The Portland daily press., 1879-01-23
New England Families.
More Talk Abouf Their Decrease i'm Mum.
bsrs-What They Were Two Centuries
AKo-some Notable Examples.
[LOndOn Medical Times and Gazette. ]

london Medical Times and Gazettel
Questions Of sanitary science are receiving so
large share Of attention at the present time
that passing response may be made to some
peculiarities of American social life which may
not be familiar to every English or American
physician. DR.. Nathan Allen, of Lowell, Mass..
member of the American Medical Associa-
ton. who has disDlayed much careful obsarua--
tion in this direction, and in the discussion
which medicine blends with social science, has
published number of papers embodying some
important sentiments. From his own statistics
and those of other observers, it seems to be
well established that in this country there has
been of late years remarkable elimination in
the size of families among the native inhabi-
tants. From q careful examination of many
towns in Massachusetts,, it has been found that
the average number of children to each family
has been gradually diminishing through sever
al successive generations; commencing in some
places with eight or nine to each family, aud
now numbering only three or four. 1t was
stated some time since in prominent medical
journal in New York that medical men found
an average of not more than three children in
family. Among the higher classes very few
families had more than five children, very
many had bat one child, and altogether too
many had none at all. He has also shown con-
clusively that the physical improvement of the
American people has been retarded by undue
development of the intellectual faculties. Ex-
cess of development of any part of the system
has been shown to be hostile to fertility AS
was remarked recently in the columns of the
New York Medical Journal, this would seem
to be clearly shown by the growing disncllna-
tiou among young married women to assume
the duties OF maternity, and such disinclina-
ton, If widespread, of course tends to under
mine the foundation of the married and ma
ternsl relation. DR.. Allen has also shown that
the brthrate of people depended very much
upon particular type Of organic alton, and
hence there must bs certain physical stan
dard which determines the laws of population.
Statistics are adduced which prove that the
decline In the brthrsre of New Enganders-
which corresponds very nearly to that of
Francis so decided that the birth-rate of
| that stock of people is now only about one-half
| that of the Irish, English, German and French
| Canadian.
How it used to be In New England in respect
| of children is pleasantly told By Prof. Moses
Colt Tyler, in his recently published History
| of American Literature, as follows: "Bat
| who aud Of what sort were these people who 10
| the seventeenth century took possession of
New England, and who, through their descend
| ants, hold possession OF 1t still? At the first
| glance we see that they were a prolific race,
marrying early, and, if opportunity presented,
| marrying often; never declining to rejoice in
having their houses edited and beaatitied with
| many children. In the year
| 164O there were in New England twelve inde-
pendent groups of co onists, fifty towns, pop
| ulation of about q, 900 souls. Doring the 125
| years following that date more persons, 1t is
| supposed, went back from the New to the Old
| England than came from the Old England TO
the New. Yet SO thrifty aud teeming have
been these New Englauders that from that
primal community of 21,000 persons have de-
scended the $500 900 VINO compose the present
| population of New England; while of the en-
| tire population now spread over the United
States, probably every third person can read in
| the history of the first settlement of New Eng-
land the history of his own progenitor. 1t
| hardly needs to be mentioned after this that
| the conditions of life there were not at all
| those for which Malthus subsequently, invedted
his theory of inhospitslity to infants. Popu-
| lation was sparse; work was plentiful; food
| was plentiful; and the arrival In the house,
bold of new child was not the arrival
| of new appetite among brood of chit
| dren alresdy half fed-it was rather the
| rival of a new helper whose help was scarcer
| than food;i was, In fact, fresh install lment
from heaven of what they called, on Biblical
| authority, the very heritage of the Lord The
palriarchal populousness. OF all the sayings of
| the Hebrew psalmiSt-except, perhaps, the
| dsmnatory ones-it is likely that they rejoiced
| most in those which expressed the Davidlc ap.
| probation of MULTI Id nous children: AS ar
| rows are in the hands OF a mighty man, so are
children of the youth. H.ppy is the man that
bath his quiver full of them. They shall not
be ashamed, but they shall speak with the
enemies in the gate The New Englsnders
had for many years quite a number of enc
mics 10 the gate whom they wished to be able
to speak with in the unsbashed manner inti-
mated by the devout warrior of Iseral"
lie note to this passage the author refers to
some interesting instances of large families:
"Pleasaut examples Of the New England
family meet one at almost every turn in the
field Of New England biography. The sturdy
patriot, Roger Clspp, of Dorchester, was hap
| py in the possession of fourteen children,
among whom were Experience, Waitstil, Pre-
served, Hopestill, Wait, Thanks, Desire, q ute
and Supply. Cotton Mather was not so abun-
dsnt in children as he was in books, since of
the former he had only fifteen. BeDj amin
franklin was one of seventeen children, and in
his autobiography be recalls the cheerful
picture of thirteen of them seated at once at
his fathers table, who ali arrived at the age of
maturity and we're married, William Phips,
| who attained the honor Of kuig hthood, aud b5-
| came a royal Governor of Massachusetts,, was
the son of a poor gunsmIth of Pemaquid, and
belonged to q flock of twenty-six children, all
of them of the same father and mother and
] twenty-one of them sons"