The Secrets of the Great City: A Work Descriptive of the Virtues and the Vices, the Mysteries, Miseries and Crimes of New York CityMcCabe, James Dabney
History
The Secrets of the Great City: A Work Descriptive of the Virtues and the Vices, the Mysteries, Miseries and Crimes of New York City
McCabe, James Dabney
New York (N.Y.) -- Description and travel; New York (N.Y.) -- History
Some years ago, a handsome young woman, of respectable parentage,
sought the shelter of the convenient establishment of Dr.----. The lady
subsequently married a well-to-do farmer, from the West, and in the
full confidence of the marriage state, trusting to the passionate
devotion of her husband, she revealed the secret of her early
misdemeanor to her liege lord, who proved himself well worthy of her
confidence. The wife, who resided in Illinois, came to New York;
visited Mrs.----, (the lady who acted as Dr.----'s agent, and a call
upon whom has already been described,) and begged Mrs.----to restore
the child, who had been separated from her and 'adopted' by other
parties, years before. With this request Mrs.----refused to comply. She
knew the whereabouts of the child well enough, but she also knew that
it was now the _protegé_, the pet, the heir of a wealthy old couple,
who were devotedly attached to it, and whose hearts would be almost
broken by parting with it, while the worldly interests of the child
would also be materially injured by the removal. Above all, the
revealing of the child's _locale_ would be a violation of a
'professional obligation,' and would be initiating a very dangerous
precedent in matters of this kind; and so Mrs.----'s lips were sealed,
and to this day the real mother knows naught of her own child; would
not even be able to recognize her offspring, if they were to meet face
to face in the streets of New York.
"A rising young politician of this city has recently married a lady,
whose early history resembles that of the mother just mentioned. But
the politician is of a different mould from the Western husband, and
having ascertained the 'little episode' in his wife's history, is now
negotiating with her for a separation. Unlike the mother just alluded
to, however, the politician's wife has recovered her child, and finds
consolation in the fact, even in view of the contemplated separation.
"A terrible scandal, which was on the verge of becoming the property of
the greedy public of New York, compromising a young Jewess of great
wealth and high social position, has been recently, and let us trust,
finally 'hushed' through the invaluable aid of Dr.----'s establishment.
A horrible revelation of domestic depravity has thus escaped
publication, and a woman who would otherwise have been an outcast from
her circle, and a blot upon the religion of her people, is now, thanks
to skill, secresy, and money, the admired wife of a leading Hebrew
merchant."
CHAPTER LIII.
THE FIRST DIVISION, NEW YORK NATIONAL GUARD.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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