Anti-slavery bugle. [volume] (New-Lisbon, Ohio) 1845-1861, 1845-11-28
THE SICK PAUPER.
BY CHARLOTTE ELIZABETH.

AT all times comparatively helPloso anu ue-
pendent, childhood in sickness becomes
doubly so: and hardened, indeed, must be
the heart that can resist its touching plea Tor
compassion and succor. Yet to this extent
is the heart of man, and of woman, too, har-
dened by the all-absorbing principle of sell
fshness. The hireling who is paid for rem
dering attentions which are peculiarly the
office of a mother, sister, or other near con-
nexion, will too frequently be found faithful
in their discharge only SO far as the eye of
the party holding the purse is upon her, even
where the charge is the fondling child of
wealth, and the remuneration abundantly
large; but in the case of friendless pauper
children, for whom a compulsory provision
is made by law, and a niggardly allowance
is doled out to the grumbllng recipient, for
undertaking to look after the troublesome
brat, what can we expect! The official con-
siders herself ill-paid, even for the modicum
of attention that she is obliged outwardly to
bestow; and the poor aching head is less
likely to be lulled on its pillow by the sooth-
ings of kindness, than to be further racked
and bewildered, and frightened, by noisy out
bursts of s~plenetic ill-humor, and complaints
of the trouble imposed. The comforts of
cleanliness, ventilation, f%umigation, cool
drinks, and announcements to sleep, that in
other cases are deemed indispensable, must
not be dreamed of here. Loud tones, heavy
%tramping, slamming of doors, and neglect in
every possible form, are matters OF course.
Long sickness in a pauper child is not to be
tolerated; if it does not quickly get well, with
out any fuss being made about it, better it
should die and be done with; more will be
left than any body knows how to provide
for.
But there is another class from whom little
mercy can be hoped; those who having a
certain quantity of work to be done, and re-
quiring it to be done within the shortest pos
sible time, at the least possible cost, hire pau
per children to do it. These employ two
sorts of machinery in their business: one be-
ing made of flesh, the other of wood and iron.
If a wheel or strap becomes entangled, it is
set TO rights by the proper workman; if so
injured as not to allow Of speedy repairing,
it is thrown by, and a new one substituted,
to avoid any delay. Just SO it is with the hui
man department. Why should any differ
ence be made? Why should not a child be
worked as long as it Can be compelled to go
on, with a little occasional quick patching,
and when it cannot, be thrown into the
street, just as a broken wheel is thrown
into the lumber room to fall to piecesl
1t is not to be expected that the masters
profits of a few hundred or thousand per an
mum, should be decreased TO the amount,
now and then, of one and sixpence, by al
lowing a little creature, that has worked it.
self ill in his service, to lie by for a week
without forfeiting its eighteen pence; or to
retain its claim 10 re-admission on recovery.
But add to this the fact, that what the child
earns is not at its W disposal, going to re-
munerate the person who has charge of it,
for such food and such clothes as it gets, we
may believe the lit'ls laborer must be in the
position of a shuttlecock, struck alternately
from one battledore to the other, until, escap-
ing a stroke, it falls to the ground, and is
trampled into kindred dust.
Our little Betsey Smiths situation is that of
thousands upon thousands in this land. One
parent lost by premature death, through mer-
CHESS eXaction of labor beyond her strength,
the other by total desertion, first of his duties,
and then of his home. 1t is a small matter
for whom she tolls, or who is to deal out to
her the very scanty portion of this worlds
goods that falls to her LOT. Under a differ
ent system-under the protection of Christian
laws, administered in a Christian spirit-no
doubt such helpless beings would find a fit
ting asylum, where their bodies would be
allowed to grow, their minds to expand, their
constitutions to acquire some stamina, and
their hands to become both active and strong
for the various burdens and labors to which,
at a proper age, they might be destined. But,
alas as respects the most numerous class
of her people, the Christianity of England is
a name, and her boosted laws of equal right
and privilege are a farce.
Betsey Smiths employer having been
cheated of the price of toll, not yet perform
ed, by the craft of her step-mother, and hav-
ing had, on the preceding day, a little al
t~ercation with the parish authorities, as to
their comparative claims on the chlld's future
earnings, in which, with much trouble, he
established his own, might naturally look
with a suspicious eye on her absence. She
was perhaps, kept away to work for them
under pretence of illness; for Joe had been
ordered to report her sick. After trying in
vain the effect Of cross-interrogation, enforced
with a few heavy blows (for the ''question"
is sometimes administered in that way with
out the superintendent of a grand inqulsi-
tor and ascertaining that the boy really
knew nothing more than he had repeated, 1t
was resolved, if she did not appear on the
morrow, to send Kitty to the overlooker on a
mission of inquiry.
This woman, indeed, could have borne
testimony that the little girl was so i'll on the
preceding day, as scarcely to get through
her work; and that she had even fallen from
her seat through exhaustion; but the tempta-
ton of a walk, and a gossip, and a contiden-
tial office in the eyes of the workhouse peo-
pie, more than counterbalanced any lncllna-
ton to tell the truth, or any conjunction for
what she was helping to inflict on the lnno-