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Contents / vii

CHAPTER 9 Language and Father–Infant Caregiving and


Communication 253 Interaction 286
STUDYING LANGUAGE Cross-Cultural Differences in Fathers’
DEVELOPMENT 254 Involvement 288
Why Language Matters 254 POSTPARTUM DEPRESSION 289
Systems of Language 254 ◆ Box 10.1 Postpartum Depression in
Theoretical Foundations 256 Fathers 290
PRELINGUISTIC The Influence of Culture and
COMMUNICATION 258 Context 291
Receptivity to Language 258 How Postpartum Depression Affects
Speech Perception 259 Infants 291
Early Production: Babbling 261 Intervention Approaches 292
Gestural Communication 262 DEVELOPING TRUST, BECOMING
SEMANTIC DEVELOPMENT 263 ATTACHED 293
Milestones in the Acquisition of Bowlby’s Theory of Infant–Caregiver
Meaning 264 Attachment 293
One-Word Utterances 265 Assessing Attachment
Individual Differences in Language Relationships 294
Experience 266 ATTACHMENT AND SUBSEQUENT
◆ Box 9.1 Cultural Influences on DEVELOPMENT 299
­Language Learning 268 ◆ Box 10.2 The Mother–Child
Explaining Early Word Longitudinal Study of
Learning 269 Attachment 301
THE ACQUISITION OF GRAMMAR 272 SIBLING RELATIONSHIPS 302
Multiword Utterances 272 Becoming a Sibling 303
Overregularization 273 How Siblings Contribute to
Cross-Linguistic Studies of the Development 304
Acquisition of Grammar 274 PEER RELATIONSHIPS AND
ATYPICAL LANGUAGE FRIENDSHIP 305
DEVELOPMENT 274 Peer Interactions 305
Measuring Language Friendship 306
Development 275 Wrapping It Up: Summary and
Early Language Delay 276 Conclusion | Think about It:
Language and Communication in Questions for Reading and Discussion
Children with Autism 277 | Key Words 306
◆ Box 9.2 Studying Autism Spectrum
Disorder (ASD) 278
Wrapping It Up: Summary and
CHAPTER 11 Temperament, Emotions,
Conclusion | Think about It:
and the Self 308
Questions for Reading and Discussion
| Key Words 278 TEMPERAMENT 309
Defining and Measuring
Temperament 309
Temperament and Biology 313
CHAPTER 10 Relationships and Social Temperament and Attachment 317
Development 280 ◆ Box 11.1 Goodness-of-Fit:
INFANT–CAREGIVER ­Temperament, Attachment, and
RELATIONSHIPS 281 Peer Interactions 318
Patterns of Care and Interaction: Beliefs Temperament and Personality 319
about Infants 281 EMOTIONS 320
Cross-Cultural Differences in Mothers’ Expressing Emotions 320
Involvement 284 Perceiving Emotions 323
viii \ Contents

Communicating with Emotions 324 Including Children with Disabilities


Regulating Emotions 327 in Childcare 352
Developing and Using Social EARLY INTERVENTION 353
Emotions 328 Poverty as a Risk Factor:
THE SELF 332 Implications for Prevention and
Recognizing the Self 332 Intervention 354
◆ Box 11.2 Evaluating the Self 335 Early Intervention through Childcare
and Preschool 356
Wrapping It Up: Summary and
Early Head Start 357
Conclusion | Think about It:
Measuring the Impact of Early
Questions for Reading and Discussion
Childhood Intervention 358
| Key Words 336
Wrapping It Up: Summary and
Conclusion | Think about It:
CHAPTER 12 Childcare and Early Questions for Reading and Discussion
Intervention 338 | Key Words 360
CHILDCARE 339
Maternal Employment 339
Parental Leave Policies 339
Childcare Arrangements 342
Glossary 362
◆ Box 12.1 What Does Quality
­Childcare Look Like? 345 References 371
Effects of Childcare: The NICHD Credits 438
Study of Early Child Care and Youth
Development 347 Index 439
PREFACE

The focus of this book is on current research, and Computers) but distributed significant
theory, practice, and policy about develop- portions of the material into other chapters.
ment from birth to 3 years of age. It developed Throughout, I sought to retain and
in response to my experience ­ using other enhance the best features and qualities, while
infancy books in my own courses with un- updating the research literature and adding
dergraduates. As I searched for a book that exciting new content to reflect perspectives
was appropriate in content and presentation, that had emerged or grown in prominence.
I discovered that many of the available texts Examples of these changes are listed here:
were either too advanced or too basic. The
overly advanced books tended to be encyclo-
• Discussion of epigenetics (Chapter 1)
pedic in their coverage, often gave only min- • More information about functional Near
imal coverage to important practical topics, Infrared Spectroscopy (fNIRS), eye track-
and seemed not to have been written with ing, and other developmental neurosci-
teaching and learning in mind. The overly ence methods (Chapters 2, 8, and 9)
basic books ­tended to leave out information • Updated coverage of genetics, assisted
about how r­esearch is conducted, focused reproductive technology, and prenatal
almost exclusively on practical topics, and development (Chapter 3)
lacked advanced critical thinking ­approaches. • Additional information about global pub-
Some books adopted a chronological ­approach lic health initiatives, such as the ­United
that missed opportunities to highlight the co- Nations Millennium Development Goals
herence, continuity, and change in ­specific (Chapters 4 and 5)
aspects of development from birth to age 3. • Expanded information about brain devel-
This book, by contrast, provides students with opment (Chapter 5)
­information about research that enables them • Updated information about the Bucha-
to understand methodological ­issues, explore rest Early Intervention Project and the
both practically and theoretically ­important English and Romanian Adoptees (ERA)
topics, and engage in thinking critically about Study (Chapter 5)
development from birth to age 3. • Updated information from DSM-V about
Autism Spectrum Disorder (Chapter 9)

THE CHALLENGE AND


OPPORTUNITY OF REVISION ENGAGING, THOUGHT-
PROVOKING CHAPTER
As I revised this book, I made every effort
to incorporate suggestions from users of the
OPENERS
previous editions. Based on this feedback, Each chapter begins with a thought-provoking,
and the comments of anonymous reviewers, real-life scenario that draws students into the
I made two significant structural changes. topic from the beginning and enables them to
First, I divided the single chapter on cog- relate subsequent material to specific questions
nition, learning, and intelligence into two raised at the outset. Examples of these scenar-
chapters—one focusing on play, Piaget, and ios include infants being sent to wet nurses in
Vygotsky, and the other examining cognitive eighteenth-century Paris (Chapter 1), linguist
science perspectives and intelligence. Second, Werner Leopold’s ­classic longitudinal study of
I eliminated the final chapter (Music, Media, his infant daughter Hildegard’s development
x \ Preface

as a bilingual child (Chapter 2), the reasons practices to support new mothers in breast-
some families search for half-­siblings of chil- feeding. Chapter 12 compares the implica-
dren created through donor eggs or sperm tions of parental leave policies in the United
(Chapter 3), and health and physical growth— States and in other countries.
including brain ­ development—in an infant
adopted from an East European orphanage
(Chapter 5). ­Chapter 10 begins with questions PRACTICAL AND
about baby shower gifts and the things that all THEORETICAL ISSUES
infants need, Chapter 11 asks students to think
about what it is that makes the thousands of This book balances practical and theoretical
infants who are named Noah or Emma each issues. Chapter 6, for example, considers the
year unique. implications of motor and locomotor devel-
opment for parents and caregivers who want
to make the environment safe for active babies
THE BROADER HISTORICAL and toddlers. Chapter 9 discusses prelinguistic
communication and the value of using gestures
CONTEXT to help toddlers and caregivers communicate
In a number of chapters, streamlined historical before real words or signs appear. Chapter 10
information highlights how far we have come describes some of the factors that can smooth
in our understanding of the first 3 years of life. young children’s transition to siblinghood and
For example, Chapter 1 includes examples of help to incorporate the new sibling system into
historical perspectives on childhood and the existing family relationships.
study of child development; Chapter 3 con-
siders remarkable discoveries about genetics;
and Chapter 4 discusses trends in childbirth
procedures and options. Chapter 12 describes DIVERSITY AND
current research on early childcare and early MULTICULTURAL
intervention as well as trends in women’s EXPERIENCE
employment, parental leave policies, and child-
care for infants and toddlers. Students everywhere want and need to under-
stand interconnections between cultural,
institutional, familial, and personal experi-
ences. To address these concerns, virtually
POLICY CONSIDERATIONS every chapter incorporates issues of diversity
Students everywhere want to know more than and multicultural experience, illustrating how
just what the latest research shows—they want nature and nurture work together. Chapter 5
to know what they can do with their knowledge. examines nutritional needs and dietary pat-
Policy considerations included in this terns in the United States as well as the effects
book answer those important “so what next?” of malnutrition, which is a significant prob-
questions and call attention to prominent lem for infants and toddlers in many other
issues in the field of child development. parts of the world. Chapter 6 notes cultural
­Chapter 5, for example, notes that the harm differences in parents’ beliefs about the expe-
caused by lead exposure led to changes in riences needed for healthy physical growth
legislation regarding formulas for paint and and motor development. Chapter 7 intro-
gasoline; that public health campaigns to keep duces the notion of diversity by comparing
babies safer by placing them on their backs to examples of guided participation in differ-
sleep led to reductions in the rate of sudden ent cultures. Chapter 10 encourages students
infant death syndrome; and that awareness of to think about diversity in infant–caregiver
the benefits of human milk led to the estab- relationships and different cultural expecta-
lishment of public health goals and hospital tions and beliefs about infants’ development
Preface / xi

and the roles that mothers and fathers (and Instructor’s Manual and Test Bank. The
­others) play. Chapter 12, the review of child- Instructor’s Manual includes a sample syllabus
care, discusses the inclusion of children with and a sample library research paper assign-
disabilities, and the examination of early ment created by the author. For each chapter
intervention addresses the impact of poverty in the text, the Instructor’s Manual provides
on development from birth to age 3. the chapter “at a glance,” chapter outline, key
words with definitions, questions for reading
and discussion, a lecture launcher, hands-on
PEDAGOGICAL ELEMENTS learning activities, and online resources. The
Test Bank includes multiple choice ques-
Last, but certainly not least, I have included
tions and essay exams accompanied by study
a number of pedagogical elements that I was
sheets. The Instructor’s Manual and Test Bank
not able to find in most of the other infancy
are available to adopters for download on the
books I had used or examined. Each ­chapter
text’s catalog page at https://rowman.com
contains a chapter preview, summary and
/ISBN/9781538106723.
conclusion section, questions for reading
and discussion, and clear definitions of key PowerPoint Slides. The PowerPoint slides
words in a marginal glossary. With critical provide the tables and figures from the text.
thinking skills in mind, many of the ques- The PowerPoint presentation is available to
tions at the end of each chapter invite stu- adopters for download on the text’s catalog page
dents to apply their knowledge or consider at https://rowman.com/ISBN/9781538106723.
it in light of other evidence. There are also
boxed features in every chapter, covering I hope that you enjoy and learn from this
topics such as Prenatal Effects of the Zika book. We know so much about the first 3
Virus ­(Chapter 3), Progress toward Elim- years of life, but in many ways the study of
inating Mother-to-Child Transmission of infants and their development is still in its
HIV (Chapter 3), The Effect of Television own infancy. As new discoveries are made, it
and Digital Media on Infants and Toddlers is my wish that the chapters in this book will
(Chapter 8), The Mozart Effect: How Does enable you to appreciate and make sense of
Music Affect Early Cognitive Development? that information, evaluating it and applying it
(Chapter 8), and The Mother–Child Longi- to the babies and toddlers you know. I would
tudinal Study of Attachment (Chapter 10). love to hear from you, if you have comments
or suggestions. Feel free to get in touch with
me at grossd@stolaf.edu.
ANCILLARY MATERIALS Dana L. Gross, PhD
This book is accompanied by instructor ancil- Professor of Psychology
laries written by the author and designed to St. Olaf College
enhance the learning experience. Northfield, MN
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I am grateful for the students who have joined Donna King, Irvine Valley College
me in exploring the fascinating journey from Kristine Kovack-Lesh, Ripon College
birth to age 3. I thank them for the many ways Stephen Maret, Caldwell University
in which they have made me a better teacher Julia Noland, Vanderbilt University
and for their comments on previous editions Stephanie Sitnick, Caldwell University
of this book. I also feel fortunate to have Gail Walton, California State University-Chico
received so many specific and useful sugges- Nedra Y. Washington, University of North
tions from faculty colleagues everywhere and I Texas at Dallas
have incorporated as many of their good ideas Brandi Slider Weekley, West Virginia University
as possible. I would like to thank the following Nanci Stewart Woods, Austin Peay State
reviewers for their insightful comments: ­University

