Omaha daily bee., 1883-09-27
IN RUSSIA.
How the Little Ones Arc ell For
by the state "A Peculiar
Institute Il.

ciated with rows of small boys, whose
faces have been washed and scrubbed
into q state of shininess; with good little
girls in the tidiest of pinafores and clean
est of white caps, and with nurseries in
which children of oil ages are being care
fully nurtured and tended; but all such
p~reconceived notions would, in this case,
be grievously astray. The Founding
hospital here is entirely devoted to in
fants of the tenderest age. 1t only takes
them within q few days of their birth,
and it sends them out to be nursed in
the country at six weeks old. Yet it
contains an average of 900 infants under
that age. just fancy 900 little morsels
of humanity over whose heads less than
forty-two days of life has passed collected
in one building. 1t is not difficult to OBJ
tain a permit to see it, and it well repays
y visit for those who are
fond of tiny babies. Perhaps some peo-
pie are.
After waiting some fifteen minutes in
an ante-room OH the ground floor, to
which, as the door swung to and fro,
there penetrated occasionally a feeble
sound of wailing, though certainly not of
gnashing of teeth, we were ushered into
a chamber of larger proportions, which
served rs q reception room for foundlings.
A row of little cradles were ranged along
one side, and eight of these were tenant
ed with new arrivals, who had been
washed, swathed, and ticketed, but had
not passed final inspection before being
drafted into the wards up stairs. Tiny
little brats they were, evidently from l
to 3 days old, displaying, as the curtains
over the heads of the cradles to keep off
the flies were drawn aside, mites OF heads
with blue and pink tickets, according to
sex, on the white caps which covered
them. Standing or sitting round the
room were half a dozen stout women,
each WI Al infant at her breast, proba-
bly, awaiting the appearance of some Off
cinl. A true lover of babies might well
have tarried here, although after all it
was only an EARNEST of what was to come
a sort of tidbit or Swedish smorga to
whet the appetite for the ample rspast to
follow. From this ground floor a broad
stone staircase led up to the main wards,
a row of large, we'll ventilated, white
washed rooms opening out into each other
and lighted and aired by windows at
either ends. Each of these wards con-
tanned about forty beds standing out from
the walls, while the spaces between them
were occupied by small cradles, 100 to
100 in number. Standing or sitting about,
but coming to an attitude of attention Of
visitors were escorted through, were
about as many nurses as there were beds,
and they all seemed to be pretty well oc'
oupied with their duties.
The bringing up of infants by the bot
tie is evidently q system not much in
favor of Russia. Whether the sxtrems
! of western civilization has not reached
the banks of the Neva, or a conservative
clinging to the primitive customs is still
too strong, certain it is that the Russian
, founding draws all %sustenance from the
sources provided by nature. A bountifu
supply of the nesdful was not wanting
to Judge from the stout figures and pro
nounced outlines of the providers .
4 nourishment, and the absence Of tina
: bowling which is associated in the mine
with the presence of upward of q hundres
u babies, testified to the craving of thei
hunger being ~abundantly satisfied. Their
is, by the way, one departure from es
tablished custom in other parts of tn
world that may be mentioned. ] an
told that generally when q woman want
o to dry and clothe her offspring after a re
freshing wash, she sits down and takes j
in her lap. Here she does not adop
!, this course. At half . dozen points i
the ward were tables about three fee
high, the tops padded and covered wit
clean cloths, and when All infant h.
been duly dsused in n of the littl
baths that stood handy, the nurse too
;. it to n of these tables, laid it dow
T. fiat to receive a final polishing, and the
proceeded to swathe it in q variety
napkins and bands and wrapping
70 the intricacy OF which / Gu
n not attempt to describe nov
II seemed a very convenient method, ar
OF drew forth tho encomiuIns Of the ladi
is of our party, more so, indeed, than d
~ the physical condition of most of the ss
jects that were being operated upo'
There was q pitiful display Of pinch'
and screwed-up little c~Ountenances,
puny, shriveled arms and limbs, and sv'
" the sounds Of distresn that now and tn
arose seemed to be rather feeble whil
psrings than the hearty ~Outpourings
lusty lungs. i am convinced that t
na free and independent American baby c
,al outbawl three Russians of similar age =
by weight. One ward after another va,
its repetition of that which | have sndc'
ored to describe until the babies a
Vi nurses seemed innumerable, and in
ion these reigned an air of cleanliness a
rch order that spoke emphatically of &c
management and supervision. This '
the more praiseworthy, since, from
i'h' very necessities of their duty, the nur
we're not tho trained stat to be found
OF ordinary hospitals, but amply stro
IAN healthy women, able 10 supply hourl
by ment to the fou%ndlings.
at In many cases they were the moth
in Of the children they were nursing, for
by respectable oma bringing her mi
and mere is admitted to take charge of it
q of self, il dressed in the uniform of the
!, by stitution, and taken on the staff for
OF six weeks that tho child is allowed TO
ear. main. There is u slight difference in
n of uniform these women wear, aud she
Judge they form about one-third of
q of entire staff. From the main wards
4 at were taken to the chapel, where the
we're emory Of baptism 10 performed,
was thence 10 the doctors quarters, W
ting autopsies arc made in cases Of doub
after popularity. 1t was very difficult to
,ress tain definite information Is to the ra'