,,the                                   
,,unwelcome ,,child2                    
,,or1                  ,,the ,,crime    
,,of ,,an ,,undesigned ,,and ,,undesired
                                        
,,maternity4                            
,,by ,,henry ,c4 ,,wright1              
,,author ,,of 8,,marriage ,,and         
,,parentage40                           
,,eighth ,,edition4                     
,,boston3                               
,,colby  ,,rich1 ,,publishers1          
#i ,,montgomery ,,place4                
#ahgf4                 ,entered         
according to ,act of ,congress1 in the  
year #aheh1 by                          
,,henry ,c4 ,,wright1       ,in the     
,clerk's ,office of the ,district ,court
 of the ,district of                    
,massachusetts4                         
,,contents4                             
,,page     ,,preface1                   
#e     ,,introductory ,,letter3 ,a      
,husband to ,henry ,c4                  
,wright--,inquiries     respecting the  

,laws of ,nature designed to govern     
,parentage1         #i     ,,letter     
,i4--,,the ,,mother',s ,,power ,,over   
,,her ,,child3 ,maternity1 its          
bearing on the ,character and ,destiny  
of the ,race--,two great facts          
relating to the ,ante-,natal            
,development and ,education of the      
,child1                                 
#ac     ,,letter ,,ii4--,,undesired     
,,maternity3--,crime against the        
,mother--,how it     affects her towards
 the ,father of her ,child--,who is     
responsible     for the ,existence of   
,children1 ,god or the ,parents8--,has  
the ,woman     a right to say when she  
shall assume the office of ,maternity1  
or     subject herself to the relation  
that leads to ,maternity8--,a           
certain method to secure the purity1    
peace1 and happiness of     ,home1      
#bc     ,,letter ,,iii4--,,undesired    
,,maternity3 ,crime against the         
,child--,ante-,natal ,claims of the     
,child--,bearing of the ,ante-,natal    

,history of a ,child on its ,post-,natal
 ,character and     ,destiny--,whatever 
injuriously affects the ,mother must    
injuriously     affect the ,child--,a   
,child struggling into life against the 
spirit     of ,murder in the heart of   
its ,mother1                            
#cg     ,,letter ,,iv4--,,undesired     
,,maternity3 ,crime against the ,child  
as     affecting its ,ante-,natal       
,education--,the most intense and potent
     of all human relations--,man in    
three ,states--,ante-,natal ,education1 
its bearing on the future ,man or       
,woman1 on ,society1 on ,church     and 
,state--,the ,guilt of ,husbands1       
#ea     ,,letter ,v4--,,the ,,wife',s   
,,appeal ,,and ,,the ,,husband',s       
,,response3 ,the last     link of       
,marriage--,a ,word to ,wives--,a ,word 
to ,maidens--,how both may     save     
themselves from deepest degradation and 
wretchedness1         #gb     ,,letter  
,,vi4 ,,words ,,fitly ,,spoken1 by one  
who speaks with ,authority3     ,passive

 ,obedience of ,wives to ,husbands in   
regard to the relation     that leads to
 ,maternity--,the ,authority of ,nature 
in regard to     ,maternity--,the       
indignant protest of ,humanity against  
the     legalized ,sensualism of        
,husbands1                              
#hh     ,,letter ,,vii4 ,,the ,,dread   
,,alternative3 ,ante-,natal ,murder1 or 
an     ,unwelcome ,child1               
#ajj                                    
,,preface4      ,maternity1 the relation
 that leads to it1 and the              
responsibilities1  anxieties1 and       
agonies generally connected with        
it1--the right of ,woman  to decide for 
herself when she shall assume the       
responsibilities1 and be  subjected to  
the sufferings1 of ,maternity1 and to   
the relation in which  it               
originates1--,man1 without regard to the
 wishes and conditions of his  wife1    
heedless of the physical and spiritual  
welfare of his offspring1  and solely   
for his own gratification1 imposing on  

his wife ,maternity1  with all its      
attendant anguish of body and soul1--the
 crime of earth1--the  greatest outrage 
one human being can perpetrate on       
another1--ante-natal  murder1--the      
ante-natal history of a human being1 and
 its bearing on his  post-natal         
character and destiny1 in the body and  
out of it1--such are  the topics which  
are presented and discussed in the      
following pages4    ,the author has     
aimed so to present these subjects that 
no intelligent  and pure-minded man or  
woman need to misunderstand or          
misconstrue his  meaning1 or be offended
 by his words and modes of expression4  
,these  subjects belong to the holy of  
holies of human existence4 ,with them is
  associated all that is nearest and    
dearest to the heart of man and  woman4 
,in the inmost sanctuary of ,home1 these
 should be the topics of  freest and    
most anxious conversation4 ,all that is 
pure1 lovely1  beautiful1 and ennobling1
 in the relations of ,husband and ,wife1

 and  ,parent and ,child1 is directly   
connected with these subjects1 and the  
views entertained of them by men and    
women in and out of legal marriage4     
,but that which transpires during the   
period between conception and  birth1 as
 the foundation of character in the     
future man or woman1 as an  index to    
their thoughts1 feelings1 plans1        
motives1 actions1 to their  virtues and 
vices1 to successes and failures in     
life's conflict1 has  been entirely     
overlooked by biographers and           
historians1 by poets and  novelists1 in 
their efforts to delineate human life as
 manifested in  individuals1 or in civil
 and ecclesiastical combinations4 ,yet  
all admit  that physical1 intellectual1 
and social tendencies and conditions are
  organized into the body and soul of   
every child1 during that period1  that  
must give tone and direction to the man 
or woman in all their  future life4 ,in 
their relations as husbands and wives1  
fathers and  mothers1 sons and          

daughters1 brothers and sisters1 friends
 and  neighbors1 in all their           
commercial1 social1 civil1 and          
ecclesiastical  relations1 their        
feelings1 and their treatment of all    
with whom they may  be associated1 must 
depend greatly on these ante-natal      
influences and  tendencies4    ,the life
 of every good man and the life of every
 bad man1 the life of a  teetotaller and
 the life of a drunkard1 a life of love 
and a life of  hatred1 a life of        
forgiveness and a life of revenge1 a    
life of truth1  justice1 and purity1 and
 a life of falsehood1 injustice1 and    
impurity1  the life of ,jesus and the   
life of ,napoleon1--who can determine to
 what  extent all these have been1 are1 
or will be1 controlled by birthright    
tendencies1 and by influences that1     
before they were born1 bore upon  those 
who live these lives8 ,certain it is    
that1 to a great extent1 the  diseases1 
sufferings1 and premature deaths1 and   
many of the individual1  social1        

governmental1 and ecclesiastical thefts1
 robberies1 and murders1  committed in  
the post-natal state of our being1 are  
but the natural1 if  not the necessary  
results of these ante-natal organic and 
constitutional  conditions and          
tendencies4    ,to all ,husbands and    
,wives1 to all ,fathers and ,mothers1   
and to all who  hope to enter into these
 most ennobling and most potent of all  
human  relations1 are the following     
pages earnestly commended1 by           
,,the ,,author4                         
,,introductory ,,letter4                
,a ,husband to ,henry ,c4 ,wright4      
,,boston1 ,january #aj1 #aheg4     ,,my 
,,dear ,,friend3    ,it is twenty years 
since ,i first heard you discourse on   
the ,mission and  ,relation of the      
,sexes4 ,you stated then1 in substance1 
that the sexes had  power1 each over the
 other1 to save or to destroy2 that all 
rational  hope of the elevation and     
perfection of human nature must rest    
upon a  knowledge of1 and obedience to1 

the laws of ,nature1 designed to govern 
those relations2 that man must look to  
generation1 rather than to              
regeneration1 to bring the race into    
perfect union and harmony with  the     
,divine2 that no power could save either
 man or woman1 in isolation  from1 or in
 false relations with1 each other2 and  
that if either sinks  or rises1 the     
other must follow4    ,i was but a boy  
when ,i first heard you utter such      
sentiments4 ,i did not  then understand 
their full import4 ,they had not entered
 into the  experience of my inner or    
outer life4 ,yet ,i took the impression1
 that  woman would be to man just what  
he chose and had power to make her2 and 
that it depended on man to say whether  
woman should be to him a  purifying and 
ennobling influence1 or a source of     
degradation and ruin4    ,from that time
 ,i had a desire1 so far as woman is    
concerned1 to place  myself in such     
relations to her1 that her influence on 
my life might be  pure and ennobling4 ,i

 have studied to get clear and definite 
views of my  nature and needs as a man1 
and how woman can most perfectly        
accomplish  her mission of love and     
salvation to me4    ,i am now a husband2
 made so1 not by any enactment1 ceremony
 or license  of ,church or ,state       
7though my marriage is placed upon      
record1 as an  historical fact72 nor by 
the consent of any third party2 nor by  
any  formal contract or bargain between 
me and the woman to whom ,i hold this   
relation2 but by a law or necessity of  
my being2 by a power1 unseen1 but  ever 
present1 and ever potent to guide1 like 
that which binds the needle  to the     
pole1 or the soul to ,god4    ,all that 
qualifies me to be a husband and a      
father1 ,i have consecrated  to the     
development and happiness of my wife1   
and of the children who may  result from
 our union4 ,i have done this1 not      
because she demands it as  her right1   
but solely because ,i find in myself a  
necessity for so doing4  ,she make no   

demands on me as a right2 she asks of me
 only what ,i feel  the necessity of    
giving4 ,my love for her gives me no    
rights over her  property1 her person1  
or her affections4 ,it makes no demands 
on her1 as  a right1 but it makes great 
demands on my own manhood4 ,true        
conjugal  love never creates rights over
 the loved one1 but necessities in the  
one  who loves4 ,this necessity is laid 
upon me1 not by any arbitrary decree  of
 ,church or ,state1 but solely by the   
concentrated1 exclusive love1  which1 as
 a husband1 ,i bear to my wife4 ,the    
purity and dignity of my  nature are    
involved in my yielding to this         
necessity4    ,i would consecrate my    
manhood to the perfection and happiness 
of my  wife1 and of the children who may
 be born of our union1 in the home      
which1 by our united efforts1 we hope to
 create4 ,your conversation with  me1 as
 a boy and a youth1 and your counsel1   
have been invaluable in the  regulation 
of my life in my relations with women4  

,i have read your work1  entitled       
8,,marriage ,,and ,,parentage2 or1 the  
,reproductive ,element in ,man as  a    
,means of his ,elevation and            
,happiness40 ,to us1 in the home of our 
love1  your teachings will ever be as   
divine oracles1 to regulate our         
relations  as husband and wife4 ,we     
would embody in our lives your          
8,,ernest0 and  8,,nina10 especially in 
regard to parentage1 and the relation   
that leads  to it2 believing that those 
who do actualize that ideal husband and 
wife1 cannot fail to receive a divine   
reward1 in an ever-growing and an       
ever-ennobling love and trust4 ,to that 
husband who shall embody your  ,ernest1 
the love1 the respect and trust of his  
wife1 will be as the sun  and dew of    
heaven to the opening buds of spring2   
they will expand and  beautify his manly
 soul1 and cause his manhood to give out
 all its  beauty and fragrance1 and shed
 a bright and steady light on the       
pathway  of his wife1 and bring enduring

 rest to her heart in the home of her   
wedded love4 ,we would live in and for  
each other1 and in and for our          
offspring4 ,we would be represented in  
the great human family by those  whom we
 shall be proud to call our children1   
and whom all of human kind  shall feel  
honored to recognize as brothers and    
sisters4 ,we would not  see our nature  
degraded1 nor our glory tarnished1 in   
ourselves or our  posterity1 but we     
would see that glory made brighter1 and 
that nature  more noble4    ,i know that
 on the government of my passional      
relations with my wife  depends her     
health and life of body and soul1 the   
health of our  children1 and the beauty 
and happiness of our home4 ,i know1 if  
she ever  is made to fear my passion1   
and to shrink from the personal         
intimacies  of her husband1 home1 from  
that hour1 becomes desolate and         
repulsive1 no  matter what may be the   
natural or artistic elegance of our     
material  surroundings4 ,i know that in 

proportion as she cherishes a loving and
  trusting respect for all that         
constitutes me a man1 will she lovingly 
and calmly rest in the bosom of her     
husband2 and that the most sacred       
sanctuary of our home1 instead of being 
an altar of cruel and merciless         
sacrifice of her health and life1 will  
be a fountain of eternal life and  peace
 to us both1--a temple consecrated to   
all true manifestations of an  unselfish
 conjugal and parental love4    ,i feel 
the responsibility that rests upon me4  
,i would have my wife  associate my     
manhood with her own purity1 and not    
with my selfish  gratification4 ,i would
 have her assured that my nature1 as a  
man1 is  under the control of conscience
 and reason1 and held in subjection to  
her perfect development1 and that of our
 children4 ,i would be an  unselfish1   
noble husband1 and a true and happy     
father2 a husband and  father who can   
stand in the pride and dignity of       
conscious nobility  before his wife and 

children4 ,i would be a ,,man2 one whose
 soul1  vitalized and ennobled by the   
presence and power of conjugal and      
paternal love1 shall never cower before 
its own consciousness1 nor in  the      
presence of its ,god4    ,if you can    
give me your thoughts and feelings in   
regard to parentage1  and the relation  
that leads to it1 you will confer a     
favor on one whose  love and respect for
 you will never end4                    
,yours1                                 
,a ,,husband4                           
,,the                        ,,crime    
,,of ,,an ,,undesired ,,maternity       
,letters to a ,husband4                 
,,letter ,i4                     ,,the  
,,mother',s ,,power ,,over ,,her        
,,child4       ,,my ,,friend3    ,i have
 read your letter with deep interest4   
,your inquiries respecting  the mission 
of the sexes1 and the government of your
 passional relations  with your wife1   
seem right and proper1 and what every   
man1 who would  secure and perpetuate   

the love and respect of his wife1 and   
the purity  and happiness of his home1  
will make1 and on which1 above all other
  subjects1 he will seek for light4     
,they shall receive frank and candid    
answers1 so far as ,i can give them4 ,i 
thank you for proposing them1 as1  in   
answering1 ,i shall take occasion to    
give my views on a subject which1  of   
all others1 most directly concerns the  
organization and development1  the      
character and destiny of the men and    
women of the future1 and which  involves
 the purity and peace of home1 and the  
growth and prosperity of  society4      
,here let me say1 that on no subject    
should a man and woman1 as they are     
being attracted into conjugal relations1
 be more open and truthful with  each   
other than on this4 ,no woman1 who would
 save herself and the man  she loves    
from a desecrated and wretched home1    
should enter into the  physical         
relations of marriage with a man until  
she understands what he  expects of her 

as to the function of maternity1 and the
 relation that  leads to it4 ,if a woman
 is made aware that the man who would   
win her as  a wife regards her and the  
marriage relation only as the means of a
  legalized gratification of his        
passions1 and she sees fit to live with 
him as a wife1 with such a prospect     
before her1 she must take the           
consequences of a course so degrading   
and so shameless4 ,if she sees fit  to  
make an offering of her body and soul on
 the altar of her husband's  sensuality1
 she must do it2 but she has a right to 
know to what base  uses her womanhood is
 to be put2 and it is due to her1 as    
well as to  himself1 that he should tell
 her beforehand precisely what he wants 
and  expects of her4    ,too frequently 
man shrinks from all allusion1 during   
courtship1 to his  expectations in      
regard to future passional relations4   
,he fears to speak  of them1 lest he    
should shock and repel the woman he     
would win as a  wife4 ,being conscious1 

it may be1 of an intention to use the   
power he  may acquire over her person   
for his own gratification1 he shuns all 
interchange of views with her1 lest she 
should divine the hidden  sensualism of 
his soul1 and his intention to victimize
 her person to it1  the moment he shall 
get the license4 ,a woman had better die
 at once than  enter into or continue in
 marriage with a man whose highest      
conception  of the relation is1 that it 
is a means of licensed animal           
indulgence4 ,in  such a relation1 body  
and soul are sacrificed4 8,let there be 
light0 as  to what constitutes a        
natural1 divine parentage6    ,i shall  
not1 in answering your queries1 attempt 
to point out minutely  what ,i think to 
be the fixed laws of human nature for   
the government of  human parentage4 ,i  
have some things to say to you1 and to  
all who are1  or hope to be1 husbands1  
respecting the crime of an undesigned   
and an  undesired ,maternity4 ,from what
 ,i shall say on this subject1 it may be

  that you will get some hints as to the
 regulation of your passional  relations
 with your wife4    ,you are a husband2 
you hope to be a father1 and to make for
 yourself1  your wife and children1 a   
pure and happy home1 where perfect      
freedom1  perfect love and trust shall  
dwell1 and where your entire nature     
shall  expand and be perfected in all   
purity and nobleness4 ,you would elevate
  and perfect the nature you bear in    
yourself and in your children4 ,this    
you hope to do1 not through your        
relations to ,church or ,state1 but     
through your relations as a husband and 
father1 and by obedience to  those laws 
of ,nature which are designed to control
 your life in those  relations4 ,as     
compared with the question of the right 
use of the  reproductive element1--its  
bearing on the growth1 elevation and    
happiness of your entire being1 in this 
and in all states of your  present and  
future existence1--all questions of     
wealth1 of reputation1 of  religion1 and

 government1 sink into insignificance4  
,your treatment of  your wife in regard 
to ,maternity1 and to the relation from 
which it  results1 must shape your      
destiny and hers1 at home and abroad4   
,how can  you respect yourself1 knowing 
that your disregard of her rights1 in   
reference to this most sacred function1 
has destroyed all respect for  you in   
the heart of your wife8    ,,maternity  
is the subject under consideration4     
,ought it ever to exist  except at the  
desire of the woman1 and when her nature
 calls for it8 ,can  it be right for man
 to impose on her this most sublime and 
overwhelming  of all human              
responsibilities1 when her nature       
recoils from the burden8  ,she is not   
prepared to take charge of the germ of a
 new life1 and to  meet the suffering   
and the responsibility of developing and
 giving birth  to a child1 if her body  
and soul shrink from it4 ,under such    
circumstances1 can it be right for man  
to urge on her a suffering and          

responsibility so much dreaded1 or      
subject her to the possibility of a     
maternity against which her soul so     
earnestly protests8    ,it may be       
asked1--,why confine the discussion to  
,maternity8 ,why not look  at the broad 
question of ,parentage1 and include the 
responsibility of  the father1 as well  
as of the mother8 ,for the reason1 that 
,maternity  holds a far more intimate   
relation to the organization and        
character  than ,paternity4 ,the mother 
has a more direct control over human    
destiny  than the father4 ,woman is far 
more liable than man to suffer deep and 
enduring wrong in the office of         
perpetuating the race4 ,man1 as will be 
shown1 is generally the wrong-doer1 when
 wrong exists2 to woman belong  the     
suffering and anguish4 ,woman is the    
victim2 on man rests the                
responsibility4 ,woman's appeal is to   
man to spare her this suffering and     
anguish1 except when her nature calls1  
and then will she1 for his sake  and her

 own1 joyfully meet and bear the cross4 
,it is meet that woman's  appeal should 
be sustained4 ,i wish to sustain it2 and
 in so doing1 while  my remarks will    
bear mainly on ,maternity1 ,paternity   
will necessarily  come under review4    
,maternity1 when a crime1 suggests the  
questions1 ,who  is the criminal8 ,to   
what extent is he responsible for the   
consequences8  ,so1 in fact1 the whole  
subject of ,parentage is open1 as       
involving the  conduct and              
responsibility of both parents4    ,but1
 before proceeding to consider this     
wrong and outrage upon woman1  and its  
influence on her1 ,i wish to allude to  
two facts bearing directly  on the      
subject4    #a4 ,that which forms the   
body and soul of the child must come to 
it1  previous to birth1 through the     
maternal organism4    ,pause1 my friend1
 and contemplate this fact1 in its      
bearing on the  birthright tendencies1  
the character and destiny1 of your      
child4 ,you and  your wife wish to have 

a child4 ,she prepares herself          
cheerfully and  bravely to bear the     
sufferings and responsibilities of      
,maternity4 ,the  germ1 so small when   
she takes charge of it1 in a brief space
 assumes the  form of a human being1 and
 is increased in size and in weight     
hundreds  of thousands of times4    ,how
 did the substance reach it which       
constituted its growth8 ,every  particle
 of matter that reaches it to form its  
brain1 its nerves1 its  heart1 its      
lungs1 its blood1 its bones and sinews1 
was prepared in the  maternal organism1 
and was carried to it through the medium
 of her  blood4 ,whatever is received   
into her system1 in the shape of food1  
drink1 air1 and various gases1 and which
 goes to nourish her brain1  heart1     
nerves1 and other organs1 and keep them 
in healthful activity1  must go to form 
the corresponding portions of the       
child's body4 ,the  material that       
nourishes the brain of the mother forms1
 from the  beginning1 the brain of the  

child2 that which nourishes the lungs   
and  nerves of the mother forms also the
 lungs and nerves of the child4 ,so of  
every organ and portion of the body4    
,from whatever the mother takes into    
her system must come the body and soul  
of her child4    #b4 ,this substance1 as
 it passes through the maternal system1 
must  receive the impress of her mental 
and physical conditions4    ,ponder this
 fact1 see its bearing on the character 
and destiny of your  child1 of all      
children1 and of the race1 and see if   
its importance can  be over-estimated4  
,that it is a fact1 in the science of   
,embryology and  ,ftal ,development1 is 
not denied4 ,whatever temporarily       
affects the  maternal blood1 must       
permanently affect the organic          
conditions and  constitutional          
tendencies1 and of course the post-natal
 character and  destiny1 of the child4  
,this is much insisted on by writers on 
the laws  and function of reproduction4 
,thus ,carpenter1 in his 8,principles of

  ,human ,physiology10 says3 8,that many
 of the organic functions are  directly 
influenced by the nervous system1 is a  
matter which does not  admit of         
dispute1--sometimes in exciting1        
sometimes in checking1 and  sometimes in
 otherwise modifying them40--7,sec4     
#idf47    ,whatever1 then1 affects the  
nervous system1 affects the organic     
functions4 ,that the nervous system is  
deeply affected by the kind and  quality
 of our food and drink1 and by mental   
impressions1 cannot be  doubted4        
,witness the influence of tea1 alcohol1 
opium1 tobacco1 and  various kinds of   
food1 on the nerves1 and also of anger1 
grief1 revenge1  fear1 love1 hate1 c4   
,as ,carpenter says1 8,the influence of 
particular  conditions of the mind in   
exciting various secretions is a matter 
of  daily experience40 ,he instances the
 increased secretion and flow of  saliva
 by the idea of food1 the secretion and 
flow of tears by joy1  tenderness1 or   
grief1 and the influence of the love of 

offspring on the  mammary secretions4   
8,the sexual secretions10 he says1 8are 
strongly influenced by the  conditions  
of the mind20 instancing the effects of 
a 8fitful temper10  8fits of anger10    
8grief10 8anxiety of mind10 8fear10     
8terror10 on the  mammary secretions1   
and showing that these emotions often so
 poison the  mother's milk as           
permanently to affect the health1 and   
sometimes destroy  the life of the      
nursing child4--7,sec4 #idh47    ,weigh 
well the following sentiments of        
,carpenter3 8,that the mental state  of 
the mother can produce important        
alterations in her own blood1 seems     
demonstrated by the considerations      
previously adduced in regard to its     
effects upon the process of nutrition   
and secretion1 and that such            
alterations are sufficient to determine 
modifications in the  developmental     
processes of the embryo1 ,,to ,,which   
,,her ,,blood ,,furnishes ,,the         
,,material1 can scarcely admit a        

question1 when we recollect what        
influence the presence or absence of    
particular substances has in  modifying 
the growth of parts of the adult40 ,in  
regard to cases where  children are     
marked before birth1 he says3 8,the     
effect must be produced  upon the       
maternal blood1 and transmitted through 
it to the ftus1  since there is no      
nervous communication between the parent
 and  offspring40    ,on every hand1    
life is full of facts illustrative of   
the influence of  the mental and        
physical conditions of the mother on the
 organic  structure and constitutional  
tendencies of the body and soul of her  
unborn child4 ,as the maternal blood is 
healthfully or otherwise affected  by   
what she eats and drinks1 and by her    
mental conditions1 so will the          
organization of her child be healthful  
or diseased4 ,if the mass of blood  from
 which the ftus is nourished and        
receives its material for growth  is    
filled with disease1 from any cause1 the

 child must be similarly  affected4     
,this is a fearful fact1 when viewed in 
its bearing on the post-natal  health   
and happiness of the child1 and on the  
character and destiny of  the human     
family4 ,one can scarcely avoid the     
query1 ,is it just to place  the destiny
 of one human being so entirely in the  
power of another8 ,the  power of the    
mother over her child1 previous to      
birth1 is absolute4  ,through what she  
eats and drinks1 during gestation1 she  
can fix the  organic and constitutional 
tendencies of her child to health or    
disease1  to good or evil1 to happiness 
or misery1 and thus control its         
character  and destiny after it is born1
 during its infancy1 childhood1 youth   
and  manhood4 ,not only through the     
character of what she eats and drinks1  
but  through her mental emotions and    
conditions1 through her amusements1  her
 anxieties1 her joys1 her sorrows1 her  
loves and hates1 her  exaltation and    
depression1 her hopes and fears1 can she

 affect the  birthright physical and    
spiritual tendencies of her child1 and  
thus  control its destiny4 ,she may doom
 her child to drunkenness1 to lying1 to 
revenge1 and make him or her a thief1 a 
liar1 a drunkard1 a glutton1 a  miser1 a
 warrior1 a slaveholder1 a robber1 a    
murderer1 a pirate1 or an  assassin1    
before its birth1 and while it is all   
unconscious of the doom  which the      
mother is preparing for it1 and totally 
incapable of resisting  the fatal       
influence that is shaping its destiny4  
,the mother has a fearful power4 ,it is 
absolute for good or evil4  ,terrible is
 the doom of that child whose           
organization and development1  before   
birth1 were controlled by the mother's  
ignorance1 folly1 or  hatred4           
,emphatically1 as she is true to        
herself1 she is true to her  unborn     
child4 ,it seems a mystery that the     
character and destiny of a  human being 
should so materially depend on the food1
 drink1 thoughts1  feelings and passions

 of the mother during that brief period2
 but such  is the fact1 and we can only 
bow in silence to the fiat of ,god1     
being  assured that whatever power the  
mother has for evil1 she has the same   
for good2 and that the question whether 
she shall use that power for  good or   
evil over her child is one which may be 
settled mainly1 if not  solely1 by the  
father1 as will hereafter be shown4 ,i  
will only say here1  that the answer to 
the question1 ,will the mother use her  
power over her  child for good or for   
evil8 depends on the answer to a        
previous  question--,is her maternity a 
willing or unwilling one8 ,this question
 it  is generally in the power of the   
husband and father to answer4    ,now1  
my friend1 contemplate the bearing of   
these two facts on the  post-natal      
character and destiny of your child4    
,the germ is placed in  the maternal    
system1 there to be nourished and to be 
developed through  the substances       
conveyed to it by the maternal blood4   

