The herald., 1894-03-25

pleasant pastime to hundreds OF citl-
OF misery, which. after seething in pri-
vate, are paraded to the world amid
the shame and degradation OF the dl-
vorce court. He did not underrate the
dangers OF revolution likely to arise
labor, strikea and other Causes Dut
there were dangers carer home."
These words OF one of the most de"
voted sons of the church who ever lived
made q profound but not lasting impress
sion on the world generally. Nobody
dared TO criticise them, for they were
stamped with the impress OF truth, and
not to be ridiculed or explained away by
sneering doctrinaires in the press or
Voltairian cynics in the drawing rooms
and clubs. Liddon had spoken. and the
mouths of the Knockers were closed, and
they were as dumb dogs in the presence
OF such an accusation. DR.. Magee, the
deeply regretted archbishop OF York.
was another eminent cleric who was not
afraid to speak out either in the pulpit
or the senate, and few others might be
added to the glorious roll Of men in high
places who, recognizing the social de-
cadence OF which every day furnishes
more and more striking proofs, did not
hesitate to denounce the evils which
still surround us, despite the Wanted
"spread of civilization" free education,
and the benefss which we are told a
free and cheap press has bestowed upon
the empire.
When we read OF Joan OF Arc being
tied to the state and burnt, we shudder
even now; but how far in excess OF all
physical torture is the refined cruelty oi
the nineteenth century, which compes
. girl or a woman to be the compani IN
OF lustful brute who ie hardly one re-
move from q beast, simply because she
is penniless and he has we'll filed cot
fers In the great majority OF cases il
may be safely assumed that 9 girl knows
nothing whatever about the duties and
responsibilities of welded life until ehe
is married. Such ignorance is not only
culpable. 1t is positively criminal on the
part OF those who have let her 60 blind
folded to the altar. Where there has
been no love, how can there ever be any
respect? And where the husband sets
bad example-as he too often does
particularly in aristocratic life-who car
wonder at the wife straying into the
paths of sin? The wonder is, not that
there is so little good in the world, but
that there is not more vice than unfor-
tunately exists.
Marriage, according to the existing
system, is, with many women, the frsi
step towards demoralization-the initia
step to Avernua-from which there is nc
retreat. "All hope abandon, ye whC
enter hersl" 1t is q sad and CHASTITY
fact that a newly married woman, nc
matter how young she may be. is con
sidered fair game by all the elderly and
youthful roues whose position enables
them to approach her. Every artfu
vile il practiced to lead her astray she
is flattered and fooled to the top of hel
bent; money is lavished upon her; and
to sum up, she finds a life of ain so much
easier and more pleasurable than one o.
virtue that she too seldom hesitateG
before leaving it.
Again. ii we do not consider the mum.
ber OF opportunities which young and
middle-aged married women have o.
kicking over the traces; we shall be lest
surprised at the appalling results Of
modern marriage. Where the alliance
has been entirely a question of cash
and where, as in any great city like
London and New York, women are sur.
rounded by luxuries and beset by the
most insidious temptations, how can we
expect society of all kinds to be other
than it is? The looseness of the conver.
satjon at the dinner table, and even in
the drawing room, has much to do with
running women, especially If they be Of
the giddy and thoughtless kind. And
what shall we say OF feminine dresa,
which, in this year of grace 1894, may
be said to have reached the acme OF
indecency and extravagance il
seems to be racs with fashionable
women who shall wear the most
decollette gown and the largest dia-
monds. Whenever l see one of these
muoh-jeweled ladies / am reminded o.
what Juvenal says in his terrible tren-
chant and biting Sixth satire: There il
nothing woman will not allow her
self, nothing she holds disgraccful, when
she has encircled her neck with emer-
alds and inserted earrings OF great value
In her ears. stretched with their weight
Is it not humiliating to reflect that the
old world is no better now than
it was in its infancy-than it was when
the greatest satirist who ever lived
penned his scathing denunciations o.
the women OF old Rome? Juvenal, re.
member, was born in q small town o.
the Volsei, about the year OF Christ 3S
yet his Satires are almost as applicable
to the end OF the nineteenth century at
they were to the period OF which he
wrote.
Let us glance for a moment at
quently discussed union OF Geor,
and George Henry Lswes.
They were brought together Though
the medium of Mr.. Herbert Spencer
and in less than three years, as is evi
dent from her correspondence, they had
become everything to each other. They
could not legally marry. iuAsmuch n