Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1883-03-20
A DEAD wFEs SISTER.
The Earl of DaIhousie on "foianthe,s :,
Annual Blister.

The Earl of DaIhousie on sfoianthe,s,,
Annual Blister.
The Earl of Dalhousie has sent the fol-
lowing note to the Governor of each State
in the Union:
10 CHARLES ST.. BERKELEY SouAREl
LONDON, W., Feb. 10, 1888.
YOUR EXCELLENcY--In the last session
of the Parliament of Great Britain and
Ireland a bill for legaIizing marriage with
a deceased wife's sister was defeated in
the House of Lords by majority of
1S2-l2S. If | am rightly informed, these
marriages have now for many years been
legal in every part of the United States of
America. and you have, therefore. had
ample experience Of their effect on social
and domestic life, and can saw from prac-
teal knowledge whether morality has
suffered from the fact that in the State
of - marriage with a deceased wife's
sister is permitted by law. The oDno-
nents of the legalization of marriage
with a deceased wife's sister i'm the
United Kingdom are fond of referring 10
America as illustrating, in marked de-
gree, the baneful evils which, il is ALLEGED
must follow if these marriages are recog.
niZed as legal. In order to give your Ex-
cellency an example Of the statements
that are made, inclose a letter. quoted
in an article which has recently appeared
i'll one of our leading periodicals, the
Church Quarterly ReUiele, which is being
extensively circulated. | am anxious Ia
ascertain whether such assertions as those
contained in this letter are generally sun
ported by facts, or whether the writer has
drawn his startling differences from
an isolated case. May ask that
your EXcellency will kindly honor
me with such information as
you can conveniently give as to how the
law which permits marriage with de-
ceased wife's sister has worked in the
state Of. My reason for making this
request is, that hope to introduce into
the House of Lords again this wear bill
similar to the one which so nearly became
law during the last session of Parliament.
and am naturally concerned to have ali
the knowledge OF the practical working in
America OF a law similar to the one which
! am anxious to persuade the Legislature
TO adopt in this country. / trust, there
fore. your EXcellency will forgive me for
troubling you in the matter,
have the honor to be, your ExceIIencv.
very faithfully and Obediently yours,
DALHOUSIE.
To HIS Ereellencg, the Governor of the
State of -.
Following is the extract referred to in
the above:
SIT is evident writes an American
clergyman, 'to those of us who are old
enough to remember the state of things
previous to these innovations that a
change for the worse has been brought
about, can we'll Tecollect when ladies
III the litetimes of their husbands
used to feel as if their brothers-in-
law were their own brothers, and
to treat them accordingly in all the
unreserYe OF domestic intercourse;
when brother-in.I law, after an
@bsence, would kiss his brothers
wife in all purity as his own sister. and
she would cOntide in him without a
thought of evil, or feeling of embarrass-
ment, aud when, too, in case of a wife
dying, her sister would remain in charge
of her family, or would remove to the be.
reaved home, to live with the Widower.
and take care of his children as thing of
course, without whisper of Islander, or
any occasion for it; when the children
too, knowing that their aunt could never
be III any nearer relation to them, loved
ana reVerenced her, and cOnfided in her,
and yielded readily most wholesome in
fiuence to her.
But since sHch increased nearness of
connection has been deemed not improper
and even desirable, there has grown up in
families a perceptible and painful con-
straint; the children learning to look with
apprehension on their mothers sisters,
and the wives becoming jealous Of their
influence with their husbands, while ia.
miliarities which were formerly thought
to be and really We're, innocent, have be-
come TO possess q consciousness of evil
tendency which itself is of the nature of
sin,
know of wife whose health was
gradually declining, woman of the
world, with husband as worldly as her.
self, and in the house was young and at
tractive sister of hers, between whom and
her husband there had grown up gradu-
ally degree Of atfectionate intercourse
when IN the days OF the wite's health had
been thought only natural. But as her
end drew near, it became on his part more
pointed, and drew to it her attention so
agonizingly that it became the one en-
crossing feeling of her soul for the last
few weeks of her life, exciting in her an
dread of what she foresaw |
would, as it did, take place, and so alb |
sorbed her as to shut out all thought of |
religion, and make her miserable to her
very death,'"