, THE , OREGON SUNDAY JOURNAL, PORTLAND, SUNDAY' MORNING, MAY 21,-1911
rwjy-
Parents and Children of
5.
a" Too Small
t
ramil
' ' , " i .. - i.' , . 'v i, i-' aaai
T WEIGHS somewhere around eight or
nine. pounds "and i ;tW,, A Jjp jW, '".
d There u onW one of it. When it rets if
jjold enough t6 think about itself j it f rob ably
'' impertinent heel! on the. face of great and.f
patient Mother Earth' and imagine it is: too s;
good to have any f competitors. .Vj.: , , .';
there were ''a dozen pf it, if there were 'j?
only a couple pfsit, it would probably be ; .
slammed down so hard on that wholesome -old
earth, and slammed so of ten ,l that, like r v
Antaeus of old, it would, rise ub cured of ;
every weakness,. .But, being "simply a solo, it " ,
is liable to'nevrr suffer anything worse thafi
applause until tfs too old to be remedied.
The only childthere is its picture as
very scientifically and statistically set forth by
the famous Professor triedjung, of the So
ciety of Internal Medicine, in d Peat a tries,,
who has been studying ustrian only, children
for y ears , to learn whether being solos is good
for them. It isn't. '
' American authorities are inclined to agree '
with him. They would indorse his view com-
t M II I . 1- rmittA - fl y Vi WJ. "- 1 JrfXI (fill .1 ' LUI I Ul. " II ' XT'. ll x . lVl. . - y t, . . . . .-my j a ,
, ':..:' . i. III II k JT . XT W ILf 1 I .i fVl.lli III 111 II I f I fcw ' . . .. k . ... .0 M . i
pletely but for one 'factor, which gives the
only child in an American family an infinitely
better chance of being a credit to us'. ,
That factor is the American mother.
Her maternal affection is just as intense, just
as prone to spoil her offspring, as the mother
love that works so indulgently, and so harmfully,-abroad.
But her brains are her child's
salvation. The tiny human chip off the
American block stands a better chance of
eothing off scot -free from the numerous
bogeymen Professor Friedjunz sees lying in
wait for him than the only child in any other
land. -
Green ;v i
Tbse-ajfdn
Her
r-ytter r
In ft iipy -111 1 1 f : r Y'" ft - -
niUly elf-centred, yet alwayi healthy and ian. had
attained a peculiarly clear and refined dlacernment. Llk
him, though In a wholly different field, William Randolph
Heartt, heir to untold millions, decided to carve out a
career for himaelf.
The same faculty, in a totally different field, has been
conspicuous In the character and fcjilua of Hetty Green,
irhose vnerrlns; perspicacity In finance had Its orlrlns rn
her earliest childhood and In her upbringing amid the
responsibilities' of trade. .. .
Self-reliance, when the tralninr has been careful and
the ortflfal character la a strong one, never seems to fall
In the child who has been reared largely alone. No more
well-polsed type Is known In thU country than that of
mothers like Mrs. Orover Cleveland and, tnHhe extreme
.of, wealth,-EdUh. ICtngdon Gould... AnJ V mention just
two examples f great Ulent that hare not suffered by
reason of lack of ' home playmates, GeraUllne Farrar
eeems to have won all the advanUges of an only child,
with none or the unhappy handicaps, as haa also "Blllle"
BUrBu't the American child has better fortune than any
ethers, however well born those others may be.
-The deductlone of Professor Friedjung," said Dr.
Edwin E. Graham, profeasor of chlldren'a diseases at
'give In' to a brother or a sister; it doesn't have its edges
smoothed down by contact with other children. That is
decidedly bad.
' "rhile the blrh rate in families of native-bora
Americans Is markedly less than among the foreign ele
ment, the infant mortality there Is much higher than
among the Americans. The result, so far aa the only
child may go, brln? the two daises more closely
together than the statistlca show. Among the better
classes of Amerlos the morUllty of infants ia practi
cally nil, because Infant mortality la dependent almost
directly on social status, the money to take care of the
baby and procure prompt medical attention.
"Nearly all such deaths are of the preventable kind.
Properly clothed. feds and housed, babies don't die.
