Gambar halaman
PDF
ePub

8

THE JUVENILE COURT RECORD

end it may suspend or destroy them all, so that now in the beginning it is exceedingly important that we should face squarely the risk before us and determine whether the protection of the schooling and work of children is a necessity or a luxury.

What have foreign countries to teach us from their three years' war experience? The children's bureau has made a search of public reports upon living conditions affecting children behind the lines in the various warring nations in order to learn what seems to the belligerent powers the great necessity back there where the women and children are living.

Admittedly our standards of life including those of child protection, are higher than those of Europe. Otherwise more than ninety per cent of our immigrants would not have come at the invitation of earlier arrivals-friends who, in many cases earned and sent the money for their passage. The important consideration is not the actual standards of life in any European country, but the attitude of the public mind toward their preservation or loss.

What England Did

At the outbreak of the war the Board of Education of Great Britain stated that "in the general interest of the nation it is of the greatest importance that the public education of the country should be continued without interruption and with undiminished efficiency."

A year later its report contains this paragraph: "To withdraw the child from school at an earlier age than that contemplated by the attendance by-laws is to arrest his education on the threshold of the years when he is probably just commencing to assimilate and consolidate the instruction he has received and is receiving at school. His introduction to labor at this time renders him liable to conditions of strain detrimental to his physical well-being."

Upon such statements as these follow the reports of the British Munition workers' committee, which emphasize the waste of the extraordinary war conditions of work and urge the restoration of former restrictions. They say:

"Conditions of work are accepted without question and without complaint which, immediately detrimental to output, would if continued be ultimately disastrous to health. It is for the nation to safeguard the devotion of its workers by its foresight and watchfulness lest irreparable harm be done to body and mind both in this generation and the next.

"Very young girls show almost immediate symptoms of lassitude, exhaustion and impaired vitality under the influence of employment at night. A very similiar expression was made by the appearance of large numbers of young boys who had been working at munition work for a long time on alternate night and day shifts." Experience In France

In the same tone says M. Albert Thomas, French Minister of Munitions:

"The experience of war time has only demonstrated the necessity-technical, economic, and even physiological-of the labor laws enacted before the war. In our legislation secured in time of peace we shall find the conditions for a better and more intense production during the war."

It is especially noteworthy that England has not permitted any lowering of the age limits for factory work. Its exemptions from school attendance for farm labor by children have been considerable in some localities, yet continually opposed in others, and in some districts no exemptions have been allowed. The British Board of Education quotes the Board of Agriculture as expressing the opinion that if the women of the country districts of England took the part they might in agriculture it would be quite unnecessary to sacrifice the children. And the Board of Trade Labor Gazette says:

"The Board of Trade, in consultation with the Board of Agriculture, are taking active steps to mobilize a sufficient supply of women for work on the land in order to meet the shortage of agricultural labor due to the enlistment of men in His Majesty's forces. The reserves of women's labor available for agriculture are to be found chiefly among the local unoccupied women in country villages, who have some experience of or familiarity with, agricultural work, and also among the better educated women who are willing to be trained for the purpose."

The countries which have borne the brunt of the war have indeed sacrificed the schooling of children to their evident injury. Cecil Leeson says in his book on "The Child and the War:" "If the lads were learning anything useful the situation, though still undesirable, would not be quite so bad; but they are not learning anything useful. Most of the factory work they do is 'Blind alley' work, fitting them for nothing afterward; and, to do it, lads are sacrificing physique, efficiency, and in very many cases, character."

Raise Teachers' Salaries

This year, notwithstanding the increasing exhaustion of the war, England and France have taken determined measures to restore or to im

prove their old standards. In England the Board of Education has demanded a budget showing an increase of nearly four million pounds, the largest increase known in the history of English Education. Its purpose is to raise teachers' salaries, to restore school buildings to school use, and to increase school efficiency.

Mr. Herbert Fisher, president of the Board of Education, in a speech in the House of Commons last April, supporting this budget, said: "Economy is in the air. We are told to economize in our expenditure and foodstuffs. I suggest that we should economize in the human capital of the country which we have too long allowed to run to waste!"

It is inspiring to know that certain younger countries have from the first refused any sacrifice of children's right to education. Compulsory school attendance laws have not been lowered in Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. Since the war began requirements for school attendance have been raised in Nova Scotia and in some parts of Australia. Manitoba passed its first compulsory education laws in March, 1916. There has been no weaking of labor laws affecting women and children in New Zealand nor in any Canadian province. Yet Canada has sent to the front one-nineteenth of her total popula

tion and New Zealand has sent one-fourteenth.

Lesson From Our Allies

This heroic struggle to protect the schooling of children in countries so desperately involved in war as are France and England, this brave insistence upon no reduction by the colonies which have sent their men so freely and generously to the aid of England, are in strange contrast with the spirit of the law passed by the largest state in this country permitting the school year to be curtailed five months; in strange contrast to the spacious willingness to let children do their bit; in strange contrast with the suggestion that the federal child labor law shall be suspended or repealed before it goes into operation.

