Middletown transcript., 1869-09-18

quaintance she unwisely chose for conf
, dante. She made no such charges Will
either of the two people implicated wer
alive. to deny them. What She told Mr.
Lushington may have been anything els
than what she is said to have revealed t.
Mrs. Stowe.
With all his faults, Byron was willin,
to bear the blame of their disputes; Will
she was not generous enough to make an,
one specific charge which might give hin
the chance of explanation or justification.
For the publication of the loathesome
story Mrs. Stowe has given the fimsy pre-
text of trying to defend Lady Byron against
the Countess Guiccioli, but has really eli.
cited in the American mind very proper
contempt for the English woman. The
story should have gone down to the grave
with her, if true, or if only the Jealous i'm
aginings of narrowminded, implacable,
hard, and unforgiving rife.
But, sir, is it not lamentablc that the
American public should discuss such a
subject at all? Still worse, that one of our
leading periodicals should give it place a
mong its respectable pages?
Newspapers and magazines are read by
our young girls, the future wives and
mothers of America; what morality can
we expect among them if such license
in literature is allowed?
Does it not show that we are dogenerat-
ing in modesty and deccncy when noted
authoress can lend herself unblushingly to
the propagation of such monstrous allega-
tions? There is nothing can justify her
the ''lifting ofshrouds" could not undo the
evil. supposing it ever existed it can ben
eft the American public in no way, and
it familiarizes the minds of the young with
the most repulsive crime in nature. What
family secret is safe, what grave sacred, in
in these days of pandering to .licentious-
ness under the hypocritioal pretcnse of
rcbuking it? Men may well fear to accord
any further freedom to woman if they throw
off all restraint of sex, of language, and of
common propriety.
1t would appear that no literary woman
nowadays can hope for any renown if she
keeps to the oldfashioncd paths of dccepcy
and modesty in writing She must seize
upon some loathesome "social evil" from
whose vicinity and contact men shrink
back, and she must then deal with it in
such coarse and bold terms as to disgust
and appal even men, before she can hope
for any profitable degree of ofnotoriety. Hav-
ing done this, Mrs. Stowe may look to have
her lectures well attended Her celebrity,
her position, her talent cause unthinking
women to follow her example, and gradu-
ally her license of language, of thought, of
deed, will be emulated by the now pure.
Women are now allowed to publish what |
is forbidden to men.
When "Griffith Grant" appeared in the
same periodical which now publishes the
Byron article, the nation was aghast and
the press cried out in horror; yet bigamy is
a mild crime compared to that which Mrs.
Stoves handles SO deftly, and he who ex-
tenuated it was man.
If men were to write such things as wo.
men do, our sex would feel themselves ad-
aggrieved, and would not hesi-
tate to say that they were trying to de-
base us, and overthrow female modesty and
purity.
The American public once thought the
works Of George Sands the acme of inso-
lent prGfigaqy, and shuddered to think
woman's pen could be SO infamous That
is not longer than ten years agq, during
which lime we have become familiar with
the face of vice, and have come to the last
stage of embracing her. George Elliot
has familiarized us with seduction in 'Ad-
am Bede" Mrs. Wood with elopment and
bigamy in Cast Lynne; Ouida with ad-
ultery in "Streathmore" and Mrs. Stowe
with incest
Murder, treachary, apd forbidden sins of
every kind form the staple of our house.
hold light reading; the fathers, brothers,
and husbands of the period should see to
it if they wish any prestige of purity in
the girl and wife of the next period.
Very truly yours, ELLEN KIRBY.