Waterbury evening Democrat., 1889-02-20
LONDON'S OUTCASTS.
BORN IN CELLARS, SUCkLED ON GIN AND CRADLED IN THE GUTTER.
Pictures of tho Saddest Side of Human Existence - Proposed Establishment of Houses of Refuge-Good Intentions of tho Philanthropists.

Houses of RefuEe-Good Intentions of tho Philanthropists. When VIC introduced "The Bitter Cry of Outcast London" to the attention of the great public five years ago, we suggested one thought which Is never absent from our minds when confronted with the realities of life in the Sunken Sixth " of London. "The grim Florentine might have added to the horror of his vision of he'll by @ sojourn in London slum. For in his Inferno the damned at least did not breed With us they do. Every year sees an addition to the long roll of the new born list Born in the fettd atmosphere of crowded cellar, suckled on gin, and cradled in the gutter, they never have a chance"
 The passage reverts to our memory as we read Dr. Barnardo's appeal In The Times for the establishment of casual wards for chil- dren at the east end. The fate of the chill dren Is the climax of horror. The existence of hundreds and of thousands of children with no other parentage than women like Elizabeth Stride and Annie Chapman and Mary Ann Nichols, with no other home than the dossing ken and no other playground than the gutter, that Is the abiding and ap- palling tragedy of the situation, beside which all other horrors pale and disappear.
 DIR. BARNARpo's SCHEME
 Dr. Barnardo, In his letter to The Times, describing the lives of the children, brought up in the common lodging houses, says quite truly that it is impossible to describe the state in which myriads of children live in these human sewers, breathing from their birth an atmosphere fatal to all goodness They are saturated from their birth in vice and all uncleanness, and Dr Barnardo in his zeal would forbid all lodging houses by law to shelter any children under 16. Therein he goes too far. Any of us may some day be driven by poverty to seek the shelter of ' dossing ken; and, even in our direst extrem- ity, we would not care to be separated from our children.
 But great deal may be done short of legis- lative prohibition. The first thing obviously is to establish lodging houses for boys and girls, if, as Dr. Barnardo says, they can be madea''seh supporting, or nearly so." We confess that we have doubts as to the possi- hility of making theee places self supporting. Still Dr. Barnardo is an authority second to none, and we hope he will explain how it can be done. If he can get out a practical plan by which all the homeless lads and lasses of London can be lodged decently in places where they would not be contaminated by the constant converse of prostitutes and thieves, we do not think he will lack for funds, supposing that tho first cost of the building is raised by public subscription, and the coppers of the children pay the work ing expenses.
 One poor woman who may have been Eli zabeth Stride herself, for she was in the cir cle that listened to Dr. Barnardo's exposition of the advantages of his scheme, is said to have exclaimed: "We're all up to no good, and no one cares what becomes of us Per haps some of us will be killed nexti If any body had helped the like of us long ago we would never have come to this" "The likes of us" arc indeed ''up to no good" although the bishop of Bedford does well to appeal for a laundry to help them earn a living, if they wish to do so decently. But it is the chil- 1 dren who offer theb est field for philanthropic 1 activity, and in default of anything better Dr. Barnardo's scheme might we'll be tried RESPONSIBILITY OF PARENTAGE. l Nothing will do any great good that is based on the principle of taking children from their parents If @ man and a woman are not fit to be trusted with the upbringing of their offspring, they ought not to be al lowed to have any children. MT. Arnold | White pleads for ''the sterilization of the un. ft." but the plain English of 1t is that the human pair who bring 8 child into the world for whom they cannot provide food, clothes and lodging are criminals, and should be punished as such. The immense responsibil ity of percentage can only be borne by par | ents. It cannot bc thrust upon the state That has bean tried often enough, with nc other result than that of organizing infanh eide.
 The existing founding hospitals-in Rus sia, for instanco-are simply massacre shops for nearly one-h half their lucklsss inmates. Ii sounds excellent and philanthropic and al | together admirable that the state should un dertake the motherinR and fathering of those children whose own parents are unfit or in capable but 1t would really be kinder to le galize infanticide sans phrase. It Is true that baby killing has ceased to be regarded as murder in London, but we have not yet ar rived at the point where tho state can de1t berately decree tho extinction of the life ever of tho rickettiest infant born in an East enc dosing ken
 Under the reign of science and evolution and the decay of the old theological bolts ane bars against homicide, we may come to that but as yos tho old religion, with its concep tioa of the soul, is still sufficiently potent t, forbid tho direct road followed by the an cisnts. Nowadays infanticide to be respect however, Is not how to kill, but how to saw
 alive. And the public, for . moment con
 science stricken ct tho spectacle of how tn
 poor live, will gladly cooperate with pr
 Barnardo, if he can utilize his vast expsri
 ence so as to help In establishing . self sur
 porting, decent dossing ken for tho homelee
 children of London.-Pau Mall Gazette.
 No Leap Year In 10o0.
 Although tho year 1900 will be divisibls b