The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1869-08-19
About Babies.

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polls, few evenings since, was lady
with baby.
One of the blue-eyed, growing, happy
babies, disarrangng its white robes, and
rumpling its blue ribbons with all the aban-
don of a baby that is secure in cver-fresh
supplies, both of love and clothes The
mother was evidently q stranger to the
other ladies in the car; yet all of them
smiled when they looked in her direction,
and many of them spoke TO her and seem
ed to love her for the sake Of the beautl-
ful chilli.
The opening instinct of womanhood
seems To be the love of the babies, and
the girl must be q very little one who
does , not want a doll to which she can
play the sweet part OF mother The depth
and purpose of the instinct are revealed
to us in the petition of the little miss OF
five years, who happens to be an only
child-"Mammy, want baby to play
with, a meat baby, mamma"
No kinder blessing was ever bestowed,
than in the close of Fanny Ferns letter
to the then ncwly-married Princess Roy.
al of England: "And when, brightest OF
all Others, the crown of maternity shall
descend upon your youthful brow, God
grant you that incest of all places on earth
to cry in-a mothers bosom y
Yet. while the instinct Of maternity is
peculiar 10 woman, and marks her scX
moro plainly than rounded limbs or gentle
manners, it is not to women and girls
alone that the love of babies is confined.
It was once the lot Of the writer to
dwell in the white tents Of Camp Harrl-
son, in Georgia. in the lower part of the
State, where families arc always far be-
tween, and much more so in war times.
For long weeks we had not seen wo-
man or child.
AT last the railroad through the Camp
was repaired, and in the first train there
was lady, with such a wide-awako, kick
ing baby as the latter one of the metro
polls Some hundreds Of rough soldiers
were around the cars, and Captain Story
of the 57th Infantry was the biggest and
roughest among them, if We may judge
of the tree by its bark:
The lady with the baby in her arms
was looking from window, and he took
off his hat and said, MADAM, l will give
you FIVE dollars, if you will let me kiss
that baby" One look at his bearded face
told her that there was nothing bad in it.,
and, saying, with a pleased laugh, II do
not charge anything for kissing my ba-
bv - it was handed over The little one
was not afraid, and the bushy whiskcrs,
an eighth of an ell long, were just the
playhouse it had been looking for.
More than one kiss did the Captain get
from the little red lips, and there was en-
ergy in the hug OF the little round arms.
THEN other voices said, "Pass him over
here, Cap!" and before the train was ready
to move, half hundred men had kissed
the baby. 1t was on its best behavior,
and kicked, and tuggcd at whiskers, as
only happy baby can. 1t was an event
of the campaign and one giant Of a
mountaineer, who strodo past us with
tread like mammoth, but with tear
dimmed eyes and quivering lips, said, "By
George, it makes me feel ard act like a
fool; but I've got one just like it athome.
Other lands have owned the power OF
this young immortality, and the Hindoo
halls the little stranger with the words,
"Young child, rs thou hast entered the
world in tears when all around thee smil-
ed, so live as to leave the world in smiles
while all around thee weep"