Utter carelessness or ignorance of the first principles of cleanliness is responsible for much ill-health and death. A “swat-the-fly campaign” would save thousands of unprotected baby faces from being covered with loathsome disease or disfigured with dangerous eye trouble, but it would encounter not only hopeless inertia,--it would arouse serious religious opposition. In some countries the “sacredness of life” means,--Protect the fly, no matter what happens to the baby.
[Sidenote: Medical practice in non-Christian lands.]
One subject, upon which Dr. Devine has not touched in his list given above, is the necessity for the protection of well children from contagious diseases, and of skilful, tender care of the sick. We might easily fill a chapter with the study of so-called “medical practice” as conducted in non-Christian lands,--a practice composed largely of mingled superstition, ignorance, cruelty, and avarice--but a few pages on the subject in addition to our earlier study of what takes place at the time of childbirth will suffice, we trust, to make earnest Christian women desire to study it further. It is easy to shrink from contemplating the sufferings of innocent children, and many a woman is tempted to say, “I am too sensitive, I cannot hear about such things.” But are we more sensitive than the little, shrinking, pitiful children to whom these things happen daily? Therefore, not to encourage morbid curiosity, but in order that as Christian mothers and sisters we may lift the burden from little shoulders unable to bear it, let us fearlessly face the facts as they are.
The frightful ravages made by smallpox, diphtheria, scarlet fever, and even the milder “children’s diseases,” such as measles and whooping-cough, often devastate whole towns and carry away the larger part of the children in a community. Smallpox, for instance, is so common in Korea that it is not considered worth while to try to escape it. It is caused by the visit of a very great and honored spirit, and while he remains the children are addressed in high sounding terms in honor of their great guest. When he is about ready to return to the south land, _i.e._, when the child has nearly recovered, a feast is made in honor of the visitor and he is provided with a wooden horse for his journey.