The Austin weekly statesman. (Austin, Tex.) 1883-1898, 1886-04-22
THE POOR CHILDREN.

Earth has no sadder sight than poor
unprotected child. Cruelty to one o
these little ones is baser than mans in
gratitude. Day before yesterday n DO,
III years of age was arrested on the streets
of Austin for horse stealing. He has nj
father or mother, no guardian or pro
tector. He Is nothing but one of those
street 'gamins" run to waste, n ready vic
tim TO the wiles and uses of the degraded
and dishonest.
A little girl in this city was permitted
night before last by her mother, who
is member of the Methodist church,
to accompany neighbours daughter to
church. On her return from church the
little girl met her father, who has opposed
his family attending church, and ascer
tanning from her where she had been, he
caught her rudely by the arm and beat her
numerically with his walking cane.
There are many churches in this city
where eloquent sermons are delivered to
attentive and orderly congregations,
whose members have promised. in the face
of the world, and in the presence of God,
TO serve Him and devote their lives to His
cause. They contribute literally to
foreign missions. They are eager TO
gather into the fold the children of
this world the sinners of tho highway
Recall the two instances mentioned of
cruelty, and answer upon your conscences,
which of the two is the most cruel, a con
.dition of society in which its members
streets, that they may become, almost in
infancy, the companions of outcasts and
horse thieves, or the infamous conduct of
father to his little daughter, simply
because she obeyed her mothers teachings
and the instincts of her heart in attending
church, where she could hear "the old,
old story" so sweet to infant ears. Which
is the most cruel! At once, the answer
will be- the treatment of the inhuman
father.
But wait, think about it. You profess
to be Christians, followers of the
meek and lowly Nazarine, who took up Il
little child and sat in their midst, and
said, "Unless We become like one of these,
ye cannot enter the kingdom of heaven"
Like one of these, pure and holy. What
nj 'hrtvt 7
political community, doing to preserve
the purity of zone of these little ones?"
You give literally to foreign missions.
Have you any house of reformation?
Have you any authority of law to take up ,
these waits and bind them out to some
respectable and Christian family, in whose !
circle they are secure from the seductions ;
to crime that meet them in ;
every alley and every low den =
that is their only resort from the fierce ,
northers or the pitiless heat You have ,
influence; you elect members to the legis- 4
nature, who make all the laws that public ,
opinion demands. Have you felt enough =
interest in these fatherless and motheress -,
children of the streets TO demand of your -,
members of the legislature that they should
have laws passed and appropriations
made by which these waits will be reared
into the usefulness of citizens, into the
doctrines you profess, that they will not |
only be good citizens, but that they also |
share with you in another life those man 5
sions not made with hands in the heav- '
ems above and beyond this life. ]
If You have by united effort done this 5
and failed you are not responsible for the 5
cruelty that neglects and drives these {