation in America is 14,
which is earlier than the average in Europe.' This author claims
that in the majority of cases, the age of first menstruation falls
at the age of 14 years, so that one may safely regard puberty
beginning at 12 years or earlier as an unusual phenomenon,
and as Healy says, " likely to throw considerable stress socially
Upon the girl." * Of course general physical overdevelopment
is often accompanied by a corresponding overdevelopment of
sex characteristics, so that it is frequently difficult to evaluate
the importance of general overdevelopment alone.* One may
state, however, that in many instances of early sex experience,
the girl in question was physically beyond the normal develop-
ment for her age. When accompanied by an overdevelopment
»of the sex characteristics, this general physical overdevelopment
becomes directly connected with delinquency. By general sex
characteristics may be understood marked overdevelopment
for the age of the ordinary signs of female maturity, particu-
larly enlargement of the hips and bust, and general rounding
of the figiu^. Well de\'eloped young women are prone to have
an umisual amount of sex feeling and sex consciousness, being
for just that reason especially attractive to men.

Under the head of the physical conditions to be found in
later adolescence and adult life, it has not seemed necessary to
comment upon the effect of defective vision and hearing upon
the individual, upon the general debilitating influence of

EngletoanD, G. J : Neic York Medical Jovmal, February 8 and 15, 190!,
Hedy, WilUam. op. cit.. p. «37. ' Ue*ly. WiUiam, op. cii., p. MB.

ISe THE UNMABRIED MOTHER

aDemia and tuberculosis, or oa the various specific abnormali-
ties like spinal curvature and enlarged thyroid, all of which
entered as causative factors in the various cases. Attention
should be drawn, however, to a case in which the girl who be-
came an unmarried mother was totally blind, and to one in
which the girl was a deaf mute. Naturally these physical
abnormalities are minor factors in histories in which some other
major factor has been operative. The influence of such phys-
ical condition upon the behavior of girls and young women will
be brought out in proper perspective in many of those c
in which the main factor has been some unfortunate mental
or environmental situation.

Epilepsy. So important is epilepsy in antisocial behavior
that it has been considered to be the main factor involved in
the pregnancy of the girl or woman in question in five cases.
In the description of the disease itself we refer to Healy. who
considers epilepsy to be of great importance in delinquency.
According to him " the epilepsies " may be divided into : *

a. Major epilepsy. "Grand mal." Attacks iu which motor CO-
ordinatioD is lost, the patient falla, and there is always unconsciou

b. Minor epilepsy. "Petit maJ." In attacks of this nature,
consciousness may not be entirely lost, ajid while there is some m
lar involvemeDt, it may not amount to jerking or falling. There may
be merely sudden inability to move, with clouding of consciousness fur

e. Psychic epilepsy. This is a mental attack leaving the motor
functions undisturbed. There is a sudden temporary loss of the higher
consciousness, of complete apperc-eptinn, with a pathological loss of
memory. These seizures may lust for& few seconds or for hours, and
even days.

d. Jarksonian or partial epilepsy. Consists in spasms of oi
of muscles or of one part of the body. Often with this there is no dis-
turbance of the consciousness.

In addition to this should be mentioned epileptic equivalents
or curious psychophysical phenomena due to parox>'smaI dis-
turbances of various nerve centers. Attacks of violent temper
' Healy, William, op. cit., p. ilSff.

»ABNORM.\L PHYSICAL CONDITIONS 187

may be epileptic equivalents. Doctor Healy slates that seven
per cect of his one thousand cases are known to be definitely
epileptic, but acknowledges that be has not entered at all
" into the well-founded modem contentions as to what really
constitutes the disease. . . . We may say, in general, that we
have called those individuals epileptic who have had convulsive
attacks beyond the period of infantile convulsion, or when
there has been first-rate evidence of oceuireace of attacks of
minor epilepsy. We have also included cases where spasms
or convulsions were exceedingly frequent during infancy or
early childhood, even if they disappeared later." '
Here follow several illustrative cases.

Case 41. We have here the case of a woman of Si,
mentally abnormal and suffering from epilepsy, who gave birth
to an illegitimate child. Her father, who was born in Ireland,
was temperate and a steady worker, although he never earned
more than $9 a week. The mother died four years ago in Ire-
land of tuberculosis. The fraternity includes a sister with
hip disease, an intemperate brother with a court record, another
with a court record, a sister subject to fainting spells, one who
keeps a kitchen barroom, one who is married, and a brother
against whom nothing is known.

This girl lives with her aunt in an extremely good home in
the best part of a suburban town, nnth a large stable and fine
grounds, as well as an automobile. Her father owns a small
bouse which he rents. The family in general have a bad name
in the community, giving the impression that they are better
off than they have a right to. when as a matter of fact the
aunt's income is not more than 8600 a year. This young
woman, who has always been irritable and has quarreled mu(£
with her aunt, has always been well watched, rarely ever being
out on the street, and associating only with reputable people.
She seemed to take her pregnancy Ughtly. ridiculing the prosti-
tutes who were awaiting confinement with her in the hospital
and feeling humiliated when they responded with similar
remarks. During her labor she used aU sorts of vile oaths, and
was extremely abusive to the doctors. She had been treated
for epilepsy for fifteen or twenty years, having one or two
convulsions a day, their severity increasing since pregnancy.
[ These attacks lasted from a few minutes to fifteen nunutes,
' Healy. niUiam, op. dt., p. 417,

188 THE UNMAKRIED MOTHER

and at times she had as many as six or seven in one day. The
physician recommended her commitment to an epileptic colony.
The man who was responsible for this woman's pregnancy
was married, and his wife was in an insane asylum ; he was a
painter earning $3.50 a day, lived with a sister, and was given
to drink. The woman says that she met this man through
a friend of the family about four years ago, and that he has
been coming to see her twice a week for the past year; she
says that she had heard the rumor of his being married, but did
not believe it until he deserted her. She admits having had
intercourse with him very often, and says that he is the first
man with whom she was ever immoral. At present she expresses
no emotion towards him and does not blame him any more than
herself ; she says that he was so familiar with her person that she
desired intercourse as much as he did. This woman and her child
returned to their home, the child being finally placed at board.
Case No. 41. Causative factors : (a) Physical: Epilepsy.
(b) Mentality: Epileptic mentality, (c) Bad Home Con-
ditions: Alcoholic brothers in the home. Inmioral sisters.
Sex +. Age 32.

Case 4a. We have here the case of an epileptic girl, showing
an accompanying mental abnormality, who died as the result
of an abortion, at 20 years of age. This girl's father has not
worked for years, as the result of a fall. The fraternity in-
cludes a brother against whom nothing is known, and two sis-
ters, one of whom had an abortion.

The whole family seemed to be tremendously surprised at
the girl's condition, excepting the father, who never knew the
cause of her death. They seem to have cared more about the
chances of disgrace than tlie fact of her pregnancy itself. The
girl, whose menstrual periods never established themselves
regularly, was deaf and subject to epileptic attacks. Her
death was the result of an abortion self-induced by the use of
a catheter; she was too ashamed to go to a physician and
was transferred to a hospital from a relief station, where she
died in a condition described as " septic through and through."
This girl had been frequently immoral with a married maB
to whom she became attached. She said : " I hope God will
forgive me, as my poor heart is broke."

Case No. 49. Causative factors: (a) Physical: Epi-
lepsy. Died after an abortion, (b) Bad Home Condi-
tions: Insiifficirnt control. No sympathy, (c) Mental'
ity: Epileptic mentality. Sex +. Age Hi.

ABNORMAL PHYSICAL CONDITIONS 189

Probable EpUeps;. Under this head may be cited caaes
in which spasms or convulsions were exceedingly frequent
during infancy or early childhood, even if they disappeared
later. The following is a case which may weU be added here.

Case 43. Among those cases in which the epilepsy of the
relatives and the physical condition of the girl in question in-
dicate the probable existence of epilepsy, there is that of this
girl of Nova Scotian parentage, who gave birth to an illegiti-
mate child when 16 years of age. Her parents married in
Nova Scotia some twenty-five years ago, it being impossible
to verify the record; the girl's father had been a carpenter,
sober and indiistrious, who died of tuberculosis. Her mother,
on the other hand, appears to be coarse and ignorant, as well
as untrustworthy, various rumors being circulated about her
and a boarder, who is her husband's stepbrother. H^ conver-
sation and behavior are described as " shameful ", and she is
given to fits of temper. In regard to her relatives, it appears
that thb woman's brother was alcoholic, her mother tubercu-
lar, and her sister of questionable reputation, later exerting an
unfortunate influence on the girl in question. The maternal
cousins of this girl are epileptic. The fraternity includes a
sister of 23, who married a worthless individual when she was
16. later securing a divorce, whose reputation is hy no means
good. She is capable of earning from $li to 814 a week in a
shoe factory, and is considered an epileptic. There is another
sister of 21, who ran away from home at 16. married and left
her husband, giving birth to an illegitimate child by her em-
ployer before disappearing. A brother of 20. who went to the
seventh grade in school, bears a good reputation, and there is
a brother of 17 with a court record for breaking and entering,
who ran away, but seems to be doing weU somewhere in the
West. One of this woman's infants died at the age of fifteen
days, and another was stiUborn.

One of the bad influences operative in the life of this girl
was due to the fact that her family, who came to this country
when she was six years old, persisted in moving back and forth
between their place of abode and Canada. We find no influence
of any conflict due to various languages in the home, but the
situation was somewhat complicated by the presence of an in-
temperate boarder, who lived with the family from the time
that this girl was 11 until her commitment to an organization
giving institutional care. The girl's mother, however, shows
evidence of unfitness for control and supervision, being given

190

THE UNMAERIED MOTHER

to frequent attacks of temper, during whicJi she tears her
dBUghter's clothes, and behaves in a manner not calculated to
inspire her either with respect or obedience. The family oc-
cupies the lower flat in a five-tenement hou^, with no im-
provements, and a cellar toilet — the rooms, however, being
clean and well-fumislied — for which they pay $14 a month,
the boarder referred to contributing $6. In former years we
note that the Overseers of the Poor had found it necessary to
aid this family because of illness. Unfortunately, the girl
whom we are considering had no room for herself, and waa
forced to sleep either in the dining room or in her mother's
room, which opened off that of the intemperate hoarder-
There has been no psychological examination in this case,
and all that is known is that the girl in question appeared to
many to be subnormal, and to be possessed of an ungovernable
temper, coupled with extreme suggestibility. Her father was
36 and her mother 24, at the time of her conception, her
prenatal history being negative, and her birth normal. There
was no physicianMn attendance, and the child, which weighed
twelve pounds at birth, and seemed healthy and strong, was
weaned at the age of 18 months. During childhood she ex-
perienced the ordinary children's diseases, such as mumps,
measles, whooping cough, and chickenpox before the age of 10.
At 9 she was badly frightened, and began to have convulsions
which occurred at the time of her menstrual periods, decreasing
as she grew older. As a child she refused to eat regularly,
frequently subsisting on a cup of coffee for breakfast, suffering
at this time from frequent toothache. Her menstrual periods
estabhshed themselves at the age of 12. These convulsions
to which we have referred were accompanied by a feeling of
dizziness, with pain on her left side from her knee to her shoij-
der, followed by falling. During such attacks her face became
highly colored, her puJse was 70. hut she experienced no froth-
ing at the mouth. These attacks lasted sometimes for six
minutes, during which tlie girl kicked and swung her arms
■about. At the age of 9 she de^'eIoped an extreme temper.
These attacks seem to have improved with increasing age,
And we note the fact that she has not experienced any since her
confinement. This girl attended school until 14 years old,
and was dismissed when in the seventh grade in order that she
might go to work. Her attendance was irregular, and she took
no interest in anything that was good, being restless and im-
pudent in class, and much given lo the writing of obscene not«a
to boys. Her best grades were obtained in reading and music.

ABNOftMAL PHYSICAL CONDITIONS

101

»Biid her lowest in arithmetic. She repeated grades six and
seven, and was considered " deficient mentally and morally ",
the teachers being pleased over her departure because of the
bad influence she exerted. At about this time we note that
this girl begun to seek the company of bad associates, with
whom she attended the motion-picture theaters, went canoe-
ing, being found on two or three occasions with a man at four
o'clock in the morning, and frequented dance halls where the
girls were often under the influence of liquor. It was impossible
for her mother to exert much control over her, had such been
her intention, owing to the fact that daring her father's illness
it became necessary for her to work out by the day. The re-
sult was that the girl in question became ac(^uainted with all
of the undesirable girls and boys of the neighborhood, and
went with them at will. She was frequently seen talking with
boys in alleyways at night, and her most intimate friends
were a girl who had had three illegitimate children, and another
^L who was sent to the reformatoiy for women. There is evi-
^1 dence of the fact that this girl was possessed of real musical
^V talent, being capable of playing almost any simple piece of
music by ear, performing well on the harmonica, and having
a. voice of imusual capacity, as a result of which she was de-
sirous of going on the stage. After leaving school when a
little over 14 years of age this girl worked in a candy factory
for three weeks, for a wage of $4 a week, but proved herself
slow, and was discharged. She was employed in another fac-
tory for two months, at $4.50 a week, but the company failed,
and she thereupon secured work in a carpet factory at 86.
After this she did housework, and her employer states that she
was satisfactory but a great liar, having told her that she had
just arrived from the West. Later she left without notice.
This girl's behavior grew worse until, beginning by being in-
corrigible at the age of 10, she came under the eye of the police,
frequently slandering the officer who reported her to her mother.
At this time she developed an insane temper, " throwing things
aroimd the house ", being out every evening, and stealing money
from her family and clothes from her sister. She threatened
to kill any one who reproved her, and twice attempted to com-
mit suicide. We have noted the fact that she ran away from
home and was gone for a month without letting her family
know of her whereabouts, during which time she stole various
things from her employer. When arrested she was absolutely
unconcerned, and after pleading guilty to the charge of lar-
ceny, was committed to an organization giving institutional

192

THE UNMARRIED MOTHER

care. When seotenced she had a fit in court, rolling around
on the floor and screaming. It was foiind that she waa preg-
nant at this time. After three months and eighteen days of
institutional care, this girl, who was suffering from gonorrhcea*
was scut to a hospital to await her confinement, during which
time she spoke proudly of her condition, and gave evidence
of no shame whatever. After her confinement ^e stated that
she bad learned her lesson, and we note some improvement in
her behavior. Soon after the birth of her child she was rein-
stated into the community, at housework, her employer stat-
ing that she waa capable and good-natured, but that she had a
tendency to neglect her work.

At 6rst this girl stated that on one occasion, on her way
home from a wedding, a young man gave her some marshmal-
tows, which she is sure must have been drugged, because she
became unconscious, during which time she supposed that the
young man had intercourse with her. She was ill for three
days thereafter, and lie wrote stating that he was sorry that he
had " nuned her ", since which time she had not seen him.
The truth of the matter is that she had been accustomed to
go with a man to a room, where she had frequent intercourse.
While at housework, this girl wrote various suggestive notes to
yoimg men of her acquaintance, although we are unaware of
any sexual delinquency on her part since the birth of her child.
There is evidence, however, that this may be due to the fact
that she is busily engaged in earing for her child and in sufH
porting herself, and that under different conditions there ia
little doubt but that she would soon become pregnant again,
The man responsible for the birth of this seven-poimd child
was an American, who wrote several times, stating that he was
married but divorced, and who later disappeared. Nothing
has been done towards securing supixirt, and the mother and
child are now in a wage home.

Case No. 4S. Causative factors: (a) Physical: Prob-
able epilepsy. (b) Mentality: Incorrigible since 10.
Great temper, (c) Had IJome Conditions: Father dead.
Mother works out. Sister had illegitimate child. Brother
has court record. Frequent mo\-ing. Overcrowding. No
control, (rf) Bad Companions: Low dances and caffs.
(r) Heredity: Father tubercular. Maternal grandmother
tubercular. Mother's cousin epileptic. Mother's sister
epileptic. Two children died in early infancy, (f) Early
Sex Experience: Solicits men and boys. Steals. Lies.
Sex ++. Age 16.

I
J

ABNORMAL PHYSICAL CONDITIONS 193

Tubercular and Cancerous Hip. Surprising as it may seem
to put down this physical abnormality as a major factor in a
girl's pregnancy, it is difficult to escape the conclusion that in
the following case the mental attitude of the girl, which de-
termined her behavior, was caused by her deformity. The
same result might, of course, have been produced by any mal-
development which stimulated a state of mind over desirous
of affection and sympathy. It is thus more the fact of her de-
formity than that of a tubercular hip which should be consid-
ered the main causative factor in the case which follows.

Case 44. We have here the case of a deformed girl with a
cancerous hip as well as with a tubercular infection, who be-
cause of her physical handicap was particularly desirous of
sympathy and affection. She gave birth to an illegitimate
child after a Csesarian section, at the age of 21 ; the child
died within a few weeks. There is no record of the parents in
this case, neither of them having manifested any interest in
her. The fraternity includes a married sister and another
who became immoral and was lost sight of.

Of prime importance in this case is the lack of affectionate
care which this girl eicperienced during adolescence. Her
parents were divorced and both remarried, whereupon she went
to live with her father and his wife, but when she became lame
at the age of 12 her stepmother objected to her care, and she
went to live with her mother. Finally she took up her abode
with her married sister, who seems to have taken care of her
as if she had been her own child, but never realizing that this
deformed being could mature and have erotic desires. One
finds that this girl, who had been simple and unassuming all
her life, having learned her lessons at home through her in-
ability to go to school, and spending most of her spare time
in doing embroidery work, gave absolutely no trouble to any
of those who were concerned in her care. So good was her
behavior that it never occurred to them to warn her of the
facts of sex, and it was assumed that she was growing up in
perfect innocence.

It has been said that because of deformity this girl craved
affection and tenderness. She met the father of her child in
a restaurant, and he was the only one with whom she ever be-
came even familiar. He seems to have been a decent sort of
person who was sorry for the girl on account of her deformity.

THE UNMARRIED MOTHER

and who consequently began to visit her in a friendly way.
But the girl seems to have been strongly sexed, and to have
abandoned herself completely to him. The sister of this crip-
ple considered the man to be so honorable that she was anxious
to shield him from disgrace by receiving the money for the
support of the child secretly. The girl herself feels that mater-
nity has brought her a new conception of life.

Case No. 44. Causative factors : (a) Physical Deformity/:

Tubercular and cancerous hip. (6) Bad Environvtent:

Moved about with relatives, who didn*t wish to have her.

Sister immoral, (c) Mentality: Overdesirous of affection,

because of deformity. Sex. Age il.

CHAPTER XI

Sexual Suggestibilitt

General consideration — Moderate suggestibility normal — The sug-
ge§tibk type-
General ConsideratloD. In developing the causative factors
in this study of the unmarried mother, it quickly became evi-
dent that a group existed which would require special definition.
This refers to those girls and women in whose lives no abnormal
mental, physical, or environmental conditions could be found,
but who manifested a marked suggestibility in regard to matters
of sex. In fact a trait of considerable importance in the study
of delinquency is that of undue suggestibility, for which various^
tests have been devised. The behavior of the individual may,
according to Binet, be due to the fact that he has fallen into a
trap through heedlessness and lack of attention, to which
Healy adds that " This is exactly how in social life certain
individuals from empty-headedness or lapses of will receive
criminalistic suggestions. The individual through certain neg-
ative aspects of his mental life is more passive and suggestible
than he might otherwise be." '

Moderate Suggestibility Normal. Healy further holds that
in this whole matter of personal suggestion it should be
remembered that suggestibility within moderate limits is a
perfectly normal quality of mind, and in no way connected
with abnormal mental slates, aside from evidencing what might
be called a mental peculiarity. In commenting further upon
the abnormal suggestibility of the individual, he states that
' Healy, William, op. eii.. p. SS.

IM THE UNMARRIED MOTHER

the question of suggestibility in general has received but little
treatment, with the result that there has not been a sufficient
amount of observation to warrant scientifically certain in-
ferences. That differences exist in various individuals is shown
by the fact that certain persons are " obviously self-possessed I
and self-assertive when suggestion is offered, and that others i
are passively acquiescent." Relatives, he says, frequently
refer to some member of their own family by saying " she can
be very easily led," or " she is altogether too pliable," or " she
will do anything anybody tells her to do " ; whereas the
offender frequently makes a remark like the following, '
told me to," " if I would not go with these boys it would be
all right," " somehow I always do what they say." '

The Suggestible Type. A situation similar to the one which
exists in regard to a suggestibility which is not confined to one
field of action has made itself evident in this study. One is {
constantly impressed by individual girls and young women
of normal mentality and good physique, whose environment
is not such as to warrant its being considered causative of a
life of sexual indulgence, who yet seem susceptible to the ad-
vances of any memt>er of the opposite sex who is physically
attractive to them. Such a girl very frequently finds herself
having had intercourse with various men without Iwing able
to account for her l>ehavior, stating frankly that she felt no last-
ing attachment whatever for them. In one case a girl who had
met a man while waiting for a car in the country consented to
spend the night with him after the acquaintance had progressed
only a few minutes. In another a young man who was much
attached to a girl's mother had intercourse with her daughter
oiler school, for no apparent reason. In this instance there
seems to have been absolutely no development of "tumescence",
as Havehx-k Ellis calls the primary stage in courtship, the
man stating that the girl in question had never made any ad-
vances to him, and she maintaining that he had not approached
her in any way, never having been the least familiar with her.
In the light of what has been learned from other case bistoriesi
■^Ucaly, William, op. eil., p. 097.

SEXUAL SUGGESTIBaiTY

one is forced to the conclusion that certain individuals are pos-
sessed of a quality which makes them particularly susceptible
to sexual approach. Consequently, one may be justified in
considering such an individual to be particularly suggestible
in the sphere of the ses instinct, or " sexually suggestible."

It is hoped that the cases which follow may do much to illus-
trate this group, and to lead to the belief that one is deahng
here with individuals who are justly to be distinguished from
those falling under the heads of the various other chapters.

Case 45. This is the stoty of a young school teacher of 20
who became pregnant by a high-school boy whom she had been
instructing for nearly two years. She had always been con-
sidered a quiet, studious girl, and had led an uneventful life.
Although the realization of her pregnancy was a severe blow
to her parents, yet this girl was depressed only for a short time
by it; then her naturally optimistic nature again dominated
her, and she .was heard to declare : " I shall still be master of
my fate." She showed considerable resolution later in carryuig
out this determination.

She had been brought up in a country town in an excellent
neighborhood. The home was well built and was made com-
fortable with modern conveniences. Her parents held an
excellent reputation in the community and had exerted them-
selves to provide suitable companionship and advantages for
their two daughters. This girl had graduated from high school
and had later taken a two years' course at a norma) school,
where she was considered a good deal above the average as a
student. Since that time she had taught successfully for two
years in the grammar school. She was a fairly attractive girl,
neatly dressed, and mature for her years. She claimed that
she had thought about making a success of life since early child-
hood. In explanation of her optimistic nature, she said tliat
she had always had to wrestle against the natural pessimism
of her parents : in her determination not to be submerged by
their gloomy forebodings she had endeavored to look always
on the bright side. She appeared to have wide interests, and
as soon as her confinement was over, made plans for her future,
which always included provision for her child. She secured
a good position as a teacher without assistance, intending to
take a domestic science course later which would help her to
earn a larger salary. It was interesting to note the strength
of the family pride in Hub case. Through the months of the

THE UNMARRIED MOTHER

pregnancy, the mother forced herself to make preparationB
for taking her daughter through her confinement without the
aid of a physician. The girl taught scliool until the very night
of her labor, and the arrival of the child was kept a secret from
the neighborhood. Later her father hired an automobile to
come from Boston, several hundred miles away, and convey
mother and child to that city, pending the making of a per-
manent plan. The child was then boarded out at the expense
of its mother, and at our last inquiry she was undecided whether
to continue with this burden of support alone or to reveal
the existence of the child to its father, and possibly legitimatize
it by marriage.

According to the girl's story, her eagerness to succeed in
her undertaking of tutoring this young boy of 17 was primarily
responsible for her misfortune. She had found it very difficult
to concentrate his attention upon his studies, and when she
Iwcame aware that he was more interested in her than in his
work, she allowed his first attentions to go unnoticed, hoping
thereby to attain results because of his desire to please her.
It was quite evident that this intimacy grew from this small
beginning. He was a well-developed boy of dictatorial type,
and fairly high in the studies which centered about his business
course. She claims that he always took the initiative. She
did not tell him of her pregnancy, as she wished him to graduate,
bince the birth of the child, he has received his diploma and
undertaken his chosen work. It seemed probable, if she could
gain the consent of her parents to the marriage, that such a
termination might be brought about. Previously they had
strenuously opposed such a union, as they felt that his family
was inferior socially to theirs. Whatever the outcome, un-
doubtedly her attachment for the child should insure a plan
adequate for its support and training.

Case No. 45. Causative factor: (a) Sexucdty Suggest-
ible: School teacher of iO desirous of success in tutoring
boy of 17. Allows him to become intimate. Sex. Age 20.

Case 46. Among the cases of those girls who seem to be
sexuaUy suggestible, one notes this girl of American parentage
who became the mother of an illegitimate child when 17 years
of age. There is no case which can compare with this one in
regard to the lack of ordinary standards, indicated by the fact
that the girl's mother married the young man by whom her
daughter was pregnant, and tliat the three are now li\-ing in
the same house. Little is known of the father of the girl save

I
I

SEXUAL SUGGESTIBILITY

that he 13 dead. The mother, who at the time of her daughter's
pregnancy was only 36 years old, had an extremely unhappy
married life while her husband was alive. She had worked in a
shoe factory for years, and of late had formed a strong attach-
ment for a young man of i8 who seemed to represent her only
happiness. She has been hard working and self-sacrificing
all her life.

The giri in this case, who is of normal mentality, having
graduated from the grammar school, although physicaUy never
robust, is considered a model child, the neighbors envying her
mother such a daughter. She seems, however, to have been
somewhat spoiled and sel6sh, although a great favorite with all
her friends. There is no indication of any waywardness or lack
of obedience on her part. The girl's mother, finding that she
was not as affectionate as usual with her, suspected that some-
thing was wrong, but did not know what it could be until her
health began to fail, and the doctors diagnosed her as pregnant.
As soon as she learned this foot, she seemed imable to sleep or
work, and maintained that everything should be done for the
child with no thought for herself. According to her, " I was
married when I was young — a month afterward I loathed my
husband. I never was happy, and this man (the putative
father) is the only man I ever loved, and we are engaged."

The father of this child has been a friend of the family for
years, and very intimate at the house. The girl in question
was accustomed to return from school nt three o'clock, and
the father called at the house one day, after having looked for
work unsuccessfully, and had intercourse with the girl. The
girl herself claims that she does not care for the father, and that
they never even kissed each other. They had intercourse three
times, the man insisting that the girl was in no way to blame,
ha\'ing never been forward with him or tried to tempt hiro.
He simply cannot account for his reasons for doing such a thing.
The girl, whose objections to marrying the father of her child
did not seem particularly strong at first, later insisted that she
does not want to marry him because of her mother's attach-
ment to him. Finally the three moved to a Western city where
the child was bom, and the girl's mother married the father of
her grandchild, assuming responsibility for the child's support,
and allowing the child's mother to live in the same house with
them.

Case No. 46. Causative factor ; (a) Sexually Suggesti-
ble: Man attached to woman has intercourse with her 17-
year-old daughter. Cannot explun why. Sex. Age 17.

soo

THE UNMARRIED MOTHER

Case 47. In this instance a Jewish girl of English parentage
gave birth to an illegitimate child when 18 years of age. She
seems to have been extremely suggestible and to have fallen
with very little forethought into the intimacy which resulted
in her pregnancy. This girl's father, a cigar maker earning
$13 a week, comes from good stock, although his mother died
of cancer. His wife is nervous and suffers from diabetes. The
fraternity includes three brothers and three sisters, against
whom nothing is known ; the girl herself is the fifth of seven
children.

This family seems to possess a good deal of intelligence, and
to be respectable to tlie extent of being much depressed by
the girl's predicament. When the girl's father learned of her
pregnancy he threatened suicide, and was only quieted after
great effort. Nothing can be said against the physical environ-
ment surrounding this family, for they lived in six rooms in a
fair neighborhood, for which they paid $19 a month in rent,
Nor does there seem to be any particular criticism to be found
with the supervision which was exerted by this girl's mother,
there being no indication that she spent much time on the street
at night, and in fact, the girl seems to have hud no desire for any
sort of amusement which did not meet with the approval of her
rather careful parents. Wefind no evidence of her having been
noticeably interested in boys or men. Physically the girl's his-
tory is negative, with a suspicion that she may be developing a
goiter, and we faid evidence of her being capable and intelligent,
for she enjoyed school, did especially well in arithmetic, and
was only prevented from graduating by the fact that she was
needed to help in the family budget. After leaving school
this girl worked in a department store at $4 a week, and soon
found employment as a tobacco stripper at a wage of $5.50.
During this time she gave evidence of being well behaved and
attractive. A well-marked reticence, noticeable in her, may
be due to the fact that she has been dominated by her family,
and has led a life so circumscribed as to fail to develop qualities
of expression, for we are given to understand that as a yoimg
girl she enjoyed little freedom and few amusements. This girl,
however, possesses a strong feeling of family responsibility,
and is pjirticularly depressed by the thought that she has brought
them trouble and disgrace. She is so sensitive that she cannot
bear to discuss the subject of her pregnancy.

The father of this girl's child, a worthless Gentile, who had
once been a sailor and is now a loafer, was accustomed to pass
the girl's borne frequently, as a result of which she became

SEXUAL SUGGESTIBILITY «01

^H acquainted with him. She soon took walks with him, and it
^B beoame customary for him to drop in to see her after loafing
^M around on the comer with a group of boys in the evening,
^B until on one occasion, after they had been walking together,
^P the girl states that she allowed him to take liberties with her,
^m and that intercourse followed. She is at a loss to know why
she allowed this behavior, and can give no explanation or ex-
cuse, stating that she realized immediately that she had done
wrong, and that she never wished to see him again. She ad-
mitted timidly that she sometimes wishes that she now had
the companionship of a respectable young man, and that she
would rather work hard enough to support her child herself
than to ask its father for help. This girl's family, who it may
be said have never seen the father of her child, are cooperative,
and are at present paying the child's board at a foster home.
Case No. 47. Causative factor: (n) Sexually Sug-
gestible: Intelligent, Good home. Had intercourse with
casual acquaintance. Does not know why. Sex. Age 18,

Case 48. Among those girls who may be considered habitual
■ex offenders, but who are devoid of any feeling or attachment
for the boys or young men with whom they have been intimate,
may be cited this case of a girl of English-Canadian parentage
who gave birth to an illegitimate child at the age of 17. That
ahe is sexually suggestible is indicated by the fact that although
intelligent and possessed of a good environment, she has had
intercourse with boys since she was 14 years of age. Her father
has evidently been industrious and temperate, his wife dying
five years ago at the birth of a child. The fraternity includes
four sisters and a brother, whose history is negative.

This girl was 12 years old when her mother died, and her
father was thereupon faced with the problem of caring for his
five daughters, which he did, with jmor success, with the help
of his mother and various housekeepers whom he employed.
Wlicn the girl in question was 15, he became disgusted with
the household management, and took his daughter out of school
that she might help at home. He showed much alfection for
her, however, and his attitude after the girl's pregnancy was
good, as he expressed himself as hopeful that his daughter's
experience would " fit her better to battle with life's problems."
Physically she appeared to be a well-nourished and well-de-
veloped young woman with good teeth, who is particularly
quick and accurate in the use of her eyes and ears. According
to a psychological examination she is above the average, and it

THE UNMARRIED MOTHER

is possible that her sexual irregularity may have been due lo
the fact that she was particularly responsive to suggestion
because her mental development had not kept pace with her
growth from girlhood into womanhood. This may have been
somewhat due to the lack of a woman's influence in the girl's
life, which might have guided her past the difficulties that of
her own accord she was unable to escape. We note that this
girl, who was fond of motion pictures and of dancing and took
an active part in church aifairs, succeeded in entering the first
year in high school before it became necessary for her to go to
housekeeping. Soon thereafter she became restless at home,
and went to work coloring motion-picture negatives, although
her ambition was to play in an orchestra because she had had
piano and trombone lessons. At about this time she began
to associate with a girl who was immoral, and to acquire an
attitude indicative of a certain dullness in regard to sex matters.
She was not at all upset or embarrassed by her pregnancy, and
looked forward to her visit to a maternity home as an oppior-
tunity for a good rest.

At 17, while pregnant (she was extremely large and well-
develop«l), this girl confessed frankly that she had had inter-
course with schoolboys ever since she was 14, and that she had
continued these practices without intermission up to the time
of her pregnancy. During the month preceding she had had
sexual mtercourse with two young men more often than she
could remember. She also mentioned two others with whoni
she had been formerly immoral, stating that she did not care
much about any of them, although she preferred one or two
to the others. These young men, however, had told her frankly
that they would not marry the best girl living. They were
perfectly aware of her promiscuity, and acknowledged to her
that they too had had intercourse with other girls. The man
most frequently mentioned by this girl was about 24 years of
age, a piano player earning $ii a week, who is to be approached
in regard to the support of the child in the near future. The
girl herself is at present awaiting confinement in a maternity
home, and has of late given evidence of a developing point of
view in regard to her condition.

Case No. 48. Causative factors : (a) Sexualli/ Suggest-
ible: Regularly immoral since 14, with boys for whom she
had no attachment. Intelligent, (b) Bad Home Condi-
(I'lms; Mother dead. No good woman's influence at home,
(c) Bad Companions: Had immoral girl friend, (rf) Early
Sex Experience: Immoral at 14. Sex + + + - Age 17,

CHAPTER XII

Sbxdallt Suggebtible by one Individdal

suggestible by one i

General consideration — Won;
women not promiscuous.

