East Liverpool High School - Keramos Yearbook (East Liverpool, OH)

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Y six j, Ilteramna 21 Conservation of Childhood Oration that won tirst place in Oratorical Contest between East Liverpool and Steubenville, Ohio, High Schools T WAS only after the Pied Piper had mysteriously enticed their children away, that the people of Hamlin fully realized their selfishness ii 'and neglect. Our American people are only beginning to appreciate their short- comings, in not protecting and guarding the defenseless little ones from the vices and evils which surround them in their struggle for existence. Instead of attempt- ing to uplift and elevate the surroundings of our children, they have been permitted to grow up uneducated, stunted in mind and soul, It seems absurd to punish men for crimes which are but the outgrowth of their early environment, for which they can by no means be held responsible. Handicapped though they were, the child- ren were expected to become citizens, as worthy of citizenship as those reared in happy homes. But now the American people are awakening to the fact that they are a wasteful people, more profiigate of their children than any other posses- sion. A Child's Welfare Exhibit, held in New York, tells a story, not chiefly of wrong and wretchedness, but of a struggle to se- cure for all children a fair beginning in life's race. Before the entrance to the exhibit, a beautiful piece of statuary ably illustrates the condition of children in the larger cities. A group of four figures rep- resents a family. On the left is the aged grandfather, bent and exhausted beneath the incessant burden of life, which even yet he is struggling to bear upon his shoulders. On the right are the father and mother, supporting the heavier part of the same burden that is weighing down the grandfather: the husband endeavoring to make his wife's part lighter by raising his portion with his straining right arm. Underneath the tent formed by the huge burden is a frail little child, and, although he carries no weight, as yet, upon his tiny shoulders, he, too, is stooped and bent in an expectant attitude, waiting to receive the responsibility, the weight of which he is already beginning to feel. For him a part of this burden will be due to heredi- tary influences, part to natural weak- nesses, but a much larger portion will arise from his evil environment. Who would presume to say that the slum chil- dren of our great cities are not almost hopelessly handicapped, in comparison with children reared under healthy, happy surroundings ? No single remedy will suffice to relieve the suffering of the children: but none is more directly practical than the public playground. The plea for the public play- ground is a plea for justice to our boys and girls. Carlyle says that there is a grega- rious tendency in mankind, an innate desire to associate with his fellow beings. This tendency in childhood means play. The undeniable right of a child ir to child- hood and play. It is while still young and at the playtime that the child learns some of the greatest lessons of life. In the daily games, his mind is alert to grasp the pass- ing opportunity, his eye sharpened, his hand steadied, and strength is stored up for the cares of later life. Not only mental and physical but moral obligations are enforced, for there is always a code of honor established among playmatesg and here, too, the child first learns the great

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Z0 Keramnn school, but we made it a good one, and being loathe to leave the water, stayed in till a late supper would fall to our behalf. It was a hard row up the river a half mile from our swimming hole and across to our usual tie up. Peaks and Ribbon sat in the bow, and Jarve and I in the stern while Bass rowed. He was pulling a strong oar now, stronger even than we feared the pair would stand, for they had been worn down during the summer, pretty thin, but the current was strong, and a towboat with sixteen empty barges, their front like a huge floating wall, had just rounded the bend and stronger pulling was necessary, for the towboat would hug the shore to which we were going, and we must pass in front of it. So the oars were strained harder and harder, Bass bending each time more and more to them till at last the race seemed certain to be ours, but another pull was fatal, for the right oar snapped, broke and went down to meet the tow, while Bass fell backward into the boat, loosing in his effort to retain his balance, the other oar, and the Johntub turned slowly about to a position in which her length was at right angles to that of the barges. Death now seemed to stare us in the face, because with barely more than sixty feet between us and the first barges we could not hope to swim beyond their range, in that swift river, and to meet the barges with the side of the Johntub would mean certain death, as our boat must surely turn turtle in and case it did none of us could travel under the tow and live, while to jump for the front of the barges and to pull ourselves up was little better, for the boat in its present position would go immediately under. Jarve, ever there with all his brains in emergencies, saved the lives of perhaps all of us. Grabbing our stone anchor with its 20' of chain he threw it overboard almost before the rest of us realized to its full extent the peril of our plight. What he was about dawned upon us in an instant, and we waited breathlessly to see if the rock would an- chor. It did, the 20' chain letting it to the bottom, and though it did not entirely stop the Johntub, it served the purpose intended, by bringing the bow of it around to meet the barges first instead of the side. This position was reached not a second too soon for in that time the barges and John- tub met, and the latter heldi, held just long enough to allow Peaks and Ribbons to draw themselves to the top of the barges, Bass to follow and the three to as- sist me up, and then began to turn slowly to the right. All of us were now reaching to Jarve and he was reaching for us, for the turning had caused him to loose his balance and he was gone as we thought, but while we were yet reaching out to him almost hopeless, he slightly recovered his balance and sprang. We all caught him, Bass by the hair, Peaks by one arm, I by the other and Ribbons by the coat collar. As we dragged him into the barge I glanced again at the old boat, which had filled with water and was going under. In another moment, and even as I looked, she sank, and we were rid of our Johntub. -C. S. KENNEDY, '11 J' J' J' Some FAcrs RECENTLY LEARNED The first thing in taking a vote on a bill in the House of Representatives is to take the eyes and nose of the members. The past participle of swim is swim- ming. All members of Congress are priviledged from arrest, except for breach of promise.

