The baby show at Market Ferring, by Rufus Hale
An original newspaper report written in a nineteenth-century voice; a period simulation, not an archival document.
This newspaper report, published in 1881, describes a competition for babies held to raise money for a small country hospital.
The Grand Baby Show held on Thursday in the Corn Exchange at Market Ferring, in aid of the Cottage Hospital, drew a larger crowd than any event in that building since the visit of the travelling menagerie two summers ago, and, it must be said, a good deal more noise.
One hundred and four infants were entered, in three classes: under six months, six to twelve months, and twelve months to two years, with a separate prize for twins, which was competed for by three pairs. The babies were arranged upon a long platform draped in red baize, each upon its mother’s lap, and a numbered card was pinned to the shawl of each competitor in the manner of a prize heifer at the agricultural show. The comparison did not, I think, escape anybody.
The judges were Dr Trebilcock of the Cottage Hospital, Mrs Arkwright of Ferring Hall, and a retired midwife, Mrs Dunn, who is believed to have brought into the world a good half of the competitors and very possibly some of their mothers. They proceeded slowly along the platform, weighing, measuring and peering, while the mothers held up their entries with every appearance of perfect confidence and the infants, for the most part, roared. Dr Trebilcock was observed at one point to put his fingers in his ears, an action which was much criticised.
The first prize in the senior class, a silver mug and ten shillings, went to Ebenezer Spratling, aged nineteen months, son of a platelayer on the railway, a solid and serious child who did not cry once during the judging but sat upon his mother’s knee eating a rusk with the air of a magistrate. Mrs Spratling, on receiving the mug, burst into tears, which set off Ebenezer, who had held out until then, and thirty or forty other babies within earshot.
It would be easy to laugh at such an occasion, and many did. But the judges’ remarks, which Dr Trebilcock read out at the close, deserve to be recorded. He said that he had awarded the prizes not for prettiness, of which there was a great deal, nor for fat, of which there was rather too much, but for straight limbs, clear skin and good temper, and that most of these were to be had by fresh air, clean milk and soap, which cost very little. He added that he hoped every mother present would take that thought home with her, whether she took home a prize or not.
The show raised eleven pounds four shillings for the hospital. The noise is said to have been heard at the railway station.
“The writer thinks the baby show is ridiculous.”
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120 exam-style questions on Eduqas GCSE English Language 2.1 Section A (30%) - Reading, covering 2.1.1 Two unseen non-fiction texts, 19th and 21st century. Each one has a worked solution and a mark scheme showing where the marks go.