Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1891-08-21
Thu Latest Mhim.

4
The latest fashionable 'fad" is said to
be the ostentatious display in public ny
fashionable mothers of tender interest
in their offspring. There has been With
this class long succession of favorltes,
and the period of change in each was
that on which the fashion became so
general that those who followed it were
no longer distinguished from the COM
mon herd. Among the different varie-
ties of the canine family each had its
turn. The spitz, the poodle, the
spaniel, the terrier and the ugly pug
have been fondly cheris he'd, provided
with nursery handsomely furnished,
fed upon the daintiest viands, washed
and perfumed, and bedoaked with rib
bons and jeweled collars, fondled and
kissed and taken to ride in the lap of
their mistress, and treated with the ut
most tenderness and devotion. At last
one of the patronesses of society in
search of new within hit upon device
likely to captivate all the devotees of
fashion. She had lovely boy whose
hair would curl without papers, and
she put him on the pedestal for worship.
If she wished to decline an invitation
to lunch or to card party, the new
found excuse was fear that her darl-
ing was not quite so we'll, and she could
not leave him. If the servant took him
out for walk, the mother must go
close 10y his side, and manifest her in
terest and kindness by multitude of
loving caresses that marked almost
every step Of the way. In the carriage
he supplanted the harnessed pug,
setting in his mothers lap or by her
side, and absorbing her closest atten-
ton. Her whole soul, Judging by the
outward manifestations, was wrapped
up in her darling boy, and she had eyes
aud ears and smiles for nothing else.
The fashion is taking rapidly, and
motherhood is apparently the one alb
sorbing thought. The gay woman of
the world, who in the height of the
season scarcely looked on the faces of
her children from morning to night, has
suddenly become absorbed in the care
of the sweet darlings, and processes to
devote her whole time and attention to
their nurture. 1t is said that the nurse
claims that her duties are rendered far
more arduous in homes where the new
fashion prevails. In addition to the
ordinary care she has taken of her
charge, she must now have them always
ready at an instant's warning for show
parade. Intimate friends are invited to
the nursery, into which the fond mother
rushes when the names of the visitors
are announced, and where she poses as
the interchangeable caretaker of the little
brood. Or, if the caller is not entitled
to such intimacy, the hostess excuses
herself as engaged in looking after her
household pets, or takes them with he1
to the reception room as her inseparable
companions. Those who have been ad.
mitted behind the scenes seem little
uncertain whether the children have
lost or gained by this change in the
habits of the mother. A dog of what.
ever species was usually rendered
worthless by being so carefully petted,
and the transfer of the same attention
and manifestation from similar motive
to child of the family is not, as rule,
a blessing to the new-made pet. The
prospect is good for the introduction in
time of new breed of puppies more
insutferable than their predecessors in
domestic popularity the pug and poodle.
american Ao71aiyst.