Part 4

Parental Love itself, unless guarded by the restraint of superior intelligence, may become a bad teacher through over-indulgence or through carelessness or neglect resulting from a form of blindness especially peculiar to young parents. To these, bad temper is an evidence of "spirit," and waywardness is proof of qualities of leadership. To young parents the "spirit" of their "own flesh and blood" cannot be bad spirit and "leadership" cannot contemplate a wrong direction; and yet these tendencies generally become perverse with indulgence.

According to primeval usage which was imposed by once sacred traditions that have become misfits in present civil and social codes, society attacks evil in front, instead of on the flanks, where it is weak, or in the rear, where it is impotent to oppose good. Neglect of children from the time of birth until the primary school age of six or seven years has furnished a nursery of bad habits and warped character out of which to supply a strong foe to established order and industry for society to fight and punish, when a tenth part of the effort and expense applied at the right end would have effected an ideal social condition.

If it is desired to fight hereditary tendency or evil environment, the time to do it is before it has become a fixed impression and a habit-of-thought, and the kindergarten has proved that the evil suggestions of depraved home environment are easily amenable to the good influence of strong counter-suggestion if applied early enough to prevent an indelible impression being fixed upon the memory.

There has been a sort of national social quarantine for several years, but at the wrong ports of entrance. More or less effective attempts have been made to turn back paupers, criminals, insane persons and imbeciles from landing on our shores. We have had personal experience of a cruel case of ill-judged interpretation of the law that refused a young woman to land, who was none of these outcasts in fact, but whose fault was approaching maternity without a marriage certificate to legalize it. In the case in point the quarantine resulted in murder, for the young mother was in no condition to be sent back to sea and a fright experienced on the voyage resulted in the death of the child and serious illness to the young mother.

This is the present interpretation of what should constitute "strict" social quarantine, but these sources of social disorder and misery are insignificant and comparatively harmless when compared with those accompanying the immigrants arriving hourly from the Creator, through the port of Birth, brought hither on the wings of the mystic stork.

There is no reason to quarantine against these little immigrants themselves, for among them there may be a Washington, a Franklin, a Lincoln, a Bergh, a Bolivar, a Peabody, a Margaret Haughery, a Plimsol, or a Froebel; and of the rank and file there may be a whole army of altruists whose mission from abroad is to bring strength and happiness to the land of their chance and involuntary adoption.

We must accept and even welcome these Immigrants by birth without restrictions or credentials until they are able to speak for themselves and render an account of _our_ stewardship in their behalf. Until that time our social administration is unworthy the name of civilization unless the duty of our strength to their weakness--of our loyal hospitality to their involuntary guesthood--shall have been fulfilled, even to the last waif among them.

The duty of society is not fulfilled while it has furnished only partial protection to a limited number of these wards, and not until it has found out and served the last one of them with whatever mental or physical nourishment it may need to supplement that which chance of birth has furnished. It is not only a duty to them, but to ourselves and to our own children, who are subject to the influence of these other immigrants in the community, no matter how isolated they, or we, may seem to be.

* * * * *

The experience of the kindergarten, where intelligently administered, already proves that care of children during that tender period ranging from earliest perceptions to seven or ten years of age is capable of securely forming character for life, perfecting the naturally good and greatly modifying hereditarily bad tendencies so that the good habits thus formed can be traced through the whole course of development in the higher schools and even out into the competition of life.

There is good in every child. It is the duty of the kindergartner to find that good, and efficient ones do it, straining energy where most needed, and finding greatest pleasure in the hardest problems.

That this efficiency is due to the merit of the inspiring motive and the kindergarten method is proven by the fact that the same earnestness and happiness in results obtains in all lands where the system is in use and is not confined to isolated places. We have personally seen it illustrated in the kindergartens of Holland and Germany as well as in the United States.

But there is no longer intelligent controversy about the efficiency of present methods in use in Character-Forming schools where habit and character are the first aims, leaving special intellectual attainment and religion to follow as natural results in due course.

What these little immigrants become in character must be the result of the conditions we prepare for them, and with which we surround them after arrival. We are responsible for the conditions to which they are condemned or by which they are favored, and hence all criminality or enforced idleness is part of the responsibility of each member of a community and in proportion to his intelligence or wealth. Society has heretofore neglected and persecuted the parents, but let us not perpetuate a barbarous inheritance for their children.

It is therefore proper to place social quarantine first in respect of importance.

