istance to others,
why should a man continue? When he is of no benefit, when he is a
burden to those he loves, why should he remain? The old idea was that
"God" made us and placed us here for a purpose, and that it was our
duty to remain until He called us. The world is outgrowing this
absurdity. What pleasure can it give "God" to see a man devoured by a
cancer? To see the quivering flesh slowly eaten? To see the nerves
throbbing with pain? Is this a festival for "God"? Why should the
poor wretch stay and suffer? A little morphine would give him
sleep--the agony would be forgotten and he would pass unconsciously
from happy dreams to painless death.

If "God" determines all births and deaths, of what use is medicine, and
why should doctors defy, with pills and powders, the decrees of "God"?
No one, except a few insane, act now according to this childish
superstition. Why should a man, surrounded by flames, in the midst of
a burning building, from which there is no escape, hesitate to put a
bullet through his brain or a dagger in his heart? Would it give "God"
pleasure to see him burn? When did the man lose the right of
self-defense?

So, when a man has committed some awful crime, why should he stay and
ruin his family and friends? Why should he add to the injury? Why
should he live, filling his days and nights, and the days and nights of
others, with grief and pain, with agony and tears?

Why should a man sentenced to imprisonment for life hesitate to still
his heart? The grave is better than the cell. Sleep is sweeter than
the ache of toil. The dead have no masters.

So the poor girl, betrayed and deserted, the door of home closed
against her, the faces of friends averted, no hand that will help, no
eye that will soften with pity, the future an abyss filled with
monstrous shapes of dread and fear, her mind racked by fragments of
thoughts like clouds broken by storm, pursued, surrounded by the
serpents of remorse, flying from horrors too great to bear, rushes with
joy through the welcome door of death.

Undoubtedly there are many cases of perfectly justifiable
suicide--cases in which not to end life would be a mistake, sometimes
almost a crime.

As to the necessity of death, each must decide for himself. And if a
man honestly decides that death is best--best for him and others--and
acts upon the decision, why should he be blamed?

Certainly the man who kills himself is not a physical coward. He