- ject which those wards where I lived represented
was an unknown problem to me. I was strangely ignorant of the extent and meaning of that phase of our human society which represents the selfish relations of men and women. This semi-blindness, however, proved a real safeguard to me through the many unusual experiences of my subsequent life. It was not until 1869, when attending the Social Science Congress in Bristol, that my mind at last fully comprehended the hideousness of modern fornication.
But my residence at Blockley prepared my mind to some extent for later revelations, as is shown by entries in my journal:—
June 22.—I had a long talk with Nurse Welch, on
the patients in her departments, which impressed me
deeply. Most of the women are unmarried, a large proportion
having lived at service and been seduced by their
masters, though, on the whole, about as many seducers
are unmarried as married; I found no instance of a
married woman living with her husband entering.
This morning one young woman tried to escape from Blockley by tying sheets together and fastening them outside the window bars, but they giving way, she fell down from the third storey, and was picked up suffering from concussion of the brain and other injuries. All this is horrible! Women must really open their eyes to it. I am convinced that they must regulate this matter. But how?
August 17.—Drank tea with the matron, and had a very pleasant time. She excites me, and I influence her. She actually apologised to me for her rough and tyrannical treatment of one of the women.
August 19—A beautiful thought came to me this