General Coneideratioa. Not only are there individuals
who are generally suggestible, but certain well-marked cases
who are particularly suggestible to the influence of one indi-
vidual. In reference to them Healy states ; " The person ab-
normally suggestible is often so well protected that little of
social significance comes from the fact, unless influence is brought
to bear by some single person so that trouble ensues. In such
a combination it is often a balance between the relative strength
of the person who imposes his own ideas, and the weakness of
the person who succumbs. One can see this just as well at a
shop counter as in criminal affairs. But in still other instances
an individual who does not appear in general society sugges-
tible may very curiously be swayed by some single other per-
son who apparently is the sole individual who has power over
him." And again, " There can be no doubt that in many in-
stances the influence of one person on another rests on a basis
of overt or perhaps even unconscious sex relationship." '

Women Suggestible by One Man. A similar situation has
been found to exist in this study of the unmarried mother,
where frequently individual girls and women have been best
described as " seinially suggestible by one individual." They
represent a group possessed of relatively good environment,
are ordinarily physically and mentally normal, who yet seem
> Healy. William, op. cii., p. 7M.

204

THE UNMARRIED MOTHER

to have been dominated by some one individual with whom
they have consequently assumed a basis of sexual intimacy
continuing over a considerable period of time. Such a girl or
woman may live with a man for years and bear him children,
their rehitionshlp being one in which each is faithful to the
other, and one which differs from a married state only in the
fact that there has been no legal ceremony. Similarly there
are instances where girls and women have seemed to possess
absolutely no capacity for resisting the sexual advances of
certain men. In one case a married woman eloped with a
man with whom she lived for months, later returning to her
husband, only to leave him again for the man referred to.
She stated that she would live with this man whenever he
wanted her to, no matter how greatly he abused her. It is
worthy of comment that in such instances the question of
promiscuity on the part of the woman or the man rarely ever
enters, and that the relationship which ensues is frequently
productive of much that is to be distinguished from the or-
dinary accompaniment of immorality.

Such Women Not Promiscuous. It may he said that every
normal woman should be sexually suggestible by one individual,
and there appears to be a reflection of this belief in that large
number of cases in which unmarried girls and women who
have been looking forward to marriage with the man in ques-
tion, have become sexually intimate with him, with the result
that he has either di-sappcared or refused to marry them after
their pregnancy. In such an instance it apiwars that the
indixHdual'a state of sexual stimulation has overcome her
hibitions with the evident result. There is. however, a dis-
tinction between such a girl or woman and one who is pro-
miscuous, owing to the fact that such women are by no means
sexually suggestible, save by that individual for whom they
have formed an attachment. The cases which have been
placed under this head may he looked upon as manifesting
qualities which are in themselves perfectly normal and desi
able, the fault lying in the circumstance of their eitpression.

Just as in the former chapter it has been felt wise to narrow

I
I

SEXUALLY SUGGESTIBLE BY ONE

905

the field of suggestibility to the sphere of the sex instinct,
using the term in its broadest sense, so in this chapter certain
giris and women have been described as being " sexually sug-
gestible by one individual."

The cases which follow should serve to clarify this classifica-
tion, and to make evident the various instances in which this
causative factor has appeared to be operative.

Case 40. This American woman of 29 came from a well-
educated family, and for the last five years has lived in a large
city, pursuing a course of study at a well-known institution,
later teaching in her chosen vocation. While thus separated
from the influence of her family, she became infatuated with an
Italian barber of good family, and upon her mother's refusal
to allow a marriage, consented to an illicit relationship which
terminated in her pregnancy. Unquestionably these yoimg
people were attached to one another, and throughout their
experiences manifested an absolute trust in each other. They
married when their child was seven months old.

The woman's father had died seven years ago, leaving suf-
ficient property to enable his wife and two grown children to
live comfortably, the mother spending most of her time in the
West. When this woman was S4 she came East and entered
a training school of good repute, and after graduating, became
a teacher in a settlement house in one of our smaller cities.
This was the report received from the director of that school.
*' She was a quiet, well-conducted girl, and came of an excel-
lent family. I held a high opinion of her mother, who was a,
woman of refinement and intelligence. She was a girl who
liked a good time, but not too good. I understand that she
did well while teaching." Her friends were students and
teachers who possessed good standards and were entirely rep-
utable.

While teaching at the settlement house, the alleged father,
a high-^adc Italian, a man of extreme moods, became one of
her pupils in English. They became interested in each other,
and he called to see her frequently, often taking her to the opera.
Soon he proposed marriage, but this plan failed to please the
woman's mother, as she felt that her daughter would be marry-
ing beneath her station in life.

Sexual relationship occurred for the Erst time at the end of
a long walk, in an isolated section. According to the girl's
story intercourse took place but twice. When she reoli^d

aOS THE UNMARRIED MOTHER

her pregnancy, the father was unwillmg to marry her until he
was financially able to do so. She went West and was secretly
confined at a maternity home. Previously she had implored
a physician to bring about an abortion. The father liberally
aided her through this period, and she finally returned to the
East with her child, having visited her mother, and secured her
consent to the marriage. She then appealed to a protective
agency to take the child while her mother remained with her
during the marriage preparations, promising to receive the
child again upon her return to the West, After the marriage,
the parents delayed in their plan to take the child into their
home, as the father felt sensitive about arousing any suspicions
in the neighborhood, and wished also to establish himself
more securely in business. This woman again showed indica-
tions again of being shallow and easily infiuenced; although
she appeared to be much attached to her child, she was ap-
parently dominated by her husband. Finally the woman's
mother wrote that she was willing to establish her son-in-law
in an agricultural business in the West, but persuasion proved
futile in convincing these parents that responsibility to their
child should be their first consideration, and they persisted in
leaving it in a boarding home, with the promise of adoption
within a year or two. Those interested felt that this girl,
uninfluenced by her husband's domineering personality, would
have been loyal to her child's interests.

Case No. 49. Causative factors : (a) Sexually Sug-
gestible by One: Well-educated woman of 29, doing settle-
ment work, meets barber to whom family object, (fc) Rec-
realional Disadvantages: Little normal social life, (c)
Bad Environmenl: Alone in city without friends or relatives.
Sex. Age 39.

Case 50. We have here the case of a well-educated girl, a
teacher in one of our western States, who became an unmarried
mother when 24 years of age. She is not only a normal school
graduate, but has done some work in the graduate department
of one of our eastern colleges.

This young woman's father held an unusually fine attitude
towards the situation in which his daughter found herself,
sacriiidng much in order that he might be able to help her in
her trouble. His wife, on the other hand, is typical of a re-
ligious type who holds only one [K)int of view towards situations
of this kind. She is heartbroken, claiming that she had tried
bard to be a Christian, and to bring up her children in the

SEXUALLY SUGGESTIBLE BY ONE

207

aame way. Speaking of her continuous prayers for the girl
she said: " If I live to be a hundred I shall never understand
how she could have done so wicked a thing." She says that
she has forgiven her daughter, in a sense, but that God has not.
Later on we find that the use of scripture texts by the visitor
in regard to a harsh attitude towards offenders succeeded in
softening the girl's mother, with the result that she became more
kindly in her feelings for her daughter. The father and the
girl's brother, himself a college graduate, stated that they in-
tended to have her live with them, and that they felt that
" As the baby is Mary's child, and she could not go away and
leave it, they guessed their friends would have to accept her
as she was." We leam that this girl was in good health, al-
though her menstrual periods have frequently Ijeen irregular.
She graduated from the high school, spent a year in a Western
university, and two years in a normal school in Dakota before
coming East for graduate work. Her friends had always been
people of education and refinement, and she had been ac-
customed to take part in the social life of the church and
various literary societies. In appearance we find her a young
woman of attractive and expressive features, who is well liked
wherever she goes.

For two years previous to her pregnancy this girl had been
teaching in a sparsely settled section of her native State, re-
turning home at the end of each week. Her school was near a
ranch belonging to a man of 34 with whom she had been to
school, and who belonged to her literary society. They saw
a great deal of each other during the time that she was away
from home during the week, and she became much attached to
him. it being tacitly understood by both that they were en-
gaged. The girl's family, however, never took the engagement
seriously, and really knew little in regard to the intimacy exist-
ing between their daughter and this man. The result was
that their attachment for each other led them into intercourse,
and the girl became pregnant, whereupon she decided to come
East to study. The father of her child remained unaware of
her pregnancy until her condition became so evident that the
college authorities referred her to the care of a physician. At
this juncture she wrote home, informing her parents of her
predicament, whereupon they sold their farm and moved
East in order to be near their daughter. A letter to the father
of her child prompted an affectionate reply ; he stated him-
self to be willing and anxious to marry her, but was unable to
come East because of the fact that he had been unfortunate

aos THE UNMARRIED MOTHER

in his business ventures of late. Soon the young woman her-
self began to doubt the wisdom of marrying the mau in quea-
tion, finally deciding that she and her child would do better
alone, and consequently she moved with her parents to New
York, where they have been living together. It is worth
noting that the girl's mother, although extremely convention^
in her attitude towards her daughter's wrongdoing, did not pos-
sess the usual point of view which insists upon marriage with
the father of the child as the sole solution of the problem.
Throughout the history one is impressed with the fact that the
parents never fostered the idea of marriage Ijetween the two
young people, and one is led to beheve that they were conscious
of the fact that the girl's attachment for the young man in
question was largely the result of propinquity, and that she
should be given a chance to start life over in a new environment.
Case No, 50. Causative factors: (a) Sexually Sugges-
tible by One: Attached to man on near-by ranch, whom she
— expected to marry. Girl a college student. (6) Bad En-
vironment: Taught school away from home. Sex. Age 24.

Case 51. This case deals with a married woman whose
pregnancy by a man other than her husband was to a certain
extent her husband's fault. She comes of American parentage.
This woman's father is dead, having spent his last years in an i
insane asylum as the result of an injury sustained when he fell '
from the mast of a saihng vessel. His wife hved for several
years before her husband's death with another man by whom i
she had two children before marrying him. The fraternity
includes a sister as well as a stepbro^er and a stepsister, of |
whom nothing is known.

This young woman's father died when she was young, and
she was brought up by her grandmother, who died while she
was still under 20. She has no other relatives save two who are
unable to help her, feeling as they do that she has had many
opportunities which she has not used to advantage. As a
child this woman had a comfortable hone, and there b some
evidence of her Ijeing well enough educated to do general clerical
work. In spite of the fact that she has hud three illegitimate
children, a mental examination reveals her to be neither
feeble-minded nor mentally unbalanced, although she is not
strong physically. This woman had a good reputation until
she met the father of her illegitimate child, and had l>een em-
ployed in various positions since the age of 17 as a general
office helper and later as a salesgirl. She is extremely attrac-

SEXUALLY SUGGESTIBLE BY ONE 209

live in appearance, although small in stature. At the age of
18 she married, and her husband secured a divorce eight
years later on the ground of adultery, the decree forbidding
the remarriage of either for six months. From what appears
she seems to have been very happy with her husband, who was
really an exceedingly fine type of man, occupying a position
of considerable responsibility with over fifty men working
under him. But he made the mistake of bringing into his family
as a boarder a friend who was the cause of the later trouble.

Soon after their marriage this woman's husband invited a
young man of 25, who was having trouble with his family, to
take up his residence with them. His wife soon warned him
that she was becoming infatuated with this man, but he seems
to have paid little attention to it, until finally she received a
legacy of $1200, with «GO0 of which she bought a piano, taking
the remainder to elope with the man in question. They went
to Georgia, but lifter three months she returned to her husband
at his urgent request, l^ecausc her child by him was so lonesome
without her. Soon, however, she deserted him again, seem-
ing unable to resist the man with whom she had lived, stating
tliat she will remain with him, no matter what his relations
with other women may be. This man is himself an illegitimate
child, his mother having lived with his father for eighteen years
withoutmarriagebecauseherhusbandrefused todivorceher. He
is an inventor, a fascinating man who is always in trouble, and
considered by his friends to be mentally peculiar, but never-
theless capable of exerting a dominating influence over the
)Foman in question. After having been for some time out of
employment he recently eloped with a woman for whom be
claimed an affinity, and with whom he is thought to be living
at present. In the meantime, however, those interested in
the mother had succeeded in securing his marriage to her, al-
though he did not live with her for more than a month. In
contrast to most of the cases where little is known about the
father, there is here a psychopathic examination of the man
in question. He was at one time employed at one of our schools
for the feeble-minded, seeking a position there because he
claimed to be interested in mental peculiarities. The oSicers
were doubtful as to his sanity, and he left without notice. He
was discharged from his next place of employment, a machine
shop where he was earning $10.40 a week, for inability to per-
form his duties. He seems to have been continually afraid of
detectives, and tells the story of having presented himself to
an architect as an employee of the federal government, and

SIO

THE UNMARRIED MOTHER

to have drawn up the plans for a 6fty-thousand -dollar house.
One finds indications of his being a skillful piano player, at which
he could probably earn his living if he so desired. \Mien ar-
rested, this man wept, claiming that he would be perfect^
willing to marry the mother of his children. When examined,
he was found to be irrational along certain lines, but not com-
mittable. Placed on probation and ordered to pay $0 a week
for the support of his cnildren, he delayed the marriage on eveiy
possible excuse, until finally the probation officer got him to
come to his office, and upon sending for the woman, succeeded
in having them married there. Among this man's character-
istics is the fact that he ordinarily does exceedingly well in
any position for a short time, frequently being promoted within
a few days, only to become gradually indifferent to his work
until he is discharged. His tendency towards falsifying is in-
teresting in that his stories are ordinarily partly true, it being
possible for him to see to it that the names, dates, and addresses
are correct before he allows his imagination to soar. The man
admits himself that he is unbalanced. At present it is planned
to turn this womfln's two oldest children over to public care,
she and the father to be responsible for the support of the third.
CaseNo.Sl. Causative factors : (a) Sexually SuggeMble
by One: Husband brings boarder into home. Woman
dominated by him. She then deserts husband and child.
Sex +. Age «6.

CHAPTER Xin

Abnormal Sbxualish
General coQaideration — Difficulty of definition.

General Consideration. In discussing the question of ab-
normal sexualism, Healy admits that the criterion of abnormal-
ity " is hard to define when it involves only slight divei^ence
from the normal." He states, furthermore, that there is some
doubt as to whether a discussion of this subject belongs rightly
under the head of mental or physical peculiarity, holding that
in some instances the conduct is clearly the product of mental
processes, whereas in other cases a physiological basis seems
strongest. According to this author there are several centers
in the nervous system from which sex feeling may be generated,
and he states that " As represented in consciousness, the
sources of stimulation range all the way from peripheral irritation
to mental imagery." ' It is evident that there are individuals
" whose sex characteristics show development far beyond the
social or physiological norm." Healy holds that he has yet to
see a single case in which such hypersexualism has arisen " with-
out the presence eitlier of various physical conditions, such as
might readily be responsible, or of unfortunately early sex
experiences."

The correlation between overdevelopment and delinquency
in girls in connection with questions of sex is evident and mani-
fests itself at an earlier age than does hypersexualism in males.
"There is," says Healy, "no such coloring of life's activities
by one dominating impulse as there is among females. We
have noted cases of an attraction on the part of negro men for
white girls, which Healy interprets on the basis of hypersex-
' Healy, William, op. di., pp. 400^.

212

THE UNMARRIED MOTHER

ualism of the female. He feels that undoubtedly this influence
is a greater cause in delinquency in early life than in later, due
to the obvious lack of adult self-control at that time, and in
conclusion he describes this group by stating " that there are
certain individuals of both sexes who by virtue of their own
native characteristics, or of desires aroused by experience, ape
impelled to seek sexual enjoyment beyond the social norm."

Difficulty of Definition. The public is rarely ever accustomed
to think of women as playing anything but a passive part in
the courtship leading up to sexual intercourse. The trutli
of tlie matter, however, is that the opinion which has been held
in regard to the strength of the sexual impulse in woman has
varied throughout several centuries and has been represented
by two main traditions. Formerly women were considered to
be completely dominated by their sexual desires, while there
has been a tendency of late to minimize the strength of this
impulse among them.'

The general results which have been reached in this study lead
to the belief that the attitude of the public towards the unmarried
mother is one colored by these more recent ideas with their tend-
ency to underrate the strength of sexual desire among women.
It is also probable that far from being beneficial to women
a whole, such a misconception may be distinctly detrimental
to their progress in enhghtenment and economic achievement.
There is much indignity expressed in the common belief that
women are what Havelock Ellis calls " crosses between angels
and idiots ", who are possessed of no desire to enter into one of
the most far-reaching emotional experiences of life excepting as
passive participants, or who are, on the other hand, incapable
of self-control. The truth of the matter is, that intercourse
once established, there is probably little diflference in the inten-
sity of the desire between normal men and normal women, al-
though its manifestation is of course distinctly varied.

It becomes necessary to avoid interpreting the expressim
of sex desire on the part of the girls and young women in thia
study as abnormal, when it is remembered that in many in-

'EUi*. Havelock; "Studies in the Psychotosy ol Sm". Vol. Ill, pp. IM/.

I
I

ABNOBMAL SEXUALISM

«I3

stances the same amount of indulgence would have been con-
sidered distinctly permissible if it had occurred within the mar-
riage state. Consequently abnormal sexualism has been con-
sidered to be the main causative factor in only one case, and
that one in which an examination furnished the diagnosis of
" well-marked nymphomania." In ten instances abnormal
sexualism bad been considered as a minor causative factor in
the history of the girl or young woman in question.
The following case is illustrative of this condition.

Case 53. In this case we find an American girl of 18 showing
decided indications of a negro heredity, yet passing for a white
girl. Within the last two years she gave birth to two children,
and when observed by a psychologist, was diagnosed as a well-
marked case of nymphomania. Undoubtedly her isolated
life on a farm with an adopted mother gave ber little oppor-
tunity for normal recreation, and thus cut off from legitimate
companionship, easily turned her attention to the hired men
on the farm. Her sex history was not quite clear, but it was
fair to assume that she became pregnant both times by one of
these employees. When her mother was interviewed, it was
found that this girl had been promiscuous, and this report was
confirmed later by her own confession.

When she was but a few weeks old she was brought by her
mother to the city authorities, and given into their care, as the
mother was suffering from a fatal illness. It is not known
whether she was illegitimate or not. At tlie age of two she
was adopted by a good woman, a widow who had two children
years older than this girl. They lived on a large farm, where
they kept many cows and hens, and employed two hired men
to look after the stock. Her life here was monotonous, but
she looked back on childhood with some degree of pleasure.
She attended a graded school, where she was considered an aver-
age pupil. She graduated at 14, but did not care to go to high
school, as she preferred to remain on the farm and help her
mother. She played with girls at school, enjoying out-of-door
games. Her mother stated that for years she had been possessed
to " run after " the hired men. In appearance she was a small,
slight girl, and gave one the impression of being not strong.
It was learned that she had had much illness, including such
diseases as pneumonia and scarlet fever. She was an efficient
worker, and besides hoiLsework had been ward maid in a hos-
pital, earning $18 a month and her board. She cared little

S14 THE UNMAHRIED MOTHER

for reading, but did weU any kind of hand work, such as piano
playing, millinery, etc. Her first child was born at the age of
17 at a local hospital, and the city authorities who had placed
her for adoption undertook her supervisory care. Her adopted
mother was loyal to her through this experience and received
her back into her home again, and the city took the entire
responsibility of the child. When within a year she became
pregnant again, her mother turned her from her home, and she
again sought a refuge in public charity. At this hospital the girl
became popular with the nurses because of her amiable dis-
position and her eCBciency in regard to her work. One felt
that these nurses had a certain sense of pity for this girl, as they
repeatedly asserted that she seemed starved for friendhnesa
and affection. It was quite evident that she mourned over her
mother's lack of interest in her in these two years. A psycho-
logical CKamination made after the birth of the second child
revealed the following facts, " Not insane, no signs of
psychosis, well marked case of nymphomania, orientation un>
unpaired, current events poor, does not read paper, grasp OQ
education good, memory good, neat, tidy, willing." On the
physical side she was found to be suffering with gonorrhoea and
syphilis, and she was poorly developed and under nourished.
Her child was delicate, but at the end of two years no diagnosis
of syphilis had been made. Her devotion to the child was
evident, and she took unusually good care of it, cheerfully
accepting the responsibility of her maternity.

She stated that she had known the father a long time, hut
had not expected to marry him. At hrst she insisted that she
had never had any other relationship except with this man,
but later confessed that she had very frequently been promis-
cuous with boys. This girl evinced a deep shame over her
sex delinquencies, and could not bear to discuss them. Little
is known about the father except that he had lived in the
mother's home for some years, and was well thought of
by the family. He was so well liked that when they realized
this girl's condition and his responsibility for the second time,
they turned the girl from the home and allowed him to remain.
He never helped her with the expense for either of the children,
and there were no steps taken to prosecute him.

Case No. 52. Causative factors: {a) Abnormal Sex-
uali»m. Well-marked case of nymphomania. No p^-
chosis. (Exam.) (6) Recreulional Disadvanlages: Lived
on lonely farm, (c) Physical: Never strong. Under-de-
veloped and ill-nourished. Sex + ++. Age 17.

CHAPTER XIV

Mental Conflict

General consideration — Mental conflicts presuppose some emotional
disturbance — Emotion -producing experiences — Not solely of
sexual nature.

General Conside ration. Since the work of Freud and his
school has become well known, much has been done to draw
attention to those mental states which result in abnormal
behavior. The theories upon which psycho-analysis rests
have been discussed in another chapter. Doctor Healy sums
up the matter as follows r " Full of meaning for us are the
following main discoveries: Very much that is formative of
character does not appear above the surface. Active inter-
reactions of mental elements may be all unconsciously the
motive forces of conduct. Experiences which come to the in-
dividual with a great deal of emotional context are likely to
cause the greatest amount of reaction. As through life in
general so here, experiences, either inner or outer, related to
sex life, in the broadest sense, show the strongest and subtlest
reactions. Mental shock, psychic trauma, is produced fre-
quently by experiences of which dearest relatives may be ig-
norant. These traumata are experienced most frequently
in our childhood. Mental conflicts occur on the basis of either
outward experiences, physical sensations, or pure ideation,
at ages so early as to be unsuspected. These conflicts may be
entirely repressed, but do not thereby losfe their force and sig-
nificance for the formation of character tendencies. Repression
of that which naturally needs expression is followed by reaction,
which may vent itself mostly in the organism, or show as anom-
alies of conduct. The cause of habit formations of many sorts
ilS

eio

THE U>fMARRIED MOTHER

is deeper than appears on the surfaee, many of them being
vicarious expression of hidden and even unconscious impulses
to action." '

Mental Conflicts Presuppose Some Emotional Disturbance.
This author has no intention of asserting that the sole cause of
the development of delinquent tendencies is always a mental
conflict. A mental conflict, he says, " presupposes some
tional disturbance or else there would be no opposition between
different elements of mental content or activity. Since notliing,
but the innermost nature of animate beings, so stirs emotion
as the affairs of sex life, taking this term in its broadest sense,
it is to be presupposed that we should find most cases of mental
conflict to be about hidden sex thoughts or imageries, and inner
or environmental sex experiences. And so we have found it,
but by no means all of our eases have had sex exjierience them-
selves as an immediate basis of conflict. ... It is true that
nearly all of the mental eonflicts which have been brought to
our attention in girls and young women have centered on un-
fortunate aspects of the sex problem, sometimes, to be sure,
existing only as matters of conceptional mental activity." It
is evident that much of this imconseious inner strife and reac-
tion is due to " the widespread and often morally fatal neglect
of precautionary sanitation on the part of parents, who often
leave children to struggle along or amid bad companionship with
vilest introduction to the most wonderful, vital, and emotion-
prodiicing phenomena of life."* This matter has been dealt
with in the chapter on " Educational Disadvantages."

Emotion- producing Experiences. Doctor Hcaly maintains
that " hidden mental conflicts may arise, obviously, from any
strong emotion -producing experience or thought which is re-
pressed." The chief causes of mental conflicts are the following :

a. Uncertainty, on the part of the child, concerning parentage. .
The VBiious forma of jealousy centered about a step-parent may a
Icn'l in the same dire<?tloD.

See aim Healy'a "Mental Conflicts and
' H«aly, WUIiam, op. cit.. p. SSijf.

MENTAL CONFLICT «17

. Deceit and lies on the part of those presumably most to be
f inuted is acother cause of deep emotional and moral upset.

The various features of sex life, tliemselves the most emotlon-
I provoking of all human experiences or aspects of mental lite, naturally
1 prove to be the most frequent cause of conflict. ... In such cases
b it is a universal rule that there has not been wholesome freedom of
q>eech with those who ought to be confided in about these matters.
d. Sensitive and fine natures may be thrown into much mental
I ftnd moral perturbation by harsh treatment and false accusations on
I the part of those from whom affection and protection and guardian-
f ihip is naturally expected.

. Deeply hidden emotions may be stirred to the point of unron-
adously seeking reaction in misconduct through still other and less
common causes, such as homesickness, and sensitiveness over a defect
of speech, etc.'

Not Solely of Sexual Nature. Obviously all conflicts over
sex matters do not result in ses delinquency, but rather in the
production of that mental tension which issues explosively
in some sort of antisocial conduct. Rarely, if ever, in \h\s
study, has sex intercourse been the immediate consequence
of the conflict in the mind of the girl. Often her next step
has been a departtu^ from home or a realization that there was
no longer any need of her attempting to maintain a good rep-
utation, for information, recently gained, about her parentage
has shown her that she must always be under a stigma. In
only three ca.ses has the conflict been well enough indicated
to justify its being considered as a major factor in a girl's or
young woman's behavior, and only in five instances has it been
included as a minor factor. Mental conflicts of various kinds
have an extremely important place in the lives of girls whose
behavior has been antisocial. One becomes firmly con-
vinced that were it possible to piysue this matter by the
means of long continued personal studies, much would be
found in the mind of the individual girl or young woman

ich, if properly treated by methods of mental hygiene and
environmental adjustment, would remove from the lives
■ Healy, William, op. cit., p. 336/.

S18 THE UNMABRIED MOTH£R

of many the emotional friction causative of much unfortunate
behavior.

There follow two cases in illustration :

Case 53. In this case this American girl of 14 was an ille-
gitimate child. Her motlier was a prostitute, and her father
was considered ecceatric, and his sister was insane. Later
her mother died, and her father paid a sum of money to the
foster parents for her subsequent care. As a small child she
was affectionate and obedient, but after her eleventh year she
became unruly and was considered promiscuous by the school-
boys. At 11 she had a child at a local hospital.

The foster family consisted of the mother, a woman of New
England stock of average intelligence, and four children, all
much older than this girl. The family held a good reputation
in the community, and the home was comfortable, clean, and
well -furnished. When this child was two years old, they had
heard that she was to be put into an institution, and being
unusually attractive they decided to take her into their home
as a daughter. She developed normally, but after menstrua-
tion at 1 1 became anemic and rather frail. She attended church,
was a member of the Young People's Society, and a general
favorite in the church. At school she was reported as being
mentally precocious. In the lower grades she had done well,
and was not troublesome. She entered the sixth grade at 11,
and began at this time to go around with the boys. The teacher
reported that she once found her in a doorway with three boya
in a compromising position. She attended the ninth grade
while eight months pregnant. Her girl companions were also
disreputable. One of these girls admitted to the agent that
she had marvelled that she also had not had a child. The girl
in question lacked an appreciation of any standards on sex
matters, and excused her promiscuous conduct because of the
knowledge of her mother's former life. Her family shielded
her during her last month of pregnancy and boarded her away
from home, explaining to friends that she was visiting. After
the birth of her child, the foster mother claimed to be in igno-
rance of the paternity, and said that she had not wished to speak
with her daughter about so painful a subject. Later the State
took this child for adoption, because they felt the foster home
to be a respectable one, and therefore to present an opportunity
whereby the girl might develop into a respectable woman.

This girl accused a schoolboy of being the fallier of her child,
He was a boy of high standing in the community and was well

MENTAL CONFLICT

eig

thought of by teachers and pupils. He admitted that he had
had intercourse with the girl twice, but was able to produce
four boys who had also been promiscuous with her. He said
he had heard that this girl was " soft " and felt a very great
temptation to go with her, which he has siQce deeply regretted.
He also stated that this girl encouraged hira in tbese relation-
ships. A financial settlement was not demanded on account
of the girl's immorality.

Case No. 53. Causative factors: (") Mental Conflict:
Lack of standards on sex matters. Mental conBict due
to knowledge of mother being a prostitute. Girl herself
illegitimate. Bright, (b) Heredity: Father immoral ; ec-
centric. Mother prostitute. Father's sister insane, (c)
Pkyaical: Anemic type. Early maturity. Menstruated at
11. ((f) Bad Companions: Considered public property
by schoolboys. Went with immoral girls, (e) Early Sex
Experience: Began career at II. Pregnant at 14. Sex
++++. Age 14.

Case 54. Among those few cases in which it seemed that a,
mental conflict was directly responsible for a girl's pregnancy,
may be mentioned that of this girl of American parentage
who gave birth to an illegitimate child when she was 19 years
old. Little is known of her parents, save that they were both
immoral, and her mother is thought to be dead. She was a
hunchback, employed in a shoe shop, and is described as having
been " deformed in body and mind." The girl in question was
herself an illegitimate child.

When this girl was 7 years old she was placed in the care
of the town in which she had residence, being boarded in various
Families up to tlie time of her graduation from the high school,
when she went to work. From all accounts she was a good
type of girl, whose health is at present none too good, and very
despondent over her present condition. She bore an excellent
reputation and was employed in a printing establishment,
and later did housework at a wage of $4 a week. In appearance
we find her to be unusually attractive. During her pregnancy
she showed moments of great depression, sometimes giving
indications of an alarming mental state during which she was
unwilling to work.

This girl's mental conflict centers around the fact that she
was an illegitimate child. She had for some time been engaged
to a man who broke the engagement when he learned the de-
tails of her birth. He claims that he bad a great amount of

««0 THE UNMARRIED MOTHER

respect for this pri, and as far as be knew, she gave do indication
which would lead any one to think that she might follow in
her mother's footsteps, but nevertheless he thought it wise
for him to follow his mother's judgment and to give her ufh
The girl herself was devoted to this young man, and never,
knew that she was an illegitimate child until his mother told
her of the fact, becoming tremendously depressed upon hearinjg
the information. She became so run down physically that it
was necessary for her to leave her work and seek a rest in the
countiy. At this time a young man of 23, whom she had known
for a year and a half, invited her to visit his people in a neigh-
boring State, and the girl went there in search of rest. Soon
after her arrival she states that she was in the kitchen one even-
ing, when this young man came into the room, picked her up,
and carried her into his bedroom off the kitchen, where he as-
saulted her. She claims that she kicked and screamed without
effect, and that every one else was in bed, and did not hear her.
According to her statement, this man had never been familiar
with her before, and she herself had never had intercourse
with any one else. She left this place the nest morning, much
to the chagrin of the man in question, and soon found herself
pregnant. After her confinement, this girl felt that it was
necessary for her to give up her child, because as the knowledge
of her own illegitimacy had wrecked her life, she wished to do
all that she could to save her child from the same disgrace.
It took her several weeks to come to this conclusion, and she
became hysterical when her child was finally given in adoptton.
This girl's story of assault is discredited by those in charge,
and the chief emphasis is laid on the mental state occasioned
by the breaking off of her attachment with the man with whom
she was anticipating marriage. The probability is of course
that she became less careful in her behavior, and that she
allowed him to become familiar with her. That such a result
may follow a shock of tliis description is indicated by the fre-
quency with which other kinds of delinquency manifest them-
selves after mental conflicts of this kind. It is particularly
interesting to note how important a part the state of mind
resulting after the information concerning her birth had been
imparted to her, played in this girl's analysis of her own condi-
tion. Although she was unwilling to admit that she had not
been assaulted, she attributed to the shock sustained by her
all the consequences except that of her intimacy with the young
man in question, claiming that it was this that had ruined hi
life.

MENTAL CONFLICT

221

Case No. 54. Causative factors : (a) Mental Conflict:
Engagement broken because man found her to be illegiti-
mate. Girl soon pregnant by another. (6) Bad Home
ConditUms: Nothing Imown of girl's parents. Girl boarded
since 7 years old. (c) Heredity: Mother and father im-
moral. Sex +. Age 19.

CHAPTER XV

Assault, Incest and Rape
General Consi deration — Not causative factors — Incest.

General Consideration. Those who have read through the
cases which have been submitted in the various chapters have
undoubtedly recognized with what frequency assault storiea
figure in the sex histories. There is a natural desire on the
part of a girl, when first interviewed, to throw the blame for
her behavior on the man, and the result has been that many
surprising attempts to concoct stories wliich would succeed ia
this endeavor have Ijeen found. A study of this kind reveala
the similarity of such invention, and shows how uniform the
mental proces-ses of girls, who are brought up in the same cul-
ture group, appear to be.

Almost invariably these assault stories break down upon
cross-examination, and there appear only 14 cases in our 500
in which it has seemed justifiable to accept the giri's statement
as true. The public, and particidarly that section of the
public which is swayed by feeling more than by reason, is prone
to the l»elief that all of the idealism of the race rests in women,
that they are the conservers of all that is pure and high-
minded, and that without this, the tendency would be towards
absolute materialism. Such a group is loath to recognize the
fact that in a study hke this, at least, the woman plays a part
that is by no means passive, and that she is in most casea
equally responsible for her condition.

