Rapides gazette. (Alexandria, La.) 1869-187?, 1873-06-14
About Babies.

A GREAT MANY curious things happen
to babies, in this round world of ours,
that readers in general probably never
heard of. One thing is-planting them.
This is done by the dark-skinned women
of Guinea, and isn't half so dreadful as 1t
SOUNDS. The mother digs hole In the
ground, stands baby in 1t, and then packs
the warm sand around him to keep him
in place, as you would set out q 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 odd crib, and
at night, when she is done with her
work, he Is dug out. When this agricul-
tural mother wants to carry baby about,
she ties him into little chair which she
straps to her back. lit is some very
grand occasion, he is dressed neatly in
stripes of white paint, and Ornamented
with dozens of brass bracelets and rings
on 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 a
big shoe stuffed with moss to make 1t
comfortable?
The droll little Lapps 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 slip
pers we wear nowadays, and is turned
up at the toes. The moss with which 1t
is stuffed is the famous reindeer moss,
soft and white and the odd little black
eyed baby looks very comfortable hang
ing from a tree. or slung across its
lives in a shoe Is no more c0mical than
the baby who lives in fur bag-another
sober little black-eyed baby, away offin the
shivery Esquimaux huts. Besides being
cuddled up in fur-bag at his mothers
back, this round-faced little fellow wears
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 q bOard-poor little
creature! One tribe, the. Flatheads,
made a rude sort of box of bark or
willow-work, and wrap the baby-''little
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 board
bound over his forehead to make him
Flathead.
Even the Russian peasant mother
cradles her baby on square board hung
from tine wall by strings from each
corner, like the pan in balance.
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 a
basket on her head. These babies are
elegantly dressed in armlets, bracelets,
anklets, and leglets, (if one might make
a word,) finger-rings, toe-rings, earrings,
and nose-rings. AS for clothes, they don't
need many when they wear so much jew
elry.
China babies-not dolls, but babies
that live in China-are sadly in the way
among the poor. Sometimes they are era
died in bag on their mothers back, and
sometimes they are tied to the backs of
older children, who go aboutas though
they had no such load. Many poor Chi
nese live in boats on the river, and the
baby that comes to such family is tied
by a 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 regard
ing babies which prevails In some parts
of China. If one dies, it is not buried, as
older people are; it is thrown out care
lessly, 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 neglect
ed little bodies in, and that is all the bur-
ial they get.-Yosng Folks for May.