"The only child, whether it lack brothers and sisters
from one cause or another, la not only apt to be neu
rotic, nervous and apprehensive, but It is hypersensitive.
Its lessons are always too. hard: It Is always getting the.
rough side of things; and both parents are too prone to
agree with it. The child may have the best qualities,
and yet be deprived through overindulgence of the op
portunities for their development. Above all else, the
f"T"IHlll small famllv ia a ritatlnQtlvelv national nhaaa
1 in the United States. In other, countries the only
child may juat happen no doubt with all the
natural and aoclai cauaes operating witit inu
tridual families which tend to limit childbirth here.
But this country displays a distinct tendency toward
the small family: a fact appreciated ever since Colonel
Roosevelt, while he was president. Inveighed against race
. suicide, and now statistically demonstrated In the census
bureau's special report for the immigration commission.
s Of course, the resources of the census were enor
mously beyond those at the comlland of Doctor Fried
Jung, Id Vienna, where he put the social and medical
microscope on Just 100 only children. The small-family
Study here took In the whole state of Rhode Island, the
city of Cleveland, O.; the city of Minneapolis, twenty
eight large rural communities in Ohio and twenty-one .
In Minnesota. -
Briefly, the average white woman whose parents
were Americans has only one child in 6.J years; while
v the woman of foreign parentage has one every 1.3 years.
American white women of American parentage who have '
been married from ten to twenty year snow precisely
the same number of children in Cleveland and Minne
apolis, 3.4 children the census bureau, In Its statistics,
being able to split a child up better than old King Sole- .
men ever 'did. In all Rhode Island the figures are prac
tically the same. 21 But In' rural Ohio and Minnesota .
the average rises by just 1, the number above the cities
being 8.4. The percentage of women who bear no chil
dren at all is much higher among the native white
women of native parentage than it is among the whltea
of foreign parentage-; and It is higher among the whltea
of foreign parentage 'in the second generation than It is
in the first As for negroes, the startling (act appears
that from 19 to 23 per cent of the -married women remain
childless.
. . TENDENCY TO LIMITATION
The compilation of the census bureau was 'made with
no special attention to the number of couples having a
neru aiauaiics only Being -uscmDiea.
v hlch number of whit woman In
Rhode Island who have only two children 68.7 per cent
CUT-
III . '
l v" v A ifMffwfsNt ' ? k . ie ' ' 4
WV A v! IF' vf f"? i ft I
-sa' 5'i '"Ja l? iv "" I
saVJaa "n lisi SalsaTJ tr j. A M -AiH- 4 vh h
Isfc m II i xa ft I
SaVJaVJaVJaVJaVJaVJaVJaVJaVJsa r a X t Srv S-W '; i; jT a
V " ' ' f fl
There is, however, one remarkable characteristic of
only children: they usually manifest unusual mental
power, which Is accompanied by a pronounced tendency
to waywardness. Substitute self-will for, waywardness,
ansj unii r hm attributes lornmonly betiWe' tft t ih
foundation of gealtie. ' - .-...,.' .v..-.
The trouble Is that stingy parentage must always
take chances. The number of children actually born to
any one couple does not seem to make any difference In
the Individual child who happens to be reared as a solo.
One . of triplets standa as great a chance of being
spoiled. If his two contemporaries should die, as it he
had been the one child porn In the family. '
It is quite possible that the odious Nero might have
- been a decent citizen, if not another Augustus, had he
been compelled to take the hard knocks incident ta a
brood of boys, who might have let him dinow how it
.hurt. to be a ralld imitation of a Christian martyr. As
It was, he did not have, apparently, any feeling of com
passion or sympathy when his unlicked cub character
was allowed full swing; and yet he gave Indications of
genius which, although they never amounted to much,
were of a piece with what the world has too often been
Inclined to associate the erratlo nature of superior en--dowment.
'
The high percentage of exceptional, mental force that
seems to be so often manifested in only children is evi
denced In o, type such aa Owen Wlster, whose art is belngi
recognised as owing no little of Its excellence to th
peoutlarly original bent of his mind, as thotirh the
thoughts, continually evolved from a Viewpoint defl-
Sfts.