Not Causative Factors. In the study of causative factors,
however, it has been found necessary to place under a special
chapter heading those cases of assault, incest, and rape in
which the heredity and mental states, as well as the environ-

ASSAULT. INCEST AND RAPE

I mental factors in a girl's life, would obviously have had but little
e on her conduct. Only sucii cases have been accepted
in which the man has received legal sentence, or such in which
the girl has not varied her story under repeated cross-exami-
nation, with the result tliat those interested in her have accepted
it as true. One may state that even with those omissions,
suspicion is aroused concerning at least one case which is
submitted under this head.

Incest. The attitude of society towards incest is to a great
extent based upon the need of maintaining the family unit
intact, as well as upon the advantages obtained by procreating
outside of the sphere of consanguinity. Biologists are of the
impression that incestuous intercourse is harmful to the pos-
sible offspring chiefly because of the danger which thus comes
from a reduplication of bad traits existing in the same stock,
and from the fact that it minimizes the chance of such traits
being " recessive." The popular belief that sexual attraction
cannot exist between people of blood relationship is probably
ill-founded, as is proven by the fact that a brother and sister,
if separated and kept unaware of their relationship, may,
other things being equal, form an attachment for each other
which may be as intense as that of any other individuals. So
large a part does curiosity play in courtship that the chief
reason which prevents a sexual attraction from spiinging up
between blood relatives under ordinary conditions is that
the famiharity existing between such individuals is ordinarily
50 great that no sexual curiosity exists.

The situation existing when intercourse takes place be-
tween a girl and an uncle, or with her brothers, or even with
her own father, is sufficiently antisocial in its consequences to
arouse the instinctive horror of most people. This attrac-
tion on the [>art of the relatives for the girl in question is
of course brought about by various conditions, among which
may be the alcoholism of the father or his frank sex attraction
for this particular girl. Frequently instances of great abuse
result. There is one case in which sex desire seems to have
arisen spontaneously between a young girl and her uncle, whose

324

THE UNMARRIED MOTHER

intimacy had up to that time been perfectly natural. The I
relationship existing between a girl and her brother-in-law is 1
of course by no means surprising and falls normally into that I
group presenting no unusual characteristics.
The actual cases follow.

Case 55. In this case a Canadian girl of 14 was brought:
up in a vicious neighborhood in a large city. Her father, an
excitable man, was a skilled workman, and provided a com-
fortable home for his wife and child. There had been many
domestic troubles in the paternal family. His mother had
eloped, leaving a husband and three children, and was not
married to her second husband until after the birth of their
fifth child. A daughter of this marriage had an illegitimate
child by her half brother. The father of the child in this case
was the girl's uncle, also illegitimate. The girl's mother waa
an ignorant woman who was entirely dominated by her hus-
band. There is a suspicion throughout the record that the
girl's own father may have had relations with her, and possibly
may have been the father of her child. This point of view 13
somewhat supported by the fact that her father persistently
endeavored to extort money from the alleged father for his
own use, and was wiUing to prosecute him, regardless of his
daughter's reputation. He succeeded in getting a large sum
of money from this brother. Also, her parents unwittingly
said at the maternity home that they expected an earlier con-
finement than the facts warranted. This child, full term, was
bom a month earlier than expected. As soon as her parents
had mode this admission, they became alarmed, and said:
"This looks bad for us."

The girl was an attractive, refined child with unusual poise.
Throughout her experiences she manifested a shallow irrespon-
sibility, and even her child failed to make an appeal. Few
facts were gained concerning her early life. She bad always
been a healthy child. She left high school during her first
year because of her pregnancy. At school she was considered
a " tolerably good scholar ", with an average rank of B. The
principal spoke of her as a girl with ideals, and considered her
one of the best girls at school, though she lacked force, and
was apparently a suggestible type. She showed no abnormal
interest in boys at school. At home she was closely guarded,
and was never allowed to go out and play with the other chil-
dren. She was even debarred from school entertainments.

Her uncle, and the alleged father of her child, said his

chiU M

ASSAULT, INCEST AND RAPE

interest in this girl was aroused when he realized how few rec-
reations she was permitted. He took her to the park to see
the flowers because he sympatliized with her loneliness. This
man held a responsible position, and was much resitected.
His wife, suffering with tuberculosis, and four boys lived in
the South. His refinement and self-reproach over his repre-
hensible conduct, and his desire to right the wrong as far as
possible, made an appeal to all who had dealings with him,
and an effort was made to prevent his arrest for rape. The
girl protested that she had intercourse with the father but once.
She said that he had been kind to her, and she remained loyal
to him when the facts of their intimacy became known. The
man implied that the girl had taken the initiative in their re-
lationship. Although he accepted full responsibility for his
conduct, yet he could not understand how she could have been
pregnant by him, as he had only partial intercourse with her.
The child was born at a nlaternily home and later given in
adoption.

Case No. 55. Causative factors : (a) Assault: Girl of 14
pregnant by married uncle. Himself illegitimate. Son of
alcoholic father. Girl's paternal aunt had child by half
brother, {b) Lack of Recreational Opporiuniiies: Home
life very strict. Age 16.

Case s6. The subject of this history of wretched home
conditions is a girl of Irish parentage whose child was bom
when she was 16 years old. In spite of her environment, her
health was good, and she does not seem to have been mentally
defective, although we have not the benefit of an examination.
Little could be learned about her father save that he died some
years ago, since which the mother has been regularly immoral
and alcoholic. There is one son, a drunkard.

It would be difficult to picture a worse home. The mother,
son, and daughter lived in two rooms, one of which contained
three articles of furniture, a sliding couch, a table, and a chair.
On this couch the three slept together. This girl grew up in
the midst of immorality, having witnessed scenes between
her mother and men whom she brought home, while still very
young. Coupled with this was poverty due to the shiftlessness
of the mother and her son, it being necessary for the Overseers
of the Poor to help at intervals. This girl was arrested at 16
for larceny, and sent to an institution, at which time she had
to be taught how to wash herself and care for her person. She
was eight months pregnant, seemed flirtatious, and became

226

THE UNMARRIED MOTHER

upset at the sight of a man. Her child weighed eleven poiinda
at birth, and she experienced two bad convulsions during
confinement. A year later, when placed at housework with
her child, she showed a marked improvement and a distinct
desire to do her duty by the child, so that she received the
commendation of all who had to do with her case. The father
of her child settled the suit for $150 soon after the child's
birth, and later, after the girl's improvement became evident,
he married her. She is looked upon as having made a splendid
response to reformatory treatment.

This girl says that she l>egan to be immoral at the age of
II. Her older brother, a drunkard, had relations with her as
well as with her mother in her presence for a period of two
years. Since the age of 15 she has been promiscuous with many
boys, having intercourse at least three times each week.

Case No. 56. Causative factors : (a) Assault: Girl had
intercourse with brother, (b) Bad Home Conditions: Atro-
cious conditions at home. Mother, brother, and girl slept
on one couch. Girl immoral for years with brother, and
he with mother, (c) Educational Disadvantages: Could
not take care of person. Knew nothing about work.
Sex + + ++. Age 16.

Case S7- Among the cases of incest is that of this Russian
girl who bore a stillborn child to her own father when she waa
15 years of age. and another ten months later. Her father,
who was responsible for both pregnancies, was bom in Russia
and was a worker on the railway. He had been arrested be-
fore for abusing his wife. Her mother, who seemed to be men-
tally weak, and spent and pathetic in appearance, threw the
whole problem on to her daughter, saying that she herself waa
incapable of doing anything in the matter. The fraternity
includes two sisters and a brother under 10 years of age.

This family lived in poverty in a small town, having come
from Russia thirteen years ago. The father, an alcohohc,
caused a great deal of quarreling in the home, and was con-
tinually abusive to his wife and children. The mother always
forgave him because of the fact that otherwise there would
be no one to support the children. The lack of control and
aupervision at home was complicated by the fact that the mother
waa frequently ill. At such times the family received help
from the Overseers and from private societies. There is no
psychological examination of this girl, but there dues not seem
to be any indication of mental deficiency. Her health is ex-

I
I

no ^m

ASSAULT, INCEST AND RAPE

««7

cellent, and there is nothing of significance in the developmental
histoiy. This girl, who was willing to talk, and desirous of
sympathy, manifested a desire to make the situation as easy
for her mother aa she possibly could. A certain slackness is
shown by the fact that she does not seem to recognize her con-
dition, and is somewhat slow in her work. She realizes her
responsibility as a wage-earner in the family, the others de-
pending on her for the 87.30 which she earns in a woolen mill.
The girl's mother considers her husband to be absolutely use-
less, and maintains that her daughter is in no way to blame.
The father has been arrested and seat to prison.

The girl's father, a big and abusive individual, given to drink-
ing, turned his attention to his daughter during his wife's ill-
ness, and threatened to kill both the girl and her mother if she
refused. One notes the fact that this relationship must have
continued for some time in order for the girl to have become
twice pregnant by him. She finally went to a priest, and on
his advice had her father arrested. The seconti child died at
the age of five months.

Case No. 57. Causative factors : (a) Assault: Had two

children in ten months by alcoholic father, (b) Bad

Home Conditions: During mother's illness father attacked

daughter. Alcoholic. Sex 1. Age 15.

Case 58. Very different indeed from those cases in which
there is nothing but the girl's word in regard to the assault are
those in which a court charge has been preferred against the
man. Such is that of this girl of English parentage who gave
birth to an illegitimate child when she was 17 years of age.
Her father, who formerly made 812 a week as a meat cutter,
has recently been conducting a lunch counter; her mother,
having gone hopelessly insane a few years ago, was deported
to England. The fraternity ineludes three sisters and a brother
under 15.

The girl's father worked as an employee in a market for
years, and was so successful that he started in business for
himself, since which he has lost a great deal of money. He
was recently run over by an express wagon, and has not yet
recovered from the effects, and is at present hardly making a
living, being considerably in debt. On top of this misfortune
he had a fire in his shop which caused him further loss. He
states that his wife's insanity is due to the fact that a plank fell,
striking her on the head. This man's family lives in several
poorly furnished rooms which seem to be clean, the girl in

228 THE UNMARRIED MOTHER

question being occupied in helping her father in his shop.
She is slow in action and in speech, appearing to be somewhat
dull mentally. On the other hand, she has never given hep
father any trouble, and according to him it is her indifference
which is responsible for her condition, for he states that if she
had obeyed him, she would never have found herself in her
predicament.

According to the workers of one of the societies interested
in this girl, hers is a clear case of assault. She states that she
was keeping the shop for her father, and that no one was there
but herself when a man came in and assaulted her. Her father
states that he left her alone in order to deliver some good:>
and told her to lock up immediately and to go home, and that
she was rather slow about it. loitering around until the neighbor-
ing shops were closed. According to him. his store was so
located that an outcry on the part of the girl could have been
heard by no one at that hour. The man who assaulted this
girl had been in the shop frequently, and had succeeded in
striking up a friendship with the girl's father, with the result
that he now beUeves that this was premeditated with the pur-
pose of bringing him into contact with his daughter. Upon
mvestigation it was discovered that this man had twice as*
saulted the 12-year-old sister of the giri, and that she had been
ashamed to say anything about it before. The girl's child
has been given in sidoption, and the man has been arrested,
receiving a sentence of seven years in prison for assault and
rape on this girl's younger sister. Charges against hira on
account of his relations with the girl in question are now pend-
ing.

Case No. 58. Causative factors : (a) Assault: (Rapt
Girl took care of father's shop. Raped. (6) ."
Dull. No interest. Ses A. Age 17.

dl: (Rape).
I MerUaiity:

CHAPTER XVI

Mental Abnohmautt

General conai derations — Mental detect incurable — Estent of feeblc-
miadedness — Psycho! ogicaJ enaminalions — Specialized defects

— Definitions — Menial subnormality — Feeble-mindedncss —
Feeble-minded :-Morons — Special defect-self-control — Mental
aberration — Dementia prsecox — Hysterical mental aberrations

— Psychic constitutional inferiority — Conclusions.

General Consideration. The modern student of social con-
ditions has become increasingly conscious of the part played
by mentnl abnormality as a cause of crime, pauperism, and
illegitimacy. Much has been done to attract public attention
to the number of mentally abnormal individuab in the popula-
tion, and various plans are being evolved in the hope of miti-
gating the burden which this factor throws upon society. The
old belief that the criminal and the alcoholic were delinquent,
in spite of knowledge and ability to do better, has given way
to a more scientific attitude towards delinquency in general
which takes into consideration the question of inherent in-
capacity. Aside from recognizing the end product, tlie com-
munity is now coping with the causes themselves in an attempt
by such means as the modern study of mental hygiene to
affect the problem at its source.

Mental Defect Incurable. In spite of this increased knowl-
edge, there are still individuals who maintain that a delinquent
boy or girl who is mentally defective may be trained under
proper conditions. To them the cause of misconduct may
seem to lie in insufficient supervision at home, in poor educa-
tional advantages, or in .some sort of faulty environment, so
that a change of surrounding might be capable of eradicating

2S0

THE UNMARRIED MOTHER

the defect. The histoiy of mstitutional care for the feeble-
minded, however, proves that the majority of such cases will
show but slight improvement, even under the most ideal con-
ditions. We are not dealing here with willful wrongdoing, but
with an inherent incapacity to function properly in a highly
organized society.

Extent of Feeble-mindedness. Various estimates have been
made of the percentage of the feeble-minded in the population
at large, but no definite conclusions have been reached. Doctor
Healy is confident that from ten to thirty per cent of the re-
formatory and prison population in this country is feeble-
minded, and that mental defect " forms the largest single
cause of definquency to be found by correlating tendency to
offend with characteristics of the offender." ' Goddard states
that those who have studied the problem most thoroughly
are of the belief that at least two per cent of our school popu-
lation is feeble-minded and that the majority of these are
morons or border-line cases.' At present the task is not that
of determining the actual number of mental defectives in the
community, but of recognizing that the percentage is larger
than had been thought, and of developing methods for alleviat-
ing the condition of the feeble-minded and for lessening their
cost to society.

In 191 1 a commission headed by Doctor Walter E, Femald
of the Massachusetts School for the Feeble-minded, which re-
ported upon the increase of mental defectives in the State,'
emphasized a certain difficulty inherent in the attempt to
compare the number of feeble-minded persons in the State with
the number to be found twenty years before. For the period
from 1890 to 1894 the number of feeble-minded in institutions
averaged 700 per year at a ratio of ,295 to every thousand of
the population, whereas for the period from 190.5 to 1909 the
number had reached 1478, forming a ratio of .462 to the popu-

• Healy. Wiirimn, op

' r..«ldiir.l. II- H.;
New York. 19U.

' "The Increase ol CrimimilB, Menial Dcteclivi
fttea". BoBluo. leU,

; popu- ^M
Degenote ^H

^ by the

MENTAL ABNORMALITY 8S1

latjon. It is very evident that these figures were influenced
by the gradual increase in the capacity of the institutioas,
and by the fact that the friends of the feeble-minded had
acquired greater confidence in these institutions than they
formerly possessed. According to this report private investi-
gation indicated that there were at least two feeble-minded
persona to every thousand of the population of the State, ag-
gregating a total of over 6,700 feeble-minded at large.

Some years later a commission again headed by Doctor
Fernald made an investigation of the so-called " White Slave
Traffic " in the commonwealth,' a section of which was devoted
to the mental characteristics of prostitutes. Of 300 prostitutes
examined, representing the tjT>e known as " streetwalkers",
154 or 51 per cent were feeble-minded, and in each instance
the mental defect was sufficiently pronounced to have warranted
legal commitment. Comment is made that in spite of this,
the general appearance and bearing of many of these women
would not suggest feeble- mindedness to an inexperienced ob-
server. Of these 154 women, none possessed the mentality
of a 12-year-old child, whereas 117 were rated by the Binet
system as falling within the group of 9 and 10 years mental
age. The 135 women designated as normal were of distinctly
inferior intelligence.

Further light is thrown upon the subject by various investi-
gations of more recent date, as a result of which many feeble-
minded individuals were located in the Massachusetts State
Infirmary, in the State hospitals for the insane, in the Massa-
chusetts training schools, and in other institutions. The
report of the " League for Preventive Work " in Boston
states that in spite of overcrowded conditions in the Massachu-
setts. State Infirmary, more than two hundred feeble-minded
individuals had been in the institution during the preceding
winter.* The same investigation indicated that 3.6 per cent
of the total enrollment in state hospitals were mentally defec-
tive, and that in the Industrial School for Girls at Lancaster,

> White SUve TrafEc S<> Called. House No. iiSl, BoaUja. 1B14.
■"Feeble Minded Adrift ", League for Freveutive Work, Bortoa, ISIS.

CSS THE UNMARRIED MOTHER

which had an average daily population of 281, mental teats in
249 instances revealed a percentage of 19.1 of this number to
be feeble-minded. Attention is here drawn to the fact that
all of these girls must be discharged when 21 years of age, and
that unless provision b made for their care, they will be re-
turned unprotected to community life. According to thia
report, there are probably about fifteen thousand feeble-minded
individuals in Massachusetts at the present time.

Similar conditions prevail in New Hampshire, where a recent
investigation reveals a ratio of .95 of the total population
to be feeble-minded. A survey of the orphanages of this
State showed 21 per cent to be mentally defective, whereas
of 147 children in the New Hampshire Industrial School, only
three were found to be normal.' These figures could undoubt-
edly be duplicated in many communities.

Turning more specifically to the interrelation between mental
abnormality and illegitimacy, one finds oneself in a field where
fewer investigations have been made. A questionnaire was
recently sent by a worker at the Psychopathic Hospital to
many social agencies in Boston, and interesting retiu-ns were
received from a number of organizations dealing particularly
with unmarried mothers. In two institutions, namely the
House of Mercy and the State Infirmary, an average of 22.8
per cent of the inmates were diagnosed as psychopathic. The
author of this study is convinced that a sufficient number of
feeble-minded and insane persons are included among the
mothers with illegitimate children who become dependent,
to warrant further systematic study.* It is interesting that
of the agencies covered in this report thirteen made use of
mental tests only when the defect was obvious, with the result
that only 1,3 per cent of their cases were considered mentally
abnormal. Eleven agencies made use of mental tests when
the history of their charges suggested the need for examination,

'Sliwter: "The Feebleminded in Ri-lntion to the PBriih and rommunity,"
* Wrighl, Helen M. : "Routine MenUl Tests «s the Pmper Basis of Praclicml
Musures in Social Service : A first study nuide from SO.OOO raBi-! cured [or by
27 urganizations in RosLun and surrounding districts." Botton Medicai a
Surgical Journal, December, IBIO.

MENTAL ABNORMALITY «8S

and in this instance the total mental cases amounted to 4.3
per cent of the number dealt with. There were, however,
three agencies in which mental examinations were given as
part of the routine care, and here the total number of mental
cases found reached 19.2 per cent. On the basis of her experi-
ence at the Psychopathic Hospital in Boston, the author of
this study recommends that social agencies should keep
an index of the insane, feeble-minded, epileptic, and asocial
persons enrolled, and that all agencies dealing with unmarried
mothers, delinquents, and dependent children should establish
as an essential routine the careful physical and mental examina-
tion of every individual under their care.

Psychological Examinations. In this chapter it b hardly
possible to do more than to indicate the results which others
have found. One must hesitate to classify as mentally abnormal
any girl or woman who has not had the benefit of a psychological
examination, and yet many instances appear in which a girl's
history indicates that she most probably belongs in the group
under discussion. The experience of many social agencies with
mental tests is of interest here. Out of the 500 cases included
in this study, 132 or 26.4 per cent appear to have had the benefit
of a mental examination. In that group which appeared to
be suffering from mental abnormality, as suggested either by
mental tests or by suggestive histories, mental examinations
of varying value were given in 100 out of 157 instances. Al-
though there can be no scientific value to classification based
solely on suggestive history, it is worth noting that in this study
77 individuals were considered by us as possibly mentally
abnormal who had never received mental examinations. Were
it possible to find these results substantiated by tests, one
would be led to the conclusion that 35.4 per cent of the 500
cases studied were girls or women whose mental condition was
auflaciently abnormal to have made a psychological examina-
tion desirable.

In discussing the mental condition of the girls and young
women in question, one is forced into extreme conservatism.
Frequently the case record contains a report in regard to a

2S4

THE UNMARHIED MOTHER

girl's mentality which has not been sufficiently descriptive to
warrant an attempt at definite classification. TJie whole
question of definition, in fact, is one which is still in an inde-
terminate state, and phrases which mean very little are in
constant use. Only too often one finds such terms as " moral
imbecile ", " moral cripple ", or " moral monstrosity ", terms
which careful scientists criticize on the ground of accuracy.
The phrase "defective delinquent", for instance, may mean
one thing in a certain instance and something entirely different
in another. The result is that the student is quickly led to
the conclusion that in regard to mental abnormality he is
working in a field whose outlines have not yet been determined,
and that much current discussion on the subject is of necessity
inexact. In this connection it is interesting to note the readi-
ness with which some social workers are willing to consider
the unmarried mother as mentally abnormal because of the
very nature of her behavior. An effort is indeed being made
to secure the passage of a law which would segregate auto-
matically a woman who has given birth to two illegitimate
children, on the ground that this alone is sufficient to indicate
the need of institutional care. No woman of normal mentality,
it is argued, will become pregnant a second time after the shock
and the social disapprobation ordinarily connected with un-
married motherhood. In our study, however, only 57.4 per
cent of the girls and women who had undergone two or more
pregnancies suggested mental abnormality as a prime causative
factor in their behavior.

Care should be taken on the other hand against underesti-
mating the seriousness of feeble- mind edness and mental aber-
ration in relation to illegitimacy, a problem which is constantly
clEuming greater attention of the community. Those who
read the cases which are included in this chapter should not
End it difficult to appreciate the cost to society which these
girls and women occasion. Restrictive measures are very
evidently necessary. That the feeble-minded boy or man
does not constitute as pressing a social problem becomes ap-
parent when one realizes that in many iuatances a girl sufiering

I
I

MENTAL ABNORMALITY 8S5

from some type of mental defect is yet frequently possessed of
potent physical attraction, as a resiilt of which men of normal
mentality are led to approach her sexuaUy. The reverse of
this situation exists in the case of the feeble-minded boy or man,
who is ordinarily sexually unattractive to the normal woman.
It is still a fact, however, that a considerable number of mentally
defective girls possess no attractiveness of any kind, are often
repulsive and misshapen, and constitute the most tragic element
in this study. That many such become unmarried mothers
reflects upon the state of development which the sex instinct
has reached in many men, for a large number of the women
in this study can have served only as a purely mechanical
means of sexual gratification.

Contrary to popular opinion, the mentally abnormal girl
is not necessarily possessed of extraordinarily developed sex
instincts, but rather of markedly undeveloped inhibitions.
That this belief has not found more acceptance may be due
to the fact that many sentimentally inclined individuals are
unwilling to acknowledge the existence of an instinct in normal
women which produces the result with which we are familiar
when all inhibitions have been removed. That much could be
accomplished by more intensive study of such a group as is
here surveyed, should be evident after the reading of our cases.
Without doubt a mental examination of each of the 167 girls
or women in this group would have resulted in an interesting
collection, if not of well-marked cases of mental defect or
psychosis, at least of extremely illuminating examples of special
defect or peculiarity.

Specialized Defects. In the attempt to acquire a perspective
of the general subject of mental abnormality, it should be
remembered that it is not only the well-defined groups of
defectives or those showing weU-raarked aberrational tenden-
cies who are likely to become the mothers of illegitimate chil-
dren, but that such a specialized defect as that of abnormal
lack of self-control may lead an ordinarily intelligent woman
into this predicament. Social workers should come to retrag-
ttize not only the fairly obvious groups of mental abnormalities.

236 THE UNMARRIED MOTHER

but those involving a more subtle analysis. There is indeed
possibility that the study of the individual may reach such
high degree of differentiation that each case will tend to stand
out separately as possessed of so many mental characteristics
that classification in any group save a most general one becomes
impossible. Human personality is capable of infinite dissim*
ilarity.

DefinitionG. The literature on mental abnormality is of
course very large, and there still exists a considerable variety
of opinion on many questions of definition. For the sake of
classification of mental defect, however, the point has been
reached in which it is no longer necessary to be vague. The
American Association for the Study of the Feeble-minded has
adopted definitions which are now in genera! use.

Definitions. The term " mental abnormality " is generally
considered to contain five subdivisions:

(1) By mental defect is meant '" a definite lack of general
mental ability as an irrevocable characteristic. From some
cause existing in the germ plasm or occurring early in the growth
of the individual, mental potentials never became normal.
Full-development capacity was never present and never can
be gained. Mental defect is incurable." '

(4) It is frequently necessary, furthermore, to recognize such
groups as those which contain individuals who are mentally
dull from poor physical condition, or from the indulgence in
various debilitating habits.

(3) Between feeble -mindedness and insanity lies psychic
constitutional inferiority. Individuals belonging in this group
are usually considered to be incapable of social self-control
imdcr ordinary conditions, and to be so on the border-line as
to prove unacceptable to either institutions for the feeble-minded
or those for the insane.

(4) Mental aberrations may occur in individuals who are
not primarily mentally defective, and those who are suffering
from a mental disease which is often curable as bodily diseases
are curable.

' Uealy, William, op. cil., p. 14*.

MENTAL ABNORMALITY

(fi) AmoDg those subject to some form of mental peculiarity
may be included persons who cannot be said to be possessed of
I aberrational tendencies, but whose abnormal behavior is yet
^determined by some special mental twLst.

Mental Detect

MenUl DuUneas troia

Fhynod Cooditian
ConatiLutional Inlerior-

Mental Aberration

(Insaaitics- Paychoaes

Psychopathies)

MeoUl Peculiaritip3

Feeblc-tDinded I

Subnormal

Defective only in
some HiN^cial abil-
ity

PennaneDt

Temporary

f Chronic
\ Temporary

(CTironic
Tempomry

Mental Subnormality. There is a fairly well-distinguished
group of defectives who are generally held to stand between
feeble-minded ness and abnormality, and who for lack of a
better word may be designated as subnormal. Among these
are found those (a) who may pass a mental test above the
level of feeble-niindedness and yet still show sufficient lack of
ability to adapt themselves to their environment; (6) those
who arc unable to pass the test successfully and yet are pos-
sessed of capacities which make them capable of caring for
themselves; (r) those temporarily retarded during school age
without showing three or four years' retardation ; (rf) and finally
those in whom one is not sure of anything save that they are
not quite up to the normal mental powers as shown by tests.
Furthermore individuals who may pass the ordinary mental
tests must sometimes be considered subnormal for their own
social sphere. As illustrative of the mental state of women
who give birth to illegitimate children and who have been clas-
sified as mentally subnormal, the foUowing history is submitted.

THE UNMARRIED MOTHER

Case SQ. This is the case of a border-line defective of Iriah
parentage who had her first child when she was 17 years old.
She is in good physical conditioo. and shows no evidence of
illnesses during her developmental period. The girl's father
is alcoholic and immoral, possessing a long prison record, and
being given to acta of brutality at home. Her mother, a cred-
ulous woman, seems irresimnsible. There are two brothers,
one of whom has a court record, and a sister.

There seems to have been continuous friction in this family,
due to the father's habits, which ended in hb desertion. They
occupy a well-kept tenement in a poor section, for which the
rental is $2.60 a week for four rooms, the girl and her mother
occupying one of them. We note a lack of control on the part
of the mother over her children, and an unwillingness to coflper-
ate with organized efforts for her improvement. The family
seem to have been anxious to get her married and to have pre-
vented her being placed out at the age of 12, a method of treat-
ment which might have saved them later trouble. We have
no history of her physical condition during childhood. An
examination at the age of 19 gives her mentality as Binet 18,
and colls her a " defective delinquent of border-line type."
She was particularly bad-tempered during menstruation.
This girl reached the eighth grade in school, and showed no
marked peculiarities, but soon after got into difficulty with
her bad companions. Her specialty seems to have been that
of an accomplice in various robberies; once with another girl
and two Iwiys, she lured a drunken man into a doorway, where-
upon the boys took five dollars and a silver watch from him.
She and another girl once wrangled with a Chinaman over a
laundry bill while boys rifled his cash drawer. During this
period she worked irregularly in a brush factory and a depart-
nent store, and showed absolutely no progress towards self-
control and decency. At 16 she was committed to an organi-
zation giving institutional care on the charge of "larceny ",
end while there proved troublesome, boisterous, and given to
the use of vile language. Later when placed out, she seems to
have paid little attention to her person, allowing her head to
become so filthy that a hairdresser charged ten dollars to clean
it, but showing unexpected common sense in some things, and
doing her work satisfactorily.

Thb girl is reported to have gone to New York with a girl
and two boys for a week at the age of 12, and she confessed in
court to having been immoral before commitment, and to havine
given birth to a child at 17. She ran from the institution, and

^H was not
^f lived wi

MENTAL ABNORHLVLITY

not located for several months, during which time she
lived with a man for a week, and was immoral with others.
When found, she was at home in bed with her 19-year-old
brother, and was pregnant. She was willing to many the
alleged father of her child, but on investigation he was found
to be worthless, and the matter was dropped. She and her
child are now doing well, and those in charge of the girl look
upon her as a reassuring case.

Case No. 59. Causative factors: (o) Mentality: Sub-
normal. (6) Bad Home Conditions: Girl's father alcoholic
and immoral. Brutal. Long court record. No control
at home. Low standard, (c) Bad Companions: Went
with group who robbed. Stole. Sex -l--|--f-. Age 17.

Feeble-mindedaesB. Although actual feeble-mindedness
constitutes a very serious problem in our communities, one
must not leave out of consideration the fact that it is ordinarily
an inherent lack in the individual plus an unfortunate environ-
mental stimulus which causes the pregnancy of many of the
girls and women under consideration. Many a border-line
case may behave extremely well with only slight supervision.
The difficulty ordinarily arises when for some reason a feeble-
minded girl or young woman has little supervision, or Snds
herself in a situation where opportunities for sexual indulgence
exist, or where definite persuasion is exerted upon her by some
other individual. Many of the women in this study would
undoubtedly become pregnant as frequently as they were physi-
cally capable of so doing were the opportunity at hand, a fact
which points to the need of their segregation. It is, however,
not only the low-grade feeble-minded who form a dangerous
class in the community, but particularly those border-line
cases who sometimes possess special capacity.

The determination of these groups has for some time past
been simplified by the use of mental tests introduced by Binet
and Simon and developed by Goddard, Yerkes, Terman, and
others. The results of the.se tests are open to varying inter-
pretations, much depending upon the skill of the individual
who makes use of them and upon the history of the patient.
Mental tests probably mean little unless they are interpreted

240

THE UNMARRIED MOTHER

in connection with the social and physical history of the indi-
vidual.

Feeble-minded — Morons. The British Royal Commission
for the Study of the Feeble-minded includes in its report in 1908
several definitions. According to this commission, a moron
is defined " as one who is capable of earning a living under
favorable circumstances, but is incapable from mental defect,
existing from birth, or from an early age, (a) of competing on
equal terms with his normal fellows; or (6) managing himself
and his affairs with ordinary prudence." As defined by the
American Association, morons are those who under mental
tests can equal the mental performance of a normal child
between the ages of 7 and 12 years. It shoidd be added that
the tests do not always reveal some special capacity making
for social success.

The importance of this group in the study of the unmarried
mother should be evident from the following cases. The
sexual behavior of these girls is so uniform that the community
cannot long ignore their influence upon public health and upcHi
the ejttent of criminality.

Case 6o. As an indication of combined bad environment-
and mental defect, we note the case of a girl of English -American
parentage who had a child when she was 18 years old. A
psychological examination defined her as a defective delinquent,
and states that she will probably always give trouble. Physi-
cally her history is negative ; she seems to be a well- developed
young woman, being 5 feet 2 inches taU, and weighing 144
pounds at the age of 19. Her father, an upholsterer who is
alcoholic and given to deserting his family at frequent intervals,
while at home is generally abusive. Her mother, of Nova
Scotian stock, is deacril>ed as clean and hard-working, but
possessed of little intelligence. She frcciuently wants her
husband arrested, and then invariably begs him off. The
fraternity includes three brothers and a sister under 18, the.
sister being afflicted with chorea, and tlierc has been one ini»>
carriage.

This family occupies the top floor of a three-story tenement
in a suburban section, which although poor and plainly fur-
nished, they succeed in keeping in clean condition. The fatheri

MENTAL ABNORMALITY

when not drinkJag, is capable of earning $25 a week as a mattress
maker, and one brother gets $15. The trouble in the home
seems to be due to the fact that the father, aside from possess-
ing no standards and eontribnting to the low-grade tone of the
family by his drinking and deserting, is also extremely abusive
towards the children. He is described by his wife as " awful
strict ", whipping his daughter when she is out late, and making
it impossible for her to exercise any reasonable control. The
girl was bom after instrument labor, and had whooping cough
as a child. Her menstrual periods established themselves at
the age of 12, at which time she came to her mother and asked
her what it was all about. The mother told her to keep in the
house and away from the boys, and then secured the help of
an old woman, who instructed her in the meaning of her physio-
logical manifestations. It is not surprising that the girl never
asked any more questions. In school this girl shows herself
to have been dull and given to truancy, reaching the fifth
^ade when she left at 14. She grew into an unmanageable
individual, given to staying out nights and to frequent runaways.
Finally, upon the complaint of the mother, she was arrested
as a " stubborn child ". having been in the company of promis-
cuous soldiers and sailors, and taking every opportunity of
picking up men. Shortly before her commitment she had
worked in an artist's studio and in a candy factory. While in
the institution she did very poor work, being hateful, bad-
terapered, and given to lying and deception. " She does
right away what told not to do," is said of her. After a little
over a year her father made an attempt to move his famdy

I to Brooklyn, and the girl was allowed to go with them. She
tan away after having Iteen there three weeks, and the father
deserted his wife and children at about the same time, making
it necessary for them to return to their former place of resi-
dence. The girl now joined them, securing work in a candy
fiu;tory, but she soon began to receive letters from men in New
York, to stay out late at night, and to behave badly in general.
She now ran away to New York and turned up after some time
with a child which was born in New York. A psychological
examination at this time showed the girl to be a high-grade
defective, and it was held that she was unfit to take proper
care of her child.

