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132 the blame, be it directly on account of their treatment or indirectly through their education of, and the position they impose upon, women. Iam not acquainted with Mrs. Robinson's history, and do not remember the proceedings concerning the circumstances and motive of her deed. But so much I do know, that a woman is not by nature designed for a criminal, and that her heart must be wounded or hardened by very peculiar inducements or influences if she can resolve to commit a murder. When Mrs. Baker in St. Louis shot the libertine Hoffmann, all the world was indignant at this deed, and the murderess was looked upon asa monster. I at once declared the condemnation of the murderess by public opinion as premature, because only very exceptional (then still unknown) grievances could bring a woman to do such a deed. Later it was brought out that this Hoffmann, who had stood in intimate relations with her, had not only exposed her on this account to others, but had also abused her confidence by transmitting to her a loathsome disease.

When the men have become so depraved that they must stop to think to which species of beast they belong, it is always the woman who still represents the human species and who still upholds human feelings. When the father has become a beast, the mother saves him again by the birth of a human being.