Ashtabula weekly telegraph. [volume] (Ashtabula, Ohio) 1853-1873, 1860-01-21

the human sacrifices of the unborn thou
SANDS annually inundated ia the city o
New I ork before the blood-worshippeC
Meloch OF fashion. From no excess of re
ligious faith in even false. idolatrous rod
are such hecatombs of human beings slain
out our women, from a devotion to dres.
and vain pride Of outward show. become
murdresses of their own children. and dc
literally 10 their own bodies become whiten
ed sepulchres, pallid with the diseases con.
sequent upon such unrighteous acts. and
sepulchural in thought and tone of voice
from the remorse which always follows a
guilty action.
!ntanticide is the great, glariug and fear
fully prevalent sin of the women of New.
I ork as immortality drunkenness gaming.
etc, are the prevailing sins of tie female
portion OF the community Of other cities
and countries of the world We take the
liberty of speaking freely and plainly what
we know, and strongly what we feel. The
moral sense of the community is at a fear
iul pass. Each indivilBaL claims for her.
self 10hether or not TO hare children. But if
this right of option is granted, does it per
NIT the destruction of the child ? Bnt
says the apologetic parent, Children are
SO expensive ; the demands of society, the
cost for food, clothing, education is so
great that we could not live with snch q
family Another, with means in abun-
dance, says, That the care of children is
such a slavery : this one is fond of show
aud company, that one intends to go to
Europe, and neither can be bothered with
young oneS.' These are the excuses for
not pro creating children, aud the right so
not to do we will not discuss now; bnt are
these good reasons, for murder ? Is it not
arrant lazinesS, sheer, craven, culpabIe
cowardice which is at the bottom of this
base act Z Are you not dastardly shirk-
ing your duty the duty of your life appoint
ed you by the Creator Have you the
right to choose an indolent, selfish life, neg
lecting the work God has appointed you to
perform ? Are you q man who encourage
your wife to such vilainous procedure
or are you the woman whose love for gew-
gaws and trinkets prompts to the outrage
against the heavenly sanctity of true wo-
mans nature Whichever you are, you
are pitiiul, God-forSaken wretch, and all
true humanity dcspSes you and boots at
you.
You have not even the unjustifabe but
possibly excusable desire of the poor girl,
the prey of the vile seducer who bears in
her own breast the pitiable evidence of
another's crime. You voluntarily commit
murder.
No, not murder, you say, for there has
not been any life in the child.' Do not at
tempt to evGde to man crime which can
not be hidden from the AL-sEEING. The
poor mother has not herself felt the life of
the child perhaps, but that is quibble only
of the laws of man, founded indeed upon
the view, now universally recognized as in
correct, that the child's life began when its
movements were first strong enough to be
perceptible. There is, in fact, no moment
after conception when it can be said that
the child has not life and the crime of de-
stroying human life is as heinous and as
sure before tie period of 'quickening' has
been attained as afterward. But You still
defend your horrible deed by saying: We'll,
if there be, as you say, this mere animal
life, equivalent at the most to simple vitali-
ty, there is no mind, no soul destroyed and
that therefore there is no crime committed
j ust so surely as one would destroy and
root out Of existence all the fowl in the
world 10y destroying all the eggs in the world,
so certain is it that youdo by your act de-
stroy the animal man in the egg and the
soul which animates it. When is the period
when intelligence comes to the infant d?
Are its feeble first strugglings any evidence
of its presence Has it any appreciable
quantity at birth Has it any valuable,
useful quantity even when year old p
When then sit that its destruction is harm |
less or comparatively sinless While |
awaiting your metaphysical answer, / will |
tell you when it is sinful Murder is always |
sinful, and murder is the wilful destruction |
of human being at any period of its ex-
iStance, from its earliest germinal embryo |
to its final, simple animal existence in aged |
decrepitude and complete mental imbeciity
We make these statements thus fully and |
plainly because of the frequency of this |
sin, often committed under the erroneous
idea that no wrong deed is committed pro-
Vided that life has not been fet,' by wo-
men who wohd not willingly do such a
wrong. The amount of this crime can be
testified to by any observing physician, and
the half is probably concealed even from
them.
This subject is not foreign to the theme
Of this paper, for it is not only moral evil,
but physical wrong. The health of the
mother suffers materially from the violence
done to her system, and from the shock to
her nervous sense Whether it is effected
by powerful drugs or by mechanical and in
Interference the result is dele
terious to the animal economy. The organs
are often seriously lacerated, punctured, ir-
ritated or inhamed, producing temporary
disease which threatens and not unfrequent-
y destroys life, and also when apparently
,ured leaves the organs cicatrized, contract
ID, manned, in distorted shapes and unna-
ural positions, in a snb-acute inflammation
n chronic congestion, for all after-years a
ource OF pain and weakness, and fruitful
'rlgin of neuralgias, debilities and miseries
Sc assured this is not exaggerated, for we
annot recall to mind an individual who
las been guilty of this crime, (for it must
'e called a crime, under every aspect, but
Who has suffered for many years afterward
n consequence, And when the health is
Inally restored, the freshness of life has {
,one, and the vigor of mind and energy of