The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1883-12-16
FRENCH FACTS.
With a Few Fancies Thrown
In.
Some or Which are More Truthful
Than Palatable.
all Of Which are Gathered by Our
Regular Correspondent.
PARIS, November 81, 1883,

PARIS, November 81, 1888.
What to do with ilegitimate ba :
bies is just now occupying serious at
tention. There is. pre- perIy speaking.
no system Of founding hospitals. The
code has been 30 often reformed and
repatched, that legislation. bearing
on natural children is confused and
left to haphazard. Opinion, too. is
divided; to legslize homes for infant.
burn out of wedlock, is viewed as
holding out premium to immortality;
not to do SO. will raise !nfansie:de
to Chinese proportions, while swell.
ing the ranks of crime. As it is, 5000
illegitimate children, or one-fourth
of the totsl OF such annually born in
France are registered in Paris, and
four nfths of the juvenile deIinqaents
are natural children.
The treatment OF the question has
arrived at this stage, inutile TO shut
eyes to the magnitude of the evil. re-
store the Tours" or have licensed
Offices, where mothers who will not
their children, can ffeelv have
the ived and done for. The
Tour or l. rehcylinder, Is resolving
casket, one half protruding outside
the entrance door of an hospice or
hospital, the other mciety inside. 1.
is in the form of a she'll, that having
been the shape OF the original tours
in marble, placed at the doors o! the
churches. When mother deposits
her infant in the basket, the weight
cs uses the latter to turn round, in.
wards, ringing at the same time a
bell, to call the attention of an Off
cisl to the arrival OF the little stran-
ger.
The baby is infinitely examined. to
note il it's body affords any special
marks for identity; the same inves-
tigation is made with respect to it's
clothing. and all ia jotted down on a
register. The baby receives a num-
Der, later q name; that number il
stamped on silver medal by ma
chine, and attached to q necklace,
just as in the Hospital for Infants, to
prevent exchanges. If in the course
of time circumstances allow the
mother to claim the child, she can do
30. by supplying corroborativs proofs.
end compromising for the cost OF its
support. Some mothers give their
names and addresses. BIT they are
never allowed to see the child, are
duly Informed if it dies, and once
year that it is alive. The law of
France prohibits mother seeing
putative father; she must bear all the
conss quences of her shame.
In former days in France, illegiti-
mate children were left on the high
road, or abandoned in woods, for the
charitable to adopt them, the weather
to destroy them, or carDivorOus anil
ais to devour them. Up to the re-
volution the lords of the soil were
boun TO support all natural children.
They imagined this plan of baby. farm.
ing, transporting them to Paris, so
that while the usual number Of such
children b-rn in the capital was. 10
1870. only 312; it rose to 1900 in
1770.
The infants were deposited on the
steps OF the hcepitals and churches
d'Alemhert was picked up in the lat
ter condition by poor shoemaker.
after being abandoned by his duchess
mother. So terrible had this deser
ton OF the newborn became that q
decree was issued by the authorities,
drawing attention to the danger of the
bat les being deyoured by wandering
pigs, or trodden down by straying
cattle. And when these poor little
beings were picked up, they were
placed in the public hospitals, twelve
in bed, pell nell. in the ordi-
nary wards. Naturally, the infants
died like flies at a first frost. In the
Hotel de Dieu. there was but one wet
nurse for sixty children. Margaret
Of Valvis obtained from her brother,
Charles X, that the fines levied on |
userers should be applied to an insti |
ton for foundliDgs. The inmates of
this charity were called Entants
Rouges, from their red costumes.
The children had the right to beg in
The best places OF the city. In time
the iussitu ion became self-support-
ing, by taking in work, and it was an
apo.hecary, one Houel, who gave the
fret employment to the Eafants. by
paying them for compromising drugs
or the poor.
During the reign of Francois /, the
Nuns were allowed to place pallet,
" Creche, hence the origin of the
after now familiar word with some
infants therein, inside the porch OF
lotre Dame. a card being suspended
rom the cot. soliciting aims to feed
be lambs." Later nursing houses
7ere opened, under the care OF wo-
nen, who kept the children quiet, for
yer as well as time. by means OF {
rugs. One of these houses in the
ne st. Landry became infamous. I
bildren could be openly purchased
,era FIR one frecc each. ShOWmen r