The morning call., 1890-10-03
MISPLACED SWITCHES.
Some That Ought TO BE Under the Con-
troll of Mothers.

Some That Ought TO Be Under the Con-
troll of Mothers.
Editor UOmdn'S Column, Morning CAT:
In the many horrifying accounts OF rail-
road disasters with which the daily papers
TEEN, one can but notice how many OF them
are attributed to misplaced switch" No
body is to blame, of c0ulse, Tor 1t always
happens that the fiagman, swltchman, brake
man or some other man was unaYoldaoly
prevented from doing his duty, and so the
unwary passenger is either launched into
eternity, crippled for life, roasted alive, OF,
more horrible still, compelled to see some
loved ores tortured in this way while utterly
unable to aid or succor them. Fortunately,
in this case, there is not "a woman at the
bottom of it." unless she lies manned ana
bleeding under the wreck.
So many lives are daily sacrificed under
the JugSernaut like wheels of this modern
Moloch, that ii is almost relief to read OF
case that is due to the victims own care
lesSneSs, and not to the criminal negligence
of some railroad official.
Appalling, however, as are these terrible
railroad accidents, there is another type of
calamity whose results are even more drefuls
and far reaching because affecting the soul
as well as the body of the victim. These
latter are, in the writer's estimation, also
attributable to "a misplaced switch. but
one on Il SLlll more UIOdUtl
road VIZ. : the nursery switch on
THE HIGHWAY OF LIFE,
And in this instance woman should be at
the bottom If ii, for no matter how extended
her sphere may be otherwise she is always
the nursery genius.
In the earlier ST ges of the moral disease,
to which all humanity is more or less sub
ject the proper administration of q guam
tum sufiicit Of the oil of birch OF the mder
tincture of lady'S slipper is usually found
to be an infallible corrective, working like
charm, and productive of the most lasting
and beneficial results. There are no meci
ciues in the pharmacopRia or materia medca
of the druggist, which, when judiciously and
homeopathically applied, produce more
salutary effects than these two homely, old
fashioned remedies-par parentheses-it
would hardly be h0nornI them too much if a
sprig Of birch and spray OF lady's slipper
were chosen rs the national flower emblem,
indicative OF the combined rule OF Brother
Jonathan and his sister the Goddess Of
Liberty.
IT, as in some instances, the case requires
WHAT medicaos style the "heroic" form
of treatment, it only proves that the disease
is only of an aggravated-not to say aggravat-
ing-type, ana has already been too long
neglected.
In such eases. she the acting physician
fully realizes the truth of.
soLoMoN's WORDS
he ullI Spafetn the rOl natetA ms son,
but he that loyeth him chastene III him be-
times" and also, "Chasten thy son while
there is hope and let not thy soul spare for
his crying and yet again, Train up
child in the way he should 90 and when he
is old he viii not depart from it,"
But she must also remember those other
words Of that still greater teacher, Whom
the Lord loyeth he chasteneth," and let her
Christening be administered in the same
spirit of love and not of anger which he
SHOWS to his disobedient sons and daughters.
To the attentive observer, who sees our
city streets so thronged by night as we'll as
by day with children of both sexes and all
ages, the aftermath of hOodlums and Mag
dalens is no subject of wonder, for it is
only too easy to tell what 1.-The harvest will
be-" and the thought recurs to his mind,
''As the twig is bent so is the tree inclined
If there were more mothers like the
Roman matron CoTneia, mother Of the
Gracchi. in these days, whose children were
their most valued jewels, these pearls of
great price" would not be east before
swne," but would be tenderly cherished
and nurtured as BELTS the pure, unfair
nished soul, which comes to the mother
from God, and which he gives into her
keeping 10 care for and love, and there
would be fewer misplaced witches"
Sd3, Francisco, Sept. 20, 1899. L. S.