The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1876-02-03
From the New York Herald.

rTOm Tue INV IOTh
THE LUNATICS OF FASHION.
THE GREAT CRIME OF OUR CIVILIZATION.
Professor S. B. Britain lectured
last evening at Republican Hall. in
Thirty-third street, on the ''Luna-
tics of Fashion," giving express on
to some startling truths, IN lam
guage not to be misunderstood. In
the course Of his expose of the evils
of fashionable society, the speaker
said:
We may find some mitigation ola
great crime against nature in the
ignorance of the thoughtless Of
tenders. But the germs Of our hu-
man nature are daily blasted in the
exercise of a deliberate purpose.
Feticide has become the great crime
of civilized society. In this respect,
tie most polished nations are the
most corrupt. In this war of extir-
mination against nature we excel
the rudest barbarians and put saw
age Tribes to shame. Such vital
and fragrant violation of tie laws of
life must be followed by the most
terrible consequences. The natural
world groans beneath the weight OF
this lniquty. The unalterable judg-
ments Of God, expressed and empha-
sized in the operations Of his gov
eminent, follow the offenders. OF
all such it may be said, in the
strong language of Scripture, "Iheir
damnation slumbereth not" The
inevitable results of this immeasura-
bic crime are, in brief, The physical,
intellectual, and moral degeneracy
of the race. The personal evils are
the destruction of health, the dead
ening of moral sensibility, the loss
Of self-respect, and, perhaps, the
desolation of a solitary, friendIess,
and comfortless old age. To the
nation the consequences are of the
gravest possible characterize sus-
pension Of its ,recuperative and re-
productive powers, lowering of the
standard Of popular thought, public
justice and national integrity-in
short, the rapid decIension of all the
physical and moral forces on which
the true life, the permanent exist.
ence and the lasting glory Of a peo~
pie are made to depend.
This is the crime of both sexes,
and medical men are often accom-
plices. Thus millions are swept
away, all unnoticed save by Hina
who heeds the sparrows when they
fall. These are blasted fruits from
The trees of life! Who shall num-
Der them? Our proud nationality
is in its youth; our civilization is not
yet ripe, and who shall witness its
Alas! it is rotten when
such gigantic evils flourish in spite
Of the laws and under the shadow Of
the church. Such are the wrongs
that make of our decent seeming
! deceptive falsehood. Thus we la
Del our religious institutions and
stamp our lives as gilded trifes and
hollow shans. By such base con-
iuct as this low conception of the
'acredness of life and its responsible
ties we
Make the stately temple of the soul
q ngeon ofimpure depravities.
Men may be rough; men may be
ruel; men may be criminal, and
ot utterly blast the prospects of the
ace. But who is not shocked to
now that gentle natures can be so
epraved? Ministers Of mercy veil
heir faces and weep in view of such
Womanhood, is des-
Grated, humanity is outraged and
lortal pangs smite the deepest
brings of being. Listen, all who
re subject to this indictment, and
.member i is by your ordination
lat grim death is made warden at
fe's portal. Fair hands hold and
1ide the fatal shaft. The facts
agger belief; we doubt before the
if it were possible we
Ould dispute the demonstration.
this is not insanity, where shall
: look for it, and who y1ll show
an example, Oh, why should
ings radiant as the morning bar
e doors of life against the waiting
nerations? Why madIy quench
e life that you impart? Alas! for
csc white shrines Of the Holy