"Thou canst not see grass grow, how sharp soe'er thou be;Yet that the grass has grown, thou presently shall see.So, though thou canst not see thy work now prospering, knowThe fruit of every work-time without fail shall show."
Jacob Riis used often to say that the apparent corruption of our politics was largely due to crass ignorance. There are, too, many human beings who are born moral idiots, who cannot be made to understand ethics, any more than intellectual"subnormals" can be made to understand proportion and international law. But we know that up to the ability of every being he should be taught. We know that the appalling illiteracy of Mexico, Russia and China renders a stable republic in any one of them almost impossible. Education is a slow business. Generations of it will be required to make those countries what they ought to be; but it is the desideratum to successful republicanism. Therefore it is vital that we guard our public schools.
But again it must be emphasized that though school discipline should be of the best, yet the real education of your child depends more upon his home than upon his school.
What newspapers are lying around there? What magazines? Do you patronize salacious plays? Do you exalt in your conversation the prize-fight and the automobile-race? What sort of people visit your home?
What sort of conversation goes on at your table? Is wine or beer served there? Is the air in your parlor or study often thick with tobacco-smoke?
The father who wishes his children to become pure-minded and unselfish patriots, must ask himself many questions like these. Remember that the boy is influenced by your words only to a certain degree. Our seer of Concord never uttered a more impressive truth than when he pictured a youth as demanding of his father, "How can I hear what yousay,when what youareis thundering so loud in my ears?"
You can bring very near to your boy and your girl, the responsibility of us all for good home government, by mentioning often to them the burning issues in their home town. In many of our towns and villages, one part of the city or township is jealous of another part, will not vote for improvements there and is generally suspicious and contrary.
Explain to your children how contemptible such an attitude is. Weigh for them the arguments on both sides, and make them help you to decide justly how you ought to vote. Make the girl, especially, form an opinion. On her may devolve the future political training of influential citizens. In fact, she may herselfbe a Member of Congress or a United States Senator!
Are the roads bad in your town? Are the taxes improperly collected? Are the schools inferior or managed by politicians? Is the town poorly policed? Are the back yards unsanitary? Are the town officers inefficient?
Explain to your children how the taxes are laid,—how a town has to spend a good deal to keep itself up, so to speak; and how important it is that its tax-money should be carefully spent.
Particularly should we impress it upon our children that if a town is a slipshod, ugly or unhealthy place, it is not the fault of a vague, formless thing, called "the town" or "the city," or "the state," but of each and every one of us; and especiallyof every separate voter who fails to be on hand at the town-meetings or caucuses, and to try his best to get good men elected and good measures passed.
An American was riding in a cab through the streets of Vienna, some years before the war, reading his mail. As he finished with certain letters, he tore them up and threw the fragments out of the cab-window. The driver soon began to notice what was going on, left his box and picked up the torn papers. Then he put his head in at the window, and cried, with a passion which seemed to the careless and untidy American quite uncalled-for, "What do you mean by littering up our beautiful streets in this way? Where do you come from? Have your people nopride in their country? Do they wish it to look all over like a slum?"
He actually reported the matter to the police. The man was thereupon haled to court and had to pay a considerable fine.
Although some of our cities, as well as foreign ones, carry civic pride to an almost ridiculous extent, it is a good fault. Children should early be taught to regard the neatness and beauty of their town.
If they complain that these matters are hard to remember and to do, give them to understand that patriotism is not easy. Few virtues are easy to practice, and perhaps unselfish patriotism is the hardest of all.
A young man graduated from that great American university where it is said that citizenship is most strenuouslytaught, and where he had certainly imbibed a lofty desire to do his duty by his country. He lived in a great city and presented himself in due time after his graduation at the door of his ward political organization. There he met with an experience something like this:
A gentleman, plethoric and red-faced, welcomed him, asked his name and address, and gave him "the glad hand." At the same time, he showed a spice of suspicion.
"Are you a Republican?" he asked.
"Yes."
"I suppose you have always voted the straight ticket?"
"Well,—I have been voting only a year or two. I think I have voted the straight ticket so far."
"And I suppose you intend to vote the straight ticket right along?"
