Forest City press. (Forest City, Potter County, D.T. [S.D.]) 1883-19??, 1914-01-30
G OF CHILDREN
Mary Mortimer Maxwell Tells in London Chronicle How
Hungary Cares for "Forsaken 0nes-Humanity
Nations First Concern.
BY MARY MORTIMER X

BY MARY MORTIMER MAXWELL
A baby lay in a little white box-bed.
Its blue eyes lighted with n OF those
wonderfully beautiful smiles which
sometimes take us by surprise in an
infant so very young, for this one was
but 2 months old. 1t smiled and smiled
and smiled. it seemed, for the very
joy of having been born, and it's tiny
fingers clasped and unclasped them
selves over little drops of water that
trickled down upon them. What a jolly
game was this-these little spatters
and the baby couldn't seem to catch
a single one of them as it fell.
A g:rl of II or IS leaned over the
baby in the white box-bed. The baby
was pretty, but the girl was not. The
baby was fair. and the girl was dark.
girl wore coarse pink. She was an
ordinary looking little Hungarian peas
ant girl, and mother to the baby. The
drops of water that fell upon the
baby's hands, that mad such a game
for the bay to play. We're tears wall
ing from her eyes. What a sight-the
baby so brimming over with jollity.
the mother so full of sorrow, that
while she wept above the baby, her
lips were moaning n her shoulders
shaking.
1 could not speak to the girl in her
native Hungarian tongue. so l k
her through an interpreter why h
was so unhappy with such a wonderful
baby for son n for companion, and
the interpreter answered.:
S h says h has no milk and can
not suckle the baby, so they won't
take her to the colony with it. She'll
have to let it go without her."
The State and the Child,
1t was at the Budapest State asy-
lum for forsaken children that I saw
this mother and her baby. IF you
know nothing of the states care for
der how a child cared for by it's moth
Or in this way could properly come
ander the descriptive term "forsaken.'
Well, in Hungary. where the chill
aren of the poor are better cared for
than in any other county in the world,
following:
The child OF a poor widow.
The child of a forsaken wife.
The child whose mother is dead and
father nable to provide for it.
The child of parents who cannot
work or who will not work.
The child who is uncomfortable by
parents or guardians.
The child Of a poor unmarried
mother.
the smiling, blue eyed baby. beloved
of it's mother. u-nrecognized. perhaps
even unknown, by its father. Through
the interpreter the peasant girl told
me that she had hoped to keep her
baby and feed it by the bottle. She
herself lived with her mother. who
worked by the day. but now both she
nj her mother were out OF a situa-
ton, and she could not tell if she could
even continue to buy milk for the
baby's bottle. She would like to go to
the colony with the baby. The state
h could. So much did the state wish
this thai it would provide both her and
the baby with a nice home for nine
months till the baby could be weaned.
The state would pay for her board, and
lodging while she nursed the baby and
was a bottle baby, and the state could
not be expected to pay for mothers to
go along with their babies just to fill
and wash out their bottles. The little
peasant mother did not complain. The
state, indeed, was good to her. 1t
the baby to it's new foster parents.
so that h could see what sort of
people would bring up her baby; the
state would allow her to visit the baby
at her w expenses as often as she
could do so, and when she was. able to
" LIZ OdOy, SIlO
might ave it back for the asking. Yes,
the state was good and kind, but still
the little peasant girl dropped tears
upon the baby's hands. and the baby
went on smiling.
Baby Colonies.
Yes, Hungary is kind to it's forsaken
BABIES. and in that country there is no
Of the children. They talk there of
"children's rights" and this system Of
looking after children's rights was es.
tablished in 1899. the idea being orig
mated by Sell Kalman, minister for
what we would call home affairs. Be-
chlld-murders in Hungary. Married
parent who either had not the means
or the will to provide for their children.
murdered them, while unmarried moth
ers. to rid thmselves of both the in
tSs,rs and the shame, killed
der Is almost. II not entirely. unknown
In Hungary. for to all its forsaken
children between the ages Of one day
n IL a The state has become a
provident father.
At h present time 5000 children
are being cared for by the state. and
during the past ear 5000 were received
Into h Budapest asylum alone. This
particular asylum is more Of a receiv-
Ing station than anything else. The
healthy children come in n day and
are sent away the next, some to GER
tain other asylums which are moi over
crowded, and some directly TO the fos-
terparents who are waiting ready to
take them. Scattered throughout Hun
gary there are II OF these asylums.
From these asyiums the children are
sent out to the various Villages. where
special arrangements have been made
for their reception. these villages being
known as colonies" When q baby or
child Of any ~ H. brought to an asy-
lum It 10 first weighed and measured
n then given 9 bath. II accompanied