St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1885-09-24
A Suggestion for Mothers.

These sharp mornings remind me OF
the arrival of the season for one of the
unwilling fortunes of the innOcents,
concerning which wish could reach.
in protest, every mothers ear. Name
ly, the putting of the modern strait
Jackets of merinO or knit wool next the
delicate skin of the warm, sensitive
little ones. They are put to sleep IN
them and awake wet with perspiratiOn,
infinitely more exposed to cold. But
that is not the worst of it. heard a
little twO-year old scream in answer to
representations against throwing him
self outside the blankets in cold
room in mid winter, ~ want to take
cold, | want to be dead" And | think
older persons would have felt the
same, had an examination of back and
shoulders after wearing this very soft
wool shirt IL few hours shown Grim
son rash, as of mustard paste. |
have known a little one, too sleepy or
too frantic from the nervous irritation
to locate the trouble, cry "Mamma
take" (when doubtless he meant take
off the garment,) for an hour together,
even after repeated spankings crying,
81 can't STOP" and violently throwing
off the arms of the beloved nurse who
took him up to quiet him by rocking.
The child was allowed to go to sleep
after hours of misunderstood rolling
and sobbing on the outside of the bed,
and the morning bath revealed only Il
hot skin, feeling little stiff and
thickened to the touch, but which
would not have attracted attention
enough to have caused the flannel to
l.. Inl hn oh hn
plaintively, "My back ! My back "
with a sob, in memory of the terrible
night passed, when nurse and papa
could not understand and relieve the
torture which few grown people could
have borne. These are experiences
with many duplicates. Elasticity of
undergarments, if they can be felt
moved by the breathing, is only an
aggravatiOn so far as the nerves are
concerned. The comfortable English
children, rich or poor, wear light
flannel undergarment, cut widening
from the armhOles downward, and
with shir-string run about the neck
to make it higher or lower according to
change of temperature, as also their
gowns are made. Wool close to the
skin is not uncomfortable on the limbs,
but only where the breathing causes
an effect on the skin similar to an I'M
intermtted tickling or crawling. A
few hours experience of my own re-
minded me of Edmond About's tale of
the man tortured to death merely by
having one hair at a time extracted
minute 10y minute for hours.
In n very loose garment one can lift
the contact from any nervous spot 10y
IA shrug, but the sOftest elastic wool
garments cling rs necessarily us an ar
titicial and sm0thercd skin to the
writhing body. | rejoice to find so
many children's physicians beginning
to order cambria under loose tiannels.
Wool, however fine and soft, has little
hooks all along its fibre which tickle
delicate skins unendurably if able to
move on the skin, rs under night
wear; yet even snug, Straightforward
csttOn "merinO" garments cause rest
lessness. The crying evil universally
of modern dress, of children or adults,
is the clothing of the chest SO much
more warmly than the eXUremities, aud
so drawing the blood and heat from
the latter, inevitably producing in
Illumination. One often sees half the
arms and legs of little ones bare or
with but a single covering, while no
body knows how many waists are
worn. This should be reversed, or
at least equalized. The late success
full treatment of obstinate spinal-ner-
vous complaints and brain troubles by
ice-bags along the spine, where years
of treatment by external irritants had
failed, and the new report of cholera
being treated in the same manner,
show us something of the need of keep
ing the neck and back from over
heat Boston Journal.