Child Life in Colonial Days

When We Regard The Large Share Which Child Study Has In The Interest Of The Reader And Thinker Of Today It Is Indeed Curious To See How Little Is Told Of Child Life In History. The Ancients Made No Record Of The Life Of Young Children; Classic Rome Furnishes No Data For Child Study; The Greeks Left No Child Forms In Art. The Student Of Original Sources Of History Learns Little About Children In His Searches; Few In Number And Comparatively Meagre In Quality Are The Literary Remains That Even Refer To Them.We Know Little Of The Childhood Days Of Our Forbears And Have Scant Opportunity To Make Comparisons Or Note Progress. The Child Of Colonial Days Was Emphatically To Be Seen Not To Be Heard—Nor Was He Even To Be Much In Evidence To The Eye. He Was Of As Little Importance In Domestic Social Or Ethical Relations As His Childish Successor Is Of Great Importance Today; It Was Deemed Neither Courteous Decorous Nor Wise To Make Him Appear Of Value Or Note In His Own Eyes Or In The Eyes Of His Seniors. Hence There Was None Of That Exhaustive Study Of The Motives Thoughts And Acts Of A Child Which Is Now Rife.