Iowa voter. [volume] (Knoxville, Iowa) 1867-1874, 1871-08-24
Dirty Children.

We have often heard it said that dirt
must be healthy, because the smutty little
urchins that live in novels, paddle in the
gutter and roll in the dirt are healthy !;
while the carefully trained child, sheltered
from the sun and kept with immaculate
cleanliness, is pale, thin, aud puny. The
children of the rich and poor are thus con.
t-asted, and it is supposed that cleanliness
kills the one and dirt invigorates the other.
We fancy that there are two prime reasons
for this difference. The paleness and pow
erty of constitution som times exhibited
by the children Of the rich do not come
from the cleanliness Oh their food and
clothing, the excellence of their bed and
home; these are all favorable to the high
est order of health. But there are other
causes for their paleness aid the l'uny ap
pearance. The parents may have in
dulged in the use OF highly seasoned food
may have kept bad hours and lived in
an atmosphere Of nerve shattered excite
ment. Perhaps the mother laced tightly /;
perhaps she was too stylish to nurse
her own children; and perhaps it We're
better for the poor things that they could
have honest cows milk than to draw
nourishment from nervous, ex liable
mother, living in abnormal relala ms To life
in nearly every respect. Hired nurses
may be employed who are not Interested
in making the chiidren's lives happy
only to keep them quiet--and probably
use Somebody's Soothing Syrup, the great
est curse ever inflicted upon juvenile HUI
mainly by arrant quacsery, as it Is made
up Of laudanum and other Supplying drugs
which 10 human being should take.
When child is old enough to eat, in
stead of taking brown crust that is
healthfdi in itself and requires mastication,
it has put into its hand sponge cake, which
is enough to dcmoralize the health Of a
stone-Dreaker. Then the puny little pet,
if on very pleasant days he is taken out at
all is be-wagoned and be-parasoled on the
shady side or the street, and docs not GIT
a good chance at the sun and air. Ehe poor
mans child, on the other hand, eats plain
food, and is rot overfed. It's parents are
hard workers, the father breaking stone
or carrying the bod, and the mother help.
ing to exc out support for the SIX or light
children by taking in washing Both are
sturdy and hardy, and though they some
times may be foolish enough to drink
whisky, they are not able TO indulge con
tinuously in dissi patton Of any sort. Their
children have round faces and rOuaQ limbs,
with dimple at the joints, with thick
round feet, AID thick red lips, and curly hair
and laughing eyes. To be sure, they tum-
BILE in the dirt, but the dirt does them no
harm. They are not haunted every hour
by sharp rebukes for getting into the dirt
or tearing their clothes. Their clothes are
none too clean to begin with, and they wal
low and founder, and squabble and rejoice
they live in the sun and air, and in spite
of the dirt, their plain food and
their registering life, their exercise, the at
mosphere and sunshine nature s
best nurses--keept them hearty and healthy
While the rich have hard time IN raising
two halfbuilt haman beings, the laborer,
who may do the drudgery for the garden
and stable of the rich man will raise eight
or ten square shouldered and rosy children
The chill iren of the poor should be kept
more clearly, doubtless Good soft water
and soap are no foes TO health.
In country like this, where property is
not entailed, the children of the rich are
likely to become extravagant, and spend
what their fathers or grandfathers earned,
and soon 90 back to the soil. They then
touch bottom, are compelled to be indus.
trious, and for a generation or two We
have healthy, thriving, earnest people. IL
Agur's prayer, "Give me neither poverty
nor riches" could be answered in respect
to all, it would be great benefit 70 the
rich, and we are satisfied the poor would
not complain of it.-PhrenologicI Jour'