The new dominion. [volume] (Morgantown, W. Va.) 1876-1904, 1884-11-08
Suicides.

No one can fail to be Strrcx by the
apparently increasing number OF sui
sides IL may he thai the total percent
ago Il these distressing deaths unoa the
Incremert of the population has aos in
ereASel, bat it IS hevoni question that
suicide, as a social csIaaasty. has been
thrust on Snr horicc Of late more thaa
y remot5r wears Unsil the. statistical
facts are IN ads elser i wc1id .Je "a Q to
Speculate as to the prr,ssaie canse OF
this increase, II there lie one 1t il,
howaTar, hot merely permissible. but
nasus<, To bes.oy passing glance on
NJ subject as Whale. So;ails may
be divided roughly into two great
classes; those III Which the self -sssyers
are intentionally conscio "a of what they
are doing, and those in which they are
either unconscious OF their acts or per-
form them under distinct Authorizations
or delusioas Of idea. This last class
which, if not technically defnitive, will
serve for our immediate purpose-is
not, we think, q large one. Without
hair-splitting, 1t may roughly be said
that the great majority of those who
kill, or try to kill, themselves in these
modern times and 10 civilized eommu-
mites ere perfectly well aware of tho
nature of the act they arc
performing or attempting. and do
the deed with a. SO far, intelligent pur-
pose of escaping from misery that
seems uncomfortable, or because OF some
terror or shame that for the time over
whelms them. The law is mercifully
Interpreted for the sake of survivors
but, as a matter Of fact, scarcely one
in a hundred Of the, so-called cases Of
temporary Insanity are correctly so
Inscribed. 1t is heart breaking or
brain-tearirg trouble that makes men
and women long to die or impetuously
seek refuge in death, either In the be-
lief that in dying they will sleep, or
that consciousness win end in eternal
oblivion. We do not say that there is
clearly defined process of reasoning in
all these cases, though in a majority we
believe there is but in very few In
stances indeed is the real inner feeling
one which differs greatly from the
yearning to escape-any%here, any
where out of this misery. The rate at
which men and women live NOWADAYS
mas Something to do with this feeling.
Boys and girls are men and women in
acquaintance with, and experiences OF,
life and its so-called pleasures and sor.
rows, at an age when our grandparents
were innocent children in the nursery.
The young men Of the day are 5tose at
two or three and-twenty, the young
women enmuyee. Life is played out
before its meridian is reached,
or the burden of responsibility il
thrust upon the consciousness at
period when the mind can
not In the nature Of things be COM
potent to cope with its, weight and at
tendant difficulties. AL this has been
said before. There is. not new word
or a new thought in it, and yet it is q
very terrible and pressing subject.
We can not giveit the go-by. Forced"
education commenced too early in life
and pressed on too fast is helping to
make existence increasingly difficult
We are running the two -year-old colts
in crippling race, and running the
stock. If able and impartial observers
would make it their business to ascer-
tain the facts about suicide, they would
be doing good and useful work. We
believe, not without some data OH
which to base our speculations, that
suicide is increasing, and that the
active cause of the evil is weak minded
ness, the result of forced development
and premature responsibility. Hasty
and too early marriages, too anxious
struggles for success in life, too hazard
Gus ventures in business enterprise, the
rush of undisciplined and unframed
minds into the arena of intellectual
strife, and above all, that swinging of
the self-consciousness -pendulum-like
between excess of rigor in self-con-
troll and untempered license, which
constitutes the inner experience of too
many, are proximate causes of the
breakdown or agony of distress which
ends In suicide. The underlying cause
is impotence, social, domestic, and
personal, of the period of preparation
which nature has ordained to stand on
the threshold of life, but which the
haste of progress" treats as delay.
1t is not delay, but development; albeit
this is lesson rash energy has yet to
learn from sober science. London Lam
rot