The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1892-01-16

educated anybody 70 inssmpe-aacs~ a
man or woman defying the moral sense OF
the Community by making 8 brilliant
burlesqae Of the marriage tie under
the cloak Of eonTsnssonaiis- and
secrecy. may be powerfully de-
TnorzIIziag influence 50 long as they are
able 10 play tire role with s1ch complete
irnpunity IS 20 command the admiration,
the applause ard even the imitation Of the
same kind Of -.go-as-yoa-p!ease" society
ssnsa.ionzIists, bat there always comes .
day OF reckoning and -etribution. day
when there comes the frost, the killing
frost Of discovery and summons 70 co1rs
TO answer = suit for adultery or divorce.
When that day comes. however rsp1ls5Ee
may Be the publication Of the details Of
SIN. they are not demoralizing. They are
often disgusting. but even the guilty
parties ara rot insensibie TO the shame
and humiliation that falls upon them.
when the press turns On the gas upon their
moral nudity by the publication Of
-eIpargated court report. These re-
puisive details and the humiliation that
wraps the guilty, Ike a garment, when
they are exposed to the ridicuie and satire
Of the whole country, even as Vulcan ex-
posed Venus and Mars TO the inextinguish-
able laughter Of the gods. are not sempta-
ton TO impurity. but q solemn warning
against the folly and impolicy Of innparity
10 those who take 10 higher view Of sin
than the CO nvicfion that il Is sin 10 be
found out and branded in the courts with
the scarlet letter Of ineffaceabie shame
There are French novels that by elo-
quent insinuations and suggestions gid
and glorify coniugal inhdelity. These
novels are widely read and find place In
the libraries of good many people who
lead upright lives. These French novel
lists paint the Cyprian Venus with an an-
reole around her head and attempt 70 palm
her off upon the public IS a Madonna Of
heather origin and practice, but Of in
stinctive Christian aspirations if she had
only had chance 10 indulge them, but
when lola grinlly pictured intemper-
ance and unchastity walking hand in
hand together and both finally dying in
the same foul ditch, will anybody pretend
that this hard, serious, truthful, terrible
picture, telling that the wages OF sin is
death, ever tempted any man or womsn 70
be incorporate or unchaste? No man ever
read IL Assomoir" without making a
solemn resolution to be absternious: no
woman ever read Mana" without recoiI-
ing with horror from any act that might
directly or indirectly tempt her to life of
shame.
The realism of court proceedings in mat
ters of divorce is so disgusting that, so far
from their publication injuring the purity
of society, il makes thousands OF weak.
wabbling men and women take a solemn
vow that they will never do anything that
shall enable the law to place them in COM
plete moral nakedness in the pillory of the
newspaper. The protest against the pub
LEGATION Of divorce trials is born of that
false modesty that has been appositely de-
fined as prurient prudery. The theory of
these persons, who, whether in
real life or in fiction, denounce
going behind the scenes, is that
the less bad thing is talked about the
more likely it is to be eradicated, which is
logic worthy of the brain OF the ostrich
that sticks its head in the sand and. be-
cause it cannot see, fondly believes that it
is not seen.
Publicity Is essential to reform. Gam
bling and drunkenness are freely discussed
and wildly depicted without remon-
STRANGE. But when the sexual passion
degenerates into vice or lawlessness and
becomes the most dangerous and de-
structive force 10 which character
and happiness can be exposed, the
voice Of prurient prudery is raised to
ignore the sound principle that judicial
publicity is essential TO justice and social
reform. There was a time when people
Of refinement refused to discuss the sub
ject of house drainage. We tolerate in
play what We SIMULTANEOUSLY denounce
in a novel, and every candid man of the
world knows that the society gossip of
the ''prurient prude" critics Of the novel
is infinitely more indecent and immoral
than the most questionable passage in
the fiction they pretend blushing,y to
condemn.