The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1912-05-15

by giving him an educated mother, land
she will see that he is started in the
right direction, and this means more
than can be realized. For the habits
of babyhood often lasts thro' life. The
abnormal craving for strong drink, or
the habit of using morphine or opium
can, in many cases, be traced back TO
the ignorant use of soothing-syrups
and other equally harmful drugs by
the ignorant mother or nurse in chill
hood days. Our great physicians tell
us that this is true. And it is thro
their experiments and discoveries that
We are able to take precautions aginst
these evils, and save our loved ones
from suffering.
They have given us the great bless
ing of surgery, and have eliminated
the consciousness of its horrors by
the administration of anaesthesla.
They tell us the great value OF fresh
air for making the body strong and its
resistance of disease great-and of its
great value in the cure of tubercu-
losis and other diseases. And again,
in the medical world are ~altruistic
spirits sacrificing their lives, giving OF
their time and knowledge freely, in
order that men in other walks OF life
may profit by what they have learned,
and avoid the evils that the body falls
heir TO. They tell us what great sac
rifce of health and life each year IS
made al the altar of insanitation, and
tell us how to prevent it. And there is
no reason why every n may not
have a sanitary home, and rear a
healthy family. There are thousands OF
books written that tell us how. There
are articles in every issue of our mag
aziness that tell us how.And the daily
papers are full of the ways and means
by which we may all be healthy and
happy.
It is the u%neducated class that are
deaf to the cry of warning from our
great reformers. They do not know
and cannot understand why they
| should observe the laws of sanitation,
and seek to evade them when they San,
by c%oncealing the existence Of conta-
gious diseases, when t.!ey have them
in their homes. And resent beng
uuarantined when they are discovered.
They do not believe that thu conta-
gious and infectious diseases pecu-
liar to children should be dreaded.
They do not believe that their babies
die because of infected milk and i'm
pure food, and refuse to use proper
precautions when they are told. Nor
do they consider the common drink
ing cup an evil.And in their ignorance
they help to scatter disease, and en-
danger the lives of others by thei1
carelessness and insanitary habits Of
living. And it is this class OF unedu-
Gated pool that are as a milestone
around the neck Of our government.
to retard progress, and drag down, In
stead of helping onward and upward
From this class come anarchists and
nihilists. They kill our presidents, land
other good men, because they want
might to be right-and because they
are poor, and hope by foul means to
gain what they are too worthless tic
use fair means to procure. From this
class come those who burn our build"
incs and destroy wealth, because they
hate the man who succeeds. AND this
form of destruction is a danger to
the very life of our government.
And thus the ignorant individual is
d menace to all with whom he comes
in contact day by day. Sometimes IN
one way, sometimes in another. often
in his idleness the ignorant husband
forces the responsibility OF supplying
the daily bread and other necessities
OF the family upon the wife. AS chill
dren are born, and the needs OF the
family increase, each little one, as
soon as he is old enough TO use d
broom or thread a needle, must fall in
to line and shoulder his part OF the
responsibility of the support OF the
family. He never knows anything saw
the daily grind OF the mill, or some
other form of labor. 1t is impossible
under the circumstances, for him OF
any of the other children to stop worn
to 20 to school. They grow premature
" old without having had Il chance t.
develop in a normal way. Their minds
are narrowed to the only horizon
they have, the four dingy walls oil
their dirty homes. Their bodies are
dwarfed from lack of no%urishing food
and exercise and fresh air, and often
waste away from disease that prey up
ON the weak OF the race. Their moarls
arc contaminated by the corruptatmos-
phere that they breathe. They acquire
the habits of their elders that have
been handed down from time m
memorial. The inqiuity of father to
son-and so on, over and over. zen
Grafton after generation multlplies
the number Of homes of this
class And the increase Year by year