The St. Mary banner., 1907-11-09
CHILD SUICIDES
FOREIGN PARENTAGE IN
THIS COUNTRY,

and Its Prevention-JeaIou is j
Frequent Reason.
The other day a boy of sixteen. one
Hugo Loeb, killed himself here in
New York A suicide like that IS
rather startling. Men and women
commit suicide. some thousands OF
them every year. but that child
and a boy of sixteen is a child-can
be sad enough or bad enough or mad
enough to want to die and to take
! steps to die is disquieting. Yet in
one country, France, this has hap
pened frequently enough to cause a
member Of the Paris bar. NJ. Louis
Proal, to write book about it. lie
calls child suicide one OF the menaces
! of France and gives serious discus
sion to its causes and its prevention.
According to the statistics, out OF the
the SIG suicides in France in 1902,
| fifty-nine were of children under six
teen years of age. In other years the
proportion has been about the same.
the number of child suicides increas-
ing is the total number increased. In
1884 France had only twenty child
suicides. but then there were only
1852 in all. NJ Proal points out that
these figures do not give all the youth
full deaths from suicide. because not
all of them become known.
America has a better record. While
France and parts of Germany and
Switzerland and Spain have enough
child suicides to give them cause for
worry, the census of the United States
says that the evil is not very prevail
ent here. Coroner Hamburger, of New
York City, told a Tribune reporter
that during his experience as coroner
not more than two or three cases
of child suicide had come before him,
and in those cases the children were
of foreign birth. mo native born
American child he said The
American temperament has more bal
ance, perhaps. Life in this country,
too, is different from life in Paris.
for example"
Put the causes NJ. Proal names rs
among those of child suicide might
and do exist in this country. The
causes are generally emotional. he
says, and jealousy is the chief one.
FL points out the evil of favoritlsm
on the part of parents and guardians:
"The child wishes to be loved as
his brothers and sisters are, because
he has the same right to parental at
fection as they have. All IN
justice, particularly that which pro-
cee1s from parents. puts him into re-
belion, exasperates and discourages
him."
Suicides are more frequent among
city than among country children. NJ
PrCal says City children live under
a g;eater strain. they have less chance
fo- healthful play, they are more ia
miliarized with acts of violence, and
as a rule they are under more pres
sure at school. NJ. Proal points out
the wrong and the foolishness OF rig
orous examinations. some of which
are enough to make a healthy child
nervous and nervous child wreck.
Disputes among parents are another
cause of child suicide. and poverty
is another But disgust with life in
old or young is almost always the
sign of a sickly temperament, NJ.
Proal says. and if a child has been
so unfortunate as to inherit such a
temperament, the parents should try
to make the child healthy. and only
good food and exercise and quiet ami
plenty of sleep will do that.
IN. Proars book has message for
u.s." remarked a New York woman
who has been an educator for many
wears. There are few child suicides
in the United States, for ours is not
the Gallo temperament. but these vs.
plenty of child unhappiness. The un-
happiness of child is tragic, the
more so because the common delu-
sion is that childhood means happl-
ness. Children can suffer, but they
can seldom explain their suffering.
They are so inarticulate, as Stephen
Crane pointed out in one OF his shor.
stories about a small boy who was
silently and helplessly writhing under
some injustice on the part of parents
Or teachers.
"A childs sorrow may not last long.
but it may be bitter while it lasts.
think it was George Eliot who said
that a child's grief may be worse than
a grown persons while it endures, be-
cause the child has no background
IF experience, he cannot look back
and say: Other troubles have pass
ed and this will pass
Few people comprehend what mis-
cry sensitive child may suffer from
quarrel between its parents. me
whole foundations of its world are