The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1850-10-22

fourteen. The project, though II ID asserted il mighI
be done with safety, does not contemplate anything
Atlantic.
Short Notices on French Manners.
FRENCH CHILDREN.
PARIS, September rs, 1850.
For the last half hour have been gazing from
my window on lively group Of rosy checked chill
dren. There they are still playing at " all hands
round about pile of leaves, which the winds OF
an early autumn have loosened from the boughs oil
the tall chestnut trees OF the garden. Now and
then they break the circle, and with merry laugh
ter, throw over each other the red, brown, russell
and yellow remains Of the summers beautiful foil
age One can almost fancy they singing those
dear little sanzas used on similar occasions by
young people in broad-brimmed Leghorn hats and
little aprons, and commemorative of the rare merits
| OF "sweat beans and barley corn" The illusion
would be complete, were not the flashing black
| eyes so much more numerous here than the soft
| blue. What animation of countenance what
| lghtness and grace of motion !'what decacy of
| feature Too much delcacy perha we might
| be better pleased II the boys were a little more
robust and vigorous. Poor fellows! Ii is not their
| fault, for they have not reached their present
| young state OF development except by passing
through the hardest trials. Their growth has been
| veritable progress under difficulties.
Why should not here record their sorrows, and
let the mothers in America hear their cries. so con-
| slant but unavaing For the first few months OF
| his existence The French baby is close prisoner:
| his arms pinned down close to his sides, and
| his legs deprived of all liberty of movement. II
is literally rolled up as bundle. The Indian pa
poose, wrapped up in blanket and strapped to
board, is not more motionless. Set him on end
and steady him well; he stands up as s.ilfly as an
| old person. 1t makes little difference, for that
| matter, whetl er you set him on his head or his
feet, for, in rigidity, he resembles the Egyptian
| mummy. At HIS BIRTH he bids fearful adieu to
| the pleasures, SO highly priced by unswaddles
babies, of working with his hands and feet, put
| ting himself in the attitude of Lilputian boxer
| stretching and kicking out, and rejoicing in his
half consciousness OF newly acquired liberty. He
| is condemned to rest for some time stock-stilt
| observer of the world on which he has entered.
| Some two hundred little fellows thus bandaged up,
lSmey be in the large hall Of the founding
hospi,a from thirty to forty of them laid parallel
| TO each other on the sOping bed before the fire,
| looking like many biets of wood, ali ticketed
at end, and protesting in their manner against
| so stiff reception.
| All, if this were their only compla Amt But no.
all the necessary arrangements for getting rid OF
| them have long been made by their parents. They
| are tire ated snwelcome visiters, incumbrances>
! on narrow fortune, intruders into a world al
ready over peopled; consumers and not producers.
| The property they have in common with the leecL
| is inconyenient and vexatlous. lnexorable fash
! ion decided long ego that nature, in requiring
| mother 10 nurture her own offspring, has been
guilty Of an egregious and vulgar blunder. What
sacrifice personal beauty and the pleasures OF So
| cety TO maternal affection [! Pure folly. Custom
has sanctioned the decision OF fashion, and now
the FORTRESS, the femme de eon6re, the mllner, and
| the wives Of the shoemaker, the tailor and the
grocer, abandon their children readily as the
| sristocratic beauties Of the higher circles The
benevolent Society TO Encourage Mothers to Nurse
their own Children. with all its efforts throueh per-
sonal influence and tracts, have not been able to
| arrest this custom.
| Happy the children whose parents are rich
| enough TO keep a nurse in the house IL she has
| been well selected and well supervised, she leaves
| them strong and healthy, having been, all things
considered, 10 bad substitute for selfish mother.
But the vast majority OF Paris infants not 80
| fortunate. A few days after their birth they are
|
| tunes as much as fifty leagues, and placed under
| the care of some peasant women, who, for month
ly stipend, agrees to return them in good order at
the end Of one or two years Such is the general
ness of this custom that French Herot, who
should wish to clay all the children ia this capitas
- two years old and UNDER" would lind few victims.
except the children OF persons too poor to put them
out 10 nurse, and too afiectona'e TO send them 10.
| the hospital have some where in a French
author an eloquent philippe against the custom ic
certain nation Of savages, Of putting 10 death the
old and feeble among them; but have seen no
evidence that the sense of humanity has beer.
deeply wounded by the custom Of deserving infants,
| so general in this country. Aud yet such custom
is 10 us inexphcsble on any Known theory of hu-
man nature. Can we conceive Of a mother gazing
with joy, which makes her heart palpitate on
the pesse thss,, ne. 80, So" her his aabaster arms
/ S.~ 60, on his little breast. and his hfs,-
"like two rcd roses on stock,
which, In their summer beauty kissed each other
and, the next instant, sending him to wther in the
But he is sent, the parents mikiny many resolu-
tons about going out frequently and surprising the
nurse. But the road is long and tine precious
after little while this vigilance is relaxed, and
Icing months glide away between the visits The
nurse has her own siiaifs 10 attend TO she BAN
dages the child up from head TO foot in the approves
style, draws the curtains around the cradle, whicis
she pushes no IN dark corner, and sses forth 10
visit the neicbhors or TO labor in the fields. He
may strengthen his lungs by crying or sleep, as he
| may choose, until her return. The same nurse
has not unffequently four five infants uader her
care at the same time, managing 10 exc out msera-
bly, the deficiency in their nourlshment with soup,
| pap, end mashed potatoes. When the mother
comes, few months afterwards, to see her cherub-
checked boy, with the dImpes on his plump little
hands, she does not recognise him in the wan
| faced creature, with ivid marks under his eyes,
and long thin blush fingers, which is presented TO
her. Then comes flood Of bitter tears forced
out by the stingngs OF remorse; this is followed
by severe rating of the negligent nurse, who does
not fail to retcrt on the indifferent mother. The
scene closes by the fathers taking the child to
SEINE other nurse and visiting it more frequently.
The child often falls victim to the ruggedness OF
his treatment; the mortality among children at
| nurse runs up to fearful ratio.
| But imagine the child TO have reached the age
when custom requires his return to the house Of hs
parents, that is TO say, OF one or TIVE years For
month or two previous he has been well fed and
peled by his nurse, whose conscience well
interest leads her 10 take this unusual pains. He
reaches his fathers house stranger, and ia afraid
as he passes up the grand stairway and sees many
| eyes fixed on him. He clngs TO his nurses side,
| and begs her TO take him hop.e with her. When
che leaves him he is inconsolasle, aud, for many
long day cries 20 get back 10 his mother in the
country. lie will not believe that the fine lady
| who now takes care OF him is his mother, for he
has never seen her before. IL seems to us that the
love between a neither and her child thus brought
back to her can never become so beautiful as II is
IN countries not so far led away from nature by a
false civilization and that to this cause may be
traced The almost entire absence among the Pari-
sans OF what we call HAPPY family circles" The
child is too apt, as he grows up, to repay with in
terest, the Indifference Of his parents towards him
in his infancy. And Il we seek for the cause of the
the people, those Of certain classes being. almost
without exception, handsome and vigorous, ane