The Detroit times., 1910-01-26
Parental ignorance.

Parental ignorance.
Unfortunately this deplorable trag-
edy is only typical of many that are
happening daily within this over
grown city OF ours. Any physician
predicting in a poor neighborhood
could out OF his experience fill a page
of this Journal in an hour with similar
stories OF narrowing import. The sac
rifice OF inarticulato child life due TO
absence of the elementary instincts OF
motherhood from the mind OF the ig-
norant parent is appalling, and in
spite of the general decrease in in.
FAINT mortality, this particular phase of
child slaughter does not diminish in
volume: what is booming less is the
number II fatalities due TO accident
end extraneOus cases such as ove"-
laying by drunken parents. After
nearly 40 years Of system of ele-
mentary education that was TO redeem
the people from a presumed ignorance
OF letters and the desirable elements
of knowledge that literature conveys.
we have 10 confess that the ignorance
OF the London poor OF the common
place and iutuitive facts Of everyday
life and rule and conduct Is deeper
than that OF any savage race, so called.
There is no people OF which we have
any record against which We can levQ
such a reproach AK that which We
have to lay at the doors OF the poor 0f
London. Even the most despisei
creatures OF the lower order Of animals
have an !nstinct that enables them 10
feed their offspring correctly and to
protect lhem from the accidents ot
weather and climate, but there Is 10
such instinct I'm the. minds OF the
lowest stratum OF the human popula-
ton. and, what is worse, no desire to
acquire knowledge of such elementary
facts.
Go to any children's hospital, any
nursing home, any dispensary, in the
poor districts Of London, and the
rarade OF the victims OF child TRACE
dies OF the most heart-piercing kind
will visit you at every turn. To view
the puny. wiZened faces. the attenuat-
ed and often distorted limbs. and the
dazed and idiotic counteHances OF the
numberless infants sacrificed TO the
ignorance and The criminal reckless
ness OF mothers who are worse than
the beasts in their ignorance, Is an eX-
perience that can be bought by the
exercise Of a very little trouble and
comparatively limited Journey through
the slums. The contemplation OF II is
enough to induce doubt in the wis
dom OF providence Itself, and will seem
10 be a mockery % the command OF
the Nazarene TO Suffer little children
to come unto Me" Why should these
unfortunates be allowed to come into
the world to be tortured by sleeping
draughts Of gin and paragoric by cal
lous crones 10 whom they are connded
by Woodworking mothers compelled
10 leave their homes all day; why
should they be given into the careless
hands Of other mothers to be fed vita
ANYTHING but their natural food
trundled about IN the streets by older
and careless brothers and sisters, ex-
nosed 10 all weathers without cover
ing and without the most ordinary
sanitary provision? Any one know
inc these things. and knowing the un-
told suffering inflicted on the children
os the London poor, may be forgiven
for rejoicing to be told that the surfer
ings OF one OF them has ended In
merciful deliverance from further trib-
ulation.
The Economic Remedy
What is the remedy? 1t is difficult
to say Education, in the sense that
has been practiced, ia useless. II
teaches nothing but what Is OF least
assistance In the elementary art OF
making the best OF ones opportunities
and ones means. Something may be
done by teaching every girl the most
necessary things that appertain to the
care OF Infants; but this ought to have
been taught by the girls mother; that
II has not been so taught Is one con.
sequence of the modern system Of
education, which not merely teaches
the wrong things but destroys the
ohild's opportunity Of acquiring home
truths at the mothers knee-and there
ought to be no better source OF the