Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1881-08-14
ABOUT BABIES.

From the Brooklyn Eagle.
Iowa excels any State in the Union for
babies. First and foremost to the popula-
ton we have more births than any other
country in or out of the United States
that the sun shines on.-Siour CITY Jour-
nal.
Madge Herrick, of this city, gave birth
to triplets last Saturday night. Same
paper.
Certainly Iowa may be accounted hap
py State, but when human creatures come
into this rackety world of ours with a
rapiditv far in excess of average expert
ence, speculative economists ana
philosophers are prone to ask now
we shall all find house room or elbow
room in future centuries; how we shall
avoid crowding out one another. The
earth, it is true, is 1926 miles in diameter,
and the square miles on its surface are
denoted by long row of figures. Still
its size is strictly defined and limited.
We can tell almost exactly the extent OF
dry land on which the foot of man can
tread, and of water on which boats and
ships can float We can ascertain ap-
proximately the acreage of land that is
necessary TO grow corn and rice, vege-
tables and fruit, butchers meat, dairy
produce, etc, for the annual food OF an
average human being; and we can picture
to ourselves state of things in which
the worlds policeman will bid US "move
on" However, it will not be just yet,
and perhaps survival of the fittest, on
Mr.. Darwin's principle, will set every
thing to rights.
ONE AT A TIME.
1t is an admitted fact, we believe, that
when births are more numerous than one
at time, nobody seems delighted at it.
The parents have more cares to look for
ward to than they desire; the domestic
establishment is subject to much disar
rangenent and overturning; the daily or
weekly outlay increases, and the compli-
mentary ''welcome, little stranger" is
sadly wanting in sincerity. The excess
beyond twins is more frequent than
might, perhaps, be supposed, and is
sometimes such as to be not little start
ling. If it be true, S writers on vital
statistics assert, that once in about eight
thousand times birth consists of trip
lets, we need not marvel that so many
little collins are made every year; for the
poor triplets do not often grow up to be
men and women.
When bankruptcies occur, four at a
birth, the incident is one for newspaper
comment; and no small amount Of celeb
rity attaches to the home of the family
connected with the event. Some years
ago there was favorite book called GA
Residence on the Shores of the Baltic"
the authoress of which is said to have been
one of the four brothers and sister born
on the same day. This touches subject
that has been much discussed-the intel
lectual capacity of what may be called
multiplicate children. The question has
been put-are twins, triplets snd quadrip-
lets as ''clever" as other people? but it is
generally admitted that the materials
have not yet been duly collected and ex-
amined. If it be asserted, as many per-
sons do assert, that twins are not often in
tellectually distinguished, we are at once
confronted with the case of two famous
brothers, Lord Eldon and Lord Stowell,
prodigies of judicial learning; although
not twins to each other each had a twin
sister
QUADRUPLETS.
Setting aside, however, this question
Of intellectual capacity, We will jot down
few examples of bankruptcies. About
near Cork had four children at a birth,
two boys and two girls; whether they all
lived and flourished we have no record
of Nuneaton, England, the birthplace of
George Eliot, was blessed with four chill
dren in one day. The vicarage had, in
nf &c
in that year; for triplets had made their
appearance barely twelve months before.
Mrs Shury, cooper's wife, at the west
end of London, had twins early in 1879
and twins again before the year had quite
expired: but the wears wife beat her by
long distance, and must have had very
vocal household 1t must be sad thing for
the poor mother, when not single tiny
one is left to her after such an ordeal
This was the case at Seaton, in Devon
shire, England, where tombstone in the
churchyard records that ''Here lyeth we
Bodys of John and Richard and Edward,
sons Of John Roberts and Elizabeth, his
wife, together with a daughter of the
same persons, born at one birth They
dyed We 8 day of September, 1897" At
Brownsgrovc, Pa, in 1919, were born
four little girls at once, baptized Maria,
Mary, Sarah and Elizabeth. When IL
years of age, they were seen in cluster
by gentleman, who placed on record
the result of his inquiries. The girls
were dressed alike, and bore such re-
semblance in form, features and general
appearance that he could not identify or
discriminate them one from another. We
might perchance imagine that if these
damsels grew up to womanood
and to sweethearting affairs, there
would occur rare COMEDY
of Errors" no lover being able to deter
mine which was his own particular pet
treasure But nature hasAn easy way of
getting out of such difficulties. Maria,
It appears, lived to the age of II; Mary
married and had two children; Eliza lived
to her 32d year; while Sarah married, had
a son, and survived until recent period
The brave mother of this bevy of girls
did not quit the scene until she had
counted SO summers.
QUINTUPLETs.
Qulntuplets, the shortest name we can
devise for five children at birth, are, of
course, very rare, but if the recorded state
ments are reliable, instances have actu-
ally occurred. The Globe newspaper,
somewhat under twenty years ago, re-
corded the fact that the wife of a rail-