The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1899-06-11
THE VOICE OF THE PULPIT
ayoBoDY's CHILDs- A SHORT SERMON
FOR CHILDREN's SUNDAY.
BY Rev. III. Berkowitz, ID. D., Rabbi
ers of Peace, Philadelphia, Pa.

Thou shalt lead the outcast into thy
house. Isaiah will, l.
we are thinking. this children's Sunday.
NJ the fortunate millions whose little lives
are made happy by kind parents and friends,
shielded so largely from every III in homes
OF comfort and luxury. and surrounded by
refining infuences-the children who, on this
their own day Of days lift their sweet voices
IN sacred song in thousands OF sanctuaries
throughout the land.
We feel that the day. with its gladness for
them. has its lessons for US. and our thought
instinctively turns to the vast host Of the
submerged tenth"-the street waits and
outcasts. "nobody's children" to whom all
d. this is denied and the very word love is
unknown
Some one has well said: There is one
cradle never empty. 1t is the hard cradle
OF the streets. in which are rocked the chill
dren OF poverty, misery and vice" Thu great
city is their parent Hard, cruel parent, that
cares not for the child!
I might well take as a second text this
sentence from a report of the National Con-
ference OF Charities and Correction. which
last month held its twenty-sixth annual
meeting at Cincinnati: The crime Of our
age is the neglect of the Children"
Whose child are your" 1 asked the little
boy with the ragged clothes and downcast
look. suIking about the corners. l~ounsing in
public buildings 10 keep warm.
Ain nobody's ehildr' Nobody knowsi
Nobody caresi
Who are you. little girl, begging in the
alleys. singing your ballads on the streets,
waiting or dancing in the saloon?
"Nobodys chld!' Nobody Knows. No
body caresi
Who can hear Of this and his heart not
be touched with pain; see this and his eyes
head in shame, and Pity sobs with grief.
Sad Is the fate of "Nobody's child" Father
and mother are in the cold ground; cherries
IL the world about IL. Therefore has the
heart OF humanity been touched. Magnih-
cent orphanages have been built in our days
as rever before. and homes created for the
ment. comfort and training.
OUTCASTS OF H titles
But, despite all this public and private
charity. which cares for the tender orphan
and rears him TO s~elf-support and ~self-re-
spect-better. often. than parents could have
done had they lived-it is a startling fact
that there are hordes Of children outside of
these refugees, outside of schools and church
es, outside of the influences of any true
home life, outside of the guardianship even
OF the laws of the land 1 mean the out
casts, the neglected children swarming in
the byways Of our cities and towns. They
are not quaii1ed 10 enter the orphans homes
because they have parents. Parents God
save the markD so stepped in wretchedness
and vice. so far sunken beneath all human
contempt, that. measured by the standard
OF true parenthood. they are nobodies. whom
II would be blasphemy to name by the sa-
cred titles of father or mother. In 1890
b.4l9 children were committed by magis-
trates TO reformatories in the United States.
More than half Of these child criminals were
children Of nobodieS.
sad as Is the fate Of nobody's child, far
sadder Is the lot Of these children of no.
bodies. Nobody's child may become the child
OF some warm-hearted charity. but the child
abandoned their child, driven it forth or
left II with vicious associates when they
themselves were dragged off TO prison. IL
is the blacklist part of the crime Of So
ciety in its treatment of children that 1t
calls these little outcasts by terrible names
the infamy OF their guilty sires. 1t is heart
rending TO read the stories Of thousands of
cent years through the Investigation of the
CHARITY organization societies OF the great
cities.
from the worthless parents!" is the cry.
But what shall be done with the children?
There are ample laws for the punishment
wreck and ruin for all the law cares; and
but for the private benevolence and the
%atenfulaess exercised by the humane SO,
society would be still greater.
What is needed is a stirring agitation
OF MS question until pubic sentiment
shall demand and secure the remedy for
this terrible wrong. Not a single child
must be lost. The remedy lies partly in
ianship OF every child, with officials and
proper resources to see that both classes
nobody's children and the children of the
ncbodies-are taken from the haunts OF
vice: partly In private and public benevo-
lence to establish temporary homes for all
curables from the curables. The weakiings
in intellect, who are liable 70 become in
sane; the Weddings in morals. who are liza
bic to become criminals; the weakiings in
industry and thrift. who are liable to be-
come pauperS-theSe must be kept in in
stitutions. so as TO prevent them from fur
Their communicating the race with their com
panionship not only. but with. their blood;
thus recognizing the law OF heredity and
All the others. the curabies. to be kept just
so long as in each case may be needed TO
prepare them TO enter worthy homes, where
they shall have a share In all the joys
and advantages which belong TO a true
home.
WHERE THE REMEDY LIES.
The remedy lies. then, in removing this
whole matter out of the sphere of haphaz-
ard charity and planting it in the well-or-
dered domain Of the obligations of citizen
ship. 1t is wrong. equivalent to putting a
premium on vice, TO demand that the self
respecting parent. who exercises all due
caution in rearing his child, shall be taxed
tllliSE DS the state OF Dy private DcucNO-
lenoe to feed and clothe and rear the child
OF the shiftless. worthless parent. The lat
ter should be made TO pay for his own child,
either in money or in work
Bring the Outcast into thy house. Thls
Is exactly what Michigan. Ohio. PennSyl-
vania and some of the other States are do
Ing. The old apprentice system is reversed.
Instead Of having boys and girls bound out
10 those who apply for them irrespective
OF motives. the State now, through It's
agents. searches out appropriate homes Tor
the dependent children. and when necessary
pays the family we'll for the responsfoiity
Il assumes and Is kept under. THE placing
out system" as IL is called, is generally
conceded TO have passed from a hne theory
into a successful practice. The cheering re-
self in the glad message of hope that Tor
every homeless child there Is a childieSs
home" Homes must be secured In every
case at any cost. This is a duty of the state
and Of the individual. The neglect or this
duty is the crime OF our age.
Save the child and you have redeemed
the man. Think OF those little nobodies.
Oh. what pathos is there so stirring as tnat
aroused by a homeless child. The little one
IS walking or the edge OF a precipice with
yawning. interminable depths beneath; the
forces of corruption crowding thick and fast
about II urge II over the brink. VIII no
hand be stretched forth 10 save. none 10
guide. no arm 10 protect. no heartclasp 10
hold it,
Hear the cry OF the little one out of doors!
II rings into your homes, You put your