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CHAPTER XXIII
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 INDUSTRIAL CONDITIONS IN AMERICA—PROTECTION FOR ANIMALS—FOUNDING OF THE SOCIETY FOR THE PREVENTION OF CRUELTY TO CHILDREN—SPREAD OF THE MOVEMENT THROUGHOUT THE WORLD—ORIGIN IN NEW YORK CITY.
FOLLOWING the Civil War, there began in the United States a humanitarian1 movement, an aftermath well becoming a unique and heartrending struggle. In that period, humane2 endeavour, like so many creepers, overran ordinary activities, and philanthropic movements unprecedented3 sprang up over the country.
Labour conditions until this period were about the same in the United States as they were in England. The Puritan idea had been that sin was in idleness, even for small children; “Colonial records bear evidence that it was a matter of conscience to keep children at work.”457
 
CHILDREN OF TWO FAMILIES—AS THE SOCIETY FOR THE PREVENTION OF CRUELTY TO CHILDREN FOUND THEM
 
THE SAME FAMILIES—AFTER ATTENTION FROM THE SOCIETY
In the latter half of the eighteenth century the development of manufactures, especially the cloth-making industry, impressed on the American mind, as it had impressed the English mind, that 333child labour was a national asset. When the first cotton factory was started at Beverly, Mass., it was stated that it would afford “employment to a great number of women and children many of whom will be otherwise useless, if not burdensome to society.”458
A special report was made by a committee to the Massachusetts Legislature in 1866 in which it was stated that representatives of the factories went about systematically4 canvassing5 for small children: “Small help is scarce; a great deal of machinery6 has been stopped for want of small help, so that the overseers have been going around to draw the small children from schools into the mills; the same as a draft in the army.”
Asked if there were “any limit on the part of the employers as to the age when they take children,” a witness replied: “They’ll take them at any age they can get them, if they are old enough to stand....”459
The same year that this report was made there was founded in New York a Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, in imitation of a similar society that had been founded in England, in 1823. Out of that movement in America there grew, in 1874, a movement to look after the rights of children, the first enunciation7 in terms of modernity of the fact that society must not only punish crimes against children, but that it must prevent334 them. Following the formation of this society, the first special laws “known in the world were enacted8 specifically to protect and punish wrongs to children.”
The result of this development was that in 1880 Frederick A. Agnew visited America and after an examination of the work being done in New York and the methods employed, returned to Liverpool, his home, and there in conjunction with Samuel Smith, M. P., founded the Liverpool Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children, in 1883—the first society in Europe to prevent wrongs against children. Shortly after this the Earl of Shaftesbury organized a similar movement in London. Then, under the auspices9 of the late M. Jules Simon, whose work in behalf of children has not yet been fully10 appreciated, the movement was taken up in France, M. Paul Nourisson and M. Ernest Nusse aiding greatly in bringing about a comprehensive law in relation to the prevention of cruelty to children.
With Lieut.-Gen. D. von Pelet-Narbonne as chairman, the “Verein zum Schutz der Kinder vor Ausnutzung und Misshandlung” was formed in Berlin. In 1899 Fr?ulein Lydia von Wolfring aided in the organization of the “Wiener Kinder Schutz und Rettungs Verein” with von Krall, Privy11 Chancellor12 of Austria, as chairman. Count Borromeo inaugurated the movement at Milan in Italy where the padrone system flourished to such an extent as to indicate that the old Roman theory335 of the patria potestas was still alive, at least with the peasants. Through the other countries of Europe the interest in the new movement ran and the work was taken up; then into India, China, and South America, until today there is no quarter of the globe where there is not a society, organized for the purpose of assisting the law in preventing crimes against the helpless child.
Nothing indicates better the seeming accidental and casual beginnings of large movements than the formation of this first society in America. Like Vincent of Paul’s recognition of the horrible crimes that were being perpetrated in Paris only when he came face to face with an ill-treated infant, so it was only when it was discovered that, with all the law, there was no legal way of protecting an American child, that the child-protection movement, with its many subsequent laws in behalf of children, sprang up.
A mission worker named Mrs. Etta A. Wheeler had found in what was then the slums of New York that a child, famous after as Mary Ellen, was being cruelly beaten and ill-treated by a man and woman who had taken it when it was less than two years of age from a charitable institution. Some idea of the condition among the slums of a large city of this time may be gained from the statement of a contemporary newspaper that “at least 10,000 young boys roamed the streets of New York by day and took shelter by night in any place that seemed to afford a safe retreat, while their older336 and more vicious confederates planned how they should succeed in pilfering13 and plundering14 the public. The crumbling15 and rotten wooden docks of the metropolis16 had been for years haunted by these young vagabonds, and as they were at that time inefficiently17 policed, they were excellent localities for the incubators of petty thievery.”
