The San Francisco call., 1898-02-01
WHOSE BABY WILL BE NEXT ]?
Hearts in the Home Beeaved by the Latest
 Fendehess Car Accident"

: :. . . :t: ' with wistful pride. ..she used to go CT rands for me. Why, yesterday morning she went for milk, :: =. =. =
 Think of this blithe, busy baby of two years tretting off to the dairy or the grocer's S.: F. '.But she never crossed the street. Yes, just once she did. But Fl punished her. the mothers voice broke, ''and she prom ised me she'd never do 1t again:
 Something attracted her, you see. She was laughing when she came in to me that last time, and said something about funny dog. Such funny dog, she said. I suppose she was running after the dog when-when the car struck her" -.
 If you have a maid for your baby girl, madam, you may be inclined to censure this poor woman for neglect of her child. If your baby has the sheltered corner or some nearby park, your own sunny gar den for her playground, 1t may seem to you incomprehensib1e that any mother would permit her two-year-old child to play upon the street. But for one child so fortunately placed, so: we'll cared Tor as your own, there are thousands of. Hull da Johnsons, loved as tenderly and as devotedly. .:: ..:.:.: : =. .
 The children of the poor must play upon: the sidewalk. The home nest-and the Johnsons' home Is in basement early becomes too small for these sturdy : =f1edglings. They seek air and light ana adventure. They seek air and l1ght ana so logical when is fear of punishment so strong as to prohibit a child from follow ing joyously, blindly, confidently the thing it desires? .- ;, ..t. - .. Babies will continue to play upon the sidewalk south and north Of Market street, too. And they will be allured out beyond the limit mothers set for adYen- turous, toddling feet in spring g-heeled shoes. The very boundary that IS or dained will in itself tempt them further. Are these pretty trespassers, these tiny malefactors.. ito be judged by a a*Draconian law while for adult sinners church ana State preach clemencX?# Every car With out fender may be destined to crush the life out of some smiling child, eager for freedom, mad with the delight of unac- customed unrestraint. It needs but slight . thing to excite a child's curiosity. Then hey for the: other side of the: street, where, everybody knows, the keenest pleasure isl Should this golden-haired baby-faced. .adxenturer slip on the eobole- stones; should he, all enthrailed with the glamour: of discovery, intent on sight seeing, be deaf to the: clangor of bells; 4 should he, paralyZed for moment by fear as the +onrushing car comes. nearer
 
 yesterday-there will be the same hor- rible mangling of another tender body, the same bitter. never-ending regret: in another mothers heart and the. same empty place Tn another household. E. There will still be accidents as:the city grows older and more populous and more streetcar- ridden; but these: are: the things that cannot be guarded against: The newspapers: have preached the. mer- ciful gospel of the fender, butt the slaugh- ter of the innocents continues. H However, . in time the streetcar: companies will themselves provide the remedy. F The campaign of education on what a fender less car can do is being conducted so ably, so perseyeringly and so ~unfalteringly that one is almost tempted tp prophecy the beginning of the; end. This poor little Johnson baby and her; .grief=stricken mother will retain their places near the foot of the cruel list. There will not be many successors to their suffering and sorrow This baby's death. has done much for the safety of other. children: . As Mrs. Johnson says, with a: sobbing catch in her throat::: 'It may save some other woman's baby ::@.>,.. :: - :