The Emporia news. [volume] (Emporia, Kan.) 1859-1881, 1880-07-23
AN APPEAL IN BEHALF OF
THE SEX.


at an early hour Wednesday, n woman
whose sorrowful fate alone made her S
known beyond the narrow limits which
her life, died at the early
age of nineteen years, after ten or fifteen !
DAYS of that dreadful delirium which at
tends the species of mental disorder
with which she was afflicted. She was
the wife of VIM. Bethurem, Il citizen of
Lyon county, and some weeks since was
adiudged insane, condition induced
largely by the hardships to which
she had been subjected, and con-
signed to the Jail to await her
admission to the state asylum. But,
pending the necessary formalities for the |
accomplishment of this end, disease |
kindly interposed in behalf of the poor
sufferer, and death mercifully brought
TO her rackcd mind and frame that
sweet specific unknown to the art of the
most skillful healer.
Had this obscure woman fallen out OF
the ranks of the living under those Or
binary conditions which mark the daily
| departure of hundreds of her kind all
over the land, she might have sunk to
rest upon the bosom of her mother
earth with naught to signalizc the pay
mcnt of that common debt which we
all owe to nature, save those bitter tears
which fail into the collins and onto the
graves of all who have lived to kindle
the love which dwells in the heart of
| e 10 h,,p 10
origin, and her life was passed amid
surroundings so pitiably destitute of
those influences the tendency of which
is to elevate and enoble her sex, that IL
is not marvel that she should have &C
cepted, without protest, the sOrdld condi-
5 lions with which hostile destiny
| hedged her in. With no strong inner
e ent aspirations or power of intellect
4 to lead her to better attain
ments, she simply submitted
5 to the ordinances of an ungenerous fate,
c and by the feeble lamp which cast its
light upon her thorny path, went heI
y way in deep humility, and to the best Of
/ her limited conceptions, took up the
n burdens of her dreary life and bore them
on without complaint, till Over-wrought
nature sank beneath the heavy load, and
" the tired toiler found rest in the grave.
And yet, the history of this poo
. woman is but the sad counterpart o
that of scores of female drudges Whose
lines have been drawn in the same un
toward places. and whose feet are bleed
ing with the thorns which beset thei
pathways. How many women in Kan
" sas yearly go down to premature graves
or, what is infinitely worse, are reserved
for the calamity of n living death, by
trustingly casting their lots with hus
bands who are utterly insensiblc to al
c those gracious offices, through the eXer
l. else of which the soul of woman I'm
II folds its treasures as the flower yield
&c up its beauty and perfume to the genia
It influences of the bright sunshine? How
il many husbands are there who persist
v, entity ignore all those delicate little al
G. tentions which so to make up the sun
m of woman's dearest happiness, and, in
~ stead, heap upon her those burden
n which transform her into q slave, ant
is divest her of that grace with whicl
nature has crowned her? How man
men allow the greed for gain, the indC
N lence which is born of sclfease, til
Sc boorishness which willful ignoranc
al fosters, to rise above and dominate al
is the nobler impulses of their souls, an
he thus become the skeletons of their owl
Is households, the dcstroyers of their owl
o. families, and convert even the homo
h roof-tree into the deadly upas?
u These are serious questions, and ma
ct not be ignored. They are coming u
"a from the graves over which God la
IN made the grass to grow in token of hi
IS Hndying pity; they are are voiced by tn
d sad eyes of women whose frail bodie
arc the tenements of
Hearts that break and give no sign,
a Save whitening lips and fading trCsscs,
IN Till death pours out the corriial wine,
!; Slow-wrung IRON misery's crushing pres
is And they are sounding in tones ofsolem
IL appeal from the habitation of infinii
40 Justice, and God himself demands II
mt answer.
AllCc DclnuTGnh 10 ucstu- 10y tue Z
ld ercise of divine clemency, the poor, b
to nighted traveller, who CROPPED amid Il
le- thickening darkness here has been borr
ch to the courts of eternal day, and, Resin
be our faith in the infinite mercy of Hi
'r, who has given to his creatures the assn
ance that he will not break the bruise
reed, we feel that the wounded feet, whiC
wearied in their earthly way, Will trea
:" ever more the golden streets and pre-
{" the verdure which springs on the banl
10 of the river of life. May this timely T
II ference to the story of one of the humble
- of lives, induce reflection, correct Il
- wrongs from which women so grievou
a. ly suffer, and inspire that consideratir
~ for the weak and helpless which
nc the crowning glory of the most exalte
~ manhood.