The Jasper weekly courier. [volume] (Jasper, Ind.) 1858-1922, 1895-11-08

|er.' and that she had the same
right to remove it as if it were ale
wen. Yet the practice met with
much disapproval, although so gen
eral. Ovid reproached Corinna forI
having been guilty Of the act. A
niece Of Domitian died in conse-
aucnce of the same. Seneca prals-
ed Helvia for not having resorted
to it. Another writer classed it as
one degree worse than a mother'
putting out her children to nurse,
and others e'cribed it as positively
criminal. 1t was one of the practi-
cal glories of Christianity, however,
that il condemned this crime from
the very first, and denounced it as
positive murder, although the theo-
logic specuations which afterwards
supported this reformation were
most revolving. Thus a Queen OF
Portugal, sister to our Henry ",
when her life was in danger refused
a medicine to accelerate the birth OF
'Iher unborn child, on the ground
iIthat ..she would not purchase herI
temporal life by the eternal damna-
,Ition of her soul" For the theolo-
J gians taught that from the moment
rof animation the foatus became an
Immortal being doomed for Adam s
: sin, if it perished unborn and un-
II baptized to be "to be cast into the
: abyss Of hell" BY the legislation
of modern times, however, lit is
: treated as distinct being from the
: moment of conception" and to
I. destroy it at any period is an act OF
e murder.
}. The destruction Of children after
!, birth, which we term infanticide,
:, has been, perhaps, more wide
ospread custom than the ether. Ex-
D position was the habitual practice
Is of poor parents, especially in the
J. case Of female infants, and when
l. lever those of either sex were weak
IS Ior deformed. N,r was this consid-
= cred inconsistent with humanity
Men like Chremes in one OF Ter
r. ence's plays, could enjoin thei
oflwives to kill their offspring if the.
h. happened to be girls, and yet boas
er magniloquently, II am man, ant
u deem nothing belonging to human
seitv beneath my notice" No doub
Il the Roman "gods"-to whom tn
Il practice was common--applaude'
~ vehemently. But we must no
II Ijudge of these times by modern no
Is tions, for, excepting German,
h chiefly, Europe was overrun witt
nelinfanticide, just as China and othe
$ Asiatic nations are to-day. One O
helour missionaries to the Celestia
or Empire relates that he saw MT Ion
.rlago this notice set up by the owne
he Iof pool there: Ladies are re
n -Iquested not to drowntheil femalein in
neIfants in this pond" The policy 9
.allthe Greeks was to restrain popula
r. ltion; that Of Republican Rome to en-
rs courage it. But the Empire with il
ndIsensualty and it, extremes Of wealt
en- land poverty, made infanticide com
m mon, and laws were made to pro
re vide against it. Exposure, how
inlever. was not condemned, an
hclchildren thus abandoned becam
~ the absolute property, without powe
,ar of redemption, Of those who foun
"a them. Their masters generally mad
hela profit of the females when grow
,i- lby compelling them to an infamou
It. life, SO that fathers preferred thel
.ss daughters to be killed rather tina
soIexposed. Exposure, however, wa
chl considered venal offense, practice
H. as Lecky says, son a gigantl
ev scale and with absolute impunity,
,crIand formed considerable sourc
a. Of pecuniary speculation to the co
ey Iectors Of foundlings. Subsequen
hcIly, but tardily and with much cat
toItion, the Church provided for man
,veIo these little outcasts. Traditio
nd saws that Pope Innocent Ill. ha
ofIbeen shocked at hearing that infan
a|had been drawn in the nets OF fisl
,enlermen from The Tiber. A SOM
his what similar story is told Of Cir
IN. CORY the Great when he enforce
ab- his decrctals on celibacy upon Il
ge- clergy. Happening to draw h
cal fish ponds, the heads Of more thi
hatIsix thousand infants were found
athem-"thc offspring of ecclesia
ion tics, destroyed to avoid detection
so But there is no doubt that go'
tus monk, Guy de Montpelier, was I
iore first author Of founding hospital
) inland although designed for legi
8 a mate children, they eventually
his came devoted to the illegitimate.
lee We are confronted with an almc
this sinsoluble problem--the conflict
oul tween physical and moral needs
,er the one hand, and social requi
un ments and laws on the other. CO
on. cupiscence is strongest when reas