Show ardt k I Children cui Children 9 d en of Paris P ris are Farmed Fanned Out and and Are Ar 11 a P t ful Class i l s i I Neglected by Their Mothers lothers j I f I 0 Copyright 1900 19 by R Burns I 1 I Paris May Dray 1 0 French children ar at y alloyed allowed ed to grow up tip u on the street treet which tt is one of the Jfe serious evils and I errors to my mr m mind of their rearing That is what an American A woman oman said as she sat gat under the horse ho chestnut ch trees of the Champs watching scores of youngsters your S SI stars at play II I came here to to tl take in the expos exposi j tion lion she went on with a smile but butI I suppose because Ive got a flock of j I babies of ot my own at home in the j I states and because Ive read such alot a alot lot l t about the rhe yearly falling off m in the French population L I give a good deal aj of my time to watching the Parisian I child Perhaps I am m prejudiced or partial par partial partial but my conclusion js that young France Franc is l not nearly so sturdy of limb i rosy and frank of manner as young America j There is plenty of beauty among the i babies dainty coloring c too t with grace I and charm chann but after the b y days are i gone g one the th girls grow fl row up u P lea lean na and n dp pale ale the boys have none non of the making of I football champions in them than and I can I 1 a a ac c r 1 l t 1 f 3 Aj I i fir r tr s t 4 1 1 K ft 1 i i s l R l l q R h y 1 t iC i iL a aA L r f A Pair ot of Pretty Mademoiselles Mn Being Carefully Chaperoned ed to and From Prom Their Lecture Lect te Courses Co es I I judge as i 1 prat the soldiers go I marching by tb watt i r ey y dont dat elop into powerful menThe men yg They The Y o the hL Street Now the thC chai cha t be brought that the French particularly the Parisian child is n t given plenty of freedom and fresh Air fir for as I have said aid they fairly gr up on the street As far as I can see lire streets of Paris I are utilized by the majority of families familIes lies as a substitute for the home nome and nursery to an extent in fact that makes mak an Anglo woman open her eyes eyes With doubt arid ana dismay There are arguments ts in r bf f it of course for the streets of Par ParIS ra ore are exceptional but on the whole I atti sure the French mother is guilty of ofa a great blunder From dawn to dark her Infant Enfant toddler and growing lads and andIa la lassies sies know no no other life Ufe than that i bf t the grea great t gay thoroughfares Why they are sent there Is no mys mystery tery for few fety French t women omen are arc ever I content to be just lust a a humdrum mother and housekeeper It I she is well we to do doshe doshe doshe she sacrifices everything tp o go into so society socIety society If she belongs ta t commercial the lass Glass she participates actively ely in her husbands business and while she loves tier her children with perfect maternal ten tenderness she wont have them hanging about to impede her social or financial progress They will wUl tell you that there is true unselfishness this because the upper supper I class lass mother devotes time and energy to securing the best pos possible possible possible sible match for her hoc coming daughter and the middle grid arid rid lower class mother slaves and sacrifices herself pinches and anti screws to lay by enough to give i her girls a marriage portion and her boys an education and start In life Ufe What then can be better bettes they both bolli argue than to put the babies out to play on the street where it is safe a afe sunshiny interesting and quite healthy She Shrewdly dresses boys and girls alike in a uniform of long black calico calf co aprons that stand long wear without washing and hardly do they struggle out but ut of their cradles when the virtues of economy are drilled into their receptive little litHe Gallic minds If she is even eyen fairly well to todo todo todo do she he finds it far pleasanter and more economical to hire a nurse to loop look after the youngsters than to t give ive up that same time to being beilig with them herself never stopping to consider that a big open open bright noisy n isy street is the worst possible garden for Por youthful nerves Nor does she appreciate that it af affords affords affords fords the young ears and eyes the worst moral examples and that there is such suh a thing as s giving young lungs and bodies too munh air and exercise v hen that th t air is ia i of the city and the exercise Is 15 taken on the pavement A food hearted but uneducated peasant woman is not the best guide and guar guardian guardian guardian dian for rapidly developing little human hu human human man entity In of this systematized systematized systematized street life there seems no need abed to create in the French family such a home as any healthy minded American Am r can is restless and miserable without These little Parisians know nothing about a cosy family sitting room and the charms of a dear old battered nursery while e they Choy simply rev reye l 1 In all the noise and variety of and sounds of their th r big municipal municipal pal round Lib Y Too Stinted Just JU t BO 80 o s n as the rile daughters of all F jr 1 r to schooling the age aget the t e dUi Wf trI is done for them Rol lq d R rW t tP a or shut up tip in inh h he heT r r th a governess the Par Parisian Parisian isian n miss leads a dull disheartening life The restraints and surveillance v be mo than any healthy Amer teal girl Jirl could bear b She Sh sees less and less ass of her and more mor and more more nore of older women wha vh drill pre precepts precepts into her buoyant young mind inan in inin an in fort effort to Fender her unnaturally ser serous ioa ous and preternaturally ignorant of the the world around her herA A peculiarly soured and stupid old maid ml d is usually selected te t d as her flair s l who escorts I her lIer to and from the lectures given by various professors guides her in her bYJ smattering studies stu ies and snips any frivolous frivolous frivolous olous tendencies in the bud A yell well w n cared for French girl rl never goes even evento evento evento to church alone or with wish a group of companions her own age She walks with down dropped drop d lids aids like a nun and because of t years yearB of Ot young girlhood girl girlhood hood she is submissive and aud ready to marry any man her parents select and hail with entire delight ht the yoke of I marriage since for her it means the open door to liberty Now is it not perfectly erectly t impossible impassible to hope hone that this girl when she mar marries marries marries ries and stretches her wings is going to calmly shut herself hersel up in the nur nor nursery