The Weekly Kansas chief. [volume] (Troy, Kan.) 1872-1918, 1873-10-23
BABY SHOWS.
Reason. why They shosId No, be Encouraged.


The "baby show" is, we believe, a product of
| the inventive genius of New England, and if it
| was confined to that sterile region, where the
scarcity of babies may excuse exceptional mater
nifty in making them objects of public exhibition.
and the natural inqusitiveness of the pUpula-
ton about the private details of domestic life
creates demand which could not be otherwise
satisfied, we should have little TO say against il !;
but when II threatens to spread over the entire
Union, co-extensive with lyeeum lectures and life
| ASSURANCE prospectnses, and to assume the pro-
portions Of national characteristic, We feel it
| our duty To protest, just as we should protest
against the general adoption of %%a,r paint, Won
dOoism, or other local eccentrieites beiougid5 10
certain sections of the country. Already the
pernicOus example has been SO widely followed
that on the occasion of u recent attempt to es-
tablish such an exhibition in Liverpool, the Eng
lish press urged special legislation to suppress
what it was pleased to call "a revolving AmeTi-
can practice" and from all parts of the United
States, North, South and West, nearly every an
nouncement of a country fair proclaims a baby
show as essential feature of its programme.
The casual spectacle of isolated infancy mewiing
and otherwise dispOrting itself in its nurses
arms is edifying to every lover of mankind; but
the aggregation of numerous musings is rather
calculated to arouse Malthusian misgivings in
the thou htful mind, and the public display of
the mysteries of the nursery can scarcely fail tn
lessen mans respect for his own species. anl to
dnll the edge of bachelor appetite for matrimo.
NAL felicity. Furthermore, we submit that the
practice of Offering premiums for plurality of off
spring is directly subversve of private and p'b-
lie order. To elevate the mother of triplets
above her sister who has only cOmpassed twins,
and to award still higher honor in the face of
the multitude to her who has evolved quadru-
PIES is to incite feminine competition to deeds
which must inevitably drive impecuniOns hus-
bands TO become defaulters to drown their
griefs in drink. Who that should have Il Sudden
addition of four or five To his scantly furnished
household but would feel himself deserted by
Providence and capable of any crime? Whn
could dssemble his resentment against the wife
that should thus presume npOn her privileged
On every ground of morality, expediency and
good taste, there are fDrcible rcasOns why baby
shows should be represstd outside of New Eng
lands boundaries; but how this repression il tn
be effected is hard TO devise. With the class of
persons who expose their rival offspring to the
vulgar gaze at agricultural fairs, il would be fl-
tile to argne that babies have necessary con- |
nection with hnsbandry. or that there is q deg |
radiation in placing the soaring human infant on |
an equality with prize pigs and prodigious pump.
kIns. Nor are we qute sure that even Repub- |
lcan Congress could construe Constitutional |
right to pass prohibitOry act the subject |
Perhaps the various Societies for the Prevention /
of Cruelty to Animals might exert their juriStic-
ton, on the score of the prospective injury tn |
husbands and fathers, as well as of the imnetli- |
ate danger to the infants themselves, from ncrY-
ousy misplaced pins, chilled pap, and contagion
of whoOping cough and measles. But in all |
probability efficient remedy will he applied
until public opinion Is awakened to the utterly |
abomnable vulgarity of the whole proceeding.
" Y. Herald.