Vicksburg weekly herald. (Vicksburg, Miss.) 1868-1883, 1877-11-16
BaIeIde and FIaeFy.


New York Wnrld
From what seems to be the general
feeling In regard to life, nj would say
that only ths most powerful motives
could induce q man or woman 10 com.
nit suicide. The fact, however, that
more than 100000 self-murders have
been recorded In France alone
since the opening of the century,
and the present prevalence Of what
IA fin,aslicslly called "euthanasia"
lhrOughoutlh the Christian world, lead to
q different view Of the subj ct. The
circumstances by which all these un-
happy briugs have been sur
rounded cannot be vastly diff
ierent from those Of ordinary
persons who die p, acelullY Ia their
beds or def Inily lin their boOls." The
''divino average" as Walt Whitman
-ays in his apolheOsis of the doctrine
Of probabilities. fOl bids us to suppose
that there wa anything wholly pPcu'
liar aud exceptional from the troubles
to which We are all born in the case
of these suicides. The conclusion Il
that they we're simply abuormally
weak persons, too sensitive, too l~lslless
or too cOwardly to bear TO the end such
burdens as are common to all men
1t cad hardly DO supposed that
in three.quSrters Of q century
France hAa produced 100,0O(
CAios with at least respectable motives
tor leaving the H. ht of life when there
seems TO DO no more work for them Il
do, aud an honorable career has become
apparently impossible. Indeed, In 1
large proportion Of clsGs, The motives
which lead 10 self-desIrucliOn are littIC
better than ridiculous, aud cast a queel
light upon tho powers OF resistance
which might be, but arc not always Il
be, expected from q reasoning anlma
who looks before as well as after.
In Saturdays World the case Is re
corded of a lady In Brooklyn who
having had q few silk dresses stOlCT
from her, rushed 10 the Fulton ferr!
and wa4 20 badly overcome by tn
sense of her great loss that It was oul!
with difficulty that she could DO pre-
vented from jumping iAio the rive
and drowning hers,lf Probably thi
lady has lost very pear anC
dear friends during her lifetime
and has been plunged into gloon
aud despair when they have gonl
over to tho majority, but thu
poignant anguish she must then havI
frlI, did not so unSstIle her mind q
did the theft OF her apparel. Il Is no
likely that she then attempted suicide
-uch = climax was reached only at tn
supreme moment when she discovered
that Kate Wilson had decSmped will
her silk gowns. Ths true story ia toll
If how, ia old times, when Alban,
was but a small settlement aud nev
6nery was Il great rarity, a Young lad,
secured a new bonnet frnm New York
| SHORTY afterwards the indians made
raid into the lowu, and this girl wa
compelled to 4, Tor her lite, puI
sued across n field by a yOun
redkkin, and bearing 10 he
hand the precious bonnet whose gaud
ribbons had attracted the savage ey,
As she ran hpadloug her friends erie
out TO her, "Dr p the bonnet, Sally, {
hell kill lOul" mo" she screamed
"I'd as lief lose my life re my bonnet,
aud doubtless she stated the exact lac
We arr glad to say that the imprudeu
mink escaped with her bonnet aud he
lite, aud lived to be the mother Of
large and 1ourishing iami y. Beh0l
at what a pins worth the females &
our hardy II C value their lives g
compared with their jiucracks an
kickshaws,
Philosophers who In the present iasl
ion trace all our passions and enc
tons AMI Intelligence TO psychologists
Conditions, phJ steal anviro" ment an
h redity, would confer a favor shout
they show under what circumstance
the possibility was c%ugendcrrd OF Sc
ting sucn highly absurd relative value
upon life aud articles Of female wPal
Ing apparel. Something OF the bird
whom gaudy plumage II necessary |
order thar She may attract II ilnH ma
there seems TO DG IN II, und Ia suude
crises il il said TO be Il ancestor
who spring TO our rescu With
US when We are unable to think pro-
rrly, possibly The Iorebears If some
us were 0mce brilliant birds OF Par
disc, pinkiug aud pluming themselv,
for thu eyes of their lovers aud dyiu
If Der, f Of their t 'arhels. Bu' ladi,
should try to remember that If the
plumasc Is TO he arc united Tor aud g:
cused on principles VI natural 'ClecliO
aud because they have acquired It du
ing = secular struggle fm rxi-tonce,
Is palpsbly illogical I 0 sacrifice cxis
emce itself 20 the means Of triumphlU
in the struggle fr it, aud, misIakiI
The means for the eud, To jun ! fro
the wharves becau-e they arc despOilI
Of new dresses.
IN another column Mili be found q
! proceed gs Of the meeting Of the (