Comment by ddebernardy

10 years ago

You can capture their sentiment by reading letters sent to announce the loss of said child. You can even observe how big a change occurred in the 19th century.

In the early 19th (and before that), the loss of a child is described almost in passing. There was grievance of course, but child mortality was normal then; almost expected. By the end of the 19th century it had become unusual. And indeed, dramatic.