Western Reserve chronicle. [volume] (Warren, Ohio) 1855-1921, 1862-02-19
THE BLUNDERBUSS.
ssTO SHOOT FOLLY"
Sin, tho Cause of Death.
WARREN, ONO, Feb. IA, 1852.

Stop readerl don't throw down the pa
per tlrus angrily; how do you know the
editor is a religious tanaticl read first, and
then judge whether he is not just of your
way of thinking, or, rather, whether you
are not of his way of thinking.
Not long since we attended the funeral
of a lovely child, it was the idol of its
parents, and, indeed, the pride of the
whole neighborhood. The h4noe,'oA no
rents seemed inconsolable at their loss,
and many heavy heart beat in sympa-
thy with them at that mournful meeting.
The minister in his eloquent discourse,
attributed the untimely death, to the IN
scT5itaJls ,cays of ProCidsace, and descanted
learnedly on the ''transgreSsion of our
first parents" that thereby disease, with
all its attendant train of suffering and
misery, and death, was first introduced
into this, otherwise, desirable world of
ours.
Now. we are not disposed to dispute
with the learned man about that position,
but could not avoid thinking, during the
discourse, that the death OF the child
might be traced TO sins of a more recent
date. than that committed in paradise so
long ago.
1t was no uncol. .1mon sight, to see this
once laughing, sprightly child, at church,
and in the street, with its neck, breast,
shoulders, arms and legs, almost entirety
bare, and that, too, frequently, when ITS
mother would draw her shawl closely
around her otherwise protected crest, to
secure her from the damp winds, whose
first touch would send chill through tue
whole system.
And strange rs it may appear, although
a mother, she never appeared to be I'M
pressed with the idea, that the child could
be affected by the cold or changing wealth
er.
1t mattered not how cold or warm, how
wet or dry, if the child was dressed fit to
be seen" it must be thus exposed. True,
it had clothes that were comfortable, and
was permitted to wear them when at home
when company was not there.
As natural consequence, this changing
from close to loose, from thick to thin,
from dress to nudity, was too much for
the infant constitution, it gave way, we
have recorded the rest.
Is the cause of the childs' death uuScyIt-
table, and past finding out? Indeed there
is scarcely a man or woman in the whole
country, however robust and healthy
they may be, that could long endure such
treatment as this. No, not one in fifty
would five year, if exposed to such ex-
tremes of dress and weather, as this little
child was.
But clileire7,, are not alone, sufferers from
this sin. Those who should know better,
are too often its victims. How frequent
" have we all heard the expression, that
Miss A. or B. took severe cold at a par
ty, which brought on consumption, and
she was taken in the bloom of youth p
How many stricken households are scat
tered thick DER the country, whose tale
of grief has this same foundation?
Need we trace the history of the past
back six thousand years, for the sin that
brings death into the world, and takes so
much of youth and loveliness out? No,
verify, it is in our very midst, we can
scarcely 90 into the streets without meet
ing ii, never into the assembly room, or
social gathering.
Mothers, you who have little iOy-produc-
ing, happiness-engenderin smiling pratt
tiers, forget not that 1.-The wages of sin is
death" We do not wish to be under
stood as taking theological view of the
subject, but merely q common sense sur
vey of the matter. We shudder at the
infant mortality lists, but the exercise of
a grain of reason, will dispel all the mys-
terry, and we almost wonder it is no great
er. If those who are old enough to know
better, persist in offering themselves on
the altar of Fashion, let them go, but we
protest, in behalf of the little ones, who
are not competent to take care of them
selves, and if mothers have no more sense
than to expose children as above repre-
sented, let as have public guardians for
their special protection.