, 1904-06-28
SUFFER THE LITTLE CHILDREN.
Grafton Prepared by Dorothy Reed, 3.
A., University Of Wyoming, 'o4,

men VI tHe lutuTe Will tulH grateful
eyes; eyes chat will for a moment lose
their sordid glitter n grow tender as
they gaze at this cycle of years. What
a heritage she has left to her chill
dren! How she has pampered and hui
mored these beloved offspring! They
grow tired of their old vehicles, so
Mother Century created new toys for
them, and called them a bicycle and
an automobile. She entertained them
by taking them out to sail and show
ing hem a simple devise by which
they could 60 miles apart and still
communicate with each other across
the waters. They dug in the earth
metals with wonderful powers of heat
and light. They went out into the
world and she met them everywhere
with new inventions, new discoveries.
each of which made material exist
ence the easier. Thus as the years
passed this benificent mother ever
iio III le" piNoSlLSo VII Hlel, anu
taught them to make vast strides in
science, in commerce in art, in indus
try.
Yet the mother was not satisfied.
Sadness lurked in her heart. Each
new gift intensified her grief. Her
life was Swallowed by a cloud which
tho inv nf uiIrtny Gnap,nl ,nnl1l IN
drive away. About her was suffering
and misery that clouded her happiest
moments in gloom. How powerless
she felt herself to alleviate this pain.
What gifts could she bestow that
would compensate for the suffering of
her children? Daily she saw men, wo-
men and children whose lives were a
curse to themselves and a constant
grief to those about them. and this
through physical disabilities that
seemed without cure. But compassion
alone is fruitless, and unless accom-
panied by actual efforts to remove the
cause of distress. is a negative com
fort. The nineteenth century with a
full realization of this truth attacked
the problem. placed before itself the
greatest of all physical problems, that
of assuaging in direct and tangible
ways the bodily suffering of mankind.
Nor were these efforts in vain.
Consider for a moment the history
of the last hundred years in medicine
and in surgery. What patience, what
determination, what persistence. what
an infinite brotherly love is recorded
on these pages. But do we see only
abstract qualities? No; a hundred
times, no! The determination. the
brotherly love, are supplemented by
material achievements whose value is
so great n fa%r-reaching it may al
most be called infinite Can any esti.
mate be made of the lives saved and
the suffering avoided by the method of
aseptic surgery, that method which is
now used and advocated by all sur.
geons. physicians and nurses and ex-
tolled by the laity? No calculation of
the benefits of a%ntitocsin in cases of
diphtheria, lock-jaw and venom pois.
oning is possible? And these are only
two of a host of achievements. all of
which clamor for recognition of their
Importance and thrust out great rolls
of parchment bearing long lists of the
names of men Of all classes and ma.
tions who are witnesses of their won.
derful power.
One triumph of surgery holds out
merely a tiny slip of paper, on which
is written but one m STOPPING to
see who this Ion advocate may be, We
read these two words, THE Child
How simple a testimony. yet how elo.
quent. how fraught with meaning it is.
For what man, for what feat of surg.
cry a it have been made? we ask.
The reply m in a chorus of child.
ish voices: For the great Vienesl
surgeon. for the straightener of chill
dren. for Adolph Lorenz." To the mar.
Vicious work of This man the world
owes a debt which neither money nor
gratitude is adequate to pay. BY his
tlreless efforts thousands of little chill.
dren have been restored from defor.
nifty n ~wretchedless to health and
useful lives. He has, by reason of
years of patient study ana experiment,
attained the goal of surgical ambition
"a method of bloodless surgery With
his very soul absorbed in one particu-
lar branch of his profession, it is not
strange that this great new discovery
of his should occur along that line, and
we are not surprised to find thai this
triumph of skill has been placed by
its author to the credit of that branch
of surgery known as o%rthopedics.
which relates to the cure of deformi.
ties in children.
To the child with a club foot, with
a limb contracted by paralysis, or in
ILLUMINATION, DR.. Lorenz has proved him
self a benefactor of in%conceivable
worth: but to one class of tiny suffer
ers he may almost be called a savior.
Few of us realize what an immense
percentage of children are afflicted
from birth with d%islocation of the hip;
or if we do realize the percentage, we
fail to comprehend the wrechedness
entailed by this affection. To the child
1t means a life wholly LACKING in that