Donna Barrow, Portland State University I would also like to thank my project manager
Marjorie Beeghly, Wayne State University at Integra, Sreejith Govindan and his team for
Judi Bradetich, University of North Texas seeing through this publication to its final stages
Margaret Dana-Conway, Norwalk Community by overcoming all challenges very skillfully
College along with ensuring quality across all stages
Leslie Frankel, University of Houston coupled with meeting deadlines precisely.
1

CHAPTER

Beliefs about Babies:


Historical Perspectives
on Children and
Childhood

SUPPOSE YOU HEARD ABOUT PARENTS, living in a large city,


who sent their newborn infant to live with an unrelated woman
in the countryside until the age of 2 to 3 years. The woman—the
family’s wet nurse—would have responsibility for all aspects of
caring for the baby, especially nursing the infant with her own
breast milk. Paid to care for several infants in this way, she might
supplement their diet with a concoction called pap, consisting of
a small amount of milk, simmered with flour, honey, and perhaps
a bit of watered-down wine or beer. She might chew bread or
meat, allowing the food to mix with her saliva, before placing it
in the infant’s mouth. If the infant became ill, the wet nurse might
pray to a saint to provide a cure.
Would you approve of this diet and the care being provided?
Would you have any concerns about the baby’s well-being? How
would you feel about the parents, knowing that they had made
these arrangements partially in order to make it easier for the
mother to return to an active social life and partially in order not to
violate a taboo against sexual relations while nursing? Would your
opinion of the parents change if you were told that 95 percent of
children born in their city that year were nursed by wet nurses for
similar reasons?
As someone living in the twenty-first century, you almost cer-
tainly find this scenario objectionable, but if you were living in Paris,
France, in the eighteenth century, you probably would see very little
2 \ CHAPTER 1

to criticize (Fontanel & d’Harcourt, 1997). Moreover, in the absence


of specialized pediatric medicine, which was not developed until
the late nineteenth century, you probably would not disagree with
the wet nurse’s efforts to treat the infant’s ­illness. These divergent
views about the proper care and feeding of infants reflect preva-
lent popular and scientific beliefs then and now. Our focus in this
opening chapter is on the events that have transformed, and con-
tinue to transform, our thinking about infancy and childhood. We
consider historical changes in views about the nature of children
and childhood itself as well as transformations in family structure,
health, and education. These evolving perspectives and practices
are fascinating, but as we discuss next, they are not the only reason
to study infants and their development from birth to age 3.

T his chapter begins with a number of compelling reasons to study


infants from birth to age 3. You will then learn about recur-
ring themes in the study of child development: the extent to which
development occurs in stages versus continuous change; the contri-
butions of heredity and the environment; the ways in which infants
are both active and passive participants in their own development;
the relationship between normal and atypical development; and the
profound impact of culture and context. Given the importance of the
historical context, the chapter highlights major trends and turning
points in perspectives on infants and their development, as well as
some of the key figures in the history of child development and the
scientific study of children.

WHY DO WE STUDY INFANTS?


Why are you interested in studying development from birth to age 3?
Do you want to understand a particular infant or toddler better?
Are you planning to work with babies or young children in your
future career? Do you want to learn how to be an effective parent?
There are many good reasons to study infants.

Development as Transformation
From birth to the age of 3 years, infants gain weight and grow in
length, learn new skills, and demonstrate increasing coordination
and intentionality in using those skills. Infants who initially can
only swipe at toys that are attached to the front of their car seat or
high chair are soon able to touch and manipulate those toys more
intentionally. By 3 to 4 months of age, newborns learn to roll over,
then crawl, and are on their way to independent walking by the
time they celebrate their first birthday. The ability to communi-
cate through language also emerges during the first three years of
life, opening new opportunities to understand as well as influence
young minds. Even before they can communicate through lan-
guage, however, babies express their feelings and show preferences
for parents and other caregivers, reflecting a capacity for memory
Beliefs about Babies: Historical Perspectives on Children and Childhood / 3

and for forming special relationships.


Which transformations during infancy
do you find most interesting?

Impact of Early Experience


From birth to age 3, there is tremendous
variability in infants’ early experiences.
Some infants are cared for at home by par-
ents, older s­ iblings, grandparents, or other
adults, whereas other infants enter full-
time group childcare at an early age. How
do parents’ choices affect their children’s
early development? Are there long-lasting effects of early experiences? Many infants and toddlers
are cared for by their
Does early enrichment make a difference later in childhood? Is it possi- grandparents.
ble to overcome the negative effects of early deprivation and adversity?
These and other examples that you may wonder about raise important
questions about the degree to which humans are resilient early in life
and the effects of experience during childhood and beyond.

RESEARCH METHODS AND TOOLS


Imaging technology provides glimpses of the developing fetus, and
other prenatal tests give expectant parents and doctors more infor-
mation than ever before. Advances in technology enable researchers
to examine the infant brain and to understand how it is shaped by
experience. New understanding of genetics offers intriguing possibil-
ities to predict, and even influence, infants’ health from the earliest
point in development. Researchers’ selection of particular methods
and tools enables them to ask infants profound questions long before
the subjects of their studies are able to utter their first word.

Interdisciplinary Collaboration
Pediatricians, early childhood educators, social service providers,
researchers in child development, and public policy makers have
never been more open to sharing knowledge and working together
to improve the conditions in which infants live and, hopefully, thrive.
Economists have recently become involved in evaluating intervention
programs for infants and toddlers in an effort to identify programs that
are worthwhile and cost-effective. Historians too have taken an interest
in understanding changes in children’s experiences over time as well as
reconceptualizations of the nature of childhood and children.

RECURRING THEMES IN THE STUDY


OF CHILD DEVELOPMENT
As long as there have been infants, there have been beliefs about
the factors that affect their development. These beliefs have been
incorporated into formal theories in disciplines such as p
­ sychology
4 \ CHAPTER 1

Development from birth


to age 3 may seem either
abrupt or continuous,
depending on how
frequently children are
observed.

and sociology as well as folk theories held by parents and the gen-
eral public. Theories about child development are usually specific
to particular developmental domains, specific areas of ability
or experience. This means that they tend to focus on topics such
as cognition, language, memory, relationships, or emotion, rather
than explain or unify multiple areas of development. In this sec-
tion, you will learn about some of the themes that all developmen-
tal theories address.

The Path of Development: Stages versus


Continuous Change
The field of child development has many theories that describe devel-
opment as occurring in a stagewise process, with qualitatively dif-
ferent abilities or characteristics emerging out of the transition from
one stage to the next. Stage theories emphasize the sort of impression
that an infrequent observer might have of the same child over the
first three years of life. At an early visit, the infant would be focused
developmental domains
Specific areas of ability inward, fascinated by his or her own fingers or toes; he or she might
or experience, such as show a strong desire to remain close to the parents. A visit several
­cognition, language, months later, by contrast, would reveal an infant who is eager to
memory, relationships, explore the environment, crawling or cruising away from the care-
or emotion.
giver. In this sense, the child would appear to have qualitatively dif-
stagewise Characterization ferent interests and abilities at the second visit than at the first. By the
of development as occur-
ring in distinct phases,
time of a third visit, when the child is 3 years old, the occasional visi-
with qualitative differences tor would notice new language abilities and forms of play, suggesting
between stages. that the child had entered a new stage of development.
Beliefs about Babies: Historical Perspectives on Children and Childhood / 5

Parents, or observers who see the child frequently, would be


aware of the many subtle changes from birth to the time when inde-
pendent crawling or walking began. They would know that new
abilities did not emerge all at once, but were the result of days, weeks,
or even months of practice and, initially, failure. Seen in this way,
development is relatively continuous, without clearly marked stages.
Theories differ in terms of whether they describe development as
mainly stagewise or primarily continuous. Researchers’ beliefs about
how development occurs may influence the measures and designs
they use in their studies and the inferences they draw from their data.

Heredity and the Environment


In every domain of development, there has been debate about whether
the amazing transformations during the first three years of life are the
result of childrearing practices and experiences in the environment
(nurture) or whether they occur relatively independently of experi-
ence (nature) and are the result of some predetermined “program.”
Researchers have moved away from the strong version of this debate,
and no one would plausibly argue today that development is affected
only by experiences parents provide. Nor would anyone seriously
assert that parents’ contributions are unimportant in children’s devel-
opment. Instead, the debate has become more nuanced, with both
sides recognizing that there is an interaction of heredity and the
environment (Spencer et al., 2009; Steinbeis, Crone, Blakemore, &
Kadosh, 2017).
This does not mean that the nurture camp has ceased exploring
the effects of experience; indeed, it has become even clearer that
there are many coexisting, interacting environmental influences in
children’s lives. Children are influenced by environment in both
direct and indirect ways, including settings in which they never
spend time, such as their parents’ workplace (Lawson et al., 2016).
Parents who have stressful jobs, for example, may be more impa-
tient and less sensitive interacting with their children at home than
parents whose work is less emotionally draining. The quality of the
care that infants receive is also affected by the wider neighborhood
or community in which they live as well as the cultural context and continuous Characteri-
zation of development as a
even the historical period (Bronfenbrenner & Morris, 1998; Ramey, ­gradual, smooth process of
Ramey, & Lanzi, 2006). change.
The nature proponents, for their part, have also continued to
nature Biological factors
provide new levels of analysis. Studies of prenatal development, aided influencing development.
by high-tech tools, enable researchers to view the developing fetus
nurture Environmental
with increasing clarity and precision. Early twentieth-century notions and experiential factors
about the brain’s development during infancy have been expanded influencing development.
and modified as well by recent advances in neuroscience. epigenesis The interac-
Researchers know more than ever before about the genetic mate- tion of genes with each
rial that provides a “blueprint” for development. other and with the organ-
The evidence is also clear, however, that even some aspects ism’s internal and external
environment to produce
of development that appear to be “prewired” are influenced by developmental outcomes,
­experience. This concept, known as epigenesis, refers to the inter- such as new structures,
action of genes with each other and with the organism’s internal behaviors, and abilities.
6 \ CHAPTER 1

and external environment to produce


developmental outcomes, such as new
structures, behaviors, and abilities. It
was first described in the 1940s by the
embryologist and geneticist Conrad
Waddington and subsequently incorpo-
rated into theories developed by Kon-
rad Lorenz and others (Lickliter, 2013).
Epigenetic theories are more prevalent
than ever, and contemporary research-
ers note that “[t]he building of brains,
bodies, and flexibility involves a cas-
From birth, babies are
cading developmental process in which
prepared to respond genes and their products interact within their local environment
to and elicit responses to create the substrates for further development” (Spencer et al.,
from parents and other 2009, p. 104). Dietary regulation, for example, can alter the effects
caregivers.
of a genetic ­predisposition for the disease phenylketonuria (PKU),
preventing cognitive disabilities that would occur otherwise. Expo-
sure to alcohol during the prenatal period, as another example, can
anesthetize the fetus, interfering with the movement of arms and
legs and changing the normal course of the brain’s development
and later functioning. Children’s biologically influenced charac-
teristics, such as whether they are “easy” or “difficult” babies, also
have an impact on the responses they elicit from parents and other
caregivers. Despite their shared genes, identical twins exhibit dif-
ferent amounts of positive and negative social behaviors toward
other ­children and adults if their parents consistently show more
affection to one twin but are hostile and punitive toward the other
child. As these examples and others throughout this book confirm,
it is clear that development occurs as a result of the interaction of
both nature and nurture.

