The Ketchum keystone. [volume] (Ketchum, Idaho) 1885-1899, 1896-04-04

1AhAa U@Bt19y.
16Sf5IIt 81, 9yS 8 foTcs}rt writer ia
the AfEo6ldt, no equality between men
and women in the nstter Of physical
cha,tity.. The reasons are obvious. All
thedriztng 10 regard to apply ing the same
ststdard Of morality to men and women
is based on false premises. Until there
shati be an absolute physiological change
in man, and woman. no such reasons will
hold. However unfaithful 4 husband
may be to his marriage vows, he cannot
affect the integrity Of his own family line.
His sins are purely against the moral law.
But with the wife it is different. An I'M
faithful wife may make her husband the
psendo-sire of bastards. An unfaithful
wife may cause the transmission of family
wealth and family name to misbegotten
brat. Upon her rests the trust of the
legitimacy of offspring. There is no
conjugal sin that man can commit that
is not veuial by comparison With the
adulterous wife. She is the guardian of
the family's honor. When q woman
breaks her marriage vows, she becomes q
party to crime which may involve be-
queatAing worldly goods and chattels,
family love and kinshlp, and a family
name to an illegitimate child, the fruit Of
adultery. Such woman commits one
Of the greatest crimes known to the race.
For her there should be no clemency.
When she betrays her marriage trust,
there should be raised against her every
hand that is loyal to womanly purity,
wifely fidelity and the integrity Of the
family.
In our system of civilization. every
thing is based upon the sacredness of the
family. The ownership of property, the
transfer of property, the foundations OF
government-city, State and Federal-all
are based upon the integrity of the fam.
lily. 1t is one of the greatest safeguards
of woman. If the bulwarks guarding
the wife and the family, which have been
erected by men in Christian countries
the growth of thousands of years-should
be broken down, the lot of woman would
bee ome indeed low Let her compare her
condition with that existing in countries
where the Christian family does not pre-
vail. If the family were abolished, wo-
man would again become what she was
in the twilight of European history, and
what she Is in the Orient to day-a chat
tel, concubine, slave. Here, wives are
free; they are the equals of their hus
bands, socially and before the law; there
are no cages for them here as in the ORR
ent; men place with confidence their
names and their family honor in the keep
ing of their wives; therefore it is that
they look with such horror upon breach
of the sacred covenant which exists be-
tween the two sexes in the married state.
Again we repeat, there can be no compar-
ison between the sin of the adulterous
husband and the sin of the adulterous
wife. In older countries the law recOg-
nizes this fact. Under the French crimi.
nal code, a wife discovered in fagrante
delictu can be imprisoned, and in Paris
such wives are sent to St. Lazaire, a prison
set apart 70: prostitutes, female thieves
and other low women. 1t is fitting
place for faithless wives.
We have never been able to understand
what excuse could be made for an un-
faithful wife. The phrase "seducer,"
which is often misapplied, can not be ap-
piled to the paramour of an adulterous
wifer There should be no such word in
use where married women are concerned.
The wife is not silly, trusting girl. Hel
eyes are open. No "seducer" can win
her from her husband without her consent
and full knowledge of his purpose, and
when she consents, she is not victim
but co partner in crime, upon whom
much the larger share of responsibility
for consequences rests. We do not Gus
tify husband for taking the law into bis
own hands" but we do beliVe that juries
always will justify husbands in such
cases. We hope we have said enough to
show the horror with which men look
upon the adulterous wife. Usually she
is the one who suffers least of all. The
death and ruin of men, the blighting Of
children's lives, the crushing of families
with burdens Of shame these are the
consequences which follow in the foot.
steps of the adulterous wife who treads
the primrose path of dalliance. When
such woman falls victim to the aveng
ing hand of an outraged husband, there il
no sympathy for her among men, and We
hope there is little among women.
Very Thoroughly Mortgaged.
"There are tricks in all trades but
ours" remarked the carpenter, and w
sometimes drive screws with hammer