Talk:Fosterage

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seems to be from The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction, Vol. 12, Issue 323, July 19, 1828, by Various

It looks like it's from the "Castle of Col" section of "A Journey to the Western Isles of Scotland" by Samuel Johnson, circa 1775.

[edit] Too specific?

If my understanding of fosterage is correct, this is a practice that, at least historically, has been much more widespread than the Hebrides. While the information in this article is interesting, I can't help thinking that most, like myself, who go here looking for information on fosterage are going to be disappointed.

There is much to be discussed concerning the medieval practice in the British Isles, in the rest of Europe, and in the rest of the world, to say nothing of the current practice, at least in the United States, of fosterage as a state-sponsored means of caring for troubled children.

As an additional note, it seems to me that the article as it exists is unclear. The first sentence speaks of fosterage in the past tense, but the rest of the article uses the present. Nowhere is there a date or even a general era given for when this practice was widespread. If not for the first sentence, one might be excused, after reading this article, for believing that fosterage is still practiced in the Hebrides according to the customs laid out here.

--CKA3KA (Skazka) 06:29, 14 December 2005 (UTC)

Hi, CKA3KA. The page as it stands is just taken from Samuel Johnson's 1775 travel journal, so yes, I would expect it to portray just a sliver of actual practice, and to express the past in present tense. --Peter Kaminski 15:33, 18 December 2005 (UTC)