The Richmond Indiana palladium. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1854-1855, 1855-04-27
RICHMOND, WAYNE COUNTY, IND,
from Ae Lily.


|
reach the hearts ~f larger congregation than was
ever assembled withn IHy four walls of the uni
verse Oh, that had genus and talent to breathe
into my words ms siraton thai would impei every
! lip that reads To echo thein every printer to
publish theul TIL the woeai tale should reach its
millions and hundreds Of nlllloAs vel as the
readers of tie Lily.
/ NV chamber window, where l usually write,
/ looks upon Chestnut street Immediately be-
! low vacant lots, which enable US to see
down the street a half mile or more. Just now
as sat reading saw in the distance a man aud
woman coming slow y up the walk His wavering
uncertain gait Claimed my attention and
watched them as they approached; he was we'll
dressed large good and respectable looking, She
was also well dressed, young and fair Near them
. and evidently of their party was second well
dressed lady. The man was drunk, and they
! half hour getting him over two squares,
! swearing fiourishing his cane, stopping the
sidew ak, interfering with others stopping his wife,
cursing her taking rudeiy nold OF her. and hnaiiy,
when within speaking distance, coming to halt,
and refusing 10 go Oh without another drink, anu
keeping her there to be gazed at by the gaping
crowd Just coming from church, for half hour.
/ Men by the d-Zen passed them by-nen, the vo
ters OF ST Louis-rnen the church goers OF St.
| I4uuiS-ineu, the husbands-men, the fathers
men, the soHs of mothers-men who claim to be
| the protectors of women; what did they do?-
! Passed by on the other side every one of them
Some with smile, as it such scene was funny
some with a sneer if il were shameful-some
| with low muttered words of condemnation; one
man turned and looked back saying, "he ought to
be taken care of; companion replied, "taint best
to interfere and pulling their cigars, with few
muttered ex preSsions and loud laugh they passed
Again and again the wife started. but he each time
caught her with his drunken grasp, and she waited
and seemed TO plead. She was weeping but
look or action displayed anger or coarseness. At
ength they moved away-he f1ou ishing his camel
over his head swearing and talking obscenely;
and anon pushing his wife off the pavement, and
! turning with facetiousncss and beasty droery to
the other womau who seemed unwilling to leave
her friend in this hour of her modification and
misery.
We often read the tale Of murder brutality,
that chlls blood, and makes whole soul
sick with the demoniac effect of the liquor traffic;
/ but sight like this strS agony of another kind
Here upon the street, exposed TO the glare Of day,
we have the exposure of that woman's home life
One case oat of thousands similar in these United
{ States This would not have been called
real drunkard Ne. His face, his whole appear
ance betokened him not one who had rolled in the
gutter; bnt one whom that trusting, loving
man mad gone forth on Sabbath morning, with
hopes, perhaps, Of spending pleasant hour-per-
chance To church, may be to see sick friend we
knew not What, and by the way he had found the
/ tocnptr and yielded, and her soul is narrowed TO
the core; chord of life is strung with intense
misery, quvering and ready to burst asundcr under
the accumulated d-weight of woe How she seem-
/ ed to shrink and cover tn. people passed by.
How she turned her face to tie wall to avoid their
gaze. How she yielded to his grip, lest he should
strike her there, aud BECOME amenable to tke law.
T The Law of nur iani-sf gCr ehristanity-which
! knows mental suiferingS, recognizes 10 heart
sorrow no, not even the blood of the demon-tongue
that strikes life from the fanng, suffering heart
/ The husband must strike blow with his hand or
use violence the flesh, civilized humanity
! will recognize harm done wife.
4 NJ ore than one Thousand, aye, two thousand, If
J not many of this city will go home TO
their wives this night in state little short, if any,
of the brutal insanity which characterizes this
man. But in the home, that sanctuary of both
love aud hate, that screen of both caresses aud
curses, the wife will become the recipient of the
madiiess and folly, and eraan out Il Sabbath night
of mort flea ion, humiliation, degradation and
! abuse that the worlds eye will neither or hear.
J Many wife will receive the poison to night which
the Eceused rum,eller has sold to her destroyer,
! whick is not arsenic or strychenine, hut will as
surely though pcrchasce more slowly and tortur-
ingy sap the foundations of life and ard lay Ter
! in premature grave. Many child -- hut
! must stop Public opinion will not allow the
whole to be spoken. To tell the truth the whole
i truth is unpopular. But the fsture will speak
/ trumpet-tongued.
Had the woman the pavement to-day been
any other than the mans wife, scarce would
have passed by without Offering help; but she
/ was his by law-his by public opinion and who
dared interfere?
+ Whv did she not cali the poiice9
1 For the same reason given BY Biddy O Rion:
/ What's the use of roiicean him? He Won d
cnly bate me the more some day or night when
there witness, or take the children from me
heart, and wiring the soul out Of me, and then
make me work to pay his fire as he did afore" +"
Il i not the occasional murder, not the turning
Of wife and children ont of doors; not the blew
strack il anger and thes, that should SO str
our hearts TO action to work for woman but the
/ Ia. ard mon thSz of
eduess-the entailment Of disease-fhe destroy ing
of the hope and energy and love Of the wife and
mother, and she compelled 70 meet all dific uites
of law. TO brave public opinion, and hear the re-
bul.e Of t.s Church suffer on till death urlyets
the chain ouce Of love and trust now of bitterness
aud hate Have "yomen rights enouchY" |
never hear that remark bit look into the speak,
er's face to see if she have soul. If women had
rgh; their children to their own laboi " osld
they hear and endare at they do now? Ifwo-
man had tle right OF ssHrage would grog-shops
aiorn the corners Of our cities? And vet oh /,
shame TO tel it. woman stood in our midst a fa
days ago, Mrs Sarah IL Shepherd and said che
did no. beliCyc in womans rights" woman
pleading for the Maine law. and yet, denying to
women the pewer 10 protect herself As if man
in bis could not any day Or any hour restore
to himteif tie drunkaros right to wilher woInans $
hopes, ami destroy her happiness. ss.
Ga, viii woman never saken from her long de-
grading sleep and see aGdfee that only In her ogn
Inherent Tl-hl, edaa!itE with man 70 life, Hoerty
ard the pursuit Of happiness can she have fuii
se,uraty fcr the futurer
Mary cf the States have passed prohibitory
laws. bat may not the men who in tunes
past have not repudiated the idea Of NAN giving
up his liberty-.he liberty TO injure himself and
ID destroy his family, to the final conclusion
that they have sacrificed too much and vote back
their precious lower:
Woman must do her duty at home, is the cry
Six paragraphs | counted in my Yesterdays mail
Of Eeehles. concerning the virtue and potency OF
woman IL the hone-of home duties and home
owes aad direct assertions of tire derilection