Active or Passive Development?


Throughout history, parents, philosophers, social reformers, and
­scientists have tended to view infants as relatively incompetent, pas-
sive creatures, playing a minimal role in their own development. The
childrearing advice given to parents tended to reflect this perspective,
and parents were seen as the most important agents in their child’s
early education, socialization, physical development, and personality
formation.
Babies are prepared to respond to and elicit responses from
parents and other caregivers from birth, however. Even very young
infants are capable of communicating many of their needs nonver-
bally by cooing, crying, and reaching. They also learn about the
physical world as they explore it using different methods at different
ages, first mouthing objects and later fingering, grasping, banging,
and dropping them. Contemporary theories of infant development
incorporate infants’ surprisingly sophisticated capabilities, and many
empirical studies measure changes that result from infants’ own
actions as well as the actions of their caregivers.
Beliefs about Babies: Historical Perspectives on Children and Childhood / 7

Normal and Atypical Development


It is also clear that infants develop at different rates. Parents whose
babies develop earlier than other children—rolling over, sitting up,
or walking first—may feel a sense of pride, even when the milestone
is something over which they have no direct influence, such as the
eruption of the child’s first tooth. It can be worrisome, though, if the
baby seems significantly slower to develop than other babies. Infants
with atypical development, whether in the physical, cognitive, or
socio-emotional domain, may present a challenge to parents and
caregivers, but they also can and should be included in activities and
programs with more typically developing children.

Culture and Context


There are both similarities and differences in the ways that parents
care for and interact with infants. In some cultures, in contrast to
typical arrangements in the United States, infants and parents share
the same bed, even when there would be room in the house for chil-
dren to sleep elsewhere by themselves. In addition, although many
US parents play games and engage in pretend play with their infants
and toddlers, these practices are not universal. Throughout this book,
beginning in this introduction, you will learn about some of these
differences and what they reveal about the nature—and nurture—of
early development.
The richness and diversity of parenting practices within the
United States existed long before European immigrants arrived in
the New World. Across the numerous and diverse Native American
cultures, daily family life and customs involving marriage, birth, and The diversity and validity
of Native American family
childrearing reflected worldviews that prevailed in each culture and life has not always been
geographical region. In some groups, each nuclear family functioned recognized or supported in
as a separate unit and lived in its own dwelling, but in others, house- the United States.
holds consisted of several nuclear families sharing
a common long house. In many Native American
cultures, elaborate ceremonies involving members
of the community were performed at the birth of
a child, and other adults in the community were
often responsible for guiding and supporting the
child at significant milestones in life, practices that
remain important today (Gill, 2002).
The diversity and validity of Native American
family life has not always been recognized or sup-
ported. For much of US history, American Indians
were encouraged or coerced to follow European
patterns of childrearing, and differences among
tribes were either dismissed or not recognized. It
was not until 1978, when the Indian Child Welfare
Act was passed, that the intrinsic value of American
Indian cultures and extended families was recog-
nized at the federal level. Although there are still
concerns about interpretation and implementation,
8 \ CHAPTER 1

the law has resulted in fewer children being removed from their
­families, a practice that had occurred in the past for as many as 25 to
35 percent of all American Indian children (Goodluck, 1999).
A history of family disruption is also part of the experience of
many African Americans, a phenomenon that can be traced back to
the practice of slavery. However, there were also African Americans
who were free while others were enslaved, and it is important to
recognize differences in past experience as well as the great diver-
sity in family structure and parenting style that exists among con-
temporary African American families (Hatchett & Jackson, 1999;
McAdoo, 1999).
Similarly, whereas some Mexican American families and families
of Spanish descent have been in the United States since the eighteenth
and nineteenth centuries, there are also many who immigrated during
the second half of the twentieth century or, more recently, from Mexico,
Puerto Rico, the Caribbean, and Central and South America (McAdoo,
1999). Researchers have shown that there are many different parenting
styles among these groups (Chahin, Villarruel, & Viramontez, 1999;
Martinez, 1999; Suárez, 1999).
Great diversity of experience, beliefs, and behaviors are also found
among families who are often grouped together as Asian American.
Chinese immigrants, for example, began arriving in the United States
in 1820 but were actively prevented from coming to and being inte-
grated into the United States after 1882, when the Chinese Exclusion
Act was passed (Lin & Liu, 1999; Ou & McAdoo, 1999). Vietnamese
families, by contrast, largely immigrated to the United States in three
distinct waves during the 1970s and 1980s (Gold, 1999).
Refugees from unstable countries, such as Somalia and Sudan,
have found new homes in the United States and in other countries,
often in communities that bear little resemblance to the villages and
cities from which they came. Differences in family structure, social
class, and educational background prior to immigration, as well
as differences in community sponsorship and support, have had a
­significant impact on each of these groups’ experience.
In summary, the United States is becoming a more diverse nation
in an increasingly interconnected world. Awareness of cultural and
ethnic diversity is essential for understanding the many different
­settings in which infants develop. In addition to culture, ideas about
proper childrearing practices are often a function of historical c­ ontext,
as discussed next.

HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVES ON INFANCY


AND EARLY CHILDHOOD
In the past, like today, there was not always agreement about the
proper care of infants and the role of children in society. From the
vantage point of the mid-twentieth century, for example, some histo-
rians (Ariès, 1962) painted a picture of earlier times as a freer, more
equitable era for children. According to this perspective, children’s
lives may have been better before adults removed them from the
Beliefs about Babies: Historical Perspectives on Children and Childhood / 9

working world and sequestered them in school for years of compul-


sory education. This nostalgic interpretation was challenged, how- literary evidence Written
information, including
ever, by historical research showing that children in the past were
­parents’ diaries and letters,
more likely to be killed, abandoned, exploited, and abused (Boswell, childrearing advice written
1988; Clement, 1997; Hawes & Hiner, 1985). by ministers and doctors,
and children’s books.

Historical Studies of Children and Childhood quantitative archival


evidence Official sources
Examining the evidence (described in Box 1.1), some historians of written information and
of childhood have concluded that, despite social and technologi- data, including ­census
cal changes, there is significant continuity and surprisingly little data, tax records, and
­legislative and court
change in parent–child relationships over the years 1500 to 1900. records.
According to some historians, for example, far from tolerating or
material culture Physical
ignoring child abuse and abandonment, in the past most parents, evidence, such as toys,
and society as a whole, looked at these practices with horror and clothing, furniture, and
outrage, much as parents and other adults do today. There is also works of art.

   S
 tudying Children and Childhood with a
BOX 1.1
Historical Lens
Given that parents and children who lived cannot be assumed that they followed the
long ago cannot be observed or inter- advice they contained (Colón & Colón, 2001;
viewed, how do historians know what their Hulbert, 2003; Pollack, 1983; Schulz, 1985).
lives were like and what adults of the time
thought about them? Three major sources
Questions
of information are available: (1) literary
evidence, including parents’ diaries and 1. What kinds of evidence can be used to
letters, childrearing advice written by mid- study children and families who lived
wives, ministers, and doctors, and children’s long ago?
books; (2) quantitative archival evidence, 2. What are some limitations of using
such as census data, tax records, and legis- historical evidence to understand chil-
lative and court records; and (3) material dren and families in the past? What are
culture, such as toys, clothing, furniture, some advantages of using this kind of
and works of art. evidence?
When interpreting these sources, histori- 3. Imagine that you are a historian in the
ans note that many of the details about daily twenty-second century, and your topic
life probably were not recorded because they is the history of infancy and early child-
were viewed as ordinary and unimportant. It hood. What sorts of literary evidence,
is also possible that diaries included entries quantitative evidence, and material
about problems that parents encountered culture—evidence and artifacts being
with their infants, rather than successes, created today—might you use to study
leading modern readers to assume that there parenting in the twenty-first century?
were more problems than successes (Pollack, What sorts of conclusions might be
1983). Where records do exist, they gener- drawn from these sources about our
ally represent families who were educated, current society’s attitudes about infants
wealthy, or socially prominent. Another lim- and their development? What would be
itation is that beliefs and behavior do not the advantages and disadvantages of
always match; as is true today, even when using these kinds of materials instead
parents possessed childrearing manuals, it of observing infants directly?
10 \ CHAPTER 1

evidence that parents who sent their infants to wet nurses were
emotionally attached to them and took steps to remove their chil-
dren from these arrangements if they discovered conditions of
neglect or abuse (Pollack, 1983).
There is also compelling evidence that parents have always won-
dered about their children’s development, even before birth, and have
taken steps to promote their well-being. Views about proper child­
rearing methods and even definitions of childhood itself have often
changed, however. This is because they are cultural inventions and
constructions that reflect a society’s basic shared beliefs and values
at a particular point in time (Borstelmann, 1983; Cahan, Mechling,
Sutton-Smith, & White, 1993; Colón & Colón, 2001; Hulbert, 2003).
The impermanence of childrearing beliefs and practices is reflected
in a significant reversal that occurred by the nineteenth century in
Paris; wealthy women began nursing their own infants, and poorer
mothers who worked outside of the home were the ones hiring wet
nurses (Colón & Colón, 2001).
The next two sections summarize changing views of children and
family life. Although some aspects of childhood in ancient Greece
and Rome, as well as medieval and Renaissance Europe, are briefly
considered, the main focus is on the United States and the time from
the nineteenth century to the present.

Views of Children
At many points in history, some parents and other adults have
regarded children as innocent, naïve, and unformed, whereas oth-
ers have viewed them as possessing innate, sometimes undesirable,
characteristics and predispositions that need to be modified through
parents’ actions. Views of children at any given time influence the
systems and policies in place to protect children and promote their
development.
Stages of growth and development were noted in ancient times,
and distinctions were made between infants, young children, and
adolescents. Children in ancient Greece and Rome were valued as the
future of society but generally regarded as property with few rights
(Borstelmann, 1983). Boys were valued as future warriors, and infant
males were inspected to be sure that they were sufficiently healthy
to benefit from rigorous training and education. Infants who did
not pass this inspection were abandoned and left to die of exposure
(Colón & Colón, 2001).
Early Roman law required parents to raise all healthy male infants
and at least one of the female infants born to them. Infants were
abandoned for a number of reasons, including gender, poverty, ille-
gitimacy, and birth defects (Boswell, 1988). Infanticide and maltreat-
ment of infants and young children were practiced for many years
before Roman emperors, beginning around the year 100 ce, acted to
protect children through legal reforms (Colón & Colón, 2001).
In medieval Europe (approximately 500 to 1300 ce), plagues killed
many people, and fewer written records remain than from ancient
Greece and Rome (Boswell, 1988). According to the documents that
Beliefs about Babies: Historical Perspectives on Children and Childhood / 11

