The Child as Income
The period 1830-1920 saw great social reform regarding children’s place in society. This change was largely due to the paradigm shift between valuing children for the income they could earn to valuing children in terms of love. The Spencer Sheet Music Collection at Baylor University provides unique insight into the changing attitudes towards children and child labor, as evidenced through songs written during this period.
Prior to this time, much of the Western world viewed children as a commodity. An idle child placed a burden on society. In the pre-industrial age, legislation pertaining to child labor considered how to put children to work. This attitude persisted into the early decades of the Industrial Revolution in America.
The lyrics of The Fisher Boy not only represent the idea of a child gainfully employed, they also depict the joy a child finds in labor. Dated 1853, this song describes the life of a young fisher boy who, merry and cheerful at the end of a hard day’s work, sings on his way home.
As the nineteenth century wore on, the idea of an innocent childhood began to take hold of the social consciousness. Many philanthropists sought to aid the plight of poor child by emphasizing their helplessness. These representations of the pitiable child served as a means to connect children to the emotional and spiritual realm, rather than economic. Two songs from the Spencer Sheet Music Collection underscore this point. Homeless and Alone Tonight, dated 1878, details the plight of a poor child, wandering alone in a winter storm. As she stumbles on, sick and dying, she calls out for her mother and father to take her to the “home of love and light.” She cries that passersby turn away from her tears and pleading in disgust.
Homeless and Alone Tonight solidifies the child’s place as one in need of pity and protection. In 1882, Pity the Poor went one step further. This song entreated everyone to aid the children who cried out in hunger, for they would soon be with God.
Two years later, composer Carl Rankin wrote The Poor Little News Boy. The lyrics denote the change in popular sentiments towards children. Compared to the cheery fisher boy in 1853, the newsboy cries as he sells his papers. Though the work is hard, and he earns little income, the boy perseveres, at the risk of his own life, for the sake of his dying mother. Through this song, we see the movement from viewing children with an economic mindset to viewing children emotionally.
As the end of the nineteenth century approached, the role of the child in society progressively moved towards a loving, sentimental place. However, we can still see instances of society placing a monetary value on children through songs like What Would You Take for me Papa?
The song depicts a young girl asking her father what price he would accept if someone offered to buy her. She believes the price depends on her behavior and her mother’s attitude towards her when the offer is made. Though the song takes a joking tone, the topic it addresses remained a serious issue for many.
Viewed with Love
The arrival of the twentieth century saw the results of the philanthropic efforts of the preceding decades. Child labor reform gained national attention with the creation of the National Child Labor Committee in 1904. Prior to the creation of this committee, all legislation concerning child labor came from state led initiatives. Though 1904 marked the beginning of federal involvement in child labor reform, it would be several decades before the reform movement saw significant progress. Poor children and the children of working class families continued to face harsh working conditions. Some children continued to face the terror of being sold by their parents.
There’s Not Gold Enough to Buy Him by lyricist Alfred Bryan represents the border between the economic and sentimental value of children. Written three years after the creation of the National Child Labor Committee, the song depicts the emotional dilemma faced by a sick mother in need of money. The cover of the sheet music shows a woman lovingly gazing at her son while she considers selling him to a rich man. In the nineteenth century, those who purchased children did so for the work the child could perform. Bryan’s lyrics show how the reasons for purchasing a child changed in the twentieth century. The rich man in the song promises to care for the child, to provide toys and a happy life in a mansion. However, the child looks at the mother and begs to stay. Out of love for her child she agrees. In return, the child goes to work to support his mother.
Not long after There’s Not Gold Enough to Buy Him, came the song Toys for Sale, written in 1909. Once again, the mother in the song is sick and in need of money. Rather than take the point of view of the mother, this song approaches the situation from the child’s perspective. The child never considers work as a mean’s of saving his mother. Instead, he decides to sell all of his toys. The song shows a slight progression for children. The boy must still set aside childish things to save his mother, but he does not have to abandon childhood all together.
Just two years later, in 1911, lyricist E. B. E. Bessey wrote the words to Wanted! A Harp Like the Angels Play. Once more, a mother is sick and dying. However, we see a new resolution to this scene, one completely unlike any shown in the previous songs. This time, the child does not try to earn money, either through work or selling toys. Instead, the only thing she can do is comfort her dying mother. To do this, the child tries to find and purchase a harp like the angels play for her mother to listen to as she dies. The child fails to find a harp and decides to advertise for one. A doctor hears her plea and, won over by her sentiments and innocence, decides to help the mother. This song represents a turning point in the narrative we have seen so far. For the first time, the song did not end with the expectation that the child would economically support the parent.
