PEDIATRICS Vol. 50 No. 5 November 1972, pp. 687
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THE WORRIES OF A GRIEVOUSLY ILL ENGLISH FATHER AS WRITTEN TO HIS CHILDREN IN 1794

T. E. C. Jr. M.D.

The quotation below is an excellent example of the anxieties once faced by seriously ill parents in the days long before the existence of child welfare programs.

The thoughts of a hard usage which some poor, friendless children meet with from unthinking and unfeeling people, cannot but be matter of concern to every parent, under the prospect of leaving a family of dear infants in such a melancholy situation. They cannot but be under some concern for them, respecting things pertaining to their comfort in this life, in things that are only of a temporal nature; but still greater must be the concern of every pious and religious parent, respecting things of a spiritual nature! Where shall the dear children now find a friend who will watch over them in things that have reference to futurity? Since real religion, and the fear of God, is so very unfashionable, that people who are in real concern about it, are, with St. Paul, thought to be beside themselves. Who will be so singular as to take the pains to shew (sic) them their danger from sin, and their remedy a Saviour? Who will shew them the necessity of holiness, and carefully instruct them in all the branches of it? Who will direct them in the choice of their company with a parental tenderness and anxiety; kindly reminding them, as occasion requires, that "he that walketh with wise men shall be wise; but a companion of fools shall be destroyed." Who will diligently observe, and tenderly check in them the beginnings of bad habits, and considering that "the beginning of sin is as the letting out of water," which, if not early stopped, will soon prove unconquerable?