Buchanan County bulletin. [volume] (Independence, Iowa) 1869-1891, 1878-02-15
How q Man Takes Care OF His Baby


In spite Of all the statements to the
contrary, there are men who help take
care of their children. They are the
kindest and best of husbands in the
world They do not wish to see their
wives overburdened with care and wor-
ry, and they intend to hel p them great
deal, and actually do. Yet it cannot be
denied, that their opinion concerning
the value of their services and their
wives opinion on the same subject do
not exactly coincide. One of these
good husbands will help dress the chill
dren for breakfast, and speak of it with
grandly virtuous air, while the fact is
that he only washed the face of one
while his wife washed and dressed the
other three. He helps get the children
ready for church; that is, he buttons
up Dicks boots and helps Jenny put
on her gloves after he has leisurely and
comfortably dressed himself, while his
wife ties sashcs, and hunts up odd gloves,
and puts on collars, and curls one child S
hair and washes another's hands, and in
the intervals does up her own hair,
and saves the baby from the razor, and
Jenny's best bonnet from the baby. He
stands patiently (?) in the hall as the
bells begin to toll, and mildly calls, 1T
is getting late, Maria" Which fact
Maria knows as well as he does, for her
hands are trembling so with nervous
ness and haste that she can hardly put
pin in its right place. Just as the
last strokes of the bell are sounding,
they hurry off to church, losing entirely
the calming influence which comes
from lcisurely walk on fine Sunday
morning. He takes the opportunity to
remark, with just shade of reproof in
his gentle tones, Il cant understand
why it takes you so long to get ready.
1t really does seem as if with as much
as | do to help you, we need not be
obliged to hurry so at the last minute.
| don't like to see you go up the aisle
with your face as red as lobster, =
which Of course, is very soothing to
Maria's irate nerves.
The father cares for the baby at night
in very much the same fashion The
mother has lifted the child into her
own bed, and back into its cradle again,
in the vain hope that in one place or
the other he will go to sleep, has brought
drinks of water for him, rocked the era
die and sung to It's uneasy occupant
softly and slcepily for an hour, till final
ly she thinks that if she is to be in this
semi -amphibious state, half out Of bed
and half in, the air from the open win
dow is too cool for her. She knows il
she tries to shut it herself the little ty.
rant will instantly miss her presence
and be ten times wider awake than ever
and all the hours singing and rocking
will be labor lost SO, with much re
gret, she softly asks John to get up and
close the window. He has lain remark
ably still and breathed rather heavily
and is somewhat difficult to arouse fol
a man who afterward declares he was
wide-awake all the time But like the
good husband he is, he cheerfully closes
the window, and gets an extra blanket
for the baby, and pleasantly asks, as HI
settles down into the pillow again
What makes the baby so uneasy to
night?" He manifests strange indiff
erence to his wifes reply, and in fac
nothing more is heard from him til
morning, while his wife sleepily ant
painfully works away for an hour long
er. But at breakfast, with what cain
cOmplacency does he speak of tn,
trouble the baby made us last night
an ''us" fairly editorial in its compre
hensiveness. The next night he goe'
into room by himself to sleep. HI
/ cant stand it to have his rest broker