San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1886-07-28
WHAT SHALL 1T BE?

Inc relation luhl budli tNl6A b'A"N'N
the seXes-between men and women, 10
a question Of vital importance TO the
peace and welfare of nations. Female
virtue Is the best basis OF both private
and public welfare, since in every nation
and age In which the women have been
dissulute in manners and lewd IN thelr
habits, the faint has extended Itself TO
private and public mOrals-and society
has become rotten at the core. Courage
and manhood with their train OF attend
| ant qualities, cannot exist In robust
health in nation where female chas-
| tity is the exception and not the rule.
Hence, il behoOves the legislator, the
Statesman, the phiIanthrOpist and the
Christian. to foster, encourage and sup
port female chastity.
Polygam,y or plurality OF wives, Is
fatal to the best qualities Of woman and
dwarfs her entire nature. IL makes
woman either the play thing, or the
slave Of man--and it destroys the dOm"s-
tic affections that invest the home with
such sanctity and reace as'tO make it u
heaven on earth.
The best relation that can exist be-
tween the sexes is that of husband and
wife, the marriage of one man and one
woman. This is n partnership OF which
the children reap the benefit in nurture.
| maintenance and education. Ii can be
| dissolved and annuled by the decree OF
| the law only, and when the bonds OF
marriage are thus annulled, provision is
made for the support of the wife and
| children.
Concubinage is cOhabitatlon during
The pleasure of the parties. 1t is tenn
pOrary partnership. and nothing more.
Either the man or the woman may dis
solve it at their pleasure and enter into
N fafa of with other
party. This circumstance throws around
| cOnCubinage such uncertainty, such APP
prehensiOn and dread as to eiieCtually
destroy all real happiness. Distrust fills
| the place in their hearts that Nature in
tended that confidence should Oc-
cupy. In cOnCubinage, neither the
man nor the woman feel any confidence
in the loyalty of the other, from the
fact that they are aware that the one
| party has no legal claim and hold npOn
| the other, and is AT perfect liberty to
follow his or her inclnations. 1t goes
without saying that such frail and tenn
pOrary connection, as is that OF COncu-
| binage, Is at war with genuine happi-
ness, as well as destitute of every en-
nObling tendency. Ii is a notorious fact,
attested by the experience OF daily life,
| that the father of children that have
been the fruits Of concubinage seldom
shows any real affections for them
rarely makes any adequate provision for
their support and education, manifests
no desire for their society. and takes no
pains TO train them to correct moral
habits. So far from it that they are
ashamed of them and anxious to disown
them before the world. They seldom
legitimate them, as they might do by
marrying their mothers.
bastard has loyal claim his
her father. not even the right 70 bear his
name, and the fathers of bas-
tards most generally avail them
selves of this legal exemption
from duty to such children. COnGnbin-
age casts upon the mother the burden
of rearing and supporting the children,
and, when the father abandOnS both the
mother and children, the mother has no
| resource left save TO become the mistress
or cOncubine of another man, who feels
neither respect nor love for her.
Concubinage has an injurious and de-
basing effect upon the heart, mind and
manners of women. 1t is infinitely more
| injurious to woman than to man. A
woman who has been the mistress of
| half dozen men in suCcessiOn,i is no bet
| ter than prostitute in the open market
| and is compelled to have lost in this
career of vice, and in this contact with
men that neither loved nor respected
| her all the best traits and qualities of
her nature, and has become Il creature of
stimulation and discrimination, of cum
ming and artfulness. Even while the
| cOncubine of one man, the knowledge of
| the fact that he will probably fOrsake
her for pTettier woman leads her to
| endeavOr to have another ready Ito take
his place, when he does abandon her to
poverty and neglect.
Naturally, woman is not selfish and mer-
| cenary, but the inevitable effect of con-
cubinage is to render her scheming and
| mercenary. But the lot of bastard
children is not at all enviable. Repudi-
ated, disowned and neglected by their
fathers, they are dependent upon their
| mothers, whose sole resource is in be-
coming the concubine of a new man as
often as his predecessor deserts her.
| The children of a lewd woman are born
| into the world under many disadvan-
tages. The reputation of their mothers
reacts upon them-in one word, the sins
| of their DlOthers are visited upon them
with terrible effect.
The law should foster and encourage
marriage and discourage Concubinage
| How is this object to be accomplished?
| When n single man and woman have
| lived together and cOhabited for the
| space of Il months. the law should treat
them as though they had been lawfully
married, and give to the woman all the
| legal rights of wife, and disable either
| party from contracting marriage unless
after being divorced. such a law would
| prove death blow to cOncubinage,
since men would prefer marriage.
1t would be followed by a great de-
crease in the number of bastards born
annually-in itself material gain to
the community. And it would be also
followed by a marked decrease in the
number of public prostitutes. In nine
cases out of ten, prostitutes begin as the
concubines of men, and after passing
from the possession of one man to an
other until their hearts and minds have
become corrupted and debased and their
personal charms have become stale, they
enter bawdy houses by the law of gravi-
tation.
Concubinage is but nursery and
preparatory school for the brOthel.
Where a married man cohabits with a
single woman for year, the law should
render any child born by her. an heir to