Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1874-07-03

1t used to he pleasant recreation. Bat
that was before mounted cradles and baby
Jumpers and nursery maids were brought in
to general use. The play things were cheap,
if not home made, and were exceedingly
primitive in their construction. \ cigar
box mounted ON spools and drawn with a
string. served as carriage. and the doll
drawn in it was made of rags and dressed in
calico. There was jumping,jack of card
board. which furnished endless entertain
ment. and clam-shell~ that made the incest
tea-cups, and n top. and n whistle that
grandpa made out of 4 poplar stick, and a
score Of blocks picked up in the carpenter :
shop Baby watched the building with
eager interest. crowed when it was finished,
and knocked it down with his foot with in
finite glee The peck measure was seat
for him to sit on, or little world for him To
put in disorder and upset when the wiim
struck him, or ear for him TO get in. The
broom-handle was an untailing horse that
always came To time. Grandma ball oi
yarn was always in order. and when other
sources failed there was the cats tail, the
pulling of which invariably produced music
ii it did not precipitate n catastrophe. Some
lliut~ i uTdNtI WIS bitith anu 'A'i it
veled in its contents. and sometimes the but
ton-bag was mine of treasures. There
was endless fun in getting the little toddiing,
tumbling fellow up ON his feet for trot,
and a tin pan with an iron spoon and a
handful OF beans was n sort Of paradise and
furnished delight for 4 millennium. Baby
grew and made fun enough for the whole
household to pay for his care ten times over.
That way of tending the baby is now oh
Selete The hall floor has been carpeted.
The primitive playthings have been burned
to make room for bushel or two of TOYS.
\ hired servant, who cares only Tor her pay
and carries dime novel in her pocket to
read by stealth. watches the little fellow in
an Indifferent way. pushes the toys to him
now and then, stufls him when he cries, and,
when he cries from TIE stuiing, doses IN III
from the bottle she carries in her pocket.
She cannot play herself. All the play has
gone out of her She does not quite see
what babies are born for. She looks on
them all as trials of patience ; and as sure to
bring out the bad temper in one as must
ard poutice to raise blister. The dear
little fellow is the one plague of her life,
and the only comfort she has is when she
has administered paregoric enough to make
him sleep beyond danger of waking while
she chafs with the grocer's boy or carries
on an iucipient Irritation with Il young sprig
of a gardener. Baby grows sickl y and irrita-
ble and peevish. lie is exacting of attention
and unable to amuSe himself His manners
are too dcmonstrative for the dining-room
and his temper too bad for the parlor. lie
has bad nights The old people look serious
and say, ''Ile won't be raised" and even
mamma thinks something is really the mat
ter with her cherub. and wonders whether
soothing syrup or the doctor will best meet
his case. At any rate something must be
done right away. as she has got Il new suit
of clothes for the little fellow. showing his
sweet little white knees, and must trot him
out 50 the neghbors can see what beautiful
eyesand hair he has, and how the blue Jacket
with silk trimmings becomes his complexion.
And baby endures it all, runs the gauntlet,
escapes from his enemies, and finally survives
even his school teachers, with the endless
examining, and appears with faultless swal-
low-tail and irreproachabe kids on his way
somewhere. Some babies are terribly tough.
You can no more kill them than You can
give dyspepsia to an india-rubber doll. But
for every gutta-percha baby that is proof
against nurses and doses and parental folly
there are a dozen real flesh-ahd-blood crea-
tures who cannot stand such treatment and
fall by the way. They make beautiful
funerals: but if there were an honest inquest
held in nine eases ont of ten the verdict
would be. Died of bad tending" Then
this sort of care never trains children to
amuse themselves. They have a surfeit of
toys, but are not taught how to get amuse-
ment out of them. The modern baby with
a house-iull of playthings has very little of
the real rolicking pleasure and fun that the
boys and girls used to get out of shingle toys
a quarter Of II century ago. The trouble is
not in the toys but in the tending. Then it
| was real now it is make-beleye. Then it
enticed by sympathy; how it repels by want
of it. Then it trained to self-care; now it
develops dependence and creates desire to
be amused and cared for by others. Then it
unsealed fountain of joy in the heart; now
| it chokes the inward springand breaks down
vitality if not constitution. Babies are