The Leavenworth weekly times. [volume] (Leavenworth, Kan.) 1870-1880, 1874-08-13
THE rousHruI SIDE OF THE PICTURE.


The saddest side Of this many sided
Beecher affair is wildly portrayed by the
master hand of George Alfred Townsend, In
a pen-picture which we copy in another col
umn, this morning. 1t is one OF the strong
est of the many strong papers that this un-
fortunate affair has called forth; done in
the writers most pungent vein, keen, sharp
and incisiye. it goes direc, to the heart OF
the matter and lays it before the public in
the light in which it ought to be regarded.
Pint more than this, il furnishes food for
thought, it tends to induce little whole
some reflection, and may cause Us TO look
for a moment at the fatally false bases upon
which we have reared false systems OF civil
liza,ion, of religion, of morals, and OF ethics.
When investigating the great scandal,
ii We would search out the origin and cause
OF the giant corruption, We must look beyond
Plymouth Church this is but the fruit; the
cause is in the tree that bears If. Our whole
social system is built upon false ideas Oh
goes estray, and loses what the world Is
pleased 10 term her virtue" she Is hence
forward a social outcast; no matter what
palliating circumstances may be plead IN ex-
tenuation OF her offence; it matters not that
she is bu; weak girl, while her seducer Is
= strong man; it matters THAT her offence
as committed through love for her DESTROYER
and under promise of marriage; the world
turns the same deaf ear 10 her repentance,
her pleading her signs and her prayers; 1T
VII know only that she has fallen, and
-nce:or her place IS with the basest and
IL sr-ayeJ, with moral outlaws and
" riots, while the man, who may be the
rely guilty party, IS received in society the
sa...e a. before, and is more popular with
the ladies for being "a Little rakish." And
tbi- We do under system OF civilization
and religion which pretendS to be founded
upon the teachings Of enc, who, when wo-
man was brought before him charged with
adultery even taken in the act-said to her
accusers. lie; him that is without sin cast
the first stone,'' and when they had all
skulked away, told the goman, Neither do
/ condemn thee"
When a married woman falls the case
is different the reproach is then not so much
upon her as upon her husband; though
ruled out of society" Tor time, her otiense
is soon forgotten or overlooked, but to her
husband the stigma cling5 forever; the DIS
grace is his though it is not possible that he
could have been in any way responsible lor
the act; and no matter what course he may
pursue. he is under the ban; ii he take the
Law into his own hand, and with that instinct
Of The coward, which prompts man to Kill
another because he believes society VIII
uphold him in the act, goes and murders
the man who has wronged him; or ii his
erripg but heart-broken wife humbles her
self in repentance before him, pleading IN
the name of their children and their early
love, and his courage is sufficient TO enable
him to rise to that sublime height where ii
is possible for him TO say with the Lord he
tries to follow, neither do condemn thee
in either case his fate is the same; he is an
OUTLAW. In the one case the world viii
never fail to take cognizance OF the blood
upon his hands, and before the bar OF his
own conscience he stands convicted as
murderer; in the other, he moves in society
in christian society-as moral ieper,
whom to shun is duty; the minister at the
altar while one hand rests upon the sacred
volume, from which he has just read to his
fock the fate Of him who "heareth these
words OF mine and doeth them not points in
derision with the other, at the man who has
been foolish enough TO think Jesus meant
what he said, while the congregation re-
spends "cuclsold !"
Blu, do men gather grapes Of thoms or
figs of thisiles2 Can We expect the stream to
be pure while the fountain is impure? Or
can we expect tie practices OF society 10 be
correct, while society itself stands upon
false foundation, and lives lie? Is it 10 be
wondered al that corcuptions are continually
coming to light in the church, while the
church itself is bul a ghastly burlesque
upon the system il pretends to teach? is II
a matter OF surprise that scandals such as
that which is now disgusting the nation,
shouid be developed in the church, while the
church uses the moral code of ,Jesns but to
yh;tcn a moral sepulchre filled with dead
mems bones? Can a corrupt tree bring
IN good fruit?