The San Francisco call., 1904-02-29
Babies.
BY CHARLES FREDERICK COSS. y. y.
Author az The Redemption Of David Cor



What q profound tragedy il Is that
the advent OF little child Cthe most
touching and the most sublime phe-
nomenon in the world may excite re-
gret and even anger in a home, Did
you ever stop TO think that the ecstacy
with which baby is welcomed is an
acquired and not q natural joy, and so
is the hishWster mark Of human evelU-
ton?
Last summer while lying in a hospital
bed 1 heard from the lips Of young
nurse a powerful description of her
horror at the discovery that babies
were not always welcome. She learned
this hideous lesson in a New York in
stitution where the homeless women Of
the great metropolis came TO give birth
10 their offspring. When she saw with
her own eyes that these perverted
Nretches had to be watched for fear
they would desert the seed Of their own
bodies or even Kill them, she said that
the very world seemed TO rock beneath
her feet and she discovered with
amszement that the love OF children Q
say love" in ,the Christian sense) is
the finest fruit of countless centuries
of the education OF the moral and spir-
itual nature OF human beings.
The race will never 80 back to bar
. barism and pasanism. but individuals
are constantly doing so. 1t is not only
the miserable outcssts Of the slums and
the tenderIOins who hate their Off
spring. but the occupants of hotels fats
and houses that are not homes" are
manifesting the same repugnance TO
children.
] know Of 2 group Of young couples
who were married some eight or ten
years ago. and there are only three chill
dren among them-sI in the same
house,
This il not the place TO discuss the
details Of this revival Of paganism. The
while subject Of the antagonis1n 10
children is replete with warning For
married people in great numbers to be
hostile to their advent is 70 threaten
the stability Of human society and to
preciTitate themselves individually into
the abyss.
But this is the place to set forth in
p the glowing colors of truth the blessing
Of Ihe child in the home and TO bid
husbands and wives hail its advent
with such Joy IS that with which wan
derers in q wilderness greet the rising
sun. or shiDNrecked mariners the yes
sel fastening 10 their aid
The traditional difficulties and en-
barra ssments of motherhood are more
imaginary than real There is not
better authenticated or more wonder
ful end more beautiful fact in life than
thfs-that men and women with large
families Of children do not have 10
work perceptibly harder nor TO deny
themselves many more Of the real COM
forts Of life than those who have none.
1t may be an open question how
many children families ought TO have,
but there is no ouestion that they
ought TO have some. And when pe0-
PIE deliberately refuse TO bid these lit
tie bearers Of all the best joys Of life
a hearty welcome. you may set it down
i'm your book that they are not only
krsves, but fools.
The baby introduces US TO joys that
are not only unknowable but unimagln-
able. without its presence in our lives.
There is a feeling Of wonder AT its ad-
vent which is deeper and more joyous
than our wonder at stars and flowers.
There is a kind Of tenderness in our
souls that no other object can awaken
but 2 child There is an ineffabe hap
Diness in seeing ourselves miTrored in
p little boy or girl 1t is a happiness
that can be caricatured and made -
aDpear absurd, but il cannot be over
looked in taking stock Of life's values.
one time a little "upstart" intro
duced his family Of eight children to
Susan 3. Anthony. in these words:
My wife has presented me with eight
sons. DO you not see that her mission
is grander than yours7"
Sir" she replied. surveying him con-
temptuously, L have seen very few
men worthy Of being reproduced eight
times"
There are resources Of power and
wisdom in our souls that nothing has
ever called out but a child. And the
exercise Of these new powers and this
higher wisdom produces a divine sat
isfaction. II is the bee who makes
possible the bloom Of flowers, and il is
this little human bee who 80 fertilizes
cur human souls as TO bring them to
their noblest perfection.
But above all, there is = love in the
soul that va1ens only at the voice Of
the child. Love is Of various denonl-
iuRtions and magnitudes. There are
the loves Of friends, Of parents, Ct
sr-eethsarts, OF flowers, Of birds. OF
:aasic. OF country and Of God. But no
one who has ever felt the love oe a
itGe child can put It second 10 any
cthe- emotion CT the soul. "Tae ciew
Of our destiny. wander where we Will,
lies at the cradle foot" Children are
Gods apostles sent forth day by day
&c preach of love and hope and peace"
And what Of the future? Can you
not see that those tiny hands which
clutch at your fingers are some time TO
minister to your old age; TO close your
ewes when you Gle and tenderly to lay
your boo-- in the grave? If you had
ever died alone and unattended and
could begin life over again, you would
sacrifice almost everything Tor a sen
or daughter to hold your hard in the