1fetrref ?v?brr
the Jefferson Medical College of Philadelphia, "are In
the main- correct, and they are so recognised and acted
on by the medical profession generally.
"If the only child be young. It ts very liable to be
polled, whether the parents be rich or poor: the kind of
spoiling may be different, but the result is the same. It
is perfectly natural for us to wish to grant the requests
our children make, and If there be hut one. its deslree
are much more likely to be rratlfled. It never has to
t conditions surrounding the only child are likely
to make it selfish. ' : . , .' ;
'Th typical American family haa tw or three thU
drin, not one only, and that among the well-to-do. Yet
the only child Is much more likely te occur among the
rich. With the saving care-such a single offspring re
ceives under conditions oX large wealth, the result $
likely to. be a higher percentage of only children there
than among the very poor. . "
"The trouble with all children nowadays la that tM
much Js done for thenuv There are too many parties
. there is too much entertaining, too much effort to amuse.
The children are not allowed to develop normally and
naturally. What should be-done is. allow them to grow
as a plant grows, surrounded by normal conditions, with
plenty of fresh air day and night, plenty of sunshine,
and no excitements or amusements such as are liable to
keep their nerves continually on edge. Children generally
are how more nervous than they were twenty or thirty
years ago, for two reasons: their parents are more nerv
ous, for one thing; and, for another, the children arc
reared amid environments which keep the. nervous eye
tern under strain. So they suffer from narvous tenden
cles, both Inherited and acquired. '
"Nevertheless,' continued Professor Graham. tha fir
ures adduced by Doctor Frlsdjung will hardly apply ta
the only child In the United States as they do abroad.
The American , mother stands In the way of any4 sues
wholesale deterioration. Leaving aside the very rleh. It
Is a conspicuous fact that Americans of the middle
classes, and even the poorer mothers who come to the
hospitals, are very level headed. If the funds are not
to be readily had for keeping the child at school, they
will make all, necessary sacrifices; they will wear old
clothes, so that the child may appear decently whUe
securing the coveted education. r -.
'There can be no question that while sne s perhaps
the most affectionate of mothers, the" American woman,
whether her circumstances be moderate or wealthy,
studies out what Is definitely best for the child. She
endeavors to keep it in the open air. to provide food
proper for the growing body, to Insist on strictly per
sonal cleanliness and to assure an ample outing at the
seashore or in the country.
SPOILS IT KNOWINGLY , r
The American mother ts by no means a' fool. She Is
a clever woman. If she has an only child and spoils it
she does so knowingly, not because she has been wholly
. blinded by maternal love; she Is too Intelligent for that -There
Is a good deal of spoiling done by fathers, who
are likely to so safeguard an only child a to make a
ooy a ninny ana tnen ie disappointed ana angry be
cause, as he grows older, he won't play hard footbalL T v
"Our growing national tendency to delay marriage
undoubtedly restricts the period ef child bearing, and IB
that manner Increase the proportion of only children'
if the woman whose one child cornea to her late rather
than early In life haa a normal child and her age need
be no materlai factor lq. that regard It la likely to prove
her highest happiness. If, however, it be abnormal or
neurotic, its care may be a severe burden to her; and the
circumstance that It Is the only child she has, of course,
provokes the possibility that bar affection may spoil It
"Yet still, the American mother la of the type that
does not leod Itself to easily to her child's nervous ruin.
A noteworthy factor, which comes into nlav tmonr thai
families that are prosperous, la the boarding schooL,
NoWg much mora than was done soma twenty years agov-
doui gins ana coys arc Doing sent to uese sonooie; and
It Is a good thing.' x , .
