American citizen. [volume] (Canton, Miss.) 1864-1890, 1872-06-29
The New Baby.

|
: Well, when you come to that, the cas-
is pitiful. To think of Baby Harry alb
dicating in favor of this minute mass o
scarcely animated nature. Harry, al
brightness and quickness and sturdy
strength, all determination and purpos'
and eager liking and definite willard
this little lump of flesh and flannel
nothing but creases and folds and bulg
ings and fumblings, and a girl at that
But Harry the Magnanimous knows ne
envyings nor jealousies. He cares not fol
crown and throne, admits his little sister
with whole souled enthusiasm, and shows
her off to the visitors as if she was panO
rama and he exhibitor. "Dat's her hair
rubbing up the golden haze that clouds
her head. See her eyes ~ and he pokes
his dimpled fingers into the staring, blink
ing orbs, under the firm conviction that il
is an entire novelty for babies to have
eyes.
They are strange creatures, these babies.
| You do not expect them to walk and
talk, turn out their toes and be generally
| decorOus; but it does seem as if they
might know enough to keep their heads
from dropping off their shoulders. They
do not. True, 1 never knew baby to
jerk its head off, but no thanks to baby.
From honorable, even Christian, motives,
from benevolent desire to evince your
|
out your arms to receive the proffered in
FAINT. For instant all goes well, but
the next, without warning or provocation,
| flop! goes the head back over your arm
with a jerk, as if the vertebr2 were re-
solving themselves into the original lime
and PHOSPHORUS. And then a baby is
so voluminOusly dressed that you can
never be sure yOn have clutched the real
| article unless you take it by the neck
which hardly agrees with baby, though it
is the favorite mode of handling kittens.
The trouble is, there is nothing human
about baby. 1t has no sympathy, no
love, no hope nor fear. 1t sometimes con-
torts its face into a grimmace which par
tial friends fondly call smile, but it is
just as likely to be followed by scream
as to subside into sobriety, and it certainly
looks as much like pain as pleasure. No,
there is no good in talking about it. The
baby being here, and being subject to
cold and heat and hunger and thirst, must
be warmed and fed and sheltered; but as
to being interesting as comparing it with
Harry
But the wonder, the marvel, the mira
Gle! Eastern jugglers show you a palm
tree bursting the soil, branching to the
heavens, putting forth leaf, and bud, and
fruit before your eyes; but baby is more
wonderful than the palm tree. For the
your eye cannot see it. Even while you
were looking, even while you were revil-
ing the little atom, it ceased to be an
atom. Imperceptibly, undetected, the
mlcrocosm put Oft its impersonality and
stepped into the ranks of humanity. The
midget has found her soul. In her eye
recognition, in her smile expression. How
it came about none can tell; but yesterday
she was isolated, and to-day she is linked
~ I,,kr IL
strikes out gloriously into life, and puts
looping heads for her, but stretching
and setting in directions whithersoever
she would push her researches. Now for
parents and nurses who shall be humble
and meek in spirit, and willing to follow
nature and not set up theories founded on
their own cOnceit! We shall never cease
to have the church broken up with dis
sensions between old school and new, the
state Tuning over tariff and tax, families
torn with internal discussions, until we
bring up children logically. How can a
man be logical when his parents were
continually interposing to make him il
logical from his infancy? A child should
be permitted to follow out his own con-
illusions. The adult world agrees that it is
not polite to interrupt. The learned world |
understands that the sequence of thought |
is not to be lightly disturbed. Let us take
our politeness and our philosophy into
the baby world. The little sister is gaZ-
ing steadfastiy at the chair. Her blue eyes
are fixed and buiging. You will immedi-
ately begin to toss her and coo her. dis
tract her attention, and prevent her solu-
ton of the problem of the chair. So her |
mind loses the power of fiXation, and by |
and-by you will have an unreasonable and |
woman on your hands.
ms
hold my peace, and simply |
and silently watch her. Presently she
stretches out her tiny hand. Nature is
fumbling for the evidence of touch as
well as sight But she cannot quite |
reach the chair. She leans forward, l
obey nature and let her slip toward the
chair She feels it all over with her ex-
little toothless experimental mouth. OF
course she drOols somewhat on the silk
cover, but it is far more important that a
child should be brought up logically than
that a chair should be kept unspotted.
She evinces a desire to investigate the
lower part of the chair and the under
part of the seat. Thoroughness, dispo-
sition to go to the root of the matter, con-
tinuity of attention, are traits which can
not be too highly valued or too fully
cultivated. She leans out and strikes
forward with force that shifts her cen
ter of gravity. Nature, as if for the very
purpose of aiding her in the pursuit of
has made her utterly without
fear. We adults would not dare look
over corresponding precipice; but she,
with blind faith in the unseen holding
back power of the universe, filings herself |
do not falsify her faith, but
gather her long petticoats, for such case
made and provided, into my hand, and
holding her like bag let her descend
head first to look at the legs and rungs of
the chair. Prejudiced and self-conceited
adults make great cutlery, as if you
were letting the baby down to perdition;
but it is pure logic. / want her to con-
tinue her investigations SO long as they
have interest for her You talk about her
brains. Why, her brains are in her head,
and turning her upside down is not going
to take them out. Does not Nature know
as much about her brains as you and /,
and would she impel her downward and
keep her fumbling and stretching and
staring If it was not good thing to do
Only be humble and not self-conceited,
and baby will presently give sign that
she is through with that branch of the
subject and ready to come right side up
with care.
And up she comes, bright and satisfied,
to give the lie to all your narrow brain
theories, and prepare to study the next |
subject with the attention which BELTS a
reasonable being.
And she had suddenly blossomed into
beauty. Those be who think she was al !
ways beautiful. ''The baby is splendid!'
says doting Partially, while as yet no I'M
prejudiced person can see aught but shane