A Plea for the Unborn; An Argument That Children Could, and Therefore Should, Be Born with a Sound Mind in a Sound Body, and That Man May (Paperback)

Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: A PLEA FOR THE UNBORN. AN ARGUMENT THAT CHILDREN SHOULD BE BORN WITH A SOUND MIND IN A SOUND BODY. Yes, what I plead for is that a pure mind should be in a pure body. Man ought to be perfect in mind and body; man can be perfect. I have said it can be. Then, I ask, why is it not ? Why are we improving the breed of horses, cows, and sheep, and allowing man to degenerate ? Why should the horse be a noble creature, the result of man's care and breeding, whilehe who has given beauty to that animal is a pitiful object, degenerated in body and mind ? While we are improving animals, we are neglecting man. There is a cause for this sad fact, and it is this: Animals are the property of man, and it is his interest to produce the best he can, for two reasons?to increase his wealth, and to satisfy his pride. The horse is the property of a man; this man has a personal interest in the horse; and the result is a fine breed of horses. Man has no owner; no one is interested in him; he has no owner to watch over his development with anxious care. The horse has a value according to his quality. Man has a direct interest in his horse; he wishes to seeit increase in value, and not to deteriorate. This is a cause acting on the development of the horse. We now turn to man, the boasted lord of creation. How comes it that man is rapidly declining?that man to-day is not what he was ? The reason is, man is under no control; he has no owner; no one is interested in his development; no one can make money of him in the market; he is his own owner; he is free to do what he likes. Man is at liberty to destroy his constitution by vice and disease, and to marry one like himself, and bring into existence diseased and deformed children. This was prevented in the Slave States. Don't be shocked, good reade...