Bismarck weekly tribune., 1889-10-25

ceased, the clothes were laid carefully over
the writhing, tortured mass, darkness filled
the room, the cries subsided into means and
these into spasmodic sobs which grew wider
apart and then were heard no more Once
more the boy slept as before, save that now
and then long drawn breath or slight
shudder agitated the covering.
What was the cause of this invasion in the
night Of this tired and sleeping boy? What
crime had he committed that warranted the
rude awakening and the frightful torture to
which he had been subjecteds
At the house of neighbor, during the af-
ternoon, he had undertaken to reach glass
tumbler standing on the shelf to get a drink
from the we'll 1t slipped from his hands and
was broken in the fall. 1t was for this that
he sneaked to his bed pursued by the phantom
OF the broken vessel, and against whose horrid
with the blanket. Word drfted after him as
to his offense, and late at night passing
neighbor brought to his home the damning
intelligence of his crime. Late as it was pun
ishment must be at once administered.
So far as is known, the beating of children
is the outgrowth of civilization and alleged
Christianity. The latter element secures its
authority from Jewish writer who centuries
ago announced that lie that spareth his rod
hateth his son, but he that loveuh him chas-
teneth him." This atrocity, originating when
barbarism shrouded the nations, has become
grated OH Christianity and controls the ac-
tion of innunlerable myriads of men 1t is
bastard combination of natural brutality aud
SO called duty.
Inspired by the one element the mother
aagellates the tender bodies of her children,
and actuated by the other the brute lashes
them. like MIR. Squeers, for the mere pleasure
of mhicting punishment. It is true that
within brief period public opinion has, in
great centers, driven the beating of children
from the public schools, but in the country
places it still prevails i'll all its hideousness.
Throughout these homes where the gloom Of
false Interpretation of religion asserts it.
self, the Internal injunction of the Jewish
barbarian is reproduced in the swish of the
strap and the screams of tortured children.
What can be more moving, lacerating, pa
thetic, outrageous than the spectacle pre-
sented to the public of the barn scene in
which, in cold and silence, three little boys
were found, one of whose backs had been cut
to the bone in dozen places by the rawhide
of a stalwart drunken uncle2 What more
horrible than the hairy Pole beating with a
strap shod with buckle little boy till his
young life fed to.escape the tortured What
more abon1inable and revolving than the
spectacles presented at the police courts
showing the white backs of tender girls COW
cred with welts, scars, and blood, inflicted
by the hands Of drunken parentsa
The cases developed at intervals in the
police courts are only suggestions, glimpses
of the evil. There are innumerable families
in which blows and abuse are an unbroken
thing; in which they are as common as air.
There are everywhere to be seen children on
whose faces there is look as if one blow had
just fallen. In tens of thousands of places
hurt children are shrieking from the lash
and their faces are wet with the tears wrung
from them by pain.
Ispeak on this matter as / do for the reason
that was during childhood the constant
victim of the switch and the rawhide NY
parents were people Of profound piety, con
scientious, irreproachable, and yet imbruted
by the conviction that to spare the rod was
to spoil the child.
This class of treatment never yet secnred
reform in either boy or girl It makes the
bad worse, and often vitiates those who
otherwise would grow up blameless. The boy
who is constantly Subjected to the lash be-
comes coward, a liar and hypocrite. He
learns to lie to escape punishment, and in
thus doing cultivates ccwardice and deceit.
Emancipation is one Of the developments
Of the later centuries. For thousands Of
years insanity, unbeliee. heresy, witches were
burned, hanged, eviscerated and imprisoned.
Thought has since been relieved Of it's chains
slavery and serfdom have been abolished,
feudatories no longer exist, and to vast ex-
tent the domain Of freedom has been en-
larged.
\ Largely exempt thus far from the bene-
dcent work Of emancipation are the children.
For scores of centuries human slavery held
sway, empowered BY the authority Of q
Hebrew writer; after the same fashion, the
children Of the age are held subseryient to
the lash through the teachings Of another Of
these lawgivera It is time that these laws
were repealed or defed as remnants Of bar.
barous periods. Poliuto in Chicago Herald
The A.pany Journal aays: "a business man
handed in his deposit at ono Of the hanks the
other day. Ons of tie checks caught the
taller's eye, and - q fear as to its
genuineness. H. merchant telegraphed to
tie party by whom twas signed In q little
while he returned 70 the bank and said the
check was all right. Ina short time he came
tearing into ths bank md exclaimed: let
mo seel that check snorscts to compare. the
Signature on y with ~ ssnAture On the tale