Children's rights Author:Kate Douglas Smith Wiggin Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: HOW SHALL WE GOVERN OUR CHILDREN? Long ago, in a far-off country, a child was born; and when his parents looked on him they loved him, and they resolved in th... more »eir simple hearts to make of him a strong, brave, warlike man. But the God of that country was a hungry and an insatiable God, and he cried out for human sacrifice; so, when his arms had been thrice heated till they glowed red with the flame of the fire, the mother cradled her child in them, and his life exhaled as a vapor. A child was born in another country, and the tender eyes of his mother saw that his limbs were misshapen and his life-blood a sickly current. Yet her heart yearned over him, and she would have tended and trained him and loved him better than all the rest of her strong, well-favored brood ; but when the elders of her people knew that the child was a weakling, they decreed that he shoulddie, and she beat her head to the law, which was stronger than her love. In a third land a child was to be born, and the proud father made ready gifts, and purchased silken robes, and prepared a feast for his friends; but, alas! when the longed-for soul entered the world it was housed in a woman-child's body, and straightway the joy was changed into mourning. Bitter reproaches were heaped upon the mother, for were there not enough women already on the earth ? and the fiat went forth that the babe should straightway be delivered from the trials of existence. So, while its hold on life was yet uncertain, the husband's mother placed wet cloths upon its lips, and soon the faint breath stopped, and the white soul went fluttering heavenward again. In still another of God's fair lands a child entered the world, and he grew toward manhood vigorous and lusty ; but he heeded not his parents' commands, and when his disobedie...« less