"I may or I may not," said the youth, with some spirit. "I reserve for myself the right to vote for the best candidate, especially in local affairs."
"Then,—ahem—perhaps you haven't got into just the right place. This is a straight organization, you know. Maybe you can find an 'independent'" (pronounced with scorn) "organization somewhere in the ward. I rather think that is where you belong. We have found these 'independents' a sort of obstruction to the transaction of business,—a kind of kickers, you know, though of course, you might not turn out so. Still,"—with decision,—"you really don't belong here."
"I was mad clear through," said theyouth, in relating the story later. "I was disgusted with the looks of the man and with those who were in there with him. I just turned on my heel and left, and I haven't darkened that door again."
Was that patriotic? Was not that boy deliberately turning over the government of his city to "boodlers" and "grafters"?
"But," you may say, "should he have stayed on where he was not wanted?"
Certainly he should. He had a right there, as any citizen had. He should have taken time to find other voters like himself, which he could no doubt have done, and together they could have maintained themselves. He saw that this man and his companions were not proper persons to have control of an organization of his party, and he should have done his best,even at the sacrifice of considerable time, to oust them and get better men in. He was no patriot.
TEACHING THE MEANING OF DEMOCRACY
In a country like ours, there is a public opinion of almost uncontrollable power. The educated and the intellectual may have a decisive voice in its formation; or they may live in their own selfish enjoyments, and suffer the ignorant and depraved to form that public opinion.—Horace Mann.
In a country like ours, there is a public opinion of almost uncontrollable power. The educated and the intellectual may have a decisive voice in its formation; or they may live in their own selfish enjoyments, and suffer the ignorant and depraved to form that public opinion.—Horace Mann.
ONE of the most irritating things in the world to a true patriot, is the visitor at his table, who exalts the superiority of other nations to our own.
Not that nearly every other nation maynot have some one or more points of superiority, which should be acknowledged and emulated; but your worshiper of the foreign usually makes a blanket indictment of America.
One such man was a guest at a certain table just before the war. He had recently returned from a long stay in Europe, where his great wealth and important commercial and social connections gave him access to many of the circles which largely control the life over there.
"How are the people abroad thinking of us nowadays?" inquired his hostess rather lightly. "Do they despise us as much as ever?"
"Yes, indeed," replied the great man emphatically.
"But I hope you stood up for us?"
"I wish I could say that I did," he had the effrontery to reply calmly; "but how could I? They consider that the corruption of our government is so bad that it cannot possibly continue very long. I couldn't deny it, could I? I agreed with them entirely that we were nearly at the end of our rope."
"Really?" gasped his hostess. "Are you in earnest?"
"I never was more so in my life. Look at the condition of affairs in Blank and Blank and Blank,"—naming several states in which legislative scandals had been lately unearthed,—"How long do you think that things can go on like that and a government survive? I had to admit that a democratic form of governmentis a failure. Of course, it was a great dream of the fathers, but it has proved to be as impracticable as a good many other rainbow visions. Sometime the world may be ready for it, but it evidently is not now."
"And what do you think will follow?" asked his hostess, holding on to her temper with difficulty. "Are you in favor of an autocracy like Germany, or of a limited monarchy like Great Britain? Or do you think an oligarchy a better form? And if we decide on a monarchy, where should we get our royal family? Should we elect one from candidates that present themselves? Or should we request Europe to send us one?"
"Now you are making fun of me," he commented with some feeling.
"Oh, no, not exactly," she laughed. "But really, if Europe is unanimous in thinking our republic a failure, there must be 'something in it.' You have been in many countries and have met the leading people, and you know what you are talking about. If we are truly on the verge of a revolution, it is to the men like you, our foremost and ablest men, that we must turn to save us. Therefore you ought to be thinking of ways and means. Here is a nation of nearly a hundred million persons. If its government is so rotten that it cannot last, what should be done?"
But he declined to continue the discussion. He merely laughed rather weakly and some one just then introduced a new topic.
Strange to say, during the next few months several other men were encountered, who also bemoaned the "failure" of our institutions.