Unless these youngsters actually committed a crime, or unless someone collected evidence that they were leading an immoral18 life, they were free to do what they willed.
Mrs. Wheeler was unable to gather the evidence necessary to remove the child in which she had become interested, and as the stories of the cruelties continued, she went to the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, at the head of which was Henry Bergh, whose work in this direction was as notable in this country as was Richard Martin’s in England.
After consultation19 with the counsel of the Society, Elbridge T. Gerry, it was decided20 that “the child being an animal” the Society would act. Mr. Gerry after a careful examination of the evidence, sued out a writ21 de homine replegiando, the child was taken to court, complaints were made against the so-called guardians22, and the woman who had cruelly beaten the child was afterwards sent to the penitentiary23 for one year.
And so, for the first time by legal machinery, punishment was meted24 out for cruelty to children.
 
THE “INSPIRATION” OF HENRY BERGH ON WHICH THE SOCIETY FOR THE PREVENTION OF CRUELTY TO CHILDREN WAS ORGANIZED
 
THE JUVENILE25 COURT, NEW YORK CITY; JUSTICE WYATT ON THE BENCH
When it became known that the Animal Soci337ety, as it was called, would interest itself in children who were being ill-treated, the complaints became numerous. It was decided that a separate society should be incorporated as a hand attached to the arm of the law.
Of the various movements that grew out of the protection movement, none was more interesting or attracted more controversy26 than the endeavours to protect children of the stage. We have seen in the account of the elder Seneca and in the treatment by the mountebanks of children in Paris in the seventeenth century, how easily the unprotected child lent itself to the calling of the vagabond entertainer. While no such barbarities were practised in modern times, it was difficult for many people to realize that the child of five, undergoing training as an acrobat27 for long hours, was not being brought up in accordance with the modern theory of the obligations of the State toward the helpless.
The importation of children that had been sold by their parents in Italy was also a matter that the Society took up, and in 1879, the white slave question, even now a live question, arose in an endeavour to stop the padroni from bringing into America the minors28 they had gathered abroad.
Probably the most important question that has come before the Society in recent years has been the proper treatment of those children who, for one reason or another, are brought into contact338 with the police. One of the first things that the New York Society did was to insist that the children who had to be taken to court should not be mixed with the really criminal. In 1892 an amendment29 to the Penal30 Code made the separation imperative31, and out of this movement has grown the children’s court movement and the proper study of the so-called juvenile criminal.
Another important branch of the child-protection movement that had its beginning in New York City, was placing laws on the statute32 book, and then enforcing them, against the sale of injurious liquors to children. Laws tending to protect the morality of children followed these, and in fact almost from the first year of its birth, every year has seen the Protection Society enlarging its field of action until today it hardly seems possible that it was only a few hundred years ago that the very life of a child itself was considered of no importance.
The general law laid down by Spencer, in virtue33 of which everything passes “from the homogeneous to the heterogeneous34, from the indefinite to the definite, from the simple to the complex,” is evident in the history of the progress of the child as a factor in society.
When in neolithic35 times there was no moral instinct in man, the child’s only hope of life was the parental36 or rather the maternal37 instinct, of beings not yet risen to the plain of reasoning animals. In a higher stage of civilization one339 finds, where the matriarchal régime exists, children have a value, the value of chattels38 and live stock, though the maternal uncle has more rights over them than their own father.460 The patria potestas of the Romans was not so strange or unusual as it seemed to Gibbon, for the power of life and death (jus vit? ac necis) is found among the Apaches, the Botocodos, the Bedouins, and the Samoyedes and is a stage in the development and evolution of the family idea.
In the religious and philosophical39 stage the child takes on an importance of its own; it is humanely40 treated because it is now recognized as a human being, or it is protected because it is said to have, young and apparently41 unimportant as it seems to be, a soul of its own. From there on to the time when the child, as the father of the man, is a charge upon the State,—or on all men,—until it is able to take care of and protect itself, the murder of a child is theoretically as great a crime as the murder of an adult. In fact, the conditions of the past hold long after each recognized step of progress, the most primitive42 habits obtruding43 in the very midst of the most advanced knowledge and the most complete enlightenment.
