The spirit of democracy. [volume] (Woodsfield, Ohio) 1844-1994, 1873-06-24
1ouAs' Departu'egt.
Queer Things About Babies.

\ great many curious things hap
pen to babies, in this round world Of
ours. One thing is, planting them.
This is done by The dark skinned wo-
men of Guinea, and isn't half sol
dreadful as it sounds. The mother
digs hole in the ground, stands
baby in it, and then packs the warm
sand around him to keep him in
place, as you would set out a rose
bush. 1t keeps him out Of mischief,
and he. can play in the sand while
his mother works. All day long hel
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 little chair which
she straps to her back. If it is some
very grand occasion, he is dressed
neatly in stripes of white paint, and
ornamented with dozens of brass
bracelets and rings on both arms and
legs. A funny looking baby he must
be! If you don't fancy a crib Of sand
for baby, what do you think Of
big shoe, stuffed with moss to make
it comfortable? The droll little Laps
cradle their babies in that way. The
shoe is large, of course, and made Of
reindeer skin. 1t comes up high at
the back, like the slippers we wear
nowadays, and turns 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 hang
ing from the tree, or slung across its
mothers back. Perhaps this baby
who lives in shoe is no more comi-
cal than the baby who lives in a fur
bag, another little black eyed baby,
away off in the shivery Esquimaux
huts. Besides being euddled up in
fur bag at its mothers back, this
round faced little fellow wears a fur
hood, and looks like some strange
kind of animal pesping out in the
world. You may have seen the In
dian baby or papoose, bound flat to
a board-poor little creaturel One
tribe, the Flatheads, make a rude
sort of box of bark or willow work,
and wrap the baby-Hittle man."
they call HMM piece Of blanket,
strap him tightly to the box, and
hang it across two sticks. Besides
this,the unfortunate little fellow has
a board bound over his forehead to
make him a Flathead. Even the
Russian peasant mother cradles her
baby on a square board, hung from
the wall by strings from each corner,
like the pan in a balance. In India
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 a
basket on her head.
These babies are elegantly dress
ed in armlets, bracelets, anklets, and
leglets, (if one might make a word, J
finger-rings, toe-rings, earrings and
nose-rings. As to clothes, they don't
! need many, when they wear so -naneh
iewAl.4--Gana 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 some
times they are tied to the backs of
other children, who go about as if
they hadno such load. Many poor
Chinese live in boats on the river,
and the baby that comes to such a
family is tied by long rope to the
mast. 1t is long enough to let the
child creep around, but not long
enough to let him fall overheard
There is another curious custom re-
garding babies in some parts Of Chi
ma. If one dies, it is not buried, as
other people are; it is thrown out
carelessly, and crackers are fired off
at the door. Here and there, at the
corners of streets, charitable people
build small houses with openings to
? drop the neglected little bodies in,
and that is all the burial they get.
You've Folks FOR MAY.