CHAPTER XIX.GENERAL REMARKS.
We have, no doubt, learned, through the histories of the past, that war, or any civil commotion, naturally interrupts the moral and physical condition of the people in whose midst it is carried on. Not far from a quarter of a century has elapsed since the close of our civil war, and really the moral and physical condition of some of the people, the more remote from the scenes of those terrible deprivations and conflicts, are just beginning to develop the worst consequences.
It is my serious opinion that thousands of children die annually in the city of Boston, under five years of age, from diseases brought on through the excitement of expecting to go to school, the early change, the exposures from actual compulsory attendance, while the system has barely recovered from a lengthy prostration, and now needing fostering at home with regular meals and plenty of toys for amusement.
Many are the little children of three and a half, four and a half, and five years, that are still getting teeth, sent out in the streets to saunter along in the chill air of our hill-streets to some school-house. Heaven bless our schools, for they are invaluable; but may God change the minds of the people as to such early exposures, being best for the credit of our Commonwealth. In school at four and a half, and in the grave at five; or in school at five, and in some State Reform School at seven or eight! just when the mind is beginning to be formed. It is well known that diphtheria, pneumonia, and various contagious diseases are more prevalent where there has been some exciting cause. For instance, during the warm days at the breaking up of winter, when the snow is melting and the atmosphere is filled with vapors, one can see children of all ages wading about in running water, dragging sleds, moving snow; some heavily-clad feet well protected, while others are not supplied evenwith wraps, but with rubber boots, it may be, minus the toes. In a few days many deaths of this very class of children are reported in some locality or other. Children will sit or stand around in places injurious to the health, and will go into dangers where they seem really to be admired by some adults. In the hurry and excitement to go in the street, so much is lost of a chance to build a solid foundation either of health or character. I know it is hard to restrain little ones after they have tasted of so much freedom as is given them during the weakest period of childhood, the teething period. This is why I feel so anxious to do or say something that will assist parents to lighten their burdens in this matter. In the first place, let me advise, with all due feelings of respect, the entire abandonment of low, dark, bad-smelling, water-soaked basement kitchens to work in, and the adoption of a rule to live more on top of the ground, and less under the ground. The depression upon the system of any one who has been permitted to exercise in open daylight, is equal to that of being incarcerated. Some persons say they send children to school to get them out of the way; a child soon begins to know this, and gradually goes out of the way, until some aching tooth or biting pain sends him crying to his friend.
If rooms are occupied all on the same floor, it is much better for the health and comfort of all.Windows can be dropped from the top; or a swinging pane, set in the top of a sash, is a very good way to ventilate or let in fresh air. So few people that depend on their bodily strength from day to day, stop to think that pure air is the all-essential element, and that without light, air, and sun in their dwellings, the poisonous gases cannot leave them, but they must sooner or later succumb to them. Children need a great amount of rest while growing. Yet few children are ever permitted to lay down during the day after entering the primary school. “Oh,” said a mother, “children rest sitting in school.” The probabilities are, that those little nerves are all on a stretch for the first six months (if they last that long). And they never rest except the meals are regular, the mind made happy, and the sleep quiet and sweet. Not only so; the nervous system of children is, in many instances, run down before entering school at all. Thus, through a desire to humor or cater to its seeming wants, a child is permitted to toddle about on foot, aided by some excitement, all day long, eat whatever it should not, fret and fume till it is literally outdone. This might be avoided by the exercise of a little early home rule, which could be the better understood by the time the child is old enough to enter a public school. If there are a dozen children in one family, each one should be supplied with a chair, according to its age; so thatwhen the word is given to sit down, it may be understood and obeyed. If children can conform to rules of order for strangers, they certainly will for their dear parents and guardians. Would it not be well for mothers and friends to withhold some of their indulgences from children who are entirely too young to appreciate their endearing acts, and bestow them more lavishly when the possibilities of experience will insure a reward? Would not a little more kind persuasion bring sunshine into the family circle? Would it not pay for every laboring man of a family to reserve an empty room at the top of the house for a play-room for his children? There is not the least doubt but that every mother would be made to rejoice from the advantage; if not at the top of the house, on the same floor with the sitting-room.
