The Child and Childhood in Folk-Thought Part 58

Shirley, 387.

Sidney, 391.

Simons, 381.

Smith, 399.

Socrates, 392.

Southey, 376.

Spurgeon, 388.

Svetchin, 392.

Swift, 392.

Talmud, 389, 392.

Tennyson, 384, 394, 400.

Terence, 390.

Thomson, 396.

Th.o.r.eau, 400.

Veda, 388.

Virgil, 399.

Weber, 376.

West, 382.

Wordsworth, 380, 381, 388, 394.

Young, 387.

Zachari, 380.

Zendrini, 398.

Zimmermann, 397.

For the collection of proverbs and sayings here given, the writer acknowledges his indebtedness to the numerous dictionaries of quotations and proverbs, of which he has been able to avail himself.

CHAPTER x.x.xIII.

CONCLUSION.

In these pages the "Child in Primitive Culture" has been considered in many lands and among many peoples, and the great extent of the activities of childhood among even the lowest races of men fully demonstrated. That the child is as important to the savage, to the barbarous peoples, as to the civilized, is evident from the vast amount of lore and deed of which he is the centre both in fact and in fiction.

The broader view which anthropologists and psychologists are coming to take of the primitive races of man must bring with it a larger view of the primitive child. Still less than the earliest men, were their children, mere animals; indeed, possibly, nay even probably, the children of primitive man, while their childhood lasts, are the equals, if not the superiors, of those of our own race in general intellectual capacity. With the savage as with the European of to-day, the "child is father of the man."

The primitive child, as language and folk-lore demonstrate, has been weighed, measured, and tested physically and mentally by his elders, much as we ourselves are doing now, but in ruder fashion--there are primitive anthropometric and psychological laboratories as proverb and folk-speech abundantly testify, and examinations as hara.s.sing and as searching as any we know of to-day. Schools, nay primitive colleges, even, of the prophets, the shamans, and the _magi_, the race has had in earlier days, and everywhere through the world the activities of childhood have been appealed to, and the race has wonderfully profited by its wisdom, its _navete_, its ingenuity, and its touch of divinity.

Upon, language, religion, society, and the arts the child has had a lasting influence, both pa.s.sive and active, unconscious, suggestive, creative. History, the stage, music, and song have been its debtors in all ages and among all peoples.

To the child language owes many of its peculiarities, and the multiplicity of languages perhaps their very existence. Religion has had the child long as its servant, and from the faith and confidence of youth and the undying mother-love have sprung the thought of immortality and the Messiah-hope that greets us all over the globe. Even among the most primitive races, it is the children who are "of the Kingdom of Heaven," and the "Fall of Man" is not from a fabled Garden of Eden, but from the glory of childhood into the stern realities of manhood. As a social factor the child has been of vast importance; children have sat upon thrones, have dictated the policies of Church and of State, and from them the wisest in the land have sought counsel and advice. As oracles, priests, shamans, and _thaumaturgi_, children have had the respect and veneration of whole peoples, and they have often been the very mouth-piece of deity, standing within the very gates of heaven. As hero and adventurer, pa.s.sing over into divinity, the child has explored earth, sea, and sky, descending into nethermost h.e.l.l to rescue the bones of his father, and setting ajar the gates of Paradise, that the radiant glory may be seen of his mother on earth. Finally, as Christ sums up all that is divine in men, so does the Christ-Child sum up all that is G.o.d- like in the child. The Man-Jesus stands at the head of mankind, the Child-Jesus is the first of the children of men. All the activities and callings of the child, the wisdom, the beauty, the innocence of childhood find in folk-belief and folk-faith their highest, perfect expression in the Babe of Bethlehem. True is it as ten thousand years ago:--

"Before life's sweetest mystery still The heart in reverence kneels; The wonder of the primal birth The latest mother feels."

Motherhood and childhood have been the world's great teachers, and the prayer of all the race should be:--

"Let not (the) cultured years make less The childhood charm of tenderness."

BIBLIOGRAPHY.

The Bibliography here given is intended to serve the double purpose of enabling readers of this book to verify the statements made and the citations from the numerous authorities referred to in the compilation of the work, with as little difficulty as possible, and of furnishing to such as may desire to carry on extended reading in any of the subjects touched upon in the book a reasonable number of t.i.tles of the more recent and valuable treatises dealing with such topics.

All references in the body of the book to works listed in the Bibliography are by number and page. Thus: 6. 26 means that the quotation is from, or the opinion is derived from, _Bachofen, J.

J._, Das Mutterrecht, S. 26; 127.11. 180 means _Post, A. H._, Afrikanische Jurisprudenz, II. Th., S. 180; 300. 15 means _Lombroso, C._, The Man of Genius, p. 15; 480 (1893). 140 means _Journal of American Folk-Lore_, 1893, p. 140.

A. MOTHER, FATHER, FAMILY, SOCIETY.

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2. Actes du congres international des ?uvres et inst.i.tutions feminines.

Paris, 1890. 539 pp. 8vo.

3. ADAM, L.: Du genre dans les diverses langues. Paris, 1883. 36 pp. 8vo.

4. ANDERSEN, HANS C.: La Mere. Conte de Hans Christian Andersen en 22 Langues, St. Petersbourg, 1894.

5. AVERY, J.: Polyandry in India and Thibet. _Amer. Antiq. and Or.

Journ._ Vol. IV., pp. 48-53.

6. BACHOFEN, J. J.: Das Mutterrecht. Eine Untersuchung uber die Gynokratie der alten Welt nach ihrer religiosen und rechtlichen Natur.

Stuttgart, 1861. xl, 435 S. 4to.

7. BACON, ALICE M.: j.a.panese Girls and Women. London, 1891. 330 pp. 8vo.

8. BANDELIER, A. F.: On the Social Organization and Mode of Government of the Ancient Mexicans. _Rep. Peab. Mus._ II., pp. 557-699.

9. BASTIAN, A.: Matriarchat und Patriarchal. _Ztschr. ?. Ethnol.

(Berlin), Verhndl._, 1886, S. 331-341.

10. BAWA,--: Marriage Customs of the Moors of Ceylon. _Journ. Ceylon Branch Roy. Asiatic Soc._ Vol. X. (1888), pp. 219-262.

11. BELILOVSKI, K. A.: [Woman in Siberia (Medico-ethnographical Sketch)]. _Sborn. rabot akush i zhensk. bolez ... Slavjanski_ [etc.]. St. Petersburg, 1894. Vol. I., pp. 527-629.

12. BERGEL, Jos.: Die Eheverhaltnisse der alten Juden. Leipzig, 1881.

13. BERNHOFT, F.: Verwandschaftsnamen und Eheformen der nordamerikanischen Volksstamme. Rostock, 1888.

14. BERTHOLON, M.: Les formes de la famille chez les premiers habitants de l'Afrique du nord d'apres les ecrivains de I'antiquite et des coutumes modernes. _Arch. de I'Anthr. Crim._ Vol. VIII. (1893), pp.

581-614.

15. BERTILLON, J.: Etudes demographiques du divorce et de la separation de corps dans les differents pays de l'Europe. Paris, 1883. 2 vols. 116, 257 pp. 8vo.