New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1882-01-29
1 wONLN.s INOLaHLS lBOCr NrRDEA

70
One passage in yOur Thoughts about Murder ~
must have gone home 10 the heart OF many mis-
cradle woman, and / dare say TO many miserable
man too. / mean, where You spoke OF men anu
women whose lives dlc nothing but contagious
Iul.trvT and how to their lives Others are chained
Till death steps In with happy release ; ana now
terrible. the temptItIou must lee sometimes, IN the
worst of ~uch cases. TO smooth the way o the yes
cuer. sir do believe that IN saying th~ you nave
touched upon more misery ana more gum lAIh you
dream Of. God forbid llat 0AOuIu -ay ludl many
have yielded TO this temptation. Dut some nave OF
that | am sure and others IN plenty have houEht
of II and thought of IL till they poisoned their own
minds and their own Couscence- II they did nothing
worse. I'll sketch you picture, ard you snail say
whether there l. anything novel IN 1t, or whether
something exceedingly like 1t could not lie found
any day in every class of society.
nan lying very III and u woman Watching him
by night and by day. The man the husband or the
woman. who believed in him when she took him.
and tor three weeks &fterVard but no longer. \
bad. bad man; tIcaChcrOu~ as only his wife knew,
cruel a. only his vile knew, and dishonest a. only
INF, wife knew; though IN a few years after their
marriage he Wa Stunned ~ all who had tried % be
and 10 remain ms friends. Yet more rockies.
drinking after THAT. and then public disgrace from
which recovery was impossible, ana lot "A'cA nc
was drunmed out of an honorable profession.
Poverty 10 At as well as shame OOr existence on
y little money the wife had-thIu 20 q good and
tender father and that went m dcpaucherles
which threw him on q sick bel again and dSan
Always the wife to nurse him night and day
cuccrcI once or twice with the hope trat when ne
recovered hr would surely try 10 pe more sebaiult
and more kind Tor everybody sake. But no such
satisfaction for the woman, hardly tor day. Inc
drunkenness ALWAYS resumed. the same most VIE
a-rOut- repeated and all TO be borne IN silence
like the blow. aud Lca'lnCs, OF which nothing was
heard bat the sound OF them. or as have nor yet
told YOU, Sir. There was little child. girl chd
who was now growing mp and beginning 70 Under
stand what was said and done about her; and
more NIGHTS than one, when the mother vas being
beaten. hc. ear was more attentive TO every Spuuu
that ulrht tell that The child was reused and lis
tculug tnau her body was 20 the hurts inflicted on
In. hi, child should be brought INTO the sketch
promised To draw and have wandered away from
dong. Ihe man. thei once Hoic N'Irl'Ietl on
sick bed and almost dying prom his own debauch
cries; the features OF the handsome Wah he chce
was, horribly brutalllct anu almost every aitlcu-
late breath Of Alu shameful word. In NLile
room above the child sleeping who was his
d tugbtcr: who had 10 own him Is father and ~
share the contamination of his existence. And
there by the bedside the woman the mother OF the
child. VITO hal endured what have told you. anu
more besides than could ever be told; and II was
for her % set him his legs again as tue doctor
sand. Weeks of weary watching 70 set Llin on ms
lees again, and what then On the otncr sue tAc
tourh OF hand-uO. not even that. little more than
tie withholding OF a hand, and before morning
dawncd happy release
If were To extend this fancy sketch. and say
that the hroodlng woman went up IN the midst OF
her agitation, to look at her sleeping child, anu
after gazing on the innocent rosy creature came
down with the Thought IN her ,daFker ana more
resolved what would you think of that lOu
would think il unnatural in "a story-bOok but
nature is really all OF one pattern Is IL Is IN
You have had your thoughts about murter-what
DO Won think would he the feelings OF suCh u
woman in such q position as have descrlnedi II she
had yielded to tue devils suggestion,' think l
can tell Won. being a woman myself Ay guess
would be that she would feel no ag9nie1 OF rcnOrse
but that all her life long she would be conscious OF
a dreadful separatcnc-s not only from her fellow
creatures but even from animals and lnauimate
things | speak of actual sensations. She would
see nothing quite she saw t before but as IL IL
Law in an atmosphere from which she was with
drawn-though the thing itself lay only n yard
away In every sound there would he a sense OF
distance; all sounds near or far would reach her
ears rather as fancy the barking OF dog reaches
the ears of people IN a balloon at nlyht. Her own
yoice would seem mutlled and distant when sue
smoke: I DO not say very much, but enough TO her
own consciousness. While a 10 the world without
skies and seas fields and woods, birds and howers,
even the dogs that run in the street 10 would be
If She looked at them all through glass or as II
She was already dead, and only fingered III tue
world a. ghost And should think that enough
punishment if it lasted especially as her own
tittie daughter if she grew up, would be amongst
the things from which the woman would be as
much separated a. that pale ruin the Moon l. from
the bright Earth.-I am. Sir, your obedent servant.
JunuurU 4. CELfNE