Evening star., 1895-10-17

To the Editor Of The Evening Star:
In all the arguments pro and con about
the whipping post 1 believe no woman's
voice has been heard either from the new
woman or the old. Certainly there is no
one whom 1t more concerns especially the
wife. who can be made to suffer even
worse treatment than blows from a hus-
band who is brutal enough to assault her.
Aside from that there is a moral aspect
to the question regarding both husband
and wife which is nearly lost sight of. The
object of punishment is. or should be. not
orly deterrent but remedial. and we are
also bound to consider its moral effect on
the community. its educating influence on
the rising generation. Nothing that tends
TO degrade the individual can have an ele-
waiting effect on the masses. We all know
the stigma formerly resting on the ''iail
bird" as he was called, and the difficulty
with which he won his way back to re-
spectability, or even to the means of OBJ
a,.thropy of the age, recognizing him as a
man and a brother. sought to restore him
to his manhood.
There is something repulsive in the
very sound Of the whipping pest that has
grown up with us from our childhood sug-
gestive of ear groupings and the pillory,
and more recently the barbarism OF slavery.
that IT is impossible to forget it in its as
scciation with the culprit. He returns to
his home thirsting for revenge, to his wife.
" hose fondest anticipat ons in life have all
been bighted, still legally bound to him as
her husband. there to raise progeny in
herting his own brutal instincts. No such
cure for wife beaters. We are supposed to
live in an age when all these barbarous
agencies are relegated to the past, and the
fact that they are not Is reflection on
our own civilization. or the lack of it.
Charles Sumner once said that the hui
manities are not solitary. 1t may also be
said that the inhumanities are not solitary.
when the war was over" and the nation
was scarcely through appla9dng those
tactic words of Gen. Grant, Let US have
peace" UP springs the military spirit with
a force hitherto unknown in this country.
building warships, cultivating love for
the arts of war In the mirds OF our youth.
training into our Sunday schools, In utter
violation of every precept Of the beatitudea
as they fell from the lips of Jesus.
Another demoraliZing tendency of the
times is the introduction Of vivisection into
our public schools, the thirst for science
overstepping the bounds OF the moral law
Legons of societies springing up on the
one side for the practice of that love whose
omnipotent sway embraces the redemption
of the world, on the other the abnormal
instincts of human nature cropping OUT IN
new forms. requiring constant vigilance 20
discern between the good intention and the
sinister motives which are 100 often COM
b;ned In the same cause Inc WoTio Is
carried forward by its sinners as We. ~ Sasns as
saints and whoever undertakes 10 denne
the line between the sinner ana the SAINT
will find himself In greater muddle than
what to do with the garbage. OF 10 settle
drunken frenzy beats his wife may be
hatter man In the eyes Of an unerring
Judge than the man who sold him the
Iiouor 1t was the testimony OF one OF
,aur ramonstrauts that the majority of
W'fe yess beaters sS are crazed with liquor, suG-
y, sting the first step to be done-abolish
the saloon. If we could form any concep,
tirn of a drunkard's remorse we should
saw that is enough punishment for hiu.
Then we will find better agency than the
whipping pest for wha; il left. s. e. W. %