THE CHILDREN

Franklin Times, Volume XXIX, Issue 24, 1 March 1940, Page 3

THE CHILDREN

“OF SUCH iS THE KiNGDOft'g OlHEAVEN” STATIC AM) PAUEA'TAL CAME I’herc Wfis a society for the prevention of cruelly to animals Jong before there was one for the prevention of cruelty to children. The exact, dates as far as England was concerned were 1824 and 1883. The chairman. at a meeting in (lie interests of the children, declared that lie was there for I lie prevention of cruelty, and he could not draw the line at children. It astonishes us nowadays to read that the first successful case of the first Society for tlie Prevention of Cruelty to Children, when a man was sentenced to three months for ill-treating' his child, stirred up a great commotion.

Where was the supposed sanctity ot the Englishman's hearth? Humanity and common sense provided the answer. Cruelly is a crime, no matter where it is committed or who commits it. The rights of even a parent are limited by every civilised Stale. Longfellow said: "Every human heart is human," but the statement needs serious qualification. If it is argued that the humanity is there, though it may be buried for a time by a career of vice, the answer is that humanity cannot be appreciated if it never shows itself. Its potential activity is of no present value. The degree of a nation's civilisation may be measured by its treatment of children.

We shudder on reading of the evils of slavery in the Roman world, but it should not be forgotten that it was in part sustained by tire revoltingpractice of exposure of llie children of the poor. Even the rich abandoned female or defective children. Luxury had eaten away tiie natural instincts of the aristocracyq, a fact which should have significance l'or all time. Quintilian wrote that "to kill a man is often held to be crime, but to kill one's own children is sometimes considered a beautiful action among the Romans." tie belonged to the first century of our era, and the thoughts of men have been widened greatly since then. Innocence and childhood are sacred. Francis Thompson told his friends that when they, reached Paradise they were to look for him "in the nurseries of heaven." Mrs Browning's Cry of the Children was written long before there was a protecting society for them.

When tliis lumeulable war broke oul Lhe tirst thought of the British Government was the protection of the children. Every private letter has something' wonderful to tell about evacuations of schools and the various measures devised to continue education. City children are transferred to the country, and homes provided for them where they will be tenderly cared for. Villagers with one or two spare rooms are called upon to take a regulation number of children, and it must be admitted that this human procedure lias strange repercussions. In seme they are belter imagined than described. especially when the evacuated youngsters come from city slums. Apart from such considerations it is obvious that the benefits to the health of the children must be great and photography reveals the delight of the youngsters in wandering through the Janes arid woods.

The parents in the city, white appieeiating the paternal care of the Government and (lie services of the foster-mothers, have felt the separation keenly, some of them even preferring the risks iof bombing. Nevertheless, I lie off eel of the stay in the country will be physically and mentally beneficial to the children. If they happen to be domiciled in a mansion with spacious grounds the impression will be vivid and enduring, and have a. deep inlluence upon their social standards and aims. Their outlook will be enlarged and refined. If their book education, is somewhat Limited by war conditions, there will be compensation in the form of heightened ideals. in contrast with all this, one cannot avoid mention of the causes which render evacuation necessary. .The convention is that only military objectives should he bombed, and I Imre are conceivable instances in which bombs might miss their legilimate mark and fall upon a closely populated part of the city. It happened so in the Great War, and may happen again.

The laudable care of children shown by the British Government is perhaps |o some extent the result of insight; into what civilisation owes to the institution of the family. Of the three divine institutions —state, family and church—the influence of the family is by no means the least. The chldrcn teach us more than we over teach

them, and the poets did lit exaggerate when they said they were '‘angels of God in disguise,” and open the mysterious gate into an undiscovered land.” A greater than any poet said: "Of such is the kingdom of heaven,” That 1 i-ofound and subtle thinker Amiel Ims described our indebtedness to the children in language alike impressive and true. “Blessed be childhood, which brings down something of heaven into the midst of our rough! earthilness. The thousands of daily births represent as it were an effusion of innocence and freshness, struggling not only against the death of the race, but against human corruption and the universal gangrene of sin. . . . Supposing that humanity had been composed of a thousand millions of immortal beings, whose number could neither increase nor diminish, where should wc be, and what should we be? A thousand times more learned, no doubt, but a thousand times more : evil . . . Blessed be childhood for the j good which it brings about, carelessly | and unconsciously, by simply making us love it and letting itself be loved. How delightful to walk with innocence and'trust! How quickly childhood passes! In view of what il teaches us we owe to it our companionship and devotion. We have the task of moulding what we have created. The honour of parenthood is obvious: iis duties are to he taken seriously. To perform them worthily is the best service we can render to our day and generation. The war has revealed anew the British attach :ii in hearth and home, and the sacredness of the family.