The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1869-07-17 00:00:00

PRIZE BABY SHOW.

A diversion from the competitions at Wimbledon and
Lord's was attempted by an exhibition of Babies at
the North Woolwich Gardens on Monday, (says the
Daily News.) It has been found a labour of consider-
able difficulty to popularise baby shows in England;
and if we were not half converted by what we
saw on Monday, we should be disposed, notwith-
standing the strong expressions in favour of absolute
free trade uttered on a recent occasion, to advocate a
prohibitory polieyon the American "notion" of exhibit-
ing humanity in long clothes. It rather suggests the cus-
tom of 'baby-farming," and tends to the expansion of
Miss Topsy's idea, that she was "raised" and' growed"
without being born. We had, therefore an a priori ob-
jection to such exhibitions, on the ground that they
were materialistic. We could also fancy the horror
of a Malthusian economist at finding that a first-class
prize of £lO was to be awarded for "the most healthy
and finest triplets under 12 months." We confess to
so much ignorance on the subject that the meaning of
the word " triplet " in this counecti in was only sug-
gested to us by observing that, in the second class, a
prize of 4:5 was to be given "for the most healthy and
beautiful 'twins' under 12 months." Had the editing
of the programme or catalogue been entrusted to our
care we should be disposed to observe the unity of lan-
guage, and to say "doublets" instead of "twins."
But, oh shades of Malthus and James Mill ! what is
the world coming to when the mothers of England are
provoked to the production of " triplets" and
'doublets" by prizes of £lO and .£5?
If we are obliged, under the pressure of an overplua
of population, to send out of our fulness to the colonies,
it is essentially a rule of three question what the state
of England will be if the propagation of triplets should
ever become common. If it is difficult to find a place
at Nature's table in England as it is, it will be three- ,
fold more difficult under the forcing system. And
then, when we thought that the great Roman poet had
a special place in Hades which was filled by the
infan:um, mugitu.s, it seemed a national crime, worthy
of the severest punishment, to encourage by prizes the
multiplication of babies. It was BOUM consolation,
however, to find that there is but one example of
triplets—and they have not arrived at the show yet—
and but four of doublets.
In the four other classes the prizes are for the
respectable and economical number one, viz., RIO and
a silver cup for the most beautiful and healthy boy
under 12 months, with £3 and £.2 for 2nd and 3rd
prizes ; £lO and a silver cup for the most healthy and
beautiful girl under 12 months ; £5 for the finest or
heaviest child under 6 months, and for a second
prize; 1:5 for the finest or heaviest child under 12
mouths, and 2 for a second prize. There are also
three prizes for the neatest and prettiest cradle or
bassinet.
It would be idle to insinuate that baby shows could
never be popular amongst the mothers of babies in face
of the fact that there were 2,500 applicants for 300
entries, the space allocated for the exhibition not being
capable conveniently accommodating a larger num-
ber than 300.

The Baby Show was not the indelicate affair we bad
imagined, although it suggested to the indelicate and
to the gross observations which were more natural than
refined. The babies were, as a rule, strong and healthy.
Such of them as were awake had the smile of innocence.
Such of them as were awake had the smile of innocence,
and those who were asleep had "the heedless peace"
that the sleep of innocents only indicates. If "the
child is father of the man," and the 300 babies exhibited
on Monday be a fair specimen of the infantile produce
of England, she is still destined to be the mother of fair
women and brave men.

Referring to this exhibition, the Daily News in another
leader says .

When the speculative Barnum determined to hold a
Baby Show in New York, he caused himself to be
arrested for kissing a mother. llis defence, when he
was brought before a magistrate for this offence against
good morals, was that he had been searching high and
low for beautiful babies, and that at last he had found
one so exquisite that, carried away by a feeling of res-
pectful admiration, he had kissed the mother for the
sake of her infant. Mr. Barnum was fined one dollar,
and an account of the trial appeared in every newspaper
in the land. The speculation proved a ammessful
one, the Show went on for several days, and durirg
that time the part of Broadway in which " Banium's
Museum" is situated was almost blocked up by the
carriages of those who were eager to see the infant
whose charms were so wonderful that the heart of the
great Barnum had been vanquished, and he had for-
gotten the citizen in the man. When the exhibition
came to an end Mr. Barnum explained to his gulled
but admiring fellow-citzens how, by the expenditure of
one dollar, he had realised several thousands.
We recommend this story to those who intend to
follow the example of the impresario of the Exhibition
of Babies at the North Woolwich Gardens' for we
hardly think that, on their own single merits, such ex-
hibitions are likely to be remunerative. Mothers
always consider their own babies to be an'-la, but this
delusion is rarely shared in by others. We know of
few greater social inflictions than being obliged to ad-
mire the baby which is brought in for inspection by its
adoring mother, and are inclined to agree with the old
bachelor who said that he loved all babies, but espe-
cially when they cried, as then there was some chance
I of their being speedily removed.
I Artemus Ward used to say in his lecture, "I like
I little girls—l like big girls too." To listen to the
I innocent prattle of a little child, or to observe
even its earliest efforts to crawl about a room, is
not without a certain charm, but as long as a
child can neither talk nor crawl, but is carried
about in its mother's arms, a lump of animated
dough, it is as uninteresting an object to a stranger as
it is possible to imagine. Three hundred babies, each
lying in a cradle, and each periodically squalling for its
dinner, is an exhibition as insipid as it is uninstructive.
The smile of innocence and the sleep of innocence are
pretty
as poetical figures, but an exhibition of three
hundred innocents, smiling or sleeping, is an attempt
to convert poetry into hard matter-of-fact prose which
must fail.