Another silence fell upon us, which I broke by asking, "Who were those pretty youngsters we saw lounging about on the lawn back there?" I referred to several handsome young men whom I had observed strolling through the beautiful grounds.
He looked at me in evident surprise at the question, and replied:
"Why, those are some of the professional 'lovers'."
"Yes," he went on; "some of our most promising youths are decoyed into those places. It is a distressing business,--a hideous business! And, on the other hand, there are similar institutions where lovely young girls are the victims. I do not know which is the more deplorable,--sometimes I think the latter is. A tender mother would wish that her daughter had never been born, if she should take up with such a life; and an honorable father would rather see his son gibbeted than to find him inside that railing."
"I should think so!" I responded, and inquired, "What kind of standing have these men in the outside world?"
"About the same that a leper would have. They are ignored and despised by the very women who court their caresses here. In fact, they are on a level with the common, paid courtesan,--the lowest rank there is. I have often thought it a curious thing that either men or women should so utterly despise these poor instruments of their sensual delights!"
My friend saw that I was too much shocked to moralize on the subject, and he presently began to explain, and to modify the facts a little.
"You see, these fellows, when they begin this sort of thing, are mostly mere boys, with the down scarcely started on their chins; in the susceptible, impressionable stage, when a woman's honeyed words--ay, her touch, even--may turn the world upside down to them. The life, of course, has its attractions,--money and luxury; to say nothing of the flattery, which is sweeter. Still, few, if any, adopt it deliberately. Often they are wilily drawn into 'entanglements' outside; for the misery of it is, that good society, as I have said before, throws its cloak around these specious beguilers, and the unfortunate dupe does not dream whither he is being led,--youth has such a sincere faith in beauty, and grace, and feminine charm! Sometimes reverses and disaster, of one kind or another, or a cheerless home environment, drive a young man into seeking refuge and lethean pleasures here. It is a form of dissipation similar to the drink habit, only a thousand times worse."