The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1923-05-06

the little zones of his country have
neither bread nor sweets to digest
Indeed, It is difficult for their
parents to keep the babies alive l
hear of new born infants being
wrapped in paper instead of clothing,
land of their lying naked on straw.
With such conditions cleanliness Is
impossible. The problem of tens of
thousands of families is how to buy
milk for the babies and any KIND or
food for the older children. In the
poorer quarters of the cities one
sees stunted boys and girls of IL who
do no. look to be more than seven or
eight. and those of eight who appear
not over five or six. It seems to me
that the life has gone out of the little
ones ef the third and fourth grade
schools. They are pale and anaemic
and they lack pep. They recall Eliza
beth Barrett BrowninG's poem about
the children who labored on their
hands and knees. harnessed like
ponies, dragging coal cars in the
mines of England years ago. That
poem stirred the nation to its depths
and aided in taking the little ones out
of the mines and factories. l quote
only one verse:
DO you hear. the children weeping,
Q my brothers
Ere the sorrow comes with years?
L
against their mothers,
And that cannot stop their tears.
The young lambs are bleating In the
meadows,
The young birds are chirping in the
nest.
The young fawns are paying win
the shadows.
The young flowers are blowing
toward the west
But the young, young children, o my
brothers,
They are weeping bitterly!
chey are weeping in the playtime OF
the others,
In the country OF the Tree.
o o o
In n Day Nursery.
At the same time the cities and IN
dividuals are doing all they can to
better these conditions in every pos
sible way. They have established
day nurseries in all of the cities ana
an immense amount of reile1 WORK
goes on. The Quakers of the United
States have done a great deal. the
German Red Cross has Its branches
for children's aid, and every attempt
is being made to ration the babies
and keep them alive. In the day nur-
series the children are left while
their mothers go out to work, ana
thousands IF mothers are now work.
ing who have not had to do so IN
! the past.
Take, for instance, a day nursery
which | visited this week. 1t is IN
the heart of Fashionable Derlin and
it looks after forty-five children
whose mothers work all day long for
about two cents per hour. The chill
dren bring tie prescribed food for
their noon m al with them to the
nursery and it is cooked by the
nurses Each h.ii has paper or
/ cloth bag and twoscore such bags
| we're haiging to hooks in the hall
of the nursery ,ver the hats and
/ cloaks when | came in. T1cy were
empty, for the little ones had just
had their dinner and were Lee; Ing.
| | was shown one bag which had not
been USED. VT contained few po
I tatoes and an pie and tbs was what
made the meal. The apples or pota-
! toes are cooked together and the
1 children often have no other food.
/ The little ones were sleeping an the
nurse warned us to move quietly as
she gently opened the door of q room
perhaps twenty feet sqparc. 1t was
filled with boys and girls IF from
/ two to eight yea of age, lying on
the floor, side by side. in rows. They
wore patched lothing and looked
neat, but only few hal undergar-
ments although it was winter. The
nurse picked UP one boy and took
him out into the hail. He seemed to
be about four ye RS of age but he
He was nice little fellow but he
looked wan and orn. He is a type
of many of the children in the Ger
man primary schools Of today.
undcrfed school Children.
After leaving the day nursery.
visited one of best of the pub