Mountain Democrat. [volume] (Placerville, El Dorado Co., Cal.) 1854-1860, 1858-09-04
"oUR COUNTRY Wrong ouro Country"
Wa She Trua 70 HarsAlfi

There was . murder trial lately in PhiIa
delphtR. The seduction by q married man of
young woman was followed by these shamefu
and shocking results: the misery and menta
wreck Of the doating husband and the dealt
by the injurd man Of the scducef. The un
happy culprit was acquitted on the ground O
insanity. When he killed his adversary tn
voice Of the public was, served him right =
and the jury confirmed the popular verdict
We do think the public or the jury were II
the wrong. The seduction was grievous sir
grievously answered But what shall we say
OF the woman; the pGrticeps eTiminis viii
him whose crime occasioned these terrible con
sequenccsS The press, eloquent in its de
nunciations Of her partner in sin, has had nC
more to say of her than il she had no account
ability in the matter. This is not the siIenc,
of mere gallantry-therc is bad philosophy
and worse morality at the bottom oft. The
man was sinner, and, in rccompense, is dead
and damned, it may be; but is the woman Il
be held excused, or mentioned only as q !" vic
tim?" Half of the world says " yes, ;" regard
less Of the fact that the affirmative implies an
Impeachment of the goodness and Justice o
God III creating a responsible being so utterly
blind and helpless. A writer in the Phils.
dclphia Prcss says with great force of argu.
ment:
"Are we ready to sanction the monstrous
doctrine that woman is to man as the poor
bird to the fascinating scrpentS When the AL.
mighty completed his creation by making male
and female, did He fail to give to woman as
much power over herself as was necessary for
the same sex in the brutes that perish Even
they have some free agency!
Drink not in this breath Of abomination
on the subject Of what is miscallcd seduction.
Be it your cardinal maxim that woman is her
own great-onc may say her only real destroy
er. Such misery never comes upon her unless
she has first, in the creccsses of her own bosom,
lighted fame which the breath Of lying lips
is always ready to fan. It is strange how
easily the man Of appetite guesscs her fatal
secret weakness, while he stands silent and
respectful before the eyes Of another woman,
who has not broken down those hedges of in.
nocence and reserve which God Almighty
causes to grow with the growth and strengthen
with the strength Of maid and matron alike.
" There are novels without end in our day.
Their general moral, or rather immoral pur-
pose, is to make human life a love dream
"Devcreux, "Janc Eyre" Consuelo, :" ''Thc
Mysteries Of Paris" and other productions oi
the Don Juan school of morality, form circle
large enough compromise all sorts of sensual
dreamers. Women who consider Swift and
SmOllett horribly coarse and vulgar, are not
dsgustcd with the delcatcly told and SkilIfulIy
paliated results Of unlawful love-"
The writer concludes with bringing the
subject home to the business and bosoms''
of his readers in the following pungcnt terms
Look around at your own wife and daugh.
tcrs-virtuous, bright and happy-wantine
nothing that can contribute to their comfort
and real enjoymcnts. Then take up the fash.
ionablc reasoning about seduction and settle
it in your heart AZ one Of the mysterious
things about this present evil world, that any
woman is virtuous and bright, and happy
only because it has chanced that some sedUccr
married or unmarried, has not magnetiked
her and made her victim. Do you like such
doctrine about the help-meet for you whom
God has givcnH Do you like to think It was
true of your sainted mother? Do you think
it is the law Of tho nature Of your honored
sisters and your tender and beloved daughters
1t is 0trOcious cruelty towards tho wretch.
edly poor and sorcly-tempted women of our
large cities, when those who stnncd, full o.
bread, arc called pictimS, for whose sake the
scduccrs must fall into untimcly graves by the
hands of violence. Such popular sentiment
makes woman's honor the most precarious
the most insecure thing In the moral universe
II she stands it is only because she is wei
watched BY a male sentinel. But it was said
long ago, even in plays, that the virtue which
always needs ,entincl is not worth watch
ing. '"-LOstOn Post.