The Louisianian. [volume] (New Orleans, La.) 1870-1871, 1871-01-15
THE IMPORTANCE OF FEMALE
CHASTITY.

Although it is true that chastity is a
law of universal obligation, it is not true
that mans guilt in violating it is as great
as that of women, because the degree Of
guilt depends on the degree of tempta-
ton, which in the case of men is very
strong, both from temperament and cir
cunstances, and in the case of women
very weak. Mems passions are fierce and
active women's feeble and dormant.
Moreover, the way in which the work of
life has been divided makes mems ex-
posure to temptation constant; women's
very rare. The race has, therefore, in
forming its moral Judgment on the quail
ity of offenses against sexual purity, al
ways treated the mans guilt as less
heirous than the woman's, and although
this rule does occasionally work astouDd-
inc Injustice, and has called into exis-
tence the great blot on Christian civil
ization, the cold-bloOded male seducer, it
does in the vast majority of cases work
what, We believe, is in the courts of hea-
ven, as well as those Of earth, recognized
as substantial Justice. The distinction
has, however, a utilitarian IS well as
purely ethical basis, and one no less i'm
portant certainly Like most other of
the usages kept up by society for the re-
gulation of the relations of the sexes, it
has for its object the maintenance of the
integrity and purity Of the family. The
maternity of child is physical fact,
very difficult of concealment, hardly ever
successfully concealed, and usually prov
able by many witnesses. The paternity
of child is, on the other hand, simply
an inference which derives all it's strength
from the importance attached to chastity
by the female sex. It RESTS simply and
solely on the character of the mother. 1t
is incapable OF proof by any other testi-
mony than hers. All that is known about
it is locked up in her breast, and
to weaken her scruples therefore,
is to throw doubts on the origin of all
her children or, in other words,
to strike at the very roo OF the family
organization. If we had things so arrang-
ed, therefore, that woman thought no
more of violating her marriage VOWS than
a man, we should have probably in very
large part of the world either to give up
the family altogether, or shut women up,
as they once were shut up. The inference
with regard to the paternity of children,
therefore has to be jealously guarded,
not only because it is in the nature of
things weak, but because it furnishes what
is, in the present state o. human nature,
the main or sole inducement to husbands
to toll and accumulate for their wives and
offspring. For, let it never be forgotten,
the husband must, except in an minutes
finally small number Of cases, be every
where the bread-willner. Children must
always look to their father for most OF
the arms with which they face the world
Now, there may come time when, after
having heard the requisite number Of
tracts, 1. man will toll cheerfully for the
maintenance and education of such chill
dren as his wife may see fit to introduce
into the household, without caring whe-
ther they are his own or not. But we are
still far away from any such consumma-
ton. As matters stand, brutal man will
neither dig nor delye for the support Of
any children which he does not possess
a moral certainty he has begotten. He
acquires this certainty through his con.
tidence in his wife's purity, and society
helps to justify it by visiting her lapse
goia virtue with the deepes. OF earthly