Our children must be taught how to meet such pessimists. They would probably, in the light of recent developments, say that they repudiate the doctrines of Nietzsche, but they are really endorsing one of his prime tenets, namely, that democracy is bound always to be a failure; that the "masses" should be kept down; that all attempts to elevate "the herd" are folly; that they should be made to observe that strict morality, from whose shackles the "supermen" are free; and should submit unquestioningly to authority. Women, even in the "super" class, are made in Nietzsche's opinion, simply, asMilton says, to serve by "standing and waiting."
One would think that men who hold such views as this traveled guest, had never studied democracy. They surely do not understand its deep and splendid meaning. They should be made to see, as our children should be, by every means that we can devise, the tremendous advance which a democratic form of government shows beyond any other that the world has hitherto known. They should have impressed upon them Elihu Root's definition: "Democracy is organized self-control."
Especially should they be told that universal education and unselfishness of patriotism are the only conditions under which a democracy can be perfected; andthat no nation has ever yet been sufficiently educated and unselfish to arrive at perfection, and probably will not be until the millennium.
We all realize that our government has many defects; but most of our critics stupidly fail to recognize that our public officials, instead of being our masters, are regarded by us, and in no Pickwickian sense, as our servants. We are all so criminally busy with our personal affairs that we allow our government to run along almost anyway, often knowing that grafters are in charge of it; but feeling that it is cheaper to let matters go until they become unendurable, than to take the trouble to keep close track of them. After awhile, we say to ourselves, we will have a regular cleaning-up, turn the rascals out,and put in a new set of officials, who, we hope, will do better.
Our children must be taught that this is a wicked way to do. They must devote some of their time to following public affairs. They must understand also that, while low salaries must usually be paid to public officials, in order that offices may not be too eagerly sought, yet that patriots must be willing, when they can possibly afford it, to accept these low salaries, if their country is to be well and honestly served. In this war, we have seen many noble men resign large incomes in order to serve the nation. We must learn to do that in peace as well as in war.
And we must all understand too, that these officials do not really represent thegoverning power of our country, which is undoubtedly that intangible thing called Public Opinion. It is as subtly invisible as electricity or gravity, but in this nation as powerful.
In China, in India, and in most of the other oriental countries; in Russia also, as the recent upheavals there have proved, there is nothing which can properly be called organized Public Opinion. In France and in Great Britain, there is much. In our country, it is everything. It dominates our whole social and political system. Our press is sometimes said to create it. Oftener the press says that it follows Public Opinion,—while a considerable section of our population declare that the press and Public Opinion are the same thing.
In any case, the child should be made to understand that in a truly and nobly democratic form of government, no czar, no kaiser, no caste nor clique controls, but the people themselves, who, as Lincoln said, can be fooled by their leaders part of the time, but whose sober second thought usually sets them ultimately on the right side. The child should be made to feel that since he is one unit in this controlling mass, he should form his opinions with care.
One of the most frequent accusations against us among foreigners, is that we are wholly and ineradicably sordid. As outsiders often put it,
"All that Americans care for is the dollar."
Most of us, when we hear this, sharethe sentiment of a bright High School girl, who took part in a debate in 1913 on the comparative excellence of foreign and domestic manners.
"I have just come back from a summer in Europe," she said, "and I found there, on the whole, much worse manners than we have here. For instance, in nearly every country where we went, we had relatives and friends, and they were constantly saying, and very rudely, I thought, 'Oh, yes, we understand your America. All you care for over there is the dollar.' But I don't care for the dollar and my father and my mother, and my uncles and my aunts, and our friends,—hardly anybody I know, in fact,—none of them care for the dollar,—not half so much as they do over there,—and I told them so!"
Her passionate plea brought forth equally passionate applause from her young hearers,—for it was true. Human nature is inherently selfish and grasping. We have only to read the book of Proverbs to see that it was so in ancient times and it will probably always retain something of that meanness; but Americans are the most generous people in the world, and, as a whole, are the freest from miserliness and avarice. Look over the marriage notices of a century or more ago in any English periodical, and you will probably find mentioned there the amount of the bride's dowry. We all know how invariably it has to be ascertained nowadays before a foreign nobleman takes an American bride. Among ourselves, there is almost nothing of this sort.
