Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1878-01-03
The Age Of Suicide.

perhaps be better known in history az
the age of Suicide Very seriously
exclaimed tired cook in the kitchen,
'T would kill myself sure if l could
know | was going straight to heaven.
Her companion replied, "What a fool
You will be dead long enough If you
should not die for a hundred years to
come" The causes which engender
this mania for self destruction have
always existed, but they operate with
aggregated and combined power in
the present condition of our civilIza.
ton. The suicide in the olden time
was punished after death. He was
exposed by the side of the public
highway and stake driven through
his body. The humanity, charity and
better knowledge Of our times regard
the poor suicide with pity and COM
passion. The criminal and vicious
classes are perhaps as exempt from
this terrible end ss any other. We
know of two ministers OF the gospel
in this State, one Congregationalist,
the other Methodist, who "shnffled
off the mortal coil" in this way. The
suicide of Hugh Miller, the great ge-
ologist, the orthodox and severely
christian author, taught the religious
world that its brightest ornaments
were not exempt from this murder.
GUS frenzy. The tendency to self de-
struction is hereditary in some fami-
lies, but the practice is coming into
vogue with persons who are not i'm.
PEELED to it by ancestral example.
There is great underlying cause for
it. 1t perhaps may be traced to the
impetuosity aud self conservation with
which the men of our times pursue
after wealth, honor, fame, or even af
ter religion. The brain becomes fe'
verish-the blood rushes to the head.
Hugh Miller acted like the victim OF
Eydrophobia. He knew when the fit
was coming on him and he begged
his family and friends to save him
from ito fearful horrvre. Hio brain
was diseased. The symptoms of this
disorder are numerous. Its unfortu.
nate subject loses his relish for society.
The religious zealot becomes a bias
phemer. The millionaire breads i'm
pending poverty. The miser breads
to meet lone stranger on the high.
way he is afraid of robbery and
murder. Such are some of the symp.
toms, but what causes them What
awful heart-break and sorrow, what
despair, darkening the entire heavens
and shutting out the light of day
would impel the mother TO take The
life OF her innocent and helpless child.
rem aud then take her own, as has
been the case even in, Grant County
To such an awful perversion of the
human will, such an abnegation Of
all the ties OF nature, neither the Doc
tor OF Laws, nor Medicine, nor Divin,
ity afford any remedy. We gaze up.
on the cataract of Niagara till we be.
come fascinated by its whirling bill.
lows and by some irresistible impulse
we leap into the flood whose terrors
have captivated as. If we allow our
minds to dwell on the idea OF self de.
struction we are turned into its vor.
tex. We should at once fly the
thought. The soul exults in a Wild
unnatural freedom when it overcomes
the tear of death. The young man
who gained national reputation by
his elaborate suicide at the Palmer
House in Chicago, tells us he never
knew what true freedom and happi.
ness were until he resolved to take
his own life, and he lived sometime
thereafter in order to enjoy that
strange, unnatural bliss. The suicide
is always insane. We mean by this,
that he either is subject to unreasona.
BILE fears or to an ennui or safety, a
disgust which he cannot escape from,
or his or her nervous system has been
shattered BY wrongs real or imagin.
airy, from which there is no relief or il
is too feeble to endure the humiliation
of the lapse from wealth to poverty
or from reputation to dishonor and
shame.
Though the Reverend Joseph Cook
proposes to restore mankind to their
primative perfection by Hereditary
Descent"--that is, by the selection OF
q healthy, pure blooded stock whose
progeny shall multiply SO IS to drive
the base, the diseased and vile out Of
existence, We do not at present pro-
pose to take much stock in his be-
nevolent enterprise. In the race OF
life under the whip and spur of our
present civilization, when thousands
must fall behind, when there will be
millions of aching, anxious hearts,
disappointed hopes, worn out and
deseoated brains, discordant, and Jar.
ring nerves-aye, there must be sui
rides. Suicide but indicates the nee
essary tendency of civilization TO de-
cay and the extinction OF families.
Even 10 the United States, young as
1t is, even 10 the New England States,
their steady and religious habits has
not prevented the gnawing OF that
worm that has ever out the roots OF
that tender plant we call Civilization.