St. Paul daily globe., 1885-08-30
A sINGULAR SUICIDE.

Nothing sadder in the history of suicides
has ever occurred than that of the young
Kentucky woman who drowned herself in
the Ohio river last week because, as she al
legged, she had lost faith in Christianity.
She is described as being a young lady of
exceptional beauty, intelligence and char
acter. She was not surrounded by any of
the circumstances which usually lead to sui
eide. She had never had a love adventure
and was beset by none of the extremes and
complications of poverty. She was in ex-
cellent health and her mind was i'm sound
condition. The following letter was left by
her as her last message and defense of her
crime of suicide:
"Any one that believes in a merciful
Savior, or a Savior who VIII help those who
strive after right wi ththeir whole heart, is
believing in a fraud. ] have lived an upright
life all my life, and 1 have given kindness and
consideration TO every one ever knew, and
have been driven to despair by a succession of
injusticeS and unkindnesses that have been
undeserved. believed in Con, and tried 10
brave il out. j suffered enough TO kill ten
people that had not the bravery of a lion. /
fought against unkindness and injustice.
standing up against them until 1 can stand
no longer. / have no defense against lying
and misrepresentation, and j defy the
world TO prove that have ever done an i'm
moral act of any kind. 1 have loved right
eousness and all that was good with all my
heart, yet have been, in the last few weeks,
insulted TO my face with the insinuation that
was not a true woman, and L have never
been thought any than right of, and the love
of il has brought me no good. / have never
found that GOD kept me in the hour of trial,
or gave me help in trouble; but still / have
never dishonored Him before man, but He has
entirely forsaken me, and left to me no re-
source but self-destruction. OH terriblel
TO love a supposed friend and Savior and
TO find the One you believed to be Almighty TO
save neither able nor willing TO do Rught for
you. Obi terriblel to love right and find that
there is no power in heaven or earth that can
bring any good TO triumph over evil, or help
those who strive after righteousness, and 1
pity any one who has any sense OF right, for il
is only those who can trample on every prin-
eiple of honesty and honor that can succeed
in life. Those who care for self above every
thing else, and will trample upon everything
and everybody that comes I'm their way, will
have good time: as to the peace and love and
Joy that is promised to a Christian, il is all a
farce, and there is no such thing"
The misfortune with this poor girl was
that she did not take practical view of life
and religion. Her letter contains words of
blaSphemy and not argument. All there is
of it, her vanity prompted her 10 lean on
herself, and the prop failed. Her sorrow
was fictitious. Her disappointment grew
out of misconception of religion. She mis-
took the church for a charity hospital in
stead of looking upon it as an altar of
faith. She misconceived CHRIsT's mis-
sion on earth when she supposed that
He came to redeem our temporal fortunes.
Her remuneration of the Christian faith had
no foundation. because she never had a
true conception of it. If she found the
world full of wretchedneSs and suffering
there was all the more reason why she
should have been ambitious TO live. The
world opened a wide field of usefulness to
her. If she had looked beyond herself she
would have seen that the worlds harvest
field was large enough for her
TO CLEAN in. Her pride and am
bition led her astray. She mapped
out her own career and because GoD's
more righteous and inflexible will did not
lend to her misconceptions she lost faith in
Him. If she had Subdued her selfiShneSS
and had gone beyond herself in search of
happiness and had been content to walk in
humber ways she would have been equal
TO the exactionS of the world in which her
life was east. Her tragic fate bears with il
a valuable lesson TO society. Her suicide is
a sermon against ambition and pride. Her
life might have been fair, yet it was ship
wrecked in dead calm and in sight of a
! heaven of security and rest.