One reason, perhaps the principal one, for this universal accusation, is not far to seek. All foreign nations have their leisure classes. The great nobles and gentry often do not even manage their own estates. Some "factor" or "agent" does it for them. As for working for money, the very idea would shock them unspeakably. A woman who works for money is especially scorned over there. It is seldom that such a woman has any social standing whatever.
Utterly different is the American estimation of merit. Here we have a leisure class, but it is so small as to be negligible, and it is commonly despised. All of our men are expected to work for money, or, as we put it,—to earn their living, though many of our rich men often contributefreely much time and labor to public affairs and to philanthropy. A woman who earns her living over here is quite as likely as not to rank among our most respected citizens.
As a well-known snob once said, "Even in our first circles, you once in a while meet one of these writers or painters, who expects to be treated as if he were one ofus."
Thus Public Opinion controls our social as well as our political life.
SACRIFICING FOR PATRIOTISM
Look back upon Washington and upon the Savior-like martyrs, who, for our welfare, in lonely dungeons and prison-ships, breathed a noisome air; and when the minions of power came around day after day and offered them life and liberty if they would desert their country's cause, refused and died. The great experiment of republicanism is being tried anew. In Greece and Italy it failed through the incapacity of the people to enjoy liberty without abusing it. Millions of human beings may be happy through our wisdom, but must be miserable through our folly. Religion, the ark of God, is here thrown open to all, and yet is to be guarded from desecration and sacrilege, lest we perish with a deeper perdition than ever befell any other people.—Horace Mann.
Look back upon Washington and upon the Savior-like martyrs, who, for our welfare, in lonely dungeons and prison-ships, breathed a noisome air; and when the minions of power came around day after day and offered them life and liberty if they would desert their country's cause, refused and died. The great experiment of republicanism is being tried anew. In Greece and Italy it failed through the incapacity of the people to enjoy liberty without abusing it. Millions of human beings may be happy through our wisdom, but must be miserable through our folly. Religion, the ark of God, is here thrown open to all, and yet is to be guarded from desecration and sacrilege, lest we perish with a deeper perdition than ever befell any other people.—Horace Mann.
A LITTLE boy many years ago wasmarching down Fourth Avenue in New York, his face bright with interest and his whole air that of one who has important business on hand. A gentleman who met him was curious to know what was in the child's mind and stopped him.
"Where are you going so fast, my little man?" he asked.
"I'm going to the Bible House," replied the boy promptly. "You see theMorning Star,—that's the missionary ship, has just got in, and I paid a penny to get that ship, and so it's part mine, and I'm going down to hear all about it."
The gentleman who told this story was old, and the incident had occurred in his young manhood, but he said he had never forgotten it, for it illustrated better than anything he had ever seen the effect uponthe mind of a personal share in any enterprise.
The child who has worked in a garden is likely to watch its growth and progress with an interest which he could not otherwise feel. In the same way he can be made to appreciate his home better if he has daily light tasks to do in maintaining its order and comfort; but these tasks should, if possible, be made regular ones, and their performance should become a habit. If they are done only now and then, they are much more likely to be felt as a burden.
The maintenance of the ordinary home requires great labor and expense. Without unduly distressing them, children should be made to understand this, and that it is only fair that each member ofthe family should do his part in keeping it up. In the households of the rich, such a course is hard to manage, for servants do all the work; but in the average home where but one servant, or none at all, is kept, a little ingenuity on the part of the parents will accomplish it, without "nagging" or tiresome repetition.
In one family of five children, where there was no servant, but where the standards of the mother were high, there was naturally an enormous amount of work to do. The eldest child was a girl of twelve, the next, a girl of ten. Then came a boy of eight, and so on down. The older ones were in school, but all helped cheerfully in the household work as far as they were able.
The boy of eight, who may be calledChester, was a thoughtful little fellow, and when he saw his mother rising at four or five o'clock every morning to wash or iron or cook; then, all day long cutting out little garments, running the sewing-machine, tending the teething baby, or engaged in the never-ending task of cleaning the house, his tender heart was deeply moved.
