Wheeling majority. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1907-192?, 1916-01-27

color; it is nothing in itself. There
is no such thing as red, blue, orange
in itself. Things are red, or blue, OF
orange. Thus religion always ex-
presses itself in that which is visible;
it cannot exit apart from it anymore
than color could be separated from
matter or, even stronger, than length
or Breadth could be separated from
things which are long or broad.
Men continually try to separate re-
ligion from the visible, they cOnnect
II with abstract theories, anu in speaA-
ing about it they generalize and lab.
stracL) They use Wolds iike hmm
ite," eternal absolute creed, be
lieving that in using them they touch
the heart of things. We are begin
ming to believe that those men are
mistaken, and when we speak about
religion we use more concrete terms
men, women, children, prayer, deed,
sorrow, joy and so on. We shall
speak about religion today in terms
of child and child's happiness. One
Sunday in the year has been put aside
for that. 1t does not seem too much
one Sunday out of f1fty-two to speak
of children and what may make theil
lives better.
Children's happiness! 1t would
seem then that children are not gen
orally happy, for we seldom speal
about the thing which is perfect; it
is the imperfect thing which calls
for our attention.
Children are not generally happy
It may be that they are not conscious
of their unhappiness, because they
have never known anything but the
conditions among which they have
been raised; it may even be that they
consider themselves most fortunate.
The ten-year old boy in New York
City who plays about the streets and
carries papers for living; who eats
whenever he is hungry in any place
which may shelter him from rain or
snow; who goes home whenever he is
tired if indeed he has home at ALL,
such boy will rarely complain about
his unhappiness. He has all he would
be likely to wish for at his age: mo-
ney, food, shelter and above all free
dom; his sense for the adventurous
is being satisfied. he is happier than
a king. But such a boy, or indeed
most anyone under 10 years of age,
is not competent to judge about his
own happiness. Happiness is more
than monetary sense of joy; it is
always related to the future. Only
that can be considered happiness
which may be counted to produce joy
in the days to come. Any form of sin
10 1i11o1xY To VNT4adrrnn f0o1fYo af fSC.
faction for the time being. If that
were not so, sin would not be tempt
ing. But we call it an evil because Of
the evil consequences. *
Child labor even in its most .attrac-
tive form (and. We read of number
Of instances where the newsboy, or
the messenger, boy, thinks his form
of labor is attractive), child labor in
its most attractive form is an evil. be-
cause of the evil consequences.
What is childhood? Childhood is
the time which nature has given us to
prepare for our hfe's work. If, as the
creation-myth has it, a man were born
full grown and his full duty were
thrust upon him at once, natures
work would be badly done; much
would he spoiled before man was &C
customed to his work. Hence nature
gives us a time of preparation. No
work is expected from us. We play.
Now play, as any modern psycholo-
gist will tell you, is nothing but pre-
paration for work. The child trains
his hands, his eyes, his ears He plays
his game with as much vim and earn
esfness as If it were real work. In
playing with his comrades he learns
to behave in socially correct man
ner. He is taught that his rights end
! where someone elses rights begin. II
fact, the children's games requires
stricter adherence to rules than the
game Of life.
1t is clear that without this prepar
edness no great results can be ex
pected, and it is equally clear that dur
| ing this time of bodily and mental pre-
| paration the child must be obedient
The child cannot fight the world ant
prepare for real life. Childhood i
wholly a time of accumulation o
strength; the bodily and mental war
fare must be reduced to minimum.
1t is at once apparent that the term
childhood and labor are mutually ex
elusive. Labor is always the result
of waste. With waste in this particu
lar sense is meant that we use up
part of our bodily and mental strengtl
to produce new things. Whereve
there is the wastage which invariabl
runs parallel with serious labor Their
can be no childhood. since childhoo
means mainly accumulation.
am aware, of course. that chile
hood presupposes certain amount G
mental and bodily exertion. The chill
must learn physically and mental!
but this learning process should neve
be incommensurate with the buildin
ND of a certain amount of reserv
strength upon which our future US
fitness will wholly depend
Now upon the impossibility OF bull
ing up reserve strength hinges, to m
mind, the whole evil of child labo
and am surprised that have NJ
found this most important factor