The Newberry herald. [volume] (Newberry, S.C.) 1865-1884, 1875-10-06
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From the New York Tribune.
ABOUT BABIES.

Ihe amount OF patlence "hlcu
we brig to bear on babies de-
pends very much on whether de:
not we have babies of our own
There was a time when l would
have joined heartily enough lp
tho storied toast, "To the health
of the much calumniated good
King Herod." But that was be.
fore the advent of Jonathan Ed
4 wards. -e -
Twas a bitter cold day in Febru.
ary when Jonathan Edwards ar
rived-the -bitterest and -eoldesa
day not only Of the Winter, bat
the bitterest and coldest since
! 1920, the chronicles said. And to
be reused at an unseemly hour
on such a morning and started of
on a most embarrassing and an:
accustomed errand, IS enough in
all conscience to disturb the spir-
| itual balance Of q nervous man for
the rest of the day. -
x -, *. :. u%*
TWAS some time before I could
! muster the courage to ask wheth-
er I was a father or mother-not
that I felt. no curiosity, but be-
cause the treatment which 1 had
for some hours undergone made. it
a question in my mind whether
1 had any. rights which any hu-
man being was bound to respect.
When a rather raised and indig-
nant voice replied, "She's a boy"
I felt that the supreme momentof
my:life was at hand, and that forts
tude was necessary. For a most se-
rious complication had come, tron.
bic loomed dsrkly on both bows
as we'll as dead ahead; Of this l
was aware even before l-eaugghSF
the soft grey eyes Of Mrs. Paul
fixed reproachfully upon me. We
had half promised one lady friend
that it should be named Louise, an
other was happy in the conviction
thai. We We're to. call it Caroline,
but deep down in tho recesses Of
her heart Mrs. Paul had settled
that the girl should bear:the name
of a great and good aunt, and glide
gently down the stream Of Time
ticketed '"Dorothy Jane" You
see the dilemma; all previous
plans were disarranged none of
t2ke names would now do. And
thus it is thatgte. this daytime babe
has but a NOM de 5erceau as 'twere
Jonathan Edwards. The fault
is not mine, certainly; but nevera
day passes over my head that it
is not flung up to me that but for
me the babe would have q name.
And with each recurring dawn
the question is hurled at me,
"Wbat do you mean to call him,
anyway ?" -.,.-. ,.
Sometimes 1 think Of shakin 6
a lot of good names up in bag
/ Iand letting him grab for one, so
shifting tarespo ponsi0a aityfron my
own shoulders upon those Of the
Fates. Again, it occurs to me that
perhaps 'twere only right to wait
till he grows up and then let him
choose name for himself! ~
In the.meanwhile the boy seems
to grow and thrive as we'll as
though ho had been christened
George Washington or Julius
Caesar at birth. For his own part
he has never, from the first, seem
ed to care much for being named.
On arriving at the hotel he made
no sign from which J can infer
that he was anxious that the regis
ter should be brought up to him.
Lately from the tropics, a hot-air
register would not have been un.
acceptable, perhaps, but as for i'm
mediately writing his name and
place Of residence, and final desti-
nation, down in a book, he mani
fested,noeagerambition His chief
anxiety was about meals. Here
was a hotel kept on the European
plan, meals supposed to be ready
at all hours, yet there seemed to
be nothing ready for him. Little
wonder that he set up a wall Of
| vexation.
What q hurry and scurry there
then was in the hall, to be sure.
No need to carry the news to Ma
ry; she and Nora, Bridget, Kath-
leen, and Kate knew it as sooE as
anybody, and must have trumpet
ed the story through the resonant
speaking-tubes, which lead all over
the house. Verify, the chamber
maids who came with dust-pans,