The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1899-12-29
ARP WRITES ABOUT CHILDREN.
Especially Those Who Labor in the
Factories.

Count that day lost in which the set
ting sun
Sees from thy hand no worthy action
DONE
And ] will add:
Count that year lost if when It's course
is run
Heaven is farther off thar when the
year begun.
The year is almost gone and the time
is at hand when we should all Settle
I'D and balance the books. Not the cash
books nor the books of pleasure. but
the books Of remembrance III which IS
set down the good that we have o n
and the progress we have made in The
journey of life. II we are no better, nc
purer in heart, no more unselfish than
we were a year ago we have maze no
progress; but have stagnated on The
way. Progress is as much a law of the
heart, the emotions and the affections
as it is of nature and art. If we are
not Improving We are retrograding.
There is no ~standstill in our makeup.
The heart gets harder or softer.
/ was Illuminating on this line Of
thought because | had just read aloud
to my family Mr.. Ladson's touching
appeal to the committee in behalf OF
the poor little factory children. 1t
uasseth comprehension that the Off
CtI5 VI lIlC iHiiEISs WIZ ~ @'~A
men of culture and humanity, can get
hardened to such scenes as Mr.. Lad
son pictures, and feel no emotion, no
pity, and can go to their own comfOrta-
Bile homes every night and commune
with their children and be happy. Is
it possible for a man or a woman 20
look upon distress and pain and grief
until they get hardened to it, and feel
no pity. no sympathy; but consider II
a matter Of course; an inevitable, IN
a~yoidahIc condition that providence has
designed? 1t is said that a physician
or must steel his heart and his
hand to the pain of his patients or ne
will never succeed in his profession,
but his desire and purpose is to save
life and alleviate suffering. But how
can a man look every day upon little
boys and girls from s to II years ola
working from eleven to twelve hours
a day half fed and half clad, rising be-
fore it is light and going home
after dark to a cherries house or
howell that has cracks in the floor and
leaks in the woodworking for a cent
an hour to enrich stockholders who live
in luxury and sit high up in the church
when Sunday comes?
How can such an official go before a
humane committee and say if you stop
these children their parents will suffer
for bread and the mill will stop for
~ VI IiCNL NAN -
built in Georgia? Oh, the pity Of it. Are
we driven to this pitiless ~lternative?
No. we are not. I nave recently visited
mills where no such conditions exist.
Excessive greed or bad management is
at the bottom of it. The slavery of
these children as 1T is shown at some
of the mills is just awful. Let Mr. Lad
son go on with his good work. The
good people Of London knew nothing
of the poverty and distress of the sew
ing women until Tom Hood sang to
them the Song Of the Shirt"
"Oh, men with sisters dear,
Oh men with mothers and wives,
1t is not linen you are wearing out,
But human creatures lives.
Oh, but to breathe the breath
OF the flowers that bloom so sweet
With the sky above my head
And the grass beneath my feet
The song awakened London from
center to circumference, and charity,
sweet charity, came forth from the
hearts Of the people with lavish kind
ness. Just so will Mr.. Ladson's appeal
touch every heart in Georgia save those
who are hardened against pity, and
live for the money they can squeeze Out
OF the lives of other people, little chill
dren not excepted.
No, our people are not mean or
heartless when the case is made, when
the victim is before their eyes; espe-
cialIy If the sufferers be women or chill
dren. Our fault is that We do not seek
for it n find it, for poverty is shy
aGd timid. 1t begs as a last resort;
and the public are too ready to cry
impostors, and ask why don't they go
10 work. The poor lave but few near
friends, and those afar off don't know
or see or heal their misery. What we
need is organized, systematic charity
that will hunt for the sick and the dis
tressed and provide food and fuel and
clothing and medicine and places to
work, too, If possible. But children
unde II should not be allowed to work
all the time. 1t is unnatural and in
human. They should have a good
lunch and a long recess at noon.
They should be turned out as the sun
goes down, and then
Their smiles be seen-their laugh be
heard,
with time to run n play.
Their little hands were never made
Te work the livelong day"
And then the school-the school
These children should have time, allot-
ted to learn to spell and read and CT
yher, and a poor white boys chance
to be a man and a citizen, and q poor
white girls chance to be a virtuous
Fl ohAhtNh
provide for it and compel it. l tell you
NV Christian friends, We are RESPONSE
BILE for the downward course of many
of these little waits who have a drum
ken father or a heart-broken mother
Perhaps the tide was against them IL
their early married life, and they DRIFT
ed out to sea in angry waters and hat
no help to get back. No encourage
ment. Perhaps they were to blame
but their little children were not. N
a few days & a preacher came u
town and old how he had come acros:
a wretched family in a miserable nous
not far away, and the mother was dy
ing. and the little babe already dead
and the two boys had no work, Ii tn
father-a half-witted vagabond. tn
boys had nursed the baby until the!
not tired Of it's meanings and gave
Iaudanum to put 1t to sleep and 1
never walked any more. Twice the poo
mothers bed had been burned by I
good neighbor and a clean one substi
tuted. Time and again these KIM
-.-LAors bod capt food To the mOtne