as did the unhappy Virginius, unless, like him, they shortened life. The
victims, too, are as little free-will agents in the matter as Virginia
would have been; and many thousands of daughters have fallen, not by
their father's hand to save their honor, but by cruel deception, and
died to all that was beautiful or pure on earth, and to every hope of
heaven.

And while the woman who has sinned, and fallen through that sin, is
pitied by few, despised by nearly all, and but little effort made to win
her back to the path of purity, how is the companion of her sin treated?
He, the seducer--often the grossest of deceivers, the instigator of the
crime--because he is a man, is countenanced by the many, his conduct
palliated, and himself received as an honored guest, even in the highest
circles of society. The law of God makes no distinction between the male
violator of His holy law and the female violator of the same; but man,
arrogating to himself superior wisdom, makes a very marked one.

No wonder, then, that women groan because of their bondage.

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote A: Sharpe's "History of Egypt."]

[Footnote B: Koran, chap. iv.]

[Footnote C: Sale's "Preliminary Discourses on the Koran," sec. 4.]

[Footnote D: "Laws of Menu."]

[Footnote E: Bloss, page 334.]