Milford chronicle., 1906-09-14

from DlItu. Dut tuVuSA hAS- A0N Va
heredity is inexorable, and though our
poorhouses and hospitals are crowded
with a lot of miserable creatures who
are dragging out a suffering. an APP
palling existence because they were
not the offspring Of healthy parents,
and though thousands of men and wo-
men who are not inmates of public in
stitutions of charity are social para
sites or dependents upon others for
support through the same dire causes,
vet the strange fact remains that re-
spectacle and refined society forbids
its teachers to discuss these vital Ques-
tions in public lest such a discussion
should offend delicate and sensitive
ears.
Is the offending of DELICATE ears to
stand in the way of the Untold agonies
that are cursing childhood because
men and women are allowed TO marry
who have no business to marry? Are
the wards of our public institutions to
be boycotted by all intelligent men and
women because they do not wish to
see suffering in its most repulsive
forms? Shall we refuse to look at lit
tie children, born with curvature Of
the spine and with diseased blood and
with crooked limbs who. with swollen
lips and distorted and malfOrmed fea-
lures, are looking at 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 / attended a
church wedding where the bride hob
blsd up the aisle on cane. She had
an abscess on one limb and was af-
fiicted with tuberculosis besides. She
had been an invalid from birth. Her
mother had died of consumption only
a few months after the girl was born.
And yet the minister Of that church
ended his service with the solemn
words, "WhOm God hath Joined to-
gether let not man put asunder." Are
we to suppose that God meant such a
woman as that to marry and perpet-
uate misery and suffering in the world?
How to Step II.
"Well," some one says, "how can
you stop men and women who are
physical incompetents from marry
ingP By doing what every intelligent
physician in the world is advocating
by making it obligatory upon every
man and woman to pass a proper
physical examination before they can
get from the county a license to marry.
In old Sparta it used to be the custom
for the attendants to kill at birth chill
dren that were born cripples or weak
lings. We cannot do that Such a
custom would be abhOrFent to our feel
ings. But we can do better We can
prevent feeble children from being
born of physically Incompetent par
ents by refusing to let physically un-
sound men and women marry at all.
Water cannot rise higher than its
source A strong branch cannot grow
from a wlthered trunk. Neither can q
physically and mentally healthy child
descend from unhealthy parents.
The frst reformation of our social
evils should be pathological. 1t should
be a sweeping diagnosis and should
start with a sound physical marriage
altar. It should extend our lmmigra-
tIOn laws-namely, the laws which al
low little children to come into the
world among ourselves rather than
the immigration laws which prevent
Ieprous children and their parents to
come from other lands into Surs. Pre-
natal causes may be just as far reach
ing in their social results as postnatal.
A child must be born well in order to
live physically well.
Marital laws having made It possible
for the coming generations to be born
well, 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? l am alluding 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 neighbor's children from
the socialistic standpoint are just as
important as those = at 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 our large cities?
Mr.. SpurgeOn 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. SpurgeOn, suppose
there was an orphanage and there was
a lot Of little boys there. And suppose
all those little boys had lost their IA
thers. 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