If I Had a Mama Like You, written in 1915, provides another juxtaposition to the songs of the proceeding century. Similar to Homeless and Alone Tonight, this song addresses the plight of an orphan. Crying and alone, barefoot and wearing a tattered dress, a child stands watching others play. Here, the stories diverge. Where the strangers in the 1878 song ignored the child’s cries, in If I Had a Mama Like You, a stranger takes pity on the child. The stranger asks after the child’s mother and discovers the mother has died. The stranger’s heart fills with sympathy and love and she chooses to adopt the child.
In 1918, composer Ernest R. Ball wrote Dear Little Boy of Mine. Drastically different from the preceding music, this song presents a new narrative. The lyrics do not mention a sick parent, the monetizing of a child, or a child providing support to a parent. Instead, we see a parent reminiscing about the baby days of their child. The parent wistfully sings of caring for the child when the boy was small. The lyrics of Dear Little Boy of Mine show the emotional and spiritual role the child plays in the life of the parent.
Dick Haymes’ “Dear Little Boy of Mine”
The Romance of Childhood
Coinciding with the rising emotional value of children was an increasing appreciation for the years of childhood. Many people began to recognize childhood as the formative years of personal development. The Romantic authors of the nineteenth century used children as symbols of purity and hope, a virtuous representation of nature. This led to the popular opinion that the years of childhood should be spent in innocence and play.
These romantic ideas concerning childhood carried into the twentieth century. The turn of the century also saw rising incomes and the mass production of factory-made toys. These events contributed to the removal of children from the economic sphere and increased the ability of children to go to school, play, and enjoy childhood. The early twentieth century children’s songs within the Spencer Sheet Music collection reflect the era’s romantic view of childhood.
In 1911, composer Art Lindeman wrote I’ll Share All My Play Toys With You. This song engenders romantic impressions of childhood. The lyrics depict a little boy and girl sharing toys and the troubles of childhood while enjoying the simple pleasure of each other’s company. Though one child has many toys and the other has none, they still play together in joy and equanimity. The sentiments created by the song lie not in the toys, but in the purity of the children.
That same year lyricist Beth Slater Whitson penned the words to Play Days. Although the cover of the sheet music portrays two richly dressed children playing with expensive toys, the lyrics tell a different story. Told from the point of view of an adult, the songs reflects on the lost days of childhood, the days of freedom and joy, the days of carefree play. The narrator of the song recalls running through clover and chasing bees, providing a mirror to the Romantic era connection between children and nature.
Just one year after Play Days Adelaide K. Mills wrote Childhood Joys. The melancholy mood of the piece permeates every note. Once again, the words of the song echo the sentiments of the Romantic authors of the nineteenth century. The main character of the song remembers the childhood days spent running through fields, walking through woods, and picking flowers. She also fondly recalls attending school, which reflects the growing idea of an economically valueless child and new governmental mandates for school attendance. Most touching of all, she remembers the innocence of a lost childhood love and yearns to return to this simpler time.
This nostalgia for the days of childhood endured throughout the early twentieth century. Down by the Old Apple Tree, from 1922, continues the trend seen during the previous decade. However, where earlier songs possessed a pensive, somber tone, Down by the Old Apple Tree reminisces about the various games of make believe a group of friends played together. The song promotes the memories of childhood as an escape from the troubles of adulthood. It calls for a return to the old apple tree and the friends of youth. Yet again, music presents childhood as a time of innocence and purity.
The year 1936 provides a simpler view of childhood than seen before. Boats of Mine brings back the perspective of the child seen earlier in I’ll Share All My Play Toys With You. Though each of the previous songs portrayed children playing together, Boats of Mine details the quiet and almost contemplative mood of a lone child sailing boats down a river. The connection between children and nature can still be seen in the lengthy description of the environment surrounding the child.
Each of these songs from the Spencer Sheet Music collection illustrates the drastic change in the value of children that took place between 1830 and 1920. Many philanthropic and federal endeavors aided the creation of this change, but love was the catalyst. Establishing an emotional connection to children, a bond of love, opened the doors to the removal of children from the labor market and enabled children to spend their youth in carefree simplicity.
Text and curation by Amanda Neel
SOURCES CONSULTED
Child Labor: An American History, Hugh D. Hindman, 2002.
Children and Childhood in Western Society Since 1500, Hugh Cunningham, 2005.
Children’s Lives at the Turn of the Twentieth Century, http://www.loc.gov/teachers/classroommaterials/primarysourcesets/childrens-lives/pdf/teacher_guide.pdf.
Representing Childhood, http://www.representingchildhood.pitt.edu/twentycent_child.htm.
Reviewed Work: Pricing the Priceless Child: The Changing Social Value of Children by Viviana A. Zelizer, Review by Joseph F. Kett, 1987.