The Magnolia gazette. [volume] (Magnolia, Miss.) 1872-current, 1892-07-30
THs MITCHELL CASE AS VIEWED BY
A SCHOLAR.
ro the Anneal AYalaneho.


terrible tragedy nov being invrs
tlgated ~ yoar city is also being
tired IN all the papers. No ON
ought 70 interfere Tor the purpose
of exciting feeling bur amidst so
much discussion without data, any
Que who is ia possession of facts
should state them, though ll,ey b.
of nature which at other times
might better he suppressed. The
net of Miss Alice Mitchell has
ialrly sprung upon the country the
question whether between two sane
p rsons of the fem lle sex there can
exist love, ac ordIng 10 thai sense
which, in the lang lage these IN
tellectnal young ladirs chose Ia
use, is described by the word eros.
Now the plain truth is that any
one really versed in Greek must
smile AT the doubt. Tns unloltun-
ate passion was fanilialy known
by every Greek from Baelria to
Masselia, during the entire III.
trrval betwesn Plato and
Athenans, by the name Of Lesbia0
love. do not, of course, mean to
say it did not exist both before and
after, still less that il was really nt
all puculilr TO Lesbos. Bat rs to
the first point, | wish 10 state only
what cal prove; and, as to the
other, the alteration naturall,
prevailed especially among those
female s0cielies-ambnblarum col
legia-whose origin was asclibpd
to Lesbos, and vino made the name
OF this island and its people So
famous IN the literature OF beauty.
ALesbia, Lesbia nostra Lesbin lla
lila Lcsbia guam 9 tulns unan
"Plus guam 50 atqae suas amayit omnesn
could mention from my own
daily newspaper two or three in
stanc y OF this intatnation'a reviy-
ing IL the United States, and AZ
least QUE before thIs, III which the
cons' quenceS were fatal. BIt now
observe: have said that .'Lssbian
love does not prove either of the
women to be insane; bnt have
not said that either Miss Mitchell
or Miss Ward was sane. / should
much suspect the contrary. That
one woman hal killed another for
breaking promise To marry her
would he no aIgum ut Ot insanity
~ lesbos; bur, IL il norma At
Tcihessee should be ike Lesb Is 7
Aud Il not, is nothing TO he saih
of an eIuratiou which makes it.
Iikef can Imagine no more Far
lul scene thal these two poor gulS,
their btans boiling with Gre K
conjngatl0ns aiil their blood with
artiiicially cultivated Creek pas
siOns, meeting % enact such a
Ineban drama ~ tb. streets of an
American city. Let ms remark
right here that any acquaintance
Of mine would laugh ths speaker
out Of cOuntenancc II he heard mr
called a conservative or a fOgy
| am quite tile opposite; aud will
prove 1t now i h ive nOObjccliOn 10
girls reading what they ike. But
they are taught 10 read Creek. /
have 10 objection 10 their being e
taught, # they wish it, to read
| HOmef's Greek. But our hot hous e
education goes far beyond that.
The Chauiauqua course gives
them in English literal citations
from Plato's Dialogues and Arisio-
planes comedies, It encJnrag 4
them, by the broadcast insinuatioiis.
to read the rest They en- get
Plato's Dialogues whole in Eng
lislI at any public library; and, ii
they are Greek students. thefe is
nothing to prevent their reading
AristOpliane's too. Aud at the
same time we try to keep them
from Eugene Sue, and have lap s
against obscene lite aturel Never
10 actual experience, history or
fictiDn, did / meet an example Of
such amaziug inconsistency. For
neither the Mysteries Of Paris nor
those other box which IL DOES
not do to name, contain such
things as these are fall of. | WIS
40 y-ars old when | read the SYM
postum aud the Phaetlrns; but even
at that discreet age they had an
effect on me difiicnlt to describe
the effect Of instantly gi, Ing al
the viyidness Of personal acquain-
taDce to what ] had formerly only
known 10 the same vague way as
l know that the primitive Aryan
were probably cannlbals. And
tins is what we are fJrcis z on those
whom we do not Ike t. have read
French novel. The only explrna.
tiOn { most unques ion tLly core It J
Is that very few Of us have read
Plato anu AfistOphsues ourselves.
But, If course, tn Sc professors
have real these authors who
translate aud +, hash large portlOns
OF their work for thr us. n high
scbu uOls-that l~. DO all hey can to
make them indispensable parts +
an accomplish d wUman's eluca-
lion. l. IL not a good time iCr
tbem aud Us 70 suspend thinking
about dollars, and think a hltl-
about human souls aud the bodiesi
u f.-fAe