KEEP THE CHILDREN AT HOME.
Mr. ELBRIDGE T. GERRY deserves the cordial support of all right-minded persons in which vigorous effort to prevent the promiscuous employment of infants in stage exhibitions. The theory of his work is right. Speaking in general terms, the stage is not a proper place for children of any age [. . .]
We heartily sympathize with Mr. Gerry, and are prepared to go even further in this matter than he goes. He labors to protect the babies; the theatre audiences, too, deserve protection from the infliction of infant performers. In twenty years New York has seen just one child actor with genuine dramatic perception and the ability to act a part—Bijou Heron. The child on the stage is a nuisance, and as much out of place there as a cat or a dog.
The child if brought actually into evidence ruins the illusion, bores the sensitive spectator, and puts him in a frame of mind quite the reverse of that desired by the dramatist.
New York Times 2/26/1893: 4. Print.