The Pensacola journal. (Pensacola, Fla.) 1898-1985, 1908-10-20

yersing the law both of nature and of
scripture which says that the parent
should lay ND for the child and not
the child for the parent, many Of
whom would convict themselves OF
perjury if they told the truth"
These three essential qualities of
childhood make their appeal to US to-
day, its helplessness, its humility and
its promise. Jesus called little child
and with the stronger arm Of the
man, set him in the midst So to-
day, the child in the midst is help
less. The man may fight for better
wages when the wages grow too
small, for shorter hours when the
hours are too long. for all the con-
ditions of healtnfulness and safety
and comfort which tighten the bur-
den of labor The child has but to
submit. He is one under authority.
And therefore, whatever is done for
the child must be done by others
He can only make the appeal of his
own helplessnesS.
And as the child is helpless, so it
must be humble. What is done for
the child, the gift of an education,
for 1nstanee,-aby~ the state, provision
for its needs by individual or insti-
tuition, does not injure his character.
Pride and selfreliance are the vir-
tues of manhood. They are excellent
qualities to teach to children in pre-
paration for manhood. But the right
sort of man cannot accept even
from his parents, sometimes, the
gifts, the seIf-denying gifts that were
daily bestowed upon the child. What
is bestowed upon the child, given in
wisdom, will beget gratitude but need
not cultivate spirit of mendicancy as
is too often the case with gifts to
adulthOOd- Therefore we are free to
help the child.
! And then consider the promise of
childhood. Whose receiveth the child
receiVetn the Christ. There is no lit
tie child today upon whom there may
not be stamped the divine image. II
is familiar truth but it cannot be
thought of too often that all the
good and great men we have ever
Known, all tne gracious women, all
the poets and preachers and scholars
and teachers and orators and states
men, the men and women who have
made the world better by having
lived in it and lifted it nearer to God
and brought the kingdom nearer,
once had their bodies wrapped in
swadling clothes like other infants in
the cradle. And the converse is also
man. The children of today, infants
in arms are the great and good men
and the gracious women of the years
TO come. And on the other side of
tae shield, there is not a convicted
murderer today, facing the death that
has been awarded him at the hands
of his fellowmen who was not once
as innocent as any other little child.
There is not a Tdrunkard of the ditch
with body sOdden and mind diseased,
caught in the grip OF a bestial ap-
petite, there is not a woman of the
streets, who was not once Graded
in innocence. 1
For the child does not need the
stamblingbioa d feE its tfn fhgr f s6t,1 u
anxious care can give How diligent
We should be to receive the child.
How fearful we should be lest we Of
fend, lest we, through carelessness,
or ignorance, OF greed, or selfishness
of any kind, should cast tie stumbI-
inS-bloek in the path of childish
feet
Therefore it is incumbent upon us.
as individuals as a church, as a city.
as a state, as nation, to give every
child chance in life. We do not
know, we cannot-tell what the man
hood or the wOmanhood NAV be.
what learning and what skill, what
treasures of literature and art. of
brave deeds uncommitted, must there
be in the eyes of him who seeth the
possibilities of every life, unwritten.
unexpressed because the
children who might have glorified
with the gifts of their genius had
their promptings stified in childhood,
which, crushed then, could never be
revived.
And 1T has remained for our time.
IL mas remained for the century
which has marked the triumphant
progress of Christian missions in
heather lands. to have instituted
new kind of slavery, unknown to the
ancient world, although unknown to
Inc heather world today, child-slave-
~. The opologists for the system
oI child labor sometimes object to the
term, child-slavery. Let us define.
A slave is one who works for anoth-
er, with no choice whether he shall
Work or not, with no control over the
hours or wages or other conditions
't his labor, and with no right to the
rewards of his service. The child |
save is one who works for another, !
Win no cnoice whether he shall work |
'r not, since he is compelled to obey |
WIN 1lO SOulIOl over In6 +!
conditions of labor, for the child is !
lefpiess, vita no right to the rewards |
d his service, for they belong to his |
parents Willing or unwilling, bless |
hg or cursing their bonds, the little |
olIers IN our mills and mines and |
'weatshops, are slaves
mas remained for our age to /
consider the child in a new aspect. |
nat or an Industrial asset in the |
Iruggie Tor commercial supremacy,
u In the struggle for a livelihood.
mere mas grown up here in Ameri-
a, as there grew in England
aonster child labor system, number
ns It's helpless victims by the hun
reo thousands. And our statesmen
ave been discussing the tariff and
ne currency and the freight-rates.
Ind the Church of Christ, whose Mas
er ana Lord was the great friend of
ne children has only begun TO lift
IS voice IN protest against this hid
Gus curse And the evil is on the
Increase Checked in one state il
rows apace in another. AS Rob
re Hunter has truly said a child
aDor law is law without a friend.