He was a great reader and the lady who superintended the village library came to know him well, and often had long talks with him. From his extensive reading, coupled with a naturally rather "old-fashioned" way of expressing himself, his remarks were often of a nature to amuse her, but she never laughed at him, and so was able to keep his confidence.
One morning Chester appeared withhis weekly book, and as the librarian was alone, he sat down for a little talk. His face was long, and as he dropped into his chair, he sighed heavily.
"What is the matter, Chester?" she asked kindly.
"My mother is sick," he replied dejectedly. "She is sick in bed. My father got the breakfast, but he isn't much good,—and we children helped, but we ain't much good either. Not anything goes right when my mother is sick."
"But she will soon be well. Probably she has been working too hard."
"Yes, that's it," agreed Chester wearily. "My father says so. He tells her to let things go more, and she says she tries, but she wants the house to look so nice,—and see how well she mends my stockings,"—rollingup one of his knickerbockers, "and it is work, work, work for my mother from morning to night. Oh, Miss Smith," concluded Chester in a tone of anguish, "the lot of woman is very hard."
Miss Smith had never had such difficulty to control herself as when she heard this monumental sentiment from the lips of this diminutive urchin, but she managed to utter steadily, "Still, it must be a comfort to your mother to have so many good children to help her," to which Chester gravely assented.
There are not many children who so fully appreciate their mother's responsibilities; but it is well that, without complaint or whining, the mother should, in such circumstances as those which have been described, make her family understandthat her "lot" needs all of the amelioration that they can supply; and they will love and value their home all the more, the more they do for it.
The same thing is true of the affairs of your town or city. If you do nothing for it, you are likely to care nothing for it.
In Miss McCracken's interesting book, "Teaching Through Stories," she tells of a little girl, who, from reading the story, "The Microbe Which Comes Into Milk," became convinced of the importance of pure milk. In this tale, emphasis is laid upon the rapidity with which milk deteriorates, if it is left standing in the sun, and the harm which often comes to babies in consequence.
A little later, a neighbor, who had asmall baby, reported that this child rang her bell early one morning, about ten minutes after the milk-man had brought the baby's milk, and said anxiously, "Your milk-bottle is standing out on the piazza in the sun. Aren't you afraid it will spoil if you don't put it in the ice-chest?"
It is but a little way from an interest in the pure milk of an individual baby to an interest in pure milk for all babies. This little girl will probably grow up to see that laws are enforced for pure milk, and for the cleanliness of cows and stables. Even though she may never develop an enthusiasm for any other branch of politics, it is a good thing to have one woman working hard for pure milk.
All children can be taught to see that good laws for such matters are a part ofpatriotism; and that a man who does not try to help to get such laws, even though he may shout for political candidates and hang out flags in front of his house, is not a true patriot.
It is not often that one person can work in many different directions; but if each one will choose some reform in which he is particularly interested, and hammer at that until it is accomplished, he will have done something fine for his country. He may meet with all kinds of discouragements, but let him hold on. Again, he must be reminded that patriotism is seldom easy.
Even after you have succeeded in getting your ordinance passed, you may have trouble in having it enforced. Worst of all, the clever rascals on the other sidemay manage to get your hard-won law repealed,—and there is your long task all to do over again.
Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty just as much now as ever. Look across the ocean, and you see what it is costing the nations of to-day. You think that our fathers gained it for us in the Revolution, and that, however others may have to fight for it, it is secure for us; and all that we have to do is to sit back and enjoy it. On the contrary, some form of tyranny is always just around the corner, waiting to devour us. It is not impossible that a wrong issue of this war may force us to fight on our own soil again for it.
In any case, there are plenty of social and commercial tyrants only waiting tolay hands on us. Sometimes it is a rich corporation, stretching out shrewd tentacles to entrap us. Its managers may be philanthropic and courteous, even religious, tyrants,—but despots none the less. It may be a company of racetrack gamblers, defeated for a while by a fearless governor, but stealing back to power as soon as his back is turned. Different states may have different tyrants,—or an arrogant party of socialists may "tie up" the whole country. There is almost every minute some movement going on, calculated, if it succeeds, to hamper or destroy our liberty. Mr. D. L. Moody once said, when he was commenting upon this phase of our national life: "Anything that is going to hurt this nation we ought to fight. Anything that is going to underminethis grand republic or tear out its foundation, you and I ought to guard against with our tears and our prayers and our efforts."