* * * * *

No one form of quarantine can replace other forms, for there is need of protection at every gate by which evil may enter. The function of social quarantine is to teach moral or individual quarantine. Evil finds its way into the mind and becomes a bad habit-of-thought through fear in some of its many forms of expression. It is an easy matter to teach a child the difference between _fearthought_ and forethought and to guard the mind against a tendency to fear. Social quarantine itself would eliminate the chief cause for fear and at the same time stimulate energy for useful accomplishment of some kind.

The old idea that necessity is the only mother of effort was operative only in primeval times when man was yet very much of an animal, when might was the recognized title to right, and before mankind had passed "over the center," as it were, in evolution, and before he came within the atmosphere of the dominant influence of attraction towards the highest ideals.

It is only necessary to refer to the cases around one in every community to note that the spirit of work in normal man is never satisfied, any more than the spirit of play is ever satisfied in children before they are warped out of shape by unwholesome surroundings.

Society has placed its quarantine against the germs of idleness and disorder at only one gate, and it begins to fight them only when they have established entrenched camps within the borders, and have already begun their depredations.

Between the outer gate of Birth and the inner gate of Individual Responsibility it has not only left open fields of temptation, but it has permitted the digging and maintaining of masked pitfalls of vice that the youth of the slums or of careless parents can scarcely escape. It is true that there is a theoretical protection offered through laws forbidding the entertainment of minors in saloons and other nurseries of vice, but many children roam at will among these pitfalls and cannot escape the influence, while all children, lads especially, no matter how isolated or protected, are sometimes drawn into these maelstroms by accident, or the allurements of the depraved ones already engulfed within them, who are eager for company to share their misfortune and disgrace.

Society practically abandons its Apprentice Citizens to haphazard instruction during the most important period of character-formation, and confronts them with punishment when full-grown tendencies to idleness and evil may already have become habits.

Within the past few years organized detachments of society have essayed to offer protection on humanitarian grounds and thereby have unconsciously helped to avoid the necessity of expensive correction by placing outposts as near to the gate of birth as possible, the crèche being the outer sentinel and the kindergarten guarding one of the inner gates of entrance into life, but the full benefit of protection cannot be felt, and there is in reality no quarantine at all until _no child can escape_ the care of these blessed institutions.

* * * * *

We are not pleading for an untried experiment but we are appealing for organized effort to utilize already successful and approved means to close up the last gap of neglect through which the germs of evil and discord and idleness and waste may enter, and thus derive, for a small additional cost, the tenfold benefit of complete over partial protection. We are pleading for support that shall enable us to find the waif of our story, and the only possible means of rescuing him is to "corral" all waifs in need of care. We are pleading that the conscience of our nation may not be soggy with the responsibility of one neglected, helpless one at home even while we fight in the cause of freedom abroad.

QUARANTINE

"When the old king demanded of the Spartans fifty of their children as hostages, they replied: 'We would prefer to give you a hundred of our most distinguished men.' This was but a fair testimony of the value of the child to any commonwealth and to any age. The hope of the world lies in the children. The hope of this nation lies in the little children that throng our streets to-day."--_Sarah B. Cooper, before the National Conference of Charities and Correction._

QUARANTINE

Perfect protection rests only behind a strict quarantine.

It is not sufficient to bar the seaports of a country against infectious physical diseases.

The greatest need of quarantine is against germs of disorder that originate within the gates.

Quarantine can never be partial, for, unless complete, it ceases to be quarantine.

Quarantine means, in brief, exclusion--keeping without the gates.

There are gates, however, other than seaports, and germs of pestilential contagious disorders other than the bacilli of smallpox or yellow fever.

Social Quarantine and Moral Quarantine are even more essential for the protection of communities and individuals than quarantine against epidemics of imported physical sickness.

Quarantine is less expensive than correction.

All languages have a proverb similar to the Anglo-Saxon, "An ounce of prevention is better than a pound of cure."

Centuries of experience with quarantine, and occasional neglect of it, have demonstrated that the smallest neglect may engender endless mischief.

* * * * *

Why not profit by this experience in dealing with all questions of social and individual concern? Why not adopt social and moral quarantine with the same thoroughness of aim in order to escape the evils of ignorance, waste, poverty, fear, worry and unhappiness when we know that these disorders are more harmful to a people than the most virulent imported diseases?

Moral and Social Quarantine are the bases of all forms of prevention and protection. They guard against ignorance and thereby insure the wisdom that institutes other branches of quarantine which throw a cordon of protection around society.

Social quarantine stimulates and embraces moral quarantine.

