Magdalenism : an inquiry into the extent, causes, and consequences of prostitution in Edinburgh / by William Tait.

Tait, William.

Date:: 1840

Credit: Magdalenism : an inquiry into the extent, causes, and consequences of prostitution in Edinburgh / by William Tait. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The University of Glasgow Library. The original may be consulted at The University of Glasgow Library.

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$each female is gradually inured to industrious habits : she is in- structed in some brancli of useful and profitable labour, best suited to her capacity and turn of mindr Each of them has a sepa- rate bed, and is allowed a portion of her earnings in the industri- ous employment allotted to her. And in the same class, at- tention is paid in separating those whose tempers do not agree, and, to encourage the exercise of kind affections, by gratifying them in the jyreference of particular associates, provided this pi-e- ference appears to be founded on commendable principles, Such are a few of the leading pi-inciples in the government of the London Female Penitentiary ; and it must be candidly ac- knowledged, that, for their benevolence, wisdom, and liberality, they are surpassed by the regulations of no institution of the same description in Great Britain. There, however, seems to be some- thing in the nature of a probationary ward that is not very con- sistent with the cultivation of the social affections, which the managers pretend to keep specially in view\ The nature of a probationary ward will be best understood by the following state- ment from the report of the Edinburgh Magdalene Asylum for 1837 :— Every fema]e_, for two^ months a_fter admission, is kept in a room apart from the other innriates, employed at needle-work and receiving religious instruction. At the end of that proba- tionary period, if she has given any thing like satisfactory evidence of a desire of reformation, she has the option of going out again to the world, or of becoming a regular inmate of the Asylum. In the preceding report (1835) the directors gave a much more unfavourable aspect to this probationary period. After vaimting of the success which had attended the introduction of some novel and important discovery in the discipline of the institution, they went on, in a foot-note, to tell what this innovation was, and ob- served, that every female, on admission, has her head shaved! and is confined to her own room for two or three months, during which time she is employed sewing, and permitted _to have inter- course only with the matron, chaplain, superintendents, and visit- ing members of ladies'* committee, who communicate such instruc- tion and advice as her circumstances require. The sincerity of hejLjjmfkssjons^is J,hus ]Hit to the test, and ample opportunity$