The daily phoenix. [volume] (Columbia, S.C.) 1865-1878, 1873-01-30


sertion. Long yertisem ents by the week,
-aonth or yoar. et reasonable rates. .aiTii
TIN ORiiMin OF Su1orDR. According TO
the New York 1Tnses, the coroner's re-
port for shS past year presents some
fsctt of interest," and among them those
ihrsssrd' to suicide are wbFth more than
. nessinn consideration: And frat. it
appears that this sad end OF an unhappy
lho fn that city WAS muoh more common
during tho hat than during The iniihedi-
ataly previous years. Il To 1872, .140 per-
sons (sndawe may bea sure that there
were more) sought refuge from wretoh-
edness In death; while in 1870 and 1871,
the numbers were respectively 108 and
112. The increase is much greater in
proportion than the increase Of inhabi-
tauts. The reason Of this is copjeotured
by the Times. with nnjntended satire, to
be the greater difficulty Of living, which.
10 no doubt true in every sense. The
97mts says, with emphasis. eve may be
sure that considerable proportion,
although they were not born here, were
children Of emigrants, and were not,
either in blood or breeding. fair exam
pies Of the influences of American train
ing" We are disposed, as Americans,
says the Baltimore Sun, to feel somewhat
comptimented by this concession OF the
intelligent gentlemen who edit the Times,
bat NO really see nothing in. American
blood which differs from the blood OF
other races Of mankind; and as for the
training, we era not aware Of any peouli-
axity thereof in the United States, except
in the absence of III 30 far as the rearing
OF Young America Is concerned. Ger.
many takes the lead in the sad record of
suicide, furnishing flfty-six cases, or con-
stdeEably moro than One-third of the
whole. The Times, attributes this to
special tendency to gloom in the German
mind, which We. in our ignorance, had
always supposed, 20 be- cherry, hopeful
aud indomitable. Ireland furnishes only
nineteen OF the unfortunates. which We
should be inclined to place to its credit,
but 4hat the Times considers "the refec-
ton - sad, h1t. it may safely be assumed
that the excess OF suicide among the
Germans is owing to a greater thought
fulnep. and noe to greater physical suf-
2ering or materisl nisf6rtlne. There
are few men who, have passed thirty
who will not confdss that reflection upon
the condition, and the issles; of life has q
tendency to produce q willingness to
leave it. He was not a thonghtless,
light-hearted 1aan who wrote 'aii is
vanity. OF course. he was not, but
hls. reflective habits and sobriety Of cha
raoter did, not lead him to commit sui
oids, or to recommend it, but the moral
he drew was to 'fear God, and keep his
commandments" If the theory of the
Times is correct, mankind in general
msy be pardoned for acting upon the
maxim, sff ignorance is bliss, It's folly
TO be wise." It will be we'll to avoid too
great thoughtfulness," unless it is of
shat far-seeing kind which pauses to con-
slider whether it is not we'll to "bear the
Ills we have" than "ay to others we know
not Of" Sax. ,tt4 q.
In regard to the ages Of The suicides,
one.haif we're between twenty and forty
years Of age, and more than one.third
were between thirty and forty. The
number of males who's killed themselves
was ITO. the number of women only
thirty. From whence the Times con-
oludes "that men have either more of
lite's Ills to bear than women. or that
they suffer more under Them" Proba-
ply the latter Of these canaes, though not
honorable to our Sex. combined with q
higher degree of '.,thoughtfulness," is
the real reason. Women are moro pa.
tient end iong-sufering under trial than
men, and also more likely to shrink from
violence to themselves: besides which,
undeveloped az their reflective fnculties
may be, they have custom Of looking
more aolemnly than men upon the con.
sequences OF taking into their own hands
the decision of the question, ''to be, or
not to be-" Seriously, no man in the
possession of reason is justified by the
most sorrowful reverses Of life in losing
confidence in God or hope in his own
future. The burden of life may be on.
pressive. but, if 80, the more heroic it is
to bear it to the end, and not to desert
the post OF duty til! relieved by the sum-
mons OF superior power. Nor is there
any certainty that in laying down hard
load here wo shall not take up more
onerous one hereafter. It argues d
weak, If not demented understanding.
or O faithless and oowardly nature, to be
driven by the ills of life to take volun-
tarily what suicides co onsider "a leap in
the dark"
A Pennsylvania lady was hooked by a
neighbours bull last week. for wearing a
red dress, and now bemoans that she has
no redress.