Case No. GO. Causative factors : (a) Mentality :" J)e~
fective Delinquent." Moron. (Exam.) {h) Bad Rome

I Conditions: Girl's father alcoholic ; abusive. Girl's mother
had no control; also alcoholic. Too strict. Poverty.

m THE UNMARRIED MOTHER

Girl's father deserts, (c) Bad Companions: Disreputable
boys, (d) Early Sex Experience: Intercourse at 14- Sex
+ + + ■ Age 18.

Case 6i. We have here the case of a young woman of 21, of
American parentage, whom a psychological examination diag-
noses as a defective delinqueut. Her father, who sells pencua
on the street, is considered irresponsible and incompetent,
while her mother, who is deaf, and has always been mentally
unbalanced, has been committed to an epileptic colony. There
is a sister who is being cared for by a charitable agency, and a
brother of whom nothing is known.

This girl was taken when very young, and placed to board by
a public agency until she reached the age of 14, whereupon she
was transferred to a wage home, and at 18 came to this city
to work. According to our report, the children were extremely
neglected by the mother, who left them alone at home, and
allowed them to be on the street at all hours of the night. After
coming to the city, this girl began to live in lodgings, which
were aJways in extremely untidy condition, and to associate
with men of questionable reputation, frequenting dances and
spending much time on the street. Physically she is in good
condition, having first menstruated at the age of 12, but a
mental examination gives her a Binet age of 9|. her actual
aAe at the time being 21. There is some question as to whether
afie is suffering from a psychosis or from a congenital defect;
her visual memory is slightly below normal, her arrangement
of moral questions is illogical, and she showed a lack of rea«>a-
ing and judgment in other tests. Her analytical ability is poor,
apperception fair, attention excellent, and she is suggestible.
If the possibility of a psychosis were ruled out, she might be
classified as a high-grade defective, and an individual who lacks
some of the higher thought processes. Another examinattoa
held at a later time considered her to be well orieotated, fios-
sessed of fair insight, to have made a poor performance of the
educational test, and to be possessed of fair recent and remote
memory. In spite of the fact that this girl's mother was at
the time in an institution for the epileptic, the examiners re-
ported her family history to be negative. The diagnosis in
this case was " not insane, — defective delinquent." After
the birth of her child, while placed in a temporary home, this
girl escaped by means of a fire escape, and found her way to
the place where she had been employed. At 18 she was subji
to violent attacks of temper, and was given to lying and stealing.

MENTAL ABNORMALITY

Wheo angered she screamed aad shook Iier fist, making such a
Bccne that it has been necessary to call in the police. At one
restaurant where she was employed she was discharged because
she was willing to reduce the check for several patrons who were
young men.

This girl met the father of her child, a young man of 23,
through a friend who was employed with her, and soon went
to lodge with his sister. He was a farm hand earning ?30 a
month and board, and the girl once had intercourse with him
in the country, whereupon she became pregnant. We note
that she was often asked to leave her lodgings because of the
number of young men whom she entertained in her room.
She stated that she could not understand this, as she considered
it one of the privileges of living out. Men were frequently
seen coming out of her room at an early hour of the morning,
and there is no doubt but that she was promiscuous. Her child
has been given to public care, and the girl herself committed
to an institution for the feeble-minded.

Case No. 61. Causative factors : (a) Mentality: "De-
fective Delinquent," Moron type. (Exam.) (6) Bad
Rome Condiliona: Boarded out at an early age. (c)
Heredity: Girl's father ignorant and incompetent. Girl's
mother committed, epileptic. Sex +++. Age 21.

Special Defect — Self-control. Doctor Healy devotes con-
siderable space to the discussion of special defects, drawing
attention to the fact that probably " we all have locahzed
spots of weakness, . . . thevast majorityofwhichdonothinder
one's social success." There are, however, specialized defects
such as those of language or arithmetic which may be distinct
antecedents of delinquency. In these cases we have found
many qualities lacking in the individuals under consideration
who might otherwise have been designated as mentally normal,
but only in relatively few instances have we noted more than
one defect to be of real importance as a causative factor in
unmarried motherhood. There is a class of individuab who
seem to Healy to possess " a special, definite, innate defect in
the power of self-control." It is diflScult in our study of the
adolescent girl to be certain that the trait which one is con-
sidering is permanent, and care must be taken to distinguish
between defect in self-control and adolescent instability. The

244 THE UNMARRIED MOTHER

treatment of such cases of special defect should consist in sup- I

plying the individual " with the most stable environment '

possible " and in keeping him removed from such " stimulants ]

as alcohol, excessive coffee and tobacco, which would tend to ]
increase his own nervous and explosive tendencies." '

Here follow two cases which we have felt justified in mduding j
under this head.

Case 63. This American girl of French descent is a preco-
cious type, and has been getting into difficujties since childhood.
The history of inheritance is as follows: father alcoholic, ar-
rested for breaking and entering, and died in State prison two
months before the birth of this girl. Her mother's brother
was insane. One of her brothers was insane, and another was a
deserter from the navy.

Little is known of her childhood history except that the girl
was persistently disobedient and impudent. She attended
three convent schools and was dismissed from each one. Later
she went to live with her mother, who kept house for her tmole
and cousins. They Uved in a congested and pernicioua neigh-
borhood, and while the home was neat and tidy, it was here
that she first manifested her immoral tendencies with her
cousins. Her mother was weak, could not speak English, and
had no control. The girl said that she was fond of her mother,
but could not live with her. Soon she began to run aw^
frequently and stayed out late at night, a.'ssociating with low
companions, and was very friendly with a 15-year-old girl who
was a vagrant, staying anj-where she could. At last her mother
was glad to send her to an institution. Here she did well, was
considered exceptionally bright, was enthusiastic about her
work, and tried hard. Gradually she lost control of herself,
displayed violent temper, was suspicious, ran away, and became
promiscuous. Finallj' she was transferred to an institution
where the restraint was more rigid. She was confined at 19
at the expen.se of the State. Apparently her child was very J
healthy, and she was %'ery fond of it, and felt keenly her dia-l
grace. She made an attempt to disappear, but failed. Colt* I
tinually through this history she made repealed efforts to be I
good, and as control broke down, she felt that her inheritance!
was against her, and shifted the responsibility for her acts t
her father's criminal tendencies.

She says that her interest in sex matters was first aroused |
' Hcaly, William, op. at., p. &U.

MENTAL ABNORMALITY

245

in her own home, where she had intercourse with her cousins.
At times she seemed obsessed with sex desires. She was a
strong, precocious type, and her passions were continually
overcoming her inhibitions. Finally she so gave vent to her
aex feelings that she entirely disregarded community staadards,
and with heredity for an excuse gave herself over to extreme
promiscuity. There were no facts given concerning the father
of the child.

Case No. 62. Causative factors : (a) Mentality: De-
fect in self-control. Incorrigible. Ran away often, (6)
Heredity: Girl's father alcoholic and criminal. Girl's
brother insane. Another brother deserter from Navy,
(c) Abnormtd Sexualism: Always overcoming inhibitions.
Strong type, (d) Bad Home Conditions: Girl's mother
weak and no control. Girl first immoral with cousin with
whom family lived, (c) Bad Companions: Girls of low
sort. One a vagrant at 15. Sex -|- + -f-. Age 19.

Case 63. This is the case of a girl of Irish parentage who
had an illegitimate child when 18 years old, and another at
the age of 20. Her father died when she was two years old,
whereupon her mother remarried, the stepfather being a hard
drinker who has a court record. TJie mother's reputation was
by no means good, and she seems to have taken very little in-
terest in her daughter. The family includes one sister and
tliree brothers, the oldest of whom has been in an insane
asylum for the last five years.

This girl lived with relatives in Canada imtil the age of 9,
and thereupon came to a near-by industrial town to live with
her mother. The home is fair as far as the needs of life are
concerned, but the girl was always a center of quarreling on
account of the fact that her stepfather disliked her because
she was not his child ; there was a general opinion that the
child was abused. She was unusually dirty and apparently
starved, and seeming to receive absolutely no care from her
parents. The developmental history shows her to have had
scarlet fever, mumps, and measles, and to possess at the age
of 14 the physical development of a grown woman. At IS
she weighed 130 pounds and was 1 feet U inches tall. We
have no school history, but she succeeded in passing the most
difficult Binet tests, and was considered not feeble-minded
insane. Her behavior, however, was such as leads us
believe that this girl represents one of a class who, although
passing the ordinary tests easily, are yet unable to adapt

Ve M

to I

■

pt ■

946

THE UNMARRIED MOTHER

themselves to life in the community owing to some spenal
defect, such as a defect in self-control. At about the time
when she was 12 years old this girl began to show signs of a
tendency, manifesting itself in a desire to steal. She claims
that she wa^ born with this temptation, and that she was utterly
unable to resist it. At this time we find that she had absolutely
no normal friendships among her own sex, and that she roamed
around at will during the day, while her mother worked out,
nor does she seem to have been at all desirous for the companion-
.ship of other girb, her chief obsession being for little boys.
This girl is one of the few cases in which we have been able
to secure definite information regarding a tendency to become
intimate with young boys strong enough to cause her to coax
them into the house when she was there alone. We still hes-
itate to call this an abnormal manifestation in adolescent girls.
Her commitment to an organization giving institutional care
was on the charge of larceny, and may have come as a relief
to her parents, whom she refused to obey, and who seemed
desirous of getting rid of her. While under correctional in-
fluence she proved herself an affectionate child, not troublesome,
but somewhat precocious. After nearly three years she was
placed at housework, and soon began to associate with boys.
She seems to have been able to control her desire to steal for
a short time only, for within three or four months we find her
refusing to work, and taking things without confessing that
she had done so. At this time she was employed near a boys'
reformatory, and her employer one day took her into the build-
ing and told her that if she persisted in thieving she would be
sent to a similar place ; since this time she has never been known
to steal. It was necessary to move her from this position
because she got to know the men in the reformatory, a desire
for whose companionship became an obsession, and she was
relumed to the institution. Wliile there she poured oil on a
lighted fire, burning her face severely. When once more put
into the community, she .seemed to make a determined effort
to improve, but soon became slack and unwilling to worki
and the fact that she was pregnant was revealed. Her child,
a six and a half pound girl, was bom after a Ceesarian opera^
tion, and the girl was placed in a wage home. It is interest-
ing to note that she immediately began to improve, and when
allowed to do factory work, succeeded in earning from $10
to $14 a week, only to be found pregnant again. This time
the child, an eight and a half pound boy, bom after another
Caesarian operation, died the next day of septicaemia, and

>ther M
1 the ■

^M mother
^f we hea

MENTAL ABNORMALITY 247

mother was returned to the institution. Upon coming of age
we hear of this girl as working, having given up the child to
the State, and it is probable that she is still unable to control
her sexual desires.

It is easy to see that the girl in this case is possessed of strong
desire for sexual intercourse. Although we have no history
of any immorality before her commitment, this is not surprising
when we remember that she was at that time only 12 years old.
Within two months of her reinstatement in the community,
when not quite 15, she succeeded in being immoral, allowing
the grocery boy to have relations with her twice in her em-
ployer's house. Nothing could be done to establish the pater-
nity of this child, and she was soon immoral again, and once
more pregnant, the child dying within two months. She claims
that she only saw the father of the second child once, and that
she did not know his name. It appears, however, that she met
him at a moving-picture show, and that she was immoral with
him when her employer supposed her to be at the theater.
The father was the cause of another girl's pregnancy soon after
this girl became pregnant by him, and he disappeared. The
girl took medicine until seven months pregnant, and laced
extremely in the attempt to produce an abortion. She claims
that her pregnancy was the result of five or six sexual relation-
ships with this boy, and advances the ingenious theory that
during December and January her craving for men is so strong
that she cannot resist. Owingto the fact that both of her ehil-
dren were bom in October it seems probable that the idea of
her extreme desire during the ninth month previous was some-
thing of an afterthought, and that had they both been born in
March she would probably have considered her period of great-
est sex desire to be in June. This girl claims that if her mother
had given her proper care she would not have become delin-
quent. She is neither penitent nor frightened at her condition,
and is the possessor of a robust belief which holds that evea
if she has been bad " she will be better."

Case No. 63. Causative factors : (a) Mentality: Not
feeble-minded or insane. (Exam.) Special defect in self-
control. (6) Bad Home Conditions: Girl illegitimate.
Lived with her mother as sister. No sympathy and ques-
tionable standards. No control. Starved. Lies and
steals. Sex -I--I--I--I-. Age 18.

Mental Aberration. Aberrational mental conditions, while
frequently resisting definitive classification, may yet be grouped

MB THE CNMARBIED MOTHER '

into major and minor diriuona. Anmiig tbe former one findi
the well-defined payAoees which maj- be either temporary or
cfaronic. Under this hca^ng belong dementia pnecox, paresis,
meUnc-hoUa. manic-depressive insanity, epileptic psydioses,
and paranoia. Under the head of minor mental aberrationa
may be induded traumatic psychoses, menstrual mental aber-
ration, mental aI>erration due to bad sex habits, and hysteria,
with the aberrationB of adolescence and those resulting from the
use of alcohol and drugs.

Dementia Pnecox. The advent of this psychosis is usually
heralded hy Nj'niptoms arising during adolescence. An indi-
vidual sufTering from dementia pnecox may very evidently
he free from mental defect, while exhibiting symptoms of a
well-marked abnormal tendency. Among these manifestations
appear extreme shyness and fear which may give way to vio-
lence. Authorities in this field find that the early symptoms
are frequently accompanied by bad sex practices, such as mas-
turbation, with the result that it is sometimes difficult to con-
vince the relatives that the patient's disease itself is not caused
by Much hnbitit. Those sutTering from dementia pnecox are
given to obsessional mental states, often entertaining the idea
of Huicide. Drx;tor Heoly's study of a thousand youthful
delinquents revealed only twenty-five cases in which the in-
dividuiU was possibly suffering from this psychosis.

In only two or three instances have we felt justified in char-
acterising a girl or woman in this study to be suffering from this
form of insanity, and then only on the basb of mental exam-
ination.

Caie 64. This is the case of an American girl of Irish-Por-
tuffuese descent. She was short, undeveloped, and had a weak
face. Hy the age of 1 1 she was continuously on the street, and
was known everywhere as a wayward child, nmuing away,
and having sexual relationships with boys from the age of 12.
The inheritance history is very significant. For years the
father has been grossly immoral, spending much money on
prostitutes 1 he was also alcoholic. Her mother was mentally
defective, and probably epileptic; she would fall on the floor
and be unable to get up for some time. The children all

loor ^U
uue ^M

[

MENTAL ABNORMALITY

249

very fast, and of the seven children all died under six months,
except the girl in this case.

Owing to the bad reputation of the family, they were forced
to move constantly, always living in low-grade neighborhoods.
The father was illiterate, but an efficient mechanic. He often
deserted the family, and stayed away at one time for four
years. As a young boy he was arrested for breaking and enter-
mg. He used the vilest language at home, and the mother
often accused him of immorality before the girl. The mother
worked out, and hod absolutely no control over her daughter.
This girl was a full-term child, apparently normal, and was
breast-fed. The parents were 39 and 38 at conception, and
during pregnancy the mother was subject to " fits." As a
child the girl developed slowly, though she had no serious ill-
nesses, and she was impudent, disobedient, deceitful, and always
on the streets. She left school at the sixth grade to take care
of her mother. Her conduct while there was good, her attend-
ance was irregular, and she was especially backward in arith-
metic. Later she did a little housework, was considered willing
and neat, but not dependable. As a tittle girl her father took
her to saloons and fishing smacks to sing to the men, and she
thoroughly enjoyed these trips. Later she became very pro-
miscuous in these same places. No decent girl would associate
with her, and she later consorted with her father's prostitutes.
At 17 she became a mother, and was cared for at a maternity
home. The child weighed seven pounds at birth. When it
was a few weeks old she began to act strangely ; she said God
told her that she would l>e put away, waked other patients
and asked them if they were cold, and would not eat for four
days. She lost interest in her child, and would bite him instead
of kissing him, and said she was going to Heaven. A psycho-
pathic examination revealed this condition to be a dementia
prKcox, and advised segregation in an insane hospital.

This girl claims that she was first immoral with a boy of 18
at the age of 12, and thereafter was extremely promiscuous;
she visited beaches and boats, picked up men, and lived the
most abandoned kind of a hfe for two or three years. She
ran away to Canada twice, and the last time was found with
a man, and was arrested and sent to an organization giving
institutional care. Because of her excessive immorality, it
was impossible to prosecute the father of her child.

Case No. 64. Causative factors: (a) Mentality: De-
mentia Preecox. (Exam.) Excessive sex record. To be
committed. (6) Heredity: Girl's father immoral, intern-

250 THE UNMARRIED MOTHER

perate. Deserted family and lived with women. As boy
committed for breaking and entering. Mother mentally
defective and possibly epileptic. Six children all died
under six months, (c) Barf Home CondUiona: Girl's father
fought and separated from wife. He took girl to saloona
and fishing smacks to entertain men. Family received
public aid. (d) Bad Ctmipaniona: Went with one of her
father's mistresses. No good girls would go with her,
(e) Physical: Girl's mother had fits during pregnancy.
Took much paregoric. Sex + + + + . Age 17.

Case 65. We have here the case of a woman of 30 of Scotch

f>areatage, who became an unmarried mother, and who is suf-
ering from dementia prsecox, and who neglects her child so
as to injure its health. This woman's father, who was tuber-
cular, lost his life in an accident in a paper mill. Her mother,
who is below par mentally, is lonely and helpless. The frater-
nity includes a tubercular brother of excellent reputation now
in a sanitarium, and a sister who died of the same disease.

The family lived in a house, the rent of which was paid by
the mill in which the father was killed. Conditions indicate
that the mother is fully aware of her daughter's mental condi-
tion, and ia unwilling to commit her because of her kindness
to her. She is unable to exert any control over her, however,
with the result that her daughter behaves as she plea.ses. For
ft short time she was employed as nursemaid and general maid
in a doctor's family, never associating with any one, and we
find her later committed to an asylum only to be released at
her mother's request when not recovered, but only somewhat
improved. After this she was lost sight of for several months
previous to her confinement. This woman always gave indi-
cations of mental subnomiality ; she wa.s nervous and easily
excited, very susceptible to being falsely judged, once even
threatening to take her life ; she begged to be sent to an insane
asylum, shrieking and weeping continually. Shortly before
her pregnancy she fell into the habit of stealing. She wishes
to be committed at one moment, and is afraid that she will be
committed the next. The father of this woman's child told her
to find some other man on whom to place the blame, claiming
that his relations with her could not have been the cause of her
pregnancy.

This woman tells a story of being twice assaulted by men,
and claims that she e.scaped the first time by pleading that she
was virtuous, with which the man agreed, and let her go. The

■he ^
rfae ■

MENTAL ABNORMALITY «6l

second assault occurred soon after a Thanksgiving dance, at
which she had made an engagement with a man. Wtieo out
walking with him he playfully ran after her and threw her on
the ground. She was once discharged because of her atteaUoo
to the male members of the family in which she worked. This
woman claims that a foolish man of 50 b willing to marry her,
and that that would perhaps be a way out of her troubles.
Case No. 65. Causative factors: (a) MenlalUy: De-
mentia priecox. (6) Bad Home Conditions. Woman's
father dead. Mother mentally low grade, (c) Heredity:
Mother defective. Woman's father tubercular. Woman's
brother and sister tubercular. Stole. Sex + + ■ Age 30.

Hysterical Mental Aberrations. " The term hysteria rep-
resents an abnormal condition of the nervous system which is
evidenced by the most numerous and variable signs and symjK
toms of mind and body that are to be found in any disease." '
Hysteria frequently is found in forms where the indi\'idual is not
subject to any particular attacks of excitement, although it
ordinarily has its well-known emotional disturbances, being
much more common in females than in males, The offenses
which follow in the wake of this condition are " false accusations
and other excessive lying, threatening suicide, running away,
vagrancy, begging 'and obtaining money by false pretences,
petty steahng, notorious obscenity, and the more passive sex
offences." It is impossible to begin to discuss at this place the
enormous field of actions arising from a hysterical condition,
but it has seemed worth while to include three cases in which
the girl or woman seemed to us justly classifiable as hysterical
or psychoneurotic.

Case 66. This is the case of a girl bom in this country of
English parents, who had an illegitimate child at 20, and another
at ii. At IS she weighed 119 pounds and was five feet tall,
showing good development in spite of the fact that she had
been delicate all through her childhood, and v/as suspected of
tuberculosis at 14. A psychopathic examination, though prov-
ing her not feeble-minded or committahle, yet revealed what
we may consider marked aberrational tendencies. Her par-
ents had made a forced marriage, and bad never succeeded in
' Heaiy, Willum, op. at., p. MA.

252 THE UNMARRIED MOTHER

establishing a stable home. Her father's occupation varied
from that of a sewing-machine agent to that of actor ; he was
intemperate, grossly immoral, and n on -supporting, and died
of typhoid pneumonia the year that this girl was bom. His
mother was tubercular. The girl's mother is a truly pathetic
figure, ignorant but hard-working, having done her beat to
support her children by working in a twine factory. Her
brother died of tuberculosis.

With her mother and one sister this girl occupied three rooms
at low rent, which by constant effort her mother succeeded in
keeping in neat and orderly condition. Another sister was
married, living ofl and on with her husband, and contributing
to the immoral and quarrelsome environment surrounding
this girl's youth. One sLster had an illegitimate child at an
early age, another contracted a forc-ed marriage, became most
immoral, and is now a common prostitute. We can hardly
overestimate the moral degradation enclosed within the four
walls of this so-called home. There is nothing of significance
in the antenatal or childhood history of the girl. We do not
know whether her father died during her mother's pregnancy
or not; under any conditions his death cannot have been a
severe blow, he had so long been immoral and non-supporting.
Tfhis girl passed her first menstrual period at 15 without trouble,
but she was always irregular, menstruation once ceasing for
seven months. It was at this time, at the age of 15, that she
seemed tul>ercular. although no bacilli were found, and " she
felt so miserable as to wish herself dead." In sihool she reached
the seventh grade at the age of 14, and although not considered
especially bright, we find that her conduct, with the exception
of some truancy, was good. Her behavior out of school, how-
ever, was becoming more and more culpable, due to her wretched
environment and her inherent traits. Her mother soon found
herself incapable of control or supervision, as she was away
at work each day, and became fearful of the girl's immoral
tendencies. She consequently gave her over to the care of a
private society, who placed her in a series of homes. In eacfa
of these she started well, exercising temporary control over
herself, but always ending in outbreaks of violent temper so
marked that it became necessary at the age of 17 to place hep
with a society giving institutional care. While here she seems
to have shown some improvement in self-control, and to have
learned something of hou.sework and sewing. She was, however,
unpopular among the girls and matrons, manifesting a trouble-
some disposition, accompanied by her old attacks of insanfl

MENTAL ABNORMALITY i5S

temper. Her mental history is interesting. She passed the
Binet test at 11.2 when 19 years old, showing no basis for
commitment in the opinion of her examiners. Her aberrational
tendency seems to be well marked, howe\'er, for she was subject
to hysterical attacks accompanied by an insane temper, she
often threatened suicide, and made frequent and temporarily
Buccessful attempts to escape from the institution in which she
was confined. With this she was dishonest and deceitful,
and while in one of her attacks would " throw things" and
scream. Later, while pregnant for the first time, she would
hold up the baby clothes on which she had been sewing, hug
them, and go off into an attack of hysteria. She used vile
language continually, and once while placed out, when prevented
from seeing a young man, she flourished a butcher knife and
threatened to kill botli herself and her employer. After two
years spent under reformatory influence, she was again given
an opportunity to do housework in the community, but after
a few months' trial it was found necessary to return her to the
institution. When another attempt was made, she was immoral
and became pregnant. Placed out with ber child at the age
of 20, she kept control of herself with occasional sexual lapses
until the next year, when on returning to live with her mother
she again became pregnant. At the age of 21 she supported
herself, as best she could, by working in a restaurant and in a
chocolate factory. She now seemed to have her hysterical
attacks less frequently, though they had continued from 14
to 21. We wish, however, to draw particular attention to
another trait, her almost insatiable desire for men.

This girl exhibited what we feel justified in calling an abnor-
mal sex desire. Her mother had not been able to prevent
her immoralitie.s with boys, which began when she was 14.
She was later literally unable to keep away from men, and while
placed out she succeeded in having sexual intercourse with
strangers, with surprising regularity. She said: " I can't be
good, and I don't want to be." Boys and men alone interested
her. " I never had a girl friend, and I never wanted one."
So marked was her sexual demand that she attempted to escape
during one of her menstrual periods from the institution where
she was placed, for the sole purpose of intercourse. She boasted
of her strong sex desire, and was proud of her pregnancy. " I
am not sorry to he pregnant," she said, " becaiise I love the
little one, but it is so sad to bring a child into the world without
home and father." And she wrote to the father of her first
child, " I will take great comfort in the little one because you

254

THE UNMARRIED MOTHER

are its father. Won't you marry me for the baby's sake?
Throughout her whole life we find the belief that she could get
married, as her mother and two sisters had done, by becoming
pregnant. The knowledge of their irregularities may have
removed what few inhibitions she herself possessed. " How
can I expect to be good when my mother and sister both had to
get married? " she said. She began by being promiscuoua
with boys before 14, she herself seeking the opportunity, and
continued both with schoolboys and men. She was immoral
at 16 over a considerable period of time with her employer's
husband during his wife's absence. Her first pregnancy was
the result of three or four relationships with a switchman whom
she had just met. He settled the case by paying $300. The
second father was a conductor whom she met on the cars;
when her mother called on him, he denied ever having seen the
girl. It was felt that her record was so bad that prosecution
would be useless. She seems to have been fond of her first
child, she was really attached to its father, and to have hoped
that " the Lord would take her second." After attempting
to support both children for a time, tlie younger child contracted
whooping cough and died at the age of three months. When
last heard of, the oldest child was being brought up in the same
poverty and immorality that surrounded its mother in her
youth.

Case No. 66. Causative factors : (a) Mentality: Binet
11.2, age 19. Not feeble-minded. Not committable.
Hysterical. Insane temper. Threatens suicide. (6) Bad
Rome Conditions: Girl's father dead. Neglected family.
Mother works out. Sister had illegitimate child; another
a prostitute, (c) Abnormal Sexualism: Excessive sex
desire and experience. " Crazy about men always." (d)
Bad Companions: Never wanted girl friends. Bad boys.
(e) Heredity: Girl's father and mother immoral. Uncle
and mother tubercular. Her father died of pneumonia.
Sister " bronchial trouble." Her father alcoholic and
deserter. (/) Phyxieal: Delicate. Menstruation ceased
seven months. Question of tuberculosis. High strung;
nervous. Sex + + ++. Age 20.

Case 67. In this case a New England woman of 2d was
found to have had psychoneurotic tendencies for yejirs. An
alienist examined her when she was 15, following several attacks
of hysteria which had ended in a nine days' trance, and he said
that be thought that she showed a strong tendency to insanity.

I
I
I

MENTAL ABNORMALITY

i55

When this study was made, this woman had had three illegit-
imate children by different men. Her mother was a reputable
woman of 73, and for some time had suffered from nervousaess
and spells of depression. Her father died four years ago at
the age of 75, cause unknown. One sister has been divorced.

This woman's home showed every sign of prosperity, and her
mother was loyal to her daughter throughout her experiences,
and even lied to shield her from blame. She refused to consider
inatitutionai care for her daughter, and forbade agents interested
in her daughter's welfare to enter her home. It was learned
that this woman had never been controUed at home, and she
was on the streets a great deal of the time with a group of low
boys and men. For years her mother had kept a large boarding
house, and one of the alleged fathers was a boarder. At IS
this woman had chorea and hysteria. She left school in the
sixth grade at 15. The neighbors had felt that she was not
bright. In later years, when examined by a specialist, she waa
found to be 10 years old by the Binet test. Her learning ability
was excellent, but she was found to be very suggestible. Diag-
nosis, psycho neurosis. Wassermann negative. Her manner
was noted to have been very peculiar and abrupt, and she
appeared to be somewhat stupid. She talked incessantly and
disconnectedly, and her mind was ever dwelling on sex matters.
She often complained that people were staring at her on the
street cars. Her mother attributed her laxness and peculiari-
ties to the conflict which her daughter had gone through when
the alleged father of her first child deserted her when she was
18. and in a pregnant condition. She worked for a few weeks
as a salesgirl in a department store, earning $6 a week, but was
discharged because she was unable to make measurements
correctly. She waa engaged at 17 to a German who deserted
her previous to her confinement. Her family had him arrestedi
but the case was dropped as the child died at the age of two
months of marasmus. Two years later she became engaged
to a Welshman, a boarder in her mother's home, and all ar-
rangements were made for the wedding, according to their
story, but after procuring a license he disappeared. This sec-
ond chUd was bom at the mother's home, but its whereabouts
were never known, except when aided by a charity. The third
father, a widower living in the neighborhood, was forbidden to
come to her home, antl so she visited him at his room in his
boarding place. This man stated that he would many her,
but would not live with her. He took out a marriage license,
and then left for another State. Shortly after this he was

266

THE UNMARRIED MOTHER

reported to have died of blood poisoning. The woman and her
baby were being cared for by a child-helping agency at t
last report.

Case No, 67. Causative factors: (a) Mentality: Pay-
choneurosis. Binet 10. Hysteria; tendency to insanity.
(fc) Bad Borne Conditions: Allowed to run streets without
control. Family would not allow man to come to house,
so woman vi.sits him. (c) Bad Companions: Went with
group of low men. Deserted by three men. Sex +-f-.
Age 18.

Case 68. A physician who examined this girl, who became
pregnant at the age of 15. considers that she may be perhaps
m the early stages of dementia prtecox. She is an extremely
hysterical type, and causes a good deal of general disturbance.
Her father, a Canadian, has been a teamster for some time,
and for some years has been very intemperate. He has suffered
from nervous prostration and melancholia, having attempted
suicide and being in need of treatment by a specialist. His
father died in the insane asylum, and hi-s brothers and sisters
are also reported to be insane. His mother had attacks of
insanity following childbirth, as a young woman, and his sister
was sexually immoral for years. The girl's mother, an angular
woman of fair intelligence, who has had several miscarriages,
is somewhat lax in discipline, allowing her children a great
deal of liberty. Her father died of cancer some time ago, and
she herself suffers from severe headaches. The fraternity in-
cludes an immoral sister, of coarse and sensuous type, a young
sister who is nervous, and two brothers, one of whom has suf-
fered from melancholia.

This family occupies a cottage which they own in a good
locality, and appear to be in comfortable financial condition.
The father's immoral sister, who lived with them for some
time, was finally forced to leave, but the moral atmosphere ot
the home does not seem to have been permancnUy improved.
As we have indicated, this girl's older sister bears a very poor
reputation, being considered a streetwalker, and given to the
use of objcctionai>le language. The girls are continually OD
the street with men and boys, it being impossible for the mother,
who is easy-going, to control either of them. The result haa
been that the girl in question has associated with a very promis-
cuous crowd of girls and young men. with little to protect her
in the way of standards or super\'ision. It became so habitual
for the police to order this girl off the street that her father

MENTAL ABNORMALITY 257

complamed that he would go to the mayor on the matter unless
they ceased doing so, he beliewng her innocent. The police
urged the mother to request her daughter's commitment to
an institution, which she refused to do. The girl's siater claims
that she herself has never been immoral and says : " I would
smash any fellow in the face who got fly with me." There is
absolutely' nothing against this girl contained in her school
history, where she proved herself to be talented, enjoying his-
tory, mathematics, and music, and graduating with honors.
Her conduct was good and her scholarship excellent. We note
the fact of unusual premature puberty in this case, her men-
strual periods establishing themselves at the age of 10, since
which time she has matured rapidly, and has been subject
to frequent spells of hysteria. This manifested itself later as
the resiJt of a mental conflict under which the girl seems to
have been living because of her continual struggle, during her
immorality, between what she was doing and what she knew
she ought to do. Her hysteria became localized in abdominal
pains for which the physicians found no physical basis, their
prognosis being that the only cure lay in a new environment
and in a new circle of friends. Upon leaving school we find
her working at home, reading novels and newspapers, and
being possessed of a desire to become an artist. She had no
particular duties, at this time, with the result that she went
to bed late and got up late, becoming increasingly more willful
and fretful. Although small for her age, we find her mature
looking, well developed, and attractively dressed, although
she gives the impression of talking for effect, often mentioning
her desire to commit suicide in order to attract attention and
sympathy. She claims that she was at one time severely
frightened by the fact that a lodger who came home intoxicated
mistook her room for his, causing her to experience a great
shock. At times this girl will lie on the floor and scream for
a period of two hours, complaining of terrible pains in her head
and of numbness, this occurring especially during her menstrual
periods. That some of this is imagination is indicated by the
fact that she will sometimes suddenly forget her attack, and
will go out of doors, and play with her friends all afternoon.
Her mind is constantly on her ailments, and she speaks of what
she enjoys in the past tense, having given up all hope of ever
being well. At the same time she uses extremely vile language,
is shameless in her frank interest in boys and young men, and
treats each situation that arises in a quick and offhand manner
which is at times attractive.

