Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1884-08-30
UPRIGHT Wan.


1t has been well remarked that the various
stages of child life correspond in marked degree
with the various stages through which. accord
ing to the theory of development. the human
race itself has passed. Biologists begin with
still earlier stages of existence but we need not
follow them so far. From birth onward we find
the bodily and mental characteristics following
process Of development akin to what has been
recognized in the development of man himself
The newborn babe is in his mothers ewes q
very sweet creature, but he IL nevertheless of
much l0Wertype regarding him as an animal than
the grown man (unless the man has developed
the wrong way, as unfortunately many do) In
the first few months of his existence the babe
shows number OF very mOnkey-ke traits. He
may be a nice little monkey or a nasty little
monkey: bu; even his nearest and dearest friends
always excepting his mother who is 'pOs-
seSsed by HIM at this STAGE must admit that he
has very much OF the monkey type. He simu-
lateS and disSlmuiateS Us only simians do. He
Initiates or rather mmcs all he sees and hears
He can not speak, but he can make sundry
noises which mamma regards as speech Every
thing he can lay hold of goes to his mouth. lust
as it does in monkeys case. U speak from ex-
pcrience. having once. when boy offered a
monkey my hand in the pOitest fashions: the
monkey Immediately conveyed it to his mouth
quite camy and tested il with his teeth) Baby
Is even at this stage of his existence, quadr,l-
lOtS btiH HOT otllN longer relatively
than they are later. but capable of holding on.
insomuch that he can climb UP mammals dress
with their aid. But about the time when baby
begins to put away monkey manners and to stand
on two feet like Il man. he c;ins to show i'm
very marked degree, the characteristics of saw
age tribes For two or three years of this part
Of his life the best baby is little savage His
Ideas of property are intensely savage. He NAV
be said to be always more or less ION the grab
q object to slang as much as any man, but,
really there is no other way of describing the
tendencies exhibited at this stage of baby's
career) If he has small brothers or sisters Tor
BOTH he is always more or less at war with these
neighboring savages. Ii he is deprived of any,
thing he has come to regard as his property.
quite mstakingly. it may well be- or il he sees
In the hands of his small kinsfOlk any goods
or chattels which seem pleasing in his eyes he
has but one way Of expressing his wishes; he
goes for the possession of the desired Oiect using
his hahds as weapons II he have no others handy.
but bringing down stick or brush or book CAS-
the case may be) on the head of his enemy with
all the zeal Of a Fijian or an Ojbbeway on the
war path. Girl babies are pretty nearly as bad
as boy babies in these matters. only the
girl savage differs from the boy savage much as
savage woman differs from savage man. Ofcourse
there are many baby boys and baby girls who
show little tendency to savagery, just as there
have been many uncultured races of man who
have Deen gentle and innocent. But the quiet
babies are always weak and unhealthy In the
struggle for existence they succumb before their
more ferOciOus brothers, just as the quiet and
gentle savage tribes perish before their tnma-
hawk-hOurshing. spear-thrOwing, ub-wieldipy
neghbOrS.-R. A. Proctor, in BelgTapia