New-York tribune., 1875-02-26

baby's mamma, too, often escorts lady visit
ors to the nursery Gifted up lately with India
paneling) to show them cher angel" in its
bassOnette. She puts the lace aside to peck
kiss, cries "Bess yOu!" and retires in a warm
glow of maternal duty accomplished. AT
night the baby with her bonne occupies
chamber on the fifth floor, where her cries or
collie cannot disturb the mother, who must
gather strength for her social labOrs.
In year or two the bOnne will be replaced
by governess. with dancing, music, and
drawing masters, who will complete the
mOlding Of the child's mind and character.
Later, when she can no longer be kept in the
nursery and must be drought out" into so
cety, mother and child may become meas
urabiy acquainted with each other But the
girl will assuredly carry with her through lite
many Of the traits of her foster mother
whether they are good or bad nobody has
yet inquired), and the manners and accent OF
her bonne, the accent being as pure as En-
glish, would be learned in the lower social
strata of the BOwery.
If the child Qike the majority of New-York
children) has no home, but is brought up in
boarding house, its mother, if woman OF
fashion, has still sighter acquaintance with
it, There are other bonnes and babies in the
house. They eat, sleep, dwell in noisy, tur-
bulent mess AS the child grows out of long
clothes into Knickerbockers or befrilled
dresses. and enormous sashes, its abiding place
is on the stairs and its education obtained
chiefly through watching the other bOarders,
especially the young men, and learning their
slang and jokes.
Now, no French woman would thus aban-
don her baby to the care of any bonne. The
French mother, frivolous and immoral though
she may be, guards her child with a jealous
care. Her daughter knows no human being
so intimately and tenderly as she knows her
mother. The women of the royal family in
England give to their infants degree of per-
sonal care and superintendent which New
York leader of the ton would turn over with
contempt to menials. Even outside OF oul
fashionable circles there are many intelligent
mothers who leave this personal care OF their
babies and the training of the elder children
to those who understand such things bet
"ter," while they fulfill other duties. To
whom we can only reterate the truth, first
spoken at the birth of the first child, that it
"the Lord" or that which she is to mold into
man-not the bonne, nor the governess, nor
the dancing-master. No matter how long is
her visting-list nor how many balls or kettle
drums she must give this Winter, her highest
and first work is the care and study and man
agement of her baby, in its body as well as
its mind. Perhaps she contemns balls and
has literary and aesthetic tastes. But by the
time she learns practically how to make out
of this little lump of flesh and flannel a
healthy, helpful, genuine man or woman, with
clean soul and pure body; by the time she
understands the chemical and hygienc laws
of his food, the subtle laws of his character,
and their relations to the people and influ-
ences about him; by the time she has applied
these laws and her child is grown, she will at
least have acquired as much knowledge and
helped society and the world as far on its
way as though she had written a new novel
and handed the baby over to the bonne.