The New Orleans bulletin. [volume] (New Orleans [La.]) 1874-1876, 1875-06-08
SUFFER LITTLE CHILDREN.

Away off by the Golden Gate in the noble
city which looks out upon the Pacific, We are
told that new sect of Christian worshipers
has arisen whose distinctive feature is an imi.
tation of the style and habits, the words and
ways, of simple childhood, in obedience to an
injunction contained in the New Testament,
literally interpreted.
The earth is peopled, it is said, by about
five million Jews, one hundred and sixty
million Mahometans, eight hYedred millions
of Pagans, and something more than five
hundred millions of Christians
OF the latter the sects which exist and
which have appeared from year to year for
many centuries can scarcely be numbered,
each being marked by some distinctive feature,
tenet or popularity. The "child Chris
.ians" present only new aspect of perpet-
ually recurring phenomenon. AS to their
WAYS and worship information is still meagre,
but those who have seen them state that they
all copy cbildlike simplicity in all they say
and do. When assembled for worship they
try to discard all that is conventional and ar
tifcial, and to conform as nearly as they can
to the artless simplicity of children. They,
like children, say whatever comes uppermost
in their thoughts, and do just what pleases
them. They use infantile forms of express
sion, and endeavor by every possible means
to speak, to act, to think and to feel as if they
had no concealments, no guile, no art, no
policy.
Boy and man, we have seen great many
armies of children of all ages. of all colors
and conditions, under all imaginable circum-
stances At home, at church, at school, at
parties, at picnics, or playing wildly in the
fields, or working sadly in factories, our
memory is thronged with their looks, words
ana antics. Possibly the most farcical phase
in which the child appears is when he at
tempts to initiate grown men and women.
When little Knee-high-miah puts on his
fathers boots and beaver, his grandmother's
spectacles, and his big brothers long skirted
coat, the parody on age is more complete
than he can comprehend But how su-
premely ridiculous must be the reverse, when
bearded men and mature women "transmog.
rify" themselves into children, and initiate
their words. ways and habits!
With the most thorough respect for every
species and phase of religious belief, we can
not help seeing the ludicrous aspect of things
which are intrinsically ridiculous. If We were
to be present at the meeting Of these child
Christians we should expect to see the pastor
l.o1xo &c L. ;,no han md
ing-jack in the other, while his pockets we're
distended with cakes, apples, nails, marbles,
strings and slate pencils. The deacons would
enter the church, trundling their hoops or
riding on velocipedes, and while the infantile
choir was singing the matured infants below
would be playing, dancing and raising thigh
jinks in the body of the church, as real
children, acting out child nature, would be
sure to do. One can scarcely conceive of
anything more egregously absurd than the
women tumbling over one another out of the |
doors of meeting house, screaming, laugh |
ing, climbing trees and playing at marbles and |
cats cradle, or whimpering for sugar plums
and gingerbread.
A return to childlike innocence, simplicity
and candor would involve the adoption of all
else that pertains to childhood, whether at
the fireside, in the nursery or at school.
There must be infantile dress, food and
clothing Some devout child Christian sister
Of forty years and hundred and sixty pounds
avoirdupois might insist upon being suspend
ed from the gallery in a baby, jumper. while
her father was trotted by the janitor, apigga-
back, around the church. One child Christian
pillar Of the church of sixty years would fly
his kite from the belfry, while an elder brother
would hunt for birds eggs in the trees of the
graveyard.
What is good for the few must be good for ,
The many. A system that is acceptable to any
number of rational men and
women ought to be one that would benefit all
Suppose, then, that all had embraced the
new form of faith and become as little
children, where would be found nurses for
Ihese "babes Of grace?" Who would make I
md measure out the paregoric, procure the
bread and milk, buy, cut and make the ,
garments, and wash the clothing for these in
iantile devotees =?
r-~v-0 r-or .