Mineral Point weekly tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1859-1868, 1868-07-08
What Shall be Done About 1t :?
from the New York Tribune. I

IeCdliS 10 TIE great SOCiaI ulSOTueT
which makes such institutions neces-
sary, and upon which, some months
ago, we took several occasions to en-
/ large
The question is raised, in public
and private-W hat shall be done
/ about this terrible decentralization that
is going on in regard to the relations
between the sexes: the disuse and
the instability of marriage, incon-
stancy, incontinence, the preven-
tion of births, the destruction of
babes newly ly-born, and the general vi
olation of the laws of domestic and So
cial life? The question is asked as if
it was a new one and as if the prob
lem was new. But it Is, in fact, very
| old. Worse times than ours in this
respect have been seen and have been
survived. In Imperial Rome the fre-
! quencyof divorce made marriage some
| thing like legal prostitution adulte-
/ ry became the fashion abortion was
/ exceedingly common; and children.
who had the impertinence to be born
were abandoned and often murdered.
! The evil was so undisguised that the
popular writers dealt with it in the
I plainest terms. It was so universal
as to implicate the whole wealthy and
worldly class; and it was so enor-
nous that the Emperors-even the
/ vile Tiberius and the incestuous Do
mitian-pursued it vigorously through
all its departments of turpitude.
| Laws were made to compel the no.
bles and the wealthy to marry. But
it was of no avail. Manners were
more powerful than laws. Society
seemed on the brink of dissolution
1t would be tedious to tell how it was
saved.
Many things conspired to save it.
/ Prominent among these agencies was
the bold writing and speaking of the
! Stole philosophers, Ant!pater, Muson-
4 ius, Dion, Plutarch, Tacitus, and ma
ny another eloquent defender of chas-
/ tity and marriage. Human nature
was not extinct The age had a con-
science, and these men reached it.
/ 1t had residuum Of common sense,
and these men stimulated. The En-
perors did very little; the moralists
did very much. The laws probably
had the effect to suppress the evil on
/ the surface, and to aggrevate it IN re
ality but the teachings had the effect
! to rally the intelligence of the gener-
alton to the defence of its virtue.
In such matters as these, so deep and
secret, so corrupting but so undemon-
strabie. legislation can produce only
! negative results. The remedy, we firm
/ " believe, is to be found in faithful
teaching. The physician must teach as
hegoes about confdentially amongfam-
/ lies and becomes acquainted with the
disorders which he knows are under
mining tie health he has made it his
solemn duty to preserve from every
+ form of disease as we'll that foolish peo.
pie bring on themselves as that which
/ Providence, to correct foolishness,
brings on them. The Psychologist
must teach by showing to people,
I by book and lecture, how they are
made, and why it is imperative on
/ them to be strictly obedient to the
laws of their making, if they would
save themselves from pain unspeaka-
ble. The social philosophy must
/ teach by unfolding the laws that reg
ulate the health, wealth and the com
/ fort and peace of social existence
The moralist must teach by explain
/ ing the rules and sanctions of duty.
and convincing people that there IS
really no help for them, save in allie
glance to truth and honor and purity
And then, in conjunction with all
these, the minister of the Gospel must
use his acknowledged and important
influence, through public discourse
and private admonitIon, TO recover
and sustain the ancient reverence for
/ the institution Of marriage, and to i'm
press upon the public mind the feeling
that the issues involved in these mat
ters of personal and domestic purity,
the rearing and training of children,
are issues vital to their moral and
spiritual salvation.
The grand difficulty IS, that these
teachers, one and all shrink from their
duty Of teaching. There is no lack
of knowledge TO communicate. There
is no lack of opportunity for setting
it forth. There is no lack of faith in
the efficacy of truth, if properly
presented by those who know it. Ed
ucation in all things else is our pana-
cea. There can be no doubt that
comprehensive, practical, faithful in
struction, .'in season. and not 'out OF
/ season. would in time work a reform
among the rational people Of the gen
Grafton, sufficient TO create public
sentiment which others must obey.
But the subject is, on all hands,
supposed to be too high, too low, too
delicate. too ditfcalt, or too something
else, TO be dealt with by human
speech. Somebody's feelings viii be
hurt; the public morals Will be en-
dangered Il Is wiser to cover the
thing up, so that the age may look
decent if 1t Is not virtuous.
Gould any course be more irration
, al? Of course, the subject IS deli
cate one TO write about, especially
delicate to speak about But car
there be no delicacy where there j:
truth? Must the truth be spoken in