The Hour the Questions About the New Baby Begin!!

Is her hair curly? What color are her eyes? Does he take after his mother or his father?

And you wonder: what color are his eyes? Is his hair curly? And what is his weight? All this while you wait in eager longing for the child to appear out of the world of the unseen.

Everything around you is ready: the clean bedding, the quiet room, and the little crib your fingers have prettied, the beloved husband helping in the task.

In these moments of waiting lies the deepest emotional test for the parents. The awaited guest has arrived, and one question remains: is he well? The doctor answers it, placing in your hands a wrapped bundle holding the little body, and you receive the gift with trembling hands; then you begin to examine the legs, the hands, and every member of the body, and you breathe a sigh of relief in which warmth, love, and pride are mingled — and then the feeling of a mission accomplished.

And you think once more: is your baby girl's hair curly? Or is her nose big? Or, if the child is a boy, does he resemble his father? Or has he his mother's soft fingers?... Then comes the husband's turn, and he assures you that the child is exactly like you; and all the dreams we spoke of before come true in this little human bundle.

One look at this strange creature proves to you that there are many things you long to know which are in themselves more important than hair and eyes. You want to know what personality he will have in the future. What are his mental endowments?.. And it has been granted to the people of this age to be more fortunate than their forebears in unriddling these mysteries, with the help of modern science.

If you wonder how your child will be formed, look at the traits of your family and of his father's family, and be confident that he inherits the 'biological' forms from both sides. If the child is a girl, she takes from the father's features what is cast in a feminine mold; and likewise if the boy inherits from his mother..

If you are both of moderate height, so will your child be, or a little taller. And do not forget that the factors of environment — nutrition, medical care, emotional contentment — all of these affect the child's natural growth.

As for the color of the eyes, it is known that black dominates the light colors, such as blue; and likewise the parents' hair decides the color of the child's hair.

The child will be normal and healthy if disease is absent from the two families, and modern medicine helps to ward off hereditary diseases. As for the measure of intelligence, a large part of it is hereditary: if you and your husband are of moderate intelligence, your child's mind will be normal, or a little above normal. And to learn whether his life will be long or short, go back in thought to your two families as well, and notice at what age most of the deaths occur.

And do not forget that the surroundings have a great effect on your child, in body and in mind!..