It is for this that the story of the past is valuable. That we may know and understand and340 value rightly what is past, past for all time so far as intelligent and self-governing humanity is able to will—that is one of the surest steps to knowledge and truth.


The End

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1 humanitarian kcoxQ     
n.人道主义者,博爱者,基督凡人论者
参考例句:
  • She has many humanitarian interests and contributes a lot to them.她拥有很多慈善事业,并作了很大的贡献。
  • The British government has now suspended humanitarian aid to the area.英国政府现已暂停对这一地区的人道主义援助。
2 humane Uymy0     
adj.人道的,富有同情心的
参考例句:
  • Is it humane to kill animals for food?宰杀牲畜来吃合乎人道吗?
  • Their aim is for a more just and humane society.他们的目标是建立一个更加公正、博爱的社会。
3 unprecedented 7gSyJ     
adj.无前例的,新奇的
参考例句:
  • The air crash caused an unprecedented number of deaths.这次空难的死亡人数是空前的。
  • A flood of this sort is really unprecedented.这样大的洪水真是十年九不遇。
4 systematically 7qhwn     
adv.有系统地
参考例句:
  • This government has systematically run down public services since it took office.这一屆政府自上台以来系统地削减了公共服务。
  • The rainforest is being systematically destroyed.雨林正被系统地毀灭。
5 canvassing 076342fa33f5615c22c469e5fe038959     
v.(在政治方面)游说( canvass的现在分词 );调查(如选举前选民的)意见;为讨论而提出(意见等);详细检查
参考例句:
  • He spent the whole month canvassing for votes. 他花了整整一个月四处游说拉选票。
  • I'm canvassing for the Conservative Party. 我在为保守党拉选票。 来自辞典例句
6 machinery CAdxb     
n.(总称)机械,机器;机构
参考例句:
  • Has the machinery been put up ready for the broadcast?广播器材安装完毕了吗?
  • Machinery ought to be well maintained all the time.机器应该随时注意维护。
7 enunciation wtRzjz     
n.清晰的发音;表明,宣言;口齿
参考例句:
  • He is always willing to enunciate his opinions on the subject of politics. 他总是愿意对政治问题发表意见。> enunciation / I9nQnsI5eIFn; I9nQnsI`eFEn/ n [C, U]。 来自辞典例句
  • Be good at communicating,sense of responsibility,the work is careful,the enunciation is clear. 善于沟通,责任心强,工作细致,口齿清晰。 来自互联网
8 enacted b0a10ad8fca50ba4217bccb35bc0f2a1     
制定(法律),通过(法案)( enact的过去式和过去分词 )
参考例句:
  • legislation enacted by parliament 由议会通过的法律
  • Outside in the little lobby another scene was begin enacted. 外面的小休息室里又是另一番景象。 来自英汉文学 - 嘉莉妹妹
9 auspices do0yG     
n.资助,赞助
参考例句:
  • The association is under the auspices of Word Bank.这个组织是在世界银行的赞助下办的。
  • The examination was held under the auspices of the government.这次考试是由政府主办的。
10 fully Gfuzd     
adv.完全地,全部地,彻底地;充分地
参考例句:
  • The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气,然后全部呼出。
  • They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。
11 privy C1OzL     
adj.私用的;隐密的
参考例句:
  • Only three people,including a policeman,will be privy to the facts.只会允许3个人,其中包括一名警察,了解这些内情。
  • Very few of them were privy to the details of the conspiracy.他们中很少有人知道这一阴谋的详情。
12 chancellor aUAyA     
n.(英)大臣;法官;(德、奥)总理;大学校长
参考例句:
  • They submitted their reports to the Chancellor yesterday.他们昨天向财政大臣递交了报告。
  • He was regarded as the most successful Chancellor of modern times.他被认为是现代最成功的财政大臣。
13 pilfering 0b02d36f000e8266b62a74801aec6a11     
v.偷窃(小东西),小偷( pilfer的现在分词 );偷窃(一般指小偷小摸)
参考例句:
  • He was caught pilfering. 他行窃时被抓个正着。
  • Pilfering has stopped entirely since they put Angus in charge of the stores. 自从他们让安格斯掌管商店以来,小偷小摸就杜绝了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
14 plundering 765be35dd06b76b3790253a472c85681     
