Wichita eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1886-1890, 1888-04-08
WOMAN AND HOME.
HOW SOCIETY MOTHERS ARE SUP
Piled WITH WET NURSES.

.'Dinner Giving as q Professionalism
in the DishcIoth-Boxing Children's
Ears-How Women Rest-sauce for Bat
tercakes--Hints for the Household.
On West Forty-second street is modest
little establishment kept by Swiss and his
wife. The man is about 80 years old, OF gen.
| tlemanly demeanor and always plainly but
neatly dressed His wife, who appears to be
| about six years younger than he, is pre-
possessing woman OF full figure and Land
| manners. The business conducted by these
| people is peculiar, and their establishment is
| probably the only one Of the kind in New
| York, if not in the United States. At least
reporter failed to find its counterpart here,
| after considerable search, and the proprietor
| said he did not know of any rival in the city.
The business is done in two rooms. The
| main or front room is furnished something
like sitting room and is the reception room
| for visitors The second and rear room is
used for examinations. The business con-
Quoted here is the supplying Of wet nurses.
'The supplying of wet nurses or foster
mothers for infants in New York." said the
proprietor, evil now become big industry.
| Heretofore parents had considerable trouble
| IN finding good wet nurses and were liable to
be imposed upon by adventuresses. You
| know that it has always been a popular
superstition, and even an adage, that like
| father like son. and over half the world be-
| lieves in keredity They also believe that
faults and temper are received by the child
| from the mother who nurses it. Accepting
this common belief as having much of truth,
| how important it is then to be careful in the
selection Of a nurse who is to nurture the
| babe. This is not the only cause for the eXis-
tence of bureau where nurses can be sup
| piled. The vanity of women, the demands Of
! society, and several other reasons necessitate
| it. Society women nowadays, and in fact
| always have objected to the duties of ma
| ternity. Many of them dislike to raise chill
| dren on the bottle, and children often have a
| strong and uncouquerable objection to it
| themselves There are thousand kinds of
| infant food, great many of them cheap and
even dangerous nostrums, and tie ills of
| babes ere frequently attributable to poor
| food. Now we avoid all difficulties and sup
| ply women morally and physically healthy
10 mothers who object TO nursing their own
infants"
| Glow do you get them"
I'VE have agents who visit the villages
and farms near the city and the hospitals.
| We take none but the healthest women and
| guarantee their character. A number of the
most reputable physicians i'll the city have
indorsed our work. Here, you see, are some
of the Endorsements
He showed the reporter several certificates
signed by well known physicians recon-
mending the institution as needed innova-
| ton.
GLOW many of these women do you ordi-
narily have on hand!"
Casually about a dozen. You have no idea
| of how we have increased the volume of our
| business since we started here, little over q
year ago. Yes. we usually have dozen and
! sometimes more, and we don't keep them on
hand long either. Applications are coming
iii all the time, and we have recently in
creased cur force of agents"
Chow do the people proceed who want
such paternal help."
sWell, if the mother of an infant is unable
TO nurse it, or refuses to do SO for fear Of dis
figuring her form or missing social entertain
ments, she gets her husband to look around
for substitute. OF course the bottle is used
great deal, but babies won't always take the
| bottle. A strong, healthy human substitute
i, the best. Instead OF advertising through
| the newspapers and getting woman whose
| connections, life and antecedents are bad
| thus endangerlng the moral character of the
child, he comes TO US VINO are responsible for
the nurses we supply. He is accompanied by
! the family physician. The nurses are brought
| out and after looking them over the father
or the doctor selects one. She is then taken
into the other room and thoroughly exam
| ined by the doctor as TO her health and gen
eral physical condition, and samples of her
milk are taken to be analysed. Ii everything
is satisfactory she is selected"
"How do you get your pay"
s'Both parties pay u.s. We get a fee from
the people needing nurse, and she pays US
commission on her wages"
How are these nurses procured. Do the.f
own children die or do they abandon themn'
sometimes their children die but many
| of them are poor country women, whose hus-
band or family has COW, upon the milk of
| which her own child is ted, while she comes
to the city to make good wages by nursing
some other woman's child she can make
| more money in nine months or so than her
| husband and the entire family could earn in
two years If they have all the qualifca-
tions demanded by the parents of the child to
be nursed, and the people are rich, they will
pay high prices. 1t is not at all unusual for
these women to get $40 and $50 a month,
board included, and handsome presents"
"Where did this business originator
81 am not sure about the locality of its
origin, but it has existed and hourished in
Paris for years. We brought it from there
| NV wife's first child died soon after its birth,
and she became wet nurse through one Of
these bureaus which are so plentiful in all
the big cities of France."-New York Even
ing Sun.