Such efforts to tamper with the rights of children are not at an end. They will grow in plausibility and insistence unless they are frankly and vigorously met. Today as never before it is certain that the public school teachers of America have an unparalleled power to guard the nation's children and to hold public opinion so that this country will insist that the schools shall gather momentum during this period of war in order that they may better cope with the inevitable disturbance of orderly life which war entails.

On behalf of children, even in war time, we must practice that true economy which scattereth abroad, yet increaseth.

[graphic][merged small]

United States Government Official Table

of Correct Diet for Growing Children

M

THE CHILD OF TWO.

UCH of the illness and suffering among babies commonly attributed to the "second summer" or to teething, is actually due to errors in feeding. The baby's delicate digestive mechanism, accustomed to dealing only with milk, cannot all at once undertake the task of adjustment to a varied diet of solid foods, but must be strengthened by the gradual addition of new foods until the organs are trained to more complicated operations.

The safe rule for feeding the baby is to add but one new food at a time to his dietary; to watch carefully the effect of each one and to withdraw it and return to the simpler diet at the first sign of trouble. These rules are particularly important in summer, when a baby is more rapidly upset.

The following list shows the day's meals for a baby in his second year:

7 a. m.-Milk, zwieback, toast or dried bread.

9 a. m.-Orange juice.

10 a. m.-Cereal, cup of milk.

2 p. m.-Broth, meat, vegetables, stale bread, baked apple.

6 p. m.-Cereal, milk, toast or bread. 10 p. m.-Milk (may be omitted). Milk. At this time the baby should be taking about one quart of milk in 24 hours. Part of this may be poured over the cereal.

Cereals.-Oatmeal

should be cooked three hours, with a little salt in the water. It should be served without sugar, or with a very little only. The lighter cereals should be cooked at least an hour.

Breads. Bread for young children must have been thoroughly baked and should be quite dry when used, that is at least two days old. Tender toast is made by cutting thin slices from such a loaf and allowing them to dry still more, then toasting them to a delicate brown over a quick fire.

Fruit. The child may have a small portion of baked apple or prunes once a day in addition to his morning feeding of

orange juice. The apple should be baked very tender, and all the skin, seeds and Prunes hard parts should be removed. should be very carefully washed, soaked all night, then cooked until very tender with very little sugar. A small portion of the strained pulp may be given instead of apple, and the juice may be used also.

Meat. The child may have about a tablespoonful of scraped meat or a soft boiled or coddled egg once a day. Beef, broiled, boiled, or roasted, the tender part of a lamb chop or the delicate meat of chicken or fish may be used.

Vegetables.-A small portion of some properly cooked green vegetable like spinach or tender string beans may be given. Such vegetables should be fresh. They should be cooked, then drained and mashed or strained through a colander.

THE CHILD OF THREE.

At the beginning of the third year the child's diet may be increased by adding more solid food, especially meats and vegetables. According to the U. S. Department of Agriculture, every healthy child of three should have at least one feed a day from each of the following five groups:

1. Milk and dishes made chiefly of milk (most important of this group in children's diet; meat, fish, poultry, and eggs. 2. Bread and other cereal foods. Butter and other wholesome fats. Vegetables and fruits. Simple sweets.

3.

4.

5.

The meats should be beef, boiled, broiled, or roasted; lamb chops; the white meat of chickens, or delicate fish. All meat should be free from fat, gristle, or bone and finely minced when given to the child.

Eggs should be very soft boiled, coddled or poached, or soft scrambled. Fried eggs should never be given a child, but the grated. or mashed yolk of a very hard boiled egg may sometimes be used.

Meat broths made from mutton, beef, or chickens have little nutriment, but if these are thickened with arrowroot or

corn starch and especially if milk is added, they become a valuable food. Wellcooked vegetables, strained and added to warm milk, are not only good foods, but serve to teach the child to like vegetables. Cereals should be thoroughly cooked and served with milk or thin cream and a very small amount of sugar or none.

Bread for a child should be at least two days old. Toast, zwieback or hard crackers may be given once or twice a day.

Baked potatoes moistened with a little butter, thin cream, beef juice or platter gravy may be given.

Asparagus tips, string beans, carrots, young peas, squash, well-cooked and mashed or put through a puree sieve, are all good for a child. A small portion of one of these vegetables may be a part of the child's dinner each day.

Fruits should be continually used. At this age sweet oranges, baked apples or stewed prunes are most useful. The juice or mashed pulp of fresh ripe pears or peaches may be given in the third year, but there is much danger in using over-ripe or green fruit as well as in giving too much. It is especially necessary to be careful in hot weather, when fresh fruit decays rapidly. Bananas should never be given to a young child. A child under four years of age should never have dried or salted meats, sausage, pork, game, liver, kidney, goose or duck. Fried and raw vegetables, hot fresh breads, cakes and pastries, salads, candy, sirups, tea, coffee, beer, cider, and soda water are all unsuitable foods for a child.

THE CHILD OF FOUR.

