Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1874-02-19
Fatal Indulgence.

As IN this article we wish to attack q
real and wide-spreading evil, we may as
wei begin by saying that in our belief
many parents kill their little children
through mistaken kindness in gratifying
thelr appetiteS at the table not only, but
between meals. HerOd's evil fame for
the murder of the innocents gathers black
ness with the centuries, but there are
muItitudes of perfectly amiable and lovely
people who reach Herod's result without
particle of his intention. Fathers and
moLhers to please their darlings often give
them food which the digestive organs OF
child cannot assimilate, and which pro-
duce disturbances of brain and stomach
lhat IN some cases terminate in fatal con-
gestlons, while in others they SOW the
seeds for long years of dyspepsia and
Wretchedness. We not long ago heard a
clergyman who has for an extended period
OF time been the pastor of city church,
declare that nothing aStonished him more
IMAM the ignorance of otherwise we'll edu-
Gated people concerning the commOnest
laws OF health. Neglect of proper ventila-
lauon, carelessness in adapting dress to the
changes Of the weather, and overlooking
ana examining children with dainties, he
said, were shadOwing many homes with
the gloom of bereavement, which was
then mournfully charged to the account
OF mysterious Providence.
The fact is, we often wickedly charge
upon Providence what we ought remOrSe-
fully to asCribe to ourselves. The uni
verse from the greatest to the least of its
parts, Is not under the control of accident,
but under the reign Of wise and beneficent
law We put ourselves in the way Of an
ordinance of nature, ana complain that
its wheels as they roll crush us beneath
their weight. We have no business to sin
in this way through want Of information,
especially in these days. Treatises on
dietetics are multiplied, journals of health
abound, great thinkers bring their minds
to bear On the problems of sanitary
science, and still the average well-to-do
American citizen goes on feeding his
precOciOus little ones on an indiscrimi-
nate tumble of pickles, preserves, candy,
plum-cake, mince-pie and kindred articles
OF diet. Europeans seldom fail in their
notes on our American life, to remark
with wonder upon the things which chill
dren are permitted to eat, not to say sur
felt themselves with, at the tables of boats
and hotels. The simple porTidge or bread
and milk or the bread and butter and jam,
which give Scotch and English chill
dren their well-knit frames and rudy
cheeks, would be disdained by many of
our little republican princes. Far better
off are the children of the poor than those
of the rich in this regard, for the plain
food to which they are confined aids in
sturdy development of the physical pow
Crs, and fits them to bear the wear and
tear of life's rough vicissitudes.
Parental love can show itself in no ten
derer or wiser way than by denying and
Withholding from the little ones tempting
food which is sure to undermine their
health, and which may destroy their life.
Dishes which may not harm adults may
be very hurtful to children, yet there is
wide range of food which both may eat
without danger The trifling selfdenial
which prefers to do without pastry and
condiments rather than to place them in
the children's way, ought not to be be-
yOnd any reasonable parents power. So
plain and simple are the laws of health
full living, and so hard is the way of the
transgressor that word to the thought
full ought not to be spoken in vain
Hearth and Home.