did survive this era, infant mortality rates (the number of deaths
per 1,000 live births, before the age of 1 year) were high, and perhaps
as many as one or two of every three children died in the first year
of life. Parents used charms of various kinds to protect their infants
from harm and sickness (Fontanel & d’Harcourt, 1997). One of the
“ailments” that parents feared during the Middle Ages (and well into
the mid-nineteenth century) was teething. Infants who were teething
often suffered from fevers, convulsions, and diarrhea brought on by
parasites, cholera, or respiratory diseases, so many parents errone-
ously believed that teething per se could prove fatal. Remedies for
teething and its accompanying illnesses included placing leeches on
the baby’s gums, hanging charms around the baby’s neck, or following
other superstitious practices that were thought to transfer the baby’s
ailment to some other person or object (Fontanel & d’Harcourt, 1997;
Howe, 1998).
Parents whose infants became ill often went on a religious pil-
grimage or prayed to the “first pediatricians of Christianity”—saints
specializing in children and their illnesses, including Saint ­Quintin
(whooping cough), Saint Blaise (sore throats), Saint Apollonia
(toothaches), Saint Nicholas (colic and diarrhea), and Saint Medard
(parasitic worms) (Boswell, 1988; Fontanel & d’Harcourt, 1997).
In early medieval Europe, infants were abandoned and left to
die of exposure. Parents had the legal right to sell their children into
servitude. Among some poor families, the practice of infant aban-
donment declined when opportunities developed for impoverished
children to earn a living by becoming servants in the households of
wealthy families (Boswell, 1988).
In some wealthy families, infant abandonment functioned as
a way of reducing the number of possible heirs among whom the
father’s property and wealth would need to be divided. Changes in
inheritance laws in some parts of Europe, such as England, allowed a
single heir to be designated, resulting in a reduction in infant aban-
donment (Borstelmann, 1983).
During the Renaissance (approximately 1300–1500), as in previ-
ous times, children were abandoned and left at the doors of churches
or in publicly run foundling homes. These institutions, which were
the precursor to orphanages and children’s hospitals, developed sys-
tems through which mothers could anonymously leave newborns. In
some cases, there was a depository with a revolving tray on which
the infant could be placed and transferred indoors (Boswell, 1988;
Colón & Colón, 2001; Fontanel & d’Harcourt, 1997). Sadly, infants
taken into these foundling homes may have been more likely to die
than infants who were taken in by adoptive parents. Records from
the fourteenth century show that, as a result of poor hygiene and an
absence of effective medical care, 20% to 40% of infants died within
a year, many within a month, of arriving in the foundling home. By
comparison, the mortality rate among infants sent to wet nurses
during the same time was about 17 percent (Boswell, 1988). infant mortality rate
Number of deaths per
Many Renaissance thinkers contemplated ways to create a perfect 1,000 live births, usually
society, as exemplified by Sir Thomas More’s Utopia (1516). More’s reported with reference to
book pondered human values, the difference between good and evil, the age of 1 year.
12 \ CHAPTER 1

and the path to virtue. The ideal child was described as pious, dis-
ciplined, obedient, and teachable. The debate about whether infants
were inherently innocent or corrupt continued in Europe and was
exported to Puritan colonies that were established in the New World
by the middle of the seventeenth century.
For Puritans in Colonial America, infants were believed to be
conceived in sin, and prenatal care was both physical and spiritual
(Beales, 1985). Parents had two main responsibilities, instruction
and discipline, reflected in advice from John Robinson, minister of
the Plymouth Colony (1625), who wrote, “[T]here is in all children,
though not alike a stubbornness, and stoutness of mind arising from
natural pride, which must, in the first place be broken and beaten
down” (cited in Moran & Vinovskis, 1985, p. 26).
Despite the harshness of these words to our twenty-first-­century
ears, there is evidence that Puritan parents were devoted to their
­children. Parents showed love and concern for their infants’ souls by
baptizing them early, usually within one to two weeks of their birth.
Other signs of parents’ love include expressions of grief in letters and
diaries after a child had died. The care and training of children were the
nuclear family’s responsibility, but concerns about spoiling them with
too much affection led some parents to send their offspring to live with
other families for a time (Beales, 1985; Hareven, 2000; Pollack, 1983).
Throughout the colonial period, epidemics of smallpox, diph-
theria, scarlet fever, yellow fever, intestinal diseases, and influenza
occurred in waves. Smallpox was particularly deadly, especially for
young children; although it was controversial, some parents inocu-
lated their children against the disease after the practice was intro-
duced in Boston in 1721. Children also died of ordinary childhood
diseases, including measles, whooping cough, and mumps. In addi-
tion, because homes were not “baby-proofed,” many young children
died or were seriously injured in accidents. Slave children often
suffered from malnutrition and lacked adequate sanitation, shelter,
clothing, and adult supervision, contributing to a mortality rate for
young black children that was twice that of white children (Colón &
Colón, 2001; Schulz, 1985; Schwartz, 2016).
Unlike the Parisian parents described at the beginning of this
chapter, Puritan mothers nursed their infants themselves, a practice
that was thought to impart the mother’s positive qualities and pious
attitudes to the child early on (Finkelstein, 1985). Coincidentally and
fortuitously, antibodies in the mother’s milk also afforded infants
at least some degree of temporary immunity from the diseases sur-
rounding them (Beales, 1985).
As waves of new immigrants arrived in the United States and
settled in urban areas with large populations, members of the
clergy, educators, and social observers became concerned about
the ­children. Disease and illness, including cholera, tuberculosis,
and infant diarrhea, were rampant; hunger and malnutrition were
common (Berrol, 1985). In response to these conditions, from 1800
until 1835, clergy members established protective settings, such
as Sunday schools for infants in the factories where their parents
worked ­(Finkelstein, 1985).
Beliefs about Babies: Historical Perspectives on Children and Childhood / 13

During the nineteenth century, an increasingly romantic view of


childhood emerged, and young children were seen as the redeemers
of a more complex, possibly corrupt, industrialized society (Borstel-
mann, 1983). In a sense, childhood was discovered anew. The home
was viewed as a refuge from the outside world (Hareven, 1985, 2000),
and the mother’s role as moral guardian was sentimentalized and
emphasized in numerous publications.
Infants and very young children were thought to need “guidance,
not repression, activity rather than confinement, sensitive tutoring
from a totally available, benevolent mentor” (Finkelstein, 1985,
p. 124). Because mothers were viewed as inherently gentle and mor-
ally superior, they were seen by many as the ideal agents to protect
children through a concentrated, socially isolated relationship in an
environment that they controlled (Finkelstein, 1985).
The sentimentality directed toward motherhood began to change
toward the end of the nineteenth century, as scientific professionals
emerged to assist mothers in making good choices for their c­ hildren.
Mothers’ clubs and child study groups were formed across the c­ ountry.
The National Congress of Mothers was founded in 1897, as “the
­widespread mood of a closing century coalesced into a self-conscious
institutionalized movement for a new era” (Hulbert, 1999, p. 21). At
the 1899 National Congress of Mothers, Dr. Luther Emmett Holt, one
of America’s first pediatricians and author of The Care and Feeding
of Children (1894), reflected this mood when he endorsed system-
atic, scientific study as the best way to promote children’s health and
development (Hulbert, 1999).
Holt’s advice found a receptive audience because scientific study
had shown that bacteria in urban milk supplies were the likely source Beginning in the 1890s,
of fatal infections and diseases in infants. To address this problem, advice about infant care,
feeding, and hygiene was
child-health activists established milk stations, first in New York dispensed to immigrant
City during the 1890s, and later in other US cities. As milk stations parents in locations that
became more widespread, advice about infant care, feeding, and included New York City’s
hygiene was dispensed along with the milk (Colón Ellis Island.
& Colón, 2001; Halpern, 1988).
Another sign of concern for child welfare at the
end of the ­nineteenth century was the emergence
of the Progressive Movement, which was active
from the 1890s until the 1920s. Progressives were
motivated by a mixture of feelings—humanitarian
altruism, concern, fear, confusion, and a desire to
exert control over the changing urban environment
(Cohen, 1985). Members of the Progressive move-
ment established private and public institutions, all
of which existed to counteract the negative influ-
ence of the adult world on children (Finkelstein,
1985).
Public policy and interventions addressing the
problems of children and families became established
during the twentieth century, and many are now a
familiar part of t­wenty-first-century life. ­Women’s
organizations organized child study initiatives to
14 \ CHAPTER 1

document and solve child welfare problems. They also lobbied for fed-
eral support of studies of children’s health and development. In 1912,
the United States Children’s Bureau was established to serve as a clear-
inghouse for information about the best childrearing practices and pub-
lished Infant Care, a manual distributed at no cost to millions of new
parents (Cohen, 1985; Cravens, 1985). The federal ­government lacked
the funds to produce significant change, however. In the end, philan-
thropic foundations partnered with universities to support the scientific
study of children and their development (­ Cravens, 1985).

Family Life
European immigrants to the New World in the early seventeenth
century brought their old customs, beliefs, and childrearing practices
with them. It is difficult to generalize about their experience in the
American colonies because, like today, childhood and family life were
affected by the characteristics of the local community (Beales, 1985;
Schulz, 1985). The best records of colonial families come from Puri-
tans who settled in New England.
In the seventeenth century, most New England women married
in their late teens or early twenties. Childbearing usually began within
the first year of marriage and continued for most women, at two-year
intervals, until they were in their late 30s or early 40s (Beales, 1985).
Families thus had a relatively large number of children, by today’s
standards, but the high rate of infant mortality (between 10% and
30% of infants did not survive beyond the age of 1 year) meant that
the household itself was not necessarily that large at all times (Schulz,
1985). The basic family unit was the nuclear family, with kinship net-
works nearby (Hareven, 1985, 2000).
For the children of slaves, family life was significantly different.
In addition to the widespread lack of adequate food, shelter, medi-
cal care, and adult supervision, children born into slavery suffered
from disruptions to the family unit, including being separated from
parents and siblings (Schwartz, 2016). Slavery in the United States
was outlawed in 1865, when the Thirteenth Amendment was rat-
ified, but the impact of this history continues to the present time
(Hill, 2016).
Beginning in approximately 1800, the Industrial Revolution
changed many aspects of family life dramatically. At the beginning of
this period, most children lived in rural areas and grew up farming
with their parents and a relatively large number of siblings (in 1865,
82% of families had five or more children). By the mid-twentieth
­century, by contrast, most children had fewer siblings (in 1930, 57%
lived in families with three or fewer children) and lived in urban areas
with populations of 10,000 or more (Hernandez, 1997). An equally
significant shift began immediately after the Civil War ended, when
approximately 6 million emancipated slaves began migrating from
the rural South to cities in the North (Berlin, 2010; Goodin, 2014;
Rutkoff & Scott, 2010). A second Great Migration occurred between
approximately 1940 and 1970 (Boehm, 2009).
Beliefs about Babies: Historical Perspectives on Children and Childhood / 15

The Great Depression of the 1930s had a significant impact on


family life. In general, children born during the years of greatest eco-
nomic hardship were more negatively affected than children whose
first years of life occurred when their families were more affluent
(Elder, 1974; Elder & Hareven, 1993). This finding reflects the unique
vulnerability of infants and toddlers (Evans, 2004).
A defining demographic trend—the Baby Boom—occurred in
the years following World War II (1946–1964). Babies born at this
time entered a new child-centered period of prosperity. There was
an increase in the proportion of Americans marrying and a decline
in the number of childless couples. The average age at which women
married decreased from 21.5 in 1940 to 20.1 in 1956 (Strickland &
Ambrose, 1985). For comparison, the corresponding age was 27.8
in 2015 (US Census Bureau, 2015). More couples were having their
first child within 13 months of their marriage, and more than half
of women marrying for the first time gave birth to their first child
before they were 20 (Strickland & Ambrose, 1985).
In the 1950s, middle-class parents, especially young, first-
time mothers, regarded their role in ways that were different from
prewar parents. Many parents were influenced by Dr. Benjamin
Spock’s (1946) The Common Sense Book of Baby and Child Care,
which sold more than 28 million copies and by 1976 had become
the best-selling book in the twentieth century, after the Bible. Spock
urged parents to adopt a child-centered, “commonsense” approach
for socializing children, minimizing confrontation and conflict in
the family. He encouraged mothers to monitor their children’s
growth and development and to gently and tactfully guide them
toward becoming a cooperative member of a happy family (Strick-
land & Ambrose, 1985). Spock’s goals also included alleviating
mothers’ anxiety about childrearing, since he believed that anxi-
ety itself could be harmful to children’s development. Ultimately,
the book was intended to help parents create a more democratic In the 1960s, the public
society (Hulbert, 2003; Strickland & Ambrose, 1985). As shown in became more aware of
Table 1.1, Spock’s advice about toilet training also reflected attitude the harm being done to
changes in the 1940s (Brazelton et al., 1999). children growing up in
transience, poverty, and
Not all families were aware of the new, child-centered approach. poor living conditions.
One study from the 1960s compared
white and black mothers in Chicago
in terms of their exposure to Spock’s
book. Whereas 77 percent of white,
middle-class mothers had read Baby
­
and Child Care, only 32 percent of black,
middle-class mothers had. Similar pat-
terns were found among working-class
mothers, with 48 percent of white, work-
ing-class mothers reporting that they
had read Spock’s book as compared to
12 percent of black, working-class moth-
ers (Blau, 1971, cited in Strickland &
Ambrose, 1985).
16 \ CHAPTER 1

TABLE 1.1 | Changes in Attitudes and Advice about Toilet Training

Years Attitudes and Advice

1920s–1930s A rigid, parent-centered approach to toilet training was recommended. This view
was in keeping with the theoretical positions of well-known child development
experts, such as John B. Watson.

