This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.

55

of man, appeared most calculated to destroy it. Were this the place, or did space permit we could adduce many remarkable facts. A few must suffice:

The same physician submits the following : A lady who, in a former pregnancy, had suffered so intensely from a serious complication of diseases that her life was long despaired of by several distinguished physicians, they declared she could never hope to survive another pregnancy, nevertheless again she became pregnant, and by the concurrent advice of the regular number of physicians submitted to the operation for abortion. She subsequently passed successfully through another term of pregnancy, and now rejoices in the possession of excellent health and a splendid daughter.

Another, who, in view of an anticipated summer tour, vainly sought to obtain relief from an inconvenient pregnancy, and succeeded in "having it done for her" by an infernal rascal, lay helpless and suffering through the weary months of spring and summer, losing not only her baby and her journey, but her health, and all that makes life endurable.

A third had "children enough," rebelled at the prospect of an acquisition, tried every known means to disembarrass herself of the unwelcome incumbent—happily without success—and, a few days before the birth of a beautiful boy, had to mourn the loss of her only son, killed, in the midst of exuberant health, but a most horrible accident.

A fourth, left penniless by the death of her husband, was well-nigh persuaded by a friendly though misguided acquaintance —one, alas, conspicuous for many Christian virtues, and a veritable authority in her church—to murder the child, which, to-day, is the prop and support of her declining years.