,whatever the mother  eats and drinks   
directly affects the nutrition and      
organization of her  child4 ,whatever   
thoughts1 feelings and passions agitate 
her mind1 leave  their traces on that   
which goes to form its body and soul4   
,how  important1 then1 to the health1   
character and happiness1 of the future  
man or woman1 that the mother1 during   
gestation1 should receive into her      
system only the purest and most         
healthful food and drink1 and into her  
mind only bright1 cheerful1 happy1      
peaceful thoughts and feelings6 ,to  her
 husband1 woman looks for sympathy and  
support to enable her truly  and bravely
 to meet this great demand upon her     
nature4 ,she should be  encircled by a  
tender1 consecrating love4 ,to the      
father of her child she  looks for this4
 ,shall she look in vain1 or be left to 
bear the cross  alone8                  
,thine1                                 
,,henry ,c4 ,,wright4                   
,,letter ,,ii4   ,,the ,,crime ,,against

 ,,the ,,mother4--,,how ,,it ,,affects  
,,her ,,towards ,,the ,,father ,,of     
,,her ,,child4      ,,my ,,friend3      
,before considering the wrong done to   
the mother1 ,i would state two  points  
which ,i shall take for granted3    #a4 
,that parents1 alone1 are responsible   
for the existence of their  children4   
#b4 ,that woman1 alone1 has a right to  
say when1 and under what  circumstances1
 she shall assume the office of         
maternity1 or subject  herself to the   
liability of becoming a mother4         
,these two positions seem to me so      
self-evident1 that no arguments can     
make them more clear and certain4 ,who  
is responsible for the existence  of    
children1 ,god or the parents8 ,who     
shall say how many children a woman     
shall have1 and under what circumstances
 she shall have them1 the wife  or the  
husband8 ,who shall say how often1 for  
what purposes1 and under  what          
conditions1 the wife shall subject her  
person to a relation which  renders her 

liable to become a mother1 and to the   
suffering and  anguish of developing and
 giving birth to a child8 ,to ask these 
questions is to answer them4 ,nature    
makes but one reply1 and that will  be  
found in the consciousness of every true
 husband and wife1 and father  and      
mother4    ,what is the influence of an 
undesired maternity on the mother1 in   
regard  to the father of her child8 is  
my first inquiry4 ,what is it8 ,it is   
felt1  but seldom spoken4 ,it cannot be 
expressed in words1 as it is felt in the
  heart4    ,a woman comes into the     
relation of a legal wife4 ,at once1 it  
may be1 the  husband reveals himself to 
her in a way she did not anticipate1 and
 she  is made to know what he expects of
 her1 and for what he married her4 ,she 
yields her person to his passion1 not in
 obedience to a call in her own  nature1
 but because she thinks that such is the
 right conferred by law  and custom on  
the husband over the wife4 ,she has1 it 
may be1 been duly  taught that the only 

way to secure and strengthen his love is
 to yield  to his passion1 whenever it  
demands indulgence4 ,so she yields1 and 
before she is aware1 and before her mind
 is prepared to meet them1 the          
responsibilities1 anxieties and         
sufferings of maternity are upon her4   
,grief1 anguish1 and a dread of some    
unknown1 but terrible suffering1        
overwhelm her4 ,consternation seizes the
 heart1 so recently buoyant with  the   
hopes and joys of a loving and trusting 
bride4    ,how will this new and dreaded
 experience affect her mind towards her 
husband and the father of her child8 ,as
 a lover1 he had been so gentle1  so    
delicate1 and so considerate of her     
slightest wish1 so thoughtful of  her   
happiness1 and so unwilling to say or do
 anything to grieve her  spirit2 as a   
bridegroom1 he had promised to love and 
cherish her as his  own soul2 and she   
fondly trusted that no wrong or         
suffering would ever  reach her through 
him2 when1 behold6 in the very beginning

 of their  united life1 and before1     
physically or mentally1 she was prepared
 to  meet the great demand1 he has      
imposed on her the necessity of yielding
  up her body and soul to the keenest   
suffering to which she can be           
subjected2 and that without consulting  
her wishes1 and contrary1 it may  be1 to
 her earnest prayer4 ,as she ponders on 
her situation1 and the  experience      
through which she must pass1 and from   
which death to herself1  or her child1  
or to both1 is the only door of escape1 
how must she feel  towards him who has  
placed her in this fearful condition8   
,he has  subjected her to the necessity1
 for weary months1 of drinking the      
bitterest cup of life1 and of passing   
through the valley and shadow of  death1
 heart-sick1 desponding and shrinking   
from the final result2 and  all this1   
not because she wished to be a mother1  
or he a father1 nor  that they might    
blend their bodies and souls in a new   
and beautiful  life1 to be an honor to  

themselves and the world1--no such      
motive  prompted the relation in which  
conception originated2 but solely his   
momentary gratification4 ,she feels that
 his indulgence was had at her  expense4
 ,no conscious pride and sense of       
matronly dignity1 no high and  noble    
aspirations1 sustain her1 as she        
reflects on her condition4 ,can  she    
continue to love and respect him8 ,he   
has done her the greatest  wrong4 ,he   
heeded not her prayers that he would    
control his passion1 and  spare her     
until she was ready joyfully to enter   
upon an office so grand  in its nature1 
and so sublime in its bearing on the    
destiny of an  immortal soul4 ,to meet  
the responsibilities of such an office1 
and the  physical and mental pain and   
anguish necessarily pertaining to it1   
what  woman but needs a preparation8    
,who is sufficient for these things8    
,yet  the dread liabilities are upon    
her1 without a moment's warning1 and    
without1 it may be1 any interchange of  

thoughts and feelings with her  husband 
and the father of her child4 ,she knows 
not even that he wants a  child1 nor    
whether he will receive it with a       
blessing or a curse4 ,she  knows not    
what heart-support she will receive from
 him in the moment of  her trial and her
 anguish4 ,he has had no conversation   
with her on these  subjects1 and given  
her no assurance as to the natural      
results to her of  his passional        
relations with her2 expressed no        
anxiety1 no expectations1  no hopes1 as 
to her liability to become a mother4 ,he
 has had no further  wish or anxiety1   
except for his own selfish              
gratification4 ,he has1 it  may be1     
avoided1 as indelicate and improper1 all
 allusion to questions  so vital to the 
life and happiness of his newly-wedded  
wife4 ,all she has  to rest upon is the 
indefinite assurance1 given before ,god 
and man1 that  he will cherish1 protect 
and care for her4 ,why he promised to   
protect  and care for her1 whether as a 

mere means of sensual gratification1 or 
for holier and more exalted purposes1   
she has no assurance4 ,not one  word1 it
 may be1 has he ever spoken to her      
respecting the motives that  have       
prompted him to seek her as a wife4 ,o1 
woman6 woman6 how dare you  enter into  
such a relation with a man1 without     
knowing what he expects  of you8    ,the
 wife1 in such a situation1 cannot      
cherish loving and tender thoughts  of  
her husband when absent1 nor receive his
 caresses with rapture when  present4   
,she bears in herself the result of the 
wrong he has inflicted  on her4 ,it is  
ever present to her thoughts and        
emotions4 ,she cannot  escape from it   
but by an outrage on herself and child2 
and as1 in her  moments of solitary     
suffering and anguish1 she reflects on  
her  condition1 and why she must endure 
them1 how can she regard the author  of 
them with loving respect8 ,the sense of 
the wrong done her is ever              
present1--can she tenderly cherish the  

wrong-doer1 especially when he          
continues to demand of her a constant   
renewal of the relation in which  her   
present afflictions and forebodings of  
future sorrows originated8  ,she cannot2
 for he1 by inflicting on her a         
maternity which her own soul  cannot    
sanction1 and from which1 perhaps1 she  
shrinks with horror1 has  rendered      
himself unworthy of her love and        
respect4    ,it is in vain to urge a    
woman thus situated to love and honor   
her  husband4 ,at no command of ,god or 
man can she1 as a wife1 love and        
cherish him4 ,indeed1 no wife can love  
her husband at the word of  command4 ,if
 she loves him at all1 it is because she
 must1 not because  she is ordered to do
 it4 ,her love will flow out to him as a
 necessity of  her being1 not by the    
command of a third party4 ,if he has no 
power to  call it out and concentrate it
 on himself1 it will not go out to him4 
,nothing can force it out4 ,she is not  
to blame if she does not love him4  ,she

 gives him all he has power to awaken   
and call out1--all the love he  has     
power to take2 more he has no right to  
ask1 more she cannot give4  ,her love   
for him will correspond to his          
lovableness in her eyes2 he will  seek  
to render himself lovable to her1 just  
in proportion to the value  he sets on  
her love4 ,expect no love from a woman  
because she is your  legal wife4 ,the   
legal bond can impose on her no         
obligation to love you2  and if it did1 
she cannot love you1 if your person and 
your passion  become disgusting to her4 
,would you1 my friend1 increase and     
perpetuate the love and respect of  your
 wife8 ,then beware how you demean      
yourself towards her in regard to       
maternity1 and the relation that may1 at
 any time1 result in it4 ,to a  true    
woman and a loving wife1 maternity1 and 
the passional expressions  of her       
husband1 must ever be ennobling1 or     
degrading4 ,it is for him to  say which 
they shall be4 ,it is for you to say    

whether1 as the father of  her child1   
you shall seem to your wife altogether  
pure1 noble and  attractive1 or selfish1
 ignoble and repulsive4 ,you must       
determine  whether the mother of your   
child shall see in you a generous1      
tender1  kingly husband1 all-worthy to  
be the father of her child1 and to rule 
over the empire of her heart1 or a mean1
 merciless tyrant1 having no  purer or  
higher aim1 in your relations with her1 
than that of animal  indulgence1 and    
whom it is impossible to respect4 ,it is
 for you to say  to what extent1 and how
 long1 she shall love and respect you4  
,she must  love and honor you1 if you   
seem to her to be worthy2 she cannot1 if
 you  seem otherwise4 ,how can you thus 
seem1 when she is made to feel that for 
your gratification1 and against her     
earnest appeal to you1 as a man and     
husband1 you have imposed on her a      
burden which she feels unable and       
unwilling to bear8    ,maternity1 when  
it exists at the call of the wife1 and  

is gratefully  received1 but binds her  
heart more tenderly and devotedly to her
  husband4 ,as the father of her child1 
he stands before her invested with  new 
beauty and dignity4 ,in receiving from  
him the germ of a new life1  she        
receives that which she feels is to add 
new beauty and glory to her  as a       
woman1--new grace and attraction to her 
as a wife4 ,she loves and  honors him1  
because he has crowned her with the     
glory of a mother4  ,maternity1 to her1 
instead of being repulsive1 is a diadem 
of beauty1 a  crown of rejoicing1 and   
deep1 tender1 and self-forgetting are   
her love  and reverence for him who has 
placed it on her brow4 ,how noble1 how  
august1 how beautiful1 is ,maternity1   
when thus bestowed and received6        
,but1 in proportion as it is holy and   
ennobling when designedly conferred  and
 joyfully received1 is it unholy and    
debasing1 when undesigned and           
undesired4 ,in proportion as a mother's 
heart overflows with tender  gratitude  

and loving reverence towards the father 
of her child1 when  that child comes in 
answer to the call of her womanly and   
wifely nature1  will it be filled with  
aversion to the father of a child which 
she did  not want1 and which she is     
conscious is the result of a relation   
sought  only for a sensual purpose4     
,many wives become indifferent to1 or   
positively and forever alienated  from1 
their husbands1 from this cause4        
,nothing will so surely and so          
irrevocably destroy the love of a wife  
for a husband1 as a disregard1 on  his  
part1 of her feelings and wishes in     
regard to ,maternity1 and to the        
relation from which it comes4 ,in       
nothing are husbands 7through           
ignorance1 ,i would fain think7 so      
unmindful of the entreaties and wants   
of their wives1 as in these respects4   
,they often demand the surrender of     
their persons without any inquiry into  
their feelings and conditions2          
consequently1 before they are aware1 the

 very life of ,god in their             
hearts1--that is1 their love and respect
 for their husbands1--is crushed  out of
 them4 ,no wonder1 when we consider what
 liabilities1 what a sense  of          
self-degradation1 and what a shrinking  
of soul1 are involved1 to a  true woman1
 in a surrender of her person to mere   
sensual passion1 and to  a maternity so 
dreaded4 ,on the contrary1 how certainly
 and how  permanently a husband will    
secure the love and respect of his wife1
 and  her perfect trust1 when he so     
treats her as to make her feel secure   
that  she is never to become a mother   
till her own nature calls for it2 and   
when1 knowing his own nature1 he can    
assure her that he shall never  subject 
her to the possibility of that suffering
 till she is able and  willing to bear  
it6    ,when a woman once feels that the
 power of her husband is controlled by a
  tender love and reverence for her1 and
 a desire to subject it to her  growth  
and happiness1 rather than to promote   

his own selfish ends1 she  rests in his 
bosom knowing no fear1 assured that this
 very passion will  but intensify the   
holy love that encircles her4 ,when all 
fear of his  passion is gone1 her love  
and trust are perfected4 ,but let the   
fear of  that once settle on her heart1 
and her love is gone4 ,love and respect 
for the husband cannot exist in the     
heart of the wife simultaneously  with a
 dread of his passion4    ,would you1   
then1 secure the love and trust of your 
wife1 and become an  object of her      
ever-growing tenderness and reverence1  
never impose on her  a maternity which  
her nature does not sanction2 neither   
subject her to  the possibility of      
enduring the suffering incident to such 
a  situation4 ,assure her1 by all your  
manifestations1 and your perfect        
respect for the functions of her nature1
 that your passion shall be in          
subjection to her wishes1 and that she  
will never be made to endure the  trials
 of maternity1 except at the call of her

 own soul4 ,how tenderly  and reverently
 would she1 under such an assurance1    
regard your physical1  as well as your  
mental and spiritual manhood6    ,it is 
not enough that you have secured1 in the
 heart of your wife1  respect for your  
spiritual and intellectual manhood4 ,to 
maintain your  self-respect in your     
relations with her1 to perfect your     
growth and  happiness as a husband1 you 
must cause your physical nature to be   
tenderly cherished and reverenced by her
 in all the sacred intimacies of  home4 
,no matter how much she reverences your 
intellectual1 or your  social power1 if 
she shrinks with disgust from all       
contact with your  person1 if by reason 
of your uncalled-for passional          
manifestations1 you  have made your     
physical manhood disagreeable1 and all  
personal contact  painful1 how can you1 
in her presence1 preserve a sense of    
manly pride  and dignity as a husband8  
,you cannot1 if you respect yourself4   
,one distinctive characteristic of a    

true and noble husband is a feeling  of 
manly pride in the physical elements of 
his manhood4 ,his physical  manhood1 as 
well as his soul1 is dear to the heart  
of his wife1 because  through this he   
can give the fullest expression to his  
manly power4 ,but  if such              
manifestations are made when the wife is
 not prepared to receive  them1 and when
 she repels them and dreads the         
consequences1 his physical  nature      
becomes associated1 not with the pure   
joy of a longed-for  maternity1 but with
 a deep sense of shame and degradation1 
with an  outrage on her nature1 and with
 the protracted suffering and anguish of
  an abhorred maternity4 ,how can she   
respect the person of her husband8  ,how
 can she cherish1 and proudly care for1 
the purity1 health and  comfort of his  
physical nature8 ,he has made it        
disgusting to her4 ,she  regards it as  
the deadliest enemy of her purity and   
peace as a wife1 and  as the bane of her
 home4 ,she cannot look upon his person 

but as the  source of her degradation   
and ruin4 ,in its presence1 she feels as
 in the  presence of some hated reptile1
 from which her soul and senses shrink4 
,how can she lovingly cherish and care  
for it8 ,how can the husband  respect   
himself1 when by his own abuse of his   
wife and of himself1 he  has made his   
physical manhood thus contemptible to   
her8    ,how can you1 my friend1 avoid  
this8 ,how can you secure for your      
person  the loving care and respect of  
your wife8 ,there is but one way2 so    
manifest yourself to her1 in the hours  
of your most endearing  intimacies1 that
 all your manly power shall be          
associated only with all  that is       
generous1 just and noble in you1 and    
with purity1 freedom and  happiness in  
her4 ,make her feel that all which      
constitutes you a man1  and qualifies   
you to be her husband and the father of 
her children1  belongs to her1 and is   
sacredly consecrated to the perfection  
and  happiness of her nature4 ,do this1 

and the happiness of your home is made  
complete in righteousness4 ,your body   
will be lovingly and reverently  cared  
for1 because the wife of your bosom     
feels that it is the sacred  symbol     
through which a noble1 manly love is    
ever speaking to her1 to  cheer and     
sustain her4    ,woman is ever proud1   
and justly so1 of the manly passion of  
her husband1  when she knows it is      
controlled by a love for her1 whose     
manifestations  have regard only to her 
elevation and happiness4 ,the very power
 which1  when bent only on selfish      
indulgence1 becomes a source of more    
shame1  degradation1 disease and        
wretchedness1 to women and to children1 
than  all other things put together1    
does but ennoble her1 add grace and     
glory  to her being1 and concentrate and
 vitalize the love that encircles her   
as a wife1 when it is controlled by     
wisdom1 and consecrated to her  highest 
growth and happiness1 and that of her   
children4 ,it lends  enchantment to her 

person1 and gives a fascination to her  
smiles1 her  words and her caresses1    
which ever breathe of purity and of     
heaven1 and  make her all lovely as a   
wife and mother to her husband and the  
father  of her child4 ,manly passion is 
to the conjugal love of the wife like   
the  sun to the rosebud1 that opens its 
petals1 and causes them to give out     
their sweetest fragrance1 and to display
 their most delicate tints2 or  like the
 frost1 which chills and kills it ere it
 blossoms in its  richness and beauty4  
,beware1 then1 how you perpetrate this  
wrong against your wife1 as you  would  
secure her love and respect4 ,trifle not
 with the function of  ,maternity in    
her2 for as this comes to her as the    
crowning joy and glory  of her earthly  
existence1 or otherwise1 will be her    
estimate of you as  her husband and the 
father of her children4 ,see to it that 
she is never  subjected to the          
possibility of becoming a mother unless 
she calls for  it1 and is ready with joy

 to assume the responsibilities of      
maternity4    ,but ,i will let woman    
tell her own story4 ,she can speak on   
such a theme1  and tell her own needs   
and wrongs1 as no man can4 ,the         
following extracts  from a private      
letter will give you an insight into the
 wants and  feelings of a wife and      
mother in regard to this subject4 ,when 
woman  speaks of her feelings while     
suffering an undesired maternity1 let   
man  reverently give heed to her words3 
8,my maternal experience has been       
varied4 ,i have never been the          
recipient of a designed maternity1 but  
,i have that within me which    gives me
 an idea of what its joy and blessedness
 might be4 ,i have    never been forced1
 with entire repugnance on my part1 into
 the    relation which resulted in      
conception2 and yet ,i have suffered the
    keenest agonies in view of such a   
result4      8,in the first years of my 
married life1 ,i had no thought but to  
submit    to the passion of my husband1 

without regard to the consequences to   
myself4 ,as every true woman does1      
living in conjugal relations1 ,i        
desired to be caressed by my husband1   
and to be pressed to his manly    bosom4
 ,i did not suppose it was incumbent on 
him to control himself4      8,in an    
unwelcome maternity1 ,i have sometimes  
felt a deep repugnance    to the passion
 of my husband1--a sense of deep        
suffering and anguish    through it2 but
 ,i have usually been so encircled by   
love as to make me    forget this1 or   
rather1 shun such thoughts as sinful4   
,but since my    husband and ,i have    
come to a truer knowledge of parentage1 
,i have come    to #8love1 honor and    
cherish' those functions which ,i had   
before only    feared and obeyed4 ,i    
think this is not the feeling that      
married women    usually have towards   
the physical manhood of their husbands4 
,i never    heard a woman admit that her
 thoughts rested on the physical nature 
of    her husband with loving respect   

and womanly pride3 but ,i have heard1   
not unfrequently1 expressions of disgust
 instead4      8,i have known many      
instances in which the fathers of       
children1    unintentionally and        
unwillingly conceived1 became so        
repulsive to the    mother1 during      
gestation1 that they would be made      
seriously ill by    coming in contact   
with them1 in any way2 though ordinarily
 they would    be agreeable and         
congenial4      8,i have heard many     
women say they would gladly strangle    
their    children1 born of undesired    
maternity1 at birth1 could they do so   
with    safety to themselves4 ,i        
believe1 judging from a long and        
intimate    acquaintance with many      
mothers1 and from much conversation with
 them    on this subject1 that there are
 many children whose existence is       
undesigned by their fathers and         
undesired by their mothers4 ,yet among  
those heterogeneous and unnatural       
combinations called marriages1 there    

is enough love to produce some tolerable
 specimens of humanity2 and    when     
there is any thing remarkable in        
development1 there will be found        
physiological and psychological         
conditions sufficient to produce it4    
8,no words can express the helplessness1
 the sense of personal    desecration1  
the despair1 which sinks into the heart 
of woman when    forced to submit to    
maternity under adverse circumstances1  
and when    her own soul rejects it4 ,it
 is no matter of wonder that abortions  
are    purposely procured2 it is to me a
 matter of wonder that a single         
child1 undesignedly begotten and        
reluctantly conceived1 is ever          
suffered to mature in the organism of   
the mother4 ,her whole nature    repels 
it4 ,how can she regard its ante-natal  
development but with    sorrow and      
shrinking8      8,sensitive as woman    
ever is at such periods1 she rarely     
meets with any    special consideration2
 indeed1 that very situation is too     

often made    the occasion for increased
 passional indulgence on the part of the
    husband1 or of neglect and contempt4
 ,woman must have had1 doubtless    has1
 a very large amount of what you call   
the ,god-element in her    nature1 to   
enable her to do as well as she does in 
the function of    ,maternity1 under    
such debasing and depressing influences4
      8,the strength and energy of body 
and mind which were required properly   
to develop and give birth to one child1 
have been often taxed to    conceive and
 develop six or eight1 or perhaps ten or
 twelve4 ,would it    not be well to    
study economy in the function of        
,parentage1 as well as    in some other 
departments of domestic life8           
8,there are few1 very few1 wives and    
mothers who could not reveal a    sad1  
dark picture in their own experience1 in
 their relations to their    husbands   
and their children4 ,maternity1 and the 
relation in which it    originates1 are 
thrust upon them by their husbands1     

