The Daily state journal. [volume] (Alexandria, Va.) 1868-1874, 1872-11-15
WHAT CAN A BABY LEARN
BY ELIZABETH DUDLEY.

. L OlCe ueaIu all eloquent, uuI posoioiy
narrow-minded, man preach thrilling SER
mon on the doctrine Of total depravlty.
After horrifying his hearers by relating
various manifestations Of human wicked.
ness, he chilled the very marrow in our
bones with minute descriptions of the per-
verse and even demoniac habits of young
infants.
GA child of week DID," said he,
twill keep whole neighborhood awake
every night from ten o'clock till daylight,
refusing to sleep at the proper time and
screaming so thar no one else can sleep.
Another, if not more than six weeks, will
insist on being held or carried in the arms
constantly, and not even sleep, during the
day, in the bed or cradle, and so will re-
quire at least two grown people to sacrifice
their entire time to its demands. One baby
will not permit its weary mother to read
or sew, to take nap or entertain friend;
another flies at your face with the ferocity
of young tiger, to scratch out your eyes
and pull your hair and beard as hard as
its puny strength will allow; still another
wants to get hold of and tear to pieces
everything it sees, and yells like an infu-
rated savage on being restrained"
So the reverend gentleman went on with
one instance after another of infantile de-
pravity. The old maids and old bachelors
Rugged themselves in self-congratulation !;
the young men looked troubled, and the
young maidens incredulous while as we
left the church one of its most honored
members, the father of large and interest
ing family, remarked to neighbor: =,
~ fancy that good man and his wife
Il k<>o 80, 10 hoh ,ae ~
"Why, what can baby learn ?"
''He learns something the first day he
lives and every day. IF you don't teach
him right habits you teach him wrong
Ones"
The wise remark of that experienced
man and the sermon which occasioned it
were forcibly recalled to my mind on read
ing an article, which. is being copied from
one paper into another, entitled, "How can
we Save our Children? ?" Having given
some excellent advice and especially teach
ing that child's stomach must not be
overloaded, and that its food must be given
at regular intervals-every three hours for
strong children and oftener for delicate ones
the writer says, "These rules, however,
are scarcely applicable until baby is a
few weeks DID,"
I hope no young mother will believe this.
If she puts off teaching her baby regular
and proper habits until it is three weeks
old, she will encounter much unnecessary
trouble and will also endanger the health of
her child; for many babies show symptoms
of dyspepsia before they are month old,
in consequence of being irregularly and un-
duly fed. And even at that early age babies
have been known to show symptoms of
fatal brain disease, in consequence of being
hushed and lulled to sleep again whenever
they would naturally awake during the
day, and at night drugged with opiates, be-
cause, having had sleep enough, they were
unable to be quiet.
What cruelty this is! To take tender,
helpless baby, just such as Homer was, or
Shakespeare, on first entering into life, and
torture it to death, or cripple its vital
powers because its parents will not study
the simple laws OF life and health!
But the physical evil is, after all, not SO
great as the moral harm. Habit governs
the entire animated creation, and child
who is taught from its first day of life to be
regular and exact in all its habits, soon be-
comes as orderly and systematic as the most
methodical grown person. 1t also associ-
ates this order with the mother, and having
learned obedience to her in some particu-
lars can readily be taught obedience to all.
A parent cannot possibly bestow so pre-
cious a gift as thorough early training in
regular and natural habits. An orderly
and sympathetic person is able in adult
life to do an amount of work which appears
Incredible to one who has not been SO
trained. Most people can scarcely believe
that Charles Dickens, Alexander Dumas
and other powerful and voluminous writers
actually wrote all their own works, for
getting that the peculiar style of each
writer is his unmistakable mark, and not
realizing how promptly and efficiently the
mind will act at regular hours in an ac-
customed place-they judge by their own
experience that these writers could not
have accomplished so much, unaided.
After all our own experience, is to each
of US the most convincing, and therefore ]
hope that any young mother who may
chance to read this will allow herself to
taste the sweet experience of training her
baby in habits of pleasantness and peace !;
of seeing its body daily gain strength and
beauty, its intellect awaken and expand
hourly. All, what heavenly experience
She will find that baby Of week old
can learn to close its eyes at night when its
mother closes hers, and not open them till
daybreak 1.-THE time when ali young crea-
lures naturally awake) and that little one
of any age may be laid on the bed wide
awake when its hour of rest is near, and
will fall asleep at the regular time, without
hushing or rocking or being soothed by a
lullaby. She will convince herself that a
baby of six months can be taught not to
cry at every slight hurt, to give up any
thing which it should not have without
anger or grief, and to stay where it is put
and told to stay as long as its young mind
can remember the command.
A well educated baby interferes so little
with the comfort and convenience of its
parents, while adding so much to their en-
joyment and also to their dignity as human
beings, that the subject of properly caring
for and training our infants merits careful
consideration by all thoughtful people.-N,
J. Nail.