掠夺,抢劫( plunder的现在分词 )
参考例句:
  • The troops crossed the country, plundering and looting as they went. 部队经过乡村,一路抢劫掳掠。
  • They amassed huge wealth by plundering the colonies. 他们通过掠夺殖民地聚敛了大笔的财富。
15 crumbling Pyaxy     
adj.摇摇欲坠的
参考例句:
  • an old house with crumbling plaster and a leaking roof 一所灰泥剥落、屋顶漏水的老房子
  • The boat was tied up alongside a crumbling limestone jetty. 这条船停泊在一个摇摇欲坠的石灰岩码头边。
16 metropolis BCOxY     
n.首府;大城市
参考例句:
  • Shanghai is a metropolis in China.上海是中国的大都市。
  • He was dazzled by the gaiety and splendour of the metropolis.大都市的花花世界使他感到眼花缭乱。
17 inefficiently 9211d06981a94c4ada75bbf79c2cc096     
adv.无效率地
参考例句:
  • The small family farm is steeped in inefficiently and struggles just to survive. 小农场主陷于无效率的境况中,只为生存下去而苦苦挣扎。 来自辞典例句
  • You can't afford to run businesses inefficiently in this day and age. 在现今,经营商店无能是不行的。 来自互联网
18 immoral waCx8     
adj.不道德的,淫荡的,荒淫的,有伤风化的
参考例句:
  • She was questioned about his immoral conduct toward her.她被询问过有关他对她的不道德行为的情况。
  • It is my belief that nuclear weapons are immoral.我相信使核武器是不邪恶的。
19 consultation VZAyq     
n.咨询;商量;商议;会议
参考例句:
  • The company has promised wide consultation on its expansion plans.该公司允诺就其扩展计划广泛征求意见。
  • The scheme was developed in close consultation with the local community.该计划是在同当地社区密切磋商中逐渐形成的。
20 decided lvqzZd     
adj.决定了的,坚决的;明显的,明确的
参考例句:
  • This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
  • There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。
21 writ iojyr     
n.命令状,书面命令
参考例句:
  • This is a copy of a writ I received this morning.这是今早我收到的书面命令副本。
  • You shouldn't treat the newspapers as if they were Holy Writ. 你不应该把报上说的话奉若神明。
22 guardians 648b3519bd4469e1a48dff4dc4827315     
监护人( guardian的名词复数 ); 保护者,维护者
参考例句:
  • Farmers should be guardians of the countryside. 农民应是乡村的保卫者。
  • The police are guardians of law and order. 警察是法律和秩序的护卫者。
23 penitentiary buQyt     
n.感化院;监狱
参考例句:
  • He worked as a warden at the state penitentiary.他在这所州监狱任看守长。
  • While he was in the penitentiary her father died and the family broke up.他坐牢的时候,她的父亲死了,家庭就拆散了。
24 meted 9eadd1a2304ecfb724677a9aeb1ee2ab     
v.(对某人)施以,给予(处罚等)( mete的过去式和过去分词 )
参考例句:
  • The severe punishment was meted out to the unruly hooligan. 对那个嚣张的流氓已给予严厉惩处。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
  • The money was meted out only after it had been carefully counted. 钱只有仔细点过之后才分发。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
25 juvenile OkEy2     
n.青少年,少年读物;adj.青少年的,幼稚的
参考例句:
  • For a grown man he acted in a very juvenile manner.身为成年人,他的行为举止显得十分幼稚。
  • Juvenile crime is increasing at a terrifying rate.青少年犯罪正在以惊人的速度增长。
26 controversy 6Z9y0     
n.争论,辩论,争吵
参考例句:
  • That is a fact beyond controversy.那是一个无可争论的事实。
  • We ran the risk of becoming the butt of every controversy.我们要冒使自己在所有的纷争中都成为众矢之的的风险。
27 acrobat GJMy3     
n.特技演员,杂技演员
参考例句:
  • The acrobat balanced a long pole on his left shoulder.杂技演员让一根长杆在他的左肩上保持平衡。
  • The acrobat could bend himself into a hoop.这个杂技演员可以把身体蜷曲成圆形。
28 minors ff2adda56919f98e679a46d5a4ad4abb     
n.未成年人( minor的名词复数 );副修科目;小公司;[逻辑学]小前提v.[主美国英语]副修,选修,兼修( minor的第三人称单数 )
参考例句:
  • The law forbids shops to sell alcohol to minors. 法律禁止商店向未成年者出售含酒精的饮料。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • He had three minors this semester. 这学期他有三门副修科目。 来自《简明英汉词典》