often without    regard to their        
spiritual or physical conditions1 and   
often in    contempt of their earnest   
and urgent entreaties4 ,no joy comes to 
their    hearts at the conception and   
birth of their children1 except that    
which arises from the consciousness that
 they have survived the    sufferings   
wantonly and selfishly inflicted on     
them4      8,there are facts enough     
illustrating the dire effects of an     
undesigned    and an undesired maternity
 to move the whole earth to sorrow and  
repentance1 if woman1 as a wife and     
mother1 dared give utterance to    the  
wrongs inflicted upon her and her       
children4 ,the living    illustrations  
of woman's wrongs1 inflicted on her in  
the holy of    holies of her home1 by   
those who had promised to #8love1       
cherish and    protect' her1 do now fill
 the earth4 ,to the influences bearing  
on the    unborn babe1 in consequence of
 the disregard1 by the husband1 of the  
conditions and wishes of the wife in    

reference to maternity1 and the         
intercourse that leads to it1 must we go
 to learn the causes of much    of the  
wrong and suffering of this world40     
,when woman's rights in regard to       
,maternity1 and to the relation that    
leads to it1 are truly understood and   
appreciated by man1 then1 and not       
before1 can marriage become what it was 
designed to be1--a diadem of  beauty1 a 
crown of glory1 to the husband and wife1
 and 8the power of ,god  and the wisdom 
of ,god0 unto salvation to the          
generations of the future4  ,husbands6  
if you would secure the loving respect  
of your wives1 you must  reverently     
regard their protest against an         
undesired ,maternity4                   
,h4 ,c4 ,w4                             
,,letter ,,iii4                         
,,the ,,crime ,,against ,,the ,,child4  
,,dear ,,friend3    ,in my last1 ,i     
showed1 at some length1 the crime of an 
undesired  maternity against the mother2
 how it affects her mind towards the    

father of her child2 how it tends to    
destroy all love and respect for  him1  
instead of increasing them2 how it      
destroys her self-respect1  strips her  
of the conscious pride and dignity of a 
loved and loving  wife1 and reduces her 
to the feeling and condition of a       
degraded1  self-condemned victim of     
legalized sensualism4 ,she feels        
polluted1  degraded1 outraged2 and that1
 too1 through the very function of her  
nature1 which should have filled and    
thrilled her soul with conscious  pride 
and happiness4    ,,the ,,crime         
,,against ,,the ,,child4--,allow me now 
to direct your attention to  this4 ,let 
the child of an undesigned and unwilling
 maternity arise  before your mind4     
,ponder what life is1 and how it is     
affected by  birthright                 
tendencies1--physical1 intellectual and 
spiritual2 see what a  struggle it is1  
at best1 and how difficult it is for    
those of the  soundest bodies and       
healthiest souls1 happily and           

successfully to meet  the conflict4     
,call to mind the two great facts       
alluded to in a former  letter1 viz43   
7#a7 ,that whatever comes to the child  
before birth1 must  come to it through  
the blood and organism of the mother4   
7#b7 ,that1 as  this substance passes   
through her system1 it must receive the 
impress of  her physical and mental     
conditions4 ,whatever temporarily       
affects her  conditions1 must           
permanently affect the character and    
destiny of her  child4    ,you may      
grievously wrong your child1 and subject
 it to physical and  mental tendencies  
that may deeply affect its character and
 happiness1  during its earthly         
existence1 by subjecting it to the      
liability of  inheriting the unhealthy  
and imbecile conditions in which you and
 the  mother may be1 at the time the    
relation was held in which it           
originated4  ,mere sensual gratification
 was the sole and single motive that    
prompted  to the relation2 and even in  

that1 your wife had no part4 ,her heart1
 it  may be1 not only prayed against    
conception1 as a calamity more to be    
dreaded than death1 but this very horror
 of the consequences  disqualified her  
to participate in the relation1 when it 
was entirely  mutual1 and truly and     
rightly prompted4 ,her very soul shrank 
from it2  and she submitted to it merely
 to gratify you1 or because she had been
  taught to believe it a duty incumbent 
on all women who enter the married      
relation1--a duty to which she must     
submit1 or be accounted a faithless     
wife1--regardless of the wishes of her  
husband1 and false to her  obligations  
as a wife4    ,duty6 ,talk of duty in   
such a relation6 ,a duty for a woman to 
submit  to such a relation1 when her own
 soul not only does not sanction1 but   
loathes it6 ,a duty in a woman thus to  
lay her health1 her  self-respect1 and  
her very womanhood1 on the altar of     
legalized  sensualism6 ,a duty to become
 a prostitute1--a mere tool of her      

husband's gratification6 ,it is a horrid
 mockery6 ,as well talk to her of  her  
duty to cut her throat6 ,no man1 but a  
sensualist1 could ever  accept the      
surrender of a woman's person in such   
relation1 when he knows  it is made     
without any call in her own nature1 and 
merely to satisfy his  passion4    ,your
 only object1 it may be1 in this        
relation1 is mere sensual  indulgence4  
,not one thought or care for the welfare
 of the child that  may ensue enters    
your mind4 ,consequently1 you are       
utterly indifferent to  your physical or
 mental conditions1 at the time4 ,your  
passion being  excited1 your only aim   
is1 its gratification4 ,your wife may be
 in a  state of utter prostration1      
physically and mentally1--severe toil1  
deep  anxiety1 sad disappointment1 or   
some torturing care1 may have exhausted 
her energies1 and reduced her to a state
 of imbecility1 for the time  being4    
,despite all this1 she is liable to     
conception4 ,you heed not her           

conditions nor her wishes1 but demand   
indulgence1 regardless of her  happiness
 or that of the child which may result  
therefrom4 ,she submits1  rather than   
contend4 ,maternity ensues4 ,the mother 
imparts no vitality to  the child in its
 conception4 ,it is conceived in        
weakness1 is developed  in joyless1     
lifeless imbecility1 or intense anguish4
 ,it is born an  idiot1 or without      
sufficient vital force to develop it    
into life with  the ordinary energies   
and faculties of a man or woman4    ,on 
all hands1 society is full of the       
victims of such a relation1--of a       
maternity forced on woman when1 from    
various causes1 body and soul are       
prostrated1 and too destitute of vital  
energy even for the ordinary  demands of
 daily life2 how much more destitute of 
that fulness and vigor  of life1 so     
necessary to the sublime and responsible
 act of true and  healthy conception6   
,if ever the current of life should flow
 with deep1  concentrated1 joyous energy

 in woman1 it should be in the moment of
  conception1 when she takes charge of  
the germ of a new and immortal  life1   
and enters upon the sublime and         
overwhelming responsibilities of        
maternity4 ,then1 indeed1 she needs that
 all the energies of her  womanhood     
should be in most perfect and healthful 
activity2 then1 if  ever1 she should be 
filled 8with all the fulness of ,god40  
,but not only are the vital forces of   
your wife exhausted by other labors  and
 anxieties1 but your own energies are1  
from various causes1  prostrated4 ,yet1 
excited by some artificial stimulant1   
and when the  vital forces of your      
manhood are powerless1 you demand this  
relation  with your wife4 ,maternity is 
the result4 ,what have you done for your
  child8 ,imparted to it1 not the true  
life and vigor of your manhood1 but  its
 momentary imbecility4 ,your child1 it  
may be1 is rendered imbecile in  body   
and idiotic in mind1 solely through your
 fault4 ,you exhausted your  life1 and  

then gave that exhausted1 soulless life 
to your child4 ,you  exercised no wise  
and manly forethought for your child4   
,its well-being  entered not into your  
designs2 only your own gratification4   
,hence1 for  your child's sake1 you used
 no exertions1 by abstinence from       
exhausting  toil or enfeebling          
amusements and indulgences1 to exalt and
 perfect your  physical and mental      
energies2 but by debilitating pleasures1
 by  sleepless nights1 spent in pursuit 
of amusement1 by dissipating games1  and
 by exhausting indulgences in the use of
 narcotic and alcoholic  drugs1 drinks  
and food1 you are rendered imbecile to  
think1 to feel1 or  to act4 ,and these  
conditions you entail on your child as  
its birthright1  lifelong1 fearful      
legacy1 from the effects of which no    
power can rescue  it4 ,can you do a     
greater wrong to your child8 ,can you   
commit against it  a greater crime8 ,a  
living death is its doom4    ,when      
should man be a living soul1 if not in  

that relation in which he  originates a 
new immortal8 ,in that moment1 so       
replete with human  destiny1 if ever1   
every nerve of his being should be      
filled and thrilled  with that creative 
energy1 that concentrated1 vitalizing   
power which  said1 8,let there be light1
 and there was light20 and which says of
  creation1 8,he spake1 and it was done2
 he commanded1 and it stood fast40  ,so 
man1 in that moment of sublime          
consecration of his manhood to its      
purest and most august function1 should 
have a great1 energetic1 living  soul1  
in a living body4 ,he performs an act of
 deeper significance than  that which   
gave existence and glory to the sun and 
stars--an act1 from  which is to arise a
 living soul1 deathless as ,god in its  
being1 and  capable of reaching         
unimaginable heights of wisdom and love4
    ,your child has claims which you    
cannot1 without injustice1              
ignore1--claims that reach beyond its   
birth1 and even its conception4 ,its    

first claim is1 to a designed existence1
 if it is to exist at all4  ,only in    
such an existence can it hope for a true
 and noble nature4 ,only  in a relation1
 designed to give existence to a        
well-organized child1 can  you exercise 
a true1 rational1 and tender forethought
 for your  offspring4 ,the offspring of 
a relation held merely for the          
gratification  of one or both parents1  
of a mere chance maternity1 how can it  
but  reflect with sorrow and bitterness 
on the wrong of its parents8 ,the       
child1 as it comes to years of          
reflection1 feels degraded in its       
origin4  ,no lofty aspirations1 no      
tender love1 no animating hopes1 no     
earnest  prayer1 no deep1 holy longings1
 no vitalizing joy1 no conscious pride  
and dignity1 no ,god1 presided over the 
relation in which it originated2  but   
shrinking disgust in one parent1 and    
brutal sensuality1 and  indifference to 
its welfare1 in the other4 ,no ,gloria  
in ,excelsis was  sung by angels or men 

over its conception or birth2 but       
sensualism1  shame1 anguish1 and1 it may
 be1 curses deep and bitter1 attended   
its  entrance into life4 ,what must a   
child1 as it grows to maturity1 think of
  an existence thus begun1 and of those 
who could trifle with the deepest  and  
most potent memories of the past in     
their offspring8 ,would you thus  live  
in the hearts of your children8 ,if not1
 then do them not this foul  wrong4 ,on 
your part1 let the existence of your    
child be a designed and  a longed-for   
existence4 ,what proportion of cases of 
maternity result  from a relation held  
with a view to the development of a     
child8 ,few1  very few1 compared to the 
number born4 ,the relation was held     
without any  wish or design to have a   
child2 but solely with a view to sensual
  gratification4 ,consequently1 the     
child must inherit1 to some extent1 the 
conditions the parents happen to be in  
at the moment4 ,the child is  robbed of 
a pure1 true1 thoughtful birthright1 and

 is the offspring of  reckless1 selfish 
passion1 rather than of a tender1       
anxious1 thoughtful  and far-seeing     
love4 ,never subject your wife to the   
possibility of a  maternity which1 on   
your part1 is undesigned1 and1 on her   
part1  undesired4 ,your reward will be  
great and sure1 in the ever-growing love
  and respect of your wife1 in the      
healthful and harmonious organization   
and upward tendencies of your children1 
and in the consciousness of an          
ever-growing tenderness and nobleness of
 manhood in yourself4    ,the power of  
the mother over the child1 after birth1 
is conceded to be  great2 what1 then1   
must it be before8 ,who can estimate it8
 ,reasoning  from the facts ,i have     
stated1 we should conclude it to be     
absolute1 and  without limit4 ,for good 
or for evil1 it must be great4 ,the     
organic and  constitutional tendencies  
of body and soul to health or disease1  
to good  or evil1 are settled previous  
to birth4 ,the character and destiny of 

the  future man or woman depend1        
essentially1 on those ante-natal        
tendencies4  ,these depend on the       
influences that are brought to bear on  
the child  during that period4 ,whatever
 agencies bear1 injuriously or          
otherwise1 on  the mother1 must control 
the unborn child with greater and more  
permanent effect4 ,what influence has an
 abhorred maternity on the  conditions  
of the mother8 ,it must be great2 but   
great as it is1 it is  still greater and
 more abiding on the child4 ,its        
post-natal life will  be more affected  
by those ante-natal influences1 than by 
all that are  brought to bear on it     
after its birth4 ,the crime against the 
mother is  great1 but the crime against 
the child is greater1 and more enduring 
and  terrible in its consequences4      
,when maternity is imposed on your wife 
without her consent1 and contrary  to   
her appeal1 how will her mind           
necessarily be affected towards her     
child8 ,it was conceived in dread1 and  

in bitterness of spirit4 ,every  stage  
of its ftal development is watched with 
a feeling of settled  repugnance4 ,in   
every step of its ante-natal progress1  
the child meets  only with grief and    
indignation in the mother4 ,she would   
crush out its  life1 if she could4 ,she 
loathed its conception2 she loathed it  
in every  stage of its ante-natal       
development4 ,she cannot love and       
cherish it1 for  nought1 it may be1 is  
associated with its existence1 from the 
beginning1  but pain and sorrow4        
,tender1 cherishing1 vitalizing love    
does not  preside over its conception   
and development1 but grief and anguish4 
,instead of fixing her mind on devising 
ways and means for the healthful  and   
happy organization and development of   
her child1 before it is born1  and for  
its post-natal comfort and support1 her 
soul is intent on its  destruction1 and 
her thoughts devise plans to kill it4   
,in this1 how often is she aided by     
others6 ,there are those1 and they are  

called men and women1 whose profession  
is to devise ways to kill  children     
before they are born4 ,those who do this
 would not hesitate to  kill them after 
they are born2 for the state of mind    
that would justify  and instigate       
ante-natal child-murder1 would justify  
and instigate  post-natal child-murder4 
,yet1 public sentiment consigns the     
murderer  of post-natal children to the 
dungeon or the gallows2 while the       
murderers of ante-natal children are    
often allowed to pass in society as     
honest and honorable men and women4     
,the unwelcome child is ever before the 
mother4 ,she regards it as a            
sacrilegious intruder into the domain of
 her life2 an invader of the  holy of   
holies of her being4 ,she had never     
called for it2 it was thrust  upon her1 
as it were1 by fraud and violence4      
,besides1 it is the child of  one whom  
this very outrage has caused her to     
dread or despise4 ,the child  is ever   
present to her1 not as a pledge of love1

 an answer to the  earnest prayer of her
 wifely soul1 as a source of living joy 
and  ennobling hopes2 but as a witness  
of her shame and degradation1 and of    
the great wrong done her by its father1 
and by one whom she had loved  and      
trusted1 but to be betrayed4 ,she meets 
her innocent1 unconscious  babe1 at     
every step of its ante-natal            
development1 with a frown1 and  beats it
 back with threats and weapons of death4
    ,what makes that mother feel so     
towards her unborn babe8 ,it is to her  
an  unwelcome child4 ,maternity is      
thrust upon her before she is prepared  
for it4 ,her body shrinks from the      
suffering it brings to her2 her soul    
sanctions not1 but abhors1 its          
existence4 ,god1 speaking through the   
body  and soul of that mother1 frowns on
 its conception1 its development1 and   
its birth4 ,its mother1 and the ,god of 
its mother1 are conspiring against  the 
health1 the happiness1 the character and
 destiny1 of the child1 and  of the     

future man or woman4 ,how can that      
child1 as it comes to man's or  woman's 
estate1 possibly be in harmony with ,god
 or man8 ,elements of  strife were      
incorporated1 by its father's agency1   
into its body and  soul1 as its         
birthright inheritance4    ,it is vain  
to talk to her about cheerfully and     
joyfully submitting to  her condition1  
and1 for her child's sake1 to give it a 
loving1 joyous  welcome4 ,she cannot1 by
 an effort of will1 nor by any course of
  discipline1 nor from considerations of
 duty1 compel her nature to  acquiesce  
in such a wrong to herself and her      
child1 and willingly and  joyfully      
accept a maternity thrust upon her in   
contempt of her dearest  and most sacred
 rights1 and in opposition to her       
heart's appeals for  mercy4 ,she finds  
no call in her nature for a child2 she  
cannot create it  by an effort of will4 
,she is not yet prepared1 mentally or   
physically1  to meet the sufferings and 
responsibilities of such a relation4    

,she can  no more force herself into    
giving a loving reception to that       
unwelcome  child1 and to that undesired 
maternity1 than she can force herself   
into  a true love and respect for the   
father of such a child1 and the doer of 
this wrong4    ,just so far as she was  
accessory to its conception1 and a      
willing  partner in the relation in     
which it originated1 she is responsible1
 and  worthy of condemnation2 but she is
 not to blame for not joyfully          
accepting a maternity thrust upon her   
without her consent4 ,as well blame  a  
woman for not loving and respecting a   
husband thrust upon her by  parental1   
ecclesiastical1 or civil authority1 and 
from whom1 by the  instincts of her     
nature1 she is strongly repelled4 ,as   
well blame the  flower for shrinking    
from the mildew that blights it1 or the 
dove for  shrinking from the vulture    
that would rend it4    ,war is declared 
between that mother and her child before
 it is born2 a  war that must be lasting

 as life1--a deadly conflict1 to which  
the  happiness1 and1 it may be1 the life
 of the child must be victimized4 ,no   
efforts of the mother of your child1    
after it is born1 can make peace        
between her and her child1 and          
obliterate from its mind all traces of  
the wrong done to it before it was born4
 ,and this internal1 organic  discord1  
this war1 must extend to you1 the       
father1 as well as to the  mother4 ,the 
mother cannot feel toward your child1   
thus originated1 as  she would had her  
soul rejoiced in its conception1 its    
development and  birth1 with a pure1    
concentrated joy1 which such a maternity
 alone can  bring4 ,after the child of  
an undesired maternity is born1 pity for
 the  helpless babe1 rather than a      
rapturous welcome to a longed-for       
treasure1  prompts her to care for      
it1--though facts demonstrate that a    
deadly hate  in the mother's heart can  
pursue the offspring of such a maternity
 after  it is born4 ,yet before it is   

born1 but one feeling fills her soul1--a
  feeling of deep1 settled hostility    
against its existence1--a feeling that  
it has no right to be4 ,its existence is
 unsanctioned and unconsecrated  by its 
mother4 ,the child struggles into life  
against the spirit of  murder in her    
heart4 ,talk of a mother's joy over such
 a birth6 ,it is  blasphemy against     
,maternity4    ,pause1 my friend1 and   
let your thoughts dwell on this subject4
 ,you would  exalt and perfect human    
nature4 ,you live but to people this    
earth with  nobler types of men and     
women4 ,it is the only true and great   
end of  life4 ,if you would labor for   
this sublime object1 pause and consider 
this crime1 in its bearing on the mother
 towards your child1 and through  her1  
on the character and destiny of that    
child4 ,enter into and  comprehend1 if  
you can1 the feelings which an undesired
 maternity must  excite in the mind of  
your wife towards your child4 ,measure1 
if you can1  the wrong done your child  

by giving it being under such           
circumstances4  ,see its helplessness1  
its innocence1 and the crime you        
perpetrate  against it4 ,can that child 
love and respect you8 ,can it ever      
forgive  you8 ,can it ever be reconciled
 to you8 ,in vain you talk to such a    
child  about filial gratitude and       
obedience4 ,it will answer by pointing  
you to  paternal wrong1 inflicted on its
 helplessness4 ,disobedience1           
ingratitude and defiance are            
constitutional1--bred in its bones1     
organized into every fibre of its being4
    ,consider well the power your wife  
holds over your child1 and over its     
destiny as a man or woman1 and          
ask--,shall that power be for good or   
evil8  ,shall it be exerted to give your
 child a beautiful1 healthy1 vigorous   
body1 or a body corrupted and deformed  
by a painful and loathsome  disease8    
,shall it be used to secure to your     
child's soul tenderness1  truth1        
justice1 generosity and nobleness1 or   

wrath1 revenge1 meanness  and           
falsehood8--to impress on its moral     
nature the stamp of ,divinity1 or  the  
stamp of a thief1 a slaveholder1 a      
pirate1 a murderer1 or an  assassin8    
,it is for you1 the husband and father1 
to answer these questions4  ,mainly1 if 
not entirely1 you are to decide whether 
this great power  shall be a blessing or
 a curse to your child4 ,how8 ,never    
impose on your  wife a maternity1 except
 at the call of her own nature4 ,when   
she is  ready to take charge of the germ
 of a new life1 and can joyfully welcome
  the responsibilities and trials of its
 development and birth1 then1 and  never
 till then1 impart it to her4 ,then will
 a tenderness ineffable1 a  love that is
 all-hoping1 all-enduring and           
all-pervading1 and a joy  unspeakable   
and full of glory1 preside1 like a wise 
and loving  ,providence1 over the       
conception1 ante-natal growth and       
education1 and  the birth of your child4
 ,a heart1 tender1 loving and vigilant  

as the  heart of ,god1 will watch over  
it for good4 ,the perfection and        
happiness  of your child will be the one
 controlling motive of her life1 and    
whether she eat or drink1 labor or rest1
 or whatever she does1 she will  do all 
to the glory of that priceless and most 
welcome charge you have  committed to   
her care4    ,how ennobling1 how        
imposing is ,maternity1 when thus       
bestowed and thus  accepted6 ,how       
sublime its responsibilities1 how pure  
its joys6 ,how  heroic its sufferings1  
how august its martyrdom1 when thus     
joyfully and  calmly endured6 ,there is 
no heroism of earth so imposing1 so     
sublime1  and so full of glory1 as that 
of ,maternity1 when joyfully accepted1  
and  lovingly and calmly endured6 ,no   
human act can be so potent and so       
lasting in its results4 ,but no agony is
 so appalling as that of a  ,maternity  
from which the soul of woman shrinks    
with disgust and horror4    ,the        
character of individual and social man1 

and the destiny of the race1  are       
wrapped up in ,maternity4 ,shall a      
function so replete with suffering  and 
responsibility be imposed on woman1     
against her prayers and her  tears1     
merely for the momentary gratification  
of man8 ,manhood as well as  womanhood1 
cries out against the outrage4 ,all that
 is true and noble in  man says1        
8,forbear60 ,only that which is sensual1
 brutal1 devilish1 can  perpetrate this 
wrong against the mother and child1 or  
approve of it4    ,woman would find rest
 and fulness of joy in man4 ,she rushes 
to him as to  her tower of strength1 to 
shelter and be sheltered to love and be 
loved1  to bless and be blessed4 ,a love
 that knows no fear1 a trust that fears 
no danger1 lay her in his bosom1 and    
prompt to and consecrate the entire     
surrender of her soul and body to his   
manly keeping4 ,will you call that  man 
true1 noble or honorable1 who can take  
advantage of a love so pure  and a trust
 so boundless1 to impose on her a       

suffering and anguish1 and  a           
responsibility1 for which she is not    
prepared1 and from which her soul       
shrinks2 thus placing her in an         
unnatural position in regard to her     
child1 and thus outraging his own       
offspring1 by giving it an existence    
loathed even by the mother who give it  
birth8 ,what shall be said of the  man  
who will commit a deed so atrocious8 ,a 
husband he is not2 he ignores  the first
 principles of a true and noble manhood4
 ,he is but a selfish1  disgusting      
sensualist4 ,a father he is not1        
deserving tender and loving  reverence  
from his wife1 but an ,,animal1 whose   
brutal gratification is  the first law  
of life1 and one whom neither mother nor
 child can  respect4    ,but ,i will    
reserve further remarks on this subject 
until my next letter4                   
,thine1      ,h4 ,c4 ,w4                
,,letter ,,iv4    ,,the ,,crime         
,,against ,,the ,,child1 ,,as           
,,affecting ,,its ,,ante-,,natal        

