National Republican. (Washington City (D.C.)) 1872-1888, 1878-04-01
Editor Of the Corner /.

EHHor OF the Corner
Every now and then we read in your psr-r
Of the efforts made by well .mesning people IN
the reform of little children. In your issue Of
the Goth II. b. n" expatiates on her work in
behalf Of temperance among the little folks
across the river" This system of taking tho
children into public assemblies, lodges, &C., for
training is one of the worst features Of the
modern system Of education, a system which,
thank God), has not ycttakcn root among tho
more intelligent of Christian mothers. do
not write with a view to converting III. d.
n" She is probably deeply imbued with tho
idea of her mission for that. But write 10
warn mothers against the evils which nece%sa-
rily follow such a course of training. The
Christian mother trains her child herself, by
example and precept She does not and should
not send her little daughter TO u public hall,
there to publicly pledge herself to abstain from
drunkenness or other violations of the moral
cole of which the child has never known tho
meaning until il was presented TO her, rs In
many instances, by reformed votaries.
She shrinks, through n God given instincA.
from having her children exhibited and han
died by professional reformers. 1well remem-
Der some years ago the scenes enacted in our
midst by a Rev. Mr.. Hammond. who gathered
the little ones by hundreds, and, after duly
working up their naturally ercitable nervous
system, in the presence of a curious public, by
the promises of heaven and the tortures Of
hell then and there converted" them. No
doubt this wholesale system had its attractions
to the ignorant mothers, who thus were ena-
bled to shirk the duties imposed on them BY
virtue of their high and holy calling. by get
ting some specialist TO attend to the business
for them, thus leaving them more timo for
other and more agreeable pursuits. No ono
should step between the mother or guardian Of
the child in this, the mothers highest and
hottest work, and | would especially entreat
mothers to keep their little ones close to them
during the years of their infancy.
We are told, and | gladly believe, that In
the heavens the Lord has provided for each
little ono mother endowed in a superlative
degree with the virtues Of motherhood to rear
the child and even In this world history
teaches us 10 follow tn. same system. For
when the Church gathered the little ones from
far and near for the Crusade to the Holy Land
the innocent victims of the hercsy were ut
terly destroyed. Not by revenPcful God, for
their destruction was the natural consequence
that inevitably follows the violation of Gods
law but the Lord, in His mercy, turned tho
evil to good uses in that 1t should warn us to
obey his commandments. CONSTANCE.
MARCH 20, 1873.
Constancc's theory may be admirable for
the thousands of little ones who are blessed
with Christian parents and guardians; but
what does she propose ~ do with the tens of
thousands who are notp Must they be suf-
iercd to rush unhindcred down the broad
road rather than that "a public exhibition"
he made Of thcmY As Constance admits,
there are many Ignorant nothcrs who will
inevitably "shrk " tho God given RESPONSE
bilitics of motherhood And, alas there arc
too many drunken and vicious and wicked
ones. Shall the children of such be left to
mature without any Christian training, with
no influences outside the pcrnicious atmos-
phcre of such homes, rather than Interfere
with the paternal prergative? Besides, what
shall be done with the wrctchcd army Of
hOuscless aud homeless the gdnin and little
outclsts of every city, who never knew the
meaning Of mOther-lOve; drunkarls' orphans,
with perhaps the hereditary appetite strong
wthinY Shall our charitable efforts In their
behalf consist only in feeding their bodies At
penny-lunch tables, till, trained in the school
OF the streets, they graduate in almshOuses
and prisons and Potter's fields ?-ED.l