Abilene weekly reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1888-1935, 1909-12-02

dron TAIL behind their grace ~ school,
when We 1ytrwqrk them 90 for our
pieasurei
the New Philanthropy seeks to 50
to the root Of these things. Its am
bition is to train the public to see
that they are the consumers Of the
goods produced under these abnor-
NAL conditions, and that every man,
woman and child Is party to the
wrongs done in the name Of "busi-
ness" We are the indirect employ
ers Of the children who. In the South
ern cotton-mills, work for us through
the long night. We employ the eight
yearold breaker boys when the an
thracite goes into our cellar. The
glass boys In the night-shift. nodding
and stumbling as they go back and
forth at their work, are kept from
their normal rest and chance to grow
by us who use the glassware. We
employ the babies in the tenements
as we twirl our dance programmes
in which the sleepy baby fingers
have tied the pencils. We have not
awakened to the fact that all these
problems are ours to face-and how
are we facing them :,
In all history there never was a
time when so much was done for the
unfortunate as during the nineteenth
century, and yet relatively little has
been accomplished In constructive
preventive work, because OF inertia
Of the educated. 1t is so hard to
convince people that they must bring
their brains to bear on the fact that
housing conditions have direct re-
Iatlon to disease and crime; that a
living wage for the worker shall
include a possibility for growth and
happiness; that a well-supervised
playground is as essential for young
persons as is a school; that breath
ingpIaces are as necessary as food
for all classes and ages Of people;
that home-making as science should
be required subject for girls in all
schools and colleges; that every girl
and every boy should be provided
with some sort Of vocational training
to raise them above the degrading
level Of inefficiency; that a child
labor law is useless unless the COM
pulsory education law is enforced
and factory work in homes is stop
ped; that all schoOl-children have al
right to a healthy body; that the
state has not fulfilled its function
unless the public school buildings
are centers Of inspiration and train
ing in citizenship for parents and
grandparents as well as children.
The Lydia Languishes are to be
allowed to languish no longer, II the
New Philanthropists have their way.
The time is not far distant when
every young woman in our normal
schools shall be taught that It may
be considered modest for her to know
the mysteries Of the human body and
the terrible consequences Of the mis-
use of its normal functions. The
must ultimately be the
agency in dealing with the
prevalent immortality among children.
She will receive instruction that 1t is
mart of her duty to know that the
children under her care see and hear
well; that they have not only clean
hands, clean and useful teeth, are
free from adenoids and enlarged tom
sils, but they are clean-minded, II
Is a sad commentary on most OF our
normal schools that they graduate
many teachers who are blind to vital
,acts about children which responsible
social workers vouch for with heavy
hearts.
The hardest task, then, to which
he New PhiIanthropist addresses
himself is the problem Of educating
he educated.
The home-maker Is the key TO the
II she does her share in
surrounding herself With an atmos-
there Of intelligence, we will excuse
,ome OF the things she does in these
laws when so many Of the old oc-
have been taken from her,
II the mother is a true mother
an she escape the full measure OF her
responsibility to the outside woridE
can the home-maker refuse to PRO
.ect her household from the thous-
md and one sources Of moral and
,hysical infection wSich follow IN
he wake Of modern tndifferenceE =
/ not her duty to know BY personal
that the grocery which