,,education4      ,,dear ,,friend3      
,in the preceding letter1 ,i have shown 
how1 and to what extent1 a  maternity1  
undesigned by the father and undesired  
by the mother1 affects  the             
organization1 character and destiny1 of 
the child4 ,i wish to pursue  the       
question still further4    ,life is     
before you1--a long and happy one1 ,i   
trust4 ,may it increase in  goodness and
 usefulness as it does in years6 ,your  
power is great1 and  will be greater4   
,already the minds of thousands are     
deeply and  permanently influenced by   
you4 ,i know that ,,man1 and not        
institutions or  dogmas1 is the object  
of your devotion2 that the              
all-controlling1 ever  present sentiment
 of your life is1 the supremacy of man  
over his  incidents4 ,i know that you   
reverence man1 not his incidents4 ,you  
feel1  and in your life seek to embody  
the truth1 that man is eternal1 his     
institutions transient and              
ever-changing4 ,man is the great fact2  

his  religious1 social1 governmental1   
ecclesiastical1 literary1 monetary and  
commercial surroundings are merely      
passing incidents of his existence1  to 
be changed or cast away as suits his    
growth and convenience4 ,man is  the    
substance1 all else the shadow4 ,the    
appendages will be laid aside1  but man 
will live1 deathless as ,god4 ,you would
 never sacrifice man to  his incidents2 
the head to the hat1 or the body to the 
coat1--the  enduring substance to the   
passing shadow4    ,you see and worship 
,god in man1 not in his incidents4 ,in  
those relations  which bear most        
directly and powerfully on the          
development1 purity and  nobility of    
your manhood1 and on your character and 
destiny1 you  recognize the most perfect
 manifestation of the ,divine presence  
and  power4 ,in them1 the great thinking
 intellect and pulsating heart of the   
universe1--the ,god-element of          
,nature1--speak to you as in nothing    
else4    ,of all your relations1 which  

is most potent to develop your manhood1 
to  unfold to yourself1 and to all1 the 
hidden wealth and depths of your  being2
 to vitalize and call into manly        
activity all the powers of your         
physical and intellectual nature8 ,your 
soul promptly answers1 8,that of  the   
,,husband and the ,,father40 ,no man who
 has lived in those relations can  doubt
 the truth of your answer4 ,god speaks  
to you through your wife and  child1 as 
through no other being of the past or   
present4 ,through those  loved ones1    
,he1 as it were1 renders himself        
visible1 audible1 tangible  to you1 and 
you meet him and talk with him face to  
face4 ,they are his  natural prophets   
and messiahs to you--the media through  
which the  ,god-element of the universe 
flows into you1 quickening and          
vitalizing1  and arousing to energetic  
activity1 all the powers of your        
manhood4  ,through them1 an influence is
 thrown upon and around you1 which      
silently1 but surely1 defines and shapes

 your plans of life1 and  quickens1     
expands1 and ennobles your affections4  
,in them1 a ,,presence is  ever before  
you1 whose beauty and brightness        
illuminate your pathway1  and which is  
ever beckoning you onward and upward1   
and breathing into  your soul a desire  
and a daring to reach the sublimest     
height of purity  and nobleness4 ,in    
truth1 you may say1 in your wife and    
child are the  hidings of ,god's power1 
to form your character and shape your   
destiny4    ,what1 then1 so important to
 you1 as a true knowledge and just      
appreciation of your relations as a     
husband and father8 ,as a husband and   
father1 you can do more to elevate and  
perfect the human type1 and to  save    
yourself1 than you can in any other     
relation3 political1  ecclesiastical1   
commercial and social relations are     
insignificant1 in  comparison4 ,i know  
you live but to glorify the nature you  
bear1 and to  enjoy that glorified      
nature forever4 ,such being with you the

 chief end  of existence1 ,i ask you to 
weigh1 with candor and earnestness1 the 
following observations on ,,the         
,,ante-,,natal ,,education ,,and        
,,history ,,of ,,man4 ,i  have long been
 accustomed to consider human beings in 
connection with  three states1 and to   
think1 speak and write on the           
comparative influence  of these states  
on their character and destiny3    #a4  
,the state preceding birth1 which ,i am 
accustomed to call the  ,ante-,natal    
state4    #b4 ,the state between birth  
and death1 or the embodied state4    #c4
 ,the state after death1 or the         
disembodied state4 ,the two last1 the   
,post-,natal spheres or states4         
,religion1 government1 education1       
commerce1 agriculture1 mechanics1       
literature1 the press1 the              
convention1--these hitherto1 have       
confined  attention1 almost exclusively1
 to human life in its post-natal        
spheres1  embodied or disembodied4 ,they
 take up human beings1 after they are   

born1 and seek to do for them what they 
may to promote their welfare2  and much 
of the doing consists in trying to undo 
what had been done for  them in the     
ante-natal state4 ,to a great extent1 in
 promoting the  education of children1  
this state has been ignored1 as having  
no  connection with the character and   
destiny in the post-natal spheres4      
,come1 my friend1 go with me back to    
that which ,church and ,state have      
overlooked1 and view human beings       
between conception and birth4 ,the      
period is brief2 but is it not          
important8 ,is it powerless8 ,are no    
influences exerted and no events        
transpiring there1 of sufficient moment 
to render them worthy attention1 in     
considering the history and  estimating 
the character of the individual man or  
woman1 or of states  and nations8       
,many years since1 the conviction was   
settled in my mind1 that that  period1  
though so brief1 and hidden from        
observation in the very holy of  holies 

of the temple of life1 has more to do in
 giving tone to our  feelings1          
intensity1 activity and character to our
 passions and  appetites1 direction to  
our thoughts and plans1 and in moulding 
our  character and shaping our destiny1 
in the post-natal spheres of our  being1
 than all that is brought to bear on us 
after we are born4 ,,our  ,,ante-,,natal
 ,,history ,,is ,,the ,,key ,,to ,,our  
,,post-,,natal ,,life4 ,there is not a  
man  or woman who is not a living       
witness to the truth of this assertion4 
,i think it cannot be doubted1 that much
 of the physical disease and  suffering1
 and much of the idiocy1 insanity1 and  
mental and moral  obliquity of our      
post-natal1 embodied state1 is the      
result of our  ante-natal organization4 
,much1 indeed1 is done for us before the
 germs  of our being leave the paternal 
organism4 ,they must1 to a greater or   
less extent1 receive the impress of the 
father's conditions of body and  soul2  
and he will do a service to the world   

who shall show to fathers  their        
responsibilities in this matter4 ,but   
,maternity is the subject  under        
consideration2 and in discussing this1  
my concern with the germ is  after the  
mother takes charge of it4 ,the period  
between conception and  birth is that to
 which ,i would call your attention4    
,from a long and critical observation of
 facts1 and a persevering effort  to    
trace the physical1 intellectual1 social
 and spiritual conditions and  phenomena
 of the individual and social lives of  
children and adults1 in  the many       
thousands of families in which1 for a   
longer or shorter time1 ,i  have been an
 inmate1 ,i long ago came to the        
conclusion1 that to their               
,,ante-,,natal ,,education1 men and     
women are more beholden for their       
healthful or diseased physical          
conditions1 sufferings or enjoyments1   
and  for their mental and spiritual     
tendencies1 their peculiarities of      
temper  and disposition1 their aptitudes

 to truth or falsehood1 to justice or   
injustice1 to love or hate1 to peace or 
war1 to temperance or  drunkenness1 to  
forgiveness or revenge1 to sexual purity
 or impurity1 to  happiness or misery1  
than to all the influences that are     
brought to bear  on them1 after they are
 born1 to whatever age they may attain4 
,these  tendencies1 whether of body or  
soul1 are mainly1 if not entirely1      
organized as fixed facts of existence in
 the individual man or woman1 in  their 
ante-natal state4 ,there is not a human 
being1 there never was one1  and never  
will be1 whose whole life is not        
essentially1 constantly1 and  in its    
minutest details instigated and         
directed1 more or less1 by  gestational 
influences4    ,if this be so1 where are
 we to look for the forming and         
controlling  causes of human character  
and destiny1 and of physical1 mental1   
and  spiritual idiosyncrasies8 ,where   
shall we go to find the true foundations
  of biography and history1 and the     

controlling elements of all religions   
and governments8 ,where go to find the  
mainsprings of war1 slavery1            
drunkenness1 polygamy1 licentiousness1  
and of all the sufferings1  anguish and 
woes of marriage and domestic life1 that
 arise from the  abuse of the sexual    
element8 ,where go to find the cause of 
a repulsive  and loathed maternity1 and 
of the horrors to which it leads8       
,where1  indeed1 but to the germs of    
diseases1 and the aptitudes to good or  
evil1  that were organized into the     
bodies and souls of men and women1 as   
fixed  facts and elements of life1 by   
influences that were brought to bear    
upon  them1 through the maternal        
organism1 between the periods of        
conception  and birth8    ,this         
ante-natal education makes the man and  
woman1 the ,religion and  ,government1  
the ,church and ,state1 the social1     
educational1 and  commercial customs and
 institutions2 and whoever attempts to  
write the  biography of an individual1  

or the history of a ,church or ,state1  
without  reference to that education1   
and its controlling power over human    
character and destiny1 fails to present 
the whole truth4 ,he fails to  trace    
effects to their causes1 and must       
necessarily give a partial or  perverted
 view of the phenomena of life4         
8,maxima debetur pueris reverentia40    
,the greatest reverence is due to       
childhood4 ,thus sang the ,roman poet   
,juvenal1 two thousand years ago4       
,reverence childhood6 ,if this be so    
important after the child is born1  how 
much more reverence is due to ante-natal
 childhood8 ,be thy hands  clean1 thy   
robes spotless1 thy looks1 thy tones1   
thy mien1 tender1  sweet1 loving1       
reverential1 and thy heart filled and   
thrilled with pure  worship1 as thou    
enterest the temple of man's ante-natal 
life6 ,with  these feelings1 enter with 
me the very holy of holies of that      
temple1  over which ,god spreads his    
wings of tenderest love and highest     

wisdom1  as protecting cherubims and    
seraphims4 ,behold1 there1 the          
unconscious  future man or woman1 in a  
process of gestational organization and 
development1 subjected to influences    
over which he or she has no  control1   
and receiving a physical1 intellectual1 
social and spiritual  education that is 
to decide the character1 for good or    
evil1 for  happiness or misery1 in the  
great future that is opening before     
them4    ,see what a future is wrapped  
up in that unconscious embryo man or    
woman6  ,it may be that the fates of    
states and empires are being inscribed1 
by  some unseen power1 on that body and 
soul4 ,already that unformed child  may 
hold in its grasp the destinies of      
millions and of ages4 ,but who is  the  
educator8 ,who guides the pen that is   
inscribing peace or war1  liberty or    
slavery1 life or death1 to those        
millions and those ages1 and  the scroll
 of destiny to states and kingdoms1 to  
religions and  governments on the soul  

of that unborn babe8 ,,the ,,mother4    
,through her  must come every element   
essential to constitute the body and    
soul of  that child2 and1 as it passes  
through her system1 it must receive the 
stamp of her physical1 social and       
spiritual conditions4    ,keep in mind  
the great fact1 that the mental states  
of the mother1  during gestation1 must  
necessarily and permanently affect every
 particle  of that substance which goes 
to make the organization and growth of  
her  child1 for good or evil4 ,whatever 
injuriously affects her thoughts and    
feelings1 must permanently affect the   
physical1 social1 intellectual and      
moral aptitudes of her child4           
,suppose that you have1 undesignedly and
 without her consent1 imposed  maternity
 on your wife4 ,on discovering the fact1
 it becomes most  repulsive to her      
nature4 ,she is not prepared to bear the
 cross and  endure the crucifixion4     
,instantly1 her soul is filled with     
murderous  intent4 ,she resolves to nip 

and crush the opening bud of life1--to  
procure abortion1--that is1 to commit   
the deed of ante-natal  child-murder4   
,she does not feel that it is her child4
 ,she may regard  it as yours1 but she  
cannot acknowledge it as her own2 and   
though it  must receive its gestational 
development in her organism1 she cannot 
tenderly and lovingly cherish and guard 
it1 as bone of her bone1 flesh  of her  
flesh1 and soul of her soul4 ,it is so  
in fact1 but not in her  feelings4 ,she 
asked not for it2 her soul repels it as 
an intruder1  thrust upon her without   
her consent1 and in contempt1 it may be1
 of her  earnest remonstrance1--for thus
 it often is4 ,the child1 she feels1 has
 no  right to an existence at her       
expense1 and who shall say it has8 ,an  
uninvited and hated intruder is         
exhausting her vital energies1 and      
robbing her of that which no earthly    
treasures can ever restore or           
recompense4 ,through her physical       
suffering and mental anguish1 an        

unbidden and loathed guest is feeding   
and thriving on her heart's blood4      
,desperation1 and the bitterness of     
death1 are in her heart4 ,,murder fills 
her soul towards your unconscious and   
innocent babe4    ,who is responsible8  
,on whom rests the guilt8 ,it is your   
work4 ,you forced  that heavy burden    
upon her1 and compelled her to bear it4 
,you thrust  your child1 as an intruder1
 into the sacred domain of her life1 to 
derive existence through her organism   
and at her expense1 knowing that  she   
was not prepared to welcome it1 and to  
bend the forces of her nature  to its   
growth and support2 and contrary1 it may
 be1 to her earnest  entreaties that she
 might be spared this pain and anguish  
till she was  ready joyfully to welcome 
them4 ,but you heeded not her prayer2   
you  assumed the right to decide for her
 when she was prepared to endure  these 
trials1 and under what circumstances she
 should be a mother4 ,you  must have    
your stated gratification2 you have     

abused your manhood and  your wife1 till
 this indulgence1 as you think1 has     
become as essential a  want of your life
 as your daily food1--as the drunkard   
feels that alcohol  is as essential as  
air to his existence and happiness2 and 
so you impose  on her a maternity which 
her soul abhors4 ,you horribly tax her  
vital  energies1 8without her consent40 
,murder is in her heart towards the     
uninvited and hated intruder you have   
introduced into the sanctuary of  her   
life4    ,that mother1 whose heart is   
thus filled with murder towards your    
child1  is its educator6 ,into her hands
 you committed its destiny2 and in the  
very act of so doing1 you aroused in her
 heart the spirit of murder  against the
 unconscious1 innocent being whom she is
 to nourish into  life4 ,in the very act
 of committing the germ of the new      
immortal to her1  you destroyed in her  
the power to be its loving1 nursing     
mother4 ,you  knew that she would not   
and could not love and reverence it1 and

 do  justice to it2 that she would hate 
it1 and kill it if she could4 ,all  this
 you knew1 yet you forced the charge    
upon her6    ,suppose your child were   
born2 would you commit its education and
 destiny  to one1 who1 as you knew1     
would cherish murder in her heart       
towards it1  who would 8get rid of it0  
7as the phrase is71 i4e41 kill it1 if   
she  could without injury to            
herself1--yes1 and kill it although at  
the risk  of death to herself1 such     
being her dread and her loathing of the 
charge8 ,you would1 yourself1 be the    
murderer1 if you did4 ,should you       
commit the post-natal education and     
happiness of your child to such a       
woman1 knowing her utter repugnance to  
the charge1 and her determination  to   
8get rid of it0 if she could1--would you
 not be responsible for the             
consequences1 whether she killed it1 or 
whether she preserved it alive1  only to
 infuse into it a deadly wrath and      
revenge towards you1 and  towards all of

 human kind8 ,you would4 ,you knew she  
loathed its existence  when you thrust  
it upon her1 and that she would destroy 
the young life  if she could2 and that1 
if it lived to grow up under the        
training of  such a spirit1 it must be  
at war1 in heart and life1 with all its 
surroundings1 must be unloved and       
unloving1 hated and hating1 and an      
object of anxiety and dread to all with 
whom it might chance to be  associated4 
,what else do you do1 when you impose on
 your wife a maternity unasked  and     
abhorred8 ,you commit the development   
and education of your child1  during the
 most important and susceptible period  
of its existence1 to  one who assures   
you she is not prepared for the charge1 
who entreats you  to spare her1 and who 
loathes the very thought of its         
existence4 ,every  element of her       
womanly nature1 for the time being1     
recoils from its  presence in her       
system4 ,she pleads that you would spare
 her this burden1  at this time1 and    

until her nature calls for it1 and is   
prepared  joyfully to meet the martyrdom
 maternity must bring to her4 ,heedless 
of  her prayers1 and1 it may be1 of     
threats of death to your child1 you     
demand the surrender of her person to   
your passion4 ,maternity ensues4        
,murder enters her heart towards your   
child at the same time4 ,she tries  to  
8get rid of it10--to murder it4 ,she    
succeeds4 ,the young life you had       
committed to her care is nipped in the  
bud1 as you were assured it would  be   
before you resigned it to her keeping4  
,where rests the  responsibility8 ,on   
you1 primarily and mainly4 ,you murdered
 your own  child1 not1 indeed1 with your
 own hands1--you drove another to do the
  desperate deed1 and that other1 your  
wife1 who came to you with a loving  and
 trusting heart1 to save and to be      
saved2 and you1 to gratify your  selfish
 passion1 drove her to the commission of
 the crime of ante-natal                
child-murder1--a crime that must forever

 weigh upon her soul like a  mountain of
 guilt and shame2 a deed1 after the     
doing of which1 no true  woman can ever1
 in this life1 stand proud and          
stainless1 in conscious  innocence and  
dignity1 before the tribunal of her     
womanhood4 ,she has  done a deed for    
which great ,nature can find no excuse  
but ignorance2 but  which1 even when    
done in ignorance1 she regards as a     
violation of her  just laws1 and        
punishes as such1 with appropriate      
penalties1--the loss of  self-respect1  
and the consciousness of degradation4   
,yet all this suffering1 anguish1 crime 
and conscious degradation1 you1  the    
husband1 have forced upon her1 solely   
for the momentary1 and1 under  the      
circumstances1 most unnatural1          
gratification of your sensual           
passion1--a passion which1 when         
controlled by manly love and wisdom1 and
  held in abeyance to the health1       
purity1 and happiness of your wife and  
children1 would bring only honor to     

their hearts and to your home1 but      
which1 when thus indulged without regard
 to the wishes and conditions of  your  
wife1 and merely for your personal      
pleasure1 spreads crime1  pollution1    
misery and death1 all around4    ,how   
dare you1 how dare any husband1 commit  
the destiny of his child into  the hands
 of one1 who1 as he knows1 thus loathes 
the thought of its  existence8 ,how can 
you subject your child to the           
possibility of such a  gestational      
organization and development2 such an   
ante-natal education2  or force upon    
your wife the suffering and anguish of a
 loathed and hated  maternity1 or the   
necessity of doing a deed from which the
 soul of every  noble woman must shrink 
with sickening horror8 ,you could not do
 this  wrong to your wife and child1    
till your manhood was sunk in the mire  
of  disgusting sensualism4    ,a loathed
 and hated maternity6 ,a woman1 a       
mother1 shrinking with disgust  and     
horror from the thought of giving       

existence to her child6 ,a mother's     
heart throbbing with murder toward the  
child over whose development and        
education it is presiding6 ,do you say  
this is strong language8--too  strong8  
,that it cannot be8 ,do you say a mother
 does not1 cannot1 hate  and loathe her 
unborn babe8 ,why1 then1 does she kill  
it8 ,her spirit is  known by its fruit4 
,is not her whole soul bent on its      
destruction1 even  at the risk of her   
own health and life8    8,abortion60    
8,get rid of it60 ,gentle terms1 these2 
respectable1 no doubt1  as some count   
gentle and respectable2 but used to     
cover a most foul1  unnatural deed4     
,ante-natal child-murder alone can truly
 express the  nature of the act4 ,if no 
murderous hate is in the mother's heart1
 why  does she kill the child8 ,if you  
saw a mother seeking to kill her child  
after it was born1 knowing that she did 
it because its existence was  hateful to
 her1 and because she did not wish to   
bear the burden of its  nursing and     

training1 would you not conclude that   
her heart was filled  with murder       
towards it8 ,so when a woman is willing 
to imperil her own  life1 to outrage    
every womanly element of her being1 and 
forfeit the  conscious innocence and    
respect of her own soul1 to inflict     
death upon  her unborn child1 you may be
 sure that a deep and terrible loathing 
and  hatred are in her heart towards the
 new and expanding life which the       
husband for mere sensual gratification1 
has thrust upon her4    ,what means the 
wide-spreading disposition among men and
 women to procure  and to palliate the  
murder of children before they are born8
 ,one thing  is surely indicated by it1 
namely1 the increasing sensualism of    
men1  and their determination to gratify
 it without regard to consequences to   
their wives and children4 ,it is a swift
 witness against their purity and       
nobleness1 and shows an utter           
recklessness in the pursuit of sensual  
pleasure4 ,it also opens the frightful  

depths to which woman can fall and  has 
fallen4 ,how many women of ,new ,england
 have on their souls1 at this  hour1 the
 ineffaceable stain of ante-natal       
child-murder8 ,how many bear  in their  
physical organism the incurable results 
of this crime8 ,how many  families are  
now suffering from it8 ,go ask the men  
and women doctors1  who1 for gold1      
perpetrate this crime1 and who          
shamelessly advertise  their infamy4    
,tens of thousands of wives and mothers 
are to be seen1 all  over the country1  
at once the perpetrators and victims of 
this cruel and  disgusting act2 all1 all
 to administer to the sensualism of men1
 who are  called husbands6 ,husbands6   
the guilt is mainly yours2 and the      
damnation is just4 ,beneath your foul   
wrong to their nature1 your wives  sink1
 and you must go down with them4        
,ponder the following extract from a    
private letter1 containing the          
experience of a wife and mother1 in     
regard to enforced and hated  maternity 

and ante-natal child-murder4 ,the letter
 is of recent date2 the  writer and her 
family are known to me personally3      
8,before we married1 ,i informed him the
 husband of my dread of having          
children4 ,i told him ,i was not yet    
prepared to meet the sufferings and     
responsibilities of maternity4 ,he      
entered into an arrangement to          
prevent it1 for a specified time4 ,this 
agreement was disregarded4    ,after the
 legal form was over1 and he felt that  
he could now indulge    his passion     
without loss of reputation1 and under   
legal and religious    sanctions1 he    
insisted on the surrender of my person  
to his will4 ,he    violated his promise
 at the beginning of our united life4   
,that fatal    bridal night6 it has left
 a cloud on my soul and on my home1 that
 can    never pass away on earth4 ,i can
 never forget it4 ,it sealed the doom of
    our union1 as it does of thousands4 
8,he was in feeble health2 so was ,i2   
and both of us mentally depressed4      

