iving, and defeat one of the tyrant impositions of God.

VII

The child suffers the sharpest pains, the crudest poignancy that could
possibly be inflicted upon its body, through the stupid, frightening and
monstrous tales that are continually told to it to make it "good," to
make it "obey."

To think that a child cannot bear to enter the dark, cannot bear to be
alone, cannot bear to be separated from its loving and protecting
parents, and yet must suffer in a few moments from a fatal disease--the
agony of all this, in the face of death, is the crime of crimes, too
damnable and horrible for words.

I remember once seeing a little lost child. It cried for its mother. Hot
tears were streaming down its burning cheeks. Its face portrayed the
severest form of suffering that life is capable of experiencing. If
Nature ever made a frail article, it is our tender offspring, so
bewildered, so utterly helpless, so agonizingly delusioned, so
pitifully searching for some familiar face; something to make it
discover its lost self. Oh, what power ever made us so tender, so
incapable of self-help, as to have us undergo and feel such terrific
suffering! It is injustice enough when adults are made to suffer mental
and physical ills, without inflicting such a painful decree upon mere
infants.

At least an adult has some conception of his suffering. He can make
provision for some remedy. He can seek others to ask them to render
help. He knows, he feels, he understands the situation, and can adjust
himself as best he can to obtain some relief.

But not so with the child. Its mind is not capable of comprehending the
condition which makes its suffering so sharp. Its little brain is too
feeble, hardly strong enough to direct its awkward and bulky body, much
less to solve such an incredible predicament as being utterly destitute
of help, in a world fashioned upon such an unsatisfactory plan.

There is not, nor can there be, a sadder, more distressing sight, than
to see a little lost child overcome with fright.

If it were in my power to abolish any of Nature's cruel laws, I would
take from the little child its feeling of pain.

Let me ask, would man, were it in his power, send a helpless creature,
utterly unable to sustain itself, without power of thought,
understanding or expression, so dependent upon loving care, kindness,
help and comprehension, into a world that is a wilderness, a world
reeking with pestilence and populate