ELLEN KEY
From a photograph
The
Century of the Child
By
Ellen Key
G. P. Putnam's Sons
New York and London
The Knickerbocker Press
Copyright, 1909
BY
G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS
Published, February, 1909
Reprinted, December, 1909
The Knickerbocker Press, New York
PUBLISHERS' NOTE
The present translation is from the German version of Frances Maro,which was revised by the author herself.
CONTENTS
| CHAPTER | PAGE | |
| I. | The Right of the Child to Choose His Parents | 1 |
| II. | The Unborn Race and Woman's Work | 63 |
| III. | Education | 106 |
| IV. | Homelessness | 191 |
| V. | Soul Murder in the Schools | 203 |
| VI. | The School of the Future | 233 |
| VII. | Religious Instruction | 284 |
| VIII. | Child Labour and the Crimes of Children | 316 |
The Century of the Child
CHAPTER I THE RIGHT OF THE CHILD TO CHOOSE HIS PARENTS
Filled with sad memories or eager hopes, people waited for the turn ofthe century, and as the clock struck twelve, felt innumerable undefinedforebodings. They felt that the new century would certainly give themonly one thing, peace. They felt that those who are labouring to-daywould witness no new development in that process of change to which theyhad consciously or unconsciously contributed their quota.
The events at the turn of the century caused the new century to berepresented as a small naked child, descending upon the earth, butdrawing himself back in terror at the sight of a world bristling withweapons, a world in which for the opening century there was not[Pg 2] an inchof free ground to set one's foot upon. Many people thought over thesignificance of this picture; they thought how in economic and in actualwarfare all the lower passions of man were still aroused; how despiteall the tremendous development of civilisation in the century justpassed,