,but the sickly germ was implanted1 and 
conception took place4 ,we were    poor 
and destitute1 having made no           
preparations for a home for    ourselves
 and child4 ,i was a stricken woman4 ,in
 ,september1 #ahch1 we    came to ----1 
and settled in a new country4 ,in the   
,march following1 my    child1 developed
 under a heart throbbing with dread and 
anguish at the    thought of its        
existence1 was born4 ,after three       
months' struggle1 ,i    became          
reconciled to my1 at first1 unwelcome   
child4 ,but the impress of    my        
impatience and hostility to its         
existence1 previous to its birth1    was
 on my child1 never to be effaced2 and  
to this hour1 that child is    the      
victim of an undesired maternity4       
8,in one year1 ,i found ,i was again    
about to be a mother4 ,i was in a       
state of frightful despair4 ,my         
first-born was sickly and very          
troublesome 7how could it be            
otherwise871 needing constant care and  

nursing4 ,my husband chopped wood for   
our support4 ,of the injustice of       
bringing children into the world to such
 poverty and misery1 ,i was    then as  
sensible as now4 ,i was in despair4 ,i  
felt that death would be    preferable  
to maternity under such circumstances4  
,a desire and    determination to get   
rid of my child entered into my heart4  
,i    consulted a lady friend1 and by   
her persuasion and assistance1 killed   
it4 ,within less than a year1 maternity 
was again imposed upon me1 with    no   
better prospect for doing justice to my 
child4 ,it was a most    painful        
conviction to me2 ,i felt that ,i could 
not have another child    at that time4 
,all seemed dark as death4 ,i had begged
 and prayed to be    spared this trial  
again1 till ,i was prepared to accept it
 joyfully2    but my husband insisted on
 his gratification1 without regard to my
    wishes and conditions4      8,i     
consulted a physician1 and told him of  
my unhappy state of mind1    and my     

aversion to having another child1 for   
the present4 ,he was ready    with his  
logic1 his medicines and instruments1   
and told me how to    destroy it4 ,after
 experimenting on myself three months1  
,i was    successful4 ,i killed my child
 about five months after conception4    
8,a few months after this1 maternity was
 again forced upon me1 to my    grief   
and anguish4 ,i determined1 again1 on   
the child's destruction2    but my      
courage failed as ,i came to the        
practical deed4 ,my health and    life  
were in jeopardy2 for my living child's 
sake1 ,i wished to live4 ,i    made up  
my mind to do the best ,i could for my  
unborn babe1 whose    existence seemed  
so unnatural and repulsive4 ,i knew its 
young life    would be deeply and       
lastingly affected by my mental and     
physical    conditions4 ,i became1 in a 
measure1 reconciled to my dark fate1 and
    was as resigned and happy as ,i     
could be under the circumstances4 ,i had
    just such a child as ,i had every   

reason to expect4 ,i could do no        
justice to it4 ,how could ,i8           
8,soon after the birth of my child1 my  
husband insisted on his    accustomed   
indulgence4 ,without any wish of my own1
 maternity was again    forced upon me4 
,i dared not attempt to get rid of the  
child1 abortion    seemed so cruel1 so  
inhuman1 unnatural1 and repulsive4 ,i   
resolved    again1 for my child's sake1 
to do the best ,i could for it4 ,though 
,i    could not joyfully welcome1 ,i    
resolved quietly to endure1 its         
existence4      8,after the birth of    
this child1 ,i felt that ,i could have  
no more to    share our poverty and to  
suffer the wrongs and trials of an      
unwelcome    existence4 ,i felt that ,i 
had rather die at once1 and thus end my 
life    and my power to be a mother     
together4 ,my husband cast the entire   
care    of the family on me4 ,i had     
scarcely one hour to devote to my       
children4    ,my husband still insisted 
on his gratification4 ,i was the veriest

    slave alive4 ,life had lost its     
charms4 ,the grave seemed my only       
refuge1 and ,death my only friend4      
8,in this state1 known as it was to my  
husband1 he thrust maternity    upon me 
twice4 ,i employed a doctor to kill my  
child1 and in the    destruction of it1 
in what should have been the vigor of my
 life1    ended my power to be a mother4
 ,i was shorn of the brightest jewel of 
my ,womanhood4 ,i suffered1 as woman    
alone can suffer1 not only in body1     
but in bitter remorse and anguish of    
soul4      8,all this ,i passed through1
 under the terrible1 withering          
consciousness1 that it was all done and 
suffered solely that the    passion of  
my husband might have a momentary       
indulgence4 ,yet such had    been my    
false religious and social education1   
that1 in submitting my    person to his 
passion1 ,i did it with the honest      
conviction that1 in    marriage1 my body
 became the property of my husband4 ,he 
said so2 all    women to whom ,i applied

 for counsel1 said it was my duty to    
submit1    that husbands expected it1   
had a right to it1 and must have this   
indulgence1 whenever they were excited1 
or suffer2 and that in this    way alone
 could wives retain the love of their   
husbands4 ,i had no    alternative but  
silent1 suffering submission to his     
passion1 and then    procure abortion1  
or leave him1 and thus resign my        
children to the    tender mercies of one
 with whom ,i could not live myself4    
,abortion was    most repulsive to every
 feeling of my nature4 ,it seemed       
degrading1    and1 at times1 rendered me
 an object of loathing to myself4       
8,when my first-born was three months   
old1 ,i had a desperate struggle    for 
my personal liberty4 ,my husband        
insisted on his right to subject    my  
person to his passion1 before my babe   
was two months old4 ,i saw his          
conduct then in all its degrading and   
loathsome injustice4 ,i pleaded1    with
 tears and anguish1 for my own and my   

child's sake1 to be spared2    and had  
it not been for my helpless child1 ,i   
should then have ended    the struggle  
by bolting my legal bonds4 ,for its     
sake1 ,i submitted to    that outrage1  
and to my own conscious degradation4    
,for its sake1 ,i    concluded to take  
my chance in the world with other wives 
and mothers1    who1 as they assured me1
 and as ,i then knew1 were all around   
me1    subjected to like outrages1 and  
driven to the degrading practice of     
abortion4      8,but1 even then1 ,i saw 
and argued the justice of my personal   
rights in    regard to ,maternity1 and  
the relation that leads to it1 as       
strongly as    you do now4 ,i saw it all
 as clearly as you do4 ,i was then1 amid
 all    the degrading influence that    
crushed me1 true and just in my womanly 
intuitions4 ,i insisted on my right to  
say when and under what    circumstances
 ,i would accept of him the office of   
,maternity1 and    become the mother of 
his child4 ,i insisted that it was for  

me to say    when and how often ,i      
should subject myself to the liability  
of    becoming a mother4 ,but he became 
angry with me2 claimed ownership over   
me2 insisted that ,i1 as a wife1 was to 
submit to my husband1 #8in all          
things2' threatened to leave me and my  
children1 and declared ,i was    not fit
 to be a wife4 ,fearing some fatal      
consequence to my child or to    myself1
 being alone1 destitute1 and far from   
helpful friends1 in the    far ,west1   
and fearing that my little one would be 
left to want1 ,i    stifled all         
expressions of my honest convictions1   
and ever after kept    my aversion and  
painful struggles in my own bosom4      
8,in every respect1 so far as passional 
relations between myself and    husband 
are concerned1 ,i have ever felt myself 
to be a miserable and    abject woman4  
,i now see and feel it most deeply and  
painfully4 ,if ,i    was with a child in
 my arms1 ,i was in constant dread of   
all personal    contact with my husband1

 lest ,i should have a new maternity    
thrust    upon me1 and be obliged to    
wean one child before its time1 to give 
place to another4 ,in my misery1 ,i have
 often cried out1 #8,o ,god6 is    there
 no way out of this loathsome bondage8' 
8,it was not want of kindly feelings    
towards my husband that induced    this 
state of mind1 for ,i could and did     
endure every privation and    want      
without an unkind feeling or word1 and  
even cheerfully1 for his    sake4 ,but  
every feeling of my soul did then1 does 
now1 and ever must1    protest against  
the cruel and loathsome injustice of    
husbands towards    their wives1        
manifested in imposing on them a        
maternity uncalled for    by their own  
nature and most repulsive to it1 and    
whose sufferings and    responsibilities
 they are unprepared and unwilling to   
meet4                                   
8,yours1                                
8---- ----40    8,strong                
language60--8,too strong and sweeping   

epithets60 ,can you1 as a  man1 a       
husband and a father1 read the above    
extract1 and feel or say  that my       
language is too strong8 ,the above is   
the experience of a living  wife and    
mother1 nearly verbatim as written by   
herself4 ,it is a  simple1 unvarnished1 
affecting story1 but bearing on its face
 the stamp  of truth1 and the evidence  
of a sense of conscious injustice       
inflicted  by the husband1 and of a     
degradation self-inflicted1 solely to   
escape  what seemed to her a greater    
evil4 ,can such 8loathsome injustice10  
on  the part of husbands and fathers1   
towards their wives and unborn          
children1 be reprobated in too strong   
terms8    ,husbands6 it is your         
licentiousness that drives your wives to
 a deed so  abhorrent to their every    
wifely1 womanly and maternal instinct2 a
 deed  which ruins the health of their  
bodies1 prostitutes their souls1 and    
makes marriage1 maternity1 and womanhood
 itself1 degrading and  loathsome4 ,no  

terms can sufficiently characterize the 
cruelty1 meanness1  and disgusting      
selfishness and injustice of your       
conduct1 when you  impose on them a     
maternity so detested as to drive them  
to the  desperation of killing their    
unborn children1 and often themselves4  
,is it a wonder that wives seek to      
justify themselves in resorting to      
ante-natal child-murder8 ,i do not      
wonder at it4 ,the wonder is1 that a    
woman should live one hour1 as a wife1  
with one who imposes on her a  repulsive
 maternity1 thus doing to her1 and her  
child1 the greatest  possible wrong2 or 
who can1 for one moment1 subject her to 
the liability  of becoming a mother1    
when her own nature repels the office4  
,one such  maternity1 imposed after the 
husband knows that his wife shrinks from
  it1 should lead every woman to 8bolt  
the legal bond0 that binds her to  such 
a man4 ,if she does not1 but submits to 
the injustice1 she wrongs  her child1   
her husband1 and her own soul4 ,the same

 plea may be offered  in extenuation of 
ante-natal child-murder1 under          
circumstances of  enforced1 repulsive   
maternity1 that is offered in           
justification of  ,margaret ,garner1 the
 fugitive-slave mother1 who cut the     
throat of one  child and threw another  
into the river1 to save them from the   
savage  clutch of licensed kidnappers4  
,ante-natal child-murder1--a mother     
killing her unborn babe to save it  from
 a worse doom6 ,it is a fearful         
alternative2 one whose results to  the  
soul of the mother are no less deadly   
than to the forming body of  her child4 
,it prostitutes1 crucifies1 murders1    
whatever is pure1 lovely1  wifely1      
motherly and womanly in her soul2 and1  
for the time being1 as it  were1 blots  
from it the superscription and image of 
,god4 ,she murders her  unborn babe1 and
 often herself1 to save herself and     
child from what she  considers a more   
loathsome and repulsive doom4 ,who can  
harshly and  coarsely condemn her8 ,she 

feels that death to herself and babe1 at
 her  own hands1 is far preferable1 and 
less criminal1 than a loathed           
maternity1 and the birth of an unwelcome
 and hated child4 ,to save  herself and 
child from slavery1 the slave mother    
cuts its throat1 and  then her own4 ,the
 wife1 to save herself and child from   
what she regards  as a no less horrible 
doom1 imposed by the husband1 destroys  
her unborn  child1 and brings death to  
her own soul1 if not to her body4    ,o 
man6 where is thy manhood1 that thou    
canst inflict this wrong on the  woman1 
who1 with an all-trusting love1 lays    
herself in thy bosom1  reposing fearless
 confidence in thy manly love and power 
to shelter her  from harm8 ,husband6    
where is thy love1 thy justice1 thy     
tenderness1 thy  manliness1 thy         
conscience1 thy ,god1 that thou canst   
impose these  sufferings and            
responsibilities on thy wife1 despite   
her tears and  entreaties to be spared  
till she is ready joyfully to welcome   

them for  thy sake and her own8         
,fathers6 where is your reverence for   
your  offspring1 your tender regard for 
the claims of your unborn children1  and
 your respect for all that qualifies you
 to be fathers and your wives  mothers1 
that you beget children to ante-natal   
murder1 or to the1 if  possible1 more   
terrible doom of an existence undesired1
 and abhorrent to  the mothers that bore
 them8    ,husbands6 listen to the voice
 of ,god1 speaking to you through your  
wives1 and1 in the name of those most   
dear to your hearts1 and1 most          
essential to the happiness and glory of 
your life and your homes1 give  heed to 
their protests against an undesigned and
 repulsive maternity6                   
,h4 ,c4 ,w4                             
,,letter ,v4                 ,,the      
,,wife',s ,,appeal--,,the ,,husband',s  
,,response4      ,,dear ,,friend3    ,in
 the three preceding letters1 ,i have   
endeavored to present to you the  crime 
of an undesigned and undesired          

,maternity1 especially in its  bearing  
on the mother and the child4 ,i have    
shown how it wrongs the  mother by      
crushing out of her heart her love and  
respect for her  husband1 and converting
 them into a settled feeling of         
bitterness and  contempt3 and also by   
filling her with feelings of murderous  
hostility  towards her child1 and       
driving her to deeds which her soul     
abhors1--thus  destroying her           
self-respect1 and making her to seem    
like a loathsome and  degraded object in
 her own estimation4 ,i have shown1     
also1 how it wrongs  the child1 by      
depriving it of a mother's loving       
sympathy1 by forcing it  into an        
existence that is detested by father and
 mother1 by stamping on  it1 before     
birth1 disease and crime1 and tendencies
 to all that is evil1  and thus         
subjecting it to the detestation of its 
fellow-beings1 in its  future manhood or
 womanhood4 ,the father perpetrates the 
deepest crime  against the child1 by    

committing its ante-natal education to  
the hands  of one to whom its very      
existence is her abhorrence and         
loathing4 ,what  greater crime could a  
husband and father commit against his   
wife and  child8 ,none2 no1 none6    ,in
 this letter1 ,i will give you the      
experience of a husband and wife1 as    
given by themselves1 and by a mutual    
friend1 who is also a wife and a        
mother4 ,i extract from their letters   
with few omissions4 ,see1 in the        
experience of this wife and mother1 the 
deep1 unutterable anguish1 and  the     
deeper woe of conscious degradation1 to 
which woman1 in her mistaken  notions of
 conjugal duty1 her fear of losing a    
husband's love and  confidence1 and her 
horror of an undesired maternity1 will  
subject  herself4 ,read over her        
experience1 as detailed by her friend   
and  herself1 and then say if any crime 
man can commit1 can surpass that  which 
husbands and fathers often do to their  
wives and children1 merely  for the     

momentary gratification of their sensual
 passions3      8,some fifteen years    
ago1 a man of culture1 and engaged in   
public life1    was united in marriage  
with an intimate friend of mine4 ,with  
pride and    confidence1 he selected her
 from a large and admiring circle of    
friends1 as one embodying his ideal of  
womanly excellence4 ,my friend    was   
thought a fortunate girl 7only          
seventeen71 and many thought him        
quite as fortunate4 ,they were much in  
society1 and she began to enjoy    life 
intensely4      8,she was too much a    
woman not to desire offspring some time1
 but she    felt unprepared to have     
maternity forced upon her youth and     
inexperience4 ,it came at a time when   
her husband's calling led him    much   
from home1 to mix in the society she so 
much enjoyed1 and which    she felt was 
contributing to make her what she so    
much desired to    be1--her husband's   
fitting and equal companion4 ,it was not
 without a    severe struggle she       

resigned these advantages and checked   
her    aspirations4 ,however1 she       
submitted1 though she keenly felt the   
sacrifice4      8,though overwhelmed    
with the greatness of her               
responsibilities1 and an    undefined   
dread of physical suffering1 she was    
determined not to    appear weak1 but   
bravely to meet and bear the burden     
imposed upon her4    ,her husband was   
absent when the trial hour came2 but    
when he returned1    he took his babe   
and wife to his bosom with pride and    
joy1 though its    gestational          
development had1 apparently1 scarcely   
given him an anxious    thought4        
8,my friend's future looked bright4 ,she
 did not see or understand the    fact1 
that she was to continue to develop the 
germs of human beings    into life1 with
 little sustaining help from the father1
 whose caresses    generally ended in   
exhausting her vital powers by passional
    indulgence4 ,she did not complain1  
but rather rejoiced1 as she saw her     

other powers of attraction to her       
husband depart one by one1 that she     
was so organized as to be able to meet  
what she knew he considered an          
essential want of his nature4           
8,eleven years passed1 at which time she
 gave birth to her sixth child4    ,she 
was a devoted mother1 of a joyous       
spirit1 and possessed of    wonderful   
elasticity4 ,but woman cannot be        
entirely happy in maternity    alone1   
without the presence and sustaining     
power of her husband4 ,if    she is a   
true wife1 she desires to be more to her
 husband than merely    the mother of   
his children4      8,her husband made   
for her a beautiful material home1 and  
seemed happy    when with her2 but he   
was much away2 he sought other          
pleasures1 social    and intellectual1  
in which she could not participate2--she
 must stay at    home1 alone1 with her  
children4 ,little did he know the trials
 of    patience and strength in his     
wife1 in being compelled to bear the    

responsibility of the health and        
training of her little ones alone4      
,the world called her a happy wife1 and 
she felt that she ought to be    so2 but
 a dark cloud was coming over her once  
joyous spirit4 ,she began    to realize 
the fact1 so fatal to a wife's          
happiness1 that her husband    did not  
feel her to be his equal1 and a fitting 
companion to meet his    social and     
intellectual necessities4 ,when he      
brought home a friend1    she listened  
to conversations and discussions in     
which she could not    participate4 ,she
 felt keenly the growing distance       
between them1 and    she knew too well  
how it had come about4      8,she       
quietly made up her mind to have no more
 children4 ,how did she    propose to   
bring it about8 ,not by asking her      
husband to deny himself    his          
accustomed indulgence2 no1 that1 she    
thought1 would be to cut    herself off 
from her strongest hold on his affection
 and confidence1    and to sever the    

last link of the chain that bound them  
together4 ,she    did not expect that   
any precaution would enable her to      
escape    conception4 ,she brought      
herself to do what was most repugnant to
 her    nature1 and which1 as she felt1 
would destroy her self-respect1 and     
make her1 in her own estimation1 a      
degraded woman1 namely1 ,,to ,,procure  
,,abortion4      8,the first shock given
 to her constitution by this abuse of   
her nature    was comparatively light4  
,but once did not suffice4 ,as a longer 
interval passed without a new-born babe 
than ever before1 she had    begun to   
take her place by her husband's side in 
society1 earnestly    praying that she  
might be spared maternity evermore4 ,her
 husband    delighted to have her with  
him4 ,he felt that he had a right1 by   
law    and the customs of society1 to   
his gratification2 he persevered in     
demanding it1 and she continued to      
yield4 ,several times in four years     
did she nip the young flower of ftal    

life in the bud1 and each time    told  
more and more terribly on her           
constitution1 until the power of        
conception was nearly destroyed1 at     
little more than thirty-five years    of
 age4 ,she was shorn of her ,womanhood1 
and became a sickly1    broken-down wife
 and mother1 in the very spring-time1 as
 it were1 of    her life1 being driven  
frequently to perpetrate a degrading    
outrage    upon herself1 or endure a    
maternity abhorrent to her soul2--and   
all to    gratify the sensual passion of
 her husband1 thinking thereby to secure
    his affection and respect4 ,how     
fatally mistaken6 ,by yielding1 she     
strengthened his passion1 but not his   
love4      8,reflecting on her sad      
experience1 in the light of your book on
    #8,marriage and ,parentage1' which  
,i had placed in her hands1 she saw     
clearly where the wrong had been1 but   
for a long time felt powerless    to    
destroy what she regarded as her last   
hold on her husband4 ,he was    absent1 

and ,i prevailed on her to write and lay
 the matter frankly and    plainly      
before him1 and send him your book4 ,she
 was then prostrated in    body and soul
 by the last outrage upon her womanly   
and maternal    nature4 ,she wrote1 and1
 hoping that you may do good with these 
letters1 the husband and wife have      
granted me the privilege of copying     
portions of them for you4 ,here is a    
part of hers to him3      8#8,,my ,,dear
 ,,husband3      8#8,i feel like lying  
down and weeping that ,i have become    
unworthy1    intellectually and         
spiritually1 of mating with you2 but    
love is the    foundation of true       
marriage1 is it not8 and ,i feel strong 
in my    love-nature4 ,it is high1 and  
deep1 and rich1 and who shall say1 if   
rightly cultivated1 what flowers of     
intellect and spirituality might    not 
blossom out from its soil8      8#8,my  
husband6 forgive me if ,i say1 that ,i  
deeply and sadly feel that    my        
,womanhood has been robbed of its most  

precious charm1 for your    sake1       
through a weak indulgence and subjection
 to that in you which is    lower than  
the spiritual4 ,my body has been        
painfully desecrated1    perhaps not    
more by your act than mine4 ,you suffer 
the loss of that    refining and        
ennobling influence which only an       
undefiled woman can    impart to man4   
8#8,in view of our past1 words cannot   
express my remorse and                  
self-condemnation2 but believe me1 the  
bitterest suffering is caused    to me  
by the knowledge that through this sin  
and misery1 ,i am rendered    incapable 
of becoming to you a tithe of what ,i   
desire to be4 ,how can    you do        
otherwise than shrink from the wreck ,i 
am fast becoming8 ,and    though ,i may 
feel1 in my moments of anguish and      
remorse1 that you    are as much the    
cause of my mental and physical wreck   
and imbecility    as ,i am1 ,god grant  
,i may not unjustly murmur or accuse    
you6      8#8,it is said1 8,men never   

love complaining women40 ,alas6 if they 
treated their wives with half the       
respect and tender consideration    they
 do other women1 there would be less    
ground for complaint4 ,i am             
convinced1 that in proportion as woman  
yields to the demands of    animal      
passion in her husband1 in that same    
ratio he loses his love    and respect  
for her4 ,by bitter and humiliating     
experience1 this    conviction is forced
 upon me4      8#8,my husband6 ,i love  
you4 ,the power lies in you to bless and
 save me2    the power lies in me to    
bless and save you2 but have we not     
cursed    each other instead8 ,i cry    
unto you for life1--will you give me    
death8 ,i    would make my ,womanhood a 
crown of glory to your life1 your       
,manhood to    mine4 ,shall we allow the
 very life-essence of our being to be   
exhausted in sensual indulgence1 till we
 lose the power to feel and             
appreciate a pure spiritual love8 ,my   
heart is reaching out to you for        

life1 at the same time that my body is  
suffering untold agonies from    the    
outrages perpetrated on my nature to    
escape the anguish and horror    of an  
unwelcome maternity2 outrages which have
 polluted and humbled my    soul1 and   
nearly destroyed my body--all for your  
sake2 that ,i might    retain your love 
and respect4      8#8,i would rather lay
 down my life now1 than live without    
your love4    ,can we not love purely   
and nobly1 without prostituting that    
love in    mere sensual indulgence8 ,my 
soul would arise and go to you as an    
inspiration from ,god2 but ,i am        
suffering1 and a realization of my      
present condition1 my physical diseases1
 and mental anguish1 and the            
knowledge that it was all caused by     
having maternity put upon me when    ,i 
was not prepared joyfully to meet its   
trials and responsibilities1    and the 
consciousness of the terrible outrage   
that ,i have been driven    to          
perpetrate on myself and your unborn    

children1 harden my soul1 and    lower  
me in my own opinion1 so that ,i do now 
feel1 and shall yet more    deeply feel1
 if this function is still to be imposed
 upon me1 that ,i    am unworthy to     
appear in society4 ,but for the         
consciousness that your    passion has  
been1 unconsciously and ignorantly1 it  
may be1 the primary    cause of my      
misery and conscious degradation1 ,i    
should scarcely dare    to claim the    
right any more to rest in your bosom as 
your wife4 ,we    have both erred4      
8#8,you love my person2 you worship the 
animal in me4 ,if you love not    my    
mind1 my heart and soul more1 and feel  
not more reverence and    worship for   
the ,god in me than for the animal1 if  
,i am unworthy and    unable to meet the
 wants of your intellectual and         
spiritual nature1    ,,perish ,,all     
,,outward ,,bonds6 ,tell me1 have ,i no 
power to hold you by any    bonds but   
the sensualistic8 ,has my soul no power 
over you8 ,if this be    so1 let me no  

longer seek to hold you at all4 ,it     
crushes me1 and    overwhelms me with   
conscious degradation1 to feel that ,i  
have no power    over your intellectual 
and moral nature2 that you come to me1  
caress    me1 and call me ,,wife1 only  
that ,i may administer to your sensual  
pleasure1 and that you have no fond     
regard and loving adoration for    me1  
except for my mere outward1 physical    
womanhood4 ,i cannot live so1    feeling
 that your presence and caresses are    
ever to be but a prelude    to the      
surrender of my person to your animal   
passion4      8#8,i know ,i have powers 
of soul1 which1 if suffered to be       
developed1    without this horrible     
crucifixion1 might bless you4 ,i will   
not yet    believe you will turn a deaf 
ear to this appeal of your wife1 who1 as
    you know1 has had1 and can have1 no 
life apart from you4 ,i pray1 with      
tears1 that you will spare me from a    
maternity which my soul    repudiates1  
and whose sufferings ,i cannot endure4  

