The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1897-10-31
THE WELCOME MAN-oHILD.

The disposition shown, even in the most
refined and highly cultivated circles OF civ
ilization, to rejoice exceedingly over the
birth of a man-chiId and 70 express openly
a corresponding regret when the newly ar
rived human creature is OF the other sex,
is curious survival of barbarisn. The adj
vent of the latest Cleveland baby is a case
in point If the newspaper space writers are
10 be believed it. would have been in the
nature of a calamity if the infant had
been 'only another girl" and the father
is pictured as waiting anxiously and fear
ing the worst-a girl" Fortunately, these
outpourings are TO be taken with a grain
Of allowance. and the public need not as
sumo that Mr. and Mrs. Cleveland would
have been cast into hopeless despair had
the child proved to be a fourth daughter
instead of the first son; nevertheless, the
newspapers only express common senti-
ment when they give precedence to tbs
boy baby. IT is not simply the fact that
the Clevelands had three daughters and
might naturally and reasonably desire q
son shat leads to the public expression in
favor of boys at this time; the feeling OF
disappointment among the friends of the
parents when the hrst-born proved to be
girl was equally evident and was followed
by similar expressions Of regret at the birth
of the two younger daughters. Such regret
was the sincere manifestation of prevail
ing tendency to do greater honor to the
male of the human species than to the
female. Its sincerity is not the less genuine
because of the equally ready gloritication
of the female child after she has become
a woman. In fact. the latter tendency Is
equally pronounced and is its own COM
mentary on the other, suggesting that the
delight over the boy is inherited from prim-
tive ancestors, who made their way only
by brute force and valued Drawn above all
else Certainly, modern conditions hardly
Justify the preference for the boy. Almost
from the time of his arrival he is a source
of greater anxiety than his sister, surely
so from the time he is past babyhood. As
a lad he is venturesome, reckless, disobedi-
ent, mischievous, idle, prone to acquire
bad habits and given to wandering into for
hidden ways as a youth his parents are
in constant fear lest he be beguiled into
some of the many pitfalls that lie before
unwary feet and so great is his propen-
sity for being beguiled that the wonder
sometimes arises in care-laden parental
minds that any ever escape. In spite or
the good men know, exclaimed an elder
ly matron who had helped to train half
dozen sons into honest citizens and amiable,
respecting gentlemen, ''in spite of them
all, I am not sure that any man is safe
from downfall until he is in his grave"
Notwithstanding this extreme view it is BY
no means certain, so inconsistent are we,
that this matron would not sigh little
over the arrival OF a granddaughter in
stead Of a grandson into her homestead.
and yet the daughter, as rule, is a source
of comfort to her parents from her first
year to their last days. She is much more
easily guided in the ways she should go;
gilded vice that so tempts her brothers,
she remains always a loving daughter
though she form new ties, and if it so hap
pen that she must depend upon her own
exertions she does not remain idle because
no work to her fastidious liking offers it.
self but takes what her hands find to do.
In parts of India and China unwelcome girl
babies are thrown in the river. In this coun-
try they are treated like princesses, and
only sighed over because they were not
born boys. but even this reflection upon
their worth should be banished in what is
proudly called the ''woman's century" II re-
garded only as the future mothers OF the
the coming fathers