ds of such grave injustice,
not to say crimes, without recognizing them as such, what minor forms
of oppression shall we not readily condone in our dealings with the
child?

* * * * *

=How we receive the infants that come into the world=.--Let us look
around. Only of late has any preparation been made to receive this
sublime guest. It is not very long ago that little beds for children
were first made; among all the innumerable tasteless, superfluous, and
extravagant objects of commerce, let us see what things are intended
for the child. No washstands, no sofas, no tables, no brushes. Among
all the many houses, there is not one house for him and his like, and
only rich and fortunate children have even a room of their own, more
or less a place of exile.

Let us imagine ourselves subjected for even a single day to the
miseries to which he is condemned.

Suppose that we should find ourselves among a race of giants, with
legs immensely long and bodies enormously large in comparison with
ours, and also with powers of rapid movement infinitely greater than
ours, people extraordinarily agile and intelligent compared with
ourselves. We should want to go into their houses; the steps would be
each as high as our knees, and yet we should have to try to mount them
with their owners; we should want to sit down, but the seats would be
almost as high as our shoulders; clambering painfully upon them, we
should at last succeed in perching upon them. We should want to brush
our clothes, but all the clothes-brushes would be so huge that we
could not lay hold of them nor sustain their weight; and a
clothes-brush would be handed to us if we wanted to brush our nails.
We should perhaps be glad to take a bath in one of the washstand
basins; but the weight of these would make it impossible for us to
lift them. If we knew that these giants had been expecting us, we
should be obliged to say: they have made no preparations for receiving
us, or for making our lives among them agreeable. The baby finds all
that he himself needs in the form of playthings made for dolls; rich,
varied and attractive surroundings have not been created for him, but
dolls have houses, sitting-rooms, kitchens and wardrobes; for them all
that the adult possesses is reproduced in miniature. Among all these
things, however, the child cannot live; he can only amuse himself. The
world has been given to him in jest, because no one has yet recognized
him as