Rutland weekly herald. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1859-1877, 1873-06-12
queer Things about Babies.

A great many curious things happen
to babies, in this round world. of ours.
One thing is, planting them. This is
done by the dark skinned women of
Guinea, and isn't half so dreadful as it
sounds The mother digs hole in the
ground. stands baby in it, andthen packs
the warm sand around him TO keep him
in place, as you would set out rose
bush. It keeps him out of mischief, and
he can play in the sand. while his mother
works. All day long he stays in his odd
crib, and at night, when she is done with
her work, he is dug out. When this
agricultural mother wants to carry baby
about. she ties him into a little chair,
which she straps TO her. back. If il is
some very grand occasion, he is dressed
neatly in stripes of white paint, and or
namented with dozens of brass bracelets
and rings on arms and legs. A funny
looking baby he must be If YOU don't
fancy a crib of sand for a baby, what
do you think of big shoe, stuffed with
moss TO make it comfortable? The
droll little Laps cradle their babies in
tnat way. The shoe is large, Of course,
and. made of reindeer skin. II comes
up high al the back, like the slippers we
wear nowadays, and Is turned up at
the toes.
The moss with which it is stuffed is
the famous reindeer moss, soft and white;
and the odd little black-eyed baby looks
very comfortable hanging from the tree,
or slung across its mothers back. Per
haps this baby who lives in shoe is no
more comical than The baby who lives
in fur-bag, another. sober little black
eyed baby. away of in the shivery Es-
quimaux huts. Besides being cuddled
|. up in a fur-bag at his mothers back, this
round-faced little fellow wears a fur
hood, and looks like some strange Kind
of animal peeping out into the world.
You may haYe.seen the Indian baby, or
papoose, bound fiat to a board-poor
little creaturc. One tribe, the Flat
heads, make a rude sort of box of bark
or willow-wOrk, and wrap the baby
'slittle man." they call HMM a piece
of blanket strap him tightly to the box,
and bang il across. two sticks. Besides
this, the unfortunate little fellow has a
board bound over his forehead TO make
| him Fathead. Even the Russian peas
| ant mother cradles her baby on a square
| board, hung from the wall by strings
| from each corner, like the pan in bal
ance. In India the funny little black
/ babies either sit on their mothers hips
and hold on by clasping their hands over
her shoulder, or they take airy rides in
basket ON her head.
These babies are elegantly dressed in
armlets, bracelets, anklets, and leglets,
If one might make the word-nnger
rings, toe rings, ear rings and nose rings.
As TO clothes, they don't need many
when they wear so much jewelry. Chi
ma babies-not dolls, but babies that
/ live in China-are sadly in the way
/ among the poor. Sometimes they are
Graded in bag on their mothers back,
and sometimes they are tied to the backs
| of older children, who go about as If
they had no such load. Many poor Chi
nese live In boats on the river, and the
baby that comes TO such a family is tied
by a long rope to the mast. 1t Is long
enough to let the child creep around,
but not long enough ts let it fall over
board. There is another curious Gus
tom concerning babies which prevails
In some parts of China. If one dies,
it is not buried, "a older people are,-it
is thrown out cayelessly, and crackers
are fired off at the door. Here and
there at the corners of tile streets, char
i table. people build small houses with
openings to drop the neglected little bod
les In, and. that is all the burial they get.