nature loathed and repelled it, and the father's only thought was
his own selfish gratification; the feelings and conditions of the mother,
and the health, character and destiny of the child that may result being
ignored by him. Wives! let there be a perfect and loving understanding
between you and your husbands on these matters, and great will be your
reward.

3. A WOMAN WRITES:--"There are few, very few, wives and mothers who could
not reveal a sad, dark picture in their own experience in their relations
to their husbands and their children. Maternity, and the relation in which
it originates, are thrust upon them by their husbands, often without regard
to their spiritual or physical conditions, and often in contempt of their
earnest and urgent entreaties. No joy comes to their heart at the
conception and birth of their children, except that which arises from the
consciousness that they have survived the sufferings wantonly and selfishly
inflicted upon them."

4. HUSBAND, WHEN MATERNITY is imposed on your wife without her consent, and
contrary to her appeal, how will her mind necessarily be affected towards
her child? It was conceived in dread and in bitterness of spirit. Every
stage of its foetal development is watched with feeling of settled
repugnance. In every step of its ante-natal progress the child meets only
with grief and indignation in the mother. She would crush out its life, if
she could. She loathed its conception; she loathed it in every stage of its
ante-natal development. Instead of fixing her mind on devising ways and
means for the healthful and happy organization and {260} development of her
child before it is born, and for its postnatal comfort and support, her
soul may be intent on its destruction, and her thoughts devise plans to
kill it. In this, how often is she aided by others! There are those, and
they are called men and women, whose profession is to devise ways to kill
children before they are born. Those who do this would not hesitate (but
for the consequences) to kill them after they are born, for the state of
mind that would justify and instigate _ante-natal_ child-murder would
justify and instigate _post-natal_ child-murder. Yet, public sentiment
consigns the murderer of post-natal children to the dungeon or the gallows,
while the murderers of ante-natal children are often allowed to pass in
society as honest and honorable men and women.

5. THE FOLLOWING IS AN EXTRACT from a letter writt