If he pays
attention to the prohibition, well and good; if not, when in a drunken
fit the husband has well-nigh killed her, she may have him bound over to
keep the peace--if she can find a magistrate who will do it--and she may
complain of the man who sold him the liquor. Perhaps he will be fined a
dollar, perhaps not. More likely the latter, with a not very gentle hint
that she has stepped out of her sphere by presuming to meddle in such
matters.
If women had a voice in the making of the laws, how long would the
dram-shop and low groggery send out their liquid poison to pollute
civilized lands? But all women are not on the side of right. Neither are
the very large majority of men. Many women are drunkards themselves, and
worse. True, alas! too true. Sin has corrupted human nature, and men
and women have sunk to fearful depths of degradation. Statistics go to
show, however, that fallen women happily bear only a very small
proportion to those upon whose moral character there is no stain. The
virtuous and good are in the large majority.
Men are not allowed by law to murder their wives. Indeed, the law
forbids them to beat them; but for this trifle, husbands frequently
escape with an "admonition." Yet, though the letter of the law is
explicit, they must stop short of killing their victims. There is a case
on record, within a few years back and in a British province, where a
man beat his wife to death.
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