Infants for sale

One of the most heartbreaking sounds that passers-by heard in Otto’s Athens was the faint cries of infants in the arms of ragged women begging on the side of the road. Most of these babies had been found abandoned by their natural parents. Unfortunately, there was no suitable orphanage, so the police gave them to poor women for a small fee to use them as props to encourage people’s generosity.

Creator: Unknown (1860-1870)
Source: Getty Museum