Victorian magazines liked looking at the cultures of the rest of the world - often, it seems, simply to point out how different (and generally inferior) such cultures were to those of Britain and America. Fortunately, this attitude tended to mellow a bit as the century drew to a close. However, Robert Louis Stevenson's lines in a poem titled "Foreign Children" in A Child's Garden of Verses expresses the concept quite well: "Little Turk or Japanee,/ Oh! don't you wish that you were me?" ("Me" being, of course, a British child!) The articles below look at children around the world, with varying degrees of political correctness. Keep in mind as well that the term "girl" in Victorian parlance might also include young women as well as children.

East Indian Toys, by Alice Donlevy (St. Nicholas, 1875)

The two favorite playthings of East Indian children are the doll and the toy cow.

Parsee Children, by Fannie Roper Feudge (St. Nicholas, 1875)

The Amusements of Hindoo Children (Little Folks, 1878)

School Life in Japan (Little Folks, 1878)

French School-Girls (Girl's Own Paper, 1881)

A Peep at Schoolgirls in Eastern Siberia (Girl's Own Paper, 1882)

Wolf-Reared Children, by Charles Brace (St. Nicholas, 1882B)

This begins as an account of wolf-reared children in India, but then segues into a moral lesson about "wolf-children" in the streets of New York and how they are saved from a life of crime by the Children's Aid Society.

Children of All Nations (Little Folks, 1883)

1: France, by Anne Beale

2: Germany, by L. Lobenhofer

3: Italy, by L. Lobenhofer

4: America, by Olive Logan

5: Sweden and Norway, by Anna Beale

6: Spain and Portugal, by L. Lobenhofer

7: China and Japan, by E.C. Phillips

8: India, by Eliot James

9: Russia and Poland, by L. Lobenhofer

10: Austria and Hungary, by L. Lobenhofer

French Girls, by Anne Beale (Girl's Own Paper, 1884)

Mongolian Girls, by the Rev. James Gilmour (Girl's Own Paper, 1885)

About Chinese Girls, by Mary L. Bryson (Quiver, 1889)

Superstitions Regarding Children (Cassell's Family Magazine, 1889)

Charms and practices around the world meant to keep children safe and healthy.

Young Japan at Play (Demorest, 1889)

Dutch Girlhood, by Mrs. Lecky (English Illustrated Magazine, 1890A)

Looking in particular at the excellent education offered to Dutch girls.

French Girlhood, by Mme. Guizot de Witte (English Illustrated Magazine, 1890A)

This article looks at the changes to the lives of French girls over the last 30 years, particularly due to the advent of the railways in bringing peoples and even countries closer together.

German Girlhood, by Lady Blennerhassett (English Illustrated Magazine, 1890A)

A more historic (and poetic) look at the lives of German girls, and the limited opportunities available to them.

German Women: Their Infancy, Girlhood and Married Life, by the Countess A. Von Bothmer (Girl's Own Paper, 1890)

Japanese Girls, by Darley Dale (Girl's Own Paper, 1890)

French Girls and Their Mothers, by Isabel Robson (Girl's Own Paper, 1891)

Babies (The Strand, 1891A)

Greek Peasant Girls, and How They Live, by Mary Hayden and Lilian Greene (Girl's Own Paper, 1892)

School-Girl Life in France, by Henrietta Channing Dana (Ladies' Home Journal, 1892)

School Excursions in Germany, by J.M. Rice (Century Magazine, 1894B)

"The principal purpose of instructive excursions, as conducted by the schools of Germany, is to lead the child, by guided observation, to acquire a broad knowledge of his environment. Indeed, the study of the home surroundings of the child is recognized in the German schools as a special branch of knowledge, and it is included in the curriculum for the first three school-years under the name of Heimathskunde (home-ology)."

Naming the Baby, by Edward Salmon (The Strand, 1895B)

About French Children, by Th. Bentzon (Century Magazine, 1896B)

With lovely illustrations by artist Maurice Boutet de Monvel (see the "Artists" section).

Swiss Children's Winter Sports (Girl's Own Paper, 1901)

A Girl's High School in West Africa, by the Right Rev. Bishop Johnson (Girl's Own Paper, 1901)

Swiss Children's Winter Sports (Girl's Own Paper, 1901)