_Moral Codes._—The double code of morality is one of the most insidious weeds of our man-made civilization. By this code man is forgiven all of the social sins; woman, none. This code has been rigidly enforced down to the last twenty years, and is still largely favored in many places. This amazing code allowed—rather expected—every young man to sow his wild oats before his marriage. His escapades, provided they were carried on so as not to appear too brazen, were condoned, and frequently encouraged. But when he came to marry, regardless of how many unsavory affairs he had indulged in, he demanded, and society backed him in this demand, a pure, unsophisticated girl. Women, on the other hand, were required to be absolutely pure and innocent, else their value as wives was gone. It was insisted that the young girl sit by the fire and sew a fine seam until some man came with the offer to transfer her to his fireside, to continue the seam. If, as too frequently occurred, no man came, she must decline into a sour spinsterhood, and give her energies to care of the sick, or church suppers, with a sweet smile, while her vitals were gnawed by the malignant cancer of ingrowing love-longing. Any girl, who by the slightest gesture, stepped a fraction of an inch from this allotted way, was immediately damned, and was thenceforth not a fit mate for any “nice” man, but the prey of all men. If a girl yielded to unmarried love, the river or prostitution were the delightful alternatives offered her, and men and women united in maligning her. Surreptitiously, the men changed their maledictions with the waning light of day. Needless to say, since the human animal is removed by degree rather than kind from his four-footed ancestors, there was a great demand for prostitutes. Men could not satisfy their urge toward variety among the women of their class, so they devised a system whereby they could keep their women virtuous, and still enjoy the fruits of passion. The prostitute was allowed to carry on her tragic trade, but was thrust into the lowest depths of degradation.