"Take a-boy who la removed from the coddling at
mosphere of his home. He leads, at once a life that la
systematlsed, with certain houra for study, recitation and .'
outside exercise. He Is compelled to decide and. act for
himself where, under the conditions reviewed by Pro
tessor Frledjung, he would run to his mother or father
for advice and aldj ,
"I think," concluded Professor Graham, "that any
such close study of the only child in distinctly American
homes would show a smaller percentage of neurotics and
spoiled' individuals than he has found. And the better
showing may be credited to the American woman. At 19 -such
a mother knows Infinitely more than her mothet '
did at the same age. She makes her studies aa ta her
cfiild'a care before it is born; she acquires a knowledge
of how to feed it afterward which may be regarded as
superior; she has the discretion to seek medical aid when
it is necessary, and she has the self-control to send her
child away from her to school when she perceives that
her mothering is no longer good for it." . .
m Work Better titan All -
jaastasjB aisaw SSBBt 4SsW ' M mm M SSaaVJaW SaVameav sav - ai n i
ii; to i wo in en
-i ; . - ,
single child,
But the remarkabl
91 ail recoraea snows me lenaency to limit the 1
spring, and also the long Intervals during which the
nira
first c
one. Two children
may remain the oniv
may fairly be regarded as the typical American family;
but one child is a condition that tends to become more
and more common.
The cases studied by Professor Frledjung In Austria
paralleled to a remarkable extent not merely the only
child state tf affairs so far as It obtains In the United
States, but also the moiety of the families here who, as
the census has demonstrated, have but two children.
These children, It was noted, come only one in 6.3 years:
so that the first of them Is practically the only child, just
aa were approximately GO per cent of Friedjung's sub
jeets. whose ages ranged between 2 and 10 years. Prob
ably a very numerous proportion of those second chil
dren who came to native American mothers did not
arrfre until eight or ten years had elapsed after the birth
ef In first; and so they completely parallel the condi
tions existing among Friedjung's subjects.
- Out of his 100 children who had neither brother rior
sfeter. he discovered only 13 who were completely normal.
The group Included 48 boys and 65 girls, and 87 of them
showed marked symptoms of nervous Instability. niiit.
bir It clamed as severely neuropathic? Aa contrasted
with families having numerous offspring, the showing I
G
hasn't tried it will be
likely to disagreewith
any woman who has ;
and the womanwho
has .won't be able to
prove why slnt thinks as she does, because her whole ,
supply of human nature keeps agreeing' with the
wuumu wiiw uasu W :
pleasures of society
more than she longs for
, heaven; but if she .has
them to the limit of her capacity, purgatory would
be mild as a symbol of the penalty, she pays.
-;Work honest brainwork may save her; and
that is the antidote advised by the distinguished
American specialist, Dr. Charles K. Mills. Give
the American girl who is destined for society's in
cessant diversions some healthy intellectual re--sources,
and sne will not only stand the strain of
pleasure better, but she will have tastes that can
flrvA aa n leisure's sanest remedv. But the maioritT
hold, and how happy of those who do get the saving education are the
will she be? ' girls who are destined tor worjr, not' play.
V Any woman who
IVEN a wom
an who -has
all the lei
sure and lux-
o ury her natuBB can
possibly crave, plus
, all the - amusement
. and .social diversion
her twenty-four hours
per day can possibly
NEURASTHENIA, in Its scientific perfection, was
found by Doctor Beraflnt to c prevail among
American1 women of wealth and, refinement It
Is worse in Washington than in New York., be
cause Washington's acUvltlea are almost wholly social,
while New York. In spite of Its tremendoua onrush of
energy, mix business and pleasure so thoroughly that -people
have less chance to suffer the monotony of con
tlnual amusement
Our very phase of neurasthenia la peculiar. The Latin
races become so exhausted that they are limp with lassi
tude; the pUre Saxons grow utterly e)ull and torpid;" the '
Italian specialist's opin
ions; but he suggested
that the safer thing to
do would, be for us
Americans to look after
prevention rather than
cure.
' "The f u n d a mental
trouble that lies bacR of
a good deal of American
neurasthenia," exw-ned
Doctor Mills, "is the lacl?
of resource for genuine
diversion on the part, of
both men and women.
It goes back to their
early education. To
those who have risen
in this hew country to
positions of large wealth
It often happens that
the original Intellectual
resources are not suffi
cient, and " people are
compelled to turn to
whatever pleasures their
altered social- position
may oner.
Play
::'JL
Mas?!