There is nothing particularly commendable in the habit of permitting cats and dogs to be closely imprisoned with children, as little ones are prone to put their mouths to everything; thus, there is a probability of worms making from the hair of such animals when swallowed. By the close observance of the different traits of mankind, I have been led to believe that true philanthropy is ingrafted into the human heart only through Divine agency. So that if belief in God and His attributes is entertained by each, no sacrifice will be considered too great for the sake of relieving the helpless ones withinthe family circle. Philanthropy cannot dwell in the heart of an eye servant, it must be inborn and unbiased in applications relative to human happiness. Too often, it happens that mothers give up all hope just at the weakest period in a child’s life, willing, on the slightest pretext, to abandon the offspring of their body. Words are not adequate to portray the lasting miseries that, in consequence, daily encircle the minds and bodies of the youth of our land. With many parents, the beginning to raise a family is novel and pleasing, but at the very time the most particular care is required, patience and watchfulness flag, so that it is no uncommon thing to hear mothers, in particular, declare their inability to rule and rear their own children. Would it not be well for mothers to make a little sacrifice for the sake of equipping the mind, that they may be able to dispense the required rudiments of moral and intellectual education at home, till a child is at least seven years old? Let mothers awake to duty; let them seek to know the causes of so many bleeding hearts and weeping eyes, and learn to compare effect with means, and means with ends; then the pall that is ever ready to obscure their sky of cheer, will rapidly disappear. We find, when comparing the statistical reports of the death-rates of children under one year old, that they are largest in those cities where the influx of immigration is constant,and the women, either from choice or necessity, are so engaged in other pursuits, that they do not take care of their young. Also that the death-rate of children under six years old, is greater in those cities where early home discipline is thwarted and early school privileges are the rule. But a few months ago, a gentleman informed me that he had lost his only daughter. “What caused her death?” I inquired. “The doctor said she studied too hard; she was taken with a hemorrhage, and died in a short time.” “Was she old enough to go to school?” I asked. “Oh, yes,” was the answer. “She was five years and a half.” I knew the child was delicate from birth, but, notwithstanding, her mother had taught her the alphabet at home. No wonder, the doctor said she “studied too hard.”
The “mind your own business” policy goes down too well with some women, for when the doctor pronounces the sickness of their babe a hopeless case, they seem at once to give up all hope, they have no alternative, they are mute, and will not so much as direct a petition to Almighty God, the great Physician for relief. Would it not strengthen the advocacy of equal suffrage in a population of over three hundred and sixty thousand, if every woman would cultivate a desire to know more about the prevention of disease and the preservation of health?
Diminutive, sickly, half-dependent people, carelittle what party governs, so long as they, themselves, barely exist. By real, earnest, devoted measures, women may be enabled, within the next decade, to exercise the right of franchise, and fill positions of honor outside of the domestic circle. But the women that compose the domestic circle have been, are, and ever will be in the majority; these are the women that have the greatest work of reform before them, namely, that of nourishing in infancy, ruling in childhood, and persuading in youth, the children of their fireside, that their sons may not graduate from the highest school of State penitentiaries, nor the bright future of their daughters be blasted by reason of early abandonment to the mercy of State charities. Parents should hold on to their children, and children should stand by their parents until the last strand of the silken cord is broken. It is natural to the childhood days to sport and play. All cannot bear the early and long-continued expectations through adverse circumstances and frequent unpleasantness of a finale. The vexations of youth from these causes, often serve, no doubt, to embitter the mind against further progress. We need in every community educated men, it is true, but the foundation dependence is in healthy, moral men and women.
Children should not be asked if they like such and such things to eat, with the privilege of choosingthat which will give no nourishment to the blood. You may as well ask a child if the new shoes hurt the feet, if it is advanced enough to know that the old ones must be continued till the new ones are changed. Too much is expected of little children for their own good. All of the bones of our bodies, when broken, will unite again; but if the enamel of the teeth gets cracked or broken off, they soon decay, and will be destroyed if not cared for by the means of art. From the age of seven months to twenty years, man is being supplied with those thirty-two pearly bones with which to prepare the food for entrance into the stomach, that it may be converted into milk, from which blood, the life principle, is derived each day.
