Mothers and Babies on the Frontier

Westerners were known for their compassion especially to women and children especially in those isolated mining camps where women and children were seldom seen. During the California Gold Rush a story was told of an evening in a crowded theater when a baby began crying while the performer was belting out a tune. A grizzled old man stood up and hushed the singer saying, "Stop! We want to hear the baby." Another lonely old prospector encountered a young mother and baby on a sidewalk in Place