A baby luckily born may combine a good brain and a fat body. But such luck is very rare.
Nine times out of ten the best baby MENTALLY is the poorest-looking baby PHYSICALLY.
We have told you in this column about the pathetic babyhood of the great Voltaire. Had he been in the foundling asylum during the recent selection of babies, he would surely be among the despised and rejected. Yet what a glory to have picked out and raised the wonderful Voltaire!
Voltaire, whose name as a baby was Arouet, was the thinnest and most nervous of babies. He had a disease very much like rickets; he cried night and day, and there was little hope of keeping him alive.
Pitt, the great British Prime Minister, was as sick and skinny a baby as was ever seen. Pope, when a baby, would not have seemed worth keeping alive to anybody but a loving mother.
We advise the women who have spurned the two thin babies in the asylum to take another look at them. They may be the best two babies in the entire lot.
A BABY CAN EDUCATE A MAN
If you will read Drummond's beautiful work "The Ascent of Man," you will learn that we owe to children the good that is in us. It is the child that educates the father and mother.
If you are a solemn bachelor, gradually drying up in your selfish life, try having a baby around for a while.
Get a despised thin one from the asylum. Get some good, kind old woman to take care of it. Give the woman and the baby the quietest room in your house or flat, and then watch the improvement in your character.