The herald., 1896-02-16

Celestial empire relates that he saw.
not long ago, this notice set up by the |
owner of pool there: "Lsdies are re-
quested not to drown their female in
fants in this pond" The policy Of the
Greeks was to restrain population;
that OF republican Roma to encourage
it. But the empire, with its extremes
of wealth and poverty, made lnfantl-
eide common, and laws were made to
provide against it. Exposure, how
ever, was not condemned, and children
thus abandoned became the abso-
lutte property, without power OF re-
dempJton OF those who found them.
Their masters generally made profit
off the females when grown by COM
pelling them to an infamous life, 30
that fathers preferred their daughters
to be killed rather than exposed. Ex-
posure, however, was considered ven
ial offence, practiced, as Lecky says,
ION gigantic scale and with absolute
impunity," and formed a considerable
sourcs of pecuniary speculation to the
collectors Of foundiings. Subsequently,
but tardily and with much caution, the
church provided for many of these lit
tie outcasts. Tradition says that Pope
InnocenG Ill. hal been shocked at
hearing that infants had been drawn
in the nets of fishermen from the
T;b9r. somewhat similar story is
told of Gregory the Great when he en-
forced his decretals on celibacy upon
the clergy. Happening to draw his
fish ponds; the heads OF more than six
thousand infants wers found in them
'.he offspring of ecclesiastics, destroyed
t, avoid detection" But there is no
doubt that good monk, Guy de Mont
pellier, was the first author of found
ling hospitals, and although designed
for legitimate children, they eventually
became devoted to the illeRitimate.
We are confronted with an almost
insoluble prOblem-the conflict be-
tween ph sical and moral needs on the
one hand, and social requirements and
laws on the other. Concupiscence is
strongest when reason and self-control
are immature, and is greater than the
welfare of man requires. Men, there
fore, have formed two codes Of NOR
ality-one for themselves, in which
great laxity is permitted; the other for
women, in which no deviation is
allowed, except under pain of utter
degradation. The taste of wine by
Roman matron was at one time counted
next to adultery. By the same arbi-
trary rule, the Indulgence of natural
instinct by an unmarried woman is
crime never to be forgiven. We admit
no extenuating rcumstancss-no
margin for frailty, for ineXperience or
youthful passion, or the intoxication
Of sincere and unself1sh love. We
have only one reply-Anathema! And
hosts of infanticides are the result.
Besides this, to quote Mr.. Lecky's
eloquent words, "There has arisen in
society figure which is certainly the
most mournful, and in some respects
the most awful, upon which the eye of
the moralist can dwell. That unhappy
being whose very name is shame to
speak; who counterfelts with oold
heart the transports of affection, and
submits herself as the passive instru-
ment of lust. On that one de-
graded and ignoble form are concen-
trateds the passions that might have
filled the world with shame. She re-
mains, while creeds and civilizations
Use and fall, the eternal priestess of
humanity, blasted for the sins of
the people. II the terri
BILE censure which English public
opinion passes upon every instance
Of female frailty in some de-
gree diminisbes their number, it does
not prevent them from being extremely
numerous, and it immeasurably aggra-
Yates the suffering they produce. Acts
which in other European countr les
would excite only slight and tran
sient emotion, spread in England over
a wide circle, all the bitterness of. un-
mitigated anguish. Infanticide
is greatly multiplied, and a vast pro-
portion Of those whose reputation and
lives have been blasted by one moment
arys in are hurled into. The abysss of
habitual prostitution-a. ~ condition
which, owing to the sentence of public
opinion and the neglect Of legislators,
is in no other European country SO
hopelessly vicious or 30 irrevocable"
In Spain, where the standard of fe-
male chastity is low. infanticide is al
most unknown. We do not advocate
the imitation Of Spanish habits. On
the contrary; we would see our own
raised. One thing is certain, either the
standard for men must be lifted, or
that for women lowered. 1t is for the
men to say which. The issue lies with
them. But these terrible crimes which
disgrace our country cannot be per-
mitted to go on forever