Year: 1874




The Italian padrones OF this city
received great deal of condemnation,
though no more than they deserve.
The dark-eyed children that I'LL our
uptown streets and play their harps
and fiddles with their little claws lean
with hunger and blue with cold, are
elegant witnesses against the brutal
masters who send them out in the
morning half-fed and half-clothed to
their hard days work, and herd them
in the evening in their foul resting
places, whipping them to bed if their
gains are not large enough They
deserve the eXecrations of humane
people and the restraining hand of
law. But let us not ease our con-
sciences by denOuncing these foreign
Herods. IT will be better to see if our
own skirts are free from the stain of
innocent blood. 1t is n convenient
thing to denonnce the Havana bull.
ring and the Piedmontese tyrants of
Crosby street. But if we are not in
clined to shut our eyes to our own
faults we can find at our own doors
enough responsibility for cruel dis
regard of the lives and the health of
children where our amusements are
concerned.


The dispatch from Boston yesterday
of the death of the baby violinist was
full of pathetic Significance. Not
long ago he formed part of the even
ing's attractions at one of our specta-
cular theaters. He was six years old.
At n time when he should have been
tucked away in his bed, he was stand
ing before large audiences playing mu-
sic which excited him, thrilled through
and through by noise and plaudits that
excited him tenfold more. His little
store of vital energy and nervous
power, which should have been sub
jected to no more exactipg drafts than
the plays of the nursery or the caresses
of his parents, was wasted I'm this reck-
less extravaganza. He went to Boston,
and there played day and night. The
manager noticed, after a matinee, his
look of exhaustion, and told him to
stay at home that night. His father
made him obey the injunction, sorely
against his will. He missed the crowd,
the lights, the roaring applause. the
fatal delight of the life which was kill
ing him. Father and son went to bed,
and the former was soon awakened by
the murmurings of the child. He
heard him say, "Merciful God, make
room for little fellow" and with this
strange and touching prayer fora peace
i'm nest denied him In his short life,
the gifted aud ill-treated infant left this
rough world,


The affectionate and tender friends
of these little victims say, with perfect
sincerity, "He loved his work; he was
never forced to it." Ifa baby loved
poison, would father think of graft
fying such fancy? The fact that a
child five years ofage has a passion for
music should be a reason for not allow
ing him to indulge in it, for it argues
an exceptional delicacy of organization
which should cause his parents to exer-
else the greatest care with him. When
DIR. Clarke recently attacked the fore
ing system by which so many thousand
bright girls are annually slaughtered,
he was n,et by the reply that the hard
est students were the healthiest. The
principals and teachers who said this
do not seem tn imagine that il was
merely saying the healthiest students
worked hardest, and so most completely
undermined their constitutions. The
cases mentioned by DIR. Clarke Of girls
who broke down suddenly on leaving
school were those possessing more than
the usual stock of health to begin with.
Parents and teachers alike are too apt
TO forget the advice which Phaeton
came to ruin by neglecting: use the
reins aud spare the whip"


An enthusiastic child will very easi-
ly burn out its life il not restrained.
But what shall we say of the parents
who not only do not restrain, but goad
on these exceptional natures to mems
work when they ought to be in theil
cradles? In every place of amusement
in this city little children are from
time to time brought in to add TO the
attractions Of the Performance. 1t ]:
an unwhoiesome and morbid taste
which is consulted and glatified by
these exhibitions. a child cannot
sing, or d.ssce, or act, in a mannel


worth any ones attention. When I


child does either es these things on ths
stage it the result OF sue of two causes


both equally objectional The chill
has been forced into learning its trick
or has learned Il voluntarily through 1
feverish precocity. To all iudiciou
persons in the house the performance
of children is painful and vearisome


The wonder Is that thoughtless parent


are led by their instructive love Of chil


dren 10 delighted applause. and are no
induced 10 heat and hiss the cyue
spectacle af the stage.