Explain this often to your children. It will strengthen their determination to defend their country.
One of our young reformers in a public address lately pleaded for a wider recognition among the people of the good work of honest officials.
"There are enough among us to find fault when things are not done right," he said, "but there are few who will take the trouble to commend the man who does well. He keeps on with his efforts, whether he gets any praise for it or not, but he is often immensely cheered and refreshed by an appreciative word. Ifhis morality is not of the heroic kind, he may fall away and cease to put forth any special effort to do his work well, just for lack of encouragement."
He illustrated his point with the story of the small boy who was sweeping the sidewalk when some ladies appeared to call upon his mother. One of them asked pleasantly, "Is your mother at home?"
His rather rude reply was laden with significance.
"Do you suppose," he growled, while a slight twinkle broke through his scowling eye, "that I would be sweeping here if she wasn't at home?"
In spite of the fact that a well-fed, well-clothed and well-educated people, like the Germans, for instance, will bear an autocratic government, which kindlydoes everything for them, but gives little opportunity for individual initiative; it cannot be compared, in its salutary effect upon its citizens, with one which calls forth the powers of judgment and decision in every one, and feeds self-respect, discouraging toadyism and caste, like a republic. An autocracy, if wisely administered, undoubtedly means greater order and efficiency, until the democracy has mastered its new problems and its people have become thoroughly educated. Rough working of new machinery is almost inevitable; and the modern democratic idea has not, even in our own country, in the absence of the votes of half the people, been allowed proper space for expansion, though England, France and Switzerland are hewing at it also. Ahundred years longer will show what it can do, if demagogues do not overturn it. If our republic fails, another will arise upon its ashes, for the noble principles upon which it was founded are the highest yet conceived by man, and are immortal.
This truth cannot be too early or too strongly impressed upon our children. There are enough men, like our distinguished capitalist, who do not believe in it. Their plausible arguments may undermine the convictions of our young people, unless we furnish them with solid reasons for our higher belief.
As Mr. Benjamin C. R. Low has recently written in a fine poem, "America is so new!"
We are new. We realize that we arean experiment. Whether this experiment, the greatest the world has ever seen, is to succeed, depends upon the kind of patriotism that is instilled into our children. They must be thoroughly inoculated with the truth that both peace and war make incessant, expensive and personally sacrificial demands upon every citizen, and that these demands must be met by them, or else America is lost.
There must be no "slackers" in this everlasting conflict.
PATRIOTISM AND HEALTH
Entire abstinence from intoxicating drinks as a beverage, would, with all its attendant blessings, in the course of a single generation, carry comfort, competence and respectability, with but few exceptions, into all the dwellings in the land. This is not a matter of probability and conjecture. It depends upon principles as fixed and certain in their operation as the rising of the sun.—Horace Mann.
Entire abstinence from intoxicating drinks as a beverage, would, with all its attendant blessings, in the course of a single generation, carry comfort, competence and respectability, with but few exceptions, into all the dwellings in the land. This is not a matter of probability and conjecture. It depends upon principles as fixed and certain in their operation as the rising of the sun.—Horace Mann.
WE are accused by our foreign visitors of being a sickly nation, and the numerous exemptions from military service among our young men for physical defects, have reinforced their contention.Our ice-water, our ice-cream soda-water, our custom of bolting our food, and our over-heated houses, make it impossible, they say, that we should ever be a strong and healthy people. And so, of course, we can never hope to be a "world-power!"
Many other indictments are brought against us in this line, most of which, if the ardent accusers would only think of it, might be brought with equal justice against every other civilized nation.
Thus, excessive alcoholism, in which we have been said to be second only to Great Britain, evidently applies somewhat to other countries, in which the new prohibitory laws are declared to have worked a social and industrial revolution. Drunkenness must have prevailed there to a considerable degree, since the conditionof the people has been so much improved by a prohibitory law.
We are all ready to concede, even though prohibition has won to its support so many of our states, that there is still room for improvement in the public opinion of a large part of the country, regarding the merits of "wet and dry."
