Page:Randolph, Paschal Beverly; Eulis! the history of love.djvu/133

128 on by the fingers and the breath of God, wherefore see to it that it be kept in tune so that none but finest symphonies are evoked; for it is only then that you can realize either the true stress or strain of being. Forget not that the soul is a Republic; that each organ and faculty is one of the States; and that to insure the common weal each should conspire to one common purpose—the happiness of all.

7th. Life without love is perpetual death! To be truly human and purely good, we must love. To be strong, something must lean upon us; and they who live apart, isolated lives, are dwelling in the midst of viewless horrors, ready at any moment to take form and lash their souls to frenzy. We were born to love; to beget our kind; to bear children to the world and God; and failing therein, we defeat the very purposes for which Deity launched us into being.

CII. Ever since I began to write on this prolific and most vital theme, I have persistently, constantly endeavored to prove that the overstocked condition of the female labor market, and the preponderance of the female over the male element in society were fruitful causes that led to the increase of the Social Evil; and I now write to show that there are operating, right here in our very midst, the most wicked practices, tending not only to an increase of this evil, but sapping the very foundations of the morals of society.

It is a startling fact that the number of marriages is diminishing; the number of divorce cases increasing, there being forty-four on the docket of the Supreme Court for one term in a single county in Connecticut, the State of "blue laws" and "steady habits." Another startling fact is, that among the native element of society the number of births is less than the number of deaths in many sections of all the States.

A wicked and fearful extravagance in the mode of living, rendering marriage and housekeeping so difficult, is one cause of the decline of marriages. The poorer class must ape the style of the rich, and they make a great display when they marry. Being unable to come up to the standard, they remain single, and plunge into sensuality and vice. It is estimated that in New York City,