_Tenth_.--Again, I say that it is wonderful to me that so many men, so many women endure and carry their burdens to the natural end; that so many, in spite of "age, ache and penury," guard with trembling hands the spark of life; that prisoners for life toil and suffer to the last; that the helpless wretches in poorhouses and asylums cling to life; that the exiles in Siberia, loaded with chains, scarred with the knout, live on; that the incurables, whose every breath is a pang, and for whom the future has only pain, should fear the merciful touch and clasp of death. It is but a few steps at most from the cradle to the grave; a short journey. The suicide hastens, shortens the path, loses the afternoon, the twilight, the dusk of life's day; loses what he does not want, what he cannot bear. In the tempest of despair, in the blind fury of madness, or in the calm of thought and choice, the beleaguered soul finds the serenity of death. Let us leave the dead where nature leaves them. We know nothing of any realm that lies beyond the horizon of the known, beyond the end of life. Let us be honest with ourselves and others. Let us pity the suffering, the despairing, the men and women hunted and pursued by grief and shame, by misery and want, by chance and fate until their only friend is death. Robert G. Ingersoll. SUICIDE A SIN. * New York Journal, 1805. An Interview. _Question_. Do you think that what you have written about suicide has caused people to take their lives? _Answer._ No, I do not. People do not kill themselves because of the ideas of others. They are the victims of misfortune. _Question_. What do you consider the chief cause of suicide? _Answer._ There are many causes. Some individuals are crossed in love, others are bankrupt in estate or reputation, still others are diseased in body and frequently in mind. There are a thousand and one causes that lead up to the final act. _Question_. Do you consider that nationality plays a part in these tragedies? _Answer._ No, it is a question of individuals. There are those whose sorrows are greater than they can bear. These sufferers seek the peace of death. _Question_. Do you, then, advise suicide? _Answer._ No, I have never done so, but I have said, and still say, that there are circumstances under which it is justifiable for a person to take his life. _Question_. What do you think of the law which prohibits self-destruction? _Answer._ That it is absurd and ridiculous. The other day a man was tried before Judge Goff for having tried to kill himself. I think he pleaded guilty, and the Judge, after speaking of the terrible crime of the poor wretch, sentenced him to the penitentiary for two years. This was an outrage; infamous in every way, and a disgrace to our civilization. _Question_. Do you believe that such a law will prevent the frequency of suicides?