It is stoutly maintained in certain social circles that the daily presence of wine upon the family table is more likely than its absence to promote temperance there. This theory does not commend itself to most of us, and our position is strengthened by the facts recently proclaimed by science, which go to prove that not only do drunkards abound among the families which serve wine upon their tables, but that the use of any alcoholic beverage lowersefficiency and is distinctly injurious to health, in spite of exceptions. We always hear of these shining exceptions, while of the vast army of those who have succumbed, no records are available.
Dr. Eugene Lyman Fisk, in one of his interesting articles, states that recent scientific researches have proven that "alcohol has been found to be a depressant and a narcotic, often exerting, even in small daily doses, an unfavorable effect on the brain and nervous functions, and on heart and circulation, and lowering the resistance of the body to infection."
The testimony of the Life Insurance Companies and of the managers of athletic "teams," is also conclusive as to the deteriorating effects of alcohol; and themotive of patriotism will be found of great assistance in impressing the desirableness of total abstinence upon the young.
We should all like to have our country called the healthiest in the world. To that end we drain our marshes, protect our water-supply, make innumerable laws for tenement-reform, street-cleaning, pure food and so on. But all these measures are bound to be more or less ineffective so long as we cram our systems with chemical poisons.
Make this plain to your boy and your girl; and that, as the famous story has it, as every deed was done by the early fathers, "In the name of the King"; so, in what might seem to be irrelevant, though really germane and vital, weshould all do the right thing in the name of America.
We all know well the absolute slavery of men to fashion. The average man would rather be racked on the wheel of the Inquisition than to "appear out" in a coat or a hat different from those that "the other men" are wearing. Boys, large and small, are quite as sensitive. Mothers encounter angriest protests and even floods of tears if they strive to impose on their young sons any detail of costume different from that worn by "the other fellows." Women have long borne the imputation of being the chief sinners in this regard, but they are not. Their brothers are even more tightly bound in the meshes of the merciless despot, Fashion.
This fact must be taken into consideration in all efforts at social reform among men, as a class. The independence which can defy a hurtful social custom is very rare among them. Many a man who would "go over the top" without quailing, lacks the courage to oppose a popular social movement, though he may know that it is of dubious benefit to the race.
But true patriotism, to say nothing of other motives, bids us discard every habit and stamp out every malady which lowers themoraleor impairs the efficiency of the people.
One of the most subtle foes of our national health, and only lately dragged out of its secret lair for the open contumely and united attack of all good men andwomen, is the most terrible of sex-diseases, which is said to be frightfully prevalent.
Mr. Cleveland Moffett, inMcClure's Magazine, pleads for specific sex-instruction in our educational institutions. He says: "The youth of America are taught everything, with the exception of the most essential of all, the great secret of life. One result of this inexcusable neglect is seen in alarming high school conditions reported in various cities."
He advises home instruction in these important and delicate matters, but admits, what we all know, that few parents are qualified to give it. Those few should do so; but if the most terrible disease known to civilization, and probably, in a more or less virulent form, the mostcommon, is to be successfully combated, such instruction should be imparted. Under the circumstances, it must be done, apparently, by regular teachers, who should be high-minded, tactful and thoroughly trained.
This instruction should be given to each pupil separately and when alone with his teacher. Two or three interviews, of perhaps twenty minutes each, ought to be sufficient each year. It should be possible to arrange that number in every school in the land.
There is another great curse which operates especially against the health of our girls.
A well-known woman is in the habit of saying, "I have scarcely a woman-friend who either has not just had an operation,or is not having one now, or is not going to have one soon."
This statement always raises a laugh, but is no joke; it is a solemn, awful fact.
Now why are so many of our splendid women, well-fed, living largely in the open air, busy, educated, passionately devoted to the study of hygiene and sanitation, inevitably destined to be cut up on the operating-tables of our hospitals?
Why,—it is so commonly expected, that we hear of these operations now without a quiver, even though we know they are likely to be fatal. We accept them as though they were decreed by an inescapable Fate, and there was no remedy.
