340 



THE ABNORMAL MAN. 



Children of 

 Reformed Men. 



Martial Ethics 

 Demoralizing* 



Curse of 

 Civilization* 



of this fact, and almost every community has its 

 own illustrations. A most excellent Christian 

 gentleman, who had been "one of the boys" in 

 his time, on being called upon to pay a bill of 

 $500 for his son, or stand -suit by the wronged 

 girl, quietly paid the bill without complaining, 

 but remarked to an old-time friend, "The young 

 rascal is making me pay for my early experiences. 

 He is a bad boy, but I guess he came honestly by 

 it. I had hoped that the goodness of his mother 

 would have counteracted these influences." 



The present ethics of marriage which is backed 

 by law, and which compels woman to sub- 

 mit herself to her husband, is in part an out- 

 growth of the double standard. No custom is 

 more demoralizing, no law is more unjust, in- 

 human or unworthy of our age. The dictionary 

 does not contain woVds enough to depict the evils 

 that arise from it or my contempt for it. It robs 

 love of its freedom, marriage of its sanctity, and 

 parentage of its holy purpose. It produces do- 

 mestic infelicity, destroys the independence of 

 the wife, takes the bloom of health from her 

 cheek, the sparkle of youth from her eye, and 

 converts the lover's dream into a nightmare of 

 suffering. 



Enslaved motherhood is the curse of civilisa- 

 tion, the monster of Christendom; through its 

 physiological and psychological influences thou- 

 sands of children are unfortunately born. 



The present ethics of marriage need reforming. 

 They must be changed if man is ever to become 

 normal in the procreative instinct. Neither na- 

 ture nor nature's God license the abuse of the 



