Magazine content is available exclusively for TIME subscribers.EVEN IN THE BEST HOMES, MULTIPLES ARE TROUBLE
It's not for nothing that nature made single births the rule. Human babies, with their extended infancy and years of dependency, may be the hardest of all young to raise. The McCaugheys may be warmed by television lights this week, but history suggests that when the lights go off, the new parents will need all the help they can get.
The darkest of the cautionary tales is that of the Dionne quintuplets of Ontario, Canada. Born in 1934 during the depths of the Depression, the five girls were seen by the Canadian government as a welcome tonic for a beleaguered public....
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