The Red Cloud chief., 1882-02-09
Concerning the Care Of Children.

ii u NlNlA'i sl Il Ilpll-' At ~llDIi lilif
ago where one of the members of the
family, a little girl of four or five wears.
was the object oi much solicitudc by her
parents. She WAS Il bright and pretty
child, but had suffered from attacks Of
fits or .'SIaSmS." The immediate
guardians Of the child seemed To- br in
tclligcnt. sensible people. and | was
amazed, while at dinner, 10 see the little
girl served the same is an adult. with
rich and hearty food, including even
chow-chow, apple pie and coffee, Ii
WAS no wonder the poor little creature
had fits, or whatever the nervous
malady may have been that was 50
designated. The Ignorance displayed III
the diet of the child WAS too utterly
abomiuahlc 10 he excused, and | was
scarcely able Ia hold my tongue from
crying ont against Il. But | caSci my |
couScIcnc" III answering the question
how | managed To give my little boy his
look of superb health by emphasizing the
fact that he had never 81 much ~ tqStcd
coffee, or apple pie, or chow-chow, or
various other things commonly allowed
Ia children.
The other day an acquaintance com
planned 10 me of the dainty appetite of
her children, of their ~lcanncSS. their pro-
pcn>ity To- be forever on the Stretch
their total Discrimination Ia take suiii-
cicnt sleep and rest. The children were
often guests nj my house. and | knew
that the most delicate one of them all had
never been trained To drink pure milk.
The stuff she daily drank was a mixture
OF warm water, milk and SUGAR. All the
children ate candy. cakes, tine crackers,
and were put 10 bed much later at night
than they should have been. To my
mind there WAS nothing surprising in the
fact that a good appetite was Il stranger
10 her little ones, or that they were lean
and unduly active.
Another mother declares that her
children always have colds from De-
tober until June. She dresses them
daintily, in apparel both fine and costly.
in ScalSkin coats. mutfS. tippctS and
things of Such ilk. Their frockS are
worn very short. their drawers are of
finest cambria, and their only under
flannel consists Of 4 fine and dainty
| knittcd shirt, 50 that while the upper
portion of the body is wcllprotcctcd and
over protected in a scalSkin garment.
the lower part is very Shabbily clothed
so far As warmth goes. The cold sour
ricS up the poorly clad legs, which the
short petticoatS -handsosnclv cmbroid-
cred 10 protect. With the clothing
of the body So unevcnly distributed. is
il any wonder that the children ALWAYS
have colds? \ good wooden undcrgar-
mcnt, cut Ia fit the body. arms. legs and
al. and worn next 10 the skin. would do
more for the welfare of her children than
all the SealSkin coats, fcathercd hats and
ornamcnted togTcry III the universe.
Tkcrc Is something atrcCious in S~acritic-
ing a child health to iincrv, or in being
50 ignorant and careless rs no: 10 know
that ii i being 50 sacrificed.
Every min men out of ten that have
achieved distinction in this country were
in childhood Injured TO plain food and
clad in cheap. often mean. apparel. No
body looks for great men or great wom-
en- from the homes of wealth where lux
ury aboundS. Accrtain amount of hard
ship seems indispensable 10 the develop
ment of character.
What i ii 10 us. who are grown 10
womanhnod or manhood. that we wore
bruadcloth, or ''lin>cy.' or silk. EN-
broidcrcd or patched garments in our
childhood, calico or india null. whether
we had ribbons, or laceS, or SaShcs. or
~ruflieS, or tincry of any sort? II is of
not the smallest real consequence. What
is of real consequence however, Is that
we had plain. nutritious food. 81 that
our bones and our teeth were properly
supplied with building material, that
we were h~calthfully cad. that we were
taught TO breathe well. TO chew urfood
well. 10 sit and walk erect, to he truth
full. honest. clean. industrious. earnest.
Ia read only good books. To take excel
lent care of our teeth. and-to speak good
English.
Ii parents could only discern bvtwccn
important and unimportant things. and
hold 10 the former and discard the lat
ter, how UNNECESSARILY the welfare Of
the race would be advanced. But they
waste and worry themselves over trifcS,
especially the mothers. who will sit up
q nights and prick their fingers sore
over some foolish bit of iinerv-and per-
hapS weep and sigh and be very unhap-
py because their little BOYS or girls can't
have hats and frock> like certain other
children. Oh NE. how foolish, Or
have money for 4 start in life" How
much money had Garfield or Lincoln.
or Edison. or Howe. the inventor of the
sewing machine. or Stephenson. or FtIl-
ton. or Christopher Columbus. or A. i.
Stewart. or Vanderbilt, pr harriet
Beecher Stowe. or John Bunvan; or
General Grant, st. Paul. or Mlchael An
I cello with which to make \ start IN
life" The best wealth To make a start
in life on. for man OF woman. Is good;
strong body, good principles, good
character and industrious habits. FER,
severance is genius. energy Is talent II
industry and economy united with tend
to-your-own-busineSS, mean competence
Mary Wdger-FiSher:: IN Rnrd. Ne"
Yorker.
R. c. kedzie has lately communi-
Gated to the public the result OF a num-
Der of careful experiments in regard 10
the comparative value of partly ripe,
lust ripe and dead ripe wheat, based on
two varieties of hard wheat. Both
kinds showed the dead ripe wheat TO De
least nutritious, the food properties hsv-