National Republican. (Washington City (D.C.)) 1872-1888, 1875-03-30
HAS THE WOMAN BEEE wRoyGED!

Readers of the evidence in the Beecher-
TiltOn trial are beginning TO have no little
sympathy for the wife of the prosecuting
witness. The idea so freely expressed
when the trial began that she isa ''brazen-
faced piece, that ''she ought to be ashamed
of herself" and that her apparent indiffer
ence 10 pbblic criticism and exposure
proceeds from sheer disregard of the
ordinary obligations of virtuous woman
hood, have been displaced by feeling that
she is a victim of a combination of ciTcum-
stances which entities her to sympathy
as one who has suffered persecution. The
insight into her home life, the sickening
details of the manner in which her brutal
husband badgered her and made her eX-
istence next to unbearable, has been suf-
fiCient to arouse a very general belief that
she was driven step by step, from one in
discreet admission to another, and from one
contradiction to another, until she reached
condition bordering on insanity. There
is something more touching than the lu-
dicrous side Of the picture when we come
10 think of the patient manner in
which this woman followed her will
full master around at midnight, carry
ing pillow for his capncious head until
he found bed that suited him. He struck
her! He abused her in many ways, until
in desperation she cried anything for
peace" Her good name decried, her
chastity impugned, the paternity of her
children questioned, it is no wonder that
she was urged to commit herself to the
most extraordinary and conflicting state
ments regarding her personal relations with
the friends of her family. Her mother,
Mrs. Morse, grimly directed or advised
that she should separate from her husband,
and following that advice, she tried the
plan of temporary absence to bring him to
his senses. On his knees he plead with
her to return to his home, and promised to
cherish and protect her as the chosen wife
of his bosom; but no sooner did she comply
with his wishes than he began again to
show that moody egotism and tyrannical
selfshness which made their home so IN
happy In this terrible straight, having
practically ignored her mothers wishes,
and thereby shut off that source of
consolation, she sought Mr.. Beecher.
No doubt she was impulsive, and,
carried away by her feelings, over
powered by her sorrows, and rendered
almost if not quite insane by the cruelty Of
her Affections, she threw herself upon his
mercy, begging for the consolation for
which her heart hungered. Was this
strange? Was it unnatural? He was her
pastor, her spiritual leader, and a man of
wonderful mental force, man for whom
any woman would entertain earnest admit
ration, and to whom she would yield the
greatest respect. 1t is perhaps probable
that the weak human nature of these two
mortals submitted to animal instincts; that
the woman forgot herself and that the
man debased his manhood and his calling I;
but for the credit of mankind, for the sake
of all that is pure and to be venerated on
earth, let us believe to the contrary until
the black fact is proved beyond the pos
sibility of doubt. The highly-wrought
rhetoric of the letters which passed be-
tween these unfortunate people, it must be
admitted, is capable of a construction to
prove their guilt; but throwing aside the i'm
pulse to make fun which seems to possess
every one when talking of the great
scandal" is it not possible that a kiss of
sympathy might have been rendered and
accepted, and that Beecher afterwards, in
the extreme power of emotional elouuence.
might have described it as ''paroxysmal." "
The world is prone to accept wicked con-
illusions, to laugh at public exposures of
mothers that should be kept private, and
to sneer at sentimentalism; but the ''skel-