The clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1883-1888, 1883-04-18
LIES Real Meaning.
New York Tribune, APRIL q


a A startling feature of the month lust
\ closed was the number of suicides which
occurred in it throughout this country,
including men and women of all ages
and conditions, from the starving old
5 scholar of so to the Overworked school
boy who gave up the fight ut 16. A
physician in Philadelphia has lust pub
6 llshed monograph on suicide with sta
tIstics concerning its extent and charae-
teristics in that city during the decade
ending in 1881. From it we find that
OF the l., 1886 cases of death requiring a
Coroner's inquest in that time, $50 were
suicides, and that the proportion borne
TO the population was from ~ to l.07
per cent. 1t is difficult to make any
Just estimate of the causes which led to
seit-murder. Two facts however. are
proved by the statistics referred to
that suicide in this country is almost ex-
clusiyely confined to the classes which
have received some degree of cultivation
and that, like disease, it bears A fixed
and marked proportion to different ages.
thus, OF the 636 cases just cited. twenty
four, occurred between the ages of Is and
70; from the ages of 20 to 30 the num-
Der lcaped to 10; during the next ten
it increased to l49; after that age the
decrease was abrupt rs the increase, end
ing at three between the so and 80. when
one would suppose all appetizing flavor
would have faded out Of life, and out of
the vast horde of the decrepit and I'M
successful crowding close to the loose
hinged gates of death many would be
tempted to push them aiar
Another fact hints suggestively at the
cause of suicide; which is, that this
crime is more common among the French
and Americans than among any other
nations, while in this country it is more
frequent among men than women, and
among whites than the colored races.
In other words, the man whose ambition
and imagination have been stimulated
by the chance set before him in life, and
whose nervous temperament is least able
to bear the disappointment of this am
bition is most likely to commit self
murder. The colored races here, and
the natives Of the countries in Europe
where ranks and grades are fixed and
intlexible, have little to hope for, and
are therefore unlikely to make risky ven
lures which end in despair. The age Mt
which suicide usually occurs here also
proves this to be the principal cause.
From 20 to 40 every American of aver
age intellect is holly engaged in the race
towards some high goal, either of fame
or fortune or colossal achievement He
never limits himself to a moderate sue
cess The great prizes are open to every
man; why should he not be the one to
win them? AT 80 he knows his mistake
and measures himself more Justly. Dis
appointment has taught him self-control.
lie Is not likely to put pistol to his
head at that age, even if he recognizes
the fact that he will always be a poor
man, or Insignificant or unloved in his
home. Again the classes to whom this
kind Of philosophic self-control is taught
| in youth arc not found among the list of
sef-murderers. Who ever heard of a
Quaker suicide? The Quaker's religion
is no more powerful or deterrent against
ill-doing than that of other men. But
his imagination has been held in check;
he has been taught from babyhood to
set his ambitions low, to harden his moral
skin against all wounds. Women, too.
while deficient in the courage of Drawing
i'll, are greatly superior to men in the
courage of enduring it. Their domestic
: affections also are keener and more UNI
selfish, and they are more likely to re-
member the added weight of horror and
grief which they let fall on those who
are left when they creep cowardly into
the grave to hide from pain
This readiness of Americans to leap in
to the dark beyond is the symptom of
some national weaknessof character, and
if we go to the bottom of the matter we
shall find that to be the universal and
increasing habit of pursuing the materi-
al things of life as the object of our ex-
istence instead Of a happy life, itself.
We call the man successful who has
gained notoriety or a million or two, or
a nomination for President. These are
goals we set before our boys from their
births. Who notices the man who knows
how to love, to make the most of his
little chances of his days and hours, so
as thoroughly to use and enjoy them
Leaving the duties and comforts and
joys of the Christian faith out of the
question for the time, it is undisputable
, that the successful man is the satisfied
and contented one. The owner of $780,
/ | VoVjVVV Vi q VI lAlldllt IC plJdIlOu may De
satisfied, or he may not be but the man
whose tastes are clean and simple, who
has been taught to take apleasure in his
friends, in nature, in music and in books
whose temper is under control, and who
above all, has capacity for steady hard
work and aconscientious delight in doing
E it, must be satisfied and contented. He
is successful" though he ends his DAYS
poor mechanic. He wears coarse
clothes, he carries his tools to the last.
yet he has learned how to live, to press
out of each moment as it goes the best
wine for himself and others. No defeat
of circumstance will ever drive him to
the pistol or the rope. We Americans are
known as morbid, money-getting and
pretentious in our aims, yet we have the
richest heritage in the world to leave
our children /, if we would teach them
] the meaning of life and the real meaning
of success, no people ever born would be
qualified to do noble work 50 nobly.
Bright's Disease.
, Co. C,,-o