1940s–1950s Experts, including Benjamin Spock, rejected absolute and rigid rules for toilet
training. It was believed that rushing children or being too harsh with them might
fail and lead to behavioral problems. Parents were advised to look for “signs of
readiness” in their child and to communicate with them in order to enlist their
cooperation before beginning training.

1950s–1960s Pediatricians, such as T. Berry Brazelton, proposed a child-oriented gradual method.


Based on notions of child readiness, this approach integrated physical, emotional,
and cognitive elements. Child readiness was believed to be present in most children
by the age of about 18 months. Surveys from 1951 to 1961 showed that approxi-
mately one-half of children were continent during the day by the age of 27 months,
and nearly all children (98 percent) were fully toilet trained by the age of 36 months.

1960s–1970s Experts, such as Nathan Azrin and Richard Foxx, used applied behavior analysis
as the basis for structured-behavioral toilet training. In published reports, their
­method was said to achieve toilet training with normal, healthy toddlers in an
­average of 3.9 hours. The Azrin-Foxx method incorporated notions of child readi-
ness with principles of applied behavior analysis.

Source: Brazelton, Christophersen, Frauman, Gorski, Poole, et al. (1999).

Other groups, such as migrant worker families, did not ben-


efit from postwar prosperity. A landmark television documentary
in 1960, Harvest of Shame, showed that migrant children often
began working in the fields by age 7 or 8 and experienced tran-
sience, poverty, and poor living conditions from birth. Middle-class
­Americans who saw this program were shocked to learn that only 1
out of every 500 migrant children finished grade school (Strickland
& Ambrose, 1985).
There was growing public awareness that not all US children
were being nurtured by parents with the knowledge, skills, and time
to implement the new approach to childrearing. There was increasing
evidence of the harm being done to children growing up in environ-
ments filled with poverty, discrimination, and a lack of opportunity
or hope. This awareness led to political support for a “war on pov-
erty,” an effort to create a “Great Society” in the United States, elimi-
nating poverty and racial injustice. Project Head Start was created in
1964 to serve preschool-age children of low-income families.
The compensatory model of Head Start sought to provide the
best childrearing advice and comprehensive services for economically
disadvantaged families. A review of the US Children’s Bureau Infant
Care manual and Parents magazine from 1955 through 1984 showed
Beliefs about Babies: Historical Perspectives on Children and Childhood / 17

that there was not a simple, direct relationship, however, between what
experts knew and the information that was communicated to parents.
Biological aspects of infant development (­perception, ­cognition, and
temperament) were most accurately and consistently presented, but
coverage of the mother–infant relationship, childcare, feeding, and
fathers grew, shrank, or remained the same as a function of the “broader
cultural context and demographic changes” (Young, 1990, p. 17).
As shown in Table 1.2, advice about the mother–infant rela-
tionship from the mid-1950s until the early 1970s emphasized the

TABLE 1.2 | What Child Development Experts Told Parents (Usually Mothers)
in Infant Care

Topic 1955 1980

Newborns . . . are more passive than active. learn through their own actions, but
parents need to provide stimulation.

Temperament . . . for each baby is different. refers to your baby’s distinctive style.
Which type is your baby?

Feeding . . . your baby with breast milk is with sensitivity is more important than
the natural way. The breast whether you give your baby breast milk
is the center of the baby’s or formula. Unless you feel strongly
­emotional world. about not breastfeeding, however, you
should plan to nurse your baby.

The mother–infant . . . relationship is the reason your is only one of several important
baby is happy and secure. Your ­relationship influences on your baby’s
baby needs you as much as he emotional health.
or she needs food or air.

The father . . . can be a great help to you, but provides a unique and necessary
do not expect your baby’s father ­complementary relationship to the
to share equally in caring for him ­relationship that you have with your
or her. baby. Your baby’s father can share the
role of primary caregiver with you.

Nonparental is like boarding your baby away will not harm your baby as long as
childcare . . . from home. you choose the right setting. Use our
checklist to judge your baby’s childcare
setting.

Infants . . . are able to see light and color. are able to track objects, make associa-
They have an awakening tions between events, and discriminate
­memory around the age of patterns. They learn best when you
6 months. interact with them and respond to their
actions. Watch to see what your baby
is interested in and take your cue from
him or her.

Source: Young (1990).


18 \ CHAPTER 1

­ other’s role over all other influences; by the 1970s, experts rec-
m
ognized that the mother–infant relationship is only one of many
important relationships influencing the child’s development. Advice
about the father’s role revealed another shift, from the 1950s and
1960s, when “mothers were encouraged to include fathers in the care
of the baby but not to expect fathers to share equally in the care of the
infant,” to the mid-1980s, when “new parents were told that fathers
could share in the role of primary caretaker” (Young, 1990, p. 23).
The trends that produced the Baby Boom generation were not
duplicated by young adults in the later 1960s and 1970s. The average age
for first marriage increased steadily, and many young adults postponed
having children or even decided to remain childless. Marriage and par-
enthood came to be viewed as a personal choice and less as a “natural”
accompaniment of adulthood. Social regard for families remained high,
but there was more tolerance of a range of choices about whether and
when to start a family (Arnett, 2000; Douvan, 1985).
Views of childhood have evolved throughout history, and there
is little debate today about whether children are inherently innocent
or sinful. In fact, “the transition from a moral and religious to a more
secular and scientific view of childhood is one of the great revolu-
tions” of the twentieth century (Smuts & Hagen, 1985, p. 6). The
fascinating transition to the scientific study of infants and children is
the focus of the next section.

THE DEVELOPMENT OF CHILD


DEVELOPMENT
During the twentieth century, parents increasingly turned to profes-
sionals with expertise in the field of child development to provide
guidance and answer questions about childrearing. To understand
the history of the scientific study of infants and children requires
some understanding of the emergence of child development and its
introduction into the United States at the beginning of the twentieth
century, as well as an awareness of the emergence of pediatric med-
icine, because many researchers in child development focused their
attention on early physical growth and motor development.
The current practice of parents bringing their infants and chil-
dren to visit a pediatrician, not only in times of sickness but also for
preventive well-child care, is an experience that most children grow-
ing up in previous eras would not have had. Parents sought advice
from local experts, such as midwives, clergy, and older relatives, but
physicians who focused exclusively on children did not exist. In 1880,
child specialists called themselves pediatrists rather than pediatri-
cians, and there were fewer than 50 such specialists in the United
States, none of whom saw children on a full-time basis. It was not
until the 1930s and 1940s that pediatrics emerged as a secure, estab-
lished part of medicine (Cravens, 1985; Halpern, 1988).
Pediatrics developed in response to health-related social problems,
such as those affecting the children of immigrants (Halpern, 1988;
Sears, 1975). The same influence of real-world problems was evident
Beliefs about Babies: Historical Perspectives on Children and Childhood / 19

in the origins of helping professions such as education and social work


and, to a great extent, in the discipline of child development.
In the final section of this chapter, you will learn about several
key figures in the history of child development and their contribu-
tions to the scientific study of children in the United States.

G. Stanley Hall
Scientific approaches to the study of child development were introduced
into the United States by G. Stanley Hall, the first professor of psychol-
ogy in the United States, the first president of the American Psycho-
logical Association, and an organizer of the Child Study Section of the
National Education Association. Hall became aware of child psychology
during post-doctoral studies in Germany with Wilhelm Wundt (who
established the first psychology laboratory in 1879) (Cravens, 1985).
Returning to the United States in 1880, Hall was convinced that the new
science of psychology had the potential to create better individuals and
thus a better society (Hulbert, 1999). He believed that scientific research
and the study of children could transform educational practices (Cairns,
1998). Among his contributions are the following:
• Using a questionnaire method to study children’s thinking and
to help teachers understand the concepts children had learned
by the time they entered school.
• Appearing with Dr. Luther Emmett Holt (discussed earlier in
this chapter) to give speeches at meetings of child study groups.
• Training many of the first child psychologists in America,
including John Dewey, one of the most influential psychologists
in the field of education in the early twentieth century.
• Arranging a historic meeting in 1909 between Sigmund Freud
and leading psychologists in North America to discuss Freud’s
views that experiences early in life, especially infancy and tod-
dlerhood, are of great consequence for subsequent development
and functioning.

James Mark Baldwin


James Mark Baldwin founded an experimental laboratory at the U ­ niversity
of Toronto, in which he began a research program on infant psychology
(Cairns, 1998). Among the topics Baldwin explored in the early 1890s
were the development of movement patterns and handedness. In one
study, Baldwin observed the development of his infant daughter’s reach-
ing behavior under systematic, controlled laboratory conditions. To elim-
inate any hand preference that might result from the way that parents
carry their infants, Baldwin and his wife gave their daughter equal time
in their left and right arms (Harris, 1985). Influenced by theories of evo-
lution, Baldwin considered research on “handedness” in animals to be
relevant to his study of human infants. Baldwin is also remembered for:
• Asserting, in 1895, that intellectual development in the indi-
vidual could not be considered without also contemplating the
evolution of the mind in the human species.
20 \ CHAPTER 1

• Describing how development progresses from infancy to adult-


hood in a series of stages, the first of which he called the senso-
rimotor stage, a term later used by Jean Piaget in his theory of
infant intelligence.
• Articulating, in 1897, the view that social development begins in
infancy and occurs through a process in which the child moves
from an initial, self-focused stage and eventually reaches a more
empathic stage that incorporates the views of other people.
This sociocultural approach appeared years later in the work of
­Russian psychologist Lev Vygotsky (Wertsch & Tulviste, 1992).

John B. Watson
As the United States became a major center for the scientific study
of children, the public became more aware of the implications and
applications of this new science in their homes, schools, and com-
munities. In contrast to G. Stanley Hall’s enthusiasm for European
traditions in psychology, John B. Watson carried out research at
Johns Hopkins University from 1916 until 1920 and wrote books
about the “purely American” psychological perspective of behavior-
ism. He gained recognition in the 1920s and 1930s for p
­ opular-press
publications advising parents to apply behaviorist theory to chil-
drearing. Here are some of the reasons Watson remains a well-
known figure:
• Watson rejected European traditions, including questionnaire
research and the use of introspection (self-reflection) as a way
of tapping the contents of the mind. In his view, the only way to
produce scientific data was by observing behavior.
• Watson observed infants, studying their behavioral and
e­ motional responses to stimuli that he presented. Watson chose
to study infants because he believed that the conditioning of
basic emotions (love, fear, and rage) early in life provided the
foundation for later behavior and personality.
• Watson believed that psychological science should be applied
across a wide range of everyday settings, including the home.
In a best-selling book, Psychological Care of Infant and Child
(1928), Watson argued that parents, especially mothers, should
avoid smothering their children with too much affection. The
danger, he wrote, was that the child would become conditioned
by this love, the result being an unhealthy dependence on and
need for attention and affection from others. Watson urged
­parents to be emotionally cool with their children and to adhere
to strict schedules.
The empirical study for which Watson is probably best known is a
case study of conditioned fear in an infant he referred to as “little
Albert” (Watson & Rayner, 1920). Watson paired the presentation
of an aversive stimulus (a loud noise that made Albert fearful and
upset) with a previously neutral stimulus (a white rat). Following a
series of pairings, the rat alone began to elicit a fear response from
the child, supporting Watson’s behaviorist prediction. Although
Beliefs about Babies: Historical Perspectives on Children and Childhood / 21

the details of Watson’s ethically questionable experiment have been


embellished and even distorted over the years (Harris, 1979), it
influenced subsequent psychological studies in the 1920s and 1930s
and is often part of the standard coverage of behaviorism in many
psychology courses today.

