has sprung up between himself and the sister of his deceased wife:” which of course implies, that if the proposed change took place, confidential intercourse between the husband and the wife's sister would be at an end. As has been truly observed, she would be no more to him than any other unmarried woman.
Another, who strongly advocates the change, allows that “it might in some cases deprive the widower of the company of the sister on the death of a wife. Opinion and public feeling might require that she should no longer occupy the same house, though his children might then be deprived of the only female guardian and guide they had[1].” Surely the statement might have been stronger. As a general rule among decent persons of all ranks, a law which would place the wife's sister in the same relation to the husband as any other unmarried woman, not only might, but must, in all cases, separate the wife's sister from the family; not only after the wife's death, but in her lifetime also, during any long illness or absence. That is, she will require the same kind of protection as another young woman would in the like circumstances. If she is to be of use to her
- ↑ Report, 995.
