STATE USURPATION OF PARENTAL FUNCTIONS. 353 



profit from the very life of the children. How hollow and untrue the 

 whole thing was ! As if there would have been a single worshiper of 

 Moloch, whether he was parent or manufacturer, the less on the mor- 

 row ; as if, by the mere idle method of holding some meetings, get- 

 ting some votes together, and passing an act of Parliament, one 

 fiber in the nature of the Moloch-worshipers would have undergone 

 change ! I say deliberately the idle method, because here is the root 

 of the whole matter. All these ofiicial reforms are essentially idle. Is 

 the nation to be sober ? Pass an act of Parliament out of hand, and 

 shut up the public-houses. Is it to be provident ? Pass an act of 

 Parliament and compel men to make provision for themselves. Is it 

 to be intelligent ? Pass an act of Parliament and harry the homes till 

 every child is at school. Is it to consist of unselfish and devoted 

 parents ? Pass a factory act, and tie the hands of the parent so that 

 he can no longer sell his child's labor. Nothing is required of us but 

 to hold some enthusiastic meetings, make some speeches, write some 

 letters to the " Times," and scrape votes enough together, and then all 

 these great things shall be done. Happy world ! How easily it is to 

 be cured of its faults ! We may now sink back contentedly into our 

 arm-chairs for the rest of our life, enjoy the testimonials we received 

 in the moment of enthusiasm, admire the statues that were gratefully 

 raised to us, and reperuse our own speeches, as there remains nothing 

 else for us to do in presence of the regeneration in human nature that 

 our last batch of regulations has effected. In view of this modem 

 plan of growing good in ten minutes, we disquieted ourselves very 

 uselessly in past days about the amount of original sin in human nature 

 and the ills and infirmities to which human flesh was heir. What 

 fools men are not to enjoy perfect health, when Hollo way's pills, 

 Clarke's blood-mixture, and Eno's fruit-salts are to be had for the 

 ordering ; and what fools they are not to become sober, provident, in- 

 telligent, and unselfish, when all that is wanted is only to pass two or 

 three acts of Parliament to provide them with the qualities wanted ! 



The word idle seems to me to suit the case with great nicety. Tak- 

 ing care of the people by acts of Parliament seems to me very like the 

 care of the mother for her child who rings the bell at the Foundling 

 Institution, places her child on the door-step, and then contentedly goes 

 on her own way. Let us suppose that she is doing the best for her 

 child, still the trouble on her part is short and soon over. The long, 

 slow years of anxiety and labor that fall to other mothers will not be 

 for her. 



It all ended for her, fortunate woman, when she rang the institu- 

 tion-bell. In the same way tlie political philanthropist has learned to 

 lay his burden with but short delay on other shoulders than his own. 

 The world's troubles are but an easy nut to crack according to his 

 creed. A new law, a new office in some public department, a new 

 batch of officials, will cure all human perversities from the parent that 



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