Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-01-20

~ 70 10 almost any boy
II or girl will turn out
!. ! !. !. !. ]. ! : !. ]. ! ! ! ! ! ! !.
81 S.SN worth looking at the
~ y On rest of life, provided
/d~ L~E you can make him
A~ \aS&%fT& obey directions. But
N2NM3IZ4SA if they have imbibed
LNDMIEM x .r&%E the popular version
Y. HTAH that parents have no
.LJNE right to interfere with
hepreferences of chill
dren, if they refuse to see the dentist. in time
and forget toothbrushes, if they will oyereat
at dessert and put themselves to as little
trouble in the way of washing themselves as
possible, they will have irregular teeth,
heavy faces and dull skins. Books can very
well be let alone the first eight years. which
are none too much to devote to drill in per-
sonal habits and refnements
The hair is the first care from the time the
sunshiny down begins to glisten on the
baby's head. 1t seems altogether likely
that the old plan of having babies and thin
haired children wear caps of linen lawn is a
good one. Little bald pates must be sensi-
tive, and delicate children carry this sensi-
q L
of brain and disposition to cerebral dis
orders, which need not alarm the parent, for
in these cases forewarned is forearmed. The
beautiful and gifted Sarah Coleridge writes
some recollections of her childhood which
are significant to mothers. She was poorly
and moping in her first years of childhood
even in her Uncle Southey's big generous
house. One day, as she sat on her low
stool, the picture of woe, her kindly aunt
asked what was the matter, to which came
the wall, "It's miserableP' "Well, you
will be miserable" says homely Aunt
Tricker, "if your mother doesn't put you on
a cap" and a close cap of lawn accordingly
Sarah wore the next years to her great con-
tent. Probably she had earache and neu-
ralgia in the head to account for her low
spirits.
THE MIsERIEs OF CHILDHOOD.
1t is unaccountable how much misery
children will bear without knowing enough
to complain of it or ask for relief. Thin
haired children take comfort in wearing
caps, which protect the growth of hair, but
they would oppress child with thick locks.
The wearing caps at an early age is tradi-
tional from the lace Golf of Louis XIV. at
ten months to the blue cloth hoods of German
babies, which seem born with them aud in
separable, while for the rest they are con-
tent with very abbreviated shirts.
Wash children's heads with the alkaline
yolk of raw egg beaten in rain water, rims
ing it off we'll, but do not dress the hair
with water every time it Is brushed. Use
thin bandoline, which will keep the hair
in place all day, or else vaseline which the
hair quickly absorbs all it will
take, when it should be wiped off with
bit of flannel to avoid greasiness. Teach
children to use the brush five to ten min
utes night and morning. Briskly used this
is all the stimulus the scalp will bear.
Girls should loosen their hair at night, or
when convenient, and let the air blow
through it, brushing and combing it in
current of air to carry off dust and emana-
tions This care and a clean scalp will give
strongly rooted locks. not given to falling
at any nervous disorder. If the hair is very
thin, don't cut 1t to thicken it. There are
probably as many dormant bulbs in the
scalp as there are full grown hairs, waiting
only moderate irritation of the skin and
vigor OF the child to start them growing.
Girls who desire thick hair and boys who
want mustaches ought to take hypophos-
phites or the vitalized phosphates in some
shape, remembering that little of these
things is good, but it does not follow that
more is better.
DIET COLoRS THE HAIR.
Food has more to do with the color and
thickness of the hair than is generally sus-
pected. 1t is probable that the incessant |
diet of oatmeal and milk, eaten by the Low |
land Scotch, causes the tint white locks so |
frequent among them, while the black |
Highlanders gained their color from living /
for generations on deers' flesh. The free use
of grape juice and sweet cider tends to
darken the hair in youth, and the old
fashioned tonic of rusty nails in cider shows
its effects in the darkening of pale eyebrows
and lashes, if toilet care is not forgotten.
But one must be careful not to overdo trials
of this kind. Half glass of sour cider and
iron rust three times day, hall an hour be-
fore meals, just when the faintness of
hunger begins, is enough for a child or
delicate woman.
As to eating for the complexion, the
brown bread and syrup breakfast and sup
pers produce beautiful skins and flesh that
looks as if it had the grain Of marble. But
the syrup must be reboiled and skinned
we'll, Tor most of the modern sweets, whether
of maple or cane, are so thinly made as to
ferment easily, causing extreme acidity Of
digestion, the worst thing Tor health, looks
or temper. Thin, pale children with watery
blue eyes must be kept from this pernicious
state OF things by taking charcoal lozenges
or carbonate OF ammonia, or the old domes-
tic drink of ash water, which as a cure for
indigestion or dyspepsia is far too good to
be lost. 1t is made by pouring quart of
boiling water on five heaping spoonfuls of
clean wood ashes, allowing it to settle, and
taking half cupful OF the water at the
meals, or when acldity is felt. This pre-
vents many ailments of children, including
pimples, and regulates the kidneys, which
have their influence on complexion, corpu-
lence and growth of hair.
PURE WATER A NECESSITY.
Then, to have healthy, clearfaced chill
dren, the water used not only for drinking
but for all food must be pure and preferably
soft. The scare about filters returning i'm
purities to the water is overdone. Charcoal
absorbs 100 times its wei ght of impurities
before it parts with any. The fault is in
small, imperfect filters, which, with quart
of sand and charcoal. are expected to filter
all the water for household to the end of
time. The filling should be changed
monthly, at least, and the charcoal reburnt,
while the sand is washed. When fltering
is out of the question water is much soft
ened and purified by boiling five minutes
and setting it to cool with pieces of wood
charcoal in the pitcher. The milk for chill
dren and sick people is improved by drop
ping we'll rinsed charcoal into it as it is set
away. These things have a marvellous in
fuence on the growth, health and physical
refinement of children. When you find the
women remarked for their comely complex
ions, as iu Monroe, Mich, for one place, the
native place of General Clusters beautiful
wife, you will always find remarkable
purity OF water. Girls and boys should
have the advantage of building themselves
up with the best material, and the six pail
fuls of water wherewith our human clay is
kneaded surely has much influence on blood
and brain.
Pure water and air make supple figures,
dancing footsteps and all the grace of plant
movements which are par excellence the
charm of early girlishness. Under this
stimulus girl forgets the languor, not to
say dumpishness, supposed to belong to the