,you will not deny me    this privilege1
 which1 more than anything else1 ,i ask 
of you4      8#8,though much guilt is on
 my soul1 through repeated efforts to   
get rid    of the results of your       
passional relations with me1 and save   
myself    from the pain and anguish of a
 maternity ,i have felt unable to bear1 
and of giving birth to children that ,i 
do not want1 yet ,i will not    despair 
of salvation reaching me through your   
love4 ,to live as pure as    my         
aspirations are1 and have my life the   
natural outgrowth of the deep    love   
which ,i feel and must express or die1  
would bring us both nearer    heaven4   
8#8,i cannot consent to have the woman1 
the real soul-and-spirit woman    in me1
 obliterated4 ,i cannot believe it is my
 destiny to have the    woman expunged  
from my nature4 ,i want to be a strong1 
pure woman4 ,i    want to be lovely to  
you4 ,yet1 heretofore1 the strongest    
manifestations of love to you have1     
usually1 had little other effect    than

 to arouse your animal nature1 and thus 
have been so turned as to    render me  
unlovely2 for a wife must become        
unlovely and repulsive to    her        
husband1 the moment he ceases to        
reverence her soul1 and feels    that   
she is to him but the means of mere     
sensual gratification4      8#8,you will
 acknowledge that there is terrible     
wrong somewhere4 ,may ,god    show us a 
,moses to lead us out of this           
wilderness1 this ,egypt6 ,you    have   
often chided me for feeling unworthy of 
your love2 reminding me    how strange  
it was1 since other and worthy men      
regarded me highly1 and    that ,i did  
not feel myself unworthy their regard4  
,were there no    abuse of our sexual   
nature1 your tender and noble love would
 so    elevate and consecrate the       
functions of my ,womanhood1 that ,i     
should no    more be tormented with that
 want of self-respect1 which1 alone1    
ever    causes me to doubt your love1   
and feel unworthy of it4 ,i feel1 at    

times1 that love would not1 could not1  
thus crush my ,womanhood2 that    it    
would1 by intuition1 guide you in your  
passional relations with me1    so as   
never to do a wrong or outrage to my    
nature1 even unwittingly4    ,the       
feeling which other men's regard awakens
 in me is not brought down    and thus  
prostituted to sensual gratification1   
but is awakened only to    vitalize and 
bless soul and body4 ,help me and save  
me1 by your manly    strength1 even from
 myself6      8#8,i appeal to you1 in   
behalf of myself1 of my husband1 and my 
children4 ,deep and enduring            
consciousness of guilt and shame must   
rest    on my soul1 in view of the      
outrages ,i have perpetrated on myself  
and    my unborn children1 whom ,i was  
reduced to the necessity 7as it then    
seemed to me7 of killing before they    
were born1 or of cursing with an        
existence loathed and detested even by  
the mother that bore them4      8#8,my  
husband6 you will1 for my sake1 for your

 own sake1 for our    children's sake1  
reflect on these things1 and send me    
your    reflections4 ,you will respond  
to this appeal from                     
8#8,,your ,,loving ,,wife4'             
,,the ,,husband',s ,,response4          
8#8,,my ,,suffering ,,wife3      8#8,i  
have a word to say to you now1 such as  
,i never said before4 ,your    letter   
has revealed you to me as ,i have never 
before seen you4 ,it    shows me to what
 utter misery ,i have brought you2--how1
 for my    gratification1 you have      
descended into the lowest hell4         
8#8,you intimate that ,i treat other    
women1 personally1 more tenderly and    
reverently than ,i do you4 ,that is     
true3 to my shame and regret ,i say     
it4 ,and yet1 why should ,i do so8 ,why 
should ,i crush and desecrate you1      
while ,i have too much respect for other
 women ever to think of doing    the    
same to them8 ,there is no reason for   
it4 ,you are my dearest love4    ,i     
should treat you more tenderly than any 

others2 be more careful of    your      
health1 and beauty of body and soul4 ,of
 all women1 the husband    should most  
anxiously watch over the health of his  
wife1 and most    shrink from the abuse 
and desecration of her physical as well 
as    spiritual womanhood4      8#8,but 
,i have not been wholly blind to your   
deep misery4 ,i have seen    it1 and1 at
 times1 feared that ,i might be the     
cause4 ,i did not dare    ask the cause4
 ,feeling not myself that degradation   
and misery of which    you speak1 ,i did
 not know how much you suffered2 but ,i 
should have    known1 had ,i not been   
blinded by passion1 and by the false    
idea that    man had a right to the     
indulgence of his passional nature      
whenever he    wished it1 and that1 too1
 without regard to the feelings of his  
wife1    or the welfare of the child    
that might ensue4      8#8,true1 ,i1 at 
times1 heard your words of remonstrance 
and entreaty1    but they did not touch 
my heart2 my passion made me deaf or    

indifferent to your appeals to my       
manhood to spare you from a    maternity
 which you could not joyfully welcome4  
,i was lost in my own    hell1 and      
tormented4 ,i was blind2 but now and    
then1 glimpses came to    me1 from your 
own keen anguish1 of the real truth4    
,but the blur of    selfish1 craving    
passion1 would come over my sight1 and  
,i would go on    my old way1 cheating  
myself always1 and sometimes you1 into  
the    feeling that it was all right2   
that man had a right to that            
indulgence1 whatever might be the       
conditions of the wife1 and whatever    
her feelings in regard to ,maternity4   
,at least1 ,i persuaded myself and      
you that ,i could not help it1 and that 
my health would suffer unless    ,i     
frequently held that relation with you4 
8#8,now that blind dominion of passion  
is at an end4 ,your appeal to my        
manhood has reached its deepest depths4 
,the gratification of animal    passion 
shall no more guide me in my relations  

to you4 ,that it ever    has is my      
shame1 as well as your degradation4 ,i  
wish you could see my    soul as it now 
is2 you would see a revolution in it4   
,the deep wail of    your spirit has    
reached my heart1 and ,i am ready to go 
up with you out    of the perdition into
 which my uncontrolled sensualism has   
cast us4      8#8,you have descended    
into hell1 for my gratification4 ,you   
have    consented to terrible anguish of
 body and soul1 for no higher object    
than my momentary pleasure4 ,you have   
sacrificed your body and soul1    your  
self-respect1 your unborn children1 on  
the altar of my    ungovernable passion4
 ,from this hour1 ,i will seek to repair
 the wrong    ,i have done you4 ,i have 
forced on you1 in contempt of your      
entreaties1    a maternity which could  
not be otherwise than most hateful to   
you4 ,i    have compelled you to pass   
through sufferings of body and anguish  
of    mind which you were not ready to  
meet1 and which were all the more       

severe1 because they were imposed by one
 whom you loved1 and who    should have 
known better4 ,i have imparted to you   
the elements of a new    life1 when your
 very soul spurned and loathed them4 ,i 
have filled your    heart with deadly   
hatred towards the young life1 my own   
child1 that    was being developed      
beneath it4 ,i have compelled you to a  
deed of all    others the most loathsome
 and hateful to a pure1 refined and     
noble    woman1--to the murder 7it      
should have no other name7 of your      
children1 to the murder of my children1 
ere they were born1 to save    them from
 the more fearful and horrible doom of  
an unwelcome and hated    existence4    
8#8,talk not to me of your guilt1 of    
your unworthiness to stand by my        
side1 and to tread with me the path of  
life as a true1 noble and    loving     
wife4 ,if you are guilty1 what am ,i8   
,if you feel degraded by the    loss of 
self-respect1 what ought ,i to feel8    
,the fault is all my own4 ,i    should  

have known better1 and had a higher     
appreciation of the    passional        
relation4 ,had ,i consulted your wishes 
as to maternity1 had ,i    counselled   
with you as to when you could1 with     
safety and exultation1    take charge of
 the germ of my child1 and naturally    
develop it into    life1 had ,i never   
imposed on you a repulsive and abhorred 
maternity1    would the stain of        
abortion now darken your soul8 ,yes1 ,i 
see it all3    the deep damnation of the
 deed is my own1 and would to ,god that 
the    penalty might descend on me2 that
 ,i could save you1 my long-suffering1  
too lenient and forgiving wife1 the pain
 and anguish6      8#8,god help me6 ,i  
am very sick at heart4 ,the bitterness  
of death enters    my soul1 as ,i       
reflect on the unseen and unexpressed   
pain of body and    desperation and     
anguish of soul to which my ungoverned  
passion has    brought you4 ,can you    
forgive me8 ,can you again restore me to
 your    loving confidence8 ,can you    

ever again respect my manhood1 which has
    brought upon you all this woe8 ,i   
will1 henceforth1 comply with the       
teachings of the book you sent me1 and  
hold my entire nature in    abeyance to 
your wishes and happiness1 and in all my
 passional    relations with you1 my    
object shall be your health and         
happiness1    rather than my own        
gratification4 ,i will be to you an     
,,ernest1 ,god    helping me4           
8#8,dearest6 believe me and trust me    
now1 for ,i mean what ,i say1 and it    
shall be done4 ,i have written it here1 
and this shall be my pledge2    and if  
ever ,i urge on you a relation that will
 subject you to the    liability of     
maternity1 when you do not call for it1 
lay this pledge    before me and it     
shall be respected4      8#8,we shall   
yet rejoice together on earth as we     
never did before4 ,this    world may not
 bring to you entire restoration to     
health of body1 nor    peace of mind1   
nor yet self-abandoned trust in your    

husband2 but the    effort to effect    
this1 on my part1 shall not be wanting4 
,believe me1    and trust to the love1  
the faith and energy which your letter1 
and    that experience of ,ernest and   
,nina1 have awakened in me4 ,we will    
together seek the aid of the angel      
helpers1 who never condemn save to      
restore and bless1 and who are even now 
lifting up and vitalizing the           
desponding and heart-stricken4          
8#8,dear wife6 look up1 and             
trust--trust--,,trust6 and with strong  
nerve1    and in conscious pride and    
innocence1 you shall yet stand by my    
side1    and tread with me the pathway  
of the future1 a proud1 loving1         
trusting1 joyous wife4 ,your soul shall 
yet shine with deeper lustre on    my   
manhood1 to elevate and save your       
conscience-stricken1 but not            
despairing husband4 ,you shall yet be1  
in deed and in truth1 my    ,saviour1   
and ,i will be yours4      8#8,these are
 not idle words1 but come from the heart

 of your loving1    penitent1 yet       
hopeful and confident                   
8#8,,husband4'      8,it will do your   
heart good to know that that husband    
has1 thus far1    been true to his      
pledge2 that that wife is now blooming  
again in    comparative health4 ,hope   
and triumph are shining in her face1    
love    quickens the intellect1 and     
vitalizes the whole woman4 ,and woman is
    intuitional1 to understand and      
appreciate a true and noble manhood4    
,you will not wonder1 then1 that she    
feels nearer to him1 in mind and        
spirit1 than ever before1 for now she   
understands him1 and he her4    ,could  
they have talked over the subject of    
passional relations1 and    understood  
each other before they entered upon     
their marriage life1 it    had saved her
 years of anguish4 ,may their history be
 a beacon light to    warn others to    
shun the rocks and shoals that lie1     
unseen1 in the    inner depths of wedded
 life6      8,it may encourage you to   

know that they owe their salvation to   
you1    though they allow that ,i have  
had a hand in it4 ,true1 it was through 
me that the experience of ,ernest and   
,nina came to their knowledge1 but    ,i
 am quite willing that the author of    
#8,,marriage ,,and ,,parentage' should  
bear the responsibility and have the    
glory of their redemption4 ,their       
names are sacredly private4 ,they would 
meet you without feeling that    you    
know them4 ,i shall not reveal them     
further than ,i have done4      8,god   
speed you in your efforts to vindicate  
the most sacred and    important of all 
human rights1--the right of woman to say
 when and    under what circumstances   
she shall assume the office of          
,maternity1 and    the right of her     
child to a joyous welcome into life4    
8,the crime of an enforced and abhorred 
maternity6 ,well and truly do    you    
call it1 #8,,the ,,crime ,,of ,,earth4' 
,in whatever light it is viewed1        
whether in its bearing on the mother1 on

 the child1 on the husband1 on    home1 
on society1 or on humanity1 it is1      
indeed1 ,,the ,,crime ,,of ,,crimes4    
8,with fervent prayers for the triumph  
of truth on this subject1 ,i am         
,your friend1                           
----40    ,my friend1 how many wives    
would thus appeal to their husbands1 if 
they  dared8 8,sever the last link of   
the bond that binds her to her husband60
  ,mere sensualism 8the last link0 in   
such a union6 ,i do not like to talk  of
 chains1 links1 and bonds1 in connection
 with such a relation4  ,talk of these  
in connection with slaveholders and     
slaves1 but let them  not sully a       
relation like this4 8,the last link10   
indeed6 ,yet it is  true2 it is1 often1 
the first1 and last1 and only link in   
the chain that  binds the husband to the
 wife1 in what is called marriage4 ,man 
seeks  woman as a legal wife1 that he   
may legally and respectably give        
indulgence1 without restraint1 to his   
passion4 ,if the wife seeks to  preserve

 her soul and body from desecration1 he 
threatens to leave her1  and seek his   
gratification where he can find it4 ,she
 submits1 to keep  him with her2 both of
 them1 unmindful and regardless of the  
results to  the mother and the child4   
8,perish all outward bonds0 of marriage 
at  once1 rather than that the relation 
should continue in this way6    ,wives6 
be frank and true to your husbands1 on  
the subject of maternity1  and the      
relation that leads to it4 ,interchange 
thoughts and feelings  with them1 as to 
what nature allows or demands1 in regard
 to these4 ,can  maternity be natural1  
when it is undesigned by the father1 or 
undesired  by the mother8 ,can a        
maternity be natural1 healthful1        
ennobling to the  mother1 to the child1 
to the father1 and to home1 when no     
loving1  tender1 anxious forethought    
presides over the relation in which it  
originated8--when the mother's nature   
loathed and repelled it1 and the        
father's only thought was his own       

selfish gratification2 the feelings  and
 conditions of the mother1 and the      
health1 character and destiny of  the   
child that may result being ignored by  
him8 ,wives6 let there be a  perfect and
 loving understanding between you and   
your husbands1 on these  matters1 and   
great will be your reward4    ,maidens6 
a word to you4 ,never enter into the    
physical relations of  marriage with a  
man1 until you have conversed with him  
freely and fully  on maternity1 and the 
relation that leads to it4 ,learn       
distinctly his  views and feelings1 and 
his expectations1 in regard to that     
purest and  most ennobling of all the   
functions of your nature1 and the most  
sacred  of all the intimacies of        
conjugal life4 ,your self-respect1 your 
beauty1  your glory1 your heaven1 as a  
wife1 will be more directly involved in 
his feelings and views and practices1 in
 regard to that relation1 than  in all  
other things4 ,as you would not become a
 weak1 a miserable1  imbecile1 unlovable

 and degraded wife and mother1 in the   
very prime of  your life1 come to a     
perfect understanding with your chosen  
one1 ere you  commit your person to his 
keeping in the sacred intimacies of     
home4  ,beware of that man1 who1 under  
pretence of delicacy1 modesty1 and      
propriety1 shuns conversation with you  
on this relation1 and on the  hallowed  
function of maternity4 ,concealment and 
mystery1 in him1 towards  you1 on all   
other subjects pertaining to conjugal   
union1 might be  overlooked2 but if he  
conceals his views here1 rest assured it
 bodes no  good to your purity and      
happiness as a wife and a mother4 ,you  
can have  no more certain assurance that
 you are to be victimized1 your soul and
  body offered up1 slain1 on the altar  
of his sensualism1 than his             
unwillingness to converse with you on   
subjects so vital to your  happiness4   
,in the relation he seeks with you will 
he1 practically1  hold his manhood in   
abeyance to the calls of your nature and

 to your  conditions1 and consecrate its
 passions and its powers to the         
elevation  and happiness of his wife and
 children8 ,if not1 your maiden soul had
  better return to ,god unadorned with  
the diadem of conjugal and maternal     
love1 than that you should become the   
wife of such a man and the mother  of   
his children4    ,how much of woman's   
suffering and degradation1 under the    
horrors of an  unnatural maternity1 are 
owing to herself1 ,i will not say4 ,my  
appeal is  to husbands1 and ,i would    
show them the extent of their           
responsibility in  this crime4          
,doubtless1 woman might save herself    
much anguish and  suffering1 if she     
would approach man frankly1 in womanly  
love1  tenderness1 and dignity1 and open
 to him the depths of her soul in       
regard to ,maternity1 and the relation  
in which it originates4 ,men are  not   
all below the brutes1 in their nature4  
,if woman were true to  purity1 to      
justice1 to her own nature1 and would be

 just and true to  her husband and her  
children1 and freely and lovingly       
converse with man  on these relations   
and functions1 he would1 often1 with    
manly pride and  affection1 respond to  
her4 ,on no subject would a true and    
noble man  respond to the words of a    
pure and trusting woman with more manly 
pride  and dignity1 and a more conscious
 self-respect1 than on ,maternity1 and  
the relation that leads to it4 ,let     
wives1 then1 be true to themselves1  if 
they would have their husbands true to  
them6                                   
,h4 ,c4 ,w4                             
,,letter ,,vi4           ,,words ,,fitly
 ,,spoken1 ,,by ,,one ,,who ,,speaks    
,,with ,,authority4       ,,dear        
,,friend3    ,would you secure for      
yourself1 your wife and your children1 a
 pure and  happy home8 ,of one thing1   
then1 you must never lose sight4 ,you   
now  regard your wife as fitted to be   
your companion1 intellectually and      
socially1 as well as affectionally4 ,be 

sure that no effort is wanting1  on your
 part1 to keep her so4 ,if her intellect
 becomes stunted1 and she  be deprived  
of the means and opportunities for      
improvement1 while you  enjoy every     
opportunity to cultivate and enlarge    
your intellectual  powers1 how can she  
possibly feel herself fitted to be your 
equal  companion8    ,let me ask you    
carefully to read over the 8,appeal of  
the ,wife to the  ,husband10 in the last
 letter4 ,mark well what she says on    
this subject2  how she feels1 as she    
finds herself losing all power to       
sympathize in  the intellectual         
aspirations and pursuits of her husband4
 ,she1  intellectually1 was sinking1    
while he was rising2 was growing poorer1
  while he was growing richer2 and he   
took little pains to impart to her  his 
increasing intellectual wealth4 ,all    
opportunities for intellectual  growth  
were precluded by the anxieties of      
maternity1 which he1 without a  thought 
for her intellectual welfare1 was       

constantly imposing upon her4  ,never   
impose this function upon your wife1 at 
the expense of her  intellectual growth4
 ,no wife can ever be made              
intellectually poorer by  maternity1 and
 the cares of a mother1 when that       
relation is joyfully  welcomed1 and     
those cares are shared by the husband4  
,but how can a  wife's intellect ever be
 expanded with new and noble thoughts1  
when the  physical sufferings and mental
 anguish of a frequent and an undesired 
maternity are ever present8    ,stay at 
home with the mother of your children1  
except when necessary  avocations call  
you away4 ,share with her the cares1 the
 anxieties and  joys1 of the nursery4   
,there cultivate your intellectual      
powers together  by reading1 and by     
conversation1--especially1 on all       
subjects pertaining  to parentage and   
the ante-natal1 as well as the          
post-natal1 development1  education and 
life of your children4 ,how anxious will
 every true and  loving husband and     

father be1 to unite with his wife and   
the mother of  his children1 in the     
nursery1 to impart and to receive all   
possible  light in regard to these      
matters6    ,neither should you ever    
impose maternity on your wife at the    
expense of  her social nature4 ,never go
 abroad to enjoy and develop your own   
social nature1 and leave her at home    
alone in the nursery1 preparing to  give
 birth and a worthy reception to your   
child1 or to spend her weary  hours in  
solitude1 in anxious watchings over your
 children1 and in  longings for your    
presence and your sympathy4 ,stay with  
her1 and share  with her all the joys   
and all the sorrows1 all the sweet rest 
and all  the weary labors1 of a         
maternity imposed by you1 and of        
developing into  noble men or women the 
offspring of your mutual love4    ,but  
how crushed1 intellectually and         
socially1 must that wife become1 on     
whom an ignorant1 a thoughtless1 or a   
brutal husband1 is ever imposing a      

maternity from which her soul recoils6  
,her intellect becomes dwarfed and  her 
social nature dead4 ,how can it be      
otherwise1 especially when driven  to   
the deed of ante-natal murder1 to escape
 the horror of giving birth  to children
 accursed by the mother that bore them8 
,hope becomes extinct1  and the light of
 her soul goes out in utter darkness6   
,the following letter must speak for    
itself4 ,it is nearly a verbatim        
extract from a letter1 the original of  
which is now before me4 ,no man1        
especially no husband1 can read it1 and 
not feel quickened in all that  is truly
 manly1 noble and ,god-like4 ,of this   
woman1 as to her style and  her         
sentiments1 every true man will feel    
that to be true which the  people said  
of the teachings of ,jesus--8,,he       
,,speaks ,,as ,,one ,,having            
,,authority40 ,may her words of power   
find a response in the heart of every   
husband and wife1 and of every man and  
woman6      8,the subject of an         

undesigned and undesired maternity1--how
 it affects    the mother towards the   
child1 towards the function of          
,maternity    itself1--these are        
matters1 on which1 as a wife and a      
mother1 and a    friend of ,human       
,progress1 my mind has been deeply      
exercised since they    were first      
presented to me4 ,the delicate and      
hallowed beauty with    which you invest
 maternity1 and the relation that leads 
to it1 renders    it easy for me to     
impart to you my views on these         
subjects1 while ,i    feel instinctively
 repelled from any approach to them with
 most other    persons1 both men and    
women4      8,the thoughts ,i have do   
not flow from my own experience4 ,i have
 never    given birth to a child not    
earnestly desired4 ,yet1 being a woman  
and a    mother1 it seems to me no      
difficult matter to judge correctly as  
to    what must necessarily be the      
emotions and effects produced by such a 
maternity4      8,but ,i must express my

 earnest conviction1 that any woman1 any
 wife1    who permits herself to be made
 the instrument of bringing into life a 
new existence1 unwelcome to her own     
soul1 must1 in some degree1 be          
wanting in that self-respect which is an
 inseparable accompaniment of1    nay1  
an essential element in1 true nobility  
of character4 ,that woman    must feel  
degraded before her own soul1 who1 for  
any cause1 in or out    of legal        
marriage1 suffers herself to be made the
 means of such an    outrage upon her   
innocent and helpless babe4 ,better1 a  
thousand times1    that she leave her   
legal husband at once and forever1 than 
allow soul    and body to be thus       
prostituted1 and herself to be made     
accessory to a    deed so unnatural and 
unjust as that of giving birth to a     
child whose    existence is repudiated  
and loathed by her own heart4           
8,public opinion1 based on his superior 
physical strength and    7hitherto7     
superior intellectual development1 has  

accorded to man the    dignity of       
lordship4 ,looking over the face of the 
earth1 he says1 #8,see    all things for
 my use1 even woman4' ,and as the       
,bible1 in many of its    teachings1 as 
these are explained1 sanctions this     
arrogance1 declaring    that the #8man  
was not made for the woman1 but the     
woman for the man1'    she herself1 the 
just authority of ,nature being educated
 out of her1    and the arbitrary       
authority of man educated into her1     
believes it her    duty to yield        
implicit obedience to all the demands of
 the man to whom    she has declared    
allegiance at the altar2--the altar1    
truly2 for    there she is frequently   
offered a propitiation to satisfy the   
demands    of man's unholy passion2 and 
from henceforth this being1 created with
    reason1 conscience and intuitions of
 her own1 and for her own    guidance1  
believes it her highest duty to         
sacrifice all these to the    authority 
and the licensed sensualism of the      

husband1 for whose    pleasure she was  
created1 and to #8obey even as ,sarah   
obeyed ,abraham1    calling him ,lord4' 
8,this much may be said to account for  
the fact that so many women1            
otherwise excellent and amiable1 lend   
themselves to the commission of    this 
great crime2 a crime against themselves1
 against their children1    against     
their husbands1 against our great       
humanity4 ,and while thus               
prostituting their persons according to 
law 7made for this very end1    and     
solely by those who prostitute them71   
they deceive themselves into    the     
stupid belief that they are leading pure
 and virtuous lives1 and    look with   
scorn and contempt upon the poor sister 
who commits the same    unnatural and   
revolting deed in an unlawful and less  
reputable manner4      8,human decrees  
and enactments can never alter or       
reverse human    obligations4 ,what is  
wrong without a license or commission   
from human    government1 is wrong with 

such a license4 ,if an undesigned and   
undesired maternity be a dark and       
damning sin against the child1 the      
mother1 and humanity1 against ,god1     
without the sanction of the ,church1    
the ,state1 and public opinion1 it is a 
sin of an equally dark and    damning   
character with such sanction4 ,in every 
case where the act that    leads to     
maternity would be a sin1 a foul and    
monstrous crime1 and the    shame and   
infamy of one or both parents1 without  
the sanction of human    laws1 it would 
be the same with such sanction1 and in a
 legalized    union4 ,those women1      
therefore1 who for any cause1 allow an  
undesired    maternity to be imposed on 
them by men holding the legal relation  
of    husbands1 and permit themselves to
 be made the means of giving            
existence to children whom they do not  
want1 in legal marriage1 ought    to be1
 and one day will be1 regarded in the   
same light as those are    who become   
mothers outside of wedlock4 ,if it be   

wrong for a woman to    become a mother1
 without the consent of ,church and     
,state and society1    it is wrong for  
her to become a mother with such        
consent4 ,if right    with such consent1
 it is right without it4 ,whatever it is
 right to do    with a civil1           
ecclesiastical or social license1 it is 
right to do    without it4      8,if    
woman's life be made a curse by the     
constant endurance of    suffering1     
consequent upon a too-frequent          
maternity1 the religious    woman often 
endeavors to stifle the outcries and    
accusations of reason    and intuition  
by the absurd plea that she #8must have 
all the children    whom it is ,god's   
will to send4' ,occasionally1 one is    
found weak    enough1 and wickedly fond 
enough1 to say1 as ,miss ,bremer1 with  
contemptible silliness1 makes one of her
 amiable characters in #8,the    ,home' 
say1 #8that though she had such a large 
and rapidly increasing    family1 and   
her husband's means of providing for it 

were somewhat    limited1 yet he never  
grumbled1 and was always ready to       
welcome each    new child as it came6'  
,grumble1 indeed6 ,a husband            
#8grumbling' that his    wife has       
conceived6 ,a father #8grumbling' at the
 birth of a child6    #8,always ready to
 welcome each new child as it           
came6'--and this said by    a wife of   
her husband1 as the strongest testimony 
to his manliness and    justice as a    
husband and father1 and as the highest  
reason why she    should love and honor 
him6 ,what man so base1 so ignoble1 so  
fallen1    and so deserving a dungeon or
 the gallows1 as he who imparts the germ
    of a new life to his wife1 to       
gratify his passion1 and then           
#8grumbles'    because a child is born1 
and thrusts it from him8 ,man can give  
no    greater proof of the utter        
degradation and ruin of his moral       
nature4    ,yet not to grumble at a     
maternity of his own imposing1 and not  
to    repel and cast off the babe for   

whose undesired existence he is         
responsible1 is ,miss ,bremer's highest 
conception of manhood6      8,but a     
false religious education is not the    
only reason why woman    weakly and     
unrighteously yields herself to the base
 and brutal passion    of her husband2  
for a passion1 though all pure and      
ennobling when its    demands are just  
and naturally answered1 becomes most    
base and    brutalizing to men and      
women1 when indulged at the expense of  
the    child1 and contrary to the wishes
 of the wife and mother4 ,as society    
is now constituted1 she is his          
dependant4 ,the laws make her           
subservient to his will1 while she      
continues a wife1 and all-pervading     
custom has1 in great measure1 deprived  
her of the dignity which an             
independent ability to engage in        
business for herself1 outside the       
domestic circle1 would confer4          
8#8,can do is easily carried about1' is 
a pithy old ,scottish proverb2    and   

