That is still more than I expected. Children have relatively low value, they come with no skills and it takes years before they can attain the skills needed to work. They are usually seen as disposable here.

[Lad didn't speak of it solemnly, to him it was just a simple difference between them. He had obviously had such the harsh view instilled in him as well. He wouldn't harm a child personally,and he often pitied the new arrivals, but he didn't mourn too much over the ones lost. It would have been inevitable, and so it was better they had not have to suffer too much.]

Those that don't make it generally would not have lasted long in adulthood anyway.