The Chickasha daily express. (Chickasha, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 1899-current, 1901-04-18
SUICIDES OF CHILDREN
LARGE NUMBER OF VICTIMS FUR
NlsHEo BY THE CITIES.


One instance after another Of self.
inflicted death Of children have caused
a slowly increasing interest To trace
the cause and find a remedy. and m
last awakened a sense of dutv CON
cerning the incredible state Of mind
and morals which these Young suicides
demonstrate as existing in our day
ana generation, writes a correspond
ent Of the New York Post.
There is something So at variance
with human nature. as well as 81 ab-
horrent TO all sane thought. IN the Will
ingness Of child to kin itself. that
the natural impulse Of the hearer is 10
disbelieye the fact The almost ire
sistible desire 70 make some effort TO
remove the conditions which move
such tender creatures to destroy them.
selves, might have better hope Of good
result, had records been kept aud the
subject been approached more scien.
tiheally, with data, parentage, race and
all the testanen6ary statistics which
could help theory and suggest RENE
dies. Unfortunately none Of these
have been retained
Cities unquestiOnably provide the
larger number of these victims. but in
the majority Of instances noted the
circumstances have not been those Of
either extreme want OF misery Many
of the cases which have been reported
have been pupils Of the public schools.
and there has been questioning
thought in this connection. Gould the
schools helpw The idea is not that
the schools are in fault. but that their
large congregations of children. com
ing out Of sordid unenllghtened homes.
might afford the most vital opportu-
nifty to plant new ideas Of what il
means to live and die and what should
bind child to its home.
Perhaps the instance which finally
forced the writer TO make this appeal
was this:
A child, little girl one Of those pa
thetie creatures whom we know as
Little Mothers was, at eleven years
of age, quite credltably heading the
household Of her widowed father
There were three younger children
they are reported as having been
clean and watched over with that ex.
traordinary combination of vigilance |
and good sense which is common to
these premature guardians Of their |
brothers end sisters. She Is not spoken |
of as morbid or abnormal in any way. /
She appeared TO be bearing her burden |
after the wonderful manner Of her /
kind One day she asked her father
If he would please come home early. /
"by O'clock" she said
Three O'Clock was impossible 10 him.
but he came as soon as be could and
when the door opened to his hand
there lay the Little Mother" dead
upon the floor. The biz Of paper left
for him said In unfortunate
ly the words are not preserved-"I
cannot bear the responsibility Of car
ing for the children. | cannot bear TO
20 on any longer, SO am going 20 XII
myself"
She was tired Of living. weary with
the burdens Of premature womanhood.
and unquestionably poisoned IN
thought aud Judgment BY reading. 20
easily accessible, Of how tired men and
women took their impious ways out of
this world II would be impossible TO
express the vivid clearness Of the pic
ture left upon the mind by the brief
printed In the medley Of
the days news" Poor little tired
girl. lying dead IN her clean print
gown; brave enough to kin herself.
and wholly ignorant Of the majesty Of
life or the enormity Of death
Her innocence, her good record OF
duty done. her stricken father. all
have kept her apart from the rest;
from the girl who threw her life away
because she could not 80 TO a party.
1r her who drowned herself because
ihe had been properly repr0ved: or the
ad who hanged himself in his fathers
larn apparently IN a spirit Of rctalla-
ion TO some wound to his pride
We hear Of frightful endings 10 the
Ives Of young men and women Of at
east American birth. II not Of Ameri-
an parentage. but there is almost in-
an attendant revelation Of the ]
breaking Of the moral law which has
endered the conditions Of life abnor-
nal. With these this appeal has no
Iirect connection, though they prima ,
ny have been educated where inhu-
nees could have been brought to bear
~ mind and conscience and heart.
which would have gone before. and
losed the gates against eFil passion
nd disgrace.
There seems to exist a fundamental
aek Of endurance and fortiiude. de-
ire. however trivial. must be gratihed
n the young spirit rebels 70 the ex-
ent Of taking itself out Of the atmos-
here of discipline. Out of certainly
ca cases which have been noted-to
,e comparative in the absence Of
.ata. ~ win say within a year-with ,
DE exception of the "iiflIe mother"
he causes were the mercsf trines af-
Getting comparatively comfortable
Ives. The main reasons have been