Okolona messenger. (Okolona, Miss.) 1900-current, 1903-09-02

A girl named Nellie hogan, 10
st. Louis, thought herself the most
miserable OF human beings. In a
few weeks she was to become a
mother, and two problems perplex
ed her, says Hearst's Chicago
American.
First she could not understand
how a man she had trusted could
desert her so cruelty.
Second she could not even i'm
agine, in her poverty, how she
would take care OF the child when
it arrived.
That curious "criminap' instinct
in woman which makes the welfare
Of a helpless child more important
even than the laws Of property
Overcame the girl. She decided
that the child must have the things
that it needed on it's arrival. AS a
step in this direction she stole a
pare Of baby shOes-the smallest
possible size. She thought with
satisfaction that she would at least
have shoes ready for the small feet
on their arrival. Being ignOr-
ant in motherhood, she did not
know that the baby could do very
we'll without shoes for q consider
able time,
The girl was caught stealing the
shoes, she was put in Jail, and in
a cell at HThe Four COurts'' she
tried to make the reporters and the
officials see her side of the case.
It is TO be hoped that the
official Judgement passed upon her
crime will be moderately lenient.
Among other things she said to
those who questioned her:
"I don't know what induced me
TO turn thief. never stole before.
And when they caught me taking
that pair of baby shoes I a as
fast as I could. It all seemed
shame enough without this"
Suppose that you were sitting in
your room, and q fat, bulky rat,
slow of movement, should creep
out and steal q lump of sugar from
your table.
If the rats shape, or difficulty IN
moving about, proved to you that
she would soOn add to the worlds
population a collection OF small
rats, you could not possibly help
feeling sympathy for her. You
would say to yourself:
81 know that rats are detestable
vermin. They Onght to be destroy
ed, and those young rats ought not
to be born. Nevertheless | can't
help admiring the poor creatures
mother instlnct.n
You would probably put two or
three extra Jumps o tsugar near the
rats hole.
If a female chimpanzee or other
monkey, situated as unfortunately
as Nellie Hogan, should succeed
in stealing q coat or a pair OF shoes
for a monkey unborn, its devotion
to the future monkey would be
appIauded no judge would sen.
tenoe it to jail.
We sympathize instinctively
With the animal that is about to
take on the responsibilities OF
motherhood, even though it add
Objectionable young rats or an IN
desirable monkey to the number
OF living creatures.
How different is our attitude
toward the unfortunate mother Of
human kind who. without. due
process Of law, and because some
man is dishonorable, is put In the
position OF the rat or the monkey
mentioned.
! Nellie Hogan's child is coming
into the world under shameful
conditions. But those same con.
! diti0ns Of birth marked the varrial
OF some human beings that were
really valuable-fOr instance,
! Leonardo de- Vinci, William the
Conqueror, Alexander Hamilton
and others who made up for their
mothers girl
! That 3 girl could be put in lail
: under such circumstances seems
Z. criminal and impossible. Yet il
3 Is our duty to remember the other
side. We live still largely IN 81
+. animal condition, and We rely