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THAT LAST WAIF OR SOCIAL QUARANTINE


  HORACE FLETCHER'S WORKS

  THE A.B.-Z. OF OUR OWN NUTRITION.
    Thirteenth thousand. 462 pp.

  THE NEW MENTICULTURE; OR,
    THE A-B-C OF TRUE LIVING. Forty-Eighth thousand. 310 pp.

  THE NEW GLUTTON OR EPICURE; OR,
    ECONOMIC NUTRITION. Fifteenth thousand. 344 pp.

  HAPPINESS AS FOUND IN FORETHOUGHT MINUS FEARTHOUGHT.
    Fourteenth thousand. 251 pp.

  THAT LAST WAIF; OR,
    SOCIAL QUARANTINE. Sixth thousand. 270 pp.




THAT LAST WAIF

OR

SOCIAL QUARANTINE

A BRIEF


BY

HORACE FLETCHER

_Advocate for the Waifs_

_Fellow American Association for the Advancement of Science_


NEW YORK
FREDERICK A. STOKES COMPANY
1909


MATTHEW, xviii; 1, 2 and 14


 1. At the same time came the disciples unto Jesus saying,
Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?

 2. And Jesus called a little child unto him, and set him
in the midst of them.

14. Even so it is not the will of your Father which is in
heaven, that one of these little ones should perish?


COPYRIGHT, 1898
BY HORACE FLETCHER




CONTENTS


1903 PREFACE,                                                      ix

PREFACE,                                                            9

THE LOST WAIF,                                                     17

MENACE OF THE HAVE-TO-BE,                                          39

SOCIAL QUARANTINE FIRST,                                           71

QUARANTINE,                                                        93

UNCIVILIZED INCONSISTENCIES,                                      105

QUARANTINE AGAINST IDLENESS,                                      131

QUARANTINE AGAINST MISUNDERSTANDING,                              145

QUARANTINE AGAINST MALADMINISTRATION,                             157

SUGGESTIONS FOR LOCAL QUARANTINE ORGANIZATION,                    169

SARAH B. COOPER,                                                  191

CORROBORATIVE TESTIMONY,                                          221

"AND A LITTLE CHILD SHALL LEAD THEM,"                             227

SUMMARY,                                                          233

LOGICAL SEQUENCES,                                                251

APPENDIX:

    IT HAS BEGUN,                                                 263

    DEDICATION,                                                   269




"_It was Juvenal who said, 'The man's character is made at seven; what
he then is, he will always be.' This seems a sweeping assertion, but
Aristotle, Plato, Lycurgus, Plutarch, Bacon, Locke, and Lord Brougham,
all emphasize the same idea, while leading educators of a modern day
are all united upon this point._" [_Sarah B. Cooper, to the National
Conference of Charities and Correction of the United States and
Canada._]

                     *      *      *      *      *

"_This institution was established as the result of a quickened public
conscience on the subject of waifs of the State, a comprehensive
understanding of the relation of the State to the child, and the
demonstrated effect of such institutions in decreasing crime._" [_The
American Journal of Sociology, May, 1898, page 790._]




FOREWORD


"Waif," as herein employed, applies to all neglected or abused
children, and not especially to those who have lost their parents, or
have been abandoned.

While the evidence of the kindergartners may seem extreme as to the
possibility of making useful citizens of _all_ children, the unanimity
of their enthusiasm must be taken as very strong evidence.

The plea for a social quarantine which shall establish protection for
helpless infancy during the period of present neglect, and when the
cost is insignificant, is made in the belief that, once attracted to
the idea of the possibility of social quarantine, which is nothing if
not complete, popular sentiment will demand a continuance of organized
protection for each member of society as long as he may be helpless or
weak, without reference to an age limit.

Immediate special attention, however, should be given to the victims
of the "sweaters," to unsanitary work-rooms and other environing
conditions provided by conscienceless (usually alien) employers, and
to the prevention of children being employed in occupations where
temptation is so strong as to be a menace to unformed character.




1903 PREFACE


When first published, five years ago, this appeal for better care of
children born into unfortunate environment met with very favorable
reception, especially from practical child educators and child
economists; and the author received numerous requests to address
gatherings of altruists in various parts of the country. He responded
to some forty of these invitations, and met with warmest encouragement
and the assurance that the sentiment of this book was shared pretty
generally, when the facts in the case were understood. In meeting men
of all kinds in the outside world, as well as women from whom a
generous sympathy might be expected, he found that any scheme offering
care and protection for neglected children excited the sympathy