THE GIRL THAT DISAPPEARS
very severe punishment indeed. Why? Because women must be committed to Bedford on an indeterminate sentence, the limit being three years, and many a magistrate has been quoted as saying that a three years' sentence was too severe.
The falsity of this position is apparent to anybody who knows anything about the system in vogue at Bedford. Under the superintendency of Miss Katherine Bement Davis, Bedford presents a perfectly rational plan for the reformation of those women who have not sunk too low for the helping hand to grasp. It is operated on the cottage system, the women proceeding from a fairly severe degree of detention and discipline to the lightest possible. They are first taken to a reception cottage, carefully examined by a competent woman physician, and, if necessary, segregated in a hospital.
As soon as a woman is placed in a normal state of mind and body she is given work to
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