The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-12-14
The Ethics of Hugging.

The judgment of Judge Norwood of Sa-
vannah, an ex-United States senator fin
ing a soldier 500 for embracing the wife
of a prominent county official on the
street. and sentencing him to the chain
gang for six months in default of payment,
Will not provoke much criticism, we sup
pose, says the Louisville Q<y) Courier
Journal But when the judge in his re-
marks characterized the conduct of the
soldier as that of heather We are at
loss TO know precisely what he meant In
what respect was his conduct heathenish2
Heathenism is a matter Of faith and not
of morals.
1t is stated that the soldier was drunk,
and ie is possible that this is what the
judge referred to. But he did not fine
him for being drunk. so that we are not
warranted in assuming that this was what
the judge meant. Besides, while il is the
practice of the most regular Christians NOT
10 get drunk, the rule is not universally
observed, even now, though there has
been a great Improvement in that respect
in this century. Formerly there was more
or less talk in one of the most enlightened
nations of parsons who regularly finished
their dinners by dropping under the table.
On the other hand, drunkenness is NOT a
aborigines knew nothing of fire water"
until the Christian came. 1t has been
charged repeatedly, not by the scornful,
but by missionaries themselves, that rum
and true religion" have gone together to
heather lands. The miss ionaries, of course,
did not take the rum with them, but their
fellow-countrymen, with an EYE to gain,
shipped it in the same vessels that carried
the ministers of religion. When We re-
Oh
we are hardly justified in calling it heath
enish to get drunk.
We are, therefore, driven to the conclu-
sion that Judge Norwood intended to at
tach the word heathenish 10 the act or
manner of hugging. But here again spec
ifcadon is lacking. Did he mean that it
is heathenish to hug the wife of promi-
nent county official? If so we must say
by way of comment that most heathens
| have neither counties nor county officials,
and that such officials as they have are
not usually prominent A county official
| or one of similar rank in countries that
| have no counties can not be prominent
without newspapers to make him so, and
the heather have few newspapers. Hence
We find it difficult to believe that the judge
| meant to say that il is the practice OF the
| heather to hug the wives of prominent
| county officials.
This hugging, however was done on the
street. This is certainly not a good place
| as rule, but there are exceptions. In
| cases where near relatives meet after
| long or even after a short absence,or Wnen
some of them are going away it is not "ery
| unusual for them to embrace. AT our rail-
| road stations it is one of the commonest
| incidents of meeting and parting. Even
| on the street cars in our cities 1t is not
| uncommon TO see husband sitting beside
| his wife, especially if they have been re-
| Gently married, with his arm about her
waist. This is generally considered very
! bad taste by the spectators that have no
wives TO hug, but it does not follow that
| it is heathenish. We do not find IN the
| records any account of a mans exclusion
| from the church for such an offense. So
| it can hardly have been the publicity TO
which Judge Norwood objected
| In the account we arc following it is
| not stated that the hugging was done
against the will of the lady in the case.
| This is probably an omission OF the re-
| porter, but it is a rather serious one, since
| the case as stated would be bad on de-
| murrer. But here again the question arises
| whether it IS the practice of heathens "a
| embrace women without their consent
| Something OF that sort occurred in early
| Roman history on the occasion of the ban
| quet to the Sabines, but this was meas
| ure of state. We can not collect from the
old classic authors of heather Greece ano
Rome that such occurrences were any morl
| common In those days than they are now
in the United States. Every few days We
| read of a suit for damages brought by
some lady against some man for huggins
or kissing her against her viii. To the
credit of our juries be it said they usually
give exemplary damages in such Eases FOL
the criminal negligence of the defendant III
failing to get the lady's consent.
After a review of the whole case as re-
ported, we are at a loss to know what the
judge means in assigning this soldier q
place among the heather. The ethics OF
hugging appears very simple. If the lady
has a right to. consent and actually does
So the embrace is lawful; otherwise it IS
an assault, for which the perpetrator OF
the outrage may be prosecuted either civ
lily or criminally. But ii is not public
| offense in this country TO he a heather
and in point of fact we have a few Of
them that serve as specimens. Hence, {
neathenish act is not per Sc punishable. 4
motion for a modification OF the judges
opinion appears to be in order. Hugging ID
not a question of religion, but of ethics.