The Plymouth Democrat. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1869-1941, 1869-12-02
Babies Rights.
BY REV. H. ID. NORTHROP.

A JEALOUS mother remarked the other
day that she did not see why she had such
bad children, for she scolded and whipped
them from morning till night. This en-
terprising female, and iothers of similar
disposition, cross and volcanic and sour,
ought to take soothing syrup as common
beverage. 1t were better that the whole
juvenile household should have perpetu.
al hurricane of wind-colic than that they
should be subjected to such a continuous
blast of fretfulness.
The remark of the mother aforesaid is
indicative of the wrongs inflicted upon
ungrown humanity. 1t is time these were
remedied. Cuba is struggling for indie
pendence; Spain is coming out Of her sig
nificant revolution the land Of st. Pat
rick is clamOring for justice, long delayed;
women are up in arms for their rights
but who is there to speak for the babies
An agitation for their special benefit
ought to be got up forthwith, society
formed, a paper printed, and an annual
meeting held. 1t is culpable that such a
field as this should have been so long neg
lected at a time, like the present, of uni
versal reform.
In the name of all the babies, black and
white, native and foreign, clean and dirty,
cuffed and petted, We affirm that they
have rights sufficient fora Declaration of
Independence. One is the inalienable
right to be babies. Not unfrequently they
are hustled into prematurity, and, like hot
se-plants, are forced to ripen before
their time; and so, as eggs are hatchcd
into chickens by steam, babyhood and
childhood get into the next stage Of exist
ence without even showing the Fremont
tory symptoms of what is coming. The
yOungster must be able to walk, and talk,
and say smart things, and 60 to parties,
and receive calls, as soon a. possible: so
that we have "Misses" who have
scarcely cut their teeth, "young
ladies" who really need nurse
to lead them, "young gentlemen who
have hardly entered into trowsers-chil-
dren who are older than their parents. II
we had the system of publishing births
that they have in England, we might see
it seriously announced that John Smith,
Esq, was born night before last, and the
mother and squire are doing well. Ma
ture is too slow; the nursery is emptied
into the parlOr; young heads are done
up in waterfalls, with cascades dribbling
down behind; tender feet are thrust into
manly boots, and the airs of maturity are
taken on, as if the juvenile period were q
disgrace. Now babies ought TO be kept
such until they naturally grow to some
thing else.
The physical wrongs of many who are
so unfortunate as to be born might fill q
volume as bulky as Fox's Book of Martyrs
We pity the children OF the poor that are
half famished; there is equal need Of pity.
ing the children of the rich that are st uffed
like turkeys before Christmas. If the
baby cries, as nature seemed to intend that
| it should, why it must be fed if it doesn't
go to sleep, 1t must be fed; if it screams
by reason of pains in unmentionable re-
gions, it must be fed; if it is sick, what
better thing could be done than to feed it :
If it is perfectly well, Of course it must be
fed If it is uneasy because Overfed al
ready, it must be quieted with another
dose of food. would not be well dc
baby for all the rattle boxes in creation.
Think, too, of the villainous motions tc
! which babyhOOd is subjected. Cradle.
that are more favorable to sea -sioknes,
than the sea itself-perpendicula toss
ings in nurses arms--jolts and jumps, Al
if the happiness Of the youngster de
pended upon his being:vigorously churnet
who wouldn't get sick, and pour out in
dignatiOn or something wOrses It seem
to be the deep-seated conviction Of many
that children are born into the world fol
the express purpose of bobbing UP and
down.
But children are beset with other evil
besides those that may be denominatet
physical. The character, the better ma
ture often suffers. John Brown said h,
had rather have measles, smallpox. vel
low fever, and cholera all in his camD n
once, than to have man without prfnci
pies. We might reasonably wish al
these diseases for child in prefer
ence to that tornado of scolding which
RACES in some families from morning I'll
night. If things go wrong, and Onl,
the parents are to blame, the childrcI
are sure to get cudgelled for il. Their,
is just about so much scolding to be done
and woe be to the luckless brat that come,
in the way of it Many children wht
are sour and ugly would be emiable ant
attractive If 1t were not for this eyerlast
ing domestic thunder and lightning. 1t
meant to serve moral purposes, and max,
the unfortunate victims of it better il
character and manners; so Xantippt
thought to render Socrates more amiabls
by emptying ,the contents of her soup
kettle upon his philosophic head. II il
possible to have firmness and love united
and sometimes a real, thunder blast sweep
ing through the family, may clear the at
| mOsphere and prove n blessing: hut thiI