West Virginia Democrat. [volume] (Charles Town, W. Va.) 1885-1890, 1888-04-27
But, very fortunately (and here I

one object) is succession, often a
long one, of very different passions.
which feed and renew our lives.
Leaving those btases classes who
have need of tragedies, of abrupt
changes of scene, / perceive that
love still continues the same, at
times all life long, with different
degrees of intensity, and exterior
variations which do not alter the
substance.
On the ground work, generally
solid and tenacious, Of habit, cir
cumstances construct changes which
modify and renew the affections.
Take not the exception (the refined,
the romantic worldly, but the rule
(the majority. the homes ofworking
men, which form nearly the whole).
See to what is reduced, among
| little folks, that great and terrible
question of the superiority OF one
sex over the other, a question so lr-
ritating when it comes to concern
the upper classes. 1t is, above all,
question of age.
You must take love in the totalty
and continuity of its course. High
er up it was peaceful brook, far
ther down it becomes mighty riv-
er, but calm one.
Love is a power easily disciplin-
ed. 1t gives, as does all other nat
ural strength, foothold for the
will, for the art which, say what you
will to the contrary, very easily cre-
ates it, and as easily modifies it by
it's surroundings, exterior circum-
stances, and habits.
What influence has man over
woman, woman over man -? We
give here the clue; others will go
deeper. To sum up: Hitherto
Love has been regarded only in its
least instructive phase. One of its
forms, an inevitable and profound
one, tha. of it's relations to Natural
History, has an immense influence
upon its moral development. This
has been neglected. 1t has likewise
free and voluntary character,
where Moral Philosophy acts upon
it. and which also has been neglect
ed
So long as the inevitable and in
variable side of love was not turned
to the light, we did not know pre-
cisely where its liberty, its own
spontaneous and variable action,
commenced. Woman was an enig-
ma. Still we could prattle about her
eternally, give the pro and the con.
Nothing more.
One alone stepped forward, among
these speech makers, and put an
end to the discussion; one who un-
derstands it thoroughly-the sister
of Love: Death.
These two powers, apparently in
opposition, cannot 60 on without
each other. They contend with
equal strength. Love does not kill
Death, Death does not kill Love.
At the bottom of all this, they un
derstand each other wonderfully.
Each of them explains the other.
Observe, that death was needed
lin order to catch the yet lukewarm
life)-death in its sudden and cruel
form, violent death. 1t is death af-
ter all, which has taught us the
most. 1t was the hangman's vic
tins who revealed to us the mystic
ries of digestion: and suicidal wo-
men those of physical love.
A place, too, had to be found
where violent death was common,
where suicide ever afforded to obser-
vation an immense number of all
ages; veritable virgins, poor, bruised
flowers, who despaired of evrr being
loved.
have not the exact figures for
Paris. But the place in Paris where
they expose the bodies of those who
do not die in their beds, La Morgue.
receives fifty a year. This makes
five hundred in ten years! An enor
nous number, when you consider
their natural timidity and their ex
treme fear of death.
In what month are the violent
deaths of women most common? In
the beautiful months, when they feel
their desertion most cruelty. For it
is an essential fact that love. is most
sought by women in the season of
flowers, under the purest influences
of reviving nature, of the sunshine,
and of spring.
Then can they least support their
painful isolation. their inconsolable
misery, and they prefer to die.
The statistics do not show this
They class the greater part of those
who die thus, in the exaltation of
love, under the head OF lunatics.
What is the total result Of this
solemn inquest? What comes of
this great and cruel wreck of woman,
Of this funeral alluvium deposited
each year by isolation, abandonment,
betrayal, despair.
What comes of this wreck is a
great truth, changing infinitely the
ideas that were entertained of wom-
an. That which the Middle Ages
insulted and degraded, is what con
stitutes her an eninently poetic and
1I:oot Toyo bal al