Seaport quarantine is maintained only while the _last_ microbe is prevented from entering the gates.

Social quarantine must extend its protection to every growing human life in a community during the period of its growth, and influence the formation of its character, in order to be signally effective. It must reach the _last_ waif with its loving care. Reaching the _last_ waif necessitates reaching _all waifs_, and that constitutes, and must be the aim of, Perfect Social Quarantine.

The character of the _last_, or _least_, unit of a nation is a vital test of the strength and consistency of a nation.

* * * * *

Society is indebted to the mother instinct of the race for the finest expressions of its character.

The functions of social quarantine are clearly within the province of maternal care.

The first necessity of social quarantine is to protect the dawning intelligences of children against evil or false impressions by furnishing ample facilities for gaining wholesome suggestions, so that good ideas shall dominate the mind and leave no room for the assimilation of harmful impressions.

The second necessity of social quarantine is to surround all children with good-character-forming and health-giving industrial facilities and make them so attractive that none shall escape their allurements.

Society fails of its most important duty while there is any lack of facilities for the best known methods of child protection and training.

More kindergartens or manual-training schools than are needed to accommodate _all_ growing children that need them, is an evidence of the forethought, wisdom and strength of a community. One waif turned away from care, through lack of facilities for care, is evidence of criminal neglect in which each member of the community shares. Care of the _last_ waif is worth more to a community than the care of hundreds of the first ones reached.

* * * * *

As the "family is the basis of society," so is the kindergarten the basis of education, and _Character-Building Schools the basis of Good Government_.

The strength of early character-building tuition--of social quarantine--is mother love exercised without prejudice or over-indulgence.

The instinct of mother love in the hearts and souls of women who are not themselves mothers has been the means of developing the blessings of the kindergarten, and the wonderful enthusiasm of all good kindergartners is evidence of the value to growth--of true merit--of the method of Froebel.

In the development of the kindergarten woman has shown her strength and capacity as an architect and builder of character, and in the establishment, maintenance and management of character-building institutions she has proved that she is master of all the branches of administration of these fundamental nurseries of good government.

The evident, urgent and growing need of beginning at the root of society and building character from its first foundation as the only efficient means to social reform; the proving of mother care to be the most potent factor in character-building; the increasing willingness of woman, in this era of our civilization, to share the division of political responsibility; and the need of complete and thorough measures to attain speedy reform, all together, call for a stride in evolution that shall provide for a system of Perfect Social Quarantine and for a Mother Organization to establish and maintain it on lines of the best intelligence.

* * * * *

This is the sum and substance of the contention of this book; and hence the title.

An argument of the case for the contention, although it should be unnecessary at this present stage of the development of Character-Building schools, follows, inspired by the hope that an earnest presentation of forceful simila, striking contrasts, uncivilized inconsistencies and a heartfelt appeal (as we see and feel them) may arouse a sympathy, of national breadth and strength, that will not rest short of the accomplishment of Civilized Social Quarantine.

There are illustrations and suggestions pertinent to the subject that may prove interesting to those who are trying to find and eradicate the last germs of evil that are a present blight upon the normal happiness of mankind. Inasmuch as cleanliness and sanitary care are certain results of the influence of character schools, quarantine against uncleanly and unsanitary conditions of neglect is sure to follow.

There are also some attempted exposures of neglect and inconsistency within our gates that impeach our vaunted assumption of first place in the vanguard of progress.

The main plea of the book embodies suggestions relative to the formation of quarantine or character associations in communities, and a national organization of gentlewomen and gentlemen whose aim shall be to nurture and protect society at its weakest roots and at every point, so that the fruit shall be the best material for good citizenship. And the call includes all who have experienced the blessings of forethoughtful care and parental love.

QUARANTINE AGAINST UNCIVILIZED INCONSISTENCY

"The prevention of crime is the duty of society. But society has no right to punish crime at one end, if it does nothing to prevent it at the other end. Society's chief concern should be to remove causes from which crime springs. It is as much a duty to prevent crime as it is to punish crime."--_Sarah B. Cooper, before the National Conference of Charities and Correction._

QUARANTINE AGAINST UNCIVILIZED INCONSISTENCY

BY

TURNING THE SEARCH-LIGHTS INWARD

There is a Chinese belief that stagnant water carries the bodies of whatever may be drowned in it in continual suspense, never floating them upon the surface, neither allowing them to sink to the bottom. These putrid pools are never drained and the water is never disturbed, simply through fear of the ghastly consequences. It is believed also that the enveloping putridity prevents natural decomposition, and for a human being to be drawn to this death by any means is evidence of some horrible secret sin.

