The Irish standard., 1915-10-23
In times of stress.

1t Is the great weapon for women
who thus make themselves feared and
respected after a fashion. Peace is
sometimes maintained in this singu-
lar manner; apparent concord in the,
family circle Is thus secured, but it is
an armed truce-with suicide ALWAYS
a possibility. Well-to-do men can be
ruined by the death of an enemy, as
exorbitant fines are imposed by judges
at the inquests which decide upon the
cause of the death. These judges often
assign the most absurd pretexts as
motives for suicides, even terming nat
ural death "a suicide without the
blow" in order to hasten the ruin of
an adversary.
l attended a peculiar case which
lasted in court for fifteen days. A
man had an unauthorized secondary
wife whose relatives wished to legal
lie the union for the money they would
gain. The man resolved to avoid
The Expense Of Marriage
SO the woman, who was widow called
her family together for vengeance.
The man was prominent, so suicide by
opium was deemed delightful means
of running him socially and pecuniar.
lily.
The woman swallowed the poison
and lay down to die. But this hus-
band did not sit with folded hands dur.
Ing the crisis. BY no means.
In China, all such affairs are con-
Quoted with much noise of haranguing,
and running to and fro. When the
victim after great lamentations lay
with closed eyes, and her family gath
cred about with pleasant anticipations
of a golden harvest about to be reaped,
the resourceful husband seized his
partner In crime by the oesophagus
and forced most disgusting emetic
down her throat.
The dying woman was promptly
resuscitated, and the man was legally
freed Of her by the mandarin.
Charity, benevolence, the gentler
virtues rarely find dwelling in pagan
hearts. The worst iniquities prevail:
blind egotism and implacable selfish
ness divide families. Discussions are
the rule rather than the exception.
Morality, as taught in Chinese class
ical books, Is simply code that is
vaguely understood. To avoid sin is
another matter. Death does not repel
the Chinese; rather 1t is always at
tractive. since 1t can be a means of
vengeance. We read continually in
the papers of tho suicide of widows
who are heartbroken at the death of
their husbands. More often they fol-
low this custom in order to gain the
admiration Of the public. So vanity
also, has It's share in the deplorable
habit of life taking. Love is a noble
passion, but it is misdirected love
which rules the ardent pagan heart.
In some cases the widows heart is
filled with sentiment which overflows
in Oriental ardor.
| 0dPPine8S u Arrested
| 1t is natural to wish to possess the
object of affection. The Imagination
/ multiplies the attractions of the one
too soon snatched from bliss by the
cold hand of death.
In despair these forlorn souls, gross
ly uneducated, seek in the other world
the cherished hand that upheld them
in this.
Catholicism fills the heart with
faith, uplifts and consoles it; but hat
red and despair are the natural fruits
of paganism.
Suicide will remain as it is until
laws are made to restrain such idiocy.
Instead Of being bizarre instrument
Of vengeance, it will become in China,
as elsewhere, the last refuge of the
hopeless.
Glasses are prejudiced against the
faith, hence after fifty years labor
there are only about a million Catho-
lies in China.