The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1893-06-01

ne was an unGGucated man they haG
dealt very leniently with him. During
the period Of accommodation he was
ordered to lead q life of mendicancy, and
with rope round his neck and por-
ton of the calf's tail on his shoulders he
was to perform pilgrimages to different
Hindoo shrines.
The members Of his family were for
hidden to supply him with either shelter
or food under penalty of undergoing
similar accommodation. The Ahir re-
Gently returned to his village, but until
the purifcaHGn ceremonies are over he
must live III q temporary grass thatched
house which has been erected for his res.
ldCrCe. u =. lIa.G5 FOR q man OF one Of
the lowest ind most degraded caste t.
purify him. \ barber, after shaving the
delinquent and paring tho nails Of his
hands and toes, WI make over the hair
and nails to the low caste attendant, who
will burn them and also set fire to the
hut. After this the Ahir, being covered
with stable refuse, will take a plunge
into the river Sarioo and come out puri-
fed. But Still he is not admitted. After
this he must give q magnificent feast to
90 Brahmins and 100 Of his brethren, and
he will be readmitted to society.
If any man will discover for me any
difference between the HindOo process
and the process upon which Mr. Meal
lister descants, l will be under obligation
to him. To call such o pusillanimous
life society is to insult manhood, is tu
degrade the race, is for man TO return
from civilization to his savagery. No,
the time has come when we should call
aspade spade. Selfshness is selfshness,
meanness is meanness, and vulgarity is
vulgarity. DeCollete in the social circle
is worse than on the stage. The indecent
exposure Of ones person is q crime
| against society and is punishable by law.
Hear Elizabeth Stuart Phelps on this
question. She says With graphic power;
LET us have done with playing about
| the fire and call low thing low and out
with it. Face the truth. An immodest
dress does not cover q modest woman.
| If your costume is coarse and vulgar,
| you can blame no voice or pen which
| calls you coarse and vulgar too. If the
dress is disgraceful, the wearer is dis
| graced. The woman who dresses indie.
cently-never mind who, never mind
where. never mind WHY'S indecent.
| The woman who dresses without shame
is shameless" Yes, it is fact. Vul.
garity is vulgagity. Decollote is decollete
| A loafer is u loafcr whether he wear fine
clothes or whether nc wear rags. Low
ideals, loose morals, boldness and vul
gar manners, whether polished like steel
are still the same, and they will tell il
the development of life, both of the indi
vidual grl Ct the nG,lon.
Let no individual believe that she car
be immodcSt, that she can be vulgar
and not reap the consequences sooner Or
later. The papers contained the notice
of the death recently of an old man al
the hands Of younger who had been
his friend from boyhoOd. They bOtl
belonged to cultured familes-held ligl
place III the community in which they
| lived. Both We're married and had chill
dren depending on them. They met al
dinner ut the house of the older man
and quarreled over some trifling ques
ton. The host, maddened by liquor
boasted that he held letters written t
him by the younger mans mother whel
she was girl. Her son defed him tC
prove it, at which he produced the let
ters yellow with age and commencet
reading them aloud. They were pert
familiar and vulgar. The girl VIII
wrote them. though not criminal, wa
coarse and immodest. This young man
mother was now an old woman, respect
ed by friends and children. The son, III
flriated by this insult, drew pisto
and shot the old man as he was readin
the letter dead at his feet. He wa
found guilty of manslaughter and sen
to the penitentiary.
Recent sad tragedies in this circle 0
people, the daily record of the divorc
court and the hundreds of society rumor
that never reach the press, but reach IL
ears Of those who touch the lives Of theg
people, indicate q condition Of moral
that remind us of the days Of ancien
empires that preceded their fall and ruin
The description Of the scenes enacted i
this circle of society find their counter
part i'll the days that preceded the cras
of the Roman world and the debaucher
of the French court that preceded tn
revolution and presages for this society
as surely as there is q God in heaven,
day of wrath III which the chRf shall /
|