The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1864-08-05
INFANrICIDE.

"War has slain its housands-cholera infan-
tum carries off its little victims by tens Of thou
sands The total deaths Of this city last week
were f34, which is Just 43 more than In the
week before, and q more than In the corrcs.
pOnding week Of 1868. Two hundred and
tfiy-siN children were translated last week 20
/" better world. Two hundred aud fifty six little
=" collins were followed by sorrowing parents 10
the graveyard. Two hundred aud fftv-sif
lights OF home were eKtinguished. mainly by
cholera infantum, dysentery, diarrhea, and
" commissions, peculiar 10 children
a New York exchange makes the following
report
"Tho mortality list for the past week is rather
" formidable. Deaths from all diseases, 589
" or these, 3i3 were children under ten years of
" age. Increase over last week, d9. Cholera iu-
=" fantum had % victims; consumption, 55
scarlet fever. l6i killed by accidents, Q;
" drowned, TO-"
1t will be found difficult TO controvert the
fact that, Of the immense mortality among
children which every summer brings, the
major portion might be averted, If less culpa-
BILE carelessness and q higher degree Of ac-
quaintance with the duties and responsibilities
of maternity were prevalent among mothers.
The second summer is the period in human
life which is most thickly beset with perils of
disease and helplessness, when, as a general
rule, the infant is deprived of its mothers
nourishment, and supplied for the first time
with artificial diet; when its little limbs Arst
learn their uses, and when they require the
most scrupulous and untiring attention.
And yet when we look about us in our
daily walk and observation, can we resist the
conviction that the pitiable ignorance Of many
mothers, and the criminal negligence Of others,
deprive each year thousands OF children Of
the breath of life, with as much certainty as
though the act were committed with delibe-
rate intent, and indictable as an instance Of
infanticideP Wherever we bend our steps we
find poor, puny, and neglected little ones, en-
trusted to the tender mercies Of hirelings,
who see no appeal in their piteous looks, and
who alternately stuff or starve them without
the remotest thought for the direful conSe-
quences.
We find women In whom all the maternal
affections are blunted-whOse love of gay
society and visiting has vanquished all natural
care for their offspring; and, alter time, the
lntermingled Grape and ribbon pendent over
their llntels, the little coffin and the dismal
hearse standing before their doors, procl lin,
in conscience-quickening significance, the
result OF most cruel and inhuman neglect,
which, although not an ofiense before an
earthly tribunal, stands upon the books of the
recording angel as murder.
Perhaps, however, the most numerous and
distressing cases occur through the utter igno-
rance of mothers in the care of their children.
We often find them, after a paroxysn of pas
sion, ministering to the appetite Of infants that
which, instead Of being their 'tural nourlsh-
ment, becomes an active and pain-producing
poison. The same malignant effect is pro-
duced from the use, by the parent, OF unsea-
! sonable or unwholesome food, or fOm violent
or insufficient exercise. But the most harrow
ing picture in connection with the subie It is
presented in the crowded and pent-up dwell
ings Of the poor in our large cities, many Of
whom ore born, exist and die without ever
knowing exemption from impurty of all kinds,
moral and material, and whose ch dren, to
fearful extent, populate our numerous ceme-
teries
Here, again, is inhnticide committed to an
extent horrible to contemplate, and TO arrest
it is as impossible as to check profanity or
inferior grades of vice. Still, there is another
class of poor among whom infant morality is
large, but inevitable-people who, through
poverty or contracted circumstances, are pre-
cluded from procuring the necessary comforts
for their little ones, and who follow them to
their last homes with the full consciousness
that a single week of country air and rura
scenery would have snatched them even IRON
the yawning gulf of the grave. The sorrow:
of such are sacred, and the sufferers can only
console themselves by faith in the great Com
lorter, who doeth sll things we'll