Rensselaer Republican, Volume 19, Number 18, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 6 January 1887 — French Baby Show. [ARTICLE]

French Baby Show.

From a friend in Paris we have reeieved an official programme of the Universal Congress of Babies held in Paris, Franco, last Bpring. It was organized under the patronage of go« eminent officials, physicians, artists, and many, societies devoted to the protection of infancy. Children from one year to five were admitted without distinction of nationality or birth. A prize of about S2OO was offered for the most beautiful infant, another of less value for the most robust, and other prizes were offered for those parents or nurses who had some new, valuable suggestions to offer relating to the care and bringing up of children. Each child was submitted to an examination under the keen eyes of artists and physicians, and to each was accorded a certain number of points, just as the judges in a dog show look over the animals brought to them. From an eye observer who sent a communication to Babyhood we quote as follows: “To a long wooden hall, or Casino as it is ambitiously called, , the dozens of proud parents daily bring their tiny candidates for the honor of medals and mention, and there they sit waiting until the physicians, artists, and members of the city government shall form a jury ready to pronounce upon each little one. Nothing is more amusing than to stroll through this hall. The heat is quite phenomenal for a Parisian public place, and is all the more necessary because the babies, male and female, are submitted quite nude to the inspection of the jury. As the parents arrive* the husband proudly bears the undressed baby in his arms to a great table on which it is posed before the jurors. Little girl babies usually give the jury but small trouble, but the boys are more aggressive. One beneficial result of this congress was that physicians were able to point out to expectant parents defects which had been overlooked, and which ought early to be discovered and provided for. Parents who thought their babies were fit for a prize were instructed by physicians that the babies had umbilical herpia, rickets, paralyzed muscles, deformities of the bones, or other defects, the early recognition of which made it possible to remedy them. Many of the children offered were ruled out as hot admissible on account of such defects, and of course only those physically perfect and artistically beautiful gained high points in prizes. We should not be at "itll surprised to hear that there was much dissatisfaction and bickering among the exhibitors, as is usual at one of our dog shows. But certainly it is a very useful feature of the, affair that parents were made to see the imperfections in their own children, and furthermore it resulted in dissemination among parents and nurses of a considerable amount of valuable information on the subject of how to raise prize babies. If such competitions could become as general as dog shows, a-- vast amount of work could be accomplished by them. Some such stimulus is needed to improve the hygiene of infancy.— Dr.Foote's Health Monthly.