The morning times., 1897-02-22
Mrs. Barrett Protests Against a
Divided Mother and Child.
AGAINST GODS COMMAND
A Large Mass Meeting at First
Congregational Church in the In
terest OF the Eloquent
Speeches by Mesdames Ellis, Mus
sey, Gardner, and Barrett.

mass meeting which was held yesterday
afternoon in the First Congregational
Church. The music was by the Hamline
Church choir, the solos being sung by
Miss Ida O'Neill.
The arrangements for the meeting were
made by Mrs. Sarah ID. LaFetra, who,
as is well known, has been very prominent
in charitable and rescue work in Wash
| ington. Mrs. La Fetra presided, on the
| platform with her being Mrs. NJ. ID. Ellis
| OF the law department of the national
| W. c. T. T.; Mrs Gardner, who has re-
| Gently addressed the Congress of Mothers;
Mrs. S. H Martin, Mrs. Kate Waller
Barrett, Mrs. Ellen Spencer Mussey and
others.
Prayer was offered by Mrs. Martin,
after which and some music Mrs, Mussey
spoke ON the Shannon bill now before
| Congress for raising the age of consent
! to eighteen years. Mrs. Mussey treated
| the subject from the standpoint OF justice
| to girlhOod as a part of the property OF
| the family, and that il should be SO re-
| garded and protected. In fcudal times the
sense of honor and chivalry protected wom-
| an because every mans house was his
/ castle, but ii appeared that legislation in
! these days has not kept pace With the
march OF civilization.
Mrs. MuSsey made a strong appeal 10
the ladies OF the congregation To see mem.
bers of Congress personally SO as to have
the bill pushed through at this session.
| Discussing the necessity of its passage
she read a letter from Judge Kimblll
| who put himSelfin line withthe movement,
| but suggested that the term of punish
| ment should be SO arranged that violations
| of the law should come within the juris
diction Of the Supreme Court.
Mrs. Ellis, who has had large and long
experience in this and other work in the
| great New York field, spoke briefly but
| very interestingly. She complimented the
! State legislatures which had raised the age
| for protection OF girls She made the
| point that in the committee Of Congress
! having this matter in charge, the members
from the East Were Indifferent, If not
! averse TO legislation, while the members
| from the West We're its friends She
also said, amid the great applause of
| tie congregation, that when a bill TO
| raise the age Of consent was before the
/ IE.ohigan legislature, the only member W no
| had the hardihood to father the measure
| was a Democrat, who was also an lrish
| Roman Catholic. Mrs. Ellis spoke very
| apnreciatively OF the attitude of Judges
KiIuuall and Miller on the pending htll.
Mrs Rarrer introduced Mrs. Gardner i'll
very omplimentaryla language. Mrs. Gard
ner SPOKE on "IIeteGity," j." announcing that
it wasthe subject on which she spoke before
the Congress OF Mothers and which has
already been substantially reported. Mrs
Gardner made an excellent Impression.
il
ner was to the effect that it was Better
that children should not he brought into
the world than that they should be born
with hereditary defects and continue TO
live a life which was worse than death.
Mrs. Barrett read a letter from Mrs.
Mary Lowe Dickinson, president of the
National Council Of Women, and Il member
of the Congress Of Mothers, expressing her
regrets that she could not attend the
meeting
Mrs. Barrett spoke on Motherhood; n
means Of regeneration = Her address
was Of unusual force and el9quence She
attacked the idea of the founding asylum
as not being in keeping with the spirit
OF the age, and maintained that the dea til
knen Of these instituti ons was struck
in France where, in S3T, the statistics
lngs in twenty years from 10000 10
100000 Russia and the United States
are the only countries, she said, that now
support founding institutions.
But she continued, the day is break
ing We are learning more and more the
great basic truth that in a republic. tho
good of the whole is dependent upon tn.
good of its lowliest member; that i'll 8
| = ln int
of all are so closely woven, society canno
ignore the interests OF its poorest member
a disinherited child or-its outCast mother
The society which / nave the honor t,
represent. the National Florence Crittentol
Rescue Society, has as its founder ant
| president the man who was readicst t,
recognize the truth of this, ana to put u
. the service of these disnherited two his
| fortune, his heart, and his life. We be
lieve that Gods way is the best, ant
| that the mother and child should not b.
| separated"
Again she said: The pages Of histor!
are full of the achievements of illegiti
mate children. and rs to those who hav,
thus worn the bar sinister we do not flint
> that they are reared in institutions; for tn
better the institutions. the worse it is 70
= individuality. which is not possible il
. automatic companies Of boys and girls
. - lit is best continued Mrs Barrett
= THAT the mother should bear the responsi
, bilities of motherhood, and when | sa
: motherhood / mean motherhood per 81
for motherhood is motherhood. whethe
the offspring bear the govcrnmen
stamp or not The psychologist
= and physiological effects are th
= same whether she be wife or mis-
tress. l should not think it necessary {
:, make this statement if the proposition ha
: not been bitterly aSsailed in private NOR
: than once. 4 mother plakes no differenc
between her legitimate or her illegitimat
- children, and certain it is, if she had tn
making of laws, she would not disinher
- the weaker for the stronger
Mrs. Barrett spoke also on the questc
of reformation against formation. ST
. laid great stress on reformative work q
= against purely theoretical ideas as TO III
- formation OF character, and said grapl
ically: 1T is well understood, i'll ia,
it is automatic, that an ounce of pr,
% vention is better than pound of cur
but where the ounce of prevention throug
misfortune or accident has not been a.
piled or could not be applied, then
: stand for the pound OF cure every tim
n full weight and hard down" Closing h,
C argument on this phase of the addreA
Is she emphasized IL by saying: s'When
o. recall the hundreds Of happy regenerate
Us redeemed women who tonight are gat
'e cred in the happy Crit enton homes; wh,
III / remember that OF the 300 sheltert