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ZZ Ilivramnu lesson of team work, of concerted effort. That is no true home for the child where- there is no play and every means should be encouraged which aims to give an opportunity for the free expression of his natural spontaneity. Stevenson says: Happy hearts and happy faces, Happy play in grassy places, This is how in ancient ages Children grew to men and sagesf' Now picture to yourself the familiar groups of dirty children, playing in the dirtier streets. Only through the public playground can the little outcasts of humanity know the joy of happy play in grassy places. Should we begrudge them this imperfect substitute? One of the first means designed to relieve the distressing conditions incident to childhood, in the cities, was the Juve- nile Court. It would appear that including the courts among the agencies for the good of the child, would give the category an ironical and melancholy cast, for it would seem that this would be the last resort instead of one of the first. It has resulted in great good, however, in pun- ishing the real criminals, those who are responsible for the wrong doing of the helpless little ones. The serious aim of the Juvenile Court is to guide these small offenders rather than to punish them for their trivial offenses. It was through the instrumentality of the Juvenile Court that a new offense was tabulated in Colorado, that of contributing to the delinquency of children. But as Judge Lindsey, the founder and greatest advocate of the Juve- nile Court, says: We shall make progress just in proportion as we appreciate the absurdity of limiting our remedies to the court, the hangman, and the jailer. A few years ago a wave of public sen- timent swept our country, condemning child labor. This outbreak finally crys- talized into several laws, laying some restraint upon the employment of chil- dren. The warfare of their enforcement has become one of the multitude of tasks for the social reformer. The child labor crusade is a vital thing-for child labor can do the Republic immeasurable harm. It is not the exclusive duty' of individ- uals, nor of committees to take up this matter of protecting and conserving outr' children, it is the duty and privilegeof the State. The State, in caring for its children, cares for its future self and it is only true to itself in so far as it is true to its children. For the child is not only the trustee of the past and the hope of the future, but it is the living present, entitled to every protection and security which man grants to man, and as much more than man grants to man as is required by the defenselessness of the child. In natural resources we are a wealthy nation. We are only beginning to realize the latent possibilities in our wide tracts of land, in our mountains, forests, lakes, and in the climate that stimulates us to make the most of our national endow- ments. On every hand we hear much of conserving our natural resourcesg agri- cultural colleges are telling us how to make our lands more fruitful, all states are conserving their wild animals, and wide tracts of forest region are being reserved as public property. The out- come of such conservation seems hopeful. But resources alone can never provide the ballast necessary for the equipoise of a nation. The vital forces in a nation are human, not material. In the economics of nation-building, the greatest concern centers about boys and girls. The Repub- lic has much to expect from its children and ro should they be conserved as our most precious possession, which shall, in the coming years, render the richest returns to the state. This is the children's hour -between dawn and daylight-the dark- ness of the children's wrongs, which is passing, and the daylight of fairness and justice that is dawning. Aucr: Brook, '11 5 .fl f s X l i.