Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1906-09-13

should offend delicate npd sensitive
ears.
IL tho offending OF delicate ears to
stand In tho way Of the untold Rgonles
that are cursing childhood because
men and women are allowed to marry
who have no business to marry? Arc
the wards OF our public institutions to
be b~oycotted by all intelligent men and
women because they do not wish to
see suffering In Its most repulslve
forms? Shall we refuse TO look Mt lit.
tie children, born with curvature Of
the spine and with diseased blood md
with crooked limbs, who, with swollen
lips and distorted and malformed fca-
lures, are looking ut us from hundreds
Of cots-shall we refuse merely be-
cause these little sufferers have in
herited the physical weaknesses OF
their parents? What right had the
parents of these suffering children to
marry? Some time ago I attended "a
church wedding where the bride hob.
bled up the aisle III n cane. She had
an abscess on one limb and was af.
ficted with tuberculosis besides. She
had been an invalid from birth. Her
mother had died Of consumption only
n few months after the girl wa born.
And yet the minister of that church
ended his service with the solemn
words, Whom God hath Joined to-
getler let not man put asunder." Are
we to suppose that God meant such q
woman as that to marry and perpet-
uate misery and suffering in the world ?
How to stop II.
well" some one says. how can
you stop men and women who are
physical incompetents from marry
ing?" BY doing what every intelligent
physician In the world Is advocating
by making it obligatory upon every
man II woman to pass n proper
physical examination before they can
get from the county n license 10 marry.
In old Sparta 1t used to be the custom
for the attendants to kill at BIRTH chill.
dren that were born cripplcs or wcak-
lings. We annot do that. Such a
custom would be abhorrent to our feel
lngs. But we can do better. We car
prevent feeble children from being
born of physically Incompetent par
ents by refusing to let physically I'M
sound men and women marry ut all.
Water cannot rise higher than its
from Il wlthered trunk. Neither can a
physically and mentally healthy child
descend from unhealthy parents.
The first reformation of our social
evils should he pathological. 1t should
be a sweeping diagnosis and should
start with n sound physical marriage
altar. 1t should extend our immigra-
ton !a~ws-namely, the laws which al
low little children to come INTO the
world among ourselves rather than
the immigration laws which prevent
leprous children and their parents to
come from other lands into ours. Pre-
natal causes may be just as far reach.
ing in their social results as ~postnatal.
A child must he born we'll in order 10
live physically well.
Marital laws having made it possible
for the coming generations to be born
we'll. the next question is almost as
important as the first. What are we
going to do with the physical and NOR
al development Of our children after
they are born? I am abiding to all the
boys and girls who are born in the
slums and in the congested quarters
Of our large cities. The problems that
confront my neighbours children from
the socialistic standpoint are Just as
important as those hat confront my
own.
The street Arab.
Did you ever try to put yourself in
the place Of the street arab who is
running wild in one Of Jul large cities ?
MIR. Sturgeon in one of his books told
this anecdote: He was one day visiting
his orphan home. While there a little
boy came up and sat down beside
him and said: Mr.. Sturgeon, suppose
there was an orphanage and there was
a lot Of little boys there. And suppose
all those little boys had lost their IA
Tiers. And suppose once a month their
mothers came and their aunts and
brought them pennies and apples and
oranges and nice things. And suppose
there was a little boy that had no
mother or aunt or anybody to come
and see him. Don't you think some
body ought to give him sixpence?
Cause. Mr.. Spurgeon, that's me-"
Do you wonder that the great Lon
don preacher when he heard that little
orphan child pleading his cause 30 elo.
quently should have put his hand In his
pocket and drawn out q siXpence and
given 1t to the lad who had nc father,
no mother. no aunt, no uncle. no pen.
MES. no apples and no anything?
Well, as that orphan child pleaded
with Charles II. Spurgeon I want the
average street arab to plead With
you. In the first place. l want him to
take you by the hand and lead You to
his home. Where is It? l cannot de.
scribe its loathsomeness and horror in
one page, or twenty pages. or fifty
pages. If you want n description of
some of the homes Of the poor. go and
read the books of Jacob Riis entitled
How the Other Half LIVES" "The
Battle With the Slums," THE Peril and
the Preservation of the Home" Read
General William Booths I'm Darkest
England and the Way Out" Read
Robert Hunters Poverty. Read
Jack London's 1.-THE People of the