Arnold Gesell
Arnold Gesell, a former student of Hall, founded a child study lab-
oratory at Yale in 1911, in which he carried out methodologically
rigorous and innovative studies of early physical growth and motor
development. Gesell concluded that infants have an innate ability to
develop in optimal ways, despite variability in experience. Gesell’s
accomplishments include
• Being one of the first to compare the development of twins and
to use filmed observations of children in his research.
• Publishing the results of his research in 1928, in Infancy and
Human Growth, a book in which he charted and compared
­normal and “exceptional” infants in terms of their physical,
motor, and perceptual development.
• Recognizing a key role for maturation in development while
also noting that experience may modify the functioning of
some inborn maturational mechanisms.

Child Research Institutes: Research and


Dissemination
Child research institutes, including those at Columbia University,
Yale University, and universities in Iowa and Minnesota, were estab-
lished in the 1920s and 1930s with funds provided by the Laura Spel-
man Rockefeller Memorial (Schlossman, 1985). The dual mission of
these institutes was research and dissemination of useful findings
to the general public, documenting the growth and development of
“normal” children, as described in Box 1.2.
A significant amount of research and theoretical work in child
development during this time was influenced by Freud’s (1910) psy-
choanalytic theory (Emde, 1992). Social learning theory emerged as
a hybrid of behaviorist and psychoanalytic thinking, and researchers
applied concepts such as reinforcement, imitation, and observational
learning to problems like childhood aggression, usually focusing on
school-age children.
Following the Depression (1930–1945), federal agencies were
established and legislation was enacted to address child welfare
problems, especially those resulting from economic devastation. In
addition to child labor laws, federal daycare programs were estab-
lished in the 1930s through the Works Progress Administration; the
1935 Social Security Act offered coverage for dependent, rural, and
disabled children; and free lunches were offered daily to poor chil-
dren in New York City (Ashby, 1985).
22 \ CHAPTER 1

BOX 1.2   Sharing the Results

Interest in scientifically derived information and ­practitioners (Cameron & Hagen, 2005).
about parenting and child development Results of this project—more than 115 inter-
continued to grow throughout the twenti- views and scholarly profiles—are archived on
eth century. Parents Magazine began pub- the SRCD website. In 2012, SRCD joined with
lishing in the late 1920s, initially affiliated other professional organizations to estab-
with the Laura Spelman Rockefeller Memo- lish the International Consortium of Devel-
rial and the child development research opmental Science Societies, dedicated to
institutes (Schlossman, 1985). using developmental science to understand
A scholarly scientific journal, Child Devel- global ­challenges and improve lives through
opment, was established in 1930. Soon research, policy, and practice.
after that, the Laura Spelman Rockefeller
Memorial and the National Research Council
Questions
launched the Society for Research in Child
Development (SRCD)—the interdisciplinary 1. How were the results of child develop-
professional organization that became asso- ment research shared when the field
ciated with Child Development (Cravens, was still in its infancy? What was the
1985). The Memorial also funded programs purpose of creating two different types
to recruit future professionals and to develop of publications, Parents Magazine and
parent education programs. the journal Child Development?
Today, SRCD is a multidisciplinary pro- 2. Why was the Society for Research in
fessional association with more than 5,500 Child Development established? What is
members engaged in research, education, the value of an organization like SRCD?
policy making, and practice in more than 3. What is being done to preserve the story
50 countries (The Roots of SRCD, 2017). of the founding and development of the
An Oral History Project begun in the late field of developmental science? Which
1980s documented these events, as seen of the interviews and scholarly profiles
through the eyes of those who participated in the SRCD Oral History P ­ roject are you
in them as child development researchers most interested in exploring further?

