The herald., 1894-08-12
ONE LAW FOR BOTH OF THE SEXES.
A Bad Man No Better Than a
Bad Woman.
Some So-Called Inconsistencies in
Present Conditions.
Why IL immortality Worse in = Woman
Than . Man:-some Arguments in
Consid Grafton of the
Subj ect.

Our glorious cause is like that grain OF
mustard seed which, once sown, grew
into a noble tree, whose protecting
branches overshadowed the whole earth.
We have had too many instances during
the past year of the unequal conditions
which customs and laws spportion to
women. Cases have occurred, and very
recently. in which husbands have
slain the seducers of their wives.
In each, apart from it's inertia,
the slayer was generally applsuded. In
the last recorded. he was acquitted BY
jury and left the court exulting in his
act. But. let q woman kill the female
seducer Of her husband, let her shoot,
poison or stab his mistress, and che be-
comes q common malefactor, Tor whom
Judge, jury, and society have either ad.
miration nor pity. Plaudits for the man,
the scaffold or penal eervitude Tor the
woman.
Now, we do not advocate that women
should be permitted to murder. We
simply point out the different need Of
Justice" awarded to each for q precise
ly similar offense.
Again, everyone knows or ought to
know that it is common thing for q
man to have one or more mistressee on
whom he bestows his attentions and his
wealth. Some people talk as If this
were only a continental practice. Would
to God it were. But the chief differ
ence is that here men have their mis-
tresees secretly, and on the continent
openly. In both places they keep
wife for profit or reputation, and mis-
tress for pleasure. The wife ia encour-
aged to economizs, the mistress to be
extravagaut. And often the mistress
can only be afforded through the careful
expenditure OF the wife. Nor is this
confined to worldl;ngs. How many
canting hypocrite goes through the little
farce OF religious observaEces and home
deoorum during one part OF the day,
and is locked in the arms of lewd
woman for the remainder? If Asmodeus
would lift the house-roofs for US during
any "a hours of the year. and permit US
to look down on all going on in this
great city, what do my readers think
they would see?
But if presumably reputable women
| took to polyandry, what would be said
of them? Or even if one depraved and
| aberrant creature 60 ainned, would not
society throughout the leBgth and
| breadth of this Christian country stone
her till she died? Women make allow
ances for the failngs Of men. How are
these kindnesses reciprocated? Wives
are constantly seen to cling to their
husbands in all misfortunes that may
befall them. Their largeheartednes
and loyalty impel them to follow with
true sympathy even to the foot OF the
| gallows, This s all as it should be.
But let husband stand by his wife in
her errors or crimes let him sit near
to watch over her in court OF justice,
when she stands a prisoner, and the
world will wonder how any modern man
could be 30 foolish or 90 chivalrous.
| What is expected from woman, sur.
| prises uH in man.
The man who ia unfaithful to his wife
looks to her for forgiveness. Her char
ity covereth multitude OF Gins. Rarely
does she remain obdurate to mis- express
sions OF penitence and amendment, and
her generosity is very frequently tested.
But the SHINING woman expects no pity,
because it is so seldom accorded. For her
to fall is to be condemned, and to
be condemned is to be expelled
from home, husband, children and
caste. What shall we say then to these
from mans injustice, and the far more
cruel injustice of woman to woman, that
what Ia venisl in the one is as the elm
against the Holy Ghost in the other;
that what 10 loyalty in the woman is
meanness in the man; tina: he
may with impunity do that daily which
would be moral and social death to her
| to do once in q lifetime. We protest
against the assertion of her inferiosity.
At each point her conduct proves the
contrary, and other circumstances give
force to our argument.
! We would by no means excuse i'm.
morality in woman any more than in
q man. But we plead for equality of
judgment. And we protest against the
loathsome hypocricy that publicly re-
quires women to be chaste and privately
debauches them when the opportunity
occurs. We protest against the law
which divorces vile for adultery, but
refuses to divorce the husband for the
same offense. We protest against all
systems of morality which are modified
by sex, and against all legislation which
refuses complete separation to those
who are divided in heart, and whose
legal union ia rendered intolerable
through mutual WEAKNESS, opposing
| nymphthicoy uipkuotiuk uEUltb VI S6u-
eral incompatibility. Such couples are
already divorced by the eternal
law of nature. q law superior to any
formulated by priest or layman. The
existing marriage law, the laws of prim-
ogeniture, bastardy, and inheritance,
are go framed that, instead of being
moral safeguards, they offer the great
est incentives to immortality. We are
wise in many sciences, strong in inven-
ton, and rich in discovery. But the one
OF most Importance, social science, has
comparatively few students, and is little
Understood or regarded. We require
searching and thorough examinations of
candidates for any Office in our public
departments, from q rural postmsn to
an attache. but from those who make
the laws and rule the empire we demand
no proof of knowledge necessary to their
functions. A prosperous butterman from
Cork, an inexperienced scion of q wealthy
house. or q youthful cadet of q great
one, butcher, baker, grocer, sailor,
ploughmaD, or raw mechanic, ia az
eligible for the SURFACES of parliament
airy constituencies as the most devoted
student of social science, as a CARES, a
Mill or Spencer, and perhaps would
stand fairer chance of election. Thus
the vote of an iRnorsmus may nullify
that OF philosopher; the shallow
U n rgn VlvY