The Arkansaw traveler., 1888-08-11
Suicides are Increasing. New York GrapAic.


 One of the startling phases of the day Is the increase in the number of suicides. People no longer play he part of meditative Hapalef ], tn y solve the problem of lite by quitting it. There is an unwillingness to ac. cept even the lesser burdens oi exist ence a cowardly shirking of responsi. bility an unreasoning objection to the exercise of patience and self- restraint, Men and women commit suicide for small reasons or for no reasons at all. Through some undiscovered cause hu- man lite Is no longer held sacred, or Is sacrificed as thing of no worth. The record of the week shows that . busl- ness man kills himself to escape his creditors: wite kills herselfto escape responsibility for debts she has in- cured unknown to her husband; a lover kills himselt beoause his intended attires herself In unbecoming colors 1; 6 young woman kills herself In the morbid suspicion ths: she !s not loved as deeply as she wishes to be. It is not jealousy or hate or disappointment that now causes the majority of sui cidee, but 1t is self. love--an unhealthy egotism that sees the entire world re- hected in self, and which punishes the world by dying before tho shrine of self. There would be fewer suicides if people could be persuaded oi their own insigniflcance. The self lover im- agines he is of as much importance to tho world as to himself. He persuades himself that the indifference born of his insignidcance Is neglect born of envy. In his obscurity he sees the workings of malice that keep him there. When strangers laugh, they are laughing at him the commonplace remarks they utter conceal slur against him which he alone detects. If he loves q woman and another wins her, 1t is conspiracy against him If he invests his money in the lottery and another draws the prize, 1t Is with predetermined intention on their part to thwart him. Even nature herself is opposed to him. He craves tor sum- light and Is forced to endure rain his straw berries are always acid his clAret Is always vinegar. He does not like the roar of the ocean, and the surf breaks on the shore to annoy him tho sun is made bright to dazzle his eyes. This Is type of the large majority of suicides--a wretched worshiper of self, the irritable egotist who has no other knowledge than that of his own mis- erable existence. He does not need pity, but blue pill, and, unfortu- nately, even that Is not given to him at the proper moment. So he kills himself, solaced by the belief that he is punishing the world and that he will be missed. If he carries his CO., centricities beyond the grave, he will still remain the egotist, and attribute the laying of his unknown bones in Potter's field to the last efforts of his enemies to ruin him. It Is an old truth, worthy iteration and reitera- tion, that the world Is supremely in- different to the individual; that 1t turns its back even on its Shakes peares and It's Darwins, without miss- ing them. If the suicide intending egotist would remember this fact, he might live a respectable life and die a respectable death. Living or dead, he is not indispensable to the world his local ripple is lost in the general whirlpool. It Is the same whether he be Plato or Tupper. The suicide needs more brain tissue and less nerves.