Headache and toothache, one or both, render the school days of many a youth burdensome. This, too, may be caused as much from cold feet, indigestion, and constipation, as from either arduous studies or decaying teeth. Some parents would stand in amaze if their sons or daughters were discovered perusing some work upon the anatomy and the preservation of the human teeth in youth; while the same parents would boast of the almost frenzied determination of their children to read every available love-novel; that, too, while the new teeth are daily pushing against decaying ones. The study of the science of Dentistry is wise and commendable to all.
Pauperism, like familiarity, “breeds contempt”; therefore persons should try with all their mind and might to avoid its conditions. Is it too much for me to say that the excuse for a mother’s consigning her child to some almshouse, while she goes free, can be but shallow? Unfortunately, the “I can’t” finds many prompters, and gains the precedence in many instances, where renewed and determined resolution only is required to succeed in caring for the helpless, and governing the passions of the youth, until they are old enough to hire out, or be put to some trade. To labor is honorable. Mothers, before you forget the tie which binds you to your child, and deliberately consign it to the care of strangers, look into those dear little eyes. Remember, few ever return, or are restored, as was Joseph of old.
Cast me not off, dear mother,Oh, cast me not off, is my plea,I have ears with which to catch the soundsOf rejoicing or murmur from thee.I’ve a look that ne’er has been given,Which can only be given to thee;I’ve a word that has never been spoken,But yet can be spoken so free.Yes, a token of gratitude everShall dwell on my lips for thee;I’ve a tear that has never yet glistened,That some day may trickle for thee.
Cast me not off, dear mother,Oh, cast me not off, is my plea,I have ears with which to catch the soundsOf rejoicing or murmur from thee.I’ve a look that ne’er has been given,Which can only be given to thee;I’ve a word that has never been spoken,But yet can be spoken so free.Yes, a token of gratitude everShall dwell on my lips for thee;I’ve a tear that has never yet glistened,That some day may trickle for thee.
Cast me not off, dear mother,Oh, cast me not off, is my plea,I have ears with which to catch the soundsOf rejoicing or murmur from thee.
Cast me not off, dear mother,
Oh, cast me not off, is my plea,
I have ears with which to catch the sounds
Of rejoicing or murmur from thee.
I’ve a look that ne’er has been given,Which can only be given to thee;I’ve a word that has never been spoken,But yet can be spoken so free.
I’ve a look that ne’er has been given,
Which can only be given to thee;
I’ve a word that has never been spoken,
But yet can be spoken so free.
Yes, a token of gratitude everShall dwell on my lips for thee;I’ve a tear that has never yet glistened,That some day may trickle for thee.
Yes, a token of gratitude ever
Shall dwell on my lips for thee;
I’ve a tear that has never yet glistened,
That some day may trickle for thee.
In the bleak and changeable climate of Massachusetts,in the city and vicinity of Boston, for instance, there reside many families whose ancestors were born in a more genial clime. Therefore, it is not natural that they, themselves, should be able to endure exposures to hard fare, even had they been early accustomed to it in a warm, native clime.
Our women work hard, seemingly, and many of them against a heavy tide; nor does there ever seem to be an end to their toils. Especially do some of the laboring women of my race appear to work under heavy disadvantages; if the family is small, they are never through with their work; if it is large, there is a double excuse for having no time to rest; yet many real needful things are left undone. I have often wondered if such housekeepers, whose own affairs are neglected, and in whose homes things go to waste, while they take so much upon them of other people’s work, never thought of the story of “filling a hogshead at the spigot that had no stopper at the bung.”
