The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1907-05-07
7HE CHILDREN OF
THE UNITED STATES
Things That Are Being Done
For Future Citizens
WORK OF JUVENILE COURT
No More Is Child Bound BY the Old
Adaee "chldren Should Be
Seen and Not
Heard"
WORK OF JUVENILE COURT
BY FREDERIC ]. HAskIN.


flung battle line, its natural resources and
its endless whir of factory wheels. 1t
lies in the little children who will some
day be the controllers of its destinies. 1t
is only the last quarter century that has
brought to the United States a practical
realization of the fact that the children
must be looked after and trained to be-
come good citizens. The law in general
recognizes certain definite civil rights for
each child. 1t is entitled to be clothed,
fed, lodged and educated until it is able
to take care of Itself.
The enlightened people of the nation are
going hand in hand with their municipal
and state governments in an effort to see
that all children have the advantages that
will elevate them physically, mentally and
morally. In the larger cities the hospitals
are especially equipped for the care of
mothers and their newborn babies; pub
lie dispensaries and public milk stations
offer medicines and proper foods for those
unable to pay for them; visiting nurses
go to the homes of those who can not be
sent to hospitals. From the beginning of
its life every advantage is offered little
child for its healthful living, and when
the ignorant parents made to appre-
ciate this, the battle for health will be
half won When the child is older and
starts to kindergarten or school, some
cities even arrange to give him breakfast
when none has been given him at home.
His educational welfare was thought
upon before his physical and moral being
was considered, but now that element has
become only one of the trinity of great
forces working for his good Nearly fifty
years ago the kindergarten had become a
factor in New England education in order
TO make the inevitable three RS" more
attractive for the little pilgrims on the
road to learning. Later free kindergar-
tens with day nurseries came as a god
send to the working woman, and as a
means of early salvation for the children.
San Francisco early had kindergartens for
her poor, and 1t is a matter of recod that
no name from the kindergarten rolls has
ever found its way to- the records of the
criminal courts.
The fact that education may have no
attractions for some of the children of
the country matters little to many states.
The schools are made as attractive as
possible education is really sugar-coated
Tor those who fancy 1t bitter pill, and
then when it is refused the law arises and
makes it compulsory. Truant officers and
truant schools in many places provide for
the chronically rebellous, and through
this means all children eventually will be
reached The school houses of today are
most attractive; the best books, often
free are offered the pupils; a wonder
world is opened through nature studies;
helpless hands are trained for useful life
in industrial schools and manual training
shops; manliness and patriotism are a
part of the daily curriculum, and even
the physical well being is made charge
of the commonwealth.
The quaint sampler, carefully stitched
by patient little fingers of long ago, and
hung on the parlor walls as a tribute to
a little maiden's good training in domestic
SCHOOLS, where real things have real val
ues The girl of today sits In college with
men and thinks on problems that femi-
nine minds should not know years ago.
The little boy of the big hoop and the red
apple who smiled smugly from the stiff
portraits of long ago, has broken away
from his sedate tutor, and among thou
sands of his own age and ambitions is
learning democracy and independence
first-hand in public institutions that will
fit him for self-sustaining existence.
The old aphorism that children should
be seen and not heard" doubtless caused
much anguish to little inquiring minds in
its day, but that, too, is a thing of the
! long ago. Children are both seen and
heard today They have come into their
own with startling promptness. They
have voice in their own affairs nowadays
having clubs and organizations of their
own. The Children of the American Rev.
olution five thousand strong, are impor-
tant factors in the preservation of history
and in the fostering of patriotism. The
Hawthorne club of Boston, with about
1000 members all under H. makes it's own
laws for its great playground, and even
eXacts certain home conditions of its
| members. The Chicago Newsboys' Pro-
tective association is notable factor in
civic Improvement Only a few weeks ago
several thousand children in New York
! sat for over three hours hearing talks on
| universal peace and took steps to form a
| league of their own for that purpose.
twenty-five years ago the Boys club
! was formed in New York, and was the
| first of its kind in the world They met
| first in a whitewashed tenement with a
| few college men to direct them in their
/ games and their studies. Today it's men,
bership is 5000, and it is self-governing
\ still. On the heels of this have come
other clubs, clubs for the children of the
! poor. and of the rich for the American
| and for the foreigner who wishes to be-
come a future citizen for the bootblaclS
| and the newsboy, and the influence has
/ Always Deen Iouuu Bo0u ana neiplul.
7
A preacher in a big city complained
some years ago to the police that children
\ playing in the streets disturbed his con-
| gregation when at prayer, and asked
| that the nuisance be abated The curt
| reply from the police captain was: ''They
have no other place to play; better pray
for sense to help them get one" This
| minister then went down in the slums and
| prayed and prayed and sang with the
! children in the streets, and the public
awoke to the fact that children must
play. They turned school house base
ments and roofs into Fairgrounds; they
made gardens for the children on vacant
lots; they made room for them on the
piers. and set aside special parts of the
parks for them.
Thirty years ago big hearted pastor In
Pennsylvania village told his flock O.
the wan. oldfaced children of the sluml
who had never seen grass, or flowers o.
trees. and when he had finished Their,
were sturdy farmers waiting, wet-eyed
| to offer their homes for summer outings
In a week the first fresh air party IL
| America went out to the farms undo
| the minister's care. That band of min
wistful children has grown into an arm!
many thousand strong that fresh al
| funds aid societies, Improvement leagues
Kings Daughters newspapers and pri
| waite charities are sending every summe
| into the woods and fields beyond the hea
and glare and smell of the big cities.
If parent neglects his child the dut
| of it's support devolves on society, an
| provision for its care must be made som
| way. 1t was a long while before thi
| ooupfrx found Soma oond uaV. and to