During the fourth year, milk still remains an important part of the child's food, but much of it may now be given in the form of bread and milk, milk soups, or milk pudding, or it may be poured over the cereal. Some children object to drinking milk, and in such cases it is wise to offer it under some such disguise. The cereal need no longer be strained, but must be very thoroughly cooked.

The diet at this time should include all the articles advised for the two earlier years, with the addition of more meats, vegetables and fruits.

Baked potatoes with a little butter are a staple food at this period. Bread and butter or toast and butter, and plenty of hard

crusts or zwieback are important. Eggs or meat, such as roasted, boiled or broiled beef, mutton, chicken, or fish, should be given it least once a day.

The child of four will probably thrive on three or four meals a day, the heaviest being taken in the middle of the day. If he appears to be hungry, a light lunch such as milk may be given, in the interval between breakfast and dinner or between dinner and supper, but no nibbling should be permitted between meals.

A child should be taught to come to the table with that vigorous appetite for his food which leads to good digestion and assimilation.

Young children should not be offered "tastes" of the family meals, as this habit tends to destroy the appetite for the simple, rather restricted diet adapted to their need.

Children should have an abundance of pure, cool drinking water. This is especially important in summer, when they are perspiring freely. If there is any doubt about the purity of the water, it should be filtered or boiled, or both.

Since it is always difficult for children to chew their food properly, it should be finely minced, mashed or softened.

Never under any circumstances should children be given coffee, tea or strong cocoa. They should have no highly seasoned or spiced foods, rich pastries, raw vegetables, onions, corn, or cabbage.

Bananas and all partly ripened fruit are apt to make trouble.

If children are inclined to be constipated they should have plenty of laxative foods. These are cereals, particularly oatmeal, the coarser breads, such as graham and whole wheat; fruit or fruit juice, particularly oranges and prunes, and vegetables like string beans, asparagus and spinach.

Many children suffer from mal-nutrition, that is, they fail to secure the food materials they need for development and growth, and consequently they are undersized, pale, often slow and listless, and do not show the eager, alert habits of healthy children.

It is a wise precaution, therefore, if children are out of sorts, have decayed teeth, bad breath, or seem tired and disinclined to play, to have them examined by a good doctor.

A Very Strange Juvenile Case

A

By Jessie Juliet Knox

JUVENILE COURT in California has had, among other strange cases recently, one of a girl of thirteen, Marion Smith. That the girl is a pathological liar seems to be the only excuse as yet for her unaccountable conduct. She has a father, mother, brother and small sisters and brothers and lives in a suburb of a big city. One night Marion rushed over in great excitement to her next door neighbor, saying: "I cannot stand the beatings given me by my mother and brother any longer. Please take me in, for I must have help." The lady, not knowing what to do, could not turn the child away, so took her in for the night, and on the next day phoned to the Probation officers, who came out at once to investigate the case. They first called at the public school, where the girl should have been in attendance, and learned that she had registered there the first day of school, but had not appeared since that time. They then called at the house of the lady who was sheltering Marion, and saw the child. She was very pretty and unusually intelligent. She met them at the door, and upon being questined, replied: "I ran away because I could not stand the beatings of my mother and brother any longer. I don't know why they treat me so mean, unless it is because I like my father. I do all the work that is done in the house-all the scrubbing, washing and everything.

"My mother is not very strong, and lies in bed nearly all the morning, and when she gets up she goes out. She has gone down town now to get a cat and nine tails to use on me for running away. She beat me because I forgot to bring home the chicken meat from the store. She took me by the hair and slapped me. I went back to the store and got the chicken meat, and when I came home my brother was there, and she had told him, and he slapped I cannot stand it any longer, and I want to go to my father. I am not al

me.

[blocks in formation]

my mother she must not hit me, and told me if she did to come to the Detention Home.

"My father is separated from my mother. He drinks. Sends my mother seventyfive dollars a month, and I think I should have some of it. I haven't any clothes at all, except the dress I have on. I don't know why my mother won't let me go to school. I was operated on five months ago for appendicitis, and still have awful pains in my side. I am sometimes saucy to my mother, but I try to do the best I can. My mother would kill me if she knew I was telling you these things. No one but one who has lived in this house can tell you how I am treated."

The woman official gave Marion her card, and told her she hoped she was telling her the truth. The next day Marion surprised the Detention Home by calling there, telling them that she had come there for protection. She said: "Last night my brother brought home three men with him, and they talked against President Wilson, and about how easy it would be to blow up the City Hall. My brother is twenty-one years old, but he said he was only nineteen, because he did not want to go to war. I listened to their talk, and told them I was going to tell on them. Then my brother gagged me, and said he would shoot me. My mother said: 'Don't shoot her here, but take her to Mexico.'

"When the men went home they took the gag (a towel knotted at one end and tied around my neck) from my mouth and sent me to bed.

"This morning I heard my mother telling my brother that it would be better to poison me, as then they could say that I just died. I am afraid to go home, as I know they meant what they said, and I know they intend to kill me. Said she

« SebelumnyaLanjutkan »