Mower County transcript. [volume] (Lansing, Minn.) 1868-1915, 1882-12-27
A just Criticism.

EDITOR TRANscR1PT:-Your remarks
in last weeks TKANscR1Pr, regarding the
casesof an unfortunate girl in Spring Val
ley, provoke few words Of comment.
That child Of twelve years, you say, is
condemned to be henceforth "wretched,
despised, sneered At and vilifed, to be
spit upon and trOdden under foot, with |
no place in all the world to hide her
shame but the grave" I do not question
the truthfulness of this frightful picture;
judging from the past, the probability is
that you have correctly cast the horo-
scope of this young life; but l have this
to say, that when your provision is fulfil
led the one or two human brutes who first
lighted the fires of this little mundane
coadjutors; their part in the business of
torturing the soul and killing the body of
| u fellow creature will have been ably sup
plemented;-by other licentious men?
Oh no; but by the great body of your
extra. respectable society, which will shut
their doors in the face of this little sinner
and proceed to "sneer" and "vilify and
| spit upon" her out of their chaste and
reputable windows. Society, "civilized"
society, christian" society, has con-
demned this little transgressor to that
horrible fate, and you have pronounced
the sentence without word of protest.
While you justly lash the scoundrels who
have put the first blight upon this girls
that society at large which, as you say.
will complete the ruin yet hardly begun?
What can child of twelve years do,
either passively, compulsorily or volun-
tarily, to merit whole life Of scorn and
sneers and revilingi Reason, common
sense and humanity all revolt Indignantly
at the thought. Yet this is the fate
marked out for woman, even child
yet for six years an infant in the eyes Of
the law-who makes the one false or un-
timely step. Whether prompted by pas
sion, deluded by sophistry or forced by
fear and violence, makes no difference;
society," prim, straight laced and proper,
on the surface. does not inquire whether
the woman is at fault or not, does not &C.
cept, much less seek for any palliation,
but gathers its immaculate skirts more
closely and casts its merciless stone, and
keeps pelting the poor victim until an
impossible pile of missiles, less hard than
the tlinty hearts of the throwers. is
raised between her and her respect
able tormentors, and she sinks hopelessly
at last into her only refuge, the grave.
Let me paraphrase the half-despairing
cry of noble woman, one who could dis
tinguish justice from cruelty. prejudice
are committed in thy name! The thief
and the murderer are often white washed
and rehabilitated, but the Magdalen
never, though she 20 and sin no more
+ 1t seems to me that the best means tC
y promote morality and preserve the purity
of society are not the cold cruelty and
blind injustice usually shown a woman
2 in such cases, but that considerate kind
{ ness, or at least the omission of the sneer;
and the contumely which arc so merci
lessly meted out to her, would accomp
lish better results, as we'll as be more
creditable to the virtuous portion OF
society If I did not remember that al
: twelve years of age. it is, happily, impos
world, or to believe your statement Of
E one of It's cruelties to be anything but {
: fiction and libel, I should shudder t.
:, think of the feelings of that girl when sht
reads the words have quoted. if they
: happened to meet her eye. To her it i!
s too horrible to be true. 1t is the duty O.
i every man and every woman in your com
munity, in the state, and in the civilized
world-barbarians are more human-t<
J. see to it that in the future it shall not b.
: true, and that especially IN the case O
1 this young girl the sentence shall not b.
= carried out in all its diabolical severity
To make her a Child of the State"
8 ward of the community, would only
, perpetuate the memory Of what shout!
a be forgotten, else I would suggest sucl
protection, but it will be enough il goo
people will withhold their sneers and trea
e the young sinner as if she were as clea
q and innocent as themselves, which to al
right thinking persons, she is. D. w. c
New York, December Is, 1882.
IT comment next week.-Ed.