Year: 1877

t.aa sFs X. - r


.BAby shows AS = Speculation.


Everybody loves baby-that is to say,
everybody who is worthy Of being consid-
cred any body, which Of course does not in
clude brutes by nature, old bachelors by
choice and old maids from necessity. A
nice baby is about the sweetest thing in the
world, and every healthy, perfectly formed
baby is nice baby. But the fact that babies
are enjoyable and lovable is no good reason
why grown-up men, who were once babies
themselves, should speculate on the popu-
lar affection for infancy by inducing the
owners Of helpless innocents to submit
them to the indignities, annoyances and
dangers of a baby show in order to put
money in the pockets Of the showmen. 1t
is all very we'll for the enterprising
proprietors of those Chatham street
and Bowery establishments which display
to admiring crowds.highly coIored pictures
Of the distinguished individuals inside to
make contracts with tat men,. fat Women,
living skeletons, wild men. snake-armed
females, giants and dwarfs 10 exhibit them
selves for consideration, because the mon
strosities, however fat or however lean, how
ever tall or however short, are free agents,
can make their own bargains and know
what they are about. But child from five
weeks to five years old has neither will OF
its own nor the power to protect itself, and
when it is carried into an insuficiently ven-
tilated hall, there to be shut up for two
weeks for the qualification of ten cent spec
tators, it cannot even protest against the
infiiction. 1t is not its fault that the natu-
raj bloom on its cheek gives place to the
unhealthy tallowishness of ballroom
bellies complexion in the forenoon; that its
bright eyes grow as heavy and lustreless as
a sewing girls, and that Its musical laugh is
lost in fretful whine. t


But baby shows are profitable. They
cost very little to get up. There is the rent
Of hall, the gas bill. q few paid exhibitors
who are fortunate enough to have been
blessed with twins, triplets, a double
jointed baby or q baby with two crowns,
and the rest of the affectionate mothers
give their services free in the hope of win
ming q Cheap John prize. The fatherly
proprietor Of the show, who loves babies so
dearly and is constantly holding forth
about the beauty of the little darlings and
their mothers, makes his remarks musical
by the silvery accompaniment OF the ten
cent pieces which jingle in his pockets.
The dollar Of our babies is more admired
by him than the dollar of our daddies The
success Of one enterprise, brings forth null
l. - O. k-sl
baby shows. in Brooklyn and Newark,
colored baby show in New York, and .
show Of handsome women in Boston, to say
nothing Of the famous cat and kitten show
in course of preparation on the Bowery.
OF these the colored baby show is likely to
cast all others into the shade. A colored
baby is always what the ladies call ''cun-
ming and is worth looking at, with its big
eyes, its curly head and its red lips There
must be less sameness in collection Of ba-
bies Of all compilations varying from ebony
10 city cream than in white baby show
where the only variety is from brown eyes
to blue, from brown hair. to tow, or, as the
mothers say, golden, and back again. The
cat show will no doubt pass off with <clat,
and the handsome woman show will please
silly young men and elderly beaux, who do
not know that there can be no real beauty
in o woman who thinks herself handsome.
But of all the enterprises commend us to
the colored baby show. We declare in
favor Of the Fourteenth Amendment; H.
indeed, that constitutional specially in
favor Of the colored race does not prohibit
US from treating negro babies no better
than white babies, and shutting them up
in an unhealthy. CLOSE, badly ventilated
hall. night and day, at the risk Of their
lives, when they ought to be drinking in
health and strength in the pure air of 'all
outdoors" during the day and warmly tucked
up in their little beds Of swandown at sun
down.