The Washington weekly post. (Washington, D.C.) 1878-1916, 1899-04-04
SOCIAL SINS AND SLAMS
BY LILLE HARRIS.
IicpnSni CrnpIfV.


! can imagine / see my readers shrug
their shoulders with disgust and raise
their delicate eyebrows in amazement at
the harsh cOarseness Of the title Lii
censed cruelty Just as if. in these days
OF education and refinement anything like
cruelty could be licensed. Preposterous!
But l mean cruelty that is never heard
of, that there is no redress for, and yet
that is torture to many. We will start
with the cruelty practiced to children.
No, am not going to say anything about
t1ogging, or thrashing, or physical tor
ture, for there is a society which, when
it hears of il, prevents that sort of thing.
But ! am going TO speak of the cruelty
I that is carried on every day, and which
is the very refinement of cruelty, and
which Injuries the child more morally than
the grosser method of blows can possibly
do. Children are left TO the tender mer-
cieS of ignorant, vulgar nUrSemaids-and,
by the way, you must pardon me IL / di-
gress little, but the way in which moth
ers engage nurses seems to me TO be
framed upon most extraordinary laws.
/ For instance, if one wants a cook, one is
most rigid in the examination as to her
| capabilities of sending a dinner to
| the table, and her skill in the connecting
| of saYOries and the manufacturing of en-
| trees. She is given most rigid instruc-
| lions as to what is expected for the ia
! BILE, and her mistress doesn't mind pay
| ing her a very substantial and comfort
| able wage, because, as she truly says
/ there are very. very few good cooks
| about. and if dear John is not well fed
| he is very angry, he is apt TO grumble
/ about pin-mOney, and to look askance at
| millinerS bills, and altogether to assert
| his pecUniaTy authority in a highly dis
| agreeable manner. But. mark you! the
| same lady who is so fastidiOusly particu-
| lar about her cook will take any dirty,
| vicious. ignorant little slut as d nurse
/ maid for her children. You see. her nus
| bands stomach is of more Importance
! than the moral and physical well-being
! of her children.
Oh, the licensed cruelty that is daily
an5 hourly practiced in every city ana
| town of the country by coarse. nliterate
women to the poor little children that
are put under their protection! Go into
any park and watch the nursemaids con-
| gregate. How they chat while their
poor little charges are shivering witt
! the cold. or perhaps sleeping sleeping
| with their heads banging over the sides
of the mail-carts or perambulatOrs, with
the sun beating on their unprotected
| heads. Then, if they wake up and cry,
| just mark how they will be shaken and
| then, when the last moment for gossip
ping has arrived, the nurse suddenly
| awakens 10 the fact that she is late; and
/ the poor little legs of the children are
1 tired out, and ia they cry with fatigue
| they are slapped, and they are forbidden
| to tell mother anything about IL under
| dire threat OF punishment But even
when the nurses are kind 10 the young
! sters. ! think that il would shock any
mother If she could but hear the horrible
| talk that goes on. the cOarseness Of in
nuendo, the indecency of language. /
| would rather cook my own dinner and
have an educated, refined woman as
nurse to my children than have = profess
| siOnaI cook and have the ordinary ser
want To be with my youngsters constant
| ~. You know what the Jesuits say: Let
MS have the training Of a child Till he
| is six years Old. We do not mind who
/ has him after. for he viii be with Us. 80
So it is
| Tho first few years Of life mold the
| child's character. Give him a happy
| childhood suTrOuIue1 with refinement
| teaching him generosity. consideration,
and deIicacy Of feeling, and you may be
quite sure that you have armed MIN for
/ the battle Of life On TIE other hand.
( let him listen 10 ribald remarks. let him
/ hear holy truths laughed at and the no
1 lest Of names pTOfaned, and ii will be
| found that, IN spite Of, perhaps, a. outer
| glamour OF refinement which will come
/ later on, he viii be full OF the brute
/ instinct Then the cruelty that is prac-
/ tieed on timid children. 1 can remember
myself suffering ag0nies Of torture and
Of fright, from which I did not recover
/ for many years, when, as a small child. a
/ fool Of a nursemaid came into my bed
room late at night with q broOmstick in
! her hand covered with a white sheet
could not scream Ny tongue Glove 10 my
mOUth-but, on. how my heart beat, II
sounds comical enough 10 grown-1p peO-
pie. but TO a timId sensitive child it il
| simply alarming I remember for nights
and nights / was too frightened TO sleep.
| would never open a door for fear Of
! seeing the terrible apparitlOn again. Do
you not think that this II the very refine
menI Of cruelty And. mark you. IL i le-
galized. People would laugh al II. Then
IL have known people to leave
nervous, highiy-struEs, hyster.caI child
rem In their bedrooms alone. and
/ n the dark. although the poor
mites have plteousiy implored for
/ a light. This is not spelling the child
not al all. You cannot scold a child out
Of fear You must talk to him kind
/ is. and teach him that God Is above him.
TO guard and watch him during the dark
hours of The night. But TO tell aim that
he Is baby. ana turn the gas out. and