The Saint Paul globe., 1897-05-17
HOMES as FACTORS
HON. A. O. WRIGHT SAYS THE
AMERICAN HOME is IT'S COUN-.
TRY'S SALVATION.
LET CHILDREN SHARE In 1T,
THEN BE SHROUDED IN
DARKNESS.
LET CHILDREN SHARE IN 1T,
GIVE THE YOUNG ONES A, SHOW,
And They Would. Wen Repay the
!. Nation Which Had Saved Them
From Worldly Neglect.

One man who has not yielded to the
prevalent tendency to pessimism, judg-
ing from his annual address to the Chill
dren's Home society delivered at Ply
mouth church yesterday morning, is
Hon. A. o. Wright, of Wisconsin, the
president Of the national conference Of
corrections and charities. Surely no
tribute to the American home could be
couched in terms more hopeful; no more
sanguine views be expressed on the
subject, than occurred in that address.
Mr.. Wright said in substance:
+ The best thing for child is good home.
The natural life is the home life. The glory
and safety of America is in her homes, and
the hope of her future is in the children
sheltered by those homes. Her danger and
disgrace is in the homeless children, who are
growing up to immortality and crime. to
want and disease, to be burdens and pests to
society instead Of pillars for its support.
While it is true that there are some homes
that are such in name only, the immense
majority are far better than no homes at
all. Never before in the history of the world
has the average population of great country
been so prosperous, so Intelligent, so happy
so virtuous as in the United States today.
For the average child, brought up in an aver
age home, the future offered him here is of
priceless value.
The progress of democracy is giving our
home life new form and a higher spirit.
Love instead of fear is more and more the
governing force; the good of the child, instead
of the comfort of the parent, the end aimed at.
Childhood is no longer repressed in its activ-
tiles, thwarted Of its pleasures, stunted in its
ambitions. Parents no longer force reluctant
children into mated voeations and loveIess
marriages; no longer treat them slaves,
and sell their labor 1T for their own
profit; ne no longer apprentice r, them to hard
not only legal possibilities, they were the
usual incident Of ordinary family life Of
century ago. even in America 1t
thieves were hung. when accused persons
were not allowed to subpoena witnesses or
employ lawyers; when husbands controlled
their wives property and whipped their
person. # was a time when there were no
railroads, no factories, no daily newspapers
The thrill of a wider. and nobIer life which
now binds the civilized world together with
each returning sunrise and gfsesl az voice to-
every movement for theT good f0fI humanity.
was then felt but rarely. 1t was a time when
there were no public schools. 40 Sunday
societies. The average child was then a
drudge, and the orphan and the abandoned
child bound out by the town authorities,
virtually as slave; The child OF the drunk
titute, had no legal protection from the ava
rice the malice or the vicious teaching Of
his legal owner.
How different It is today! America is now
the children's paradise. Most homes are now
the habitations Of love. The switch and the
ferule, once the badge of the schoolmaster's
Office, have disappeared. The slavery of the
apprenticeship system has passed away. The
danger now is that the young will be idlers
rather than drudges. Marriages are now
based on affection. Young people are not
forced into marriage by Eercenary or manag-
ing mothers fathers. Hence the children
of today are the children of love. They are
born into an atmosphere of affection. They
are nurtured in kindness. Each house Is a
spontaneous kindergarten. Each neighbor-
hood is nursery of friendship. Solcmcn's
rod is as out of date Solomon's polygamy
And the results prove that it is not necessary
to cramr ehild's activities, to ride rough
shod over his sensibi.ities, or to lash him
like a slave to make man of him. The
of a higher order, better educated, more
moral better equipped for this world and
the next than that of any previous genera
ton brought up on the rod and trained in ju-
venife servitude.
Undoubtedly there are exceptions to this
Some barbarians still 1inger tn this land Of
civilization, some heathens in this land of
Christianity, some petty despots in this land
of liberty. There are people now walking
our pavements whose heads are still in the
thirteenth century.
are untitled for home fife, at least for that Of
the ordinary home, by some defect of charac-
ter or constitution. For these special iEatitp-
tfons are needed. But the great mass Of de.
pendent children are in no respect untitled for
family life except that they are homeless
through no fault OF theirs. Many -of them ara
orphans, many are abandoned by unnatural
parents, many are children of parents so
poor that they are glad to provide for them