The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1886-03-31
THE PLEA OF THE CHILDREN.
The Curse Of Inherited Moral and
Physical Depravtty..A Great Prob
1"E p Pr in Globe Democrat !

re. P. p" in Globe Democrat
Dickens picture of a school for training
child-thieves Is literally true In all our large
cities. Those who have to do with distribu-
ting children, taken from the crowds Of New
York, into Western homes, are frequently
compelled 10 send back boys and girls OF 10 or
~ because Of precious and hereditary vicious
ness. Passions that would rot In a health or
are violent at ID. There is 10 possible way OF
managing them in the way of trust and love.
It Is inherited grossness. When the curse OF
depravity gets to he fixed bias, or instinct
what the tneOlOyians call natural depravi-
ty," 1t Is perfectly normal that the child
should be bad. Such badness is not TO be
dealt with In the way Of punishment. What.
ever theologians may determine about eter.
nifty, it is clear that punishment Is not the
right treatment for Il naturally bad creature
in this world. What we have to do Is to stop
the increase Of total dcpravity and as soon as
possible bring 1t to extinction.
less terrible than congenital moral disease.
But you have only TO walk along tenement
thorOughfare to observe how few OF the chill
dren of The lower classes are free from some
sort OF malformation. Forgetting altogether
idea Of form or feature, these Is present an
astounding proportion Of constitutional de-
formity. From the face to the feet there are
ulcers and sores. Ricketts, and fits and st.
Vitus meet US in every other tenement. Op,
ewes Moral obliquitity finds all sorts Of Oh
lique physical expression. Bone disease, CAN
Ger and all possible outbreaks or poisoned
blood are common.
It was the writer's fate at one time to go
more or less among the tenements of New
York city. While 1t is true that feeble health,
miserable wages paid to women and sudden
losses drive a large number to these crowded
buildings, yet by far the largest partof the oc-
cupants are such by heredity. You can tell q
natural-born tenement dweller by his looks:
There is an utter lack Of the individual about
him. When not criminal he is q case OF ar
rested development. I could never get over
the idea OF til cir ul being parts or numbers OF
where; in legs bowed, or In arms skinny, or
In eyes bleared, and hardly shapely head
among them. The children are born az part
of the system. do not refer to those tene.
ments that are largely filled with dangerous
brutes and thieves, but those grade higher.
story room I found a liquor-seller,s family,
consisting Of eight girls and the wife. They
had no hesitation about changing their rags
to put on their ash-barrel t1nery, although 1t
lett them for a time In state OF nudity. IL
was not immortality, but non-morality; o
total lack of moral sentiment or sense. How
could 1t be otherwise. They occupied but two
rooms, and one Of them WAS hardly bigger
than II closet. The opportunity Of those eight
girls In life Is what concerns us. do not care
Il half-penny what you think about their fate
in eternity, want to know what chance they
are going to have here and now. There Is
nothing In your Chinese problem, or your ne
gro problem, or your tariff, to compare with
this problem of the children. Multiply this
eight by 10000 and imagine an army OF SOO0
1 will not run the figures beyond thousands' ndS'
because you can get q mental picture OF ], ,oOo;
But the children that lack decent moral and
physical begetting and culture 90 far beyond
that In these States OF ours.