[Hardy-l] re: having kittens

[Will Stevens]

Anyone who has studied family history will probably have come across one
small indicator that our Victorian ancestors were more inured than ourselves
to infant deaths - as, indeed, they needed to be.

Consider the reuse of forenames following the death of a child, especially
an infant. These days, if an infant called, say, Sarah died, and the parents
gave the same name to their next daughter, it would be considered an
unusual, even an unfeeling or heartless, thing to do. But our ancestors did
it routinely.

Will