Macon beacon. [volume] (Macon, Miss.) 1859-1995, 1886-08-21
CHINESE BABIES.
when and How the Celestial Youngsters
Get Their Names.

Get Their Names.
One Of the first things that happens
to a Chinese baby boy after he is born
is to he shaved. A barber comes with
. razor, and all the hair is shaved of
the poor little fellows tender scalp.
After that baby has to go 10 the barber
for his shave just as a grown man with
a beard might go in this country, but
he never seems to enjoy it, and cries
pitifully every time the sharp razor
mowS down the hair. After awhile
when the hair begins to grow thicker,
the head is not shaved all over, but is
left untouched in spots, Just as the
parents think will look pretty. Some
times there will be three tufts, each as
big round As a silver dollar, one Just
over the middle of the forehead, and
one over each ear. When the hair
grows long enough in these tufts,
is is braided and tied with a
bright cord; and then the baby looks
funny enough to a foreigner, for each
little braid stands stiifly up for about
two inches and then lops over, The
braids looks like horns on his head, and
holes are cut in his green and red cap
to let the horns come through. When
he grows older he is allowed to wear Il
queue like the men,.
When baby is about a month old he
is given his first name or milk-name,
as the Chinese call it. A feast is pre-
pared, the friends are call in, and papa
gives baby his name. This name is
used only until he is ready to 90 to
school, when a new name is given him,
and another feast is offered to the
friends, The names given to the boys
are odd to us, but they seem all right
to them. Think of being called Ink
grinder, or Promising~study, But even
this name is not kept, for when the boy
grows up and is married he takes 4 new
name, which he keeps for the rest of
his life. If baby's papa is rich, baby
is well taken care of, carried about ten
derby and amused to his heart content,
but if papa be poor, then the boy,
very likely, will be tied to IN older sis
ter's back with Il broad piece of cloth,
so that his LEGS dangle down by her
sides, and his poor little head wabbles
about over the top of the cloth, as ifhis
neck were made of india rubber. The
little nurse goes about her work or runs
at play, and never seems TO give a
thought to her little brother and his
bobbing head, and he does not seem to
mind it, for when he looks as if biz
head must almost be shaken off, he,
very likely, is fast asleep.
If baby happens to live on a boat, Il,
great many hundred thousand person,
in China do, his mamma ties a biz gourd
on his back, SO that he cannot drown il
he falls overheard, or he is tied by q
rope to some part of the boat. In sum
mer baby wears as little clothing Il,
possible, but in winter it is just the 9th
cr way; he wears all the clothing tina
can be put upon him. Except in the
northern part of China, near Pckin
where it is bitterly cold in winter, tn,
Chinese people do not have fires il
their houses, even when it is cole
enough to freeze the water into ice
Pair after pair Of trousers is put OF
baby's legs, and jacket after jacket OF
his body, until by the time he is ella,
warmly enough he is quite as broad a
he is long, and his little arms sticl
straight out from his sides, so that h,
waddles about, provided he can NOV,
at all, looking like a red and greer
pillow with Il ball IN top, and will
smaller pillows on each side where th,
arms are. 1t makes no difference II
him then how cold it is, and he sits il
the open air on his little bamboo stool
with nose and checks very red, and hi
body as warm as toast.
All this has been about boy babies
because in China girl babies are no
thought much of, and consequently al
the good times CONT to the boys
/, Household Words.