Attachment researcher
In the years following World War II, social learning theorists
Mary Ainsworth was the
first researcher to test the continued to study topics such as aggression but also explored the
predictions of John Bowlby’s development of gender-role typing and conscience, as well as the
theory by observing mother- relation between children’s social development and parental atti-
infant interactions.
tudes, beliefs, and childrearing practices. These
studies used a multimethod approach, in which
researchers interviewed parents, observed chil-
dren’s play behavior, and observed parent–child
interactions. Social learning research highlighted
the importance of studying the mutual, bidirec-
tional influence of parent and child. This was
a departure from previous approaches that had
assumed the direction of influence flowed only
from parents to children (Bornstein, 2006; Cairns,
1998).
Another random document with
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“All right then,” retorted Carter seriously. “But if he did not take it
away with him, it was because he did not know which one of the
three boxes it was.”
“Not so good,” was Ranville's dry comment. He threw one leg
over his knee and added: “He might not have been very sure when
he went in. But I wager that he knew before he went out.”
“What makes you say that?”
“It is very simple to me. He told the gardener to bring him the box
near the safe. That was the right one as we discovered. If he did not
take the box away, there was a reason why he could not; some one
must have been approaching the library or else he did not care to be
seen with the large box under his arm.”
Carter at length agreed this might be so, and after a while he
went up to his room. Ranville and myself talked a few moments, and
then he went over to the desk to write a letter. In my chair I dreamed
away the moments. The afternoon wore away, and in the silence of
the library I half dozed—dozed, to be awakened by a muttered oath
from Ranville. As I gave a start, it was to see him looking at a piece
of paper in his hand. As his eyes met mine, he said, with a rather
sheepish expression on his face:
“What a confounded ass I have been!”
“What's the matter?” I drawled as I noticed his eyes on the paper
he held.
“Why, I forgot all about that bit of paper with the letters; you know
—those ‘Anani’ and that sort of thing.”
I had found the paper by Warren's body. The letters had puzzled
us at the time, but we had paid very little attention to them. Just what
they meant, I had not known nor any one else. But Ranville had
placed the paper in his pocket, and then apparently forgotten all
about it. Now, in reaching into his pocket, he had found it; and the
fact he had forgotten all about it had put him in a decidedly bad
humor.
I half laughed as I reminded him that we did not suppress
evidence in that manner in the States. He gave me a rueful smile
and again wondered what the letters might mean. But I shook my
head, saying I had not the slightest idea. While we were arguing
about it, Bartley came into the room and asked what we were talking
about.
Extending the paper to him, Ranville told how I had found it
beside the body. He seemed chagrined as he remarked that he had
placed it in his pocket and forgotten all about it. He added that I had
said it meant nothing anyway. With a look in my direction, Bartley
took the piece of paper, glanced at it, spelled out the words, and
suddenly chuckled. Then he slowly spelt out the letters—“Anani—”
“So it means nothing, Pelt?” he asked.
I assured him that it meant nothing in my life. Rising, I said that
no word I knew anything about was spelled like that. Again he looked
at the paper, then laughed, but the laughter lasted but a second, and
his face grew serious. He started to speak, checked himself, and
placed the paper in his bill case. Though we asked him what he
thought the letters meant, the only reply we received was that he
would tell us later.
It was almost six, and at Bartley's suggestion we went to our
rooms to be ready for dinner. Patton was to eat with us, and I was
eager to hear what he had done during the day. Perhaps deep in my
mind was the wish he would inform us what the wonderful discovery
was that Warren had made in China.
After a quick shower I dressed and went down to the piazza,
where I was joined by the three men. For a while we talked of
various people we knew, and then Ranville and Bartley got into a
discussion as to where was the best place to eat in London. Then,
as there came a lull in the conversation, Carter looked at his watch
and said that Patton was late. He was just on the point of saying
something else when the telephone in the hall rang shrilly.
As I was nearest the door, I rose and, going into the house, took
the receiver from the hook. For a moment I had trouble in hearing
the person at the other end. And then all at once the line was clear,
and I recognized Patton's voice—broken and hesitating but very
much excited and at the same time filled with horror. The first
question he asked was who was talking. I told him and there came a
pause. Then came the gasping, excited words in a voice which
shook:
“Pelt, for God's sake, get Bartley and Carter down to the library. I
am in here with the gardener, and the man's dead—murdered.”
I gave a startled cry and stammered out something. What it was I
said I do not know; but he was too excited to say more. Then came
his voice again, breaking with excitement, as he cried:
“Get them down here quick, Pelt—it is murder.”
Chapter XV.
Another Murder
Dumbfounded, I stood holding the receiver, too dazed to even
move. Then, frantically, I called Patton's name, though the sharp
click which came when he hurriedly placed the receiver on the hook
told me he had rung off. Hastily hanging up the receiver, I rushed
into the living room and halted by the door. At my sudden
appearance, there was a pause in the conversation. Bartley's eyes
came to my face, rested, and he rose quickly to his feet, his face
very grave.
“What is it?” came his quick question.
“Another murder—at Warren's,” I stammered.
I saw Ranville's face stiffen into attention as he slowly rose.
Bartley's keen eyes never left my face, and a trace of anxiety swept
across his face. Carter looked as though he did not believe me, but
he asked quickly:
“Who? What do you mean?”
I told them in a few words of Patton's voice and what he had said.
As I named the young professor, I saw that Bartley was not only
relieved, but also he seemed rather puzzled. His eyes opened wider
when I said he had told me the gardener had been murdered. But at
the statement that Patton wanted us to come at once, they all started
for the door.
Carter, as he rushed out into the hall, said he would get his big
car from the garage. Bartley, with a sharp command to wait a
moment while he went to his room, rushed up the stairs. Ranville
and myself went out on the veranda and watched Carter rush across
the grass and fling open the garage door. Immediately there came
the first sharp explosion of the engine, and then it settled into a
steady roar. He backed in a sweeping circle to the drive. By the time
we reached the lawn Bartley came rushing down the steps with a
bag in his hand.
We fell into the car, and almost before we were seated, Carter
started with a jerk. Before we reached the street it was in high, and
we swept out of the drive in a sharp curve. Then with the car
increasing in speed every second we started down the lighted street.
Not a word was said. I could see Carter's face, set and determined,
as he drove his car, first at forty, then crept to fifty, and settled down
around sixty. Down the wide street we swept, with people turning to
look at us in amazement as we dashed past them with the siren wide
open.
As we came around the bend of the street, where the road led
straight as an arrow to Warren's estate, Ranville spoke. He was the
first one to speak since we had left the house. And what he said
seemed far more spoken to himself than any one else.
“So there is something in the library that some one is after,” came
his musing voice.
“Of course,” Bartley shot back at him. “And what is more, I have
been afraid all day that this might happen. I did not want a murder to
take place, but if something did happen—an attack on Patton or a
burglary—then it would prove a theory that I have.”
With a glance over his shoulder, Carter shot out:
“Got another one of your hunches, John?”
The car was slowing down. In front of us, through the gathering
dusk, loomed the wall which enclosed the Warren estate. As the car
stopped and we jumped out, Bartley answered Carter's question.
“Call it that, Carter,” he said. “I think we will discover something
to-night.”
Nothing else was said, and on a half run we rushed through the
gate and up the path which led to the house. As we turned to the
path which ran through the hedges, I gave one glance back at the
house. Through the semi-darkness there came the friendly gleam of
a light, but there were no signs of confusion, or of any one about. Up
the path we ran, and then, as the hedge ended, we could see the
eight-sided library before us.
Every light seemed to be on, and the front door was slightly open.
But of Patton we did not see a sign until we rushed into the building.
Then we saw him standing silently near the desk. He whirled around
as we entered, and I saw a look of relief sweep his face. One thing
struck me sharply—in his hand was a revolver—a revolver which he
was gripping firmly.
He started down the room to meet us. His face seemed strained,
though there was no fear in it. The color had gone out of his cheeks
as if there had come some sudden shock. He said nothing, but as
we reached his side, he took us around the desk and pointed to the
door at the extreme end of the room. For a moment I saw nothing,
and then as I took one step forward, I paused and came to a halt.
For there by the door, huddled in a heap on the floor, lay the figure of
a man—a man who did not move, a man whose appearance
seemed to fill the silent room with dignity, a man whom I knew in a
glance was dead.
Silently we went down the length of the room and came to a
pause by the body. It was lying on its face, with the feet toward the
desk; one hand was reaching forth in a pathetic position as if in the
last moment of life it had tried to stretch toward the safety of the
open door a few feet away. As I looked at the figure, I was impressed
with the fact that the man was wearing a suit very similar to Patton's
—of some indescribable dark stuff. Not only that, save for the
difference in years, the figure was about the same build and hair
almost the same color.
This thought lasted only a moment. Bartley dropped silently to his
knees and gently lifted the still head. We bent forward to observe the
man's face, and then there passed a glance between Ranville and
myself, for the cold face with the staring eyes was that of the man
who worked around Warren's place. I started to say something, only
to have Bartley speak first.
“He was shot through the heart, from behind. I think he must
have been leaving the room when the shot was fired.”
He rose to his feet and cast a reflective look back to the desk,
then hurried across the floor. Silently we followed him, and when we
reached the desk, we received another surprise. It was a very large
desk, with a great deal of room underneath. By its side stood a
wastebasket, but the wastebasket was filled to overflowing with small
pieces of paper—paper torn into hundreds of small pieces, which
spilled over the side of the basket and over the floor—typewritten
sheets torn into hundreds of tiny bits.
Bartley picked up a handful of paper and tried to fit some of the
pieces together. He found this rather difficult, and then stood looking
thoughtfully at the basket. I took several pieces of the paper in my
hands and discovered that they once had been part of some
typewritten manuscript. Ranville gave one look at the basket,
glimpsed the typewritten letters, then glanced hurriedly at the desk.
“It looks as though some one went to considerable effort to
destroy a manuscript.”
Patton's voice came sharp and quick. “They did; I found that
mess of papers on the floor. When I left the room there lay on my
desk several hundred pages of Warren's notes. And now—now they
are torn to a thousand pieces. And”—he paused—“for the life of me I
cannot understand it.”
Patton's face, as he looked at the destroyed manuscript, showed
that he was facing a situation which was beyond him. Not only was
he very much disturbed, but also rather frightened at what had taken
place. It was with a great deal of eagerness that he started to answer
the request Bartley made—to tell us just what had happened.
“Carter brought me over, you know. I was unable to do very much
until the girl, who had acted as Mr. Warren's secretary, came. She
came to the library about one and showed me what had been done. I
found that Warren had half completed his book. In fact I never
looked at any of his material beyond where he had ended. He was
half finished, and I thought it would be best to see just what had
been done.”
Bartley gave a quick look at the pieces of paper upon the floor
and asked: “Then this torn paper is simply the notes and materials
which Warren used in the first portion of his book?”
“Yes. I left the papers upon the desk when I went out. As I told
you, I did not go beyond what Warren had already done. I wanted to
become familiar with his plan. For that matter, the untouched notes
are still in the safe. But when I returned to the library, I found the
condition which you see.”
“It looks as if some one simply destroyed those papers in a fit of
rage,” was Carter's comment.
I saw Ranville turn to Bartley and their eyes met; but they said
nothing, and it was Patton's excited voice which broke the silence:
“That's right, Carter. Of all fool things, the biggest one was to
destroy that mass of notes I left on the desk. The manuscript of the
book, the half which Warren had completed, is still in the safe.”
“You say you left the library?”
Patton nodded. “Yes; about five o'clock the secretary went home
for her lunch. She was to return again in an hour. I remembered what
you told me—not to leave the library unguarded if I went out.”
“What!” came Carter's startled voice as he turned to Bartley. “Do
you mean to tell me you expected something like this to happen?”
Bartley's eyes went down the length of the room to the still figure
at the door. There was a note of sorrow in his voice as he replied
briefly:
“I expected something.”
Carter gave a start, his face expressing a good deal of
amazement. The Englishman, however, did not seem at all surprised
by what had been said. And then Patton went on to tell why he had
left the library. It was a very simple thing; he wanted some tobacco
and he discovered that he had none in his pockets. Not finding any
in the library, he went out leaving the door open. That was a little
after five. Down by the iron gate he found the gardener and asked
him to go and stay in the library until he returned. This was the first
hint I had received that the gardener was still working on the estate.
The gardener had said that he would go in a moment or so,
adding that no one could reach the building without passing up the
path. With this, Patton had wandered down the street to the business
section and had gone into the first store he noticed, bought tobacco
and an evening paper. As he figured it, he was not away from the
grounds more than thirty or forty minutes, returning directly after
making his purchase. When he came up the path and entered the
library, the first thing he saw was the hundreds of bits of paper on the
floor, and that the manuscript was destroyed.
That was the first thing. Almost in the same moment he saw the
figure lying by the rear door. He ran over to its side—to discover it
was the gardener and that he was dead—shot. He was so dazed for
a moment that he did nothing. Then he went to the phone and called
us.
It was a simple story, and yet an amazing one. That in the space
of one hour—in the time it took Patton to go to a store and buy some
tobacco—another murder had been committed in the scientist's
library; it seemed almost beyond belief. But that the gardener—a
simple-minded man of his type—should be the victim was even more
startling. I started to voice my thought, but Carter was ahead of me.
“But, John! Why—why under God should any person kill that
gardener?”
“They never intended to kill the gardener,” came Ranville's dry
voice.
Bartley gave him a keen look, commenting:
“Ranville is right. No one ever intended to kill the gardener. They
wanted—that is, if they wished to kill any one—to murder Patton.”
“But,” came Patton's wailing voice, “why should any one wish to
kill me?”
Bartley's eyes met Ranville's, and it was the Englishman who
spoke:
“I am not so sure that they intended to kill you, Patton. Though if
any one was to be killed, why you were the logical victim. What I
think happened was this: they thought they killed you. You and the
gardener are about the same build. You are both wearing a dark suit
to-day, and your height is the same. When they shot at that man,
they thought they were shooting you.”
“But—” Patton started in a bewildered voice. He was interrupted
by Bartley's statement:
“Ranville is right, I think; but we might go even further. It is my
idea that the murderer never discovered who it was he killed. He
thought he killed Patton.”
“How do you make that out?” was Carter's question.
“I may be wrong, you understand. But it seems to me something
like this happened. The gardener, when he said he could see any
one come up the path, forgot it was an easy matter for a person to
land on the shore in a boat. The trees would hide him from any
person down by the gate. I have an idea also that the gardener
never hurried about coming to the library. He took his own time and
for some unknown reason went to the back door instead of the front
one.”
“I don't see how you make that out,” broke in Patton.
“Look where he was killed,” came the quick response from
Ranville.
“Yes,” said Bartley slowly. “Look where the body was lying. You
find it on its face with one hand reaching for the door—the open door
only a few inches away. The man was shot in the back while his face
was turned away from the person who shot him. He fell, naturally, in
the position in which we found him. And that makes me think the
gardener came in the rear door, got several feet within the building,
when all at once he saw the person engaged in destroying the
manuscript.”
“But why did he turn to leave then?” was my question.
“It is my idea that when he turned to get out of the library, the
other person had not seen him. Perhaps, even, the gardener knew
who it was. He managed to go several feet before the man fired. I
believe when he fired and the man fell and did not stir, he thought he
had killed Patton. From the back, with the same colored suit, and the
same general build, they look a bit alike.”
It seemed logical enough, and I could tell from the men's faces
that they agreed. Then all at once Carter gave a sudden cry and said
that we must get the chief. He started for the telephone, only to have
Bartley call out to him:
“George, don't tell the chief what we want him for. Tell him to
come right up here, but say nothing about the murder. I have my
reasons.”
Carter shrugged his shoulders and, after fooling with the phone
for some time, managed to get the chief. When he returned to our
side, he said the chief was puzzled, wishing to know for what he was
wanted, but he would come up right away.
With this, we started to examine the room. But after a quick,
though very careful, search on the part of Ranville and Bartley, there
was nothing of importance found. Only the small pieces of torn
paper, which filled the wastebasket and littered the floor by the desk,
showed that anything had been touched. There was no doubt these
pieces of paper had once comprised Warren's notes—the notes
which Patton said he had left on the desk.
As we went over to the front door, Ranville, who was in the lead,
