The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1900-05-12
VIEW BOOKS.
Brief Reviews Of Important and Interesting
New Publications..

''esN ~ " 'bAJ eooN ~ hVhVh "
they are also interesting. They possess attrac-
ton for the general as well as the particular
reader. We all know that observation-disclosures
ton Is not invariably presented In a fascinating
manner. and we are the more indebted 10 Mrs.
Earle because she has been at the pains. or at
least obeyed the instinct. to be readable. Child
Life in Colonial Days. by Mrs. Earle tMacmil-
Ian Company. has the entertaining qualifca-
tons of her other books.
In writing OF Colonial child life Mrs. Earle.be-
gins naturally at the period of babyhood
Even Jonathan Edwards. who had developed
great powerso fsarcasm and a sonorous literary
style at the age of ~. entered upon life as a
baby. They were brave. and II seemed at first
fortunate, children who were brought to New
England by tho settlers OF Massa chusetts Bay.
Gov. Winthrop recorded that not a child showed
fear or i,mayedness" on the voyage. and
they landed on a June day. when. according
to Joshua Scottow. an early historian who ap-
preciated the favors of nature in New England
in the month of June. there was a smell on the
shore like the smell OF a garden. Welcomed were
these migrant children with external flavor
and sweet odor; fragrant was the land.
such was the plenty OF sweet fern. laurel and
other fragrant simples. such was the scent OF
'AA % oiAe 'ahe ~ v tt6 tihoFs
and larch trees. with our tall cedars."
But II was different in winter. not only for
those babies who came over in the first ships,
but for all New England babies for many years
after. 1t was a bleak world. Mrs. Earle reminds
us. that they looked out upon in winter. There
was one ceremony which called for babies OF a
Spartan mould, and which. as Mrs. Earle says.
might we'll have given rise to the expression
''surviyal ~ thn fttaot :" An hahiaa had IN ba
baptized within a few days OF birth. and the
baptism had to take place in the meeting house.
which was even a little more frigid than most
New England places. We are called upon
here to imagine the January babe car
ried through the wind-swept streets 10
the freezing sanctuary where the ice had to be
broken in the christening bowl Judge Samuel
Sewall Of Boston, who kept a diary. and TO
whom all writer's of New England history are
much beholden. recorded on Jan q. 1894: "A
very extraordinary Storm, by reason OF the
falling and driving OF Snow Few women
could get to Meeting A Child named Alex
ander was baptized in the afternoon" The
Judge tells Of children OF his own who were
baptized when they were four days old They
were winter children. and the Judge has re-
corded that they shrank from the icy water.
though they cried not.
The mortality among the infants Of early
New England was appallinsly great. fevers.
infucnzas. sore throats. "bladders in the wind
pipe" and smallpox carried them on in great
numbers. II is hardly a wonder that the medi-
cine, with which they were dosed failed to save
them snail water was used a. a tonic and also
aS a lotion. Venice treacle was a medicine that
was popular until within this century. II was
- - go. L.. .hA ,h,.at-
cian Of Nero and was made Of vipcrs, white
wine. opium. spices from both the Indies.
~liCorice. red roses, tops OF Cermander and Saint
John's-vort, some twenty other herbs, juice OF
rough aloes, and honey triple the weight OF all
the dry spices " Mithrdate, the favorlte medl-
cine of King Milhridates, was another dose that
was given to early New England children, II
contained forty-ilve ingredients. and II is safe
to say that the New England victims of it did
not esteem it as highly As King Mlthridates did.
For twenty shillings mothers could get tho
famous anodyne necklace for children's teeth,
Of which the advertisements said that chill
dren on the very brink of the Grave. and
thought past recovery with their teeth. who
cannot tell what they suffer nor make known
their pains any other way but by crying and
means" had almost miraculously recovered
after wearing it for a single night. A mother
would never forgive herself" the advertiser
artlessly continued. whose child should die for
want of 40 very easy a remedy for its teeth"
and there is little doubt that many a New
England mother bought the famous anodyne
necklace and hung II tenderly about her baby's
neck. fearful of what her New England con-
science would say IN case anything Mould hap
pen and the efficient remedy in question should
not be at hand.
This book considers the dress Of the Colonial
children. their schooling. their discipline. their
manners. their religions, thought and train
ing. their story books. their needlecraft, their
games and pastimes and their toys. There was
a thoughtful Englishman Of the name Of Locke,
who thought a great deal upon the subject OF
the bringing up Of children. and who published
in 1890 a book called Thoughts on Education"
which was much esteemed by New England
parents. One thing that Locke strongly ad-
vised was 10 wash the child's feet in cold water
daily, and TO have his shoes so thin that
they might leak and let in water" Thanks to
this kindly but strenuous authority on the
needs OF children, many a little New Englander
was made TO gasfe<or breath and brought to
the very verge Of a III as he was held under the
pump of a winter morning. Josiah Quincy was
one At the age Of three he was taken every
dav from his warm bed and carried into the
cellar and dipped three times in a tub OF fresh
pump water He was also brought up 10 de-
spise n comfortable condition of the feet. His
shoes we're purposely made to leak. in accord
ance with LOcke's advice, and he has left ii on
record that he sat more than half the time with
his feet wet and cold. and without the slight
est injury TO his health Locke advised
brown bread. cheese and warm beer as
rroper food for children. but this ad-
vice was not much followed In New Eng
land. if il was followed there at all. The New
England child got more milk than beer, but the
diet prescribed by Locke certainly took hold
elsewhere, for II is recorded here that a little
English girl from Barbados, who had been
sent 20 school in New York. complained in a
letter to her parents than the lady having
charge of her gave her only water for dinner,
and that her father wrote back that she was a
child Of position and quality. used to the
In yuries of life. and that wine and beer must be
put at her disposal
In a chapter on childish precocity we have
much that is curious. John Evelyn's son Rich
ard died in 1868 at the age Of 5. and the father
recorded in his diary: "Hc had learned all his
catcchism at two years and a half old he could
p%erlcctly read any OF tho English, Latin,
French or Gothic letters. prononncing the first
three languages exactly He had. before the
fifth year, or in that year. not only skill 10 read
most written hands. but 10 decline all the nouns,
coniugate the verbs regular. and most of the
irregular, learned out Puerelis, got by heart