So with our men who labor hard; they are anxious to keep the wolf from the door, and they thoughtlessly rise in the morning, go to work, perhaps, without breakfast, working for hours in a condition for odors, contagious or otherwise, to affect the system. Thus the liabilities to colds in the vital organs, which may go on for years, gradually undermining the general health, or may, asfrequently happens, develop in lung fever, and consequent shattered constitution. The laboring men of my race, generally speaking, take much better care of the horses intrusted to their care than they do of their own health. Were men just as particular about what they themselves eat and drink, and how they dress and sleep, the deaths of young men of thirty and forty years would not be so common. Those who are not careful of their health die early in this climate, and their offspringdie earlier.
It is not the blood we wish to keep hot, as some desire to do; this induces disease and premature decay. It is the body that needs to be kept warm while the blood is normal, or rather cool. This is just as easily done with man as with the horse.
Frequent baths, wearing all-wool flannels next the skin in winter, changing for thinner ones in hot weather, eating coarse dry food, taking less medicine, desisting from the use of tobacco and “firewater,”—all tend to lengthen the days of mankind on this beautiful earth. It is authoritatively stated that the colored population decreases in Boston, but it is not all the fault of the climate; for there have been native Africans who lived to a great age here. It is the neglect, in a great measure, to guard against the changes of the weather.
By seeking to get in possession of the comfortsof life, and buying a little home, our men can yet be enabled to live, and raise up children who shall be an honor to that noble race with which we are identified, in point of strength and longevity. The Lord gave the qualities, it is for us to preserve and improve them for His final acceptance. Our Heavenly Father has provided a healing balm for every disease that man is liable to, and I am prepared to say that all diseases can be cured without the use of alcoholic stimulants. We have access to a large and varied field of remedies, both in the vegetable and mineral kingdoms, the virtues of which unfold to man in proportion to his possession of heavenly virtues.
Let me, in conclusion, appeal once more to the united efforts of mothers and fathers. Do not try to be blind when you are not. Can you not cut short the certain destruction that awaits your sons and daughters, through the influence of impressions gained by the constant perusal of fictitious, and, in many cases, corrupt library books? Will it not pay to prohibit those under age, or at least under fourteen, from reading even Sunday-School story-papers? We are aware many of them are given for the moral to be derived, but not more than one boy or girl in a hundred ever cares a fig for the moral.
Does any one believe that the majority of the little children who witness the farce of “Punch andJudy” on Boston Common every summer, gain a moral, or feel that it is wrong to imitate beating a wife, killing a baby, or hanging a black man? The popular adage, “No nigger, no fun,” is why such schools are tolerated on our Public Parks. Are they not a curse to our land? May not such shameful scenes prove to be the primary lessons in pugilism, murder, and suicide? Possibly they best serve to prolong the barbarous system of flogging, whether it be by lashing to a post and applying the cat-o’-nine-tails, or otherwise. Then will it not pay to endeavor to cultivate inborn morals early in life, thereby shutting out a desire for vulgar and debasing sports?
Volumes might be written in which could be inserted plans, which, if enforced, could not fail to prevent the adversities of life, the gloomy foreshadowings and prolonged deficiencies in health. Some do not wish to know about the human system, others cannot read, and more have no time to read, or think how to live and be happy; seeming to forget that our Heavenly Parent gave the earth, with all it contains, for man’s inheritance. Many such are laboring day and night, and trying to educate their children, yet do not always turn the abilities of their children to good account. Books on the laws of health from the proper source could never injure the mind and morals; but would, if read aloud in the family circle half as often astrashy novels are thumbed over, prove a blessing more lasting than gold. Let us strive to know more about ourselves,—it is human, it is Christianlike to do so. Then will there be minds from which to select students for the college, that may come forth to the community graduates in Pharmacy, Surgery, Dentistry and Medicine. It is well known that many noble-minded women have graced the chambers of the sick with good service, in different conditions of need, too; but at the present, women appear to shrink from any responsibilities demanding patience and sacrifice, or rather seem not to rely on the union of their strength with that of our great Creator, in time of need.
What we need to-day in every community, is, not a shrinking or flagging of womanly usefulness in this field of labor, but renewed and courageous readiness to do when and wherever duty calls.