A CHAPTER FOR MARRIED PEOPLE 533 



likely to be practiced, is at the beginning of matri- 

 monial life. Many a woman dates the beginning of a 

 life of suffering from the first night after marriage; 

 and the mental suffering from the disgusting and even 

 horrible recollections of that night, the events of which 

 were scarred upon her mind as well as upon her body, 

 have made her wretched both mentally and physically. 



A learned French writer, in referring to this sub- 

 ject, says, "The husband who begins with his wife by 

 a rape is a lost man. He will never be loved." 



Cases have come under our care of young wives 

 who have required months of careful treatment to re- 

 pair the damage inflicted on their wedding night. A 

 medical writer has reported a case in which he was 

 called upon to testify in a suit for divorce, which is an 

 illustration of so gross a degree of sensuality that the 

 perpetrator certainly deserved most severe punish- 

 ment. The victim, a beautiful and accomplisUed youn^ 

 lady, to please her parents, was married to a man 

 much older than herself, riches being the chief attrac- 

 tion. She at once began to pine, and in a very few 

 months was a complete wreck. Emaciated, spiritless, 

 haggard, she was scarcely a shadow of her former self. 

 The physician who was called in, upon making a local 

 examination, found those delicate organs in a state of 

 most terrible laceration and inflammation. The blad- 

 der, rectum, and other adjacent organs were highly 

 inflamed, and sensitive in the highest degree. Upon 

 inquiring respecting the cause, he found that from the 

 initial night she had been subjected to the most ex- 

 cessive demands by her husband, "day and night." 

 The tortures she had undergone had been terrific ; and 

 her mind trembled upon the verge of insanity. She 

 entered suit for divorce on the charge of cruelty, but 



