Strangely enough the birth of twins seems to be regarded with horror or disgust, or at least as a misfortune, in almost all lands where Christ, the Lover of children, is not known. In some parts of Africa the little twin babies are stuffed into a pot and thrown into the woods to die, and their mother is considered disgraced for life or sent into exile. A missionary of the Church Missionary Society of London tells us that in West Africa the idea is that by the law of God human births should be single; therefore, if a mother has twins, she has been degraded to the level of a beast, the children are also beasts, and their death is necessary in order to preserve the human race pure and to prevent misfortune. Japanese fathers will not let a little child look into a mirror and see its double, for fear that when grown it will be unfortunate enough to have twins! As there is no phase of life that Christian missions cannot touch and change, so among some of the African West Coast tribes, as the people have learned of Christianity, twin murder has been abandoned along with human sacrifice, though even harder to eradicate. [Sidenote: Infanticide.] Were twin murder alone prevalent among non-Christian races, it would be reason enough for earnest effort and prayer on the part of every Christian mother in the world until it could be stamped out. But the crime of infanticide is so frightfully prevalent in China, India, and the Pacific Islands that it is a loud challenge to Christian parents to bring into darkened hearts and homes the knowledge of Him who considered it a capital offense even to “cause one of these little ones to stumble.” In very few cases do we read of infanticide being practiced at the present time on boy babies. Twin murder as mentioned above, the killing in Central Africa of “monstrosities” who have been born with a tooth cut, or who cut their upper teeth first, and the putting away of illegitimate children among some Mohammedans, seem to be almost the only exceptions to this rule. The poor little girl babies, not wanted, not welcomed, considered a disgrace and an expense, must again and again pay the penalty for being girls with their lives. “Why should the girl live?” the Pacific Islander would say to the early missionaries, “She cannot poise the spear, she cannot wield the club.”[6] [Sidenote: Causes of infanticide in India.] Rev. E. Storrow has made a careful study of the causes of infanticide in India, and his conclusions are worthy of our attention. Our knowledge, at the best imperfect, is confined to the present century, the period of British supremacy. Three causes have led to it:-- 1. Great moral laxity, combined with indifference to infantine life, and a desire to conceal wrong doing, which the privacy of native habits renders comparatively easy. 2. Religious fanaticism has led to the crime in restricted areas....