29 amendment Mx8zY     
n.改正,修正,改善,修正案
参考例句:
  • The amendment was rejected by 207 voters to 143.这项修正案以207票对143票被否决。
  • The Opposition has tabled an amendment to the bill.反对党已经就该议案提交了一项修正条款。
30 penal OSBzn     
adj.刑罚的;刑法上的
参考例句:
  • I hope you're familiar with penal code.我希望你们熟悉本州法律规则。
  • He underwent nineteen years of penal servitude for theft.他因犯了大窃案受过十九年的苦刑。
31 imperative BcdzC     
n.命令,需要;规则;祈使语气;adj.强制的;紧急的
参考例句:
  • He always speaks in an imperative tone of voice.他老是用命令的口吻讲话。
  • The events of the past few days make it imperative for her to act.过去这几天发生的事迫使她不得不立即行动。
32 statute TGUzb     
n.成文法,法令,法规;章程,规则,条例
参考例句:
  • Protection for the consumer is laid down by statute.保障消费者利益已在法令里作了规定。
  • The next section will consider this environmental statute in detail.下一部分将详细论述环境法令的问题。
33 virtue BpqyH     
n.德行,美德;贞操;优点;功效,效力
参考例句:
  • He was considered to be a paragon of virtue.他被认为是品德尽善尽美的典范。
  • You need to decorate your mind with virtue.你应该用德行美化心灵。
34 heterogeneous rdixF     
adj.庞杂的;异类的
参考例句:
  • There is a heterogeneous mass of papers in the teacher's office.老师的办公室里堆满了大批不同的论文。
  • America has a very heterogeneous population.美国人口是由不同种族组成的。
35 neolithic 9Gmx7     
adj.新石器时代的
参考例句:
  • Cattle were first domesticated in Neolithic times.新石器时代有人开始驯养牛。
  • The monument was Stone Age or Neolithic.该纪念碑是属于石器时代或新石器时代的。
36 parental FL2xv     
adj.父母的;父的;母的
参考例句:
  • He encourages parental involvement in the running of school.他鼓励学生家长参与学校的管理。
  • Children always revolt against parental disciplines.孩子们总是反抗父母的管束。
37 maternal 57Azi     
adj.母亲的,母亲般的,母系的,母方的
参考例句:
  • He is my maternal uncle.他是我舅舅。
  • The sight of the hopeless little boy aroused her maternal instincts.那个绝望的小男孩的模样唤起了她的母性。
38 chattels 285ef971dc7faf3da51802efd2b18ca7     
n.动产,奴隶( chattel的名词复数 )
参考例句:
  • An assignment is a total alienation of chattels personal. 动产转让是指属人动产的完全转让。 来自辞典例句
  • Alan and I, getting our chattels together, struck into another road to reassume our flight. 艾伦和我收拾好我们的财物,急匆匆地走上了另一条路,继续过我们的亡命生活。 来自辞典例句
39 philosophical rN5xh     
adj.哲学家的,哲学上的,达观的
参考例句:
  • The teacher couldn't answer the philosophical problem.老师不能解答这个哲学问题。
  • She is very philosophical about her bad luck.她对自己的不幸看得很开。
40 humanely Kq9zvf     
adv.仁慈地;人道地;富人情地;慈悲地
参考例句:
  • Is the primary persona being treated humanely by the product? 该产品对待首要人物角色时是否有人情味? 来自About Face 3交互设计精髓
  • In any event, China's interest in treating criminals more humanely has limits. 无论如何,中国对更人道地对待罪犯的兴趣有限。 来自互联网
41 apparently tMmyQ     
adv.显然地;表面上,似乎
参考例句:
  • An apparently blind alley leads suddenly into an open space.山穷水尽,豁然开朗。
  • He was apparently much surprised at the news.他对那个消息显然感到十分惊异。
42 primitive vSwz0     
adj.原始的;简单的;n.原(始)人,原始事物
参考例句:
  • It is a primitive instinct to flee a place of danger.逃离危险的地方是一种原始本能。
  • His book describes the march of the civilization of a primitive society.他的著作描述了一个原始社会的开化过程。
43 obtruding 625fc92c539b56591658bb98900f1108     
v.强行向前,强行,强迫( obtrude的现在分词 )
参考例句:
  • An old song kept obtruding upon my consciousness. 一首古老的歌不断在我的意识中涌现。 来自辞典例句
  • The unwelcome question of cost is obtruding itself upon our plans. 讨厌的费用问题干扰着我们的计划。 来自互联网


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