CHAPTER XIII. BIRTH AND EDUCATION. LOVE OF CHILDREN AMONG ORIENTALS.-SONS PARTICULARLY PRIZED.-NAME GIVEN AT CIRCUMCISION.-NURSES.-WEANINGFEAST. TUTORS.-AFFECTION FOR MOTHER.-PRESENTATION IN TEMPLE. "It may be that I EACH family among the Jews was regarded as a house," and the idea conveyed by this term was carried out by the further metaphorical expression "build up" in reference to children, who were the stones out of which the edifice was constructed. Thus Sarah said in reference to Hagar: may be builded by her" (Gen. xvi. 2--margin); and the same expression occurs in Gen. xxx. 3. A large family was regarded by the Jews as the greatest of blessings: "Be thou the mother of thousands of millions," was the form in which the friends expressed their good wishes to Rebekah (Gen. xxiv. 60): on the other hand, to be without children was the greatest calamity, indeed a positive "reproach" (Gen. xxx. 23; Luke i. 25). The birth of a son was a matter of special congratulation; hence the force of the prophet's imprecation:- "Cursed be the man who brought tidings to my father, saying, A man child is born unto thee; making him very glad" (Jer. xx. 15). We The modern Orientals have the same immoderate love for a large progeny, and specially of sons. are told by Morier that: "The Persians look upon a son as a blessing, and its birth is announced with great ceremony to the father. Some confidential servant is usually the first to get the information, when he runs 236 CUSTOMS RELATING TO CHILDREN. in great haste to his master, and says, "Good news!" by which he secures to himself a gift, which generally follows the announcement. Amongst the common people, the man who brings the tidings frequently seizes the cap or shawl, or any such article, belonging to the father, as a security for the present to which he holds himself entitled. When the ambassador to Persia was there, in 1811, a dervish, who was considered a cunning man, assured him he would have a son, and even before the birth of the child (who proved to be a daughter), demanded a present, as the price of his divination. When it is recollected that there are no rejoicings on the birth of a daughter, but that, on the contrary, every one is backward to inform the father of it, as they were forward on the birth of the son, the whole force of the passage in Jeremiah will be felt and it will appear they were informed of the event by men, as they are at the present day."-See MORIER'S Second Journey through Persia, pp. 103, 104. On the eighth day the child underwent the rite of circumcision, according to the Divine command, and at the same time received a name, as we learn from the history of John the Baptist :- "It came to pass, that on the eighth day they came to circumcise the child and they called him (or, more correctly, they were going to call him) Zacharias, after the name of his father. And his mother answered and said, Not so; but he shall be called John" (Luke i. 59, 60). The infant child was generally nursed by its mother, but in the families of the upper classes professional nurses were engaged of the same sex as the infant, the male nurses being described in our version as "nursing fathers" (Num. xi. 12; Is. xlix. 23). The manner in which the child was carried is referred to in the following passages:-" Thy daughters shall be carried upon their shoulders (Is. xlix. 22); "Ye shall be borne upon her sides" (Is. lxvi. 12), expressions "The children of both sexes (in Egypt) are usually carried by their mothers and nurses, not in the arms, but on the shoulders, seated astride; and sometimes, for a short distance, on the hip."-LANE's Modern Egyptians, i. 83. The gipsies in Russia reminded us of the poor villagers on the banks of the Nile. They were clothed in rags, and their little children were carried naked on the shoulder, or at the side, in the very manner of the Egyptians."-Narrative of a Mission of Inquiry to the Jews, pp. 48, 49, 372. 66 Being on horseback, they carry their young children upon their shoulders with great dexterity. These |