Sss

THE UNMARRIED MOTHER

This girl states that she suffers because of the fact that she
has no control over herself when with men, and tells long and
complicated stories of immoralities dating from the time she
was 12 years old. She is a type interesting to boys, and seems
to have become acquainted with sex matters at an early age,
a girl friend stating that this girl was with her on various oc-
casions when she had intercourse with different men. One day
she and her sister were visited by two men, and her sister took
one of them with her into another room. The girl states that
one of the men, who was lying on the couch near her while she
was sitting on a chair, drew her on to the couch and assaulted
her, as a result of which she was ill the whole night following.
The man in question, when accused, stated that he " nevCT
troubled girls of that age ", and furthermore added that the
pirl herself was so dirty and disheveled at that time that no
man would care to have intercourse with her. Her sister admitJ
having left her alone with this young man, but does not believe
that she was assaulted, because of the fact that she made no
outcry whatever. The man, who was 36 years of age, has been
arrested, but his case has not yet come up for trial. The giri
shows some shame and a distinct mental conflict over the fact
that she cannot avoid intercourse with men, admitting that she
has no real affection for them beyond that of a purely sexual
demand. She realizes the gravity of her behavior, and feeb
that life is all over for her.

Case No. 68. Causative factors: (a) MentalUy: Ex-
tremely hysterical. (Exam.) (6) Bad Htyme Condiiioni:
Girl's father had melancholia. Intemperate. Mother
unreliable. Sister immoral. Ignorant. No control.
(c) Mental Coixftict: Because unable to resist men, (d)
Bad Companions: On streets with low-class friends, (e)
Heredity: Paternal grandmother insane. Paternal grand-
father insane. Motner's uncle also insane, and mother's
aunts. (/) Physical: Premature puberty. Menstruated
at 10. Sex-H-I-. Age 15.

Psychic Constitutional Inferiority. This form of mental
peculiarity may be recognized by chronic abnormal mental
and social reaction to the ordinary conditions of life. Such
traits cannot be classified in any of the groups of insanities,
neuroses, or mental defects. This is the class which had often
been dealt with under such terras as psychopathic personality,
psychopathic inferiority, degeneracy, and morbid personality. ]

[

MENTAL ABNORMALITY 269

Such individuals are frequently egocentric, selfish, irritable,
and very suggestible. Some of them may be regarded as dis-
tinctly bright, even geniuses, although incapable of meeting
the steady demands of the world. They are often subject to
general nervousness, but under proper supervision may be
capable of remarkably good behavior.. The following case
should illustrate this form of mental peculiarity.

Case 69. We have, in the case of this Jewess, the history of
a girl of marked capacity along certain lines. She had one
child, bom when she was 10 years old. At 16 this girl behaved
and looked as if she were 20, and showed a good carriage and
bearing. She is the possessor of what seems a special language
ability, and has the magnetism necessary for holding the at-
tention of a group. Her manner of speech is striking and con-
vincing, and she has all her life been desirous of becoming ao
actress. Her father, a tailor, has spent his life in an attempt
to support his family: he does not drink, but is somewhat
lacking in patience, and makes the mistake of beating his
children in a most abusive manner when they disobey. The
mother is temperate and intelligent, but somewhat delicate.
This girl is the second of six children, all of whom have shown
no evidences of delinquency. Her older sister dances and is
engaged in theatricals.

The family formerly lived in a near-by town, and moved to
the city two years before the girl's commitment. They occupy
a five-room tenement in a congested section, which they keep
in good order. Throughout this girl's whole history we find
the parents making every effort at control, the difficulty lying
in their lack of intelligence, and in the fact that they were simply
incapable of understanding so talented and complex a person
as their daughter. Whenever she did anything wrong, the
father engaged in a fight with her, beating her and pulling her
hair. As she was not the sort to take this complacently, pitched
battles often ensued, and the result was that she spent less and
less time at home. The parents spoke Yiddish and the children
English, and a further source of trouble lay in their continued
opposition to the girl's plan for going on the stage. She had no
children's diseases excepting diphtheria, and matured normally,
menstruating at 13. She became nervous at this time, and
indulged in strange whims, such as insisting thai her youngest
brother call her " mother", a desire which she retained for some
years. She was at this time extremely melancholy.

260

THE UNMARRIED MOTHER

Apsychopathicexamination revealed interesting facts; she
Dot considered defective but suffering from a " difficulty of tem-
perament ", a psychopathic personahty, or, to use a more illumi-
nating phrase, this girl seems to be suffering from psychic con-
stitutional inferiority. It is difficult to give an account of her
complex mental peculiarities; she writes letters with no inten-
tion of sending them, and has lapses of memory in regard to
certain experiences which she has gone through. She shows
great instability, and starts her work well only to go to pieces
suddenly. Later, while doing housework, she dropped a tray of
dishes, and when asked why she did it she said that she couldn't
help it, that life was to her an acted drama, and tliat at the
time when she dropped the dishes she had been in the midst
of a love scene, had become engaged to the hero, only to have
the engagement terminated; she dropped the tray at the;
moment when he told her that they could not marry. We
note in her letters a tendency to dramatize all of her experiences
and to look upon herself with self-pity, a state of mind which
will justify almost any action. She is vei^ sensitive, and feels
that God planned her work.

This girl graduated from grammar school and showed her
interest for the stage, running away from home several
times, once with a theatrical tTou|>e. She was placed on pro-
bation. At this time she studied at a dramatic school, learning
various parts and exhibiting real talent. She could not be
moral, however, and persisted in staying away from home,
drank a little too much at her friends' Bohemian gatherings
now and then, and is described as " artistic but not moral,"
She also attempted to do a little work, but the opportunities
which offered themselves did not suit her tastes. Her par-
ents found themselves absolutely unable to control her, and
she was committed to an organization giving institutional
care at the age of 16, after repeated efforts had been made
to give her a good start in the commmiity. While there she
felt that she was going insane, and imagined herself haunted
by some one. After a little over a year she was placed out at
housework. We can understand this girl's hatred of this occu-
pation. She seemed to do well at first, only to prove herself
after five months' trial under various employers, as incapable
on account of impudence and absent-mindedness, due to her
preoCT^pation with the part she was " acting." She was thua
allowed to go home to work for her father, which did not pit
her. and she began to look for an opportunity to lecture.

To the surprbe of those who had her in charge this girl next

MENTAL ABNORMALITY 261

nouDced herself, from a small city in upper New York, as a crew
manager for a buokselling concern at u salary of 9'i5 a week.
In this capacity she canvassed many of the towns in that section
of the State during the next six months. She soon got into
trouble, however, contracted gonorrhoea, and became pregnant,
word of her condition being forwarded by a charitable agency
in a neighboring State. When attempts were made to per-
suade her to return to this State for treatment and confinement,
she refused to do so until it became necessary to use subterfuge.
She met two men in a New York city one afternoon, who in-
vited her to take an automobile ride. When she consented
they carried her across the State line and dropped her in one
of the towns, whereupon she was apprehended. After the
birth of a normal child, weighing eight and a half pounds, she
was boarded with her child, and later allowed to take up her
old occupation within the limits of the State. We append
letters which we consider exceedingly interesting as revealing
her state of mind and her thought processes.

Extract from letter when pregnant. " You do not under-
stand me at all. ... I am sure 1 will be unliappjer, if possible,

in than here. The suflferings I have gone thro mentally

and the dreadful privations I have and am still suffering entitle
me to some consideration. . , , You can not feel that I have been
helped by the ■-■■■- or the people attendant to them. I have
long given up the hope of e^laining myself to any one. ... It
seems rather unjust to be blamed for the natural results of
your hfe. You ask whether I do not honestly think that I
have proven that I can not take care of myself. Emphatically
not. In spite of what mistakes I may make, I consider that
I have proven myself the equal in character to any whose duty

it has been to judge me. Vou ask me to come back to

and I tell you that of my own free will I will never go to Hades."

Extract from another letter. " I understand that you have
promised a scoundrel who is afraid of getting his just deserts

that 1 will be sent back to , so I am sending you my

address to lessen any trouble you might have in reaching me.

The delicious irony of it ! Thelast timelwassent to 1 was

a good girl — I came out with all the seeds of bitterness and
hatred ready for fniition. They have borne good fruit, and

though you send me to a million times you can not make

me a particle more bitter, so that it does not matter. The
chances are anyway, that I shan't hve, so that your sense of
satisfaction will be short-lived. For this I apologize. Before
1 renounced God and turned atheist I prayed and prayed few

a friendly hand, for just one word of faith in me from some one.
I have had my answer. Even my own mother believes without
a moment's hesitation the vile lies a common prostitute says
about me for money. As for you, you say my troubles are
all of my own making. You are right; I had had my le.sson
and should have known more than to believe a human being,
but there is no danger of my doing so again. My brain and
my body are so tortiired and nerve-racked that a little more
pain won't make any difference — so don't hesitate to turn
the thumb screws. You can always have my address from my
attorney, as I have no permanent address to give you as when
1 have no money I have to sleep out of doors anywhere, for I
am so mean that I won't allow my friends (?) to triumph by
turning prostitute. They tell me I am going insane, so after
all I have one thing to be thankful for. Thanking you for
your frank treatment and for the faith you have ( ?) had in me,
I am, sincerely yours. ..."

When allowed to resume her occupation within the limits

of the State she wrote : " You can thank for me for nothing.

It is absolutely out of the question for the firm to give me any
work in this state. I don't know what Mr. P. or D. P. as he
calls himself, is trying to do only yesterday he told me an oper-
ation was absolutely necessary. I'm sure it's absolutely im^
material to me . . . the only reason why I would want it is
because of the chance that I might not pull through. My
mother wrote and told me that she refused to help me.

"If I ever do another decent or helpful act to any human
being I hope it kills me,"

This girl's immorality before her commitment seems to have
consisted of one episode. Her mother once followed her and
saw her go into a hotel with two men and stay two hours. She
found a letter referring to a plan of living with a man in New
York. Her real career began while slie was canvassing for
the book company. Her life on the road seems to have been a
series of late dinners and promiscuous relations, coupled with
days of absolute poverty. She once lunched out with a man in
a New York city, who had been flirting with her on the street,
and afterwards took him to a shop and made him responable
for a dress costing $110. He seems to have given her money
besides, and she took out a warrant for his arrest, alleging that
he was the cause of her being six months pregnant. A woman
who had been with her on her business trips made an affidavit
that this girl had been grossly immoral and addicted to
pbine. The case was dismissed. There is htUe chance

lavic _
mor- M
that ■

RfENTAL ABNORMALITY 268

this man is the father of her child. She still feels herself com-
pletely Diisunderstood, is antagonistic towards all efforts made
m her behalf, and feels that society owes her something for
what she has suffered.

Case No. 69. Causative factors : (a) Mentality: " P.sy-
chopathic personahty." (Exam.) Psychic Constitu-
tional Inferiority. Special language ability. (6) Bad
Home Conditions: Family intelligence incapable of con-
trolling girl, (c) Bad Companions: Poor as.sociates while
travelmg on business. Lies. Sex + + . Age 19.

Condusioas. On the basis of what has been said in this
chapter, the relationship between feeble-mi ndednesa in
particular and mental abnormality in general to illegitimacy
should be evident. A feeble-minded girl is in constant danger
of becoming pregnant. Emphasis has been laid on the fact
that her pregnancy results not so much from abnormal sex
desire but from au inherent incapacity to adjust herself sexually
to the life of the community. Most authorities are emphatic
in their demand that such girls and women should receive
institutional care during the child-bearing period, exception
being made in such instances as those in which absolutely
adequate supervision can be provided by friends or relatives.
The pubhc should also realize the twofold injustice attendant
upon the presence of the mentally abnormal In our training
schools for delinquents, reformatories, and prisons. Such
institutions as aim at the reform of normal individuals find
their work made well-nigh impossible by the presence, in in-
timate association, of a group of incapable and often trouble-
some defectives and psychopaths. Nor can the feeble-minded
girl herself be benefited by being sent to a reformatory institu-
tion. In her case there is no cure and but little progress pos-
sible.

The behavior which results in ^ving birth to an illegitimate
child is thus found in this type of case to be largely conditioned
hy the mentahty of the girl in question. It must not, however,
be assumed that feeble-mindednea.s itself is solely responsible
for the misconduct, and it is well to remember that less well-
marked mental states (such as adolescent instabihty) may be

964

THE UNMARRIED MOTHER

forces, ^1

equally productive ot unfortunate sex experiences. All
both environmental and inherent, focus themselves in the
mental processes of the individual, and when this is taken into
consideration, it becomes evident that the study of the mental
condition of the girl or woman in question should concern itself
not only with the easily recognized forma of abnormality but
with the whole range of subtle mental traits which directly
affect behavior. To know " the mind of the girl " should be
the endeavor of all concerned with the welfare of the unmarried
motlier, and it should be remembered that the mental content
of the individual is not fully revealed by many of the routine
methods now in use.

CHAPTER XVn

The Unmakbied Mother in Vabiods CoutnTmnEa

General considerations — Occupation of the unmarried mother —
Age of unmarried mother at first pregnancy — Localities from
which unmarried mothers come — Later marriages among un-
married mothers — Legal status of the unmarried mother.

General CossideratiODB. After the former chapters which
have discussed the predicament of the unmarried mother from
the standpoint of case histories, it will be well to turn to a more
general consideration of the problem as a whole. The liter-
ature referring to illegitimacy is chiefly in German, more having
been done in that country than in any other towards the
bettering of the lot of the illegitimate child. In the pages
that follow an attempt will be made to review the situation
existing in Europe and in other sections of this country, in
order that these findings may be related to the results of this
special subject. No discussion of the causes of illegitimacy
can overlook the large number of mentally defective prls to
be found among the unmarried mothers. The lessening of
the burden of illegitimacy involves the segregation of a con-
siderable percentage of our female populBtion during the child-
bearing age, and the adoption of such measures of social hy-
giene as will strike at the forces now producing such mental
abnormalities. There are indications that the community is
gradually becoming conscious both of the need to protect such
women from the consequences of their own behavior, and to
safeguard society from an increased burden of feeble-minded-
ness.

Important as is the question of mental abnormality in a
study of the unmarried mother, yet in this analysis the greater

866

THE UNMARRIED MOTHER

number of causative factors group themselves under the broad
head of Eovironmeiit, including Bad Companions, Sexual Sug-
gestibility by One or More Individuals, and above all Bad Home
Conditions, the latter group dividing itself into tweaty-three
separate divisions. It thus becomes evident that the problem
of the unmarried mother is closely associated with those con-
ditions in which the girl grows up, with her companions, and
with that whole complexity of influences which constitutes her
external life. These influences of course react upon the indi-
vidual's character, forming well-defined tendencies towards
certain sorts of behavior, with the result that environment and
social custom determine the right or wrong of many actions.
Particularly is this true in the field of ses behavior, where
morality seems more than usually relative, with the result
that a girl in one community will feel no compunctions about
actions which to another would seem extremely blameworthy.

No reference is here Intended to a distinction in the intensity
in the sex impulse itself, or even a group classiflcation along
the lines of morality, for it is probable that tlie morality of one
section of a community differs from that of another chiefly in
its ability to keep hidden what in the other is common knowl-
edge. A certain amount of notorious behavior may give to a
law-abiding community a reputation which its inhabitants
individually by no means deserve.

Occupation of the Unmarried Mother. The appendix on
Statistics indicates the wage of 312 unmarried mothers grouped
according to occupation, 55 of whom earned between $5 and $6,
of whom 18 were domestics, whose board is naturally included
in the wage; 43 received between $6 and $7, of whom 9 were
in domestic service, and 43 received a wage of between $4 and 95,
of whom 19 were domestics. Much importance is attached to
the distribution of the unmarried mother in regard to occupa-
tion both here and abroad, and interesting statistics may be
found on this subject.

According to Prenger ' the occupation of 100 unmarried
mothers in Dresden in the years 1899 to 1910 is as follows,

' Pnufer, G. ; "Die Unelielichk«il im tkOnigreicb Sachaea". Lripwfc 1813.

1
I

CO>rDITIONS IN VARIOUS COUNTRIES «67

there being no reference to the occupational distribution of
all women of child-bearing age to the total population.

Industrial Workers, Factories 87.ST

Domealk ServantJi 88.87

Seamstresses, Milliners, Laundresses, etc 11.5S

Independeut Artists, Lodging House Keepers, House Daughters, etc. - 7.71

Mercantile 6.68

Wnitresaca fl.07

Nuraes, Manicures, Teachers, Govemesaes, etc 8.7*

100.00

From this table it appears that the largest percentage exists
among the industrial workers in factories, and the Bext largest
that of domestic service, in contrast to the ordinary statistics
in which the percentage engaged in domestic service is ordinarily
the highest.

According to Speich ' the mothers of illegitimate children in
the city of Zurich for the years 1904-X910 grouped themselves
as follows :

Manufacturers of clothing and omameots 18.68

Textile workers S.«7

Printing and paper manufacturers 2.77

Fkctory workers 4.8S

Mercantile S.M

Waitresses 10.01

Domestic service 41.W

Helpers «.M

Other oecupatioas tM

No occupation S.8I

In this instance two fifths of all women were engaged in
domestic service, factory workers, including manufacturers, tex-
tile workers and printers and paper manufacturers, coming next.

Neumann * states that out of 206 unmarried mothers in Ber-
lin in 1890 tabulated in regard to their keeping the child or
placing it at board, the occupational distribution after confine-
ment was as follows. It seems fair to assume that the majority
of mothers continued in the same occupation after their con-

■ Spdch : "Die Unehelicben Geburten der Stadt ZuHch", Glarus. laU.
'Netuoann, H.: " Handwttrterbuch der Staatswissenschaft", Supplement,
IBOS.

«68 THE UNMARRIED MOTHER

fioeineiit which they had Followed before, so that this table i
has the double value of indicating the distribution according J
to occupation as well as showing in which occupation it w
most possible for the mother to care for her child herself.

Cbuji Placid Odt

Cbiui PiiAcbb Wits
Mcnan

Domestic

40.0
lS.f
27.3

io.e

S.0
2.5

3.0
100.0

Dressmakera

Cleaners ....

33.0

Hunm

Mercantile

100.0

According to the study of the Boston Conference on Illegiti-
macy,' the occupation of 331 girls who gave birth to illegitimate
children may be found from the following table.

Domestic (in private (ftmily) 128

Factory worker 7S

Waitresa 29

At borne 28

Ataehod 8

Clerk

Attendant nurse

Stenographer

Tailorshop

Bookkeeper

Nur»emiud

lAundresa

Milliner

Cook

Caahier

Salmpri

Seanutrttat

Chambermaid (in hotel)

Teacher

Office worit

Book-tnndery

Printing office ,

Telephone operator

' Studies of the Buaton Cunfcrcncc on lUcgiliniacy. September, 1914.

CONDITIONS IN VARIOUS COUNTRIES 269

Here one finds the largest number to be domestics in private

families, the next most important group being factory workers.

Mangold and Essex ' give the following table for St. Louis.

Total 1811-1913

OcccPATiom

Housework

Factory

Laundry

Wnitresa Bnd cook

Office

C\etk

SeiLinatrcflB and milliDcry . .

Telephone

School attendance or student
Teachers, including music teachf

No occupation

MuceUaneoua

According to this table there is a great preponderance of num-
bers in the group doing housework, although we venture to
state that the large number of illegitimate births occurring
among colored women increases unduly that occupation which
is their traditional means of hvelihood.

Aronovici ' has made a study of " Unmarried Girls with Sex
Experience ", which indicates that out of 1 197 girls and women
committed to the House of Correction, the prostitutes reported
69.57 per cent as having been engaged in housework, and 4.17
per cent as waitresses. He states furthermore that an analysis
of the figures in Philadelphia during 1909 indicates that over 70
per cent of the girls and women giving birth to illegitimate
children were either domestic servants or were living and work-
ing at home. The author claims that this is clearly against

> Mangold and Essex : "Illegitimate Births in St, Louis". St. Louis, 1914.
'Aronovici, C; "Unmarried Girls with Sei Eiperience." bulletin No. I,
Bureau tor Sodal Research of the Seybeit Institutioo, Philadelphia, 1810.

OTO

THE UNMARRIED MOTHER

the general opinion that industrial life stimulates immorality
and shows so quickly the danger of a lack of occupation or
domestic service that he questions the wisdom of training
girls in institutions solely for housework. It is probable that
the difference between the occupational grouping, both abroad
and in other sections of the country, and those found in Phila-
delphia by the author just quoted, must be explicable by a
study of the special conditions existing in Philadelphia which
prevent the group of industrial and factory workers from
occupying the place among unmarried mothers which other
investigations give this occupation.

There has been much speculation among European authors
in regard to the causes which produce such a high percentage
of illegitimate births among domestics and factory workers.
According to Spann ' the preponderance of unmarried mothers
among domestics is due both to the influence of the occupation
and to the inherent ethical standards of the women so em-
ployed. They ordinarily come from the country ; for instance,
of 6387 unmarried mothers studied in Frankfurt by the author,*
84.3 per cent were bom outside of the city. Of these 84 per
cent came from cities having leas than ten thousand inhabit-
ants. The greatest percentage, then, come from the country
and small towns possessing a different standard of sex ethics, and
being, according to this author, accustomed to viewing inter-
course before marriage with leniency. This attitude is reinforced
by the fact that in the country sections such extramarital in-
tercourse is so frequently followed by marriage that the girls
and young women brought up in such an environment naturally
come to look upon marriage as a normal result of such behavior.
The situation is further made diflScult for the young country
girl, because when she brings this point of view to the <uty,
she finds herself in a different ethical environment where
illicit sex intercourse implies slight obligation.

' Sp*DD, 0. : "Die tlnehelii'be BcvttlkfniDg in FrankTurt am Main."
'Sp&nn, O. : "Die UneheltohcD MllDilel dea VormundfTluirUgericbtea in.

Piunkfiirt Bm Main", nnd "Die Lage uad das SchiclmJ der tlacbelicbtca. 1

Kinder", Leiptig. 19W.

CONDITIONS IN VARIOUS COUNTRIES 271

The resulting conflict of standards tends to leave the girl
UDprotected, a fact which is made doubly unfortunate by her
having lost the protection of her own family without securing
anything in its place. Instead of taking the place of the girl's
relatives, the employer is more likely to place a barrier be-
tween her own family and her servants; instead of helping
the girl, she pushes her away. There is also an midoubtedly
bad influence to he attributed to the sons of many families in
which such girls are employed, as well as to the long hours of
work existing in this occupation. The fact that such a girl
has but few opportunities for meeting men is responsible for
the tendency on her part to make up for quantity by intensity
in her relations with men. Thus these two broad lines of
influence — that connected with her former environment and
that of the difiiculty met with in the city environment — re-
inforce each other, making the position of the girl employed in
domestic service peculiarly precarious.

The factory girl, on the other hand, comes from a group
ordinarily possessed of higher intelligence than that from which
the domestic is drawn. Because city bred and accustomed to
the hardships which she sees unmarried mothers undergo in a
city environment, she naturally looks upon sex intercourse
before marriage with less favor, and is consequently Jess likely
to be led into it by some designing male. The factory worker,
furthermore, usually does not have to leave her family in early
life, and is consequently deprived of the necessity of adapting
herself to a new environment and to new standards. She is
also continually in touch with men during her working hours,
with the result that she ordinarily has a larger group from which
to choose, and can consequently be less hasty about marriage.

The situation is also made less dangerous by the factory girl's
attitude towards life, which is ordinarily more serious than
that of the domestic, for the servant girl who can earn her
board with ease is not likely to have experienced the effect of
unemployment and poverty, as has the industrial worker who
may find ber.self at any time without a means of support. A
factor very frequently cited as responsible for the large per*

THE UNMARRIED MOTHER

centage of illegitimate births among servant girls is that of
the limited accommodations for the entertainment of men in
their employers' homes. Although this is undoubtedly true
in many instances, with the result that such a girl is forced to
spend her time on the streets and in the parks with her male
friends, thus being open to special temptations, we are by no
means certain that the girl who lives at home is often pos>|
sessed of better opportunities for entertaining men.

A large number of those who become unmarried mothers
come from that group in the population whose home conditions
are unattractive and overcrowded. Younger brothers and
sisters make any sort of privacy difficult, so that a girl under
such conditions also finds herself forced to meet her friends out
of doors. One suspects that the percentage of domestics in
this group in this section of the country is augmented because
they often represent young girls who have just left home,
many of them coming from Ireland and the provinces, being
thus away from all controlling influence. Certainly the per-
centage is large enough to make it desirable that employers
should see to it that their servants have suitable accommodt^
tions for use during their free hours, and that they should
exercise some sort of directing influence over the life of m
young girl who has no one else to guide her.

Age of Unmarried Mother at First Pregnancy. Our figures
in regard to the age of the unmarried mother at the time of
her first pregnancy are undoubtedly low because one hundred
of our cases were selected from a group of girls who were in their
minority. The result is a slightly greater distribution between
the ages of 16 and 20 than the actual situation warrants. The
figures show that the greatest number of these immarried mothers
become pregnant at 20, the nest highest number being 18, and
an equal number at 19 and at 17. Three hundred and sixty-
five of these girls became pregnant before the age of 81,

According to a survey of the situation in Washington
by Ottenberg,' the greatest number there became pregnant

'Otteoberg. Louis: "Fatherless Cbildren at the National Capital"
Surptv- January 30, \91S.

I iiiij

lant Bl^l
•1". luW

CONDITIONS IN VARIOUS COUNTRIES 273

18. It is only fair to draw atlentioa to the fact that of the
SS3 young women who gave birth to illegitimate children be-
tween the ages of 16 and 20 in this study, 294 were colored.

Births. 1913 . .
Birtlu, illegitimate

Agti nf Mothm qf llitgitiraaU Birtht

ToUl under !1 years

Under IS years . .
le lo 20 years . .
SI and ov«r . . .
ToUl

Mangold and Essex ' give the following table comparing
St. Loius with two other cities.

AoE or MoTBEBS

Avoona

Per oent

6.0
.07

21.0
23.9
3.37

■S8.8

S7.4
31.8

Washington

Baden, Gennany

*«.a

68.3

■ Mit"p^ anA EsMx: "Illegitimate Birtlu in St. Louia", St. Louia, 1914.

THE UNMARRIED MOTHER

According to the Boston study,' out of S17 girls and ^
30, representing the largest group, were between 20 and 25.

Preager, in his book on " Ulegitimacy in Saxony," * statesl
that one hundred mothers in the year ISdO to 1900 grouped f
themselves as follows, according to age.

Under IS 3.85

IB-lB 1S.87

eO-U SO.M

e£-eB 10.42

90 and over lO.W

100.00

This author finds a tendency to increasingly earlier sex inter-'l
com-se, which he attributes to the infiuence of city life, a con-'
dition which he considers unfortunate because be believes that 1
the children of such young mothers are likely to swell the
infant mortabty rates, owing to their physical inferiority,

Speich ■ maintains that the unmarried mothers in Zunch ^^
during the years 1904 to 1910 were classifiable as follows: ^H

Under 20 B.41 ^M

aCHU U.40 ^H

«5-«> 88.18 ^H

90-U 12.01 ^H

SS-M 4.80 ^H

40-45 1.13 ^H

This author compares this group, of whom 45 per cent wera^H
between 20 and 25, to a group of prostitutes examined in Zurich ^|
of whom the percentage under 20 was three times as great as
that of the women giving birth to illegitimate children, a

' "Studies of the Boston Conference on IllcRilimBry", September. 1014.

* Prcnger, G. : " Die L'n^helichkeil im KSnigreich ^rhsen ", Leipdg, IBIS,

* Spdcb : " Di« Unehelichen Geburten der Stadt ZUrieh". GUnu, 1B14.

CONDITIONS IN VARIOUS COUNTRIES 275

condition which the author claims needs no explanation be-
cause obviously younger women are more desirable as prosti-
tutes. This author's study is so penetrating that we indicate
his results at some length.

Localities from which Unmarried Mothers Come. The un-
married mothers in Zurich from 1905 to 1910 according to
Speich's investigation could be divided into various groups in
relation to their place of residence id Zurich, the largest group
coming from a community where the chief places of amusement
existed, and the next greatest number being found in that
section of the city given over to the dwellings of the laboring
class.

This first or amusement section was inhabited in IBOO by
11,640 men and 14,380 women, giving the women a numerical
preponderance in the ratio of 122 to 100. Of these women
2,^3 were between the ages of 20 and 25, and the fact that they
were chiefiy women living away from home is indicated by the
place of their confinement, which in 1909 occurred in hospitals
in 70.8 per cent of the women from this section. Of the births
registered as illegitimate in Zurich from 1904 to 1910. first
births represented 73.10 per cent. It was the second illegiti-
mate birth in 20.76 per cent of the cases, whereas 6.14 per
cent had three or more children.

Oiir figures, according to which 20 per cent of our cases
were women who had two or more pregnancies, approximate
those of Speich by accident, because our numbers were influ-
enced by the practice common among agencies of refusing to
accept " unmarried mother cases " in instances where it is not
the woman's first pregnancy. It is interesting to note that of
the approximately six hundred births taking place in Zurich
annually from 1904 to 1006, one half took place among women
whose residence in the city had been less than nine months in
length, the largest percentage of whom came from towns of
over five thousand inhabitants. This reinforces our belief
in the bad effect of a recent environmental change.

The following table in regard to the unmarried mothers
studied in 1908 indicates the fate of these women.

THE UNMARRIED MOTHER

lOOfi

I90e

IBM

16. IS
87.10
55.02

Remained in

1905

56.13

Moved away

1906

ei.06

IWM

St.QS

1905

28.00

MflTried.

1906

20.37

Only .84 per cent of these women, a negligible quBntity~
died. The majority left the city during the first month fol-
lowing their confinement, half of them being domestic j
vants, 70 per cent of whom were confined outside of private I
houses. Those confined in private homes showed a greaterf
opportunity as regards marriage.

Later Marriages among nnmarried Mothers. According to
Prenger.' in Saxony during t!ie years from 1904 to 1910 out of
every hundred women gi\ing birth to a living illegitimate child
35,9 per cent married the father of their child. These men were J
employed as laborers and servants in 84.36 per cent of the cases. |
More girls than boys were legitimized by such marriages, Prengef l
accounting for this by slating that the birth rate of girls is known
to be higher than that of boys, whereas the infant mortality rate
is higher among boys than among girls, with the result that this
leaves a larger number of girls to be legitimized.

Of all the unmarried mothers who gave birth to children
in Zurich in the years 1904 to 1906 there were married within
a year after their confinement, 14 per cent. The fathers of
these illegitimate children ranged between 20 and 30 years of 1
age in 73 per cent of the cases. The illegitimate i^irths for the I
years 1904 to 1910 were distributed as follows, according to 1
the marital condition of the mother.

I
1

'M
'I

Unmarried w
WdowB
Divorced woi

Our figures on tlus subject indicate that 5 per cent of thftj
cases were women who had been or were still married, and J
' Prenger, G.:"Die Uoebelichkeit im KOnigmdiSBcliMD", Lcipiig, 101S.

CONDITIONS IN VARIOUS COUNTRIES 277

that 17 per cent o! our girls and women married either the
father of their child or some other man.

The Legal Status of the Unmarried Mother. The situation
which pertains in regard to the unmarried mother both abroad
and in this country, as Tar as it is indicated by statistics, em-
phasizing the nativity, the nationahty, and the schooling of
such women, has now been reviewed. Place has also been
given to an analysis of the occupational distribution of these
girls and women in Europe and in this country, to their marital
condition, the American situation being viewed in the light of
European experience. It now remains for us to indicate
briefly the position which the unmarried mother holds in vari-
ous countries before the law, in relation to the support of her
child by its father, and to its legal relationship to him.

The situation is one in which there is a considerable variety of
practice, dependent chiefly upon the traditional influences which
have gone to make up the common law, the Latin countries
for instance being much more affected by the Code Napoleon,
which prevents an investigation into paternity of an illegiti-
mate child. So complex is the situation abroad, and so in-
fluenced by custom, that it is difficult to estimate the various
measures in existence in their true light without knowing the
economic and social background of the communities where
such laws operate. We assume that the situation which we
are about to portray will be modified when after the present
war there comes a need for a higher birth rate. One of the
war's evil effects will undoubtedly be this pressure, which will
cause a lowering of standards in regard to intercourse occurring
outside of marriage. Although prophecy is ordinarily vain,
it is safe to indicate that a decreasing number of marriageable
men invariably increases the percentage of illegitimacy, whereas
a decrease in the number of women considered in relation to
the number of men would have no such effect. Two or more
women can give birth to children by the same father during the
same period of time, whereas one woman, with no matter how
many men she has sexual intercourse, can only bear one child
in a period of nine months.

278

THE UNMARRIED MOTHER

In England, which had an illegitimate birth rate of foi
to the thousand for the years 1901 to 1905, there has been no
revision of the law in regard to legitimation since 1873. It
was part of the Roman law that a child could be made legiti-
mate by the subsequent marriage of its parents, but the early
Germanic codes did not recognize such a possibility. In 1230
the barons refused to accept the principle of legitimation.
The English law takes account of the fact only that marriage
precedes the birth of the child, and only an act of Parliament
can legitimize a child bom out of wedlock. The illegitimate
child has no birthright, and its life is cheapened by a legal
stigma to a degree which finds no parallel anywhere, This
attitude is due to the influence of the Norman Conquest,
with its class legislation resulting in the concept that the
community was made for the law, not the law for the com-
munity.'

In France the illegitimate child can inherit one half of the
property which would ordinarily be the share of a legitimate,
child, and two thirds of this property if no half brothers
sisters are born in wedlock.

In Germany we find a subsequent marriage sufficient to legiti-
matize a child,* and furthermore an illegitimate child may,
upon the application of the father, be declared legitimate by
order of the public authority,* and by this declaration of legiti-
mation the child acquires a status of a legitimate child.* Ref-
erence has been made to the system of professional guardian-
ship existing in Leipzig and other German cities which con-
atitutes such an advance in the child's care.

