Connecticut western news., 1875-05-14
MOTHERLESS CHILDREN.
An InteresGfnG ArieIe--SOme Vital StaIIs-
 tics-Unfortunate OasprSaG. etc.

An InteresGfnG ArIicIe--SOme Vital StaIis. tics-Unferrunare Oasprtag, etc.
 There WAS time when some thought full people were afraid thnt the world would become overstocked with popula- ton. That alarm, short-hyed as 1t was, has no longer any influence. An exami- nation of mortuary statistics, taken from the records of any civilized nation, says the New York Times, must convince even the mosS timid of the disciples of Malthus that the mortality among chil- dren will long keep down the e1traya- gant estimates of increase of the human race, once so readily received by alarm ists. Infanticide is as common now in some Oriental countries as 1t was in the darkest ages. The "baby towers of China, where parents threw in their superfluous offspring to die, may not Ee so conspicuously used as formerly. but down to a very recent period 1t was found that In some portions of the em- pire the number of children annually destroyed reached as high as eighty per cent of the whole number of births. In lands nominally Christian, for obvious reasons, 1t IS impossible to discover what proportion of innocents brought into the world are untimely cut off by the act or the criminal neglect of unnatural parents. When we add to these the hapless ones whose lives are brought to an end by carelessness, ignorance, and the effects of poverty, the sum total is very large. The slaughter of the innocents goes on with the same thoroughness as in the days of Herod.
 Perhaps one of the most striking facts connected with this dismal record Is that brought out in the latest annual report of the New York infant asylum. In that document, Dr. J. Lewis Smith, review ing the statistical exhibit of the institu tion, shows that there were in the asylum during 1874, sixty six infants with moth CTS, and of these only seven Cor 10.6 per cent. died during the year. But of the forty five infants without mothers, eighteen Cor forty per cent. died. Both classes of children received the same care, attendance and attention from the management of the asylum; and yet, the mortality of one class was four times as great as that of the other. The same medical authority makes this declaration, after a careful examination of the man agement of foundlings in this city: "Infants under the age of six months, who are entirely bottle-fed, in any hos pital or asylum within the limits of the city of New York, almost invariably die during the hot months, whatever the care and treatment which they receive, and majority of those between the ages of six and twelve months, who are bottle
 fed, also perish" This is 0 strong state ment. It ought to awaken renewed at tention to the question of the care of motherless children.
 Indeed, 1t is one of the problems of modern civilization to save the children of parents to whom, for specific reasons, their offspring are burden. It is 8 melancholy and often discouraging ques- ton. On one hand Is the possibility of encouraging vice at the expense of much misery and the sacrifice of human life. On the other hand is the certainty that, with crime and sin in the world, mothers and children will together perish in secrecy and shame. So far as an intelll- gent and wise administration can accom- plish it, 1t is better that unfortunate mothers and their offspring should be saved by one and the same agency. This simple theory has gained ground of late years, and the institution to which we have above referred, supported by the charities of our own people, seems to have made wise and humane begin ming. The fact that many phases of such work are difficult of public dis cussion shows that it's management must be delicate and highly responsible. So far, the best results are presented, and by careful nursing, thoughtful care, and Judicious oversight, this asylum, at least, promises to redeem all it's pledges of humane usefulness. There still re- mains the lesson which the mortality among founding children teaches. The motherless ones faded and died, most of them during the month of July. How many children, outside of asylums and hospitals, are practically withoutmothers, even though their parents live ? In sufficient or unnatural nourishment, want of proper care and nursing, slay the innocents. Neglect in various forms, in many homes that should be safe and happy, is the Herod of the present century.