Is it reasonable that the Creator should have made woman to be a natural invalid,—to have powers and faculties which shecould never fully employ and enjoy? Of what use are our hard-won educational advantages, if they are going simply to a band of sickly, half-dead girls and women? It is a monstrous and blasphemous thought that our Maker designed women for such a destiny.
Huxley says that nine-tenths of the impediments to women's health are not inherent, but are due to her mode of life.
She was made to be strong and helpful. Her body is wonderfully wrought and fashioned for motherhood, and for the accomplishment of the high spiritual mission to which the woman-soul aspires. One is driven to the conclusion that at the root of her physical enfeeblement is the costume which has been imposed upon her by the false ideals and hyper-refinedstandards of past centuries, and of nations which have admired most the class of women who do not prepare themselves for motherhood.
The costume which women wear is intended chiefly to give an impression of slenderness. It is not suited to the hard work of the busy housewife, nor to that of the cramped and confined office- or shop-worker, nor to the life of the schoolgirl. A hard-working man, dressed in the modern corset and in the usually closely-belted blouse of the girl and woman of to-day, would fail physically and resort to the operating-table as universally as do his wife and sisters. That so many of them survive the ordeal and are able to perform some useful work in the world is, says one prominent physician,"one of the wonders of our time." "Pauline Furlong," in a recent issue of a widely circulated journal, begs that the corset and the closely fitting costume of the present be discarded, and replaced by something light, loose and hung entirely from the shoulders.
The recent remarks of Mr. Edison upon this subject are sound. He says, "There should be no pressure upon any part of the body, if the organs within, which require perfect freedom in order to do their work efficiently, are to perform their functions."
We shall never have a strong and healthy nation, though we may make volumes of sanitary laws, until there is a radical change in the dress of women. That, just as a girl is approaching theage when she is likely to marry and bear children, the organs of motherhood should be subjected to strong pressure and largely deprived of activity, so that the delicate milk-ducts are often atrophied, and the muscles most needed to support the child are weakened; while the chief organ of all is frequently displaced, leading to painful and sometimes fatal complications;—all this is so discreditable to the intelligence of our people, that future ages will doubtless look back upon our period as one of densest ignorance regarding eugenics.
You may ask, "What do you advise to take the place of the present mode of dress?"
Only the experts in such matters can answer this question. It seems likelythat some combination of the best points of the oriental costumes offers the best solution. The new dress should be perfectly loose; light in weight; should depend entirely from the shoulders, like a man's, thus bringing no pressure to bear upon the important but loosely hung organs of the abdomen; and the legs should be allowed the utmost freedom.
Women who have long depended upon a corset for support will doubtless find it uncomfortable, or even dangerous, to lay upon their enfeebled muscles alone the task of upholding their bodies. Girls who do not wear corsets will not "look well" (according to our modern distorted ideas) in any but the prevailing costume. The dancers say that if a truly hygienic mode of dress is introduced, the moderndance will have to be reformed,—which may not be the least of the benefits of such a mode!
These are some of the objections raised to radical changes in women's attire. But the health of our girls, and especially of our mothers, is a vital matter, and must be made paramount. There will always be causes enough for illness; but it must be emphasized that we shall never have a strong and healthy nation, in which but a small percentage, instead of the enormous one of the present draft, is rejected for physical defects, until the motherhood of the nation is properly equipped for motherhood. Neither will our girls be ready to fulfill nobly their new political duties.
Nature is strong, and she manages tocircumvent, to a certain extent, the obstructive devices of man. There are apparently many healthy children born of tightly corseted mothers. The outer flesh and blood of the child are made in the obscure laboratories of the body more easily than the later and highly refined fabrications of brain and nerve. Are the low average brain-power and the weak nerves of our people, leading in so many pitiable cases to moral and mental degeneracy, largely due to our criminal neglect of the conditions of free and splendid motherhood?
But, if we want to become a healthy and powerful people, what is more necessary for us than strong and healthy mothers?
The child should be taught that anytampering with health is immoral. The most conscientious observance of its laws should be impressed upon every boy and girl. Especially must we guard the health of our girls, for their function in the state is just now of vital moment, and yet it is not so much regarded apparently as that of their brothers.