-__,.9J

' l1ave a child grow up useless.

509

erhaps he will be the

THE PUBL ’ NAL iiation along his own

more useful for that. That particular line, you know; an are “all the rage” just now. But even should the child show" outstanding faculty at all, still he is not to be cast aside. He can still be taught to mechan- ically use his hands to earn his own living.

Especially did the nurse recall one thing which her patient had said:—-“I am a widow and I do not see how I can afford to have a child grow up useless. Things look pretty dark to me when I stop ‘ro think 1”

And that is one serious consideration. She cannot afford to Neither can the country afford it. It is being impoverished now by its upkeep of dependent people. I quote from our best authority upon the subject when I state that those children need only the proper teaching and guidance. Then why should we allow thousands who might have been made self-

" supporting at least, to become dependents: and then pay an army

of people, year after year, to dispense charity to them?

Should they thank us for such charity? To have one intelligent, understanding look into such a blasted existence, is to have the charities of’ all the ages flung back in one’s face. A blow not to be forgotten. ,, ._

We all know that some ofthose “different” children grow to Wonderful men and women in spite\of us all. In spite of our mis- understandings and the drawbacks which we put in their way in our so-called pity for them, they have achieved wonders. Many a great man has admitted, when he has risen to the point where he is no longer ashamed of the fact, that the public school teachers had given him up in despair. But he happened to have parents, or some other true friend, to help him out. I know a brilliant physician who will tell you of miserable hours in his childhood when he hung his young head in shame because he was called the village fool. But a competent mother tookhim in hand, and he was not lost to the world as he might have been. And you know the time-worn saying that in childhood it is difficult to distinguish the genius from the fool.

Nobody is hopeless nowadays, you know. We find that much can be done for children who are not merely a little different from the ordinary child, ‘but whom we have called imloeciles, and allowed to live and die like beasts. I_ do not know how much is being done in Canada along this line. I am more or less a stranger in the land of my birth—an accident which I hope to remedy in the future-