bent over, and as he straightened up, held in his hand a magazine—
a very popular magazine with a gay cover of a girl in a scanty
bathing suit. As Bartley saw it, he gave one glance, then turned to
Patton.
“Two questions, Patton. Did you slip on the rug, and did you buy
this magazine when you went to the store?”
The rug was a small Turkish one which we had noticed the
various times we had been in the library. The colors were so
beautiful that no one could help noticing it. It was always just inside
the door, but now it was rumpled and disturbed, laying partly across
the doorsill. As I looked at it, I decided that some one had slipped
upon it.
Patton gave the magazine one glance, then gazed at the rug. He
slowly shook his head, saying:
“It is ‘no’ to both questions.”
“Somebody slipped on that rug,” commented Carter.
“And when they went out of the room,” added Ranville. “It's
dragged over the sill. If they stumbled when they entered the room, it
would be lying farther inside the library.”
He bent a second and then fell to his knees, apparently
interested in something he found by the sill. Scraping the substance
with his knife, which he had taken from his pockets, he rose
extending his hand to Bartley.
“It's mud,” he said.
We came closer to observe. There in his hand were a few bits of
dried dirt—dirt which evidently had been wet only a short time ago.
As Bartley saw it, he reached forth to crumple a piece of it between
his fingers. Then he went out on the veranda and down the three
steps to the ground. At the bottom step he bent down and then
called:
“You will find more of it here.”
On the edge of the bottom step there were unmistakable signs of
a muddy shoe. The signs were not plain enough to form a footprint,
but one could see that some person in going up the steps must have
brushed off the mud from their shoes. Patton gave it one look, then
straightened up to say:
“That's not mine. I never went within a mile of any mud.”
Bartley was on the verge of a reply when we heard some one hail
us at the bottom of the slight hill. Turning, we saw the chief hurrying
across the lawn. His face was red as if he had been running, and
when he stopped at our side, he gave us a very wondering look.
There was no doubt he was very curious as to why he had been
called so suddenly again to the library.
In a few short words Bartley told him of the dead man that was
within. His eyes opened wide at the information, and his jaw dropped
when Bartley told him it was the gardener who was dead. Then as
he started for the house, Bartley's hand went forth and touched his
arm:
“Chief, don't call up your office for several hours. Get your
coroner if you must, but try and get him out here without any one
knowing what has taken place.”
As the chief turned a puzzled face in his direction and started to
protest, Bartley continued:
“I have my reasons, Chief, and they are good. If you keep this
thing still for several hours, I have an idea I can come pretty close to
putting my hand on the murderer.”
We all gave him a startled glance. So far as I could see, not only
was Warren's murder destined to become one of the unsolved
crimes, but this deepened the mystery. There had been no apparent
reason for Warren's death, for the gardener's there was none at all.
True, Bartley had said the gardener had been killed in mistake for
Patton; but there was no reason in the world why any person should
have wished to kill Patton. But here was Bartley calmly saying that
he thought he might be able to discover the murderer. And it needed
only one look at his set face to know he was sincere in his belief.
Puzzled, though not protesting, the chief agreed to what Bartley
had asked, and then turned again to the house. Telling him we would
be with him in a few moments, we watched the heavy figure ascend
the steps and vanish within the room. Then, when he had passed
from our sight, Bartley said:
“Twice we have heard about a boat in connection with this affair.
Now, if the murderer wished to enter the grounds without being seen,
it is reasonable to assume he used a boat. The traces of mud that
we found show he was in some water. With this dry weather we are
having water is hard to find.”
With that he started across the lawn and down through the trees.
The estate ended by the lake, which was several hundred feet away.
Along the edges of the water low-hanging willow trees formed a leafy
green screen. The trees were rather close together; a person could
have landed on the shore without much chance of being seen by any
one who was a few feet away.
We pushed through the branches to find that the shore line was
several feet below the grass embankment. Below the grass a soft silt
formed the shore, and the water was very shallow for some yards
out. As I turned and looked through the low branches—branches
which in places dropped below the bank and almost touched the
water—I discovered that I could not see the library.
By the water's edge we scattered. Carter and I went down the
grass to our right, while Bartley and Ranville followed the shore in
the direction to where the wall ended at the water. We had not taken
more than four steps when there came Bartley's voice, and we
hurried to where he and Ranville were standing.
They were several feet away from the wall. It came, not only
down to the water, but extended a few feet into the lake. The heavy
stones had caused the water to hollow out a little curve just inside
the estate. It was here that Bartley was pointing. Below us the soft
silt—almost mud—extended for several feet into the lake. And there
was no doubt, from a deep impression in the mud, that a boat had
been run ashore at this very spot. Not only could one see where the
boat had landed, but what is more, where some one had jumped for
the shore, missed the bank, and had placed one foot in the silt.
“That boat did not leave there so very long ago,” came Ranville's
comment, as we all looked at the impression. “There is a slight
breeze on the lake, the water is lapping against the shore, and in an
hour that impression in the mud will be all smoothed out.”
Bartley nodded, then bent over the bank to study the impression.
He rose with a very perplexed look on his face and began to go
slowly over the near-by grass. Suddenly he stopped and turned
quickly.
“That's not all, Ranville. The man in the boat got one foot in the
water when he got out. You can see the dirt where it fell from the
edge of the bank. But when he came back, he had something with
him—something heavy. Maybe he carried it, but he had to half drag it
into the boat. Look,” and he pointed to the bank.
There, a little away from the spot where the impression was in
the mud, were two places a foot apart—places where the grass was
tangled and matted, and where the bank itself was broken down. It
did look as though something had been dragged over the bank to the
boat. As Bartley looked, his face grew very white, and I saw his
hands open and close. He turned to Patton, and his voice was crisp
as he shot out:
“Patton, that was not your magazine we found in the library.”
Patton shook his head. He might have replied, but Bartley gave
him no time. The voice was insistent as he asked:
“You said the girl—the secretary—was to return to the library and
work an hour?”
“Why, yes; she went to supper and was to come about six and
work until seven. Carter told me we were to eat at seven.”
“And you never saw her again after she left?”
“Oh, yes, I did,” was Patton's unemotional answer. “Yes, I did. I
saw her going up the street toward Warren's when I was in the
tobacco store. If I had not stopped to talk for a few moments, I would
have been able to catch up with her. Why, what's the matter?”
Bartley's grave glance went to Ranville's face. As the Englishman
looked at him, to my surprise I saw the red fade slowly from his face.
Very gravely he started to nod his head when there came Bartley's
quick voice:
“What's the matter? Good Lord! Don't you see that the girl must
have come up the path just about the moment the gardener was
shot? Don't you see she must have walked right into the library,
perhaps while the murderer held the gun in his hand—perhaps even
at the very moment of shooting? She was there; the magazine on
the floor was hers.”
Carter gave a sudden start, and Patton's face grew white. He
was the first to stammer out:
“But where is she now?”
Bartley's eyes swept over the water of the lake and rested on the
faint impression in the silt—an impression now almost smoothed out.
Then, pointing to the bedraggled grass and the place where the bank
was broken, he said slowly:
“She must have been at the front door just as the murder took
place. Whoever did the killing dragged the girl down across the lawn
and to the boat. Her feet, as they dragged along the grass, broke
down the edge of the bank.”
He paused and there came a moment of horrified silence. It
needed but one glance at Ranville to see that he agreed with Bartley.
From Carter's expression as he gazed at the broken place in the
bank, I could tell he believed the same. Only Patton seemed too
dazed to comprehend what it might mean.
And then as our glances met, Bartley, for one of the few times in
his life, uttered an oath and started to run toward the library. As the
rest of us stood, hesitatingly, Bartley turned—turned to cry back at us
in a voice that shook a little:
“For God's sake, hurry! We may be just in time to prevent another
murder, and this time the most horrible one of all.”
Chapter XVI.
The Voice in the Dark
It had been an afternoon filled with unexpected things. But even
the murder of the gardener had not startled me as much as the
horrified exclamation of Bartley. No one thought of disbelieving him
or even questioning what he had said. There would not have been
time for the latter, for he was running up the hill in the direction of the
library. Without a word Ranville had started after him, and after our
first stunned second of surprise Carter, Patton and I followed.
What Bartley had meant by saying we might be in time to prevent
another murder I could not understand; but the tone of conviction in
his voice when he had said this was overwhelming. He knew
something of which the rest of us had not the slightest idea.
He reached the library before we did. In fact, when we went up
on the veranda and paused at the open door, he was talking to the
chief very seriously and quickly. We had no time to enter the room
before he came to our side. Just as we followed him down the steps,
he turned and called to the chief, who had come to the door:
“Remember; say nothing to any one about the murder of the
gardener. Wait until you hear from me.”
We hurried down the path and out to the car waiting before the
iron gate. Carter climbed into the front seat, and Ranville and I took
the back seat with Bartley. At his command to rush to the house,
Carter guided the car around in a sweeping curve, and started down
the street. In a moment we were going over fifty miles an hour.
I shot a glance at Bartley. He was leaning back in his seat, but I
could tell that his body was tense. There was a burning flame in his
eyes, and his lips were shut in a thin line. As the car swept around
the bend and then headed straight for Carter's, Ranville asked in a
questioning voice:
“You have found something, John?”
There came a quick response. “I think so. It may be that I am
wrong. To me it seems the theory I have is the only solution there
can be to this case. I had a theory when you told me of Warren's
death—a vague one. Now the death of the gardener makes it the
only solution in sight.”
“It seemed a crazy thing to kill the gardener,” was Ranville's
comment.
Bartley gave him one quick look. The car was lurching into
Carter's drive and was already on the verge of stopping. As it came
to a pause, Bartley answered the questioning comment of the
Englishman.
“Yes,” was the only thing he said.
We piled out of the car onto the lawn. I noticed that Bartley stood
a moment, his gaze apparently fixed upon some point. It was already
dark, and would soon be much darker. In the sky the clouds were
hanging low and black, with the promise of rain any moment. The
wind was rising and already was sweeping across the lake in stormy
gusts. Down in the garage the dog, hearing the car stop, howled long
and loudly.
For some reason Bartley did not seem to be in the same hurry as
a few moments before. We followed him into the house and watched
him go up the stairs to his room. Carter, who had been watching him
with a puzzled air, turned to me and asked:
“Do you know what is on his mind?”
I shook my head, started to speak, only to hear Bartley from
above calling to Carter to be sure and get his gun. With a startled
glance at Ranville, Carter gave a shrug of his shoulders and left the
room. Both he and Bartley returned at the same moment, and it
needed but a glance at the squatty automatic which he carried to see
he had obeyed his friend's instructions.
But though he had obeyed it, he was not satisfied. In a voice
which was bursting with curiosity he turned to Bartley.
“For God's sake, John! What have you up your sleeve?”
“Carter,” came the slow reply, “there is not time to tell you now
just what I am afraid of, but I have the idea we are going to put our
hands on the murderer of both Warren and the gardener. That is not
my chief object. I am going to save the secretary from a similar fate.”
“I don't see how you can say that—” burst from Carter's lips.
He would have said more, but his friend placed his arm around
his shoulder saying:
“I may be wrong, Carter. But you know my way of working very
well. There is but one logical solution to this entire affair; that is the
one I am going to test now. If I am wrong, there is no damage done;
but if I am right, then I save further trouble. I only ask you to do one
thing; do not lose your head. Say nothing, and if you have to shoot,
do not be afraid of shooting to kill.”
Bartley led the way out of the hall. As we reached the front door,
he slipped a revolver in the hands of Ranville and myself. And at that
second for the first time I discovered Patton was not with us and had
not come into the house when we got out of the car. In a surprised
voice I asked where he might be—asked, only to have Bartley
respond that Patton was following a suggestion he had made, and
that we would see him in a short while.
With Bartley in the lead we went down the steps and across the
grass. Where we were going, I did not have the slightest idea and
wondered greatly. I half expected we would take the car, but instead
he struck off over the lawn in the other direction. This puzzled me,
and as we came to the opening in the hedge, I became more
perplexed than ever. For the high hedge separated Carter's grounds
from the wide sweeping lawn which ran to the stone church.
Even in the few moments we had been in the house, the wind
had increased. Now it came sweeping across the lake from the
distant mountains—not in the wild gusts of a few moments before,
but with a steady strength which seemed to be increasing. A few
drops of rain dashed against my face, and I could hear the lake as it
started to pound upon the shore. The clouds seemed very low, and
not a star was in the sky.
As we came through the hedge, for the first time we felt the full
strength of the wind. Out in the street, where the few street lamps
gave the only brightness in the dense darkness, I saw a newspaper
go whirling up the hill in a crazy fashion. In front of us, just an
indistinct dark mass in the gloom, was the church. No lights were to
be seen at the rectory windows, and save for the wind no other
sound came to our ears.
With Bartley a few steps in front of us, we went up the slight
incline and across the close-cropped grass which formed the lawn.
Where we were heading, I could not tell; but Bartley kept in the lead,
hurrying with the certainty of a man who knew just where he was
going and what he expected to discover. We followed, though
several feet behind. No one spoke, and as we bent forward against
the wind, I wondered what Carter and Ranville might be thinking.
We paused under the shadow of the tower, which divided the
church from the rectory. It loomed above us in the darkness, but as I
put out my hand, I discovered that the door leading to the top was
closed. I pressed down the latch, only to find the door was locked. I
had begun to wonder why we had stopped in the place we did when
above the roar of the wind I heard a sound. At first I could not tell
what it was, for it rose for a second and died away—rose and fell, to
suddenly swell forth into a great volume of sound. And then I
recognized what it was. Some one was playing the organ in the
church.
Ranville started to speak, and in fact said one word, but there
came a sharp command from Bartley, and he became silent. As
Bartley started in the direction of the church, we followed. We crept
along the ivy-covered wall and reached the three steps which led to
the entrance. When we were before the oak door and tried the latch,
we found it was locked. Stopping a moment, we listened. Above the
wind the notes of the organ came faintly from within.
I half expected Bartley might pound on the door, though why he
should care to enter the church I could not see. Instead, he walked
down to the grass, and we went to his side. Our eyes turned toward
the rich glass windows of the building. In the darkness it was almost
impossible to even perceive the place where they were. One thing
was certain; though some one was within the church—some one
playing upon the pipe organ—yet the church was dark. Not a ray of
light was reflected from the windows out into the darkness.
Puzzled by this, we followed Bartley back again to the side of the
church, and this time paused directly under one of the windows. It
was placed only a few feet above the ground, for the church building
was rather low. At Bartley's suggestion I placed myself so he could
step on my hand and reach the window sill. Reaching it, he stood
balanced against the glass for some moments, then dropped to the
ground without a word. Coming to our side, he said shortly:
“There is some one in the church, and there seems to be a light
there. But it is a very feeble one at the best. We will go down to the
last window. This time we will let Pelt look inside and tell us what he
sees.”
We went down the side of the church until we reached the last
window. Here Bartley aided me as I scrambled up to the sill and
stood upon the rather large ledge. The window was partly covered
over with ivy, but I found a clear place and pressed my face against
the glass. For a while as I looked within, I saw nothing. In fact, the
church was simply a vast dark cave, the darkness so dense that I
could not distinguish any of the objects within.
But I did discover something else. Somewhere near my ear there
must have been a hole in the glass, or a broken section, for the
sound of the organ was much louder than when I heard it before.
Within the church some one was playing—playing with a feeling and
a power which was hard to describe. The loud notes rolled down to
my ear, increasing, it seemed, in sound every second. And the music
was indescribable, like nothing I had ever heard before and, for that
matter, nothing that I would care to hear again.
It seemed to contain a note of victory mingled with some wild,
barbaric strain of exaltation; music unlike anything I had ever heard
before, and music, which for some unknown reason, made my blood
run cold. One thing was certain, whatever was being played it was
not the type of music which one hears in a church. The wild, barbaric
strains, now shrieking forth in gleeful triumph, now seeming to cry
defiance to one's enemies, was not church music. It was too loud
and far too primitive for that. And then, suddenly, I saw something.
With my face pressed against the glass, I had tried to penetrate
the darkness within. But the gloom hid everything from sight as if a
heavy thick blanket had been drawn across my vision. As my glance
swept down the length of the church and then upward, I suddenly
saw a light. It was the merest pin point of a light, far up in the organ

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