77. Prostitute, twenty-four years old, of English parentage. Lived in this country since she was ten years old. Typical English type, high cheek bones, clear skin, bold grey eyes; womanly in bearing, with a contradictory dignity and boldness of speech and manner. Went to school through grammar grade, began to work at fifteen. Had nothing in common with her family, had no sex training, did not talk to her mother about things she felt deeply. She said, “I was fond of my mother, but we were not intimate; one does not talk to one’s mother.” Worked at housework, then restaurant work, left home and boarded alone. Was wild and irresponsible, did not understand life, wanted fun and novelty. When eighteen met a business man with plenty of money who was kind to her. There was no talk of marriage. Went with him for three months before sex relation was established. Finally became pregnant. Her family found her and issued a complaint against her as a stubborn child. Her baby was born in a hospital and afterwards she continued to live an irresponsible life but without immorality. “There was only one man in the world for me,” she said, “no one seemed to understand that.” She was misunderstood and was ultimately sentenced to prison, her child cared for by the State. She is reticent about the father of her child. She swore upon the witness stand she did not know the father of her child, to protect him. He never knew that she was pregnant. In prison she learned much evil. Her life with this one man had been almost innocent, a first realization of sex. She knew nothing about prostitutes, of perverts, of “French immorality”, all of which she learned from other girls and women in prison. She was told a girl was a fool to work hard for nothing when she could have everything for the price of a spirit of adventure. Her love of her child was real and earnest. When she came from prison she went to work in a family with her child. She became of age while here. All the furies of her nature were aroused by her dealings with social workers who judged her wrongly. Her antagonism was interpreted as hardness. “They thought I was a jailbird or something like that. They took the baby away and put it in a place where I could not see it; even the family where I had worked did not know where it was.” About this time she met some of her prison acquaintances. They made fun of her attempt at virtue. “Why wouldn’t I listen to them? They were all the companions I had had for ten months. The State drove me on the street because I wouldn’t be meek and was saucy to them. I meant to support my baby and they took it away. I’m not a proper person to bring up a child. I’m not, but they (‘they’ is most of the world) made me what I am.”