The Opelousas journal. [volume] (Opelousas, La.) 1868-1878, 1877-08-25

bauch Of the Cowlev pasteboard--revel
in riotously-and when time shall de-
stroy or accident ENJOY them, count on
a fresh supply. Yours, visitingly cardily,
x. Y. T."
Shortly after this Artemus began his
brief career as a lecturer at the Egyptian
hall. I went off to the United States
on a professional tour with my entertain
ment, and we never again met-poor
dear Artemus having "gone over to the
majority" in my absence. | often met
Weatherwax, but the sign and symbol OF
my Lord Cowley has long since disap-
peared from the china bowl. The packet
of fifty cured him. 4
THE STATUS OF chill en-.
Those lowest social states in which
offspring are now idolized, now killed,
now sold, as the dominant feeling
prompts, are everywhere the states in
which hostilities with surrounding tribes
are chronic. This absolute dependence
of progeny on parental will is shown
whether the militancy is that of archaic
groups, or that of groups higher in struc-
ture. In the latter as in the former,
there exists that life and death power
over children which is the negation of all
rights and claims. On comparing chill
dren's status in the rudest militant tribes
with their status in militant tribes which
are patriarchial and compounded of the
patriarchial, all we a say is, that in
these last the sti~ll.surviving theory be-
comes qualified in practice; and that
qualification of it Increases as Industrial
ism grows.
The Feejeeans, intensely despotic in
government, and farocious in war, fur
nish an instance of extreme abjectness in
the position of children. Infanticide, es-
pecialIy of females, reaches nearer two
thirds than oue-half; they destroy their
infants from mere whim, ~expediency,
anger, or Incidence" and, according to
Erskine, children have been offered BY
the people of their own tribe to propitiate
a powerful chief" not for slaves but for
food. A sanguinary warrior race of
Mexico-the Cnechemecas-yielda another
example OF excessive parental power:
sons " cannot marry without the consent
of parents; if a young man violates this
law .... the penalty is DEATH" By this
instance we are reminded of the domestic
condition amo1g the ancient Mexicans
largely composed of %conquering cannibal
Chechemecas), whose social organization
was highly m%ilitantin type, and of whom
Clavigero says, "Their children were
bred to stand so much in awe of their
parents, that ever when grown up and
married, they hardly burst speak before
them" In ancient Central America
family rule was similar; and in ancient
Peru it was the law that "sons should
obey and serve their fathers until they
reached the age Of twenty-five"
If we now turn to the few cases Of un'
civilized and semi-civilizcd societies that
are wholly industrial, or predominately
industrial, WE find children, as we found
woman, occupying muchhigher positions.
Among the peaceful Bodo and DhimalS,
"infanticide is utterly unknown"
daughters are treated with confidence
and k~indness;" and when marriages are
being arranged, "there 81, a consulting
the destined bride" to which add the
reciprocal trait that cit is deemed
shameful to leave old parents entirely
alone" The Dyaks, again, largely in
dustrial, and having an unmilitant social
structure, yield the fact stated br Brooks,
that "the practice of infanticide is rare"
as well as the facts before named under
another head, that children have the
freedom implied by regular courtship,
and that girls choose their mates.
We are told of the Samoans, who
are more industrial in social struc.
ture and habit than neigboring Ma
layo-Polynesians, that infanticide after
birth is unknown, and that children have
the degree of independence implied by
elopements when they cannot obtain pa
rental assent to their marriage. SINH
larly with the Negritos inhabiting the
island of Tanna, Where militancy is
slight and there are not pronounced
chiettainships: of them we read in Tur-
ner that " the Tannese are fond of their
children. No infanticide there. They
allow them every indulgence, girls as
well as boys" Lastly, there is the case
of the industrious Pueblos, whose child
rem were unrestrained in marriage, and
by whom, as we have seen, daughters
were especially privileged.
Thus with a highly-militant type there
goes extreme subsection of children, and
the status of girls is still lower than that
oil bows; while in proportion as the
type b comes non militant, there is not
only more recognition of children's
claims, but the recognized claims of boys
and girls approach toward equality
HerEert Spencer, in Popular Science
Monthly.