The star. (Cincinnati [Ohio]) 1874-1875, 1875-01-22
BABY.FARMING.

ing has passed the French Assembly,
and it is quite possible that in the long
run it may prove more important to the
commonw cal than those "Constitution-
ap' projects which agitate "the Cen
tres" and which, nursed by the commits
tee of thirty, seem almost too weak to
live. Putting children 'out" ls much
more common IN France than with us;
indeed, in England the practice has de-
clined. Time was when the sons and
daughters OF even wellto.do people
were reared in infancy away from their
parents; and all the romance and senti-
ment that attach to "f0ster" mothers
and "foster" brothers had its origin in
the relations that arose In the child's
first home. The real reason, we suspect,
for custom which now seems to us sin
gular is that at that time it was not
easy to get nurse to relinquish alto
gether her own hearth and the care OF
her own child. The same may be the
case in France. The cOuntrywomen who
take children would probably not be
willing to live in Paris, Lyons, Mar
seilles under strange roof, and 80 nee
essity has made the habit of parting
with their offspring endurable 10 the
mothers who are compelled 20 live in
cities and large towns. Nobody can de-
lend the custom Of leaving. children to
risians do SO are not always selfish or
contemplate. A married Frenchwo-
man of the large cities does not stay at
home quite as regularly as London
wife; but on the otherhand she more
thoroughly enters into companionship
with her husband. Wherever he goes
she goes also. Instead Of our purely
masculine clubs, there are cafes. where
all may enter, and joint visit to the
theater is u much more frequent Incl
dent in French than in English life.
There is hardly town IN France that
has not playhouse of some kind; small
places of thirty OF forty thousand inhab-'
itants have buildings taking rank with
our best London theaters, II we except
the two opera houses and Drury Lane.
Then, as to family feelings, French wo-
men are tar from being selfish and cold,
| for they make on one point a sacrifice
that nearly all English women refuse to
make; they are ready to give father
| in-laW OF q mother-in-Gaw a permanent
welcome at their hearth. We have also
| to note that many Frenchwomen take a
| very full share in their husbands busi-
ness, minding his shop or assisting him
in his accounts. 1t Is therefore to be re-
membered that, regrettable as the expul-
sion of children from their parents
home may be, it sometimes springs from
the wife's eager desire to be still her hus-
bands hefpmate, associate, and friend,
rather than be only his children's nurse,
as she might have to become were she to
| keep her infants at home.
Henceforth "the baby" IN France is
not TO be "put out' without causing the
| instant action of formidable amount Of
official machinery, enough to make him
| trouble il. he could only realize the Sill
pervision that will follow him. "Eyery
infant under two years of age put out to
nurse is to be subject to the surveillance
OF the perfect, aided by IA commission
consisting of two members of the coun-
cil-general and six persons nominated
by him, one of them selected from the
medical officers Of the department and
the others from managers of charitable
institutions Tor children or adults. Lo-
cal sub.commissioDs, including two
mothers of families will be appointed
where desirable. At the ministry OF the
| interior there will be central commits
| ion, which will advise the government
as to the working Of the act, and will
prepare an annual report" We only
Hope that healthy children will manage
to "get through" all these perfects,
commissions, sub-cOmmissions, and GEN.
tral commissions, just as they succeed
! in escaping the ordeal of the measles and
| QUIET lulduIlu0 udidNlCS. luclo 10 uO
doubt that the abuses Of the present
system are considerable. In some cases
| iGis said that the nurse receives lump
sum, undertaking to adopt the child
permanently-and thus the woman has a
Idrect interest in the immediate death OF
her charge. Nobody-abvve all, not a
poor person-should be placed under
such terrible temptation to neglect OF
teven xii the unhappy infant. Where an
annual sum is promised -a payment
conditional, of course on the continued
existence OF the ihfant-the stranger has
an interest in the bare life of the child
4 though not much, il uninspected, il
!. providing it with the best food or keep
ing it i'll iirst-rate conuitien. The grea'
. gain of the new act in such cases VIII bt
That the mother, however distant, viii
have some guarantee through official re
jDorts that the nurse is acting at leas
ltolerably well. When, however, we con-
slider the sensitive organization OF {
, eLil!d, pecularities Of tone and temper
and bGtHiv AHA mnd az each grows up
there seems something absurd in hoping
, that perlects and maires and commits
sioners can secure the best care TO-
children relinquished by their own moth
ers and handed over tQ q stran@er
|: | hose primary motive is mercenary o
> course. Otiictal supervision is bette
than none, but that it should be needtu
/, at all is melancholy enough. Especiall
is there something curious in hndin
I that this law is found essential il
i France. No literature in the world is S
full of fillal sentiment; above all, revei
\ ence and love Tor mothers run tbroug
! thousands of poems, romances an
j plays. Yet it is to supplement- its care
o lessness OF French mothers that this bi
# is introduced-and. il we may Judge froI
a many reports, not before IL is wanted.
Il It's also rather strange that these diff
+ culties about children should occur
9 above all countries, in France. In En-
!, land large families are the rule; with ot
q neighbors they are the exception; II
g deed the arrest, and in some decades tt
# positive decline, of French populatio
n has excited the notice-nay, the symp
d thy-of statisticiaDs, who have condolt
% with her because she did not progress
a She lost actual millions torn from her
# 1871; but there was q possible Alsae
d Lorraine-at least in population-in u
70 surplus infants that might have be-
n born betw cen 1851 and 1870, and were ne
l.. England adds province Of this KIND
q her Empire every ten years, and she
q thereby stronger when she speaks, wi
# her enemy in the gate. Thus, too, we
Il originally recruited the German hos
IeI inA Ern