Virginia citizen. (Irvington, Va.) 1891-1921, 1906-09-14

II
herited the physical weaknesses o
their parents? What right had tn
parents OF these suffering children I,
marry? Some time ago I attended
| church wedding where the bride hob
bled up the aisle on a cane. She ha,
an abscess on one limb and was of
ficted with tuberculosis besides. Sh
had been an invalid from birth. He
mother had died of consumption onl,
few months after the girl was born
And yet the minister OF that churcl
ended his service with the solem,
words, Whom God hath Joined to
gether let not man put asunder.". Ar,
we to suppose that God meant such ,
woman as that to marry and perpet
uate misery and suffering In the world
Now Do Step IL.
well" some one says, chow car
you stop men and women who ar,
physical ineompetents FROM marry
tngf' by Doing what every intsllieent
physician In the world IS advocating
by rnAkiae NJ obligatory upon every
manEsand gwonaan TO- pass a, prope,
physical examination before they car
act from the county a license to marry
In old Sparta it used to be the custom
Sfor the attendants to- KIN at birth chill
dren that were born cripples or weak
Hngs. We cannot do that. Such 0
custom would be abhorrent to our feel
ings. But we can do better. We car
prevent feeble. children from being
born of physically incompetent par
ents by refusing to let physically IN
sound men and women marry at oil
Water cannot rise higher than its
source. A strong branch cannot grow
from withered trunk Neither can a
physically and mentally healthy child
descend from unhealthy parents.
The first reformation OF our socia,
evils should be pathological. 1t should
be sweeping diagnosis and should
start with n sound physical marriage
altar. 1t should extend our immiyra
ton iaws-namely. the laws which nj.
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 ours. Pre-.
natal causes may be just as far reach
ing In their social results as postnatal
child must be born well in order To
live physically well.
Marital laws having made 1t possible
Tor 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 born7 ] am abiding to all the
boys and girls who are born in the
Sums and In the congested Quarters
or our large cities. The problems that
confront my neighbours children from
the socialistic standpoint are lust ms
important as those that confront nv
own.
l. tis 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
tnis anecdote: He was one day visiting
his orphan home. While there a little
boy came up and sat down beside
him and said: mfr. Spurgeon. suppose
there was an orphanage and there was
lot OF little boys there. And suppose
all those little boys had lost their fa.
tners- And suppose once q month their
mothers came and their auuts and
brought them pennies aud apples and
oranges and nice things. And suppose
there was 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 sIxpencey
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 clio.
quently should have put his hand In his
pocket and drawn out q sixpence and
given IL to the lad who had no father.
no mother. no aunt, no uncle. no pen.
uies. no apples and no anything?
Well, as that orphan child pleaded
with Charles III. Spurgeon want the
average street arab to plead with
ycus in the first place. want him to
take you by the haad and lead you to
bis home, Where is it1' cannot de-
scribe its loathsomcness and horror Ia
one page. or twenty pages, or CITY
pages. IL you want d description OF
some OF the homes OF the poor. go and
read the books OF Jacob RIis entitled
How the Other Halt Lives" "The
Battle With the Sums" "The Peril and
the Preservation OF the Home" Read
General william Booths ssIn 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 fction.. No tragedy
ever written by playwright genius can
half depict the horrors which have
been described by the pens of Jacob
Kills and William Booth. These men
are not imaginative writers. They
simply describe the filthy novels which |
tney nave visited and the malodors and |
repulsions amid which they saw chill. |
dren and men and women herded
Supposing your children were horn
amid such places OF filth and dark
aess' says the street arab to US as the
little orphaned boy spoke to Charles
II. Spurgeon. would you not give him
better home II you could? Well. that
helpless child. born In filth and power.
~. Is me. szYes. that child Is me.r
The Practical Q.estio..
now come the practical questions:
are we as Intelligent Americans going
70 care for our neighbors' children
porn IN filth and dirt? Are we going
10 give them public parks and publlc
Fairgrounds and free bathing places
ana rrse docks where the poor can get
! breath Of the sea air in the hot sum.
mer months? Are we going to furnish
mem model tenement houses, properly |
ventilated aud lighted and with healthy
sanitary plumbing? These are vital
luestions' which the American people