Herald and tribune. [volume] (Jonesborough, Tenn.) 1869-current, 1892-11-17
COLUMN.
EDITED BY JoNEsBoRo W. C, 7. U.
MRS. KATE B. SIMPSON, Superintendent
of Press Work.

Carrie, a child of seven years, in a pri-
mary school today, holding up her little
hands for the teachers sympathy,
"How did it happen?" asked the
teacher.
81 went to the saloon for beer, and
the screen door swung back and pinched
my fingers. l cried hard, it hurt So"
said the child.
"Why did you go there for beer.
my mamma sent me-"
"Oh," said the teacher, "little girls
should not go 10 the saloon. They see
men drink and play cards and hear
them curse. 1t isn't a nice place for
children. Tell your mother the teacher
said please do not send you there again.
We must be little ladies here, and ladies
do not go to such places"
81 go there too" said another child.
Then the question was carefully ask
ed: How many children in this room
some times go to the saloon for beer?
Forty eight of the fifty present raised
their hands.
1t seemed incredible that so many
children should become acquainted at
an early age with the interior of a sa-
loon. The average age of these children
is about eight years or less, They do
not belong to the lowest stratum of
society by any means, but are children
of well to do work people, living in one
or two rooms, wearing quite good
clothes; some of the mothers 60 out to
work.
Many pitiful incidents occur to show
the general demoralizing influences of
the saloon on any neighborhood. One
dear little girl, Besse, had been absent
from school some days. The children
said she could not come for she had no
shoes. Teachers more often supply
these, and other much needed articles,
than is generally known, SO Bessie s
shoes were furnished.
One day the teacher went in search
of her in the dirty back street where
the family kepta cheap boarding house.
The little maid was seen coming down
the street with an old shawl over her
head and shoulders, and with something
on her arm, but her bare, little feet red
and cold or the frosty sidewalk.
Where are you going?" questioned
the teacher.
"To the butchers shop" said Bessie
readily.
AS she tucked the ragged old shaw
around the child she discovered "a tin
pail instead of a basket on her arm.
"You are going for beer, aren't you.
dear?" asked the teacher.
my father sent me-" said the child
trembling with fear.
Later the teacher made an earnest eff.
fort to induce the parents to allow hel
to place Bessie where she would be well
cared for and taught; but no, they
needed her to run errands. A startling
murder occurred in this miserable fam.
lily the following Sunday, and Bessie
was released from the cruel father for.
ever. In a drunken fight with the
mother the father struck her with a
chair; a boarder tried to defend her but
was in danger of losing his W life,
when he seized a heavy iron poker and
struck the striker dead.
The convenient saloon is almost
wholly responsible for this and other
terrible tragedies. Familiarity with such
scenes is demoralizing to the children
of a whole neighborhood. Tender hearts
are hardened and the way paved to a
downward career.
God speed any wise measure to free
the land from this terrible blight upon
childhood, and curse upon manhood
Lucy A. Wiggin, st. Louis, Mo.