this same #8,can do' is a good and      
sturdy staff of self-support1    when a 
woman finds that the man on whom she    
fondly leaned would become    to her1   
not a tower of strength and a refuge    
from the storm1 but the    oppressor to 
crush both soul and body1 and make of   
her very ,womanhood    an unworthy      
thing4 ,let woman respect herself4 ,she 
will gain nothing by    submitting to   
wrong and outrage4 ,no wife ever gained 
or perpetuated    the love and respect  
of a husband1 deserving the name1 by    
yielding to    his passion1 merely to   
please him4      8,it is the popular1   
but foolish and unthinking belief1 that 
children    owe great obligations to    
their parents for bringing them into    
life2    but is not the contrary the    
fact1 that parents are under the        
strongest    possible obligations to    
their children to render that being     
good1    wise1 and happy1 which they    
themselves have forced upon their child8
    ,assuming this as self-evident1 then

 is it clear that such existence        
should not be the result of blind1      
unthinking passion1 but of careful1     
wise and loving design4      8,the act  
in which the child originates is        
performed1 often1 solely for    the     
momentary gratification of one or both  
parents4 ,no thought for the    welfare1
 the physical1 mental and spiritual     
organization and    tendencies of the   
child that may ensue1 is entertained4   
,no careful and    anxious forethought  
for the character and destiny of the    
child is    exercised1 but the          
gratification of mere animal passion is 
the sole    object sought4 ,the child   
comes into being undesigned by the      
father and    undesired by the          
mother1--the offspring of reckless1     
selfish1 sensual    lust1 and not of    
tender1 self-forgetting1 noble love4    
,how grievous the    wrong done by the  
father to the mother1 and by the mother 
to herself1    and by both to the child 
who is thus thrust into the world by    

violence6 ,what hope can exist for such 
a child8 ,the felon's doom was          
written on his soul before he was born4 
,his parents consigned him to    the    
dungeon or the gallows ere he drew the  
breath of life4      8,the woman who1 in
 youth1 is flattered and caressed for   
the charms of    her person1 the        
sweetness of her temper1 and the        
goodness of her    heart1 when married  
to a man who thus regards her as but the
    instrument of his pleasure1 soon    
loses the charms for which she was      
caressed1 and1 while the husband is in  
his prime1 she enters upon a            
premature old age2 her physical strength
 exhausted by the almost    constant    
suffering and agony attendant upon      
giving existence to those    poor1      
unwelcome ones1--her beauty faded1 her  
temper soured1 her whole    soul        
embittered by a consciousness of her    
hard lot1 and her mental    nature      
stunted in its growth1--for what leisure
 has she to attend to    the wants of   

her own spirit1 while her energies are  
taxed to the    utmost with the care of 
her living children1 who are solely     
dependent    on her1 and she preparing  
to add another to the number8 ,how can  
she    fill the treasure-house of her   
own soul with #8things new and old1'    
under all these adverse circumstances1  
and while the present physical    wants 
of her little ones are constantly       
clamoring1 #8,give6 give6' ,does    not 
reason1 does not justice1 demand for    
woman that she have full    opportunity 
for the development of her own          
,womanhood1 soul1 body1 and    spirit8  
,has not she1 as an individual child of 
,god and member of the    human family1 
a right to this8 ,does not the          
well-being of such    children as she   
may righteously bring into existence    
loudly call for a    full and practical 
recognition1 on the part of every       
husband and    every man1 of her right  
to decide for herself when1 how often1  
and    under what circumstances1 she    

shall assume the office of ,maternity1  
or    be subjected to the relation that 
may issue in maternity8 ,does not the   
happiness1 the best interest of the     
husband1 require it8 ,does not          
,humanity itself demand it8      8,and  
how must that woman1 in whose soul the  
theory of passive    obedience has not  
wholly eradicated nature1 regard the    
husband who    causes her thus to curse 
#8the day wherein she was born' a woman8
 ,in    her inmost soul1 she must look  
upon him as the half-enlightened slave  
looks upon his master1 and bitterly     
reproach him for victimizing her    to  
his own base passion1 and for his own   
short-lived gratification1              
irrespective of the woful consequences  
to her whom he has sworn to    cherish1 
honor and protect4 ,and justly does she 
thus regard him4 ,no    wife can love   
and honor such a husband4 ,he is to her 
what the    executioner is to the       
victim1 or the slaveholder to his       
crushed and    outraged slaves4 ,she    

cannot but loathe him4      8,can love  
do any injury to its object8 ,must not  
the wife become    alienated from the   
husband1 who1 instead of cherishing her 
health and    beauty1 and seeking her   
happiness1 subjects her to the loss of  
all    these1 and instead of honoring1  
basely enslaves her to his own          
infamous passion8--who1 instead of      
protecting from evil1 exposes her to    
sickness1 sorrow and death1 not in      
accordance with her own free will1      
her own glad choice1 in pursuit of an   
object worthy and great enough    to    
inspire hope1 courage and strength to   
meet the coming suffering1    and the   
attainment of which shall amply         
compensate1 and cause her #8to          
remember no more the anguish1 for joy'  
that a new life is given unto    her1   
but simply and solely that his own mean1
 selfish1 animal nature    may find     
present satisfaction8 ,deserves such a  
man the blessings of a    home of love  
and harmony1 the devotion of wife and   

little ones8 ,alas6    no2 he has       
planted only curses1 and #8whatsoever a 
man soweth1 that    shall he also reap4'
      8,must not such a wife1 too1      
regard the creative function in both    
herself and husband with loathing and   
abhorrence8 ,and did not the    power of
 refusing this unwelcome maternity      
reside within herself1 who    could     
blame her for reproaching even the great
 ,creator for so endowing    her with a 
capacity for unremunerative suffering8  
,and what must be the    atmosphere of  
that house 7,i will not dignify it by   
the sacred name of    home71 where the  
wife and mother regards her own nature  
as    degraded1--her husband the tyrant 
who degrades1 and her children the      
fruits of this degradation8 ,is that    
house a fit nursery for the germs    of 
a noble ,humanity8 ,do not plants there 
take root which cumber the    earth1    
and1 in their turn1 fill it anew with   
those briers and thorns    of human     
kind1 which render its habitations      

places of cursing and    bitterness8    
8,alas for the poor child of such a     
parentage6 ,receiving his very being    
by a base act of the father1 nourished  
until birth underneath the    heart of  
the mother1 whose whole nature protests 
against its    existence1 feeding upon  
her bitterness1 hatred1 and sense of    
humiliation1 the gall and wormwood of   
her soul infused into its young         
being1 coming at last into the world    
destitute of the inheritance of         
love1--the inheritance justly his       
own1--where shall be the resting-place  
of that child's soul8 ,around what can  
it lovingly cling8 ,even its own        
mother regards it as an unwelcome       
intruder2 in whose loving bosom    shall
 it be tenderly nurtured8      8,perhaps
 the mother who bore him used her best  
endeavor to cut short    his earthly    
existence ere he saw the light2 and1    
failing in this1 when    ushered into   
the world1 grudges him the care and     
sustenance necessary    to sustain that 

existence4 ,or if1 as is more frequently
 the fact1 with    the actual presence  
of the helpless innocent in her bosom1  
somewhat of    the mother's heart       
awakens into life1 it is not that rich1 
overflowing    life of love which pours 
the wealth and fulness of her own being 
into    his4 ,she cares for him as the  
animal cares for its young in its utter 
helplessness2 and then the weary woman1 
with many other children about    her1  
and preparing for a new maternity1      
thrusts him from her as soon    as      
possible1 and the little yearling must  
#8tak the stirk's sta' 7the    stall of 
the yearling calf74 ,what can the poor1 
unwelcome child    become8 ,how small   
are his chances for a virtuous life6 ,if
 he thinks    ,god has so created him1  
well may he plead with poor ,burns--    
#8,thou knowest thou hast formed me     
,with passions wild and strong4'        
#8,can a bitter fountain send forth     
sweet water8' #8,where shall ,i get     
them8' was the reply of a criminal to   

,jonathan ,edwards1 who told him    he  
must have better thoughts4      8,alas  
for poor ,humanity6 #8,let there be     
light1' that man may know that    the   
relation that leads to maternity can    
only be ennobled when its    object is  
the creation of a new and glorious life2
 that his passional    nature can only  
derive dignity and beauty from the      
control of love and    reason2 that     
otherwise1 it is of the earth1 earthy1  
and debases him    below the level of   
the brute4 #8,let there be light1' that 
woman1 in    whose soul resides the     
power1 may say to this overwhelming     
flood of    evil1 #8,here shall thy     
proud waves be stayed6' ,the errors of a
 false    religious education1 bad laws1
 and bad customs1 have1 hitherto1 formed
    some extenuation for this weak      
subserviency2 but this ignorance has    
been tolerated full long1 and now the   
great cry of ,god and ,humanity    goes 
forth calling for repentance1--that #8a 
new heavens and a new earth    may be   

created1 wherein shall dwell            
righteousness4'0    ,man has a heart1   
and that heart can be reached by the    
loving and earnest  appeal of a true    
woman4 ,words1 such as those contained  
in the above  extract1 will never be    
uttered in vain4 ,they are the true     
oracles of  ,nature's ,god1 as revealed 
in the soul of the wife and the mother4 
,let  the father hearken to the mother  
as she pleads1 in behalf of her         
children1 that they may not be cursed   
with an unwelcome existence4 ,let  the  
husband listen to the prayer of his     
wife1 that she may be spared a          
maternity whose responsibilities she is 
not prepared joyfully to assume4        
,humanity utters her indignant protest  
against man1 when1 to gratify his       
sensual passion1 he perpetrates the     
greatest possible outrage against       
woman1 as a wife and mother1 and as a   
woman1 by subjecting her to the         
necessity of cursing her child with an  
abhorred existence1 or of killing  it   

before it is born4 ,protestations of    
love and devotion must ever seem        
insulting and disgusting to a true      
woman1 from a man who would thus        
recklessly inflict upon herself and her 
child this foul wrong4 ,in vain  does   
such a man prate of his regard for the  
purity and honor of woman1  of his      
reverence for marriage and parentage1   
and of his desire for the  elevation of 
our common humanity2 his life1 in the   
sacred privacy of  home1 is an insult to
 his wife1 an outrage upon the mother of
 his  children1 an act of living        
injustice and cruelty to his offspring1 
and a  crime of deepest infamy against  
all that is true1 pure and noble in     
human nature4    ,man will not always be
 thus heedless of the health and        
happiness of his  wife2 he will not     
always be thus unjust and inhuman to his
 innocent and  unconscious children1 by 
making them objects of dread1 of        
loathing and  cursing1 to the very heart
 under whose pulsations they receive    

their  ante-natal development4 ,he will 
subject his manhood to the health and   
happiness of his wife and children2 and 
in doing so1 will receive the  richest  
reward earth can bestow1--the perfect   
trust of a devoted wife1  and the loving
 respect of a healthy1 happy and joyous 
offspring4                              
,h4 ,c4 ,w4                             
,,letter ,,vii4      ,,the ,,dread      
,,alternative--,,ante-,,natal ,,murder1 
,,or ,,an ,,unwelcome ,,child4          
,,dear ,,friend3    ,the following      
experience of a woman1 given in her own 
words1 will make  its appeal to all that
 is pure1 manly and noble in manhood4   
,it is the  cry of anguish from woman's 
riven heart to man1 to save her from the
  agony and blighting curse of a        
maternity whose sufferings she is not   
prepared joyfully to meet1 and from     
which her entire nature shrinks with    
dread and loathing2 to save her from the
 revolting alternative of  killing her  
child before it is born1 or of giving   

life to one whose very  existence is    
loathed by her4 ,several times1 the     
crime of an undesired  maternity had    
been perpetrated upon her by her        
husband1 and each time  the child had   
been killed by herself or by a doctor1  
before its birth4  ,she was asked how   
she felt under these outrages1 and what 
was the result  on her physical1 social 
and spiritual nature4 ,the following is 
her  answer3      8,how did ,i feel8 ,i 
felt that ,i was committing a damning   
sin4 ,my soul    shrank from the deed   
with intense horror and loathing4 ,the  
remonstrances of a guilty conscience ,i 
could not silence4 ,i had    submitted  
to the relation in which maternity      
originates1 thinking it    my duty1 as a
 wife1 to do so whenever my husband     
demanded4 ,i told him    that my very   
soul shrank from maternity2 that ,i was 
not yet prepared    for its             
responsibilities and agonies1 and begged
 of him not to impose    that burden    
upon me till ,i could joyfully welcome  

it1 which ,i felt    that ,i should1 in 
due time4 ,but he heeded not my prayer4 
,he insisted    on the relation4        
,conception and maternity ensued4       
8,my soul died within me4 ,an ever      
present loathing of the new life that   
was being developed within mine was in  
my heart4 ,my own soul1 and the    ,god 
whose voice was heard within1 repudiated
 its existence4 ,i could    not help the
 feeling4 ,the spirit of murder1 towards
 the unconscious    child in embryo1 was
 ever present to me2 yet my soul shrank 
with    horror from the deed4 ,shall ,i 
kill my child before its birth1 or give 
existence to one whose birthright       
inheritance is a mother's curse8    was 
the question ,i found myself debating   
continually2--for my curse was    on its
 very life4      8,i consulted a woman1 
a friend in whom ,i trusted4 ,i found   
that she had    perpetrated that outrage
 on herself and on others4 ,she told me 
it was    not murder to kill a child any
 time before its birth4 ,of this she    

labored to convince me1 and railed in   
the aid of her #8family    physician1'  
to give force to her arguments4 ,he     
argued that it was    right and just for
 wives thus to protect themselves       
against the    results of their         
husband's sensualism1--told me that ,god
 and human laws    would approve of     
killing children before they were born1 
rather than    curse them with an       
undesired existence4 ,my only trouble   
was1 with    ,god's view of the case4 ,i
 could not get rid of the feeling that  
it was    an outrage on my body and     
soul1 and on my unconscious babe4 ,he   
argued    that my child1 at five months 
7which was the time71 had no life1 and  
where there was no life1 no life could  
be taken4 ,though ,i determined    to do
 the deed1 or get the #8family          
physician' to do it1 my womanly         
instincts1 my reason1 my conscience1 my 
self-respect1 my entire    nature1      
revolted against my decision4 ,my       
,womanhood rose up in    withering      

condemnation4 ,and1 after the deed was  
done1 ,i felt that ,i    could never    
respect myself again2 that ,i could     
never again appear in    society2 that  
if ,i did1 all that was pure and true in
 manhood and    womanhood would shrink  
from me as a polluted1 disgusting       
object4      8,i tried to cast the blame
 on my husband1 who had imposed the     
necessity upon me4 ,i tried to feel that
 the outrage and the guilt were    all  
his own2 that1 had he heeded my prayer1 
and dealt justly by me1 ,i    should    
never have been driven to the dread     
alternative of ante-natal    murder1 or 
of giving birth to a child ,i did not   
want4 ,but ,i saw and    felt1 that     
however great the wrong he had done to  
me1 the fact still    remained1--my     
nature was outraged1 if not by my       
consent1 yet by my    sufferance4 ,i    
knew ,i could have saved myself from    
maternity1 had ,i    been resolute to do
 so2 and that1 having submitted to the  
relation in    which it originated1 ,i  

had no right to add to the outrage by   
killing    my child4 ,i felt myself to  
be a crushed1 prostituted1 abandoned    
woman4    ,can any apology be offered   
for a woman who commits the crime of    
ante-natal murder1 after she has        
voluntarily yielded to the relation     
that leads to maternity8                
8,maternity1 with its prospective       
agonies and its abhorred                
responsibilities 7for ,i did not yet    
call for a child71 was again    thrust  
upon me in a few months2 but ,i shrunk  
from destroying my child    again4 ,i   
gave birth to two living children4 ,then
 my soul rebelled    against having     
more2 but my husband was deaf to my     
prayers and my    tears1 though he      
himself was opposed to my having any    
more children1    and insisted it was my
 fault if ,i did1 though he persisted in
 his    right to his sensual indulgence4
 ,how could ,i avoid having more        
children1 when he was continually       
demanding of me the relation which      

naturally leads to offspring8 #8,kill   
them1' was his reply1 #8before they     
are born1 or do something to prevent    
conception6'      8,his injustice and   
heartless selfishness cut me to the     
quick1--stung my    very soul4 #8,this  
is the man1' ,i said to myself1 #8who   
has promised to    love1 cherish1 and   
protect me2 who expects me to love him  
tenderly    and evermore2 whom ,i have  
promised to love till death separates   
us2    and yet1 this is the man who1    
without regard to my wishes and         
conditions1 insists on his right to     
gratify his passion1 though at the      
expense of my body and soul6' ,my soul  
rose in rebellion against him4    ,it   
became evident to me1 that the          
gratification of his passion was his    
only object in seeking me as a wife2    
that this was the only claim he    had  
upon me1 or wished to have1 and that he 
had no higher idea of    marriage than  
as a means of licensed1 reputable       
indulgence4      8,i became desperate4  

,i could not leave my children4 ,i knew 
if ,i left    him1 ,i could give no     
reason for the step1 except my aversion 
to having    maternity thrust upon me in
 defiance of the demands of my own      
nature1    and ,i knew that all would   
condemn me1 if ,i left him to escape    
from    such an outrage1 as this was not
 considered a wrong to me1 but his      
right4 ,every feeling of my soul        
revolted against his taking possession  
of my person1 without my consent1 to    
blight and curse my body and soul    to 
gratify his animal nature4      8,i came
 to the conclusion to stand by my own   
rights1 and defend my    person against 
his sensualism4 ,i told him1 candidly1  
how ,i felt1 and    that ,i must protect
 myself1 in this respect1 for he would  
not4 ,i told    him ,i was living daily 
in deadly fear of his passion1 and of   
maternity2 that the relation in which it
 resulted had become repulsive    to me1
 and that he had brought me to view     
myself as a loathed1 abject    and      

prostituted woman4 ,his wrath was       
roused2 and finally1 from fear of       
breaking up my family and having my     
helpless living children taken    from  
me1 ,i submitted to a hell which had no 
mitigation1 until    separation gave it 
to me4      8,in my intercourse with    
men1 ,i have found few who did not view 
marriage and a wife as my husband did1  
as a mere means of sensual              
gratification4 ,companionship1          
intellectual1 social1 and spiritual     
growth1 and elevation1 they think little
 of1 in connection with a    wife4 ,they
 see no soul1 no ,god1 in the wife2 only
 the mere animal1 to    administer to   
the brute in them40    ,in the presence 
of a just and pure ,god1 and before the 
laws of ,nature  that are designed to   
govern all conjugal relations1 does     
marriage give  to the husband any right 
over the person of the wife1 or to the  
wife any  rights over the person of the 
husband1 which neither had before8 ,has 
a  husband any more right to demand of  

his wife the surrender of her  person to
 his passion1 than he has to demand that
 surrender of any other  woman8 ,true   
marriage creates necessities in each1   
and gives vitality and  intensity to    
wants in each1 which the presence1 the  
love and  companionship of the other can
 supply2 but a pure conjugal love       
creates  no rights1 and never thinks or 
talks of rights over the property1 the  
body1 or the soul of the loved one4     
,indeed1 a true man1 whose soul is      
filled with a holy conjugal love for a  
woman1 would scorn and loathe any       
personal caresses or surrender from her1
 when he knew she gave them  merely from
 a sense of duty1 and only because she  
believed he had a  right to them4 ,a man
 must be shorn of all true manliness1   
and become  utterly debased and         
prostituted1 before he can1 in or out of
 legal  marriage1 accept the personal   
surrender of a woman to his passion1    
when  he knows the surrender is made    
solely to please him1 or from some false

  idea of duty4 ,however tenderly1 truly
 and devotedly a man may love a  woman1 
she is not1 therefore1 under obligations
 to receive any  expressions from him1  
except such as her own necessities      
demand4  ,whatever manifestations of    
yourself you would make to your wife1   
before  offering them1 create in her the
 necessity of demanding and of receiving
  them4 ,if your nature prompts you to  
reveal yourself to her in the  relation 
that leads to maternity control         
yourself1 and be sternly true  to       
yourself1 to your wife1 and your child  
that may ensue1 until1 by all  other    
loving and endearing manifestations1 you
 have created in her  nature an earnest 
call for maternity4 ,then would she     
joyfully accept of  you the germ of a   
new life1 and1 for the sake of her      
husband and her  child1 consecrate all  
the energies of her soul to its true    
development4    ,read the following4    
,the extract is from a letter written by
 one who has  proudly and nobly filled  

the stations of a wife and a mother1 and
 whose  children and grandchildren      
surround her and crown her life with    
tenderest love and respect4 ,she has    
seen many of the companions of her      
girlhood victimized1 and literally      
offered up on the altar of  sensualism1 
in legal marriage4 ,their husbands      
demanded passional  gratification as    
their right1 irrespective of            
consequences to wife or  children1 and  
they submitted as a duty4 ,their career 
was short1 in  many cases1 and in       
others1 they live but wrecks of their   
former selves4  ,a relation that should 
have ennobled and saved them1 has       
crushed them to  death3      8,it has   
often been a matter of wonder to me that
 men should1 so    heedlessly1 and so   
injuriously to themselves1 their wives1 
and    children1 and their homes1 demand
 at once1 as soon as they get legal     
possession of their wives1 the          
gratification of a passion1 which1 when 
indulged merely for the sake of the     

gratification of the moment1 must    end
 in the destruction of all that is      
beautiful1 noble1 and divine1 in    man 
or woman4 ,i have often felt that ,i    
would give the world for a    friendship
 with man that should show no impurity  
in its bearing1 and    for a conjugal   
relation that would1 at all times1      
heartily and    practically recognize   
the right of the wife to decide for     
herself    when1 how often1 and under   
what auspices1 she should be a mother1  
or    enter into the relation that leads
 to maternity4      8,it is often said  
in my hearing1 by women1 that a woman   
who is not    willing to submit her     
person to the passion of her husband1   
whenever    he shall demand1 is not fit 
to be a wife2 and if she becomes so1 and
    her husband forsakes her for other  
women1 and neglects his children1    he 
is to be pitied1 and the wife condemned 
and held responsible for    all the     
results4 ,the law gives the husband     
cause for divorce if the    wife        

persists in withholding her person from 
his embrace1 which1 when    thus thrust 
upon her against her wishes1 becomes    
loathsome and    damnable4 ,the         
community of women generally endorse    
this state of    things1 and are        
educated to believe that ,god gave man  
such fierce    passions that he cannot  
control them2 that they must be         
gratified    whenever excited1 though at
 the expense of woman's health and      
happiness and the happiness of her      
children4      8,will man ever be pure1 
noble and strong enough to protect      
woman1 in    or out of legal marriage1  
against his own passion8 ,must woman    
always    put herself on the defensive1 
to protect herself against man8 ,will   
man    never see the fact as it is1 that
 all that is manly1 true1 great and     
noble in his nature1 must be preserved  
and perpetuated only by the             
protection of woman against being       
victimized to his sensual               
gratification8 ,o man6 thou art all     

noble and ,god-like1 to the loving      
and trusting heart of woman6 ,she longs 
to come to thee1 to save thee1    and to
 be saved by thee4 ,but thou mayest be  
assured that thy heaven1    in time and 
eternity1 can be secured only by saving 
woman from    prostitution4 ,while she  
is regarded by thee as the means of     
sensual    gratification1 rather than as
 the vitalizing1 redeeming power of thy 
manhood1 she will bring desolation and  
death to thy soul1 and thou to    hers4 
,to man1 woman looks for strength4 ,how 
she longs to rest in    him1--how she   
longs to give herself to him in a       
self-abandoning    trust1--and how she  
longs that he may ever be worthy such a 
trust1 the    heart of the true woman   
and wife alone can ever know4 ,but when 
woman    trusts and man proves weak1 and
 betrays her longing and trusting       
heart1 no words can express her         
sickening1 crushing disappointment and  
anguish4 ,often do women prefer to die a
 lingering and loathsome death1         

rather than confess themselves mistaken 
and disappointed in those whom    they  
have trusted40    ,the following extract
 from a private letter speaks the       
thought and  feeling of every true      
woman4 ,weigh well what the writer says 
of woman's  right to protect herself    
against the reckless passion of man4    
,also1 what  she says of woman's power  
over man1 and of man's readiness to     
yield to  that power1 when woman has the
 courage to appeal to his love3      8,i
 cannot conceive of a woman1 who has    
willingly and joyfully received    into 
her own being the germ of a new         
existence1 with the noble design    of  
rendering that existence happy1 ever    
committing this foul deed    abortion4  
,the cause of it must always be1 the    
previous submission to    an unwelcome  
maternity4 ,if this can be justified1 if
 the laws of man    and of ,god oblige  
woman thus to degrade and violate the   
sacredness of    her own person1 it     
follows that she1 being thus outlawed1  

