Sex, Nursery Rhymes and Other Evils: A Look at the Bizarre, Amusing, Sometimes Shocking Advice of Victorian Childcare Experts

Kelly L. Green is editor of the Canadian Book Review Annual’s
Children’s Literature edition.

Sex, Nursery Rhymes and Other Evils is a fascinating, engaging look at
the world of Victorian childrearing philosophies, techniques, and
attitudes. We discover how children of the 19th century were
disciplined, what they ate (not much), how mothers were presented in
periodicals and literature of the day (as a queen), how children were
instructed regarding sexuality (frightening), and the ways in which they
were educated.

For anyone remotely interested in children and childhood, this book is
impossible to put down. A bonus is that Marshall’s own sense of humor
frequently comes through, both in his commentary and in the material he
selects for quotation. He quotes a Mrs. Warren who describes how she and
her playmates always cleaned up her nursery because “Mama likes to see
the room tidy.” The passage goes on, “[t]hen the little feet
pattered about and the little hands were ready to be useful; then a kiss
was given to each, and such a joyful clapping and shouting at the end of
our labour.” Marshall notes wryly that the only part of

that scene that resembles the one in his own basement at the end of a
rainy afternoon is the shouting.

Marshall’s tone, even when discussing topics related to death and
pestilence, tends to be jocular, slipping occasionally into the
horrified. The distance he thus creates between himself (and the reader)
and the material he is discussing sometimes grates. In addition, his
tendency to throw in a plethora of information about himself, his own
family, and that he and his wife follow childrearing philosophy and
practices is self-indulgent and distracting. These detractions are
minor, however, in the light of the compelling nature of this book.