A pro-life legacy

My paternal great-grandmother, Catherine ('Kate') Shank (1855-1932), was the fourth of nine children. She was born extremely prematurely and was so small, say the records, that "a half dollar was large enough to hide her face," "a kernel of corn would cover her hand," she would have fit "in a quart cup and covered with a hand," she "was fed with a medicine dropper, and was carried about on a pillow wrapped in a blanket until she was six months old," was kept warm "in the kitchen by the oven," and kept in a sock drawer at night. Here's the kicker: "... but in spite of her smallness at birth, she lived to have fifteen children" of her own! The second of her children was my father's mother, Ada (pictured right, with Perry, my grandfather). My father, the second youngest of nine children, just renewed his driver's license and will turn 89 next week. I am in awe of what people used to do, and what some still do, to support large families. It's not so much even the size of families that impresses me -- though that is impressive -- as the fact that it never seemed to even cross their minds that a newcomer (a baby) could be viewed as an unwanted encumbrance.