In Switzerland, where the rate is forty -five illegitimate
births per one thousand births, the Influence of the Code
Napoleon is broken by the new law of January 1, 1912. (One
may mention here that although investigation into the pater-
nity of the child is prohibited in France, proceedings may

St,

■Duiran, W. : "The Illegitimalc Child".
•Art. I7I9, GerrnaQ Civil Code of 1900.
* Art. 17«3. Gprman Civil Code of 1800.
*Art. I7S6, German Civil Code of 1900.

ranee, proceedings may be J
Tht Blkieal fVorU, M»y 1, 1M4^|

CONDITIONS IN VARIOUS COUNTRIES «79

instituted on the ground of " geueral injury.") The new Swiss
law provides amoug other things,' that

1. An illegitimate child can choose its own religion when 16 yeara
of age.

S. Such a child has the sameeducational rights as has the legitimate
cbUd.

5. The mother has the right of establishing the paternity hy legal
process, or the father may acknowledge hb child voluntarily.

4. Paternity can oidy be established by legal action in a case in-
volving breach of promise, rape, or abuse of authority.

6. Paternity cannot be declared if the father of the child is al-
ready married. (The Swiss people refused to permit the passage of a
law compelling married men to support their illegitimate children with
a wife's consent, maiataining that such a law would be an insult to
the Swiss family lite as implying the exiatence of a condition which
they did not believe common.)

5. If the legal action instituted by the mother is only for pecuniary
aid, the standard of living is that of the mother, and the child bears
her name and i.i liable only to her authority.

T. If the aim 13 the recognition of paternity the standard of living
is that of the father of the child.

8. The marriage of the parents makes the child It^tinuite with-
out declaration.

9. The illegitimate child inherits from its mother equally with her
legitimate children, and has the same rights before the law.

10. The establishment of paternity in a ease involving breach of
promise, rape, or abuse of authority, gives the illegitimate child the
same legal rights as the father's legitimate child possesses.

11. If there are legitimate children the illegitimate child can inherit
only one half of what would have been its share had it been legitimate.
This is the only distinction existing between legitimate and illegitimate
childrm.

In Hungaiy, where the illegitimacy rate la ninety-four per
one thousand births, we find the only country where the child
has a right to claim a maintenance from the State until 12
years of age, the State being called upon to care for every child

■ Correvan, G. : " Actes du CongrSa Penitenti^re International de Wwlung*
Uiu". Vol. 4, Gcauingen, 1812.

THE UNMARRIED MOTHER

that Deeds assistance. Every abandoned child has this right,
as well as a child that is neglected by its parents. The condi-
tions existing ia Huogaiy are described by Szilagyi of Budapest,!
as follows : '

1. Children of a marriage which has been annulled are illegitimate.

i. The marriage ut the parents makes the child legitimate unleas
within the prohibited degree.

3. The child con be legitimized by royal consent, in which case
the consent of the mother to the proceeding is necessary, as well aa
that of the father's wife, if one exists.

i. An adopted child acquires the name of the family adopting it,
aa well aa a right to support and an equal share in the inheritance.

3. The recognition of paternity has no cooslitutional effect,
although if made in person before the court the faet ia designated in
the civil record.

6. The Ulegitimate child bears its mother's name and inherit!
from her.

7. The obligation to support his child falls on the father only as
long as is necessary, usually until the child is 14, and the amount of
support is based upon the social condition of the mother and the
economic condition of the father.

8. The father of an illegitimate child can plead "esceptio plurium
concubentium " (promiscuity on the part of the mother).

9. The support of such a child becomes retroactive if the mother
can prove that for some rea«on she was unable to bring action before:,

10. The man is not responsible tor confinement expenses unless he
has promised marriage or seduced the woman.

11. An illegitimate child has an equal right of state support with
other children.

12. If the mother has not been promiscuous the father is compelled
to pay her confinement expicnscs and support her for six weeks after
the birth of her child under certain conditions.

13. The mother has a right to send her child to an asylum under
certain conditions.

14. The mother must nurse her child at the breast it she is capable
of doing so. During this time she gets a pension which is continued
until one month after the child is weaned.

'SnUgyi: "Actes du Congr^ Peoitcotiaire laternatioiial de Washington", I
Vol. 4. Groningen, 1918.

]

I
I

CONDITIONS IN VAHIOUS COUNTRIES

It is interesting to note the figures in refutation of the oft-
repeated statement that such institutional and public care as
Hungary gives would result in the increase of illegitimate
births. In nineteen cities where asylums were established
where the unmarried mother could secure assistance in the
support of her child, the total birth rate during the years 1904
to 1908 increased 4.37 per cent, whereas the illegitimate birth
rate decreased 5.29 per cent. We have not studied the causes
underlying this situation, and are not able to state the reason
for such a remarkable decline in the rate of illegitimacy.

Turning to Norway one finds the most radical of all measures
for the support of the illegitimate child, submitted in 1909 and
only adopted in 1915, thus representing the result of a well-
digested public opinion. This law rests on the following prin-
ciples ' :

1. Legitimate and illegitimate children have equal rights before
the law.

2. The righta and duties of both parents are the same.

S. Society is entJllL-d to know not only who is the mother, but who
is the father of every child that is bom.

The law furthermore provides :

!. The illegitimate child has a right to its father's name, and thus
belongs to tlie father's family as well as the mother's.

2. Such a child is to be supported by both parents in accordance
to the financial status of that parent whose economic condition is the

3. The mother of such a child is not allowed to receive any sup-
port from the child's father beyond her confinement expenses, and
she is furtfaermore obliged to contribute her share to the child's
support.

4. The State and not the mother is the mediator between the child
and its father. The State takes the initiative in claiming support
for the child, and the mother cannot connive at its disinheritance.

5. A man named by the mother under oatli must either acknowledge
that he is the father of her child, or prove that he is not.

' Anlbony, K. : "Norway's TreatmenL of the Dlegitimale Child", The Nrv
HefMie, Augiut SI, laiO.

sae

THE UNMARRIED MOTHER

6. The mother of such a child is subject to a fine, impriBoomen^ ,
and a suit for damages, if she makes a false assignment of jiaternity,

7. The "exccptio plurium concubcnlium" does not hold. Unleai
a man can show non-access to the mother of an illegitimate child dur-
ing a period ext«iidiug from 303 to ISO days before the child's birtl^
he is required to contribute to its support. If more than one maa
cornea under this definition, each must share in the support.

8. In cases where more than one man are involved in the support
of the child, the child is not allowed to inherit.

d. Under ordinary conditious illegitimate children inherit equaUj
with legitimate children.

The preceding paragraphs clearly indicate the attitude at
recent legislation towards the unmarried mother, as empha-
sizing the fact that the State's chief concern consists in the
welfare of the illegitimate child as such. Most of the legisla-
tion referred to is seeking to help the mother, if by so doing it
helps the child. There is thus an absence of the retributive
element in the State's attitude, and a frank acknowledgment
that the situation exists, and that nothing should interfere
with the State's interests in the child who is to be a future
ritizen. Obviously this conflicts with that type of public
opinion which is fearful that by helping the child it will
remove from the mother a stigma which now operates in a
preventive manner, and that there will be a resulting increase
in illegitimacy. That there may be such a close bond be-
tween the unmarried mother and her child that nothing can
be done for one without influencing the other, is true, but
that the State should take a hand in handicapping the child
because of its mother's misdeeds is an argument wtuch few
would uphold.

This chapter has considered the experience in Europe and
in other sections of the United States in regard to the unmarried
mother and her child, reviewing some of the statistical results
found by investigation. There seems to be a certain agree*
ment in regard to the figures of this country, where other con-
ditions do not exert undue influence. Thus, a general survey
of the situation leads to the belief that there is a similarity in

CONDITIONS IN VARIOUS COUNTRIES 28S

the problem wherever it is met. Such was the opinion of the
International Prison Congress, which met in Washington id
1910, and which gave special attention to the following ques-
tion : " Should special measures be taken for the protection
of children bom out of marriage, and what should these meas-
ures beP " ' This matter will be considered in the following
chapter.

'"Actea ilu Congris Peuitentiaire Internationai de Waahingtoii, Octobre,
IBIO", Vol. 1, p. 284/., Grouiagea. 1913.

CHAPTER XVin

CONCLDSIONS

General conaiderations — Bad eDvironment — Bad companiona -"
Recreation&l disadvantages — Educational disadvantages — BuJ'"
home M)iiditions — Early sex experience — Abnormal physical
condition — Sexual suggestibility — Sexually suggestible by one
individual ^ Abnormal sexmilism — Mental conflict — Heredity

— Assault, incest and rape — Abnormal mentality — The nativity
of the unmarried mother — The nationality of the unmarried
mother — Number of pregnancies of 500 unmarried mothers —
Mental examination of 500 unmarried mothers — Dbtribution of
gonorrhisB and syphilis — Later marriage of the unmarried mother

— Unmarried mother herself illegitimate — Wage of unmarried
mother according to occupation ^ Discrepancy in age between
the unmarried mother and the father of her child — Age of the
unmarried mother at first pregnancy — General codcIusIod.

General Considerations. The preceding chapters h&^
dealt with a study of the unmarried mother, based upon
histories and grouped according to their causative factors.
Since these factors have been built up inductively, and were
founded solely on the conditions as they e>dsted in the case
histories, it should now be possible to evaluate their importance
as conducing to pregnancy outside of marriage. It may be w«lL
to repeat that none of these factors operates singly in a given'
case, and that an analysis of those forces which affect humui
behavior must by its very nature fail to indicate aU of the
complexities of life. If, however, a scientific approach to so
vital a matter is to be at all possible, that method should be
most successful which deals most closely with the individtul
who is the subject of the study.

ctors.^H
e
e
e

CONCLUSIONS

^B There has been no attempt here to catalogue causative fac-
^ tors solely for the sake of classification. It has never seemed
necessary to characterize a factor as belonging in one group,
because no other logical place for it could be found. Once
more it should be said that the material submitted is in many
instances hypothetical. A causative factor, as iised in this
study, indicates not the dogmatic evidence that the influence
noted was necessarily operative, but that on the basis of the
material at hand, all things considered, it has seemed justifiable
to designate such a factor as of prime or minor importance in
the life of a girl or woman.

The following pages should summarize the material submitted
in the preceding chapters, and indicate the outstanding facts
in the problem of the unmarried mother. The reader is further
advised to consult Appendix " A " on " Statistics " in this
connection. Although the foregoing pages contain only 69
illustrative cases it should be remembered that the con-
clusions and statistics are based on five hundred analyzed and
summarized histories. All of these could obviously not be in-
cluded in this book.

Bad Environment. In the chapter under this head are con-
sidered those forces which were obviously environmental, such
as " Contaminating Employment Conditions", " Vicious Neigh-
borhood", " Away from Home Influence without Protection",
etc. The statistics show that this factor entered 29 times as
a major force, and 56 times as a minor factor in 500 cases.
In 185 cases bad environment of some kind appeared to be of
sufficient influence to warrant its being considered as causative
of illegitimacy.

Of the various kinds of bad environment considered, the most
potent was that in which the girl or woman was " away from
home influence without protection." To this situation as a
prime influence there were attributed 15 cases. " Away from
home influence without protection " was also a preponderant
minor factor in this group, appearing 28 times out of a total
distribution of 56 instances in which bad environment was a
minor factor.

THE UNMARRIED MOTHER

The next most important division of this group was thi
entitled " Employment Conditions Contaminating, " whit
was followed by " Vicious Neighborhood,"

Without going into a summary of the situation described
the chapter on " Bad Environment ", it thus appears that thesa
three subdivisions were of chief influence in this group in
determining the behavior of the individual concerned. Bad
Environment as such, if judged by its frequency as a prime
factor, appears to contain the third largest number of cases UU
which it may be considered a chief cause. |

The facts thus brought out are discussed more fully in thft
general chapter under this heading, indicating that the girl
who is living away from home without protection finds herself
in a peculiarly dangerous situation. Unfortunately it is often
difficult to find a solution for such a predicament, because
in many instances economic conditions make it necessary for
girls to leave their homes in order to seek employment else-
where. Much is being done to bring the help of settlement
houses and religious organizations to girls and women who are
thus deprived of the support of their old associations, but evai
then supervision and protection are rarely possible, so that the
difficulty for most girls remains unsolved. It should be possible
to extend the influence of certain charitable organizations over
lodging houses in centers where girls are likely to congregate.
Thus, by means of a room registry kept by settlement houses
or other organizations, inexperienced girls might be prevented
from securing lodgings with untrustworthy individuals,
might be placed with women who could exercise a frii
oversight towards them.

Reference has been made to the difficnlty involved when
employment conditions prove contaminating, and here the
possible solution lies in educating the parents of working girU,
so that they take interest not only in what their daughter earns,
but in how she earns it. Certain organizations have sprung up
whose object it is to investigate the conditions under which,
women are employed, and it may be hoped that a further
velopment of these societies will succeed in remedying some

'ented ^
I. aiaj

er da^

CONCLUSIONS

the more obvious abuses which exist to-day. The suggestion
referred to, that rest rooms should be provided where girls and
women can spend their leisure hours, particularly in such oc-
cupations as that of waitresses, should do something to remove
the strain by affording recreation and rest.

Obviously, the situation determined as that of " Vicious
Neighborhood " presents great difficulties. Proper police
protection might remove some of the graver evils attendant
upon contact of yoimg girls with the habitues of saloons and
disreputable houses. At best the problem of improving com-
munities In our large cities must be slow, and there is little hope
but that vicious individuals will continue to be corrupting in-
fluences in certain sections, notwithstanding all that may be done
to better the living conditions under which girls now grow up.

The conclusions thus reached indicate the importance of
the environmental factors in the life of those girls and women
who become unmarried mothers, and suggest the necessity
either of removing such individuals as seem to be in danger
of becoming sexually lax to institutions or to other less con-
taminating living conditions, and of improving the environ-
ment in which a girl works and lives, as far as lies within the
power of social agencies. In certain instances the State will
have to step in and take supervision of the girl, while in others
it may be sufficient to build up inhibitions within the mind of
the individual which will enable her to overcome the tempta-
tions of the communities in which she lives.

Bad Companions. The chapter on " Bad Companions "
has dealt with conditions in which a girl or woman was under
the influence of some other individual to such an extent that
this individual became in a sense responsible for her pregnancy.
There was no hmitation as to the age or sex of such an associate,
and in rare instances the man with whom a woman had cohabi-
tated for years was considered a bad companion.

In only 8 out of 500 cases did this factor appear as of
major importance, although the influence of had companions
seemed sufficient to allow its being designated in 136 instances
as a minor factor.

No attempt has been made to analyze this main division,
because of the obvious complexity of the situation. Bad
companions are as varied as are individuals, so that it was not
possible to classify them according to age, sex, marital condi-
tion. Or in any other manner which suggested itself.

The question of a girl's associates is linked with that of pa-
rental supervision. Many a young girl has friends whom her
parents do not know, and frequently parents make no attempt
to supervise their diiughtera' selection of friends. That this
is difficult in modern city Hfe, with the breakdown of the indi-
vidual home and the frequent overcrowding which ensues,
needs but slight comment. The situation has Iieen discussed
in the chapter referred to. It may be said that aside from super-
vision on the part of the parents, efforts may be made by social
agencies working with girls and young women to substitute
good companions for objectionable ones. Thus by means of
settlement clubs and entertainments, the standards of girb
in regard to the selection of their friends may be raised. Par-
ticularly important is this when one considers the associatioD
between the sexes. It is probable that many girls would rattier
associate with any member of the opposite sex, rather than
with none at all, and that where her opportunities of meeting
the right sort of friends are limited, she will be forced to form
some more or less unfortunate attachment.

Recreational Disadvantages. In this chapter that situatiOl
has been discussed in which a lack of friends or normal opp«
tunities for self-expression may have led a girl or woman i
impulsive behavior of a sexual nature.

In no single instance did recreational disadvantages appear
as a major factor, and it was enumerated as a minor factor in
only 22 cases. This by no means implies that all of the other
pirls and women studied possessed sufficient recreatiotuj
opportunities, but that in only 22 instances was tlie i
vantage sufficiently well marked to warrant its being com
cred as causative of unmarried motherhood.

Most important in tliis group is that situation in which there
seems to have been no normal social life. The same may be

form
latk^l
on li^l

ppear

tor in

other
--tiotuj
: disa^H

CONCLUSIONS 289

L^Bud of casea where a girl or woman possessed no friends, and

l.flo attached herself to the first man who manifested a sym-

rpathetic attitude towards her.

In several instances there was evidence that the home was

I too strict, and that the girl had but slight opportunity for
normal enjoyment. Of a similar nature is such a situation
s one in which the parents refused to allow a girl to entertain
friends in her home. Here again, social agencies, by explaining
to over-severe parents their daughters' need of recreation,
and by afFording suitable recreation for such girls as find but
slight opportunity for such enjoyment, can do much to bring
an element of pleasure into otherwise barren hves.

Much has been said in this chapter in regard to demoralizing
recreational opportunities, and of its influence in lowering the
standards of girls and young women. This factor has been
enumerated only once, because it was impossible to associate
it with a subsequent pregnancy in more instances. A review
of the cases submitted throughout this study will indicate
that the recreational opportunities were demoralizing in
many instances, without necessarily figuring as a causative
factor, capable of being tabulated.

This chapter should indicate the necessity of recreation for
girls and young women, particularly under the strain of modern
industrial and city life. It should show the need of proper
supervision over recreational centers, and of an extension of
the use of public buildings, so that they may be serviceable
for purposes of recreation. There is such a close connection
between those factors in life which cause enjoyment and those
which stimulate the sex impulse, that it is necessary to exer-
cise extreme care in order to prevent the opportunities for
recreation from offering at the same time conditions which
may lead to sexual misconduct.

Educational Disadvantages. Attention has here been di-
rected to such cases as those in which the individual girl or
woman failed to acquire the ordinary standards of good behavior
existing in the commimity in which she li%'ed, or such common
information as might seem necessary in order that she might

9,90

THE UNMARRIED MOTHER

ies in^^

isad-
I sex
thia

s, mB

be able to adapt herself to her environment. The cases d*
with are such as iniiicute that this lack of what may broadly
called education was often due to lack of opportunity for
acquiring of the necessary information.

It did not seem justifiable to consider educational disadvan*'
tages as a major factor in any one case, and it appeared as a
minor factor in only 20 instances. It must be said agaiD
that this does not imply adequate educational opportunities io
the cases not included in this chapter, but tliat in only tweni
instances was the absence of such opportunities in any
directly associated with the girl's or young woman's pregnancy.

The first among the various types of educational disad-
vantages is that connected with insuflScient instruction in sej
matters. This subject has been discussed in detail in tlua
chapter, and the need of sex education illustrated. In suppi
of this belief, reference has been made to Freud and the Schi
of Psycho-Analysia, as well as to Stanley Hall and others,
supporting the conviction that the sexual life of the child
begins at an earlier age than is generally recognized. The
need of some system of se.\ual hygiene for adolescent girls
was also discussed here, and its importance as a preventive
of later delinquency outlined at some length. It is evident
that lack of instruction in sex matters is frequently associ-
ated with pregnancy outside of marriage, and that many
of the maladjustments of later life are occasioned by
shocks due to the initiation of the girl into a knowledge of
sex matters for which there has been no preparation. The
community is Iwcoming more aroused to the need of such in-
struction, and there can be no question but that it will soon
become part of the school curriculum in some form. Wii
this must go an educational campaign to bring to the atl
tion of the parents the necessity of preparing their daughl
for entrance into maturcr life at adolescence, witich should
accompanied by a movement tending to spiritualize the pub!
attitude towards the sex relation.

In a group of cases the girl was backward in common infi
mation through no fault of her own, and in a few she was illiterj

CONCLUSIONS

291

Such conditions require little commeDt, because of their obvious
character. Our figures in regard to the schooling of the unmar-
ried mother in 500 cases, while indicating that the school history
was unknown in 183 cases of this group, yet show that 45, or
9 per cent of the whole number, graduated from the grammar
school. 44 or 8.8 per cent left school after the seventh grade,
whereas 242 or 46.4 per cent did not go beyond the grammar
grades. On the other hand 12 attended high school for one
year, and 13 were high school graduates. One was a col-
lege student. These figures corroborate the belief that the
majority of the unmarried mothers represent a group which
seeks employment at the age of 14, although attention must
be drawn to the fact that the schooling indicated in these cases
here considered should show a preponderance of girls who have
had but slight education, because of the nature of the sources
from which the case records were drawn.

Bad Home Conditions. This chapter has dealt with the
various forces operating on the immediate family of the girl or
woman in an attempt fo trace their influence on her behavior.
The definition of " home " here implies more than a place of
residence, and assumes the existence of a more or less normal
family life. Thus a girl or woman living alone in disreputable
lodgings is not considered as living in " a bad home " but ina
bad environment.

By far the most important factor in this study has been that
of bad home conditions. It appears 194 times as a major
factor, and is, with abnormal mentality, responsible for the
large majority of the cases studied. As a minor causative
factor, bad home conditions figure 158 times, and thus is only
less important as a subsidiary cause than is bad companions.
The chief difficulty is thus found to lie within the home itself,
I leading to the behef that nothing can be more important in
I human behavior than the influence of the parents and the home
I environment during the formative period of a girl's life.
' The analysis of the genera! group denominated as " bad
home conditions " shows that quarreling, abuse, or irritating
conditions in the home figure equally with lack of supervision

THE UNMARRIED MOTHER

through parental neglect, each appearing 9,1 times aa maj
factors. Next in order of importance is " no control becai
of parental inability ", such as illness or low mentality,
or else because of simple incapacity to exert supervision over a
somewhat difficult daughter. The large number of domestics
found among the unmarried mothers has given prominence
to the situation called " family not immigrated ", whereas a
low-standard family is equally productive of sexual laxness.
Other subdivisions of this general head have been discussed iiL
the special chapter on " Bad Home Conditions." j

The problem of lowering the number of girls and women who
become unmarried mothers is thus largely one of improving
the home conditions. Social agencies are vigorously at work
in this direction, so that such factors as " quarreling and abuse
in the home ", " alcoholism on the part of the parents ", " im-
morality in the home ", etc., may be reduced to a possible min-
imum. Workers are constantly cooling into closer touch with
the parents, and when lack of control is due to a cause which
can be removed, suggestions to the parent should bear fruit.

It is interesting to draw attention to the importance of the
broken home in which one of the parents is dead or baa deserted,
or in which both are deceased. In 11 cases the death of
both parents was considered the prime causative factor in
the girl's pregnancy. Here again social agencies are do!
much towards family rehabihtation, and by means of
placing-out system and widow's pensions, it may be hoj
that in situations where a broken home exists something may
be done to offer at least a substitute.

Most of the remedial measures to be used in building up the
family setting, in order to assure the cooperation between a
girl and her parents, have been discussed in the chapter on
"Home Conditions." It is probable that any far-reaching
change can hardly be accomplished without the adoption of a
radical attitude on the part of the community which would
justify more frequent friendly visiting on the part of social
agencies. This should be done in the belief that society is
sufficiently concerned in the development of normal family

lua^l

r m

CONCLUSIONS

Kfe to warrant more far-reaching intervention in eases where
I the home does not seera to be produetive of capable citizens.
If one eliminates the mentally abnormal, one finds by far the
most important cause of sexual laxity which frequently results
in illegitimacy to be centered in the home itself. In this hes
a cause for ho|>e, for it is evident that the home may be ap-
proached by already existing organizations, and that the good
results already obtained may be multiplied. With the control
and colonization of the feeble-minded girl, adequate endeavor
on the part of social agencies should succeed in alleviating
the problem of the unmarried mother in many communities.

Early Sex Experience. By early sex experience is meant
a physical contact or strong mental suggestion of a sexual
nature, experienced by a girl before the age of 15 years, and
it is with cases involving such conditions that the chapter
bearing this title has dealt.

It has again been impossible to assign to this causative
factor a single instance in which it was of prime importance,
although as a minor factor early sex experience has been found
operative in 25 cases. Seven of the girls involved in this
study were known to have begun sexual intercourse at the
age of 14, four at M, and four at 11. One girl seems to have
been promiscuous at D, one at 12, and one at 13, and still
another at 14. Two girls were led into immoral pcactices before
15 by parents or relatives, and one by an older person to whom
she was not related.

These figures are cited as illustrative of those cases in which
the facts were certain. It is obvious, considering the over-
crowding and the breakdown of modesty found in so many
homes, that many experiences of this sort must have occurred
which have not been included in the case records. It must
not be forgotten, furthermore, that this tabulation leaves out
of consideration entirely those cases in which the sex experi-
ence is of a nature which could not be described as actual
intercourse. In many instances young girls have undoubtedly
been tampered with, with distinctly unfortunate results, while
there must have occurred that sort of sexual initiation whicli

284

THE UNMARRIED MOTHER

produces familiarity with sex matters through the contagii
proximity to other individuals.

Id many ways this relates itself to bad home conditions in
that it is an indication of lack of supervision on the part of
those in authority over the young girl. One might add, however,
that such supervision is fretjueutly impossible on account of the
living conditions so often met with in city life. The tenement
dweller, unless he woidd keep his children confined within his
own few rooms, is unahle to exert control over their movements
or to supervise their associates. Overcrowding has further
complicated the matter by familiarizing the growing girl with
acts which she is not able to view with any perspective, so
that she is in danger of growing up without any standard in
regard to sex matters. All that has been said in regard to bad
home conditions and bad companions applies here. It will
remain lifficult under modern conditions to remove from the
lives of many growing girls the possibilities of such tarly sex
experiences as may periiianehtly distort their mental attitude
towards matters of this kind.

Abnormal Physical Condition. The influence of abnoi
physical condition upon behavior is of a twofold variety. Th<
are such pathological states as produce weakness, and there
conditions productive of irritation. Both of these have a
bearing upon behavior.

In this study abnormal physical conditions have been foi
to be operative as a major factor in only 6 instances. Four
of these were cases of epilepsy, one case of pnibable epilepsy,
and in one instance the young woman was suffering from ft
deformed hip. It is obvious that the latter cause was not
directly connected with her becoming an unmarried mother,,,
in the sense that the deformed hip merely represented a reason^
for her l>eing over-desirous of sympalhy and affection. Jn
epilepsy, however, the case was different, and associated with a
definite lack of control.

Among the minor factors, physical abnormality appeared.
53 times, the highest single subdivision l>eing that of
culosb, and the next that of hysteria, followed by anemia.

f tubei^

CONCLUSIONS

H A weakened physical state is ooe which would naturally
' cause tlie individual to possess less capacity for withstanding
temptation of any sort, whereas a condition of prolonged irri-
tatioD frequently results in impulsive action of an unfortunate
kind. Many of these pathological conditions should respond
to clinical treatment, and it should be possible to educate the
community to a better understanding of the importance of
physical well-being, and a more frequent use of dispensaries
and out-patient departments. There still remains, however,
the problem of removing from the home such conditions as
might produce disease or illness. This involves far-reaching
policies of social alleviation, the increased knowledge of food
values, and diet kitchens, and above all, the reduction of the
extent of jraverty. So obvious is the importance of health in
human behavior, that the necessity of a sound hygiene should
be apparent.

Sexual Suggestibility. That girl or woman has been con-
sidered sexually suggestible who, while mentally and physically
normal, is yet unable to withstand the advances of various
men who are sexuaUy attracted to her, and so accepts such
advances with nothing more than a momentary emotional
attachment.

No analysis is needed of the 27 cases in which this factor
has appeared to be of prime importance. It is, however,
worth noting that there is a type of girl and woman whose
sexual nature is such that she Bnda it impossible to keep out
of difficulties if allowed to remain at large in the community.
Such individuals frequently become what is known as " charity
girls " or such as indulge in indiscriminate intercourse without
the intention of financial profit. Well-marked cases of this
type should be segregated or placed under sufficient control of
some kind.

SexuaUy Suggestible by One Individual. That girl or woman
has been considered sesually suggestible by one individual,
who while mentally and physically normal has yet been sexually
intimate with one man for a protracted period, without being
in any sense promiscuous.

One of the difficulties to be met in a study of the unmarried
mother concerns itself with this type of individual, who to sU
intents and purposes maintains a relationship with some man,
frequently bearing him several children, which differs from the
marriage state only in the fact that there has been no ceremony.
In 38 cases in this study, the individual has appeared to be so
sexually suggestible by one individual as to justify this being
considered a major factor in her behavior. Here again
finds it impossible to analyze the situation, although there
usually some specific reason for the fact that such couples ha'
never married. It is worth noting that this group must
distinguished from all other divisions in that it represent
individuals who are mentally and physically normal, and
no sense promiscuous.

Abnormal Sexualism, It has been so difficult to define
abnormal sexualism that one case only is included here, and
that one in which an examination reveals a well-marked case
of nymphomania.

Aside from heightened sexual desire, due to local iiritati'
there undoubtedly exists a group in whom the instinct is cott*1
genitally overdeveloped. The difficulty lies in properly diag-
nosing such individuals, particularly on the basis of case records.
Where such cases appear, restrictive measures of some sort are
necessary. One girl of this type may prove a plague spot in the
whole community, both as a spreader of disease and as an agent
in introducing other boys and girls into dangerous practices.

Mental Conflict. Mental conflict is a state of mental tensioflL
produced by some emotional experience, usually of a sexuil
nature. Such states frequently lend to impulsive and antir
social behavior. In the chapter under this head various typea
of mental conflict have been considered, and a discussion of s
subject related to this by nature is included in the chapter on
" Educational Disad\'antages." The methods of sexual hygiene
advocated there would do much to prevent conflicts of this kind.

In this study mental conflicts seemed operative as major
factors in S instances, and twice as minor factors. Two
these dealt with conflicts over sex matters, and one involvi

:nl^H

fine
and
::ase

tioafl

COIH^H

'wo oiS

CONCLUSIONS 297

a question of a girl's parentage. Id a minor instance it ap-
peared that there was a logical relationship between a girl's
frustrated ambitions and sexual laxness resulting in pregnancy.

Heredity. Although heredity appears as a minor factor in
48 cases, it has seemed unwise to give it a position as a major
factor in this study. Where such traits appeared in the
ancestry of the individual as might throw light on her be-
havior, they have been enumerated for descriptive purposes
only. An attempt to make an analysis of these traits indicated
such a wide distribution that the resulting table [>ossessed
little statistical value. It is evident that heredity enters largely
into the problem of the unmarried mother, although it is ex-
tremely doubtful whether the predisposition to give birth to
illegitimate children is an inheritable trait. Most studies of
this nature find little to indicate that any special form of
delinquency is transmitted through heredity.

Assault, Incest, and Rape. In this chapter have been in-
cluded a few cases in which the girl's story of assault has re-
mained unshaken after severe cross-examination, or such as
those in which the man has received a sentence for assault,
incest, or rape. Obviously this cannot be considered a causa-
tive factor in behavior, A girl who is assaulted is thus removed
from the subject of this study in so far as it deals with the anal-
ysis of forces inherent and environmental.

In fourteen instances a girl's pregnancy was due to one of
the above causes, in S she had incestuous sex relations with her
uncle, in 3 she was raped, in 2 cases the girl had sexual inter-
course with her stepfather, and in 3 others with her own father.

It may be said here that in many instances the girl or woman
at first maintained that she had been assaulted, but that in-
vestigation proved that this was hardly the truth. Greater
privacy in the home and less overcrowding would do something
to reduce the chances of incest.

Abnormal Mentality. A study of the unmarried mother
would have little value which did not at least refer to the large
element of mentally abnormal girls and women who become un-
married mothers. This has been done in the chapter under this

heading. As has been indicated there, the problem is one <rf
recognizing the mentally abnormal individual, and of segregating
or controlling her in some way during her child-bearing period.

In 167 instances mental tests or suggestive histories indicated
these girb and women to be positively mentally abnormal.
It may be repeated here that a further study of the mental
processes of the unmarried mother would reveal much that is
illuminating, and that case workers should not hesitate to place
upon record the attitude of the girl or woman herself towards
the whole field of sex behavior. The material from which these
cases were drawn fret^uently contained much that was illustrative
of the mental processes of the girl, as should appear from the
summaries included in this study. It was often impossible,
however, to use a case record, because it consisted of httle more
than a schedule of facts, and gave no indication of the person-
ality of the subject. Wherever possible, direct quotations
should be incorporated into the case histories, and conversa-
tions recorded verbatim. If this is not feasible, certain snatches
of conversation or characteristic expressions should be included.
One can hardly evaluate individual responsibility without know-
ing more of the thought processes of a girl or woman than many
records contain. Particularly difficult was it to find any mate-
rial which would tend to indicate the girl's attitude towards
her commimity before pregnancy, for the purpose of later
comparison. A girl's attitude towards the most important
function of her life is always of interest, as indicating the in-
fluence of public opinion. So much has been said about sex
behavior to-day which it is impossible to verify that case work
of ihis kind might tend to clear up certain debatable points.
Are women kept from intercourse outside of marriage primarily
through fear of pregnancy? Is intercourse condoned if preg-
nancy does not result ? Such questions can only be answered
by the collection of material which will tend to exhibit
sincere opinion of girls and women to whom matters of
kind are of paramount importance.

The Nativity of the Unmarriei! Mother. The distributicm
of the unmarried mother according to nativity throws tight

CONCLUSIONS

9 upon the preponderance of those who were either foreign born,
or whose parents were not born in the United States, This
table shows tliat Si.8 per cent of the girls or women in this
study were native bom whites of native parents, 5.4 per cent
were colored. The native born, with both parents foreign
born, represented 25 jier cent, and those with one parent foreign
born, 5 per cent. Those girls and women who were themselves
foreign born reached a total of 30 per cent.

If one totals up the number who were foreign bom, together
with those who atthougti born in this country had one or both
parents bom abroad, the figures reached 60 per cent, as com-
pared to 32.8 per cent native-bom girls of native parents.
It is thus either the foreign horn girl, or those who represent
first-generation Americans, who fall most readily upon private
and piibhc agencies for assistance or control. The community
is thus expen(hng a considerable amount of time and money
upon immigrants or their children.

