The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1869-06-12
A Baby's Rights.
A BABY's sToRY-BY A BABY.

L ANU very Ola I'd WriUe-L LII
only onel 1t was my birthday
yesterday, and / don't have milk
out of a bottle any more; l have
bread and milk out Of BOWL
Bridget ties my bib under my chin
and feeds me very fast; she doesn't
understand that | ought to have
to swallow. When / shut my lips
and splutter she says, ''There,
now! take your supper good like a
darlin'." l can't swallow a whole
bowl at time; and | cry, and she
gives me a shake. After that l
have the stomach ache.
Lying awake with it one night
/ began to think that l hadn't my
rights; and | want ,em. How to
get 'em [ don't know. l cry all |
can; but that's no use. / kick,
too; but what good comes of it?
They only give drops to make me
sleep; then [ feel hot and sick and
stupid all the next day. One of
my rights is not to have drops;
but there, now, how am not to
have 'em? There it comes again!
The most comfortable thing /
ever had was an India-rubber bot
tie. What are mothers made for
if a baby isn't to have oneg Who
invented nursing bottles! | hate
him, whoever he was.
[ have a mother, you know-a
lady who says she is comes in
sometimes and tells other Ladies
that she is "not contented with
Bridget" Nor am I, for that mat
ter you see my mother is net
thinking of my rights, but of hers.
She wants to vote, and even want
ing to do it takes great deal of
time. She writes, too, for the
newspapers. When l want to find
out whether she really is my
mother, and begin to talk to her,
she says: bridget you must real
ly take that darling child away;
he disturbs me dreadfullyw
Bridget is big and coarse; her
great knobs of knuckles hurt me.
She ties strings too tight and joys
me too hard.
Ny own mother is soft and fair,
and her skin is like silk, and L
like to touch her. I'm a 'lady's
baby, and one of my rights is that
lady should handle and dandIe
me. No one sees it. Pm put off
on Bridget.
Mamma don't like to sit at the
table with Bridget, but she let's
her feed me. Perhaps l have
aristocractic notions, too; who
cares for them?
One day Bridget had big pew
ter breastpin, with a yellow stone
in it, on her collar. and it kept
scratching my head; nobody knew
it. One day she took me out in
} my wagon and upset me; no one
kH0W CHdU. 0IIuOT.
She takes me out to her Cousins
| shanty, where little Pat has the
measles or the small pox, and if
l don't catch 'em both, It's because
"There's a sweet little cherub that
! sits up aloft," to keep watch for
poor motherless babies,
Sometimes she leaves me alone
in the room with a CRATE fire. |
always put my fingers into it, and
J they always burn. Once mamma
found it out and I had different
, Bridget. They are alike; they
come from the intelligence Office,
? and are rough and coarse, smell
5 of smoke, and take care of me for
. money and not for love. The new
t one is sleepy, and mods over and
!. drops me sometimes. One got
: tipsy and lay on me. Some day
] one will tumble down stairs with
e her big feet and slipshod shoes,
a and break my neck, L dare say.
:, A father, too. / have right
< to a father. Mine is a Wall street
9 man; he goes out early and comes
: home to dinner. / should think
a he might be very nice to know,
e but Pm not acquainted with him;
}, he has nice black whiskers and be
e laughs and says, 'Hello, old fel
l low," when we meet, and / try to
9 tell him about Bridget; and my
T feelings overpower me and 1 cry
i and he says, "Take the little ras
), cal away, Biddy."
One dreadful thing I do have;
g it's a family doctor; he says I'm a
7 very fine child, and does dreadful
+ things to me. Once he lanced ny
$ gums, once he vaccinated me-
t After that / had a sore arm and
t Bridget's blue merino hurt it.
t In summer there used to he