that an infinitely wise
and good God would insist on this poor, helpless woman remaining
with the wild beast, her husband? Can anyone imagine that such a
course would add to the joy of Paradise, or even tend to keep one
harp in tune? Can the good of society require the woman to remain?
She did remain, and the result is that the other eye has been torn
from its socket by the hands of the husband. Is she entitled to
a divorce now? And if she is granted one, is virtue in danger,
and shall we lose the high ideal of home life? Can anything be
more infamous than to endeavor to make a woman, under such
circumstances, remain with such a man? It may be said that she
should leave him--that they should live separate and apart. That
is to say, that this woman should be deprived of a home; that she
should not be entitled to the love of man; that she should remain,
for the rest of her days, worse than a widow. That is to say, a
wife, hiding, keeping out of the way, secreting herself from the
hyena to whom she was married. Nothing, in my judgment, can exceed
the heartlessness of a law or of a creed that would compel this
woman to remain the wife of this monster. And it is not only cruel,
but it is immoral, low, vulgar.

The ground has been taken that woman would lose her dignity if
marriages were dissoluble. Is it necessary to lose your freedom
in order to retain your character, in order to be womanly or manly?
Must a woman in order to retain her womanhood become a slave, a
serf, with a wild beast for a master, or with society for a master,
or with a phantom for a master? Has not the married woman the
right of self-defence? Is it not the duty of society to protect
her from her husband? If she owes no duty to her husband; if it
is impossible for her to feel toward him any thrill of affection,
what is there of marriage left? What part of the contract remains
in force? She is not to live with him, because she abhors him.
She is not to remain in the same house with him, for fear he may
kill her. What, then, are their relations? Do they sustain any
relation except that of hunter and hunted--that is, of tyrant and
victim? And is it desirable that this relation should be rendered
sacred by a church? Is it desirable to have families raised under
such circumstances? Are we really in need of the children born of
such parents? If the woman is not in fault, does society insist
that her life should be wrecked? Can the vir