It must be said here that it has not been possible to relate
the figures cited above, to the distribution of native-bom
women of native parentage, foreign-bom women, etc., in the
population at large, because of the variety of communities
from which these cases have been drawn.

The Nationality of the Unmarried Mother. The parentage
of the unmarried mother is unknown in nine cases. The
largest number of those who are either foreign bom or of for-
eign parentage, came from English-speaking countries. Of these
the highest single number, namely 84, were Irish ; and the
next largest group were EngUsh- Canadians, represented by
64 individuab. If one adds to this the French -Canadian
group of 28, which have been included under the head of " Non-
English Speaking", the proportion of the non-Enf;Iis]| speaking
is decreased, and the total for Canada, both for French and
English, raised beyond that represented by the Irish. There
is a considerable drop between these figiires and those of English
parentage, who are represented to the number of 18, and who
are followed by the Russian Jews with 14.

Here again it is necessary to draw attention to the fact that

soo

THE UNMARRIED MOTHER

it has not been possible to relate the Canadian percentages
as well as the Irish percentage, with the numbers of those
nationalities represented among women of child-bearing age
in the population at large. The preponderance of the Irisb in
this study of the unmarried mother is due to the large number
of immigrant girls who seek employment here, and live as
domestics away from home protection. It should be remem-
bered that the illegitimacy rate for Ireland is one of the lowest
in the world, a Bgurc which indicates the importance of en-
vironment in a problem of this kind. The same may be said,
to a lesser degree, of the English-Canadians who immigrate to-j
Massachusetts from the Provinces in considerable numi
Many of them are girls and women away from home with*
protection.

Number of Pregnancies of 500 Unmarried Mothers. Dif-
ficult as it is to secure information of this sort, the figures cited
should contain a basis of truth. There may be a tendency
to deny the existence of a previous child on the part of some
girls and women, but in the majority of cases the contact
between the visitor and the girl is intimate enough, and of'
sufficiently long duration for the fact of a previous prej
to be discovered.

Out of 500 unmarried mothers, 31 were pregnant for the
time at the time of the investigation, and SflU had given bii
to one child. Only 58 acknowledged having had two chili
whereas 13 had given birth to two children and were
pregnant. One woman had had three children and was
pregnant.

These figures arc influenced by the unwillingness of
social agencies to accept an unmarried mother case unless it is
her first pregnancy. It should be said, nevertheless, that the
experience of having an illegitimate child is considered to be
such a severe one that many social workers are of the opinion
that a woman of normal mentality rarely ever gives birth to
more than one illegitimate child. There is a movement on
foot which would tend to segregate automatically all women
who give birth to two children, a system which would seem to

CONCLUSIONS

SOI

be somewhat too arbitrary. A considerable number of women
of normal mentality go through more than one illegitimate preg-
nancy. In this study 80 per cent of the women experienced one
pregnancy, and 20 per cent became pregnant two or more times.

Mental Examination of 500 Unmarried Mothers. Mental
examinations were recorded in only 46.2 per cent of the cases
reviewed, thus signifying that 131 girb only had been observed.
It is obvious that this number is decidedly low. Although it
should not be necessary to submit every girl or woman who
is about to give birth to an illegitimate child, or has already
done so, to psychological observation, such an individual should
not be given the benefit of the doubt. There is no reason why
a mental examination, skillfully administered, should have an
unduly upsetting effect upon an individual, nor should the
fact of pregnancy alter the results of such an examination in
any important particular. So many girls who become un-
married mothers are suffering from mental abnormalities which
are not related to feeble-mindednesa, such as psychic constitu-
tional inferiority, defective self-control, adolescent instability,
etc., that social workers who rely on the classiBcalion of feeble-
minded or normal will fail to diagnose many individual cases.
It is particularly in such instances that thorough observation
may be the only means of pointing out the correct treatment.

Distribution of Gonorrhoea and Syphilis. In the cases studied,
54 girls were found to have gonorrhoea, 17 were suffering
from syphilis, whereas 15 had both gonorrhoea and syphilis.
Including so-called doubtful cases, 18 per cent were thiis in-
fected with venereal disease. The remainder cannot be
considered free from disease, and so must be designated as
" not known to be diseased."

Referring to the status of the mother and child in regard to
venereal diseases, it appears that in 3 per cent, or 15 cases,
the mother and child were both known to be infected. In 82
per cent of the cases, neither the mother or child were known
to be infected.

Obvioiisly, a percentage of those cases labeled " not known
to be diseased " include individuals who have not been sub-

THE UNMARRIED MOTHER

j'ecled to a Waasermann test for syphilis, or a microscopic ci-
anmiation for gonorrhcea. The figures are thus interesting,
as indicating the method of case work being done, rather tl
as evidence of the actual prevalence of these diseases amoi
girls and women who became unmarried mothers. It is
sible that with the development of a more scientific meth<
of case work, an increasing use of the tests for venereal di:
will be made.

Later Marriage of the Unmarried Mother. It appears that
48, or 9.6 per cent, of the women in this study married the father
of their iUegitimate child, either before or after confinement;
37, or 7.4 per cent, married a man not the father of tbeir child.
Figures in regard to the marriiige of the unmarried mother are
probably considerably lower than they would have been had
it been possible to observe the situation longer. Accon
to the German experience, over 30 per cent of the mothers
iUegitimate children marry before their child reaches the
of three years.

A study of married women giving birth to illegitimate chili
indicates 25, or 5 per cent, of the mothers in this study
have been married.

Although it is extremely difficult to secure information
regard to the fathers of the illegitimate children, it was found
in 48 per cent of these cases the father was unmarried, and that
in 13.6 per cent he was a married man. The marital condition
of the father was unknown in 36.4 per cent of the cases studied.

It may be stated here that by far the weakest part of the
work done in regard to the problem of the unmarried mother
that relating to the father. It is probable that this is due
considerable extent to the remarkable ease with which the
fathers of illegitimate children disappear from view. It should,
however, be possible in those cases where the father is known to
secure a larger amount of information concerning him. Possibly
a man would find it easier to make the approach in this instauoe,
and there might be wisdom in having the fathers interviewed
by male social workers, instead of by
frequently the ease.

Ilea.

-J

1 now ^^1

CONCLUSIONS

nnmuried Mother Herself Illegitimate. Although it was
possible to verify the birth record in only part of the cases, it
appears that not more than 3.2 per cent of the girls and women
in this study were themselves known to be illegitimate children.
In regard to the remainder, it can only be said that they were
" not known to be illegitimate." A study of unmarried mothers
who were themselves illegitimate children would undoubtedly
point towards many interesting conclusions.

The Wage of the Unmarried Mother according to Occupation.
So much has been said recently in regard to the relation between
wages and semai laxness, that any grouping of the girls and
women who have become unmarried mothers should be of
interest. The largest percentage of these women was drawn
from the group engaged in domestic service, this occupation
being represented by 31.6 per cent of the number. Out of
158 girls thus engaged, 19 were earning between $4 and $5 a
week, 18 between $5 and $fl and 13 less than $4. It must not
be forgotten that this remuneration does not include the board
and lodging which domestics receive, and which may be esti-
mated roughly at four dollars. If this amount be added to the
wages, it appears that the majority of girls and women in this
occupation were earning the equivalent of from $8 to $10 per
week. The wage was unknown in 91 of the 158 cases.

The occupation next in importance is that of factory workers,
26.2 per cent being thus occupied. Out of a total of 131 in-
stances, 21 girls and women received between $5 and $0 per
week, 21 between $6 and $7 and 20 between *7 and *8. In
32 cases the wage was unknown. On the basis of these hgures,
it is evident that the factory worker averages a lower wage
equivalent than does the woman engaged in domestic service.

There is a considerable drop from the percentage of women
engaged in factory work, namely 26.2 per cent, to the next
classification, which indicates that 9.2 per cent did housework
in their own home. Following this comes the occupation of
waitress, which claims 5.8 per cent of the cases in this study.
It may be repeated here that the relationship between low wages
and illegitimacy seems relatively sUght. Although ^rls who

^ve birth to illegitimate children may later become prostitutes,
in only two or three cases in this study has a girl's pregnancy
resulted from sexual intercourse for the sake of financial gain.
It is by no means implied that there is not a relation between
poverty and sex irregularity, but it is probable that poverty
operates through bad home conditions, overcrowding, lack of
sufficient nourishment, or recreation, etc.. rather than as a direct
cause. In this light it may be stated that the largest number of
girls and women in this study are engaged in domestic service at
ordinarily good wages. These obviously cannot feel a pressure
of necessity, because of the fact that they are assured their
board and lodging. It ia noteworthy that most investiga-
tions indicate that the largest percentage of prostitutes is also
recruited from those women employed in domestic service.
Comment has been made on this fact elsewhere.

Discrepancy in Age between the Unmairied Mother and the
Father of Her Child. There is an opinion among many people
that the unmarried mother is ordinarily a young girl who has
been seduced by some man usually considerably her senior. It
is this group to whom the girl constantly represents an innocent
individual in the toils of some designing male. Such a belief
cannot be upheld by the results of this study. In HG cases
both the age of the father and that of the girl or woman were
known, and it appears that in '26 of these the father was fi
years older than the mother of his child ; in 22 instances he
only one year older, in 21 instances he was two years oh
In 135 cases the age of the father varied from six years seniority
to an age equal to that of the mother of his child. In one com
the woman was twelve years older than the boy in question,
whereas in another the man was forty-nine years older than the
girl.

These figures, far from emphasizing the element of seduction
of young girls by older men, point towards what one might
naturally beUeve, namely, that the discrepancy in age between
the unmarried mother and the father of her child conforms to
the laws of sexual attraction. The preponderant group
parents of illegitimate cliildren conceive these children

were

aupof Ofl

Ireii at f^M

CONCLUSIONS 305

age when they were biologically most productive, and sexually
most attractive to each other.

Age of the Unmarried Mother at First Pregnancy. la the
light of what has been said in the paragraph concerning the
discrepancy in age between the unmarried motlier and the father
of her child, it is interesting to note that the largest number of
girls became pregnant for the first time when 20 years of age,
and the next largest group was that of those girls who were 18
years of age. The former included 65 cases, and the latter 61.
Fifty-nine girls became pregnant at 19, and the same number
at 17. The age of 16 shows a distribution of 44 cases, whereas
only 34 became pregnant at 21. Thus 288 out of 500 girls
conceived their first child between the ages of 16 and 20. There
is an interesting discrepancy between the ages of 20 and 21, the
former age including 65 girls and the latter only 34,

It becomes apparent from these figures that the chance of
illegitimacy begins when physical maturity is fairly well estab-
lished, and drops by the time that a girl reaches the age of 21.
Some of this is undoubtedly due to the fact that with each
increasing year the number of unmarried women in the com-
munity becomes smaller, as well as to the added self-control
which girls acquire between 16 and 20. Beyond this the girl
of 21 is more likely to understand the use of contraceptive
methoiis, so that the figures quoted do not indicate the prev-
alence of extra-marital intercourse, or reflect upon the sex
ethics of the various ages. They show, however, a relation
between youth and illegitimacy, and if one may assume that
the sex instinct is as great at the period of from 20 to 25 as it
is from 15 to 20 years of age, one reaches the conclusion that
environmental factors, together with lack of proper standards,
must be largely responsible for the large percentage of women
giving birth to illegitimate children between the ages of 15 and
20, This b reinforced when one remembers that, in this study
at least, the girls in this age group do not represent a class who
are preyed upon by much more mature and designing males,
but that in the largest number of cases, the men who became
the fathers of their children ranged m age from that equal to

their own to one in which they were not more than six
their seniors.

This and the detailed information contained in the
submitted in the various chapters reinforces the belief that the
responsibihty for the birth of an illegitimate child is in most
instances evenly distributed on both parents. Many a ^il
of 16 is emotionally and physically as mature as a young man
20 or 21, and because of her natural preoccupation with affi
of sex, often better able to understand the sources of her
pulses than he is. That this has not been recognized before,
save by a few psychologists, is largely due to the popular belirf
in the higher morality of women, as compared with men, which
leaves out of consideration the relative strength of the sex
impulse in men and women, and emphasizes its expression.
There can be little doubt but tliat lack of opportunity, the fear
of pregnancy with its attendant social ostracism, together with
the emphasis placed upon the need of feminine virginity as a
prerequisite for marriage, is responsible for much that has been
called feminine virtue.

The youth of these girls who become unmarried mothi
although involving tragedy in many individual cases, is at the
same time an indication of what may be done by the social
policies suggested in other chapters. Many of them are still
under family control, and still in a position to receive higher
standards of behavior. Thus at a plastic period they are at
once open to good influence as well as evil, and so susceptible
to those social endeavors which aim at improving the home, and
at raising community standards in general.

When one considers the age of the unmarried mother in rela-
tion to her occupation, it appears that a larger percentage of
factory workers become pregnant at an early age, than is the
case among domestic service. Out of 131 girls and women
employed in factories, 86 became pregnant between 14 and 20
years of age, and 38 between 20 and 25 years of age. On the
other hand, out of 158 girls and women employed in domestic
service, 72 became pregnant between 14 and 20. and 56 between
20 and 25 years of age. It is possible that the figures for tlie

ant^H

»een^H

ter^

CONCLUSIONS

latter group would be still lower were it not for the fact that
most of those girls who are so antisocial in their behavior as to
necessitate their conmutnient to Institutional care fall into this
group. Almost invariably such girls are placed at housework.
These individuals represent the group most given to indis-
criminate sexual indulgence, and so most likely to give birth to
illegitimate children. That so many factory workers become
pregnant at an early age, is probably largely due to their
intimate association with men dur'mg working hours, and to
their ability to spend their free hours as they please.

Out of 46 girls and young women who became pregnant while
living at home, 31 fell into the group between 14 and 20 years
of age, and 10 between 20 and 26. Of the 83 girls who conceived
their illegitimate children while at school or college, 20 were
between the ages of 14 and 20 years. Only 3 out of the total
number of 500 girls and women in this study became pregnant
before 14 years of age.

These figures indicate the necessity of increased supervision
over young girls, both by parents and employers, and an im-
provement of the conditions under which these employees
work. Reference has been made elsewhere to the peculiar
difficulties to which domestic servants are subjected. It is,
however, impossible to isolate occupations as in themselves
greatly responsible for illegitimacy, or to look upon working
girls aa pecuharly liable to temptation. The alleviation of the
problem of the unmarried mother must rest upon improved
home conditions, and mainly upon the function of the care,
control, and education of children. The chapters on Bad Home
Conditions, Bad Environment, and Educational Disadvantages
have suggested preventive policies of this sort.

General Conclusion. The attitude of social workers and those
interested in the problem of the unmarried mother, as well as
that of the thinking general public, towards the whole problem of
illegitimacy, falls into two main divisions. There is a group
which looks upon illegitimacy as a manifestation of those forces
menacing the home and monogamy. Their altitude towards
the uumatried mother b almost always personal. She repre-

808

THE UNMARRIED MOTHER

sents to them an individual who has sinned and who should
be made to feel the full burden of her behavior. The members
of this group are consequently guided by the fear that anytbiog
wliicli tends to ameliorate the condition of the illegitimate child
will remove from the mother part of the burden which she
should bear because of the fact of her sin. To them the very
basis of our civilization is menaced by this example of sex
indulgence outside of marriage. The thought of this group is
more in terms of ethics than of biology, and the ethics which it
upholds are chiefly based upon a belief that human beings are
by nature promiscuous, and that any relaxation of the severity
on the part of society towards the unmarried mother will be
immediately followed by sexual indulgence resulting in ao in-
creased number of illegitimate births. Instead of being mono^
amous by nature, as Westermarck maintains,' they feel Uiat ■
men and women ore monogamous only on account of the maT'fl
riage law. I

Such students of the problem would not lighten the burden ■
of the illegitimate child in regard to the social stigma which he
now bears because of his mother's illegal sexual intercourse.
They would hesitate to allow the State to relieve the mother of
part of the burden of the support of such a child in fear of the
results portrayed above. A group of this kind, for instAnce,
would oppose the extension of mother's pensions to unmarried
mothers, regardless of the fact that an illegitimate child may be
as much in need of such help as is his more fortunate brotheft
and that the mother may be capable of good care.

There is another group of thinkers and workers to whom the
problem of illegitimacy represents an unfortunate indication ol
social and biological maladjustment. To them the unmaxried
mother represents an individual, by no means devoid of personal
responsibihty, through whom the reproductive force of the sex
instinct has operated in a manner unfortunate for the individu&l
and for society. Conscious of the prevalent loose thinking
which associates monogamy and morality, and makes virtue
dependent upon a negative quality, they hold that in specifi&j
' Wciteniiarck : "Hic Hiitorjr ot Hunum Mumge". London, lOOS.

CONCLUSIONS

309

instances there may be an estimable and honorable maternity
outside of marriage, just as there may be an immoral maternity
within marriage. This group, far from condoning the sexual
lamess of the unmarried mother, is yet of the belief that the
evil results which come from the high rate of infant mortality,
from infanticide, from the tremendous impetus which the
public attitude towards this problem gives to hypocrisy and
dishonesty in regard to sex questions, is disproportionate to the
benefit gained for society by striking the mother through her
child. The thought processes of moralists frequently center
themselves on what is most concrete, with tlie result that society
penalizes that sex intercourse which results in the birth of an
illegitimate child, and overlooks those who, through the use
of contraceptive methods and by the resort to abortions, pre-
vent the same act from becoming known to others.

As Spann ' saye, illegitimate children are bom with as good
chances of bodily and cultural development as have the le^ti-
mate children of their own social stratum. Their large partici-
pation in crime is, according to this author, due to the fact that
they remain in the lowest walks of society. Here they are
subject to bad influences and insufBcieat care. This is indi-
cated when an unmarried mother marries a man not the father
of her child, by the fact that the illegitimate child grows up
no better and no worse than the legitimate children of its own
class. Much of the crime among indi^-iduals bom out of mar-
riage is the result of a lack of vocational training as well as
of inferior methods of maintenance.

Those who look upon illegitimacy as an instance of biological
maladjustment are con\nnced that although there may be a
question in regard to the morality of the mother, there can be
no such question in regard to the needs of the child. They
advocate such measures as would assure tlje child sufficient
training and an opportunity to develop into a desirable citizen
of the State. They submit that it is open to question whether
the mother should not be judged on her desire to give her child
a Frankfurt am Main", Dresden,

un-

310 THE UNMARRIED MOTHER

good care and her success in doing so, rather than OD the
that she has given birth to a child outside of marriage. To
the test lies there; they hold that the mother who, throu^
hardship and opposition, brings up an illegitimate child so that
he may be an asset to society cannot be classed with the un-
married mother who neglects her child, Uius allowing it to s'
the number of the criminal class.

The sex act is based upon the free-will consent of two peopfe^
and society provides a punishment in instances where it does not
represent the free will of the woman. At present the woman
bears a disproportionate amount of the burden, for which the
man is equally responsible. In case both parents die, the State
under certain conditions assumes the responsibility in regard to
the support and education of the orphan child. It seems equally
logical and right that in the instances in which the father of an
illegitimate child disappears, the State should assume the re-
sponsibility by assisting the mother in the .support of the child.

In accordance with the above may be cited the results of a
disciission held during the session of the International Prison
Congress in Washington in 1910, and recommendations indorsed
by them.'

1. Legislative measures and social propaganda are
the protection of illegitimate children.

i. The position of an illegitimate child should be made as net
equal aa is possible to that of the legitimate child in reference to c
mainlenancc. and inheritance.

8. Soon after the nursing period a decision should be reached |
regard to which parent should have the care of the child, with an «
to its best development as a future citizen.

4. The parent who does not have the care of the child should a
contribute to its' support and education.

B. Since illegitimate children are often the result of ignorance, there
should be a moral propaganda designed to instruct youth in regard
to sex questions, and in their relation to life and public welfare. A
movement should be inaii)nirated to produce the adoption of a single

I standard of morals on the part of both men and women. ^^
'"Artca du CnngT^s Pfnilcnlioire International de Washington. Oc^o^B^^I
1

CONCLUSIONS

6. In boepitals and institutions where young mothers are likely
to go for ad\-ice, there should be qualified persona who will teach the
mother prenatal care anil instruct her in infant nursing, who will seek
to establish the paternity of illegitimate children and secure support
from the father, and who will protect the unmarried mother and act
u guardians of her child.

There is often unquestionable social value in the condemna-
tion which society traditionally heaps upon those whose behavior
offends the social conscience, but it is evident that conventions
and morab are relative, and that they may outlive their useful-
ness, becoming themselves a check to progress. A study of the
relationship between legitimacy and marriage and the share
which, for instance, the need of heirs to carry on the domestic
religion of Rome played in its development,* indicates how
necessary it is that one should continually value anew the bases
of sex morals and conventions.

Unusually interesting is the attitude of society towards the
individual in the light of its own practice. In communities in
which intercourse before marriage is frequent, one finds no less
strict an attitude towards the unmarried mother. It is con-
ceivable that the situation in Saxony as indicated by Prenger,
and probably repeated in other communities, might stimulate
a certain amount of leniency on the part of the inhabitants
towards the mothers of illegitimate children, and yet we are
not conscious of any such state of mind. Out of every one
hundred bom within the first year following the marriage of the
parents, for the year 1891, 53.76 per cent were bom before the
end of the seventh month, and must certainly have been con-
ceived before marriage. If we add another month, the percent-
age rises to 59.27. As indicating the custom of marrying the
woman when her pregnancy became evident, we find a figure of
9.78 bom in the third month, the first three months containing
20.73 per cent of the births during that year. An accident
might thus have made illegitimate nearly 60 per cent of the
children bom within a year after the marriage of their parents.

That the rate of illegitimacy is more dependent upon the

* Ayer: "Legilimacy and Marriage", Harvard Law Rmev, Vol. 16, No. 1.

distribution of population, and upon economic factors delayi
the age of marriage, than it is upon ethical and religious c
ditions, is thought to be true by most careful thinkers. The
realization of this fact by the community in general would
result in greater adaptibility of mind to the needs of the illegiti-
mate child. There will be such, undoubtedly, who will oppose
the extension of State guardianship because of the fact that a
step of this kind would relieve the mother of the burden of her
support, an opinion with but slight foundation. There ia in
the minds of many a misconception about the whole matter
of the support of the illegitimate child, it being believed that
the mother derives a benefit from such assistance which she
does not deserve. An extension of the German system to Amer-
ican conditions would relieve a mother who was incapable of
supporting herself and her child of the burden she faces, but
only in case that her incapacity was due to some reason beyond
her own control. Hardly any one will maintaio that it would
be miwise for the State to prevent the deatli by star\'ation ot
an illegitimate child in a case of this kind, because doing so
woiild be bod for the morals of its mother. As a matter _
of fact the development of the recent laws in Europe c
prives the mother of any benefit from the support of I
child, and enforces ujKtn her the necessity of continuing I
own contribution.

It is probable that a system by which the illegitimate cbildi
born in an American State would fall automatically into t
care of some State organization would be a step productive of
great benefit to the commimity as a whole. If this department
were empowered to institute proceedings against the father ot
an illegitimate child in order to establish paternity and to secure
support, the tendency would probably be an increased cautloD
on the part of men in regard to illicit sexual intercourse, and a
greater degree of certainty in the efitablishmcnt of patemi^.
Spann has so thoroughly shown the relation between the care
that a child gets in its first years and its later delinquency, that
a system of State guardianship should do much to prevent the
entrance of such individuals into the criminal classes. By

CONCLUSIONS

SIS

means of vocational guidance and the insistence upon good
physical care, much could be done to reduce the percentage in
this group. Here again it appears that society makes her own
criminals, and that illegitimate children are congeni tally no more
handicapped than are others of the same social group.

What has gone before has dealt with the attitude of the State
towards the illegitimate child with the intention of sketching a
plan for the alleviation of its condition. What of the whole
problem of the unmarried mother viewed from the angle of
prevention ? What can be done to decrease the number of illegiti-
mate births, and by what means can girls and young women be
removed from that environment which has operated as a causa-
tive factor in so many instances in this study ?

Again emphasis should be placed on the need of segregation
for the psychopathic and feeble-minded girls and women in the
population as being of prime necessity, if one would lower the
birth rate of illegitimate children and alleviate the burden of
human misery. But, as we have indicated, a goodly percentage
of the girls and women whom we have been considering have
been of normal mentality, in whose lives environment and all
that it includes has operated towards a breakdown of that
standard of sex morality which is ordinarily considered necessary
for the social good. Strange contradictions to popular belief
are to be met with in this field, chief among them being the
fact that the condemnation of society can rarely act as a con-
scious check in moments of temptation, when the consequences
of actions that are prompted by passion are but shghtly con-
sidered. The fear of punishment, according to an English
author, is practically negligible.' The same author insbts that
no girl will go through the stress and agony of bearing an illegit-
imate child simply because she is assured of help from the State,
and offers the following suggestions, some of which deal spe-
cifically with the situation of the child itself.

1. The equalization of illegitimate children with those born in mar-
riage when paternity has been established in regard to inheritance, but
not to the exclusion of lawful issue.

' Cbeuer, E. S. : "Woman, MarriagE, and UotberliDod", Londoiw UlS.

314

THE UNMARRIED MOTHER

i. The father should support the child until 16, and the smount
of support should vary according to the parent's standard of living.

3. Dlegitimatc children shotdd be placed by statute under the
protection and guardianship of the State.

4. Unmarried mothers should be placed under the guardianship
of women probation officers who will assist them in finding work.

B. Universal motherhood insurance should be established.

6. In cases of infanticide the court should hold the man partly
responsible if it can be proved that he knowingly left tlie motbcs a
necessitous circumstances.

7. State homes may be necessary where destitute motherf a
work for the support of their children.

propyl
out b^^

Lindner ' says that the chief influence, aside from the pi
education of youth, which may be enlisted to reduce the numi
of illegitimate births, is that which would be brought about
making marriage easy and economically possible. He suggests
the entrance of the State in the support of the child whom its
father refuses to support, and State assistance, under great
precautioD, of properly fitted young men and women vibo are
anxious to marry.

Statistics in regard to illegitimacy are of three kinds:

1. The coefficient of fecundity, which is computed by
mating the relatioD between the total number of illegitii
births and the total number of unmarried women between
and 50 years of age in a given community.

2. The illegitimacy rate based upon the number of Ul^itunate
births to every 100 births in the community.

3. The illegitimacy rate based upon the number of illegiti
births per 1000 inhabitants, in a given section.

It is interesting to note that while the last two birth
vary over a given period of time, the coefficient of fecundi^
illegitimate births fluctuates ouly very slightly.

FVom the following table * one finds the coefficient
legitimate births varying to a greater degree than that
illegitimate.

' Lindner: "Die Uoehtlichen GvHurten nln Sfirialphanomeo ", Leipzig, IflOO.

' Prinring, F. : " Die Uncheliche Fruchlbarkeit io Ueut«cfaUnd ". Zeitschnft
fur Socialwiweiwdiaft, V. Jahrgang, Berlin, 1902.

gitunate
ptiin^H

h ralfl

idityfH

lent ifl
that fS

CONCLUSIONS

815

a«-^

^— ^^^"^

187e-187S
1879-1882
1SS9-1S92
18M~18B7

28.7
27.4

8e.s

26.7

2.90
2.»8

a.8S

2.92

Prinzing explains thia situatioa by indicating that the co-
efficient of legitimate births is dependent upon marriage, which
in turn is influenced by the economic conditions of the period.
The thought of support, however, does not enter into the minds
of those who are the parents of illegitimate children, consequently
there is little deviation due to economic conditions. According
to him the chief determinant of illegitimacy lies in the ratio
of the number of unmarried males capable of paternity to the
number of unmarried women capable of bearing children in a
given community. Other factors, such as the improvement of
social conditions, legislation, and the increase of the use of
contraceptive measures, figure only incidentally in the birth
rate, The greater the circle from which a naan can choose, the
easier will it be for him " to seduce one woman and then to
marry another " ; the smaller the prospect of marriage b to
a woman, the less will she hesitate to do the uttermost to bind
a man to her.

In proof of this belief Prinzing quotes the following table for
Belgium.

FHOH 20-00 YlUB
TSBBB tlltn Dh-

*""mo ra!i!."''"

nuTB FHnjHDrjT

1851--IS6S

116.4

1.73

18fiS-1860

114.7

1.7S

1801-1805

113.8

1.7S

186&-1870

115.2

1.82

1871-187B

1I7.I

1.90

1870-1880

121.4

1.09

1881-18S6

123.2

4.11

1880-1890

123.S

2.12

316 THE UNMARRIED MOTHER

The situation in Germany can be understood from this table.

""^'u^rS.™'

1871-J8T6
1979-1882
188»~189«
1894-1897

U1.7
143.7
14A.4
141.6

iS 1

The Bavarian situation is as follows :

Fob Evbht 100 M>H

""""iWSO rSfS."""

1874-1877

131.8

,.« 1

1870-1882

134.7

«.M I

1880-1890

139.2

4.11 ■

1894-1697

140.0

..«. 1

According to Prinzing, the law will have little to do with
changing the figures of illegitimate births when it operates
upon marriage gradually. The enforcing of the support of the
child upoB the father would, he feels, make a difference, except-
ing in those cases where the father is a pauper or a vagabond, and
in those instances where the girl or woman does not know who
the father of her child may be. According to him, the better
the home environment is in which a young girl grows up. the
more will she be able to withstand the moral dangers which
threaten her.

There can be little doubt but that Prinzing has come close
to the trutli in regard to the problem of illegitimacy in his em*
phosis upon the distribution of population. Wltere there is a
proponderance of immarried women over men in a community,
one may always look for illegitimate births. His figures, show-
ing but slight variability in the coefficient of illegitimacy, must
not, however, be taken to indicate that a certain ratio between

CONCLUSIONS

men and unmarried women in a given section will always pro-
duce the aame coefficient of illegitimacy. Other factors ere
rarely ever identical.

A study of 500 unmarried mothers reveals the necessity of
four distinct lines of social activity, and it is reassuring that the
organization for such effort is already formed. Some of our
social agencies may affect the problem, but the need becomes
one of adding strength and purpose to the endeavors for gen-
eral social betterment.

FirH, steps should be taken for the control or segregation of
the mentally abnormal woman during child-bearing age.
In all probabiUty between 30 and 40 per cent of the girls and
women in this study were suffering from some sort of mental
defect. They are incapable of self-control, unless subject to
some sort of supervision.

Second, an attempt should be made to enact laws which will
reflect the European experience in regard to the unmarried
mother. The general emphasis of this legislation should aim
towards the care of the child, and it should be realized that the
State's chief concern hes in the quaUty of its citizenship. With
this should go a propaganda tending to remove many of the
misconceptions surrounding the unmarried mother, and indi-
cating to how large an extent society forces both the mother and
the child into criminality.

Third, there should be an extension of the efforts towards
general social betterment which have already been under-
taken, and which have been outlined in detail in the various
chapters of this study. Of greatest importance are those that
seek to improve conditions in the home, to enlist the cooperation
of parents in the hves of their daughters, to supervise the girl
who gives indications of waywardness, and make the atmosphere
of the home one that will meet the needs of an adolescent girl.
The value of recreation should be frankly recognized, and
opportunities for enjoyment and social intercourse should be
offered.

Only next in importance is the environment surrounding the
^1 or young woman during her working hours. Here one might

318 THE UNMARRIED MOTHER

expect a greater understanding between the employer and the
girl engaged in domestic service, and a more stringent super-
vision of factories, hotels, and restaurants.

Fourth. There is great need for a revision of the attitude of
the public towards questions of ses in general. No longer can
one feel that so important a factor as the sex instinct can be
left out of consideration in the education of the growing prl.
This suggests tlie need of a carefully thought out policy of
sexual hygiene, and of the value of impressing the parents with
the importance of a frank understanding of their daughter's
mental and physical make-up. More important still, and ex-
tremely difficult of attainment, is that social state of mind in
which the whole question of sex will have been lifted from
the filth of the street into its proper spiritual setting. No
single cultural advance could be of greater importance to society.

Such are the conclusions reached in the study of a problem
which covers the whole field of human motives, It has been a
study of life. Those who have followed the argument of these
pages will have come to a new realization of the tragedies
hidden in the lives of many girls and women to-day. It ft-ill
have suggested itself, undoubtedly, that some of this misery, at
least, is unnecessary and serves no social purpose. Those who
recognize the extent of mental defect among unmarried mothers
will have but slight sympathy with the purely ethical solutions
advocated. They will sec in illegitimacy but another instance
of social maladaptation, but they will realize that the solution
of the problem lies through the individual. Mentally nonn^
girls and women should be able to reach maturity without
definite sexual experience, and that woman will have shown
herself possessed of a character most needed by the community
who has refused to use her sex function in opposition to the
public conscience.

APPENDIX "A*'

STATISTICS

General Considerations. The statistics contained in the
following chapter are based upon an inductive study of 600
cases, 72 of which have been used in this book. The result is
that they should afford interesting matter for the understanding
of the problem of the unmarried mother. It is probable that
the most valuable material is that which deals with the analysis
of the causative factors which were found to be operative in the
various cases. These figures should indicate the social environ-
ments in which lives the girl or woman who becomes an un-
married mother, as well as such contributing factors as physical
condition and mental state.

Owing to lack of space and similarity of material only 69
cases have been used to illustrate the discussion in the preceding
pages. The figures which follow, however, are based partly on
a study of 600 cases, and partly upon 333 cases. The larger
base is used for the building up of such tables as have nothing to
do with causative factors, such as the age of the unmarried
mother, her occupation, her nativity, and so forth. In this
group of 500 cases, a considerable number, namely 107, suggested
the possibility of mental abnormality or peculiar mental char-
acteristics which could not be considered certain, and for this
reason are not included in the present analysis of causative
factors. In thus confining this study, however, it has been
necessary to leave out of consideration, from the point of view
of operating forces, 167 of the most complete and most interest-
ing case histories.

