New-York tribune., 1874-12-21
LOST CHILDREN.

The search for the stolen Ross child has
been prosecuted for the last few days with
vigor unparalleled perhaps in the records OF
police work, and it is no exaggeration to say
has been watched by the whole country.
"Little Charley Ross" has come to be house
hold word in every family, and if it be proved
that he is dead it will seem as though he had
died ont of many home where he has be-
come real and beloved. The interest in the
child has been deep and universal since the
day he was stolen. Money has been freely
offered, and that in large sums, to assist IN Ills
rescue: the press have urged the matter un-
ceasngly; the police have worked without
tagging; sermons have been preached to
highten the excitement; there is not wo-
man, perhaps, with a baby on her breast who
has not felt also the weight of this lost child
in her heart, and wished she might be the one
who could lind him and give him back to his
mother.
Now all this agitation and tumult is right.
God forbid we should say o word to lessen
the public interest in Charley Ross. But Is
there no other lost child in the country ! Is
thi. the only little fairhared innocent fellow
who is being dragged down to death, or worse,
into vice and total ruin Of body and soul
Charley Ross, if he be dead, is but one child
taken from his mother; or if. as is most i'm
probable, he be irretrevably lost in the haunts
of misery and crime, will be but one man in
the future who might have been helpful
citizen, degraded into criminal For this one
we point to thousands in this city and Brook
lyn alone, going down the fatal road, openly,
and totally unhindercd. The number of va
Il. ne Natr
York when the last census was taken, was "a
per cent of the whole number. by these we
mean tho utterly impoverished class who
swarm in idleness about the alleys and tene-
ment houses, or attempt to earn miserable
living by work in factories at an age when
child with fair chance for its life would be
in its mothers arms, or kept close by her side.
Over three thousand children, from four to
eight years old, were found in different manu-
factories kept at work from ten to fourteen
hours day. The time Of labor has been le-
gally reduced; but the poor babies are at work
still, with the thin dwarfcd bodies, overGrown
heads and yellow skins which make them a2-
pear u mere nightmare of childhood
Next to these arc the hordes Of children who
literally live upon the streets, making some
sustain nfe but usually turning to stealing as
their natural vocation. Why should they not
stealf They were born, most probably, in
cellar; swadded in rags and fed with rum
through their mothers milk They have al
ways been cold and hungry. They see warmth,
food, ana comfort about them at every turn
why should they not try to clutch some Of them
for themsclves4 Who has taught them to be
honest sober, or dccent2 The churches are
Open but how many of these filthy, hungry
children or their parents do you find In the
back pews on a Sunday2 We exclude from
this army of lost children the 1000 inmates of
the Houses of Refuge and other Rcformatory
institutions, as some effort, however Ineffective,
is made for their help. There remains the
fact that One-fOurth of the children in New
York alone are as absolutely given over to
poverty, to the temptation of every coarse and
brutal vice, as this little child for whose re-
covery the whole country is moved. A child
is something which in theory comes pure from
Gods hand, to be cared for tcnderly by us
and trained into healthy, honest, cheerful
manhood. In fact One-fourth Of the children
in New-York City are in rags, in hunger, and
absolutely unable to learn how to earn an
HOutSt uflnS VI W sdiu ONO TdllOudl lucI OI
the God who made them. We do right to
pity Charley Ross, taken from his comfortable
home and loving father, but these other souls
who have lost their way, belong by right to
an honest, intelligent virtuous life, and their
father is God. Have we no outcry, no money,
no pity for them3 Outside of New-York. in
every village and city and State, these growing
armies Of little ones extend, forsaken appar-
entity by God and man. In Philadelphia,
where twenty thousand dollars were Oustly
and generously raised promptly to save one
child, there are 1860 vasrant children utterly
neglected, no effort being made there rs here
by industrial schools to rescue them 70 the
State and humanity. The industrial schools
arc the most direct practical mode of reaching
these children. They originated in Aberdeen
Scotland, and are now in use throughout Great
Britain and on the Continent. They are
simply schools, started usually privately, one
Or two good women gathering in class of
these ragged Outcasts and teaching them to
read and work, to be clean, and if possible to
serve God and DO of use to their fellow men.
In England, the system is legalized; instruc-
ton il given in various trades, to both sexes,
percentage is paid by the State to assist in
clothing and if necessary, feeding the pupils,
and they are placed in good situations when
their period OF tuition is over There are
several of these schools now in this city, but
not enough to reach tithc Of the children.
There is many an idle woman too, with means
and culture and religious purpose, whose heart
is wrung with pity to-day for Charley Ross,
whom she cannot help. We only point out to
her these thousands of other lost little ones,
tn whnm she cnn cive moro thnn Lan,a on