News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1885-01-29
DRUNKARDS' WIVES.
An Unfortunate Glass of women for '" NOM
There seems no Relief.
From the New York Tribune.l

IFrom the New York Tribune.]
There never was time when sympa-
thy, benevolence and philanthropy were
so active as now; but life Is sall .uii VI
situations which seem incapable OF aiie,
Walton. Take the case OF drunkards
wives, and especially the wives OF those
drunkards who develop rufhanly prq.
tality under the influence OF liquor. LII
would seem surprising, when one con-
siders the suffering of these poor Wo,
men, that there are not more cases OF
husband murder. But the victims OF
WIFE, heaters rarely seek revenge, ana as
a rule they encourage their tyrants by
submissiveness which is the despair OF
magistrates and philanthropists. Not a
day passes but score of trampled wives
refuse to testify against their brutal
husbands, and some of them Will even
perjure themselves rather than assist
the law in Furnishing the crimes com
mitted against them. A very startling
instance of this tendency in the case OF
the poor woman whose eyes were del1o-
erately put out by her fendish nus
band, yet who evidently would not have
informed against him but for the action
OF her neighbors. And what flood of
light is thrown on the lives OF whole
class of women by the remark OF one OF
these neighbors that she did not inter
fere before, because she thought
McCarron ''was only giving his wife an
ordinary beating" Every policeman
and Justice knows that wife-beating is
really as common in certain grade OF
society as this remark indicates, and
probably nearly all these men OF expe-
rience would say that 1t is hopeless to
try to stop it, because the victims nearly
always take the part of their oppressors,
in the end.
This fact, for it is fact, is really the
knotty point in the problem. Nor is the
exp!ar-Is.s.r y%@p4s, but many sided.
There is the question of love, which
with woman is often very masterful.
The wife-beater may be ''a decent man
when sober" as the atrocious scoundrel,
McCarron, is said to have been. Then
he is usually the bread-winner. The
wife, if she has children, breads the in
tervention of the law, because if her hus-
band is ''sent up" she and her children
must starve. Again, if she testifies
against her brute, she knows that when
he is released he will avenge himself on
her. OF course the first natural ques-
ton is, why do women not secure d.
vorces from such husbands? There are
many reasons. Many of them are so
encountered with children that they
would not know how to support them
selves. AS to inventing penalties which
will protect the women, the method is of
doubtful possibility. Whipping would
clearly eTpress the view of society, no
doubt, but would it render the relations
between man and wife any tenderer? If
a man is brute enough to beat woman,
and the woman is SO situated that she
cannot or will not deliver herself from
the torment, it is very difficult to effect
reform. Society might undertake to
divorce such couples arbitrarily, as it
does indirectly in many States by max
ing a felon of the wife beater, and max
ing felony ground for divorce; but then
it deprives the wife of the means of sup
port, and this tends to deter many vic
TINS from seeking redress. 1t is indeed
very difficult problem, and thus far
no State or Nation has succeeded in
solving it satisfactorily, though certain
ly it is a question which ought to be
settled, since the existing state of things
ia q DISGRACE to civilization.