Bedtime Stories: William Stead

Two hundred years ago, it was very easy to make friends, especially if a man wanted a girl for a friend. She had to be older than eleven, but maybe, well, what does eleven really mean?

On London’s Fleet Street, a man could arrange to take a girl home to play with. If he liked her a lot, he could buy her and keep her.

William worked at a newspaper. He thought, maybe men shouldn’t play so much with girls. He alerted his readers that it really is possible to buy a girl in London, and to prove it, he bought one for only 5£, and sent her to France.

William’s newspaper story made many people angry. They were upset find out that old men, sometimes famous and powerful men, were buying girls and playing with them.

So William was arrested and put in prison.

The End