Peninsula enterprise. [volume] (Accomac, Va.) 1881-1965, 1906-09-15


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
sec suffering in It's most repulsive
forms2 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-shau we refuse merely be-
cause these little sufferers have In
herlted the physical weaknesses Of
their parents2 What right had the
parents Of these suffering children to
marry? Some time ago I attended
church wedding where the bride hob
bled up the aisle on cane. She had
an abscess on one limb and was af-
fllcted 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 Stop II.
"well." some one says, 'fhow can
you stop men and women who are
physical incompotents from marry
ingT By doing what eysry intelligent
physician In the world Is ADVOCATING
by making 1t obligatory upon every
man and woman to pass a proper
physical examination before they can
get from the county license to marry.
In old Sparta It used to be the custom
for the attendants to kill at birth chill
dren that were born crlpples or weak
lings. We cannot do that. Such
custom would be abhorrent 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 IN
sound men and women marry at ALI
Water cannot rise higher than its
source. A strong branch cannot grow
from a withered trunk. Neither can
physically and mentally healthy child
descend from unhealthy parents.
The first reformation Of our social
evils should be pathological. It should
be sweeping diagnosis and should
start with a sound physical marriage
altar. It should extend our immigra-
ton laws-namely, the laws which al
low Iitle 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.
4 child must be born well in order to
live physically we'll
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 tho physical and NOR
al development Of QUIZ children after
they are borD2 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 that 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
lot OF little boys there. And suppose
all those little boys had lost their fa-
theirs. And suppose once 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 so elo'
quently should have put his hand In his
pocket and drawn out sixpence and
given it to the lad who had no father
mo mother. no aunt, no uncle. no pen
MES, no apples and no anything?
Well, as that orphan child pleaded
with Charles H. Spurgeon I want the
average street arab to plead with
you. In the first place, I want him to
{ IKE you by the hand and lead you to
his home. Where is it? I cannot de
scribe dts loathsomeness and horror dn
one page, or twenty pages, or hfty
pages. II you want description ot
some of the homes Of the poor, go and
read the books Of Jacob Riis entitled
"How the Other Half Lives" "The
Battle,Wlth the Sums" "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 "The People Of the
Abyss" The simple fact Is truth Is
stranger than fiction" No tragedy
ever written by playwright genius car
half depict the horrors which have
been described by the pens of Jacot
Riis and William Booth. These mer