Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 04.djvu/714

CHILD. 620 CHILD LABOR. CHILD, Lypia Maria Francis (1802-80). An Aiuciiian autluir, born in Mi-dfoiil. .Mass. In- spired bv an article in the Xorth American Jie- rk'ic, she wrote a novel dealing with early New England life entitled Bobomoh (1821). Her next storv, The Hebels (1S22I. dealt with Boston before the Kevoliition. After a sliort experience at school-teaehinjr. she married, in ISiS, David Lee Child, a journalist, and a little later, coining inder tiarrison's inllucnce. botli she and her hus- band found their real life work. In 1833 she published what is regarded as the first anti- slavery book >y an Auieriean. Appeal for That Class'of Americans Called African. She was, of course, more or less ostracized, but made con- verts. In 1840 she began to edit the Xational Anti-Slavery Slaiulurd, in New York. In 1844, with her husband, she settled in Wayland, Mass., and continued her work of propaganda, hav- ing meanwhile published many vohnnes of a miscellaneous nature, including her best per- formance, Philothea (183G), a tale of the time of Pericles. In 18.53 she issued Ixaac T. Hopper: A True Life, having learned to know that philan- thropist during her stay in New York. She should also be remembered as a writer for chil- dren. Her literary work has not continued pop- ular, being often "over-ambitious, as in the case of licr Progress of Keligious Ideas Through Suc- cessive Ages ( 3 vols., 1855 ) ; but her personality was a fine one. and is well depicted in Higginson, Contemporaries (Boston, 1899). Consult her Letters (Boston, 1882). CHILDBIRTH. See Obstetrics. CHILDEBERT. See Franks. CHILDE HAR'OLD'S PILGRIMAGE. A narrative poem, by Lord Byron (q.v. ). It is in four cantos, the lirst two of which appeared in March. 1812. in quarto, and the last two in ISIG and 1818, severally. The publisher, Murray, gave £600 for the first two cantos, and 2000 guineas for the fourth. The piece abounds in descriptive passages, and is conceived in an eminently 'Yer- theresque' spirit, detailing the impressions of a romantic youth diring his Wandcrjuhre. CHILTJERMAS (AS. cilda mwsse. or cildra mwsse, children's mass), or Holy Innocents' Day. A day (December 28; in the East. Decem- ber 29) observed by the Roman, Greek, Anglican, and other churches in remembrance of the chil- dren killed by Herod. It wa.s considered unhick-j- to marrv or to begin any work on this day. The learned Gregory says: It has been a custom — and yet is elsewhere — to whip up the children upon" Innocents' Day morning, that the memory of Herod's murder "might stick the closer." is also a holiday in the Church of England. CHILDERS, chil'derz. High Ciiung Eard- IXY (1827-90). An English statesman. He was bom in London, graduated at Cambridge in 1S.>0. and then went to .ustralia. where he was commissioner of trade and customs for Victoria until 1857. He then returned to England, and entered Parliament. He was First Lord of the Admiralty, in Gladstone's first Ministry, from 1868 to i87!. and introdjiced several important reforms in the Navy. In the second Gladstone !Hinistrv he was Secretary of Yar from 1880 to 1882. He then became Chancellor of the Ex- ehequer. and during his term of olTice effected a reduction in rates for telegrams. In the Gladstone Ministry of 1880 he was Home Secre- tary. He wrote in behalf of free trade and na- tioiial education, and was a fellow of the Koyal Society. CHILDERS, KoBERT C^sar (1838-76). An English Oriental scholar. He was educated at W'iulham College, Oxford, where he was Hebrew scholar. In 1800 he was appointed a writer in the Ceylon civil service, and acted as private secretary to the Governor. Sir Charles McCarthy. The state of liis health forced him to return to England in 1804, and in 1872 he became sub- librarian at the India Office, London. From 1873 until his death he wa» professor of Pali and Buddliist literature at University College, Lon- don. While a resident in Ceylon, Childers had acquired a thorough knowledge of the Singhalese or Ceylonese language. In 1809 he published his first contribution to Oriental literature, in the Journal of the Koyal Asiatic Society. This was the Pali text of t"he Khuddaka Patha, with a translation into English, and notes. It was the first Pali text ever printed in England. To the preiKiraticm of a Pali dictionary, of which he felt the imperative need, Childers de- voted nearly all of his time from 1809 until his death. This work was completed in 1875. in two volumes, and was awarded the Volney prize for 1S70 by the Institute of France. After the completion of this great work he contril)Utcd many minor papers to the transactions of the learned societies, and had in contemplation a complete translation of the Buddhist -Jataka Book. His unwearied exertions, liowever, told vii>on his enfeebled constitution, and he devel- oped consumption, of which he died, July 25, 1876. CHILD LABOR. Although children have always been used lor employments accessory to .those" of their parents, it was the simpler re- quirements of tlie factory system which made the child a cheap and convenient form of lalior. or the source of sujiport for lazy or unfortimate adults. The apprentice system in England, by which the parisli hired out its pauper eliildrcn to the factories, sibjected little cliildren to such inhuman hours, brutal treatment, and unsanitary conditiims that the Government was urged to in- terfere. Later, tlie cliildren of the poor worked under similar conditions. The English Govern- ment has publislied many valunble reports, and the course of English factory legislation has been to raise gradually the age for beginning work, to lessen the working hoiii-s, and to require some education for the cliildren. In the United States child labor has only become a serious question within the last thirty years. The census of 1880 I*' was a revelation, showing children at Avork in many industries, some of which were extremely dangerous to health and morals. One of the worst forms, and the hardest to reach, is that of the sweat-shops. State factory laws, which place restrictions on child labor," are not uniform throughout the States, and are often wanting in the West and South. These laws tend to in- clude mercantile pursuits and other occupations. JIanv children are illegally emiiloyed. Even the most ellicient factory inspector cannot eircnm- vent the self-interest of employers, the greed and dishonesty of parents, or provide a remedy when the child is a necessary support for the family. The idea still prevails "that the parents own the child. The evils to the child are disease, deform- and ignorance, with often no industrial it.v.