If-;
Americana are over-stimulated, as though they must keep
going on faster and. faatar. The beet thing to da with
A famous Italian specialist. Dr. Enrico Sera-
appalling, for only ji ner cent of these children showed v fini. has been trying to find out whr women hav,
env neuronathlo jvmptom. as against 87 per cent of tha ' VV i:"?t YT " J. , u
-only" children. Out of those 87 neiousiystabieeWK: - Eerve! tet thorough studies in Europe, he
dre 76 were the victtmsof chronic fear hd hysteria, , came to tha United States to seek the secret here.
chnd?tfOTiSf Sr'aSSH adV ' v He has answered the fruestion. promptly. The
unduly, it becomes a tirrW- rnoiweoddie and a menace ' Woman with all the diversion she wants has so much
tt iSVirm4!S u n1 mnr yrs 8o that the
Vmtl L !3win? cn,Tr,l4, t0 tt TT rrJT beginning to forget what it trwes to blnv-TMctor
v -Pring, : . t .made the reminiscent 'remark. hra ha dlscusse
My own Opinion la that In th m1nrltv f inataneea
although, of course, not without exceptions the educa- ,
tlon of srtrla and young women Is not carried far enough
before they are allowed to enter Into society and, some-. .
times. t plunge . into social dlasipatlona. V
"The private preparatory school that school which ;
theoretioally is founded on the idea of carrying girls to
the nolnt where thetr.ara nnallfip to enter colleaea like
theee human comets la ta condemn them to such abso- v Bryn Mawr, Vassar and Welleslev Is the limit to which
lute rest and alienee that they won't eyen think. a very large number of young women are allowed to go
xnat may oa tne cure, aitnougn vt. b. weir Jaiteneu in meir eaucation ror their future, xne iaea onen seems,
wona io do mat, unless tney are expectea to earn ineir owo
villa ' Itrliia. toonmuc ed ark (foa tntv trove a detriment rather
discussed tha Vlhan an advanuge. Above alL the addiUonal years re-.
quired for the higher courses might prevent' them com tog
out as It is called, at an early age, , ,. "
"Who are the girls who go to women's colleges 7 A
great number are daughters of, people in moderate elr-l
oumstances; there are not so many daughters el tha vary)
rich. While a fair percentage of the wealthier classes
do have their girls educated at the beat eollegea for
women, the student bodies of these Institutions Sra
largely made up of those who expect to make their ewa
living rather than to shine In society. .
"We pay, on the side of the men, the penalty of a
new and progressive nation. Every member of It has as
good a right as another to get all the wealth and power
he can. To do it lie concentrates bis efforts in certain' :
channels, and he begins to do it so early In Ufa that he
shackles bis faculties against any development beyond
his direct business Interests. When the time comes when
he might rest and enjoy himself, he f ten finds he cannot
depart from the groove he has worn foe his activities.
Men should have avocations as well, as vocations, and
they should not be simply golf and bridge. ' ? ; , ,
"A man will be a failure in business who lets his
avocation, fad or side Issue supplant his actual vocation;
nevertheless, nearly every man can carry along with
his direct calling something which has to it an iatel
lectual bent.- ' .'.'v m v.r.:.i .'rf'v.
"Women, like men, need intellectual resorts, a well
as resources. They are stilt too often lacking, altnous f
to an extent they ar supplied by such valuable educa
tional factors as contemporary clubs."
Doctor Mills cbuld not undertake to make the dls'tlne
tlon between New York and Washington which Doctor
Seraflnt haa dtttcerned. It aeemed to him that what may
be gained In variety of interests In New York ia liable
to be forfeited in the excess of social ecUvlty an.
diversion. .:.,:?..'' - . ,
The idea that neurasthenia, especially In woman.
said Doctor Mills, "la due to the monotony or lark of
variety in their social life Is probably correct as far a
it goes; but there ale other cauaes of rieurannrnta. u
of hysteria and functional nervous disorders in general,
among both woman and men.'' ,
Too much play, like too much work, seems 't ituVt
JI1I an fiyerstlmulated soul: but if the c-fmioa la to I
made, the woman with a career, and especially th Aw"
lean Woman, stands a better chance of kpirg her
and her balance by using her active brant n,.
Intellectual lines than by pursuing fo'.ly as ! f!:s.
tt landa hermit ntremb4th"Slck-ilat WH a 4
feeling her fluttering, useless pulse.