The Van Buren press., 1875-05-11
Kissing and Killing the Baby

The promiscuous kissing of children
is pestilent practice We use the word
advisedly, and it is mild fort occasion.
Murderous would be the proper word,
did the kssers know the mischief they
do. Yes, madam, murderous; and VIC are
speaking to you. Do you remember
calling on your dear friend Mrs. Brown
the other day, with strip of flannel
round your neck2 Aud when little F.o
ra caue dancing into the room, ddn't
you pounce upon her demonstratively,
call her precious little pet, and kiss her
Then you serenely proceeded to describe
the dreadful sore throat that kept you
from prayer meeting the night before.
You had no designs on the dear child 5
life. We know; nevertheless you killed
her. Killed her as surely as if you had
fed her with strychninc or arsenic Your
caresses were fatal.
Two or three days after, the little pet
began to complain OF a sore throat too.
The symptoms grew rapidly alarming !;
and when the doctor came, the single
word diphtherta sutllced to explain them
all. To day little mound in Greenwood
is the sole memento of your visit.
or course the mother docs not suspect,
and would not dare TO suspect, YOU OF
any instrumen,ality in her bereavement
She charges it To mysterious Provi
dence The doctor says nothing to dis
turb the delusion; that would be impoll.
tic, if not cruel but to an outsider he is
free to say that the chid's death was due
directly to your internal stupidity Those
are precisely his words: more forcible
than elegant, it is true !: but who shall sav. :.
under the circumstances, that they are
not justitiablc Remember
Evil is wrought by want Of thought
AS well AS by want OF heart
II would be hard to tell how much of
the prevalent sickness and mortality
from diphtheria is due to such want Of
thought AS a rule, adults have the dis
ease in SO mild form that they mistake
it for simple cold and as cold is not
contagious, they think nothing Of expos.
ing others to their breath or to the great
er danger of labial contact. Taking into
consideration the well established fact
diphtheria is usually if not always com.
muncated by the direct transplanting Of
the malignant vegetation which causes
the disease. the fact that there can be no
more certain means of bringing the con-
tagion to Its tavorite soil than the act of
kissing, and the further fact that the Gus
tom OF kissing children on all occasions
is all but universal, it is not surprising
that, when the disease is once imported
into community, it is very likely to be-
come epidemic.
1t would be absurd to charge the spread
of diphtheria entirely to the practice Of
child kissing. there are other modes
Of propagation, though it is hard to con
ceivc of any more directly suited to the
spread Of the infection or moro general
in it's operation 1t stands to diphthcria
in about the same relation that promiscu-
Gus hand shaking formc ly did to the
itch.
/, were better to avoid the practice
The children will not suffer il they go un-
kissed; and their friends ought for their
sake to forrgu the laxury for Il season.
A single kiss has been known to infect n
family; and the most careful may bc in
condition to communicate the disease
without knowing it, Beware, then, OF
playing Judas. and lot the babies alone
Scientific american.