Mexico weekly ledger. (Mexico, Mo.) 1855-1956, 1899-03-30
WHAT THE CURFEw Law Is IN
TENDED FoRlIslsHRoUDED
In MYSTERY.
1T is NOT FOR MY CHILD"
Notlthe Morals Of the Community the
Lawiseeks, But to Stop the Noise
of the Little Fellows-Do You
Remember When You Were
a Boy2-No Curfews
in Those Days.


/ haven't written to you since / ad-
vised the community on the "expan-
slon'' business. You must excuse me,
but have suffered considerable with
stone bruise that has kept me up at
nights good deal and prevented me
from thinking some. 1t is better now
and as l see the community is again In
the throes OF another discussion I will
try and forget the stone bruise and
write to you before 1t is everIastingly
too late.
don't understand this curfew busi-
ness very well, but then, I'm not hold
ing up any more cards than these 9TH
er fellows who have chipped in. As
1t appears to me, 1t is sort Of an act
that is intended to garner the little
fellows from the highways and byways
and place them up in the hay loft
where they can learn the game Of seven
up and burn the old mans barn down,
either or both.
asked your young man who writes
things for you what it meant exactly
and he rolled cigarette and said he
understood it was an act "to pinch
kids less'n they ducked for home
when the gong sounded" and II that's
the case want to state am here to
take the part of the little kids.
have none Of my own. 1t hasn't
been long since l was one and my
mind clings lovingly to that period oi
fishing hooks and swimming holes,
when tall dignitied chumps growled al
me for yelling across corners oI
swatting said chump on his rheumatic
back with a COB of mud thrown from
a maple switch. l bslieve dignity
is mostly rheumatism, anyhow, but II
seems to me that the kids (minoE
children under 16 years Of age, the
ordinance reads) are fearfully handi-
Icapped in this fight, and / hereby men
ton in the prospectus that Pm will
them.
| Who this law Is for is mystory
Each man Gays: sits not for my child
rem" Then 1t must be for the othel
fellows. But the other fellow sayi
the same as the first man. Someone iI
published interview solves the prob
lem. He said: "It's for those without
parental restraint"
The city of Mexico, then, is goint
Into the business of soaring playing
children, bad though they may be, on
OF Gods own open air into the vRriou
shacks they believe is their home
where slatterly Saira Camps Of moth
ers and -i--I--l-of OF fathers ma.
further taint the naughty little beinl
with more of that venom that make
. the poor little brat what we call bad.
Little boys and little girls are no
: made bad on the streets nor mad
good by the laws. Only the Divine toucl
: can do that, and when His instrumen
is worthless parent, and the purpos
is distorted, no policeEs@n's club
, backed by the law, can correct tn
deformity In the little sinner. Free al
on the street corner, bad though tina
! may appear, is better for the littl
; moral invalid than the tainted atmoF
] phere Of some joint where his disease
] soul was created.
: My dear ponderous philosopher o
D moral alteration, you fellow who out
lines corrections for all human weak
ness with mathematical precision, 20
have little knowledge of the homes
les miserables II you think conta'
with the source Of their contaminatio
; is better for a strayer than q romp o
the street corner In the open air.
Every law has Its penalty. Suppoi
t the bad little boy and the bad littl
girl don't go home when the bell ring
The law, then, is to 60 into the bus
, ness of mothering these neglects
ones; to put them to bed with polic'
mans club and lullaby them to slee
with the blasphemies of some "drur
! and disorderlyn in the next cellP Gi'
ths vounostarz n lesson in moral
Won m,oht as we'll put a sucking es
; n the st,av nan and console hla insid,
,v,tb a n,ctnra of a milk nail. VI
: nondsros,t,ea. have Won ever spei
: tno riobt or even an bour in a cell
N . hoId-ovar9 Whv don,t Won lea,
"A What sort os a varmiut ia nm the tr,
r haso,a Won haoin IN barkY
n Ths.r too that the litter the lit
= kids maize ahout the atreets and m
uc hr,Idings is cons,dersd substal
a., -aa.o,, ,or .ha prornt soualchi,
m ~ inveniIinitv after Q o,oIook. IT
70 oan,Ismor vbo so cons,dsred a nm
a ~ of,c,aI too sat IN the oitv II,
,r wh,Ia we ,aIksd ahout the wIokedns
~ Eid.dom and he spat three ampl
go ano.- Dords 81 tohacco iu,ce
,ha oorrars of the room ana VIII
tbs ,r;cs was ouite gone he uroduc