word order

After a direct quote ("Yes, we did"), the verb of saying ("admitted") is frequently placed before the subject. This inversion is not required, so "Mary admitted politely" is equally fine.
In the context shown the correct idiom is "Men whistle at us", not "to us".

CJ

Is "Men whistle to us" OK too?

Lynn

Doesn't have quite the same meaning to me.

Whistle at is a more 'aggressive' act. The men are whistling in our direction whether we want them to or not, it is something that does not really involve our participation. It also suggests a bit of distance to me.

Whistle to has a friendlier image. I can imagine a man whistling a tune to his pet budgie.

Lynn3 After he had ordered them to stop, he said, " Didn't you hear me blow my whistle?

"Yes, we did, " admitted Mary politely, " but Mummy told us never to stop when men whistle at us"

Dear friends,

It is a joke, I think?

That's what I think too

Oh, yes! It's a joke. I didn't think anyone questioned that!

Typically you would whistle to someone to call them, to

Why did they write as " admitted Mary politely,...."

Lynn

The answer to that was in the first post after your original post.
What did you need explained further?

Generally after a quoted speech an inverted orientation is used; "I will never come back again" shouted Ali severely "nevertheless he didn't shout at us"

Ali shouted severely;"I will never........."

As it can be seen clearly, the formation of the usage is directly related to the location of the usage in the sentence...