The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1877-1885, 1879-09-25
About Children.

hiiN NAf
the Asylum, at 10 cents a copy, or three
for 25 cents. Rich mel :r-ght buy an hun
dred. or so, and seattle: lem up and down
the State. We take p rev paragraphs from
TIE work.
Gas there are many noble families OF
men and women, so there are many excel
lent breeds of horses and cattle, and there
is. and must be, something in the blood;
but blood is derived from diet. 1t finds Its
componcnt parts in the foo consumed.
Feed a bow for five years on candy, custard
and chewing gum, and not even the noble
blood OF Anchises could lift him up to me-
diocrity. The best blood, under the lntiu-
ence OF luxurious living, deteriorates RAP
idly.
\ grain Of wheat, falling in a soil adapt
ed to its wants, refreshed by genial show
els, and invigorated by a suitable climate,
grows 10 full maturity and becomes a ia
nous and standar species. When 1T IS
sown in unsuitable soil, and is prosecuted
with bad cultivation and unfavorable sea-
sons, by degrees, it begins to degenerate.
So a fortunate cross and a careful education
will sometimes raise up a wise and good
man, and he will become the head of a
noble line. the founder of an illustriOus
family. Then a man eff great talent, int1u-
enced by wealth, beauty, or accident, $50
called will marry an ordinary woman, and
she will fill the thoughts of his children
with fashionable f%ollies, and feed them on
dainty desserts, which e%nervatc both body
and mind, till the family goes, like lead, to
the bottom. Cyrus the Great, Peter the
Great, and Charles MI, ate sparingly of
plain food. The wise Seneca and the phi
losopher Socrates, ate just enough to keep
them alive. When children eat milk, mush,
hominy, parched corn, beef, fowls, fish and
vegetables, their blood will improve and
open the way for a proper education, and
regular habits. But feed a child between
meals, on pies and cakes (hoe cakes always
confectioneries, let him chew gum for daily
employment, and cut an evening swell on
narcotics and stimulants, and he will soon
90 down below the reach of hope.
Children should begin to walk when nine
months old. If they fail to do so, the
cause of the failure should be ascertained
and removed. If the nursing mother is
seriously diseased, the child should feed on
the milk of a goat. If the mother enfee-
bles herself with d~ainties, instead of simple
and substantial food; if she poisons herself
with alcohol or tobacco, and so transmits
disease to her child, she should change her
diet and save her offspring. The mother
who eats no hominy, no mush, no corn
bread, and dips snuff three times a day,
will seldom find her infant able to walk
under two years of age. But if a healthy
mother will eat simple food, including corn
bread or pop corn, take reasonable exercise,
and never allow herself to be angry or cx-
cited, her child will gain strength even
while cutting teeth, and will soon be able
20 walk. The child also should avoid fat
producing sugar, candy and chewing gum.
Hominy, mush, popcorn, if soft and the
juices of meat will impart strength. Cows
milk is too weak for a child. If used, it
should be boiled. Tho milk of the goat is
best. When you see a pale, puny child,
sitting on the floor, with two fingers in it's
mouth, and fretting at every effort made
for its comfort. the safe and simple remedy
is the fresh milk of a goat. But children
need other helps in learning to walk. The
joggle- board is common in New Hanover,
Fender, Bladen and Cumberland. 1t is a
plank two inches thick, one foot wide and
sixteen feet long, supported Cbut not fast
ened) at both ends. On this the children
can ride; and hence the people in the East
say Happy as a baby on a joggle-board,"
while those in the West say, Happy as an
old woman at a camp meeting"
The baby-cart is q wonderful help in
learning to walk. 1t is a crane. with a
bow in a horizontal beam. The child rests
its arms on the bow, and its feet on the
floor, and SO moves around in a circle. The
exercise is excellent, and falling is impos-
sible. A cradle suspended from the cell
ing, and moved By a cord held by the child,
will give strength to the arms; but the
cradle on rockers, after the child learns to
rock itself, strengthens the whole body.
Such n cradle is, however, exceedingly tire
some to brothers and sisters. A prominent
man in Raleigh refuses, even now, to buy a
cradle for his darling boy, because his
mother made him rock the cradle fifty
years Ago.. The greatest draw back on
walking is the baby carriage, supplying
locomotion without effort. Blessed is the
boy whose father is too poor to buy him a
carriage. Yet, even a baby carriage, if
used in moderation, before the child is
nine months old, and afterward. may not
do the child any harm, and will certainly
relieve the mother.
10 be continued.)