nursery sery with babies aud devote herself to the society of children Not she in indeed indeed indeed deed When the baby comes she amuses herself by buying buffing bu ing for foi It and ft ire wet vet et nurse the most showy clothes and sends them both out cut to the street or orif orif orif if she does not approve of the street she will not hesitate to put her infant out ut to nurse in the suburbs of or Paris P ris with a worthy orthy woman Oman n and go to visit it at stated intervals Thus YOU see she is suite Quite foot loose loos and free to devote de devote devote vote all her en to society and I while socially I dont that Paris FarIs Parisis is the most brilliant city in the world it t has J won its fame for wit and ele tance at tat a terrible price Little Zittle Grass s Orphans This is not only the method of the rich and UDDer class dr r i ti in the fashionable set se A little lower down inthe in inthe inI I the social scale among the flourishing dressmakers milliners small dealers in lingerie jewels etc the hard work working ing int in feminine shop finds her herself herself herself self mentally and physically physic lly at greater gP sater ease for her work if she gives her baby out to her nurse and French thrift has been a distinct injury to t the growth crowth of the nation The environs of Paris are with more or less capable woman who support them themselves themselves themselves selves nicely by mothering these little grass orphans They are a pitiful col colon on those these th se farmed out babies and the middle class woman is so entirely un UD in irr business busine and so eager r to save that she considers rs herself bur burdened b r ren en with a big family if she posses possesses ses more than two Badly Ted Fed Children Ive been driving and walking all through the lower quarters qu of pf Paris Pans in districts similar to those that in New York Chicago and London swarm with fat and thin clean and dirty fighting playing eating Beating young humanity and I have missed the children There is too toom much ch econ economy economy j omy in France for that and besides French Fr children of the lower crises classes class are eternally busy Really Ive not seen any superfluous children but hundreds hun hundreds hundreds of busy b s rocked little folk who ho live on amazingly scant and sim aim I I I I p e food However their diet is no more more strange and restricted to American ideas than that of the children of f the well to do The only winder onder ts IS how such sensible people as the French un undoubtedly undoubtedly are can expect to raise fine sturdy stu sons and daughters daughter on o the thew w we ery ry soups and masses of bread that form the chief of every households diet Bread and butter and an ta a cup cup o chocolate or milk milli is what th avera ave o a achild child Paris over begins the day on Soup bread a vegetable and more bread with a spoonful of preserve is the midday meal and aDd a bar of choco chocolate chocolate late and two slices of bread constitutes a good supper for the middle class school boy or girl It Tt is the rule in every French family for a Child to be given no more than it will probably eat from any dish and a law that the little one be forced to finish off every helping to the last c Boys and girls in France dont have whimsical appetites or a preference for tor one dish over another and to my m way of think thinking ing ins they eat far too much bread and not enough goo good juicy meat meM nor do they get het et the proper pro er variety in their th ir diet to build up lusty men and women pos possessing possessing possessing fine muscles and steady nerves All l Paris His Playground Pla aund However on the other hand sad as asI asI asI I fear I l have made out the case of the French he has compensations The whole of Paris for far instance is his play pla playground ground and sucha such a playground There Is no no city in the world possessing a comparable system of boulevards rd pants paries parl and gardens where children enjoy so many privileges and fort few fe restrictions The Champs Cha s would wo s em iy fl modernized modernised copy co PY y of JEdon l don I am amp sure to any city bred child from home wIth its tJ tg trees and fountains flower hods and an dry sandy spaces where there Is no no law against digging where pet dogs are welcome and cake lemonade le crackers milk tops balls bans hoops and balloons are dispensed from gay ga little booths by obliging and soft spoken old ladles ladies The boulevards b now ru run through nearly every quarter r of Part and there is no possible excuse for Por the poorest child not vetting getting get ing Its fair share of green shade fresh air and sn s at atthe atthe atthe the flowers Paris Faris Kindergartens What I confess surprised me most mast mastin in the management of the Parisian children of the lower on er class was Zeus the isle great number of admirable free kindergartens kinder kindergartens kindergartens I found established by the municipal mu municipal munIcipal government govern tent Les mater moter nel n l is what they are called and arid in i all nn allmore allmore more more than SOU are in daily O oneat on Trained teach t ach the ou nu pits pHs that are drawn from the poor Door classes They pay nothing for f the t in i j t j jS e e 0 S a tt i r I T 7 g gr r e Gal 1 5 a aY Y 1 f 1 y 1 r r rn rt rl n t l C u y I 1 y y t V n ti tit t R p t S Sa a y yr r r 1 l i i t y t i ip iy 1 1 p 1 y i t 1 Ili l G GP P Vim l ice a 1 r rl l 4 r r THE EHE PARIS BABY SPENDS HIS ms LI F JrE OUT OF DOORS AND IS FO FOIt FOJt EVEE EIlEA HAPPY IN THE PARKS given their young ones who are given the full Froebel course course pro provided provided vided with a graveled play playground playground g ground round for tor clear days and a hugs hug half glass enclosed cd play hall for rainy times and the winter At midday from the tha school kitchen a hot meal is served out to the small boys and girls for the sum of 2 cents apiece if the theare parents are able to pay and gratis if they are not notOn notOn notOn On Thursday which in plate pla e of Sat Saturday Saturday Saturday is the th Parisian school childs holiday the busy mothers of the free frea kindergarten pupils are entitled to send the he youngsters to the ecole stole where a teacher eacher is in charge and keeps leeps a su supervising supervising eye over the chicks while they lay about the yard and eat their luncheon I must confess A I dont think we in America can do more for f r tho the good of our young people than that and the children I saw at these schools s were in their tidy clothes a credit r dit to the poor parents who are put to it often to find food for their ther mouths EMILY HOLT |