The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, March 11, 1906, Page 14

THE SAN F CISCO SUNDAY CAIL: 7 ¢ as -long beer proughout other porta s it was & contemplation of the secona fiddle to ups_have been forced background and the babies are Mr. Roosevelt was the force of h re- to. the Americ it that thelr vigorous { was right he Oliver Qliver 1s San Fran- we known real estate dealers n he introduced his family to the t the latter beeame so. enthusi- at sight of the spl he called for three che Last. October ‘Mr. . Olive in his pocket, went to New York Mrs. Oliver and the ‘eight children i engaged passage for Europe. Th niiy will spend two ¥cars abroad. They yisit the Pope, and everywhere tt v have been po..ted out &s the id n family—from the standpoint” of considered the most capable six girls in this family, and their brothers stand in a e one of the nicest ‘“‘step- certain block in Los Angeles t must appeal to lovers of large fami- worthy of mention, for tk gle childless household r numbers b George Clark with t nd one son onging hei Another spiendid Western family is that of Dr. and-Mrs. McCramm of Oma h Ne Dr. McCramm' little flock cor srteen—only three of them boys. re all prize beautles, and the re as bright looking youngsters as in the East or West. Some girls are exceptionally pretty, and the parents, it is needless to add, are full of the keenest pridle when their young- sters are noticed, and it is safs, to say e measures & sister republic has brought to - that induced President F sevelt to voice his now celebrated warning ugainst “race suicide.” re were many who criticised his ut- terance, while others busied themselves on gearching out families that-by sheer force of mumbers should make plain to e President that his anxiety was un- nted upon the whole there has come dbout a decided change in the sentiment with regard to children. in some circles, that for them to go away from home is to draw to themselves all the attention that they care to experience. Heavy enough are the responsibilities of the head of sich a househo!d, but When a father and, mother can sit down to dinner with twenty-four children to care for and walt upon,-the problem becomes magnificent in its proportions. Butcher and grocer bills in that family are vast, and the laundry question and the various other “incjdentals” must keep the l'-om folks” guessing. Dr MCranns fomaly of Sowhh Mr. and Mrs, George Elliott, of Mechan- iesville, N. Y., are the proud and happy parents of two dogzen youngsters. To be sure, some of them are wage earners and therefore self-supporting, but so far as is known Mr. Elliott is the champlion American father. Mrs. Elliott is as proud of her “babies” as is her husband, and the Elliott family is reckoned 'to be one of the healthiest and happlest as well as one of the very biggest on record. Mrs. Thomas Mulvy, of New York City, not long ago, with only five childrey. had -l a very unpleasant a flat, and in turned away from: seven apartment ' ¢ the jenitors simply--looked at her small brood and for some reason did not ap- prove of them and refused to rent a home to the mother, % Other large families on American soll are’ very numerous, and scarcely & day passes that a new record is not discovered for some community. In Washington one af the most attractive familles, when thero on a' visit, is that of Ramon Corral, Vice President of Mexico. Vice President Corral has ‘youngsters, two of them boys. and only the girls are beauti- ly 1 titul, No’l‘lu brothers and sisters are attractive in and-of exceptional- in mind. Mrs. J. B, E. Tartre, of Biddeford, Me., ‘boys and Human *Stepladders” Nlustrating Strict. Obedience to the Command “Increase and Multiply.” EST £ & Children of Mr and Mus JBE Tartre, of Biadeford young Americans and their mother is ex- ceedingly proud of them. In Canada the Countess Minto is the mother of five exceptionally beautiful children, and when they are decked in thdl'dl furs, w::\ t:.’dr handsome mother standing gual t] form a group that it would be hard to equal. Kentucky's champion family is that of ) able There the Vand are twenty-eight altogether—twenty-six of them children. They are all healthy and very the Blue Grass State is very { of ‘i gk Taly of Gcorge Gould , enti-race suiclde feeling shown by Papa and Mamma Vanderpoel. Brooklyn, the family city, some time ago came forward with t w children in the Hermann fam tle flock has been placed on record as a challenge to the borough across the riv The deflance was not taken up au E indications are that the Hermann fumily will hold the palm for a long time. At any rate, it was unbeaten at last ac- counts. John Rogers is the prize papa of New Haven. He has twenty at his fireside and all his children are bright and happ) They are proud of their father, and, of course, he 1s very much delighted W them. Twenty children have come to bless Mr. and Mrs, Charles Lerstons of Nebraska. They live on a farm and the wild prairie and the splendid open air have made the lttle Lerstones vigorous and healthy. They are all enthusiastic triends of Bryan, who is devoted to the record family of the State. Another Connecticut family of no small pratensions is that of Mr. and Mrs Cham- plain, very well known throughout the Btate. There are eightsen littls ones in the family and the group on holidays and other davs is one of the most attractive 1t is possible to imagine. In Iliinois Joseph Smith is the papa. There are twenty little Smiths In his family and they are all alive and ex- ceedingly happy and healthy. Thafr par ents ars devoted to them and their pleas- ures, and the family is well to do the Smith home is one of the most perfeat in all respects that can be magined Not only In America, however, are there many large familles. James Hindmarsa of New Zealand has fourteen little ones. Only two of the: ars boys, and as M. Hindmarsh is exceedingly desirous of - creasing his supply of boys it is expested that he will have a big resord when the final count is taken of his antipodean “crowd.” The German Emperor has seven ehil- dren, the Archduke Francois Salvator of Austria seven, the Duke Albrecht of Wurttemberg six, agd the Grand Duke Constantine of Russia six. th MARRIAGE LAWS ABROAD In Austria a “man™ and & “woman™ are considered to be capacle of conducting a howme of their own from the ages of 14— & fact which accounts in no small degres for the spirit of “child-fatherhood of the man” so prevalent In Austria. In Germany a man must be 13 years of age: but the age of the bride-elect is lef: to popular discretion. In France the man must be 13 and the woman 15. while in Beigium the same standard prevails. In Spain the intending husband must have passed his fourteen:h year, and the woman her twelfth. In Hungary, for Roman Catholles, the man must be 14 years old and the woman 12; for Protestants the man must be 13 and the woman 15. In Greece the man must have seen least 14 summers and the woman 12 In Portugal a boy of 14 is comsidered marriageable. and a woman of I In Russia and Saxony they are a litile more sensible. for in both countries a youth must refrain from matrimeny til he can count eighteen years. and the wo- man till she can count sixteen. In Switzerland the men from the age of 14 and the women from the age of 12 are allowed to marry. In Turkey any youth and maiden who ean walk properly and can understand the necessary religious service are al- lowed to be united for Ilife. To go further afleld, mere children of 10,9 and even $ years of age, by In- dian custom, often marry. This appfies to the girt only. although native boys of from 12 to 14 become husbands and the nominal heads of households. In China, too. the custdm is nearly as senseless. Boys and girs who ought rather to be on the school bench or play- ing battledore and shuttlecock set up their family gods and start upon their own, It is curious to note that the “marriage- age" standard incgeases in coid or temperate latitudes, and that the lowest dmuwm‘;:t:mummmx civilization ving mueh te do with It y 4 at