placed    outside the protection of all 
law1 human and divine1 has a right to   
protect herself from further evil1 and  
even avenge herself for the    past1 as 
she best can2 and that whether by taking
 the life of her    husband or of his   
child4 ,can this be denied as a         
necessary    consequence8 and does not  
the bare statement of it disprove the   
monstrous assertion that ,god1 either by
 ,nature or ,revelation1 has thus       
placed her at the disposal of man's     
will8 ,no living creature is    created 
without some means of self-protection2  
and in woman1 that    weapon is         
,self-,respect4      8,it makes my soul 
sick1 even to a loathing of ,humanity1  
to think of    this unnatural deed1 and 
its foul cause4 ,alas6 men and women do 
not    worship their own natures4 #8,let
 us eat and drink1' they cry1 #8for     
to-morrow we die6'--#8,let us sacrifice 
the human to appease the    brute4'     
8,does not the crime of murder consist  
mainly in the fact1 that every    soul  

born on this planet has an inherent     
right to all the development    it can  
receive in this1 its birthplace1 and    
when deprived of corporeal    existence1
 is robbed of this right8 ,if this be   
true then ante-natal    murder of the   
same nature and character as post-natal 
murder4 ,yet for    the one crime the   
criminal is accounted1 by our judges1   
and by the    sentiment of the public1  
to be worthy of death2 whereas1 these   
same    judges1 and this same public1   
incite to the commission of the other1  
by subjecting woman to an abhorred      
maternity4      8,where is the wrong8   
,in the man1 first of all4 ,he it is who
 subjects    the woman to this abhorred 
maternity1 and for his own sensual      
gratification4 ,for him there is no     
apology1 save the miserable one    that 
passion overcome love and reason1 the   
animal triumphs over the    man1 the    
sensual over the spiritual4      8,in   
the mind of the woman who allows herself
 to become thus basely    subservient to

 her husband's will1 how loathsome is   
the memory of    those progenitors who  
bequeath to the man a nature so mean1   
selfish1    tyrannical and animal1 and  
to the woman a nature so tamely1 so     
ignobly    subservient and unresisting6 
,where is the remedy8 ,in the awakening 
of    woman to this great evil4 ,woman  
must assert and maintain her rights in  
regard to maternity1 ere any rational   
hope can be entertained for the         
future4 ,i cannot believe that man would
 become the fierce1 selfish    tyrant he
 now is1 if properly appealed to before 
his heart becomes    hardened by        
indulgence1--that he who1 in the general
 transactions of    life1 is just and   
honorable1 would become the selfish     
despot at home1    if the woman who is  
his wife fully respected her nature as  
woman1 and    her individual sacredness4
      8,let woman1 then1 be appealed to4
 ,let her #8arise from the dust1 and    
put on her beautiful garments1' for     
then1 and not till then1 shall her      

light break forth as the morning1 and   
,humanity become all glorious4    ,but  
while woman1 by law1 custom1 and        
religion1 is made subservient to        
man's sensual gratification1 without    
regard to her feelings and    wishes1   
while law1 custom and religion bestow on
 man the right to    inflict on woman a 
maternity whose suffering and           
responsibilities she    is not prepared 
joyfully to welcome1 and while woman1 to
 gratify man's    sensualism1 is        
subjected to the atrocious alternative  
of ante-natal    murder1 or of giving   
existence to children whom her inmost   
soul    repels1 there can be no hope of 
the regeneration and redemption1 the    
elevation and happiness of the race1 and
 of peopling the earth with    nobler   
and more beautiful types of manhood and 
womanhood40    ,how many husbands are   
unwilling to have their wives get       
knowledge as to  their right to decide  
when they shall become mothers1 or be   
subjected to  the relation that leads to

 it6 ,let woman get light on this1 if on
 no  other subject1 if she would be     
happy in her home4 ,slaveholders count  
him  most guilty who attempts to teach  
their slaves their right to be free4    
,so many husbands curse bitterly the man
 who would enlighten their wives  in    
regard to ,maternity1 and the relation  
that leads to it4 ,but true and  earnest
 souls are pledged to spread light on   
this subject4 ,read the  following3     
8,married women are often as ignorant1  
and about as degraded1 as to    their   
rights and duties1 respecting the       
function of ,maternity and the          
relation that leads to it1 as are the   
slaves of the ,south in regard to       
their rights4 ,many husbands are as     
unwilling that their wives should    get
 light on these subjects1 as are        
slaveholders that their slaves    should
 be enlightened in regard to their      
condition4 ,they must not be    allowed 
to know that they are not morally bound 
to submit4 ,they must    have no will of

 their own2 and by their weak           
subserviency1 they even    say to their 
husbands1 #8,god thy law1--thou mine1'  
as to ,maternity and    the relation    
that leads to it4 ,how can they know    
that there is any    other and nobler   
way1 than to have children and complain1
 and complain    and have children1 and 
submit themselves to their husbands'    
sensualism    with entire servility and 
silence8      8,never has any man spoken
 a truer and more needed word than you  
have    spoken1 or held out a more      
helpful hand to woman1 to enlighten her 
ignorance and to raise her from         
degradation1 than you have done1 in     
your work on #8,marriage and            
,parentage4' ,to me and my husband1 that
 book    has been as a message direct   
from ,god1 to guide us in our most      
sacred    relations in the sanctuary of 
our home4 ,we wait anxiously for your   
work on #8,the ,crime of an ,undesigned 
and ,undesired ,maternity4' ,we can     
ensure for it a wide circulation in this

 region2 for the ante-natal    history  
and education of human beings1 in its   
bearing on their    post-natal character
 and destiny1 is becoming a subject of  
paramount    interest in many true and  
earnest souls40    ,the following       
testimony to the wide-spread practice of
 ante-natal murder  is from one who has 
carefully noted the progress of this    
crime1 and its  dire effects on the     
physical and moral conditions of those  
who  perpetrate it1 and on their        
husbands and their homes3      8,a      
friend of mine told me that she should  
have killed two of her    children1 ere 
they were born1 had she known how4 ,she 
tried1 but could    not succeed4 ,the   
children whom she tried to murder were  
born alive1    and are now living2 but  
they are stamped with the spirit of     
revenge    and murder4 ,they struggled  
into life against the spirit of murder1 
and    the maternal curse must remain   
upon their souls till eternity shall    
cast it out4 ,this friend and myself    

made an estimate of the number of    our
 near neighbors who1 to our knowledge1  
had killed one or more of    their      
children before they were born4 ,six1   
out of nine1 had done the    deed1 or   
had procured the services of a #8family 
physician' to do it    for them4 ,they  
all justified the practice of ante-natal
 murder4 ,a    doctor in a neighboring  
village1 who ever frowns upon this      
unnatural    deed1 assured me1 recently1
 that he had been applied to by six     
different women in this little village1 
in one week1 to murder their    children
 before birth4 ,some of these women were
 the most fashionable1    wealthy and   
respected women of the town1 and two of 
them were    church-members4 ,they all  
insisted it was less criminal to kill   
children before they were born1 than to 
curse them with an unwelcome            
existence4      8,my husband and ,i have
 done what we could to circulate your   
work on    #8,marriage and ,parentage'  
in this region1 and1 already1 it has    

brought    comfort to many homes where  
happiness had been well-nigh wrecked by 
the unnatural demands of husbands1 and  
by their imposing maternity on    their 
wives when they were unprepared to meet 
the consequent    suffering40    ,the   
following shows how common1 in cities1  
is the practice of ante-natal  murder4  
,what a testimony against husbands who  
impose on their wives  maternity1       
without design1 and contrary to their   
own wishes1 and the  wishes of their    
wives6      8,a physician in a          
neighboring city told me that it was    
very common1    among the more          
fashionable and wealthy among whom he   
practised1 for    husbands1 who wished  
to have their wives always ready for    
society1 to    bring them to him and    
offer large sums of money to induce him 
to    procure abortion1 and to prevent  
conception4 ,invariably1 those who      
practise this outrage on themselves lose
 their health1 become    low-spirited1  
feel humbled and prostituted1 and are   

made irritable1    complaining1 nervous 
invalids for life1 and wholly           
incapacitated for    the enjoyments of  
society4 ,i know many who practise this 
foul crime4    ,those who do it         
generally lose their self-respect1      
become ashamed of    their womanhood1   
and shrink away from society1 conscious 
that they    deserve to be shunned or   
pitied1 by all that is pure and noble4  
,o6    why1 why do husbands impose on   
their wives an alternative so horrible8 
,why do women ever submit to a relation 
that subjects them to the    possibility
 of a maternity1 whose sufferings they  
are not prepared to    meet8 ,they had  
better starve1 better die6      8,yet1  
in my ignorance1 to please my husband1  
and to escape the agonies    of an      
undesired maternity1 have ,i allowed    
this most unnatural outrage    to be    
perpetrated upon myself and my unborn   
children4 ,i know the agony    of soul1 
and the conscious shame and degradation 
woman feels1 when1    having allowed her

 husband to impose on her a maternity   
which her soul    abhorred1 she resorts 
to ante-natal murder to avoid giving    
birth to a    child she does not want4  
,i know no woman can practise this      
outrage on    herself1 or allow another 
to practise it upon her1 without injury 
to    body and soul4 ,no woman1 after   
doing this deed1 can stand before her   
own soul1 or before her fellow-beings1  
as she did before4      8,the unwelcome 
child6--maternity1 abhorred by the      
mother and without    design by the     
father6--you call this #8,,the ,,crime  
,,of ,,earth6' ,it is4 ,lay    it open  
to the eyes of all1 in its bearing on   
the purity and happiness    of home1 and
 on the character and destiny of the    
race4 #8,let there be    light6' ,in the
 name of ,god and humanity1 and by all  
that is pure and    lovely in man or    
woman1 and by all that is sacred and    
dear in the    relation of mother and   
child1 #8,,let ,,there ,,be ,,light6'0  
,the following extract is from a wife   

and mother1 who1 with her husband1  is  
laboring earnestly and efficiently to   
elevate the human type4 ,they  are ever 
active to surround themselves and their 
children with  knowledge1 with just1    
pure and ennobling views and principles 
in regard  to marriage and parentage4   
,they think this the only way to save   
their  sons and daughters from the deep 
wretchedness and degradation of         
inharmonious conjugal relations1 from   
polluted homes1 and from the crime  of  
giving existence to children they do not
 want4 ,mark6 the woman1 whose  modesty 
is shocked at every effort1 however     
truthful1 earnest and  delicate it may  
be1 to enlighten husbands and wives in  
regard to the  natural laws designed to 
govern ,maternity1 and the relation that
 leads  to it1 does not feel at all     
shocked by ante-natal murder4 ,she can  
even  justify herself in doing this most
 foul and monstrous deed3--      8,when 
you lectured in this place1 on #8,the   
,unwelcome ,child1' one lady    went out

 of the house1 affecting to be greatly  
shocked by what you    said4 ,yet1 that 
same woman who went out muttering curses
 on you1 for    warning husbands against
 imposing an undesired maternity on     
their    wives1 has1 to my knowledge1   
had such a loathed and wretched burden  
thrust upon her twice1 in two years1 and
 each time has killed her    child      
before it was born4 ,another lady1 my   
near neighbor1 who thinks    such       
subjects should never be agitated1      
publicly1 has three times1    within so 
many years1 committed the crime of      
ante-natal murder4 ,the    first child  
was seven months old when she killed it4
 ,she told me this    herself4 ,she is  
now but twenty-four years old4 ,she has 
one living    child1 and this must      
suffer for life1 from the outrages      
perpetrated    upon it by the mother1   
ere its birth4 ,she says she cannot1 and
 will    not1 have any more children    
yet4 ,she says her husband insists on   
his    gratification1 and she cannot    

prevent conception1 and has no          
alternative but to kill the children    
before they are born1 or give           
existence to those whom her soul repels1
 and thus entail on them a    mother's  
curse4 ,she justifies herself by saying1
 it is no greater sin    against the    
child1 against herself1 against society1
 and against    humanity1 for a mother  
to kill her child before it is born1    
than to    give birth to it when her own
 heart loathes its existence4      8,she
 is one of a large class1 who are thus  
trying to reconcile    themselves to    
ante-natal murder4 ,still1 she feels    
degraded1 as all    must who do this    
deed4 ,they are degraded4 ,a deed so    
unnatural and so    cruel can never be  
perpetrated without deep injury to the  
moral nature    of all concerned4 ,the  
spirit that would kill a child before   
birth1    would kill it after2 the      
spirit that would commit ante-natal     
murder1    would commit post-natal      
murder4 ,but what shall be said of the  

husband who subjects his wife to this   
fearful alternative8 ,can man do    a   
deed meaner1 more selfish1 more         
satanic80    ,the organic and           
constitutional tendencies of those who  
are born are  fixed4 ,it may take a     
mighty effort to correct their          
birthright  tendencies to disease and to
 crime4 ,thousands say1 as the writer of
 the  following extract says1--8,we were
 lamentably ignorant of the natural laws
  of ,parentage when we married4 ,would 
that light had come to us sooner4  ,but 
we will not allow the happiness of our  
children1 and our children's  children1 
to be wrecked for want of knowledge40   
,the following is the  testimony of a   
true and earnest woman1 and loving and  
happy wife and  mother3--      8,before 
your visit to this place to lecture on  
#8,the ,ante-,natal ,history    of the  
,human ,being1 and its influence on his 
,post-,natal ,character and    ,destiny1
 in the body and out of it1' my husband 
and myself had talked    over the       

subject of ,marriage and ,parentage a   
great deal2 but we never    had had it  
presented to our minds in so strong and 
clear a light    before4      8,when ,i 
was married1 ,i was most lamentably     
ignorant of the laws of my    nature1   
especially of those designed to govern  
,maternity4 ,but my    husband1 in      
regard to maternity1 and the relation   
that leads to it1 is    a most kind and 
considerate man1 and ,i love and honor  
him all the more    for it4 ,i wish your
 book on #8,marriage and ,parentage' had
 fallen into    our hands before our    
children were born2 we might have given 
them more    loving hearts1 and nobler  
natures1 in body and soul1 by           
understanding    better how surrounding 
influences affect us before birth4 ,but 
,i am    thankful for my sake1 and for  
my children's sake1 and for the sake of 
the mothers that are to come after us1  
that your views are being so    widely  
made known through your writings and    
your lectures4 ,if mothers    better    

understand the laws of ,nature designed 
to govern maternity1 and    the relation
 in which it originates1 they will be   
more careful of    themselves1 for sake 
of their children4      8,i have heard  
many mothers express their thankfulness 
for your visit    and your conversations
 and lectures here4 ,you have given hope
 and    gladness to many anxious and    
despairing hearts4 ,the mother of six   
little ones1 and who is about to add    
another to the number1 said to    me1   
#8,such instruction is exactly what men 
and women need4' ,i felt    sorry for   
her2 yet not so sorry for her as for the
 unborn babe2 for ,i    know its        
existence is most unwelcome to the      
mother4      8,when ,i think of the     
great and good work in which you are    
engaged1 my    heart blesses you1 and   
bids you ,god-speed1 for it is a subject
 of the    deepest interest to me as a  
wife and mother4 ,before this question  
of    ,maternity1 and the relation that 
leads to it1 so far as the character    

and destiny of the race are concerned1  
in this and in the future    state1 all 
others sink into insignificance4 ,it is 
most painful to hear    woman1 in her   
vanity1 her shallowness1 and            
intellectual1 social and    moral       
debasement1 array herself against the   
only movement that ever    can raise her
 to a true estimate of herself as the   
mother of the race4    ,till the right  
is conceded to her to determine for     
herself when1 how    often1 and under   
what conditions she shall be a mother1  
or be subject    to the relation that   
leads to maternity1 woman can never     
become the    true and proud mother of a
 healthy1 beautiful and noble offspring4
    ,while she is a mother from         
necessity rather than from choice1 she  
must    feel herself an abject1 degraded
 being1 and her children must partake   
of her degradation4 ,my husband and     
myself bid you ,god-speed6 ,our         
hearts are with you40    ,the following 
fact was communicated by a wife and     

mother1 as having  occurred under her   
own observation1 and in reference to her
 own  daughter4 ,let every father and   
mother read this1 and see to what       
extremities their daughters are often   
driven1 to save themselves from a       
maternity whose sufferings they are not 
prepared to endure3--      8,my only    
daughter was married to a warm-hearted1 
impulsive young man    of twenty1 when  
she was but sixteen4 ,i besought him not
 to marry her    to gratify his         
passions1 and endeavored to set before  
him and her the    certain consequences 
of a union formed for mere sensual      
purposes4 ,she    was1 and is1 an       
innocent1 artless1 and frail creature4  
,she was in poor    health1 and ,i knew 
that absence from him preyed upon the   
life of her    body and soul4 ,they     
married1 and he took her to a distant   
western    ,state4      8,in about four 
months1 she came home to me1 by his     
consent1 a haggard1    emaciated wreck  
of a woman4 ,the first moment she saw me

 alone1 she    said to me1 #8,mother1   
they say ,i am about to become a mother1
 and my    husband wished me to come to 
you1 to see if you could not prevent    
it4'    ,i told her it was impossible2  
she was so feeble1 that the effort to   
kill the child would kill her4 ,she     
wept1 and prayed me to save her    from 
the suffering and anguish of            
child-birth4 #8,i have1' said she1      
#8the most loathsome and horrible       
feelings about it4 ,i think it would    
be a greater sin to give birth to a     
child1 with the feelings ,i now    have 
towards it1 than to kill it before it is
 born4 ,the very thought    of giving   
birth to a child fills my soul with     
deadly enmity4 ,my    constant prayer   
is1 that the child may be destroyed4 ,i 
would rather    die with it1 than to    
give it birth under such circumstances4 
,what will    the child be1 after it is 
born1 if ,i give birth to it with the   
feelings ,i now have1 and which ,i      
cannot help8'      8,i earnestly tried  

to dissuade her from destroying it for  
several    days2 but she became so      
desperate1 that ,i feared she would kill
    herself1 and knew that if the child 
was developed and born1 under such    a 
state of mind in the mother1 it must    
inevitably be a desperado1 or a         
fugitive and vagabond on the earth4 ,she
 had not one feeling of natural         
desire for her child1 but only sought   
its death4 ,i took her to a    doctor1  
noted for his ante-natal murders1 and he
 advised that the    child should be    
killed1--and he killed it4 ,her husband 
came after her1    and was thankful the 
deed had been done4      8,but the      
husband had no thought of restraining   
his passion1 and    insisted on its     
gratification1 though maternity should  
ensue4 ,in a few    months1 maternity   
was again imposed upon her4 ,she has no 
power of    endurance4 ,he and she again
 wished the child to be destroyed1 and  
it    was1 by the same doctor4 ,with all
 this dreadful suffering and anguish    

of his wife1 he insisted on his         
gratification4 ,he had no higher        
conception of marriage1 than as a means 
of mere sensual indulgence4 ,to    own  
her body1 and use it for his            
gratification1 he deemed his right as   
a husband4 ,she regards maternity with  
repulsion1 and the relation that        
leads to it2 still1 like most women1 she
 thinks it a great misfortune    that   
husbands cannot gratify their sensualism
 without imposing on    their wives the 
necessity of abortion1 or of giving     
birth to children    they do not want1  
and she lives in constant fear of losing
 the    affection of her husband1 if she
 does not quietly yield to his          
passion4      8,as to her husband1 she  
really thought he could not control     
himself    without great injury4 ,he had
 convinced her that the laws of ,god and
    man gave him the right to that      
indulgence with his legal wife as often 
as he desired1 and if conception ensued1
 it was no fault of his2 that    he was 

blameless1 as to any wrong done4 ,i     
could not but feel disgusted    and     
horrified1 to see all that was lovely   
and good in my child thus    sacrificed 
to a man's low sensualism4 ,when a      
husband thus deliberately    treats his 
wife as a mere means of sensual         
gratification1 it blunts    all that is 
refined and noble in her1 and makes him 
an object of    disgust to her4 ,and    
she1 in her nature1 must exercise the   
love-principle or starve1 and she wastes
 it on others more congenial1    who    
will respect her womanly nature4 ,often 
this is the cause of her    throwing    
herself into temptation1 and becoming a 
victim of the base    passions of those 
who are ever on the watch for such4     
,thus she is    driven1 step by step1 to
 utter prostitution1--all from being    
made the    slave to the sensual passion
 of the husband4 ,had she had a         
spiritually-minded and noble husband1 or
 the courage to assert her    rights1   
her home would have been her heaven1 and

 her progress and    improvement1 not   
her degradation and ruin1 the law of his
 life40    ,read the following4 ,it must
 be an inhuman and monstrous religion   
which  can countenance a crime so       
unnatural as enforced maternity1 or     
ante-natal murder3--      8,those among 
us who are members of our churches1 and 
are counted most    exemplary patterns  
of purity and piety1 to my certain      
knowledge1    practise ante-natal       
murder1 and they justify themselves by  
saying1 #8,it    would be a greater sin 
against children to entail on them the  
curse of    an abhorred existence1 than 
to kill them before they are born6'     
,these    pious women affected to be    
greatly shocked1 when1 in your lectures 
here1 you appealed to their husbands to 
control their passions1 and    spoke of 
the crime of enforcing on women a       
maternity whose    responsibilities and 
sufferings they were not prepared       
joyfully to    welcome4 ,but ,nature is 
ever true to herself4 ,no matter who    

they are    that perpetrate this        
outrage1 whether rich or poor1 high or  
low1 pious    or impious1 whether in the
 church or out of it1 they become       
weakly1    and incurably diseased2 their
 constitutions soon break down under    
this    abuse1 and they pass away by    
consumption1 or some nameless1 wasting  
disease1 and their death is1 by most    
people1 attributed to a #8wise and      
good ,providence4' ,the husbands1 the   
real murderers1 are pitied1 and    soon 
comforted by taking other wives1 only to
 kill them in the same    way4 ,how can 
a woman feel proud of the nature ,god   
has given her1 after    thus abusing it8
 ,she cannot4 ,she must feel in her soul
 that she is    degraded1 and her very  
existence becomes a loathing to herself4
 ,who    drives her to this inhuman     
deed8--who1 indeed1 but the very husband
 to    whom she so fondly looked for    
protection from all harm80    ,,dear    
,,friend1--,the following positions seem
 to me to be clearly sustained3    #a4  

,that it is a crime of the deepest dye1 
for a husband to impose on his  wife1   
without design1 a maternity whose       
responsibilities and sufferings  she    
cannot joyfully endure4    #b4 ,that it 
is a sin for a husband to urge his wife 
to submit to a  relation which may      
result in an undesigned and undesired   
maternity4    #c4 ,that no wife can     
stand proud and stainless before her own
 soul1 who  allows herself to come into 
a relation with her husband which may   
entail  on her the curse of an unwelcome
 maternity1 and reduce her to the       
revolting alternative of ante-natal     
murder1 or of giving birth to a  child  
whose existence is abhorrent to her     
soul4    ,may not every child1 in       
justice1 demand of its parents1 as a    
birthright  inheritance1 7#a7 a healthy 
body1 free from all tendency to disease2
 7#b7  a healthy soul1 free from all    
tendencies to idiocy1 and insanity of   
intellect or of heart2 7#c7 a designed  
existence1 the result of a wise  and    

tender forethought1 and not of blind1   
impetuous1 selfish1 sensual  passion2   
7#d7 a love origin1 rather than a mere  
sensual1 animal origin2  and 7#e7 a     
joyous welcome into life8 ,as you cast  
your little ones afloat  on the ocean of
 eternal being1 be careful to secure to 
them this outfit2  then may you hope to 
see them bravely and successfully       
outride the  storms of life1 and enter  
into a true and endless rest4 ,but what 
hope is  there for these poor1 diseased1
 suffering little ones1 the offspring of
  a loathed and hated maternity1 whose  
very existence1 ere they were born1  was
 made accursed by the mothers that bore 
them1 and by the fathers1  whose only   
thought or aim in the act in which they 
originated was mere  sensual            
gratification8 ,god pity these poor1    
unwelcome ones6 ,no earthly  parents    
welcome them into life with loving      
smiles4 ,in whose warm1 loving  bosom   
can they be tenderly cherished8 ,to whom
 can they look for love and  sympathy8  

,again ,i say1 ,,god ,,pity ,,these     
,,poor1 ,,unwelcome ,,children6    ,that
 your home may never be cursed by an    
undesigned and undesired  maternity1 or 
by an unwelcome child1 is the anxious   
wish of                                 
,your friend1                           
,h4 ,c4 ,w4                             
----------------------------------------
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,,transcriber',s ,,notes       #a4      
,silently corrected obvious             
typographical errors and variations in  
spelling4   #b4 ,retained archaic1      
non-standard1 and uncertain spellings as
 printed4   #c4 ,enclosed italics font  
in underscores4