The St. Cloud journal. [volume] (St. Cloud, Minn.) 1866-1876, 1874-08-06

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how Ereat MIR. Anthony Cornstock
ca' to!|-of your 60 called res;,ectab bic
, !"'-!.%:d- :;,ld wives, 1ajf 70 prevent
, ti'v - Inning u life, there is 10 scru-
L!c 70 us- more violent means. It
1nI.tcrs -. Tia. scientists teach in tLs
class room, that, now and then, di-
vine thundcrs from the pulpit that
1tetlcide is murder, it is common
and increasing practice. A respecta-
dc physician whose ride is in an al-
most exclusively Yankee community
tells me that scarcely week passes
that class Of this sort do not come
under his eye. The common doctors
do not dare to touch the business,
Many Of them have too much honor
or conscience. But there is money in
it, and within easy reach are never
wanting men-social Thugs let us call
them-who do this work with as little
remorse as they would have to drown
a kitten. And why should they not?
If the mother de*pises "the fruit of
her love-" why should they care?
This practice is not confined to
cities. The country physician finds
1t prevalent. A rural practitioner
told me few years since that he
knew neighborhood of farmers
they were five Of them-we]l to do
families, with ordinary health, and
yet by agreement one with another,
after married lives Of from ten to ff-
teen years, not one child among them
had seen the light.
And here comes in one of those de-
llghtful shams Of your American So
clety. If some one Of these miserable
ghouls bungles his job, and the poor
-ttestjm dies on his hands, you all pro-
these garbagbast. The daily press
scent carrion-is full OF lover fail to
and the quack does well if he escapes
the county Jail. And yet for one
such discovery, hundreds Of cases 60
through in secret. Multitudes Of
lives, that might have been, in lawful
wedlock, too, are quenched and a
multitude of mothers, that should
been, drag on through weary years
diseased bodies, and, let us hope, bur-
dened consciences, with almost none
to raise voice Of protest.
Now here is frst-class chance for
crusading. 1t may not be quite so
agreeable to pluck the beam out Of
your own eye as to try your hand on
the mote in ours. But it may be
quite as profitable to society and real
religion. You say we do not believe
the Bible. We might revere it more
if you practiced its commands better.
You think we do not sufficiently re-
gard the Fourth Commandment.
But what shall be said about that one
lying close to it, "Thou shalt not kill"
I do not find any law in your Bible
against cheering the heart with q
! little wine. But l do find a very
express command which you will al
low me to commend to you: 81 will
| therefore that the younger women
| marry, bear children, guide the house,
give none occasion to the adversary
to speak reproachfully." And this
also: "Teach the young women to
be sober, to love their husbands, to
love their children, to be discreet,
chaste, keepers at home
Our women can, doubtless, learn
many good things, many graceful
things Of yours; but Cod forbid that
they should learn this dark secret.
They will in the contact take On
some Of the ineness Of your ladies';
let US hope that they will not also
| gain their feebleness. Some Of your
opinions they may well accept; but
distant be the day when they shall
share in that subtitle, shameful social
sentiment, that child-bearing is
burdensome and indelicate thing.
They are not religious in the same
way that yours are, but they do hold
it sin to contravene the laws Of ma
ture; they do cherish, in a tender
faith, the sanctities Of married life;
they do reverence the holy mysteries,
and celebrate the sacred rites ofmoth-
erhood.