54
SEX IN INDUSTRY.
factory youth, it is one whose special influences upon young girls can hut be injurious in grave measure; for, as I have pointed out, it is the regular and prolonged employ, engaging bodily and mental activity at tension through so long periods of time, that draws upon the energies that should be chiefly employed in maturing and upbuilding the youthful economy. What wonder, that, with these energies sapped by the steady drain of exhausting employment, she should realize the assertion of West,* that “ the frail child never passes completely into womanhood, but fades and droops in the transition stage, through which she has not the strength to pass ” ?
I heartily agree with the prominent Philadelphia physician, who writes as follows of the practice of compelling shop-girls to stand behind the counter during all their hours of service: —
“ The custom is selfish, cruel, and useless, — selfish on the part of the proprietor, requiring the women to
* Op. cit. p. 42.