* * * * *

Citizens of Chicago are too familiar with the Chicago River, which separates its several sections, not to realize that the ooze which crawls back and forth in its channel under the bridges and over the tunnels is an abomination of filth and putridity.

According to the Chinese legend, the bodies of cats and dogs and even children that are engulfed by this ooze are never recovered. They cannot float on the surface and they cannot sink to the bottom; neither do they disappear by the ordinary processes of decay. In a bloated, water-logged condition they are destined to remain a part of the ooze forever, or until the waters of Lake Michigan, coursing through the new drainage canal toward the Gulf of Mexico, shall deliver them to the natural elements of pure water and pure air, in which to dissolve back to original particles and gases.

There are stagnant pools in the centers of Chinese cities that have attained sufficiently fetid conditions to warrant legends such as the foregoing. These abominations of far-off Cathay are noisome indeed, but we, who have seen and otherwise sensed both the Chinese putrid pools and the Chicago River, assert that the latter is the worst of all.

* * * * *

During the World's Columbian Exposition there convened in Chicago a congress of humanitarians under the name of The World's Parliament of Religions. By its membership and its accomplishments it earned the unqualified respect of the civilized world, and the eminent teacher and scholar, Professor, Doctor Max Müller, proclaimed it the most important event in civilization of the Nineteenth Century.

Suppose, for illustration, that the members of this humanitarian congress were to be gathered upon one of the bridges that span the Chicago River and were to witness, standing upon the deck of an excursion steamer, a group of well dressed women and well fed men engaged in watching the frantic efforts of a multitude of children of all ages who had been cast into the ooze of the river, and were either settling deeper and deeper into the slime, or vainly trying to climb up the slippery piles to the wharves. Suppose that also there should be seen along the banks of the river a number of policemen whose only duty seemed to be not to allow the innocents to escape, or, if escaping, to prevent their rubbing against people in the streets for fear of soiling immaculate toilets with the filth in which they had been wallowing. Suppose that no one hastened to the assistance of the little ones or offered them ropes or ladders of escape, but, on the contrary, some should occasionally push one who had almost reached the brink back into the stench as children sometimes thoughtlessly torment rats that are trying to escape drowning.

Suppose again that the scene of our illustration were advanced five years from the time of the Columbian Celebration to the time following the Dewey, Hobson and Santiago incidents of the war for the liberation of suffering Cuba, when patriotic sympathy for Spain's abused colonists, as described in a former chapter, was at the zenith of its flight. Would it not call for a cry of protest from the humanitarians? Would it not touch a chord of pity that would create a wave of compassion, covering the civilized world, for the hopelessly condemned innocents of Chicago, and, by its horror, compel the formation of an army of relief recruited from every civilized land? Would not this contrast put to shame the American goddess of charity for her far-away search for a mission while countenancing such hideous cruelty and neglect at home? Would not the hearts of men hang heavy with the responsibility of neglect until no more wards of society should be condemned by the chance of birth to be littered and kenneled in conditions of degraded animalism teeming with filth, sensuality and crime?

* * * * *

There will be ready reply to our illustration and simila.

"It is an exaggerated supposition."

"Such indifference and inhumanity could not be."

"Civilization has passed beyond such a possibility."

"Poverty and even neglect there may be, but nothing inhuman like that."

* * * * *

But in the face of all assertions to the contrary, worse neglect and cruelty than those given in the illustration _do exist_ in all the large cities of England and the United States, which are within the field of our personal observation, unnoticed, because they are commonplace, unchampioned because they are too near home.

* * * * *

Fortunately, indeed, this seeming indifference is not evidence of hopeless moral turpitude in the nation or in the race, as would seem to be the cowardice and selfishness displayed at the Charity Bazaar fire in Paris, or the beastly inhumanity and unchivalry let loose among the animals who beat back women and children from chances of escape on board the ill-fated _La Bourgogne_, but it arises from false conceptions of the responsibilities of individuals toward the correction of unwholesome civic conditions, and from the false and pernicious assumption that there must always and everywhere be a certain amount of unredeemable depravity in every generation and in every community.

In England there is in vogue an expression, attributed, we believe, to the founder of the Salvation Army, to the effect that there must always be a class of criminals, wantons and loafers in every community, and which has been classified as "The hopelessly submerged ten per cent. stratum of society." We repeat this statement because of the enormity of the evil that lurks in the assumption of the condemnation.