St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1888-12-24

when he was out searching for food.
IF he ever gets me-" said the child,
'!Fm goin' to stick it right in here where
it BEATS" laying his finger on the artery
at the side of his neck. somebody
told me once that it 'ud kill Teller
quick to cut there. and I'd do it afore
I'd go back TO him.
took the little waif home after much
coaXing to the kind friends with whom
l boarded. and told the story with all
the eagerneSS of my childish indigna-
but there was the child, and investiga-
ton proved nothing to refute his story,
although 0leson and his family declared
that he was so ugly he had to be
whipped and he ran away out of spite.
OleSon was arrested, but as there was
only the child's testimony he was re-
leased. The neighbOrS, however, made
it so hot for him that he was obliged to
sell his farm and seek another COM
munity.
My friends kept the little boy-Jack,
his name was, Jack Harper. lie could
remember his mother, and from what
he told us of her we concluded she must
have been an actress. We found him
very well-diSposed child, grateful for all
we did and very obedient, though he
never dared to venture out of the door
yard alone, even after mis- cruel task
master had moved away.
But the treatment he had received
was too much for him. He grew steadily
weaker, until at last would lie all day
on the sofa, saying not word unless
we spoke to him. One night when his
kind hostess had put him comfortably
in bed and bent over TO give him her
usual goodnight kiss, Jack put his little
wasted arms around her neck and said:
you've been awful good to me,
ma'am."
'Well, Jack" said the lady gayly, 81
want you to be good to me and get
well.'
Il wish I could ma'am. But l don't
guess | ever will. | feel Queerer to-
night'n | ever did. I've been thinkln'
lot to-day"
"Wbat about, Jack?"
"We ell mostly about what you've been
telling of that fine place we all go TO
some day
do You mean heaven, dear?"
Yes, that's it. Now | want you to
tell me, ma'am, do folks like him ever
go there?"
"Whom do you mean, Jack?"
'Him as beat me. You know who"
"Why DO You ask that, little bOy?'
"Cause, ma'am, if he's there don't
want to go; that's ALL"
The lady-and I'd like to give you her
name-she is Mrs. George Plaistead, of
Warsaw, Mimi, comfOrted him as well
as she could and sat by him until he
should fall asleep. He grew feverish
and restless, however. so she called me,
and together we watched the little tor
q, Inc of lIfrht N
opened his eyes wide and gaSped as his
you've been so good to mer' And
that was the end of it.
This episode set me to thinking, and
it had the same effect upon many others.
From thinking we investigated and
found that the story have told you was
not an unusual one. Down in Missouri
and Arkansas it is worse than i'll the
Northern states. | can give you exact
localities where whole farms are worked
by children, between the ages of eight
and fifteen. i can refer you to hun
dred instances where boys twelve years
old do the work of men. All through
Texas and Arizona are numbers OF these
little white slaves, distributed out like
so many dogs TO whoever will take them
There is no doubt that some of them
find good homes, but i'll the majority
of cases the people who would make
good homes for children will not go to
market and select out number and
nut them on their farms for beasts OF
burden. 1t is the foreigners mostly who
take them, men who want to save the
wages of hired help-men who in their
own country are taught to look upon
drudgery as legitimate. More than once
| have seen harnessed to churn child
instead of dog, as is usual, and boys
ten wears old made to plough In the
field all day.
But the worst is yet to come. Mypen
is Ioath to chronicle this last outrage
upon helplessness, but L have started
ont to unVeil this hideOus skeleton, and
| intend to do it thoroughly.
L know for positive certainty that
men living alone on Western farms have
gone deliberately to the places where
these children were to be had, and have
selected girls for no other purpose than
the worst that can be thought. There
is man named Norman Celey, living
in Stanton, Mimi, who took home with
him girl thirteen years OF age, who
within year died in child birth, and a
physician in my own family attended
her, and to him she told story which |
cannot repeat here. And the thing is
so common as to be called practice.
In 1888 Father Ireland, the good st.
Paul Bishop, whose voice is always
lifted for the right, spoke to an immense
mass-meeting upon this very subject.
After setting forth the terrible truth in
ali its hideousneSS, he said:
ssWhat sort of citizens do you suppose
these BOYS will make, reared in this
way? How can we look for GOd-fearing
lawmakers from such source? And
what of the girs?" PauSing a moment
he repeated What of the girls?" Rails
ing his hands with an impressive ges-
ture, while his eyes swan with tears, he
said, with all the force of his wonder
full Oratory, Holy Mother of God.
What of the girls?"
Now, sir, / have given you only facts
for which | can vouch. | haye given
YOU few names out of hundreds that L
can give you. If the readers of your pa
per will take the trouble to investigate
this matter | shall be only too happy,
and openly challenge any one to dis
prove one of the statements l have
made.
And now would like to appeal to the
men and women of New York. You
whose own little ones cluster around
you Ill your HOIIt ClIClt, upou NIlOui
you lavish the most tender care. viii
you not do something to stop this terri
bic evil?
1t has been going on for years, this
awful martyrdom of helpless children.
They were somebody's babies once, but
fate has cast them out like so many
chips upon a relentless tide, which bears
them out of the reach OF human help and
pity. DO not let it be longer true that
this fair country of ours, the greatest
and grandt ST that ever Gods sun looked
down upon, should bear upon its heart
such blot.
"Whoso giveth cup of cold water to