The statistics here submitted come from cases selected purely
on the basis of fullness of material. As has been stated, these

ca^es have been received from private and public agencies, and in-
dicate work done by them during the last ten years. No attempt
has been made to hmit the selection to girls and women of any par-
ticular age, nor to any particular form of occupation or nativity.
Table I presents an enumeration of causative factors by
groups, giving in each group the instances in which the specific
factor appears either as a major or minor cause. This is followed
by Tables '11 to IX, inclusive, where the groups enumerated in
Table I are analyzed into their component parts. The remain-
ing tables deal with material of general interest in regard to
the unmarried mother, and it is these tables that are based OD
a distribution of 600 histories. ^h

TABLE I ^1

SuHHABT OF Cahsativs Factohs bi Ghoopb AND ToTAW w 500 Cash

Obovm or CADiATnn Factob*

Tiuu A Major

TlMtH A MlNDB

Bad Environment , .
Bod Companions . .
Recreational Diudvantagcs .
Eduoitionai Disadvuntagcs .
Bad Home Conditions. . . .
Eariy Sei Experience . .
Pbysical Abnormality . . .
Sexual Suggest ibi lily ■ . .
Sexually Suggestible by One

Individual ....
Aboormal Strxuulism
Mental ConflieU . . .
Total ....

Defects of Heredity .
Assault, Rape, Incest .
Not Analysed . . .

Suggestive of Mental Abnor-
nxality and not included for

APPENDIX A

Attention has been called to the distribution of those factors
into major and minor divisions under the head of the various
chapters in the cases which have been submitted. In 13 cases
the information, although valuable statistically, did not lend it-
self to an analysis of causative factors.

TABLE n
Analtbib or Bad ENvraoNifENT

-"""O— ™"-°"

Tma * Majob

F»CTDR

NDMBBSOr
ITlMM A MlNOB

Factob

Vidoiu neighborhood

Lived with low-fllandard relaUves ....

Uncongenial surroundings

Moved about among relativea

UosuperviBed recrcatioD

Ifl

1
1
I

Bad Companions

It has not seemed necessary to submit an analysis of that
group of cases which have been included under the head of
*' Bad Companions ", a. causative factor which is considered of
sufficient importance to be designated as the major factor in
only 8 cases. As a minor factor, however, it appears 136
times throughout this investigation. The different kinds of
bad companions who have been influential in the lives of the
various girls and women throughout the study are described
in a special chapter on the subject of " Bad Companions."

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^1

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^I^I^H^^^^^^I^^I

1 APPENDIX A ^^^B

^^^^^F TABLE m '^^^H

AmALTBIB or ReCBB&TIONAI. DmADTANTAOEB ^^M

QROirra or CiuitTTva Factor*

■""i2i""

Noinuar
Tiioa A MnRW

Notrienda

Nut allowed to cntertaia friends at home . .

Unable to afford recreation

Lived m isolaled community

Work too hard

TABLE IV ^1
Analtsk or Educationai. DnADVANTAon ^^M

OioDn OF CAUBiTiva FioTosa

T.ii™'MU0B

T.ST!^.

No instnietion in sex matters

Giri unable to speak English

Backward through no (aiilt o( her own . .

L J

APPENDIX A

TABLE V
Amaltbib op Bad Howe Cain>moii8

QROun or Ciubatiti Pac

QuBireling. abuse, or irritating conditions
Father alcoholic, immoral, criminalisUc, non-

mipporting

Mothtr alcoholic, immoral, crlminsliatic . ■
Both parents alcoholic, immoral, criminalistic
Other members alcoholic. Immoral. crimiDalis-

tic

No control through
Ignorance

Father away

Mother ttway, woricing

Inability

Family ni

Parental neglect,

Moved frequently

Immorality in the home ....
lived out (lodgings or institution)
Non-English speaking ....

Family low alandard

Broken home

Father dead or deserted . . .

Mother d™d or deserted . . .

Parents separated or divorced ■

Parents dead

Girl or woman married

Husbaad deserted or abused her

Husband dead

Separated from husband . . ■
Total

In this table a certaio amount of overlapping occiu^, among
the minor factors, because a girl may have bad an immoral home,
her father may have been dead, and the family may have moved
frequently. In such a situation each would have been counted
separately, making bad home conditions thus operative in three

924

APPENDIX A

thus t

ways in one case. The same docs not apply to the major fi
where the causative factors have been evaluated, and
most dominant type of bad home conditions has been counted
only once, A girl who had an immoral home, whose father was
dead, and whose family moved frequently, would thus in a
of major factors be listed only once under " immoral home
should that have appeared as the most infiuential factor.

TABLE VI
IF Eaalt Sbx Experiiikce

Ouicra or CaDBatiti Faotou

Sexual Intercoune at

ftomiscnoiu it 9

' 18

' 14

Led into immoral pnu^ticea before W by
parent or relative

Leil into immoral practices before IS by
older peraon

TABLE vn
Amaltbu or Abnobual Phtbical CoKDrnom

Qkpuwo

F C*D«»TT

vbFactoh.

Ndhbiib <^-hiin. A Uamk

Probable epilept?

APPENDIX A

Sexual SnaaEsiiBiLrrT

No analysis is needed of the 87 cases in which " Sexual Sug-
gestibility " has appeared to be the main causative factor. It
was manifestly impossible to subdivide this group or to ana-
lyze the forces operating upon the suggestible individual which
resulted in her pregnancy.

Sexual Sdggestibilitt by One iNorvronAL
It was equally impossible to attempt an analysis of the group
of cases which have been classified as " Sexually Suggestible
by One Individual." In 38 cases the individual has appeared
to be so sexually suggestible by one individual as to justify this
being called the major factor in her behavior. This condition
appears as a minor causative factor in 4 cases.

Abnorual Sexualisu

In only one instance has " Abnormal Sexualism " been con-
sidered the main causative factor in a girl's pregnancy.

TABLE Vm

Analtsis o» McNTAt Coj^rucn

Osoirta OT CACUTiva Facto™

NuKBiiH or T™m

A MUOB FACTOm

NuirarB or TniM

About KX matters

Because at frustrated atnbitiona ....

Heredity
Although the element of heredity enters as a minor factor
in 49 cases, it has seemed unwise to designate it as a major
factor in a single case, for reasons which are explained elsewhere.
An early attempt to make an analysis of the situations in which
heredity entered as a minor factor resulted in such a wide dis-

386 APPENDIX A

tribution of inheritable traits that the resulting table possessed
httle statistical value. In relatively few case records
a girl's or a woman's ancestry studied further back than I
own parents.

TABLE IX
ANALnis or Absaui;?, Incbht, ahd Rape

OMDH OT ClUBinVB FtdTDBI

NUW.U o. Tub. Oooom

Incestuous sex relation a-ith unrfe

lacestuoui sex relatiao with brother

iDcestuous sex relation with stepfather ....
Inceatuous sex relation with brotbei^in-law . .

Total

TABLE X
Tbb NATtvtTT OF TBG Unhahbied Motbkb

N*nviTi OF QiBL oa Wobah

NlTMMa

Pnowr

164
27

150

SS8 J

A4 1

Both parents foreign

One parent foreign

... !

S.0

0.S

A table of this kind is lacking in statistical value because of
the fact that it has not been possible to indicate the extent to
which niitive-bom women of native parentage, native-born
women of foreign parentage, and foreign-bom women appear
in the population at large, related to the distribution of these
women according to child-bearing age.

TABLE XI
Taa Natiohautt or tbe Unmabbied K

N.lTONALITr

NoMsra

Entluh 5pMJtt>v

No»-E»sluh Spcdcint

Total

fiOO

TABLE XII

e UmUBRIED MOTHBB c

N™bm

PiBcurr

Gnmnur tchool e

Graduated ...'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.
High School 1

6
10
33
SO

S9
1«
4S

7
3
13
8

21
183

0.4
1.0
S.8

e.6

7.2
B.S
7.8
9.4

e.o

8.4
1.S
1.4
0.6

2.e

SOO

100.O

328

APPENDIX A

TABLE Xm
Aoa or thi Unmabbibd Mothbb at thb T^m or am Fntn FumaMAxcr

AOB

NUMBBB

. 18

Over 80

Unknown

Total

500

APPENDIX A

: IHBOBJ

S«««gS^»*r; S

rwoj,

gsssssasas *

l^s?

«p. -.

IMW>u.<OE

— as CH « « « «

„f-S!Z

t; otn«««— <a

p.?3S

s-s-s-'s-a -

pj-an

s-S'S'-sass "

»I "pan

s'sass-s s "

po,s,t 1 a. - »

Sltinxn 1 at ^ MM 91 (N
■aipmoil 1

~7!rs - - 1= II

- " =-- "

-■'- s

«»[pa»M

o «5*" *

Ofoitqi

2"--S'

-.'J.-.-S

2-»"2-- "

2 "-" - -

■fill III ii.|e

a ;3 ^ Bt £ S 3 ^ ^ a <S

APPENDIX "B"
SUGGESTED LEGISLATION

For tiie convenience of those who may be interested in the'
most advanced legislation concerning the unmarried mother and
her child in the United States there follow the recommendations
of the Missouri Children's Code Commission. Individuals
may disagree with some of the matter recommended, and the
author aims only to place before the reader what has been con-
sidered progressive legislation on this subject in the community
cited.

The Missouri Children's Code Commission has recommem
the following laws in regard to the illegitimate child.

RiQHTa OF Children Bohn Out of Wedlock

An act to amend the following sections of the Revised Statutes
of Missouri, 1909 ; Sections 340 and 341, concerning inheritance
of children born out of lawful wedlock ; and Section 344, con- ,
cerning certain slave marriages.

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Miae
as follows :

Section 1. That Section 340 of the Revised Statutes i
Missouri, 1909. be and the same is hereby repealed and there B
substituted in lieu thereof a new section to be Icnown s
tion 340, as follows :

Section 340. Children Born Out of Wedlock Shall Inherit
When and How. A child heretofore bom out of wedlock shall
be capable of inheriting and transmitting inheritance from its
mother, and such mother may inherit from such child in tike

»n-
oilTfl

APPENDIX B

manner a^ if it had been bom in lawful wedlock. A child
hereafter born out of wedlock shall be capable of iiilieriting
and transmitting inheritance from both of its parents, and its
parents and other blood relatives shall be capable of inheriting
and transmitting inheritance from such child in like manner as
if it bad been bom in lawful wedlock.

Section 2. That SecUoo 841 of the Revised Statutes of
Missouri, 1909, be and the same is hereby repealed and there
is enacted in lieu thereof, a new section to be known as Section
341, as follows:

Section 341. Children Bom Out of Wedlock Deemed Law-
ful Children When. If a man having a child by a woman, shall
hereafter marry such woman, such child shall be deemed the
lawful child of both father and mother as from the time of it3
birth.

CouET Pboceedings to Establish Parentage op Child

StiPPORT OF Child Born Out of Wedlock

Support of Child Whose Paternity Cannot be

Established

An act to determine the parentage of children, and the liability
of parents or possible parents for the support of their children,
with sections to be known as Sections 1679 to 1685 of Article 2
of Chapter 20 of the Revised Statutes of Missouri of 1909.

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of
Missouri, as follows :

Section 1679. Every Child the Child of Its Natural Parents.
Every child hereafter born, and whether born in or out of law-
ful wedlock, shall be deemed in law the child of its parents, and
the legal relation of parent and child shall not depend upon the
parents being married ; provided that if a child's mother is
married at the time of its birth, the child shall be deemed the
child of its mother's husband at the time of its birth until shown
by a preponderance of evidence not to be the child of her
husband.

Section 1680. Suit to Determine Parentage. Any interested

S3« APPENDIX B

person may, with special permission of the judge, institute I
suit in the juvenile division of the circuit court for the purpose''
of determiuing tbe parentage of a child ; such smt shall be
conducted as a proceeding in chancery and at the discretion of
the court the hearing shall be private, in the presence of in-
terested parties only, and the record and proceedings may be
withheld from the public. The child and, if its mother be alive,
the mother shall be necessary parties to such proceeding and
any person alleged to be the father of the child may be made a
party ; provided that no such proceeding shall be allowed for the
purpose of establishing tlie parenthood of a person deceased at
the time of the filing of the petition. The decree of the court
in such a proceeding shall be conclusive evidence of the facts
found by the court relating to the parentage of the child, in so
far as the parties to the proceeding are concerned. Like pro-
cess and proceedings shall be had in such causes as are had in
other civil suits.

Section 1681. Husband or Wife May Testify as to Sexual
Intercourse. In any proceedings to estabhsh the parentage of
a child, and in any proceeding in which proof of parentage may
be material, it shall be competent for a husband or wife to
testify as to sexual intercourse with his or her spouse in so far
as such testimony may relate to the question of parentage.

Section 1682. Parents Liable for Child's Support. The
natural parents of a child under the age of sixteen years shall
be responsible for its supiMrt without regard to whether the
child was bom in lawful wedlock and without regard to tbe
emancipation of the child; and the liability for the support of
the child shall not be dependent on the^ustody of the child.

Section 1683. Suit to Enforce Duty to Support Child.
Either parent or any interested person may institute a suit in
the juvenile division of the circuit court to enforce a parent's
liability for the support of child under the age of sixteen, and
such suit shall be conducted as a proceeding in chancery and
like process and proceedings shall be had in such cases as in
other civil suits. The court may order the defendant to provide
such maintenance for the child as from the circumstances of

APPENDIX B

83S

the case and the situation of the cliild and its parents shall seem
reasonable, and the court may determine the amount of support
which should be furnished by each or either parent, having
regard to the needs of the child and the ability and situation of
the parent. The court may enter judgment against the defend-
ant for past support and may decree furtlier maintenaQce and
may order the defendant to give security for such maintenance ;
anduponhianeglecttogive the security required of him, or upon
default of himself and his sureties, if there be any, to provide
such maintenance, the court may award an execution for the
collection thereof, or enforce the performance of the judgment
or order by sequestration of property, or by such other lawful
ways and means as is according to the practice of the court.
The court may from time to time make such alteration to the
order of maintenance as may seem proper.

Section 1684. Liability of Possible Father for Support of
Child, Where it is impossible to establish the paternity of a
child because of its mother having had intercourse with several
men during the period in which the child must have been
begotten, each man who had intercourse with the child's mother
during such period and who might possibly have begotten the
child shall be liable for the support of the child during its
minority; and in a proceeding in the juvenile division of the
circuit court brought by any interested person to secure the
child's support, every such man may be ordered to contribute
to the support of the child during its minority in such measure
as the court may determine in consideration of the circumstances
of the case and the needs of the child, and the provisions of the
preceding section as to enforcing the order of the court shall be
applicable.

The Minnesota Child Welfare Commission has this year
recommended to the legislature certain bills affecting the un-
married mother, some of which have been passed. As a result
of their efforts a State Board of Control has been created which
is charged with the fulfillment of the State's care and guardian-
ship of all children, with special reference to the illegitimate
child. Furthermore, certain laws relating to illegitimacy have

S34

APPENDIX B

been revised, and the father of a child born out of wedlock U
now subject to the same degree of responsibility as though the
child were legitimate. Absconding where issue is bom of forni-
cation has been made a felony. The reader is referred to the
Report of the Minnesota Child Welfare Commission for Uifr|
recommended laws in detail.

Those interested in the lega] status of the unmarried
should not fail to consult the recent pamphlet of the Boston
Conference on Illegitimacy, entitled "A Manual of Laws relat-
ing lo Illegitimacy." This booklet contains material of value
to aU social workers.

See also Miss Emma 0- Lundberg's " Illegitiraacy in Eui
as Affected by the War " and the Children's Bureau's
mary of Child Welfare Laws Passed in 1916."

tbfrH
tbe^

REFERENCES

" Actes du Congrte PfnitentiaJrc InterDatiooal de Waahington, Octobre,

1910", Vol. 1. p. 284/., Groningen, 1913.
Anthony, K, : "Norwaj^'s Treatment of the Illegitimate Child",

The New Re-public, August 41, 1815.
Aronovici, C. : "Unmarried Girls with Sct Experience", Bulletin

No. 1, Bureau for Social Research of the Seybert Institution,

Philadelphia, 1915.
Aschaffenburg : "Crime and lb Repression," Boston, 1913.
Ayer: "Legitimacy and Marriage", Harvard Lam Reeiew, Vol. 16.
Blagg, H. M. : "Statistical Analysis of Infant Mortality aod ItB

Causes in the United Kingdom."
Bonger, W. A.: "Criminality and Economic Conditions", Boston,

1916.
Boston Conference on Blegitimacy, Studies ot, September, 1914.
Bowen, L. deK. : "The Girl Employed in Hotels and Restaurants",

Chicago. 1912.

"The Road to Destruction Made Easy in Chicago", Chicago. 1916.
Chesser, E. S.; "Woman, Marriage and Motherhood", London, 1913.
Correvan, G.: "Actes du Congrte Penitentiaire Int«rnational de

Washington", Vol. 4, Groningen, 1912.
Durran, W.: "The Illegitimate Child", The Ethical World, May 1,

1914. ,

Ellis. Havelock : "Studies in the Psychology of Sex", 6 Vols.. Phila-
delphia, 1911.

"The Task of Social Hygiene", Boston, 1912.
Eneyclopiedia Britannica. 11th edition. Article on " Blegitimacy. "
"Feebleminded Adrift." The League for Preventive Work. Boston,

1916.
Forberger: " Moralstatistik Suddeutschlands", Berlin, 1914.
Freud. S. : "Selected Papers on Hysteria and Other Psychoneu rosea ",

New York, 1912.

"Three Contributions to the Sexual Theory", New York, 1910.

SS6 REFERENCES

German Civil Code of 1900.

Goddard, H. H. : "Feeblcmmdednesa, Its Causes and Consequenc

New York, 1914.
Guillaume : " Jouroal de Statistique Suisse", Beme, 1895.
Hall, G. Stanley : "Educational Problems", 1911. New York.
Healy, W. : "The Individual Delinquent", BobIod. 1915.

"Pathological Lying, Accusation and Swindling", Boston, 1916.

"Mental Conflicts and Misconduct", Bostoa. 1917.
Heller-SehiDer-Taube : "Handbuch des Kinderschutzea und der

JugendfUrsorge ", Leipzig, 1911.
Holt, E. B. : "The Freudian Wish", New York, 1915.
Jones, E.: "Papers on Psycho-Analysis ", New York, 191S.
Jung, C. G. : "The Psychology of the Unconscious", New Yotfc,
1916.

"The Theory of Psycho-Analysis", New York, 1915.
Klumker : "Zeitschrift fUr Sozialwissenschaft", Berlin, Msidu

1906.
Eneeland. George J.: "Commercialized Prostitution in New Yofk

City", New York. 1913.
Leffingwell, A.: "Illegitimacy". London, 1892.
Lindner: "Die Unehelichen Geburteo als Sozialpb&noinen", Leipsg.

1900.
Mangold and Essex : "Illegitimate Births in St. Louis", No. 4, Re-
ports of Social Investigation, Washington University, St. Jjowt,

1914.
Missouri Children's Code Commission, Report of.
Moll, A. : "The Sexual Life of the Child". New York. 1912.
Moore, H. : "The Care of Illegitimate Children in Chicago."
Neumann, H. : "Handwtirterbuch der Staatawissenschaft", Supple-
ment. 1895.

"Die Unehelichen Kinder in Berlin", Jena, 1900.
Oltenberg. Louis: "Fatherless Children of tlie National Capita**.

Tlie Survci/. January 30. 1915.
Philadelphia Municipal Court Report, 191S.
Prcngcr. G. : "Die Uneheliclikeit im KSnigreieh Sachsen", Leipng,

1913.
Prinzing, F.: "Die Unehclichc Fruchtbarkeil in Deutschland",

Zeitschrift fUr Sozialwissenschaft. V. Jahrgang, Berlin, 1902.
Host: "Beitr^e zur Morals tntistik", Paderborn, 1913.
"Social Evil in Chicago, The". Chicago. 1911.

REFERENCES

[Spridi: "DieUnehelichenGeburtenderStadlZuridi", Glarus. 1B14.
I. C. : "Die UDeheliche BevUlkerung in Frankfurt am Muin."
"Die Uoehelicheu MUndel <iea Vermunduchaftagericlitcs, id

Frankfurt am Main."
"Die Lage imd das Schickaal der Unehelicbeo Kinder". Leipeig.
IM9.
Stneter, H. : "The Feebleminded in Relalion to Parish and Com-
munity."
Szilagyi : "Actea du Congrte P^nitentiaire Internationa] dc Waehing-

ton". Vol. 4. GroningcD, 1912.
Taube, M. : "Das Haltekinderweaen ", Berlin. 1899.
Tugendreich : "Die Mutter und SauglingsfUrsorge ", 1910.
Westermarck. E. : "The History of Human Marriage", London, 1903.
"White Slave Traffic, So Called." House No. 2281, Boston, 1914.
Wright, Helen M. : "Routine Mental Tests as the Proper Basis of
Practical Measures in Social Service." Boston Medical and
Surgicid Journal, December, 1916.
Woods and Kennedy; "Young Working Girls", Boston, 1918.
"Zeitachritt fUr ScsualwissenBchaft", Bonn, October, 191fi.

■

INDEX

Abnobual

menial ity, codcIi
phj'sical conditiolu, general ttate-
ment, 183
concliuioiu, 894
seiualism. conclusioiu, 296
general cooiuderetian. 211
difficulty oT definition, ilt
Actes du Cungr^ PeniteDtisire In-
ternationale de Wajhington,
quoted, 283. 310
Adolescence, mental state of, S4 3,
Anthony, K., quoted, 281
Appendix A, statistirs. general consid-
erations, 319
B. suggested legislation. 330
Aronovici, C. quoted, 269
AfFhnSenburg, qunt«d, 109
Anault, incest, and rape
general consideration. 222
not causative (actors, 222
general concJusions, 297
Ayer, quoted, 311

Bad cokfFANioNS. 60 ff.
conclusions, 287
enHroament, general statement,
35
conclusions, 285
home conditions, general statemenl.

loes.

conclusions. 291
Blagg, H. M.. quoted, 10
Bongcr, W. O., quoted, 109
Boston Conference on Illegiliraaey,

Studies of, quoted, 6, 12. 15,

208, 274
Bowen, L. de K., quoted, SI. 6S

records, a study of, 20
study, method of. 22

Causative factor cards built up in-
ductively, 26

Causative factors, dassificatioD of.
ee, 31

Chesser, E. S.. quoted. 313

Chicago, The Social Gi-il in, quoted,
41, 49, 50, 69. 108

Children and sexual stimuli, 80

Community responsibility, 16

Companions, age of. 63

Conclusions, general considerations.
284

Correvan, G., quoted, 279

Deftnitionb of oeoups, 27

Dementia Pmcox. 248

Demoraliiiog recreation, lake steam-
ers, notion picture theaters.
cabarets. 68 B.

Durran, W.. quoted, 27S

Eablt BEX EXPnuENCE, general con-
siderations. 178
conclusions. 293
Educational disadvantages, general
statement, 77
conclusions. 289
Ellis. Havelock, quoted, 79, 88,

Emotion-producing experiences. 216
Employment conditions contaminat-
ing, 48
Englemann, G, J., quoted, 185
Epilepsy, 186 fl.
probably, 180

Fauiues, low-standard, 160

Family, other membera of alcoholic,
immoral, or criminalistic. 122

Father alcoholic, immoral, or criminal-
istic. 112
dead. 104

Fatigue and seillal laxuera, 48

'■ Feeble-minded Adrift," quoted, 231

Feeble-minded morons. 240

Peeble-mindedncss, 239
extent of, 230

Forberger, quoted, 9

Freud. S.. quoted. 81, 86

PVeud and the School of hycho-
analysis, 81

Gbneral CoNCLuatoNS, 307 ff.

German Civil Code of 1000. 278
Girl away from home. 167
Goddard. H. H., quoted, 230
Gonorrken and Hyphilis. distribution

utini; influence of,

of, a

Groups, n

Guillaume. quoted.

Hall, G. Stanley. 78. 81-87, 91, 96
Healy. WillUm, quoted. 23. 73. 76,

178, 183, 185-187, 196, 198,

203, 211, 210. 217. 230, 236,

244,231
Heller-Schiller-Taube, quoted, 6
Heredity, general consideration, 181

general condusions. 207
Holt. E. I)., quoted, 98, 100
Home influence, away from, nitbout

protection. 36
Hotels and restaurants, contaminating

influeace of, 51 fT.
Husband deserted, 174

dead. 175
Hysterical mental aberrations, 2SI

Illboitiuact, derivation of the

ntc as H guide to sexual mnrality, 2
tbe attitude of the Sute towards. 2
diitribution by natiuoatitics and
dUes, 8

iLLGarmiArr, Conltnued
comparative tables, 4 ff.
distribution according to reliff

belief. 7
infiucnce of a specific creed, S
comparative tables, 8
Illegilimacy and infant mortality.

comparative tables. 10, 11
Illegilimacy and crime, 13
Illegitimate child, nurture of. 14
need of a new attitude tom
18
children, disposition of, 14
lUe^timacy rales, 314
Inunorality in the home. 152
Immoral neighborhouda, effect od c

dren, 43
Incest. 223

Increase of Criminals, Ment*!
tivca, etc.. quoted, 230
Individuals, bad effect of, SI
Infantile sexualiam, 81
Infant mortality, causes o( II
Ingram, quoted, 4
Institutional treatment, ill aucoea

62
Insufficient data on heredity, 181

Jones, E.. quoted. 88. 97
Jung, C. G.. quoted. 88

Ki-iTMitER. quoted, 17
Kneeland. Geo. J., quoted. lOT

Leitinowell. a., quoted, lA
IJndner, quoted. 314
living conditions contaminating, i
Low-standard relatives, giri lived ■

Mangold ako Essex, quoted. 0.

la. 209. 273
Marriage, attitude of giria towwd

90
Mental aberration. 247
Mental Abnommtity, genenJ iiiiiijil

classiGcations. 236

^^^■^v

mm m

■ INDEX S41 ■

^T Ueatd conflict, ijeneniJ consideration.

Setercnces. 333

■ «I5

BoBt, quoted. 8

Mental conflicts preauppose some

ScHEnULB TOR CABB BTUttY, tS

emotional disturbance, 216

Sex and education, conclusions, 91 B.

not wlely of aeiuai nature, 217

matters, lock of knowledge on. 78

MenUl drfect incurable. iiS

knowledge, sources ot. 78

Mental nubnormallty. 237

pedagogy, early need ot. 84

Moderate suggeaUbility normal. 195

experience by suggestioQ or contact.

Moll, A., quoted, 80

178

MooK, Howard, quoted. 7. IS

Mother alcoholic, immoral, or crim-

Birls. 86

ifulUtic. IIJS

sugRcslibility

dead. 106

Moving. Crequency of. 150

conclusions, 486

Neuiuint. H.. quoted, 14. 467

conclusions, 295

OTTENacBO, Lams, quoted, ere

Special defect, self-control, 248

Spcciajiied mental defects, 235

Pabsntal cosTRor* ulck or, 128

Speich, quoted. 467. 474

through ignorance, 129

Spann, O., quoted. 14. 13, 470, 309

through illness 131

Strecler, quoted, 434

father away. 133

Suggestible type, the, 196

mother away, 134

parental inability, 137

factors. 34

family not immigrated, 141

outline for. 32

Sdlagyi. quoted, 280

PaROta alcoholic, immoral, or crim-

inaliatic, US

Taubb. M., quoted. 17

dead, 171

Tubercular and cancerous hip, 19S

separated, 168

Tugcndrcich, quoUd, 11

lOlfi. quoted. 107

Uncosobnial Subboundinos. S7

Poverty. 184

Unmarried Mother, the problem of. I

Prehger, G.. quoted. «fi6, 274. 27fl

in various communiUes. general con-

Priming, F., quoted. 314

sideration. 265

age at first pregnancy. 474

Psyehic coaslJtuUonal inferiority, 258

localities from which they come. 275

I^chological eiamination^ 233

later marriages among, 276

■

legal status of, 278 S.

H' QuABBBUMa, abuse, etc., in the borne.

nativity of, 498

■ 110

nationality of, 209

Recbeatiokal Dibad vantages, gen-

mental eiaminatjon ot, 301

eral considerations, 67

later marriage of, 304

school centers, settlement houses 73.

wage according to occupatioD, 909

OODdanou 288

^^^H

343

Uncongenial StmsouNDiNOB, Con-

ducrepaocy in age between mU uid

father o( child, 30*
age at first pregniiDcj', 305

ViaOOB NEIOHBOBHOOD. 40

WEAKNBaa OB mBTTAnoN, conditiona

causing, 184
Westennarck, quoted, SOS

White Skve Traffic, So

quoted. 231
Women suggestible by one man. 203

not promiscuous, 204
Wooda and Kemiedy, " Youug Worit-

ing Girls," quoted, 43, 49, SO, _

74, 75, 89. 105
Working methods. 20
Wright. Hdea M.. quoted, t

"ZsmcBBirt rcB ScxtjALWiBB^f
BCHATT," quoted, 10

Wg^

'■%

THE
INDIVIDUAL DELINQUENT

A TEXT-BOOK

DIAGNOSIS AND PROGNOSIS FOR ALL

CONCERNED IN UNDERSTANDING

OFFENDERS

WILLIAM HEALY, A.B.. M.D.

'TpHIS volume is the result of five years'
^ study and investigation by the Juvenile
Psychopathic Institute of Chicago. The
part played by heredity, disease, mental
abnormality and environment in the pro-
duction of criminals is clearly shown, and
the best method of study and diagnosis in-
dicated. It is the first text-book on a
vitally important subject,

Jf^hal tht Revitwtrs say if The Individual Delinquent:

Thia nmulcatilE watk u pcrhipi ihc fint gteal ciprcuion of ihc new (poth

tl a hoped tfair tfac book will be widely read uid fteclf cooisLud; it will nol
bil to be B molt Tjluable guidEi phUoiopher ud friend to bath the pimctical wolker
ind to the inTett]f[ilor of dttiil. — -Amtrican Pililiini &iiiiii Rrvinii.

Wat book with which ereiyooe who hu to deal with oAmden should be
limiliu. It hu 1 moMge for tocben, [digioui leidenuid pueoti no )«■ thin
for thejodge, the court ollicctini! ihe InilitutiDnal authority. — Tali Lrw Journal.

It ii certainl|r one of the moit lignlficint btwkl of the luC decide. — Boutn

k benc&ctc

Id mike a gift of your book to

rery judge,
or, erery clergy-
lert, Diaa tfikt

$5.00 net.

862 pages. 8vo. Cloth.

LITTLE, BROWN & CO., PubUshcrs, BOSTON

CRIMINAL SCIENCE MONOGRAPl

I Inbtituti of Ckiminal Law and Ckiminoloct

PATHOLOGICAL LYING. ACCUSATION, |

AND SWINDLING

A STUDY IN FORENSIC PSYCHOLOOV

By WILUAM HEALY. M.D.. A.B., and

MARY TENNBY HEALY

THE suthors hive studied thoroughl)' pracdcally the entire literatore on
the lubjcct, almost none of which u in English, in idditioii to the loog
Rud thorough case studies made by the Juvenile Psychopathic liutitute cl
Chicago, The result is a work of great value for all who have to deal Dot
only with crime, but with the vagariesof the juvenile mind; ft bookofpric-
tical service for lawyers, doctors, pareots, teachers and social wotken,
S3.S0 net.

STUDIES IN FORENSIC PSYCHIATRY

Bv BERNARD GLUECK, M.D.

THIS volume presents the results of ■ long period of inveitigatioa ■
the criminal department of the Government Hospital for the Ins
It is aimed to present a scries of well -rounded-out case histories of ci
types as studied from the piychopathologists' view-point. No attempti
made at hard and fast formulations, but it is felt that this clinical n
emphasizes sufficiently the necesiiiy of the ptychopathologtcal mode oftf
pTOacb to the problem of criminology. $2.^0 ntt.

THE UNMARRIED MOTHER

A STUDY OF FIVE HUNDRED CASES

Br PERCY GAMBLE KAMMERER

WTTH AN INTfLODUCTlON BV WILLIAM KEALV, U.D.

THE qucitlDn of the unmarried mother and her child u one of Ac
most important social problems of the preieni day. It it in the belief
that enlightened public opinion may see fit to modify the communicy atti-
tude towards the unmarried mother and her child that Mr. Kammcter hu
prepared his study of the situation — founded on an analysis of over fire
hundred cases. The statistics presented are taken from official report! not
only in America, but in foreign countries as well. They show only loo
plainly the futility of the present method of treating such case*, and dw
necessity of a different viewpoint from the average if the social evil ii to
be remedied, ^j.oo nti.

Publiihid by LITTLE, BROWN & CO., Boston, Mas*.

L.\NE MKDICAL LIBR.\RY

I .OCT 4

n,y

JUN21
StP2i 7P

OtC 8 -■*"

00131183

SPt 18 1331

F-EB 1 8 ISfil

919

18 :33r

■fiatq x^mrnfT^r. p. G-

0869 Eammerer, P.O. 46471

K15 The unmarried motha

- 1918.

-SP/tyy sy .

fl- 349

, liOV9-;t

■ Bk»--1

Internet Archive Audio

Featured

Top

Images

Featured

Top

Software

Featured

Top

Books

Featured

Top

Video

Featured

Top

Mobile Apps

Browser Extensions

Archive-It Subscription

Save Page Now

Full text of "The unmarried mother; a study of five hundred cases"

See other formats