The Waxahachie daily light. [volume] (Waxahachie, Tex.) 1894-current, 1903-02-16
ANOTHER POINT OF VIEW
Child Labor Question Is Dis
cussed by a Woman.

against child labor. There are two
sides to this important question.
Each strongly appeals to the class
on the respective sides.
1 have occupied a position, so to
| speak, or both sides, and as / am a
mother | would like to express my
views on this grave and important
subject. When my older children
We're small we had a lovely home.
Ny children were surrounded by
every comfort and advantage, both
social and educational. and the
thought Of my children out of the
school to earn money would have
been criminal and | still hold it a
crime II make children who have
those advantages go out to work for
a mere pittance, for that is all they
can earn.
Years passed. Sickness and other
blighting calamities had robbed US
| of prosperity. / had two little boys,
aged respectively 5 and 10 years. l
could not clothe them neatly and
comfortably for school; e. neither
could / buy them the neces sary
books. 1 was living in a city. The
grounds surrounding our house were
small. l had nothing for the chill
dren to do, and no way To occupy
their minds or time, and / did not
have time to teach them at home.
So / put them to work, not in a fac
tory. But that is neither here nor
there, for children at work is really
the much mooted question, not what
kind of work they do, and / was de-
vOutly thankful when one man
agreed to give the younger Sl.50 per
week and another gentleman agreed
to give the other s., for I would
have put them 10 work without a
penny of remuneration rather than
to have them grow uy idle and ig-
nosant
When the law forbids that children
shall be employed, and when all taIs
mighty horde Of poor children shall
be turned out on the streets idle,
then this same law will have to pro-
vide for the building Of more and
larger reformatories and the age for
taking people in the penitentiary
will have to be set back consider
ably.
People in comfortable circumm-
stances see only the sentimental
side of the question. If these chill
dren could be taken from work and
put in school, 1 would say take
them from work, but nine-tenths of
the children would never see the in
side of a school-roOm. Is il not,bet-
ter TO have them grow up industri-
Gus citizens even though they grow
up without a school education, than
20 have them grow up idle, thrift
/ less creatures, without practical
knowledge, and many of them Grim
inals? For surely ian idle brain is
DEVILS workshop" be it in the
head Of man or boy, woman or
girl.
There are many thrifty farmers
in Texas who are amply able TO
send their children to school, even
though they have to pay their board
| In town, but they do not do it, sim
ply because they need bands on the
farm. The law is not being called
on to regulate the education OF this
class of children. You well-to-do
people who look down upon
this from your lofty standpoint, and
| think how far these children are re-
moved from your own loved chll-
dren, little dream of the result of
this. When you legislste these
/ children out of the shops and fac
toriss you force them into the
/ streets, where thev become idle,
profane, immoral and altogether
worthless. Still, these same idle
bad boys have more or less influ-
ence. They are now in a position
to come in contact with and contain
mate children who have had ad-
vantages.
! have known mothers who were
good, sweet, sympathetic women to
curse these unfortunate idle boys,
who could not go TO school and had
nothing to do but breed mischief
and discomfort in the minds of the
more fortunate. On the other hand,
some of our most successful men
will tell you that they were thrown
upon their own resources when they
were mere children, and unless
these working children be put In
school under the discipline Of some
good and judiciOus person, let us
ali with sweet accord say, "Lei
them stay In the factories and
shops" Before depriving them OF
the one poor opportunity they now
have let us at least provide some
thing better for them. That is jus.
tice. MRS. EMMA III. JETTy,
' $50 San Jaeinto ct, Dallas, Texas