Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1873-09-11
aflistellanepns Reading.
QUEER THINGS ABOUT BABIES.

A great many curious things happen to ba-
bies, in this round world of oufs. One thing
is, planting them. This is done by the dark
skinned women of Guinea, and isn't half 80
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 rose bush. 1t
keeps him out of mischief, and he can play in
the sand while his mother works. All day
long he stays in his old 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 the arms
and legs. A funny looking baby he must be !
If you don't fancy 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 rein
deer skin. 1t comes up high at 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. Perhaps
this baby who lives in shoe is no more COM
ical than the baby who lives in fur-bag,
another sober little black-eyed baby, away off
in the shivery Esquimaux huts. Besides be-
ing cuddled up in 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 in the world. You may
have seen the Indian baby, or papoose, bound
fiat to board-poor little creature! One
tribe, the Flatheads, make rude sort of box
of bark or willow-work, and wrap the baby
"little man." they call HMM a piece of
blanket, strap him tightly to the box, and
hang it across two sticks. Besides this, the
unfortunate little fellow has board bound
over his forehead to make him Flathead.
Even the Russian peasant mother cradles her
baby on square board, hung from the wall
by strings from each corner, like the pan in
balance. In India the funny little black ba-
bies 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 word,) fnger-rings, toe
rings, earrings and nose-rings. As to clothes,
they don't need many when they wear so
much jewelry. China babies-not dolls, but
babies that live in China-are sadly in the
way among the poor. Sometimes they are
cradled 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 Chinese live in boats on
the river, and the baby that comes to such
family is tied by long 6 rope to the mast. It
is long enough to let the child creep around,
but not long enough to let him fall overheard.
There is another curious custom regarding
babies which prevails in some parts Of China.
If one dies, it is not buried, as older people
are it is thrown out carelessly, and crackers
are fred off at the door. Here and there, at
the corners of streets, charitable people build
small houses with openings to drop the neg
lected little bodies in, and that is all the bu-
rial they get.