IGORANCE OF MOTHERS.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXX, Issue 6492, 11 April 1908, Page 12

IGORANCE OF MOTHERS.

(By Colonel A. Wolby.) “The people perish for lack of knowledge.” Those are words taken from on official report. What an indictment or this boasted civilisation of the twcr.nct.i century! Tho wide interest taken in the pure milk campaign is another indication showing that public opinion is at last aroused to a sense of its responsibilities towards child-life in this country, and daily it becomes evident that tho question of infant mortality is tho most pressing of our time. A steadily-decreasing birth-rate and tho knowledge that 11D,(XX) infants die yearly before reaching tiie age of twelve months are facts that a nation cannot afford to disregard, for not only is there a terrible sacrifice' ot thousands of Jives but the conditions to which so many succumb affect at least three times as many who survive to carry on a miserable existence.

Physical degeneration is easily accounted for when we realise tuat the greater number of infants who live to' grow up had to pass through such influences as are able to kill 15(1 in every thousand. It should be remember taat, in spite of disabilities arising irom poverty, bad environment, intemperance, and other causes, about 80 per cent of all children are healthy when born. Wo are, therefore,’ brought to tne conclusion, that high infant mortality and degeneration denote the existence of evil of a more personal character, intimately connected with tho mother and tho bom©, life. Wo need not go far to discover this ovil, for it lies at the root or the whole problem, namely, ignorance. DIRECT RESPONSIBILITY.

Ignorance in motherhood not only accounts for an alarming' death-rate, but is directly responsible tor nearly all our mental and physical degenerated, and for numbers of our cripples. Blindness, deafness, life-long indigestion, chronic bronchitis, and consumption are but a few of the tributes it exacts from tho innocent. Our hospitals, asylums, institutions, and prisons are filled by thevictims of ignorance. Those of us who have visited much among the poor arc familiar with tho tale of the grieving mother. She will tell you with tears of the little ones she has buried, show you iue sickly ones ??.e has to rear, call upon Heaven to witness her sorrows, ana ydt that same woman will probably feed her baby on kippers or over-rip© fruit, maybe washed down with a few drops Oj. gin and water, stifle his cries of pain by soothing powders, expose his frail, half-clothed body to ©very inclement weather, any time of tho day or night, and then, after prolonged suffering, when the little life is destroyed directly by nor own hand, she will don the deepest black and consider herself an object oi pity. No one would ever dare to call her a murderess; yet she nas as truly slain her child as if she had taken his life intentionally. No, one would bring an cusation of wilful cruelty, or of wilful causing pain Or even cleatn. It is the inevitable experience of workers that tho poor mother is kind, even loving, to her offspring, but . appallingly ignorant and careless, without the most elementary knowledge of the laws of health and cleanliness. IGNORANCE A CRIME. We preach persistently and eloquently against many a crime;- but there is no crime so great as ignorance, non© moro merciless, in its dealings, none so farreaching in its results. We read harrowing tales in newspapers, our feelings are outraged by the sufferings of these innocents, tears spring to our eyes at the sight of a- crippled child, a blighted life, cursed from its cradle; we give generously to mitigate the wearinctes and pain of these little* ones, and support hosts of charities ‘and institutions in order, if possible, to undo some of the harm that need never have been done, and all the while w© are aware that ignorance Is adding daily fresh victims of this terrible roil. How long are we. going to stand and watch this wholesale waste of life ana healtn without making practical efforts the crime of ignorance. That a woman should be able to o* tain pure milk and fooa for her children is essential. Public opinion and legislation can do much to enforce this; but it will bo of little value unless accompanied by a common-sense. Knowledge of the laws of health and intant care. You may obtain the purest milk, Tnit if you 'put it in a dirty vessel, allowed to stand uncovered in a room where th© air is germ-laden, and given to the child whenever he cries, you might as well do noiumg. The dim condition of the articles used in feeding is often the cause of muen preventable pam and disease, and ignorance is often the sole cause of unclean lincee. THE GREAT NEED.

From whatever point of view w© study this problem we are met by the one widespread need of a Higher standard of motherhood. An Infant depends for its life, not upon the Stdte, or any. charifcaoie agency, medical inspection, or visiting nurse, but upon the intelligence, care, unselfish devotion and maternal instinct of the mother.

The vital importance to the nation of motherhood needs no comment. On motherhood, on tho family, the centre of all social and community life. Motherhood is the noblest, highest, and most inspiring of all vocations, and it is a blot on our humanity and a reflection on our civilisation that we have neglected the most essential of all education. •If we should find a true* solution to this prewing question, save the children and the health of future generation*, prevent untold' misery and suffering, we must train np a nation of inetraet of the mother.

Thia can only ba done by a aimple, thorough, and common-cense teaching in the laws of health and infant ca.ro, implanted in early life and made the first and chief object of every girl’s ©du-|

cation in tho public elementary and continuation schools, it is little short of a scandal that our mothers should be taught Slmr.cspeare, oiaboratc composition, sin-fug ami drawing, over whicii so much time is spoilt, when wo are unable through ignorance to rear a luv.iltny race.

•Surely wo must recognise that to produce good citizens, sound in mind and body, is of vital imparlance, and that Ihoro is no possible excuse lor neglecting so obvious a duty.—“ Daily Lxpress.”