The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1895-06-26
BILL ARp'S LETTER.
Bill Arp Speaks for Mothers and Wives

Bill Arp Speaks for Mothers and Wives.
Atlanta Constitution.
Another woman killed-killed by
her husband. And another and an
other. Four horrible murders within
few days past. When will this thing
stop? We don read of any husbands
murdered by their wives. Is the
world getting worse? Is the devil
turned loose in this Southern country :?
Before the war woman was more hon
ored, more respected than she is now.
She stood side by side with her hus-
band as his equal partner in every
thing that became wife or mother.
Marriage vows were serious and solemn
promises then and they were generally
observed, but now the VOW, when re-
cited by the minister, seems mere
formality and is soon forgotten. The
ceremony, the maids Of honor, the
trousseau, the attendants and the full
some description in the mornings
paper are Of more consequence. Fast
women and faster men are married
nowadays, but not mated. Tho
giveth this woman away ?" said the
preacher, and fast young man in the
gallery whispered to his companion
II could, but I won t." Before the
war maidenly modesty was at pre-
MUM, but now in society it is at
discount. A girl must be fast to
attract attention and catch lover.
The purity of both is suspected
purity of thought and person and
hence divorces follow right along in
the wake Of marriages. They have
increased largely in late years. A
suit for divorce was rare thing in the
days of our fathers. So was separa
tion-so were suicides-so was case
of lunacy. Some say that these things
were as common as now, but we did
not hear of them, for there were few
newspapers and no telegraph: This
is a great mistake. Since the war
divorces have doubled and lunatics
trebled according to our white popula-
tion, and suicides follow right along
with them. The race between crime
and morality is neck and neck, espe-
cially in our cities. How many weep
ing women who have been deserted by
their husbands (! How many are sup
porting vagabonds whom they call hus-
band | How many are enduring op-
preston and cruelty that they dare
not disclose Only a few days ago a
man was tried in our court for beating
his wife. He pleaded guilty, think
| ing to get off lightly, and, when inter-
rogated by the judge, said he only
slapped her twice. The pitiful wife
was there and the judge asked her if
he slapped her often. She reluctantly
answered: eyes, sir, whenever he
gets mad" "Does he ever beat you
or kick you p said the judge. eyes,
sir" she said. Her answers satisfied
his honor that he was brute and he
sentenced him to the changing for
the full term. A trifiDg young man
married the daughter of one Of my
tenants. After few months he told
neighbor that he couldn't do nothin'
at all with her and was gwine to take
her back to the old man. Said he: {:
"I have whooped her and whooped her
and it don't do her bit Of good. -
| That is the idea that thousands Of
men have of the marriage state.
Dominion on his part and slavery on
hers. Alas for the women-the
credulous, unsuspectiDg girls who tie
themselves in matrimonial chains to
such men. No wonder we call them
chains, for the wife cannot break them
when she chooses, though the husband
can. Will the time never come when
the breaking of the marriage VOW by
the man shall entail upon him the
same disgrace that follows the unfaith-
| full wife !? When will woman stand
side by side with man !? There was a
time in the blessed past when it was
almost universal for her to- receive
homage and protection from husband
and father and brother and children.
The idea of woman suffrage was then
not entertained. She had love and
support and protection and that was
all she wanted. But now sad and
serious change has come over the con-
dition of woman. There are thousands
who cannot marry and have neither
support nor protection and hence they
have to become bread winners and
protect themselves. They are in the
stores, the shops, the counting rooms
and schoolhouses all over the land.
They are doing the business Of the
men and should have the rights and
privileges of the men in secular at
fairs. AS John Temple Graves said
in his beautiful address at Athens,
the arguments in favor of woman SUI
frage cannot be answered.
The trials of woman's married lite
are awful to contemplate. The pains
and perils of maternity-the constant
care of children in infancy and youth
the watchful days and sleepless
nights. The not unfrequent loss Of a
husbands love when she has lost her
charms. The grief over wandering
son or an unfortunate daughter. Her
helplessness in poverty or old age or
sickness. Her liability to feminine
diseases to which the men are not sub
iect. Her constant confinement at
home or her house, or it may be her
prison. When all these perils are
considered is it not wonder that any
thoughtful woman will venture upon
that sea that has wrecked so many Of
her sex
If trouble and grief could be meas
ured or weighed, there is no bin large
enough to hold that of many heart
broken wife and mother. If she falls