Delaware gazette and state journal. (Wilmington, Del.) 1883-1902, 1893-07-27
TIMELY CHAT ABOUT Babies
Often Neglected In Life, But
Remembered in Death.
WHY MANY LITTLE ONES Die
Two Prime Necessities In the
Care of Infants.


doOrStepS. the windows, ana when the sun |
goes down, the roofs are full of thenl-I |
mean those little blossoms Of humanity |
that God has sent to this earth. pure and |
lovely. and which the inhumanity of man |
and his ignorance turns into weeds. l |
mean the children of the poor. Wherever |
you. turn, ON the other side, there are |
babies-miserable babies, happy babies. |
dirty babies, cleaner babies, dark babies |
and white babies-but none of them
possessing that absolute cleanliness which
is the right of a baby. So many OF them
are sick these hot summer days; so many
of,thein. little bits of things, are lying
y Stretched out on doorsteps gasping for
4 breath, either entirely alone, or else tended
\ by the little mother, whose years Of life
lmay be 10, but whose years Of knowledge
kAre 20. while the real mother is busy try
Wing to earn some money in the dingy place
Nthat they call home These babies of the
3ipoor. madam, are taking care of them
Selves. when your little son or daughter
X has two nurses to look after it, and is never
\ left alone by night or day, and yet these
Y little bodies came into the world with the
same right for protection that yours has.
t now CHILDREN SUFFER.
q In one street at midday there were eight
fbabies. all under year old, lying without
stitch of clothes on them, at different
X parts of the pavement, for the little
nothers had left their charges, to watch.
with morbid curiosity, the fetching out of
N 4 white box and putting it in the white
8 fearse that stood by the door. Every day
III the summer you see that badge OF
mourning, the white scarf on the tene-
f,ent house, for the poor make themselves
peorer by paying to their dead a respect
&hnt keeps them in debt for months. The
little mite that could no longer fight
Ngainst bad air, bad food, dirt and neglect
Xives a sigh of relief and closes its eyes
Moreover. Immediately il becomes person
Nof importance. The money that could not
be spent on fresh milk for it when it was
Ixliving is LITERALLY used for whisky and
n fbeer to wake" it, and next day, to the
NV Joy and delight of the entire ,neighbor-
Mood, the poor dot absolutely has flu.
Va neral. Do | object to this2 Certainly
A$ do. II the same amount of money had
" been spent to care for it when it was alive.
VI the white scarf would not have been on
M the door, and even If it hadn't, and the
n little blossom had been taken away to
VI bloom forever in the eternal gardens of
y Paradise, il would have been more sensible
n to have placed its tired body in little box,
N plain one, have It put in carriage with
its father and mother, and buried away OFF
in the country in a place that suggests
sweet rest, rather than in gaudy, I'M
truthful and money-making cemetery.
BAD AMONG THE BABIES.
1t was Mrs. Connolly who took me to
see the babies. She is trying in her quiet,
neighborly way to teach some of the
mothers the beauty and desirability of
soap and water and she wanted little
encouragement. Three earnest women
have taken room down near her, and
the neighborhood, whose doesn't dream
that they are three women whose names
are well known as fashionable ones in
London and New York, are rather sur
prised at them. They are wearing the
simplest Of calico frocks and have big,
bare room in which, beside the cots for
themselves, they have tive or six simple
lcradles. They were there a week before
anybody knew them, but Mrs. Connolly
had been helping. them all along; she
introduced some of the mothers of babies
TO them, and all began to be neighborly,
and then the story of their scheme was
told If there is any mother in that house
who has TO go out to work, or who has to
work at home and neglect the baby, they i
take care of 1t all day for a penny, and
between you and me, l think they would
take 1t in without the penny. The general
idea is that they are dressmakers who art
fond of children. / was present wher
their constituents arrived the other day.
y had gone down with a basket of baby
NJ clothes worn by more fortunate children
M The first arrival was the oldest baby
ever saw in my life; he was small for thre,
VA months. but his face looked like that of (
@ man of ninety, and Instead Of crying witt
'N beautiful loud, hearty scream, he gavl
MN queer little means as if it were too much
\ trouble TO really tell how unhappy he was
Birth, Italian mother, 49, father, near 70
The very minute his mother had gone, hi
lclothes were taken off him and prompt,
@ burned; then he was given bath, and, a
the soft sponge touched his poor little thil
Nl Body, he looked up, just as | have seen
# 1ick old man do when somebody, who wa
= kind-hearted,. wiped the perspiration OF
bis face. This old baby, was then dresse
~ IN thin nightgown and laid in one of tn
n \ cots, and in less time than it takes to tel
S1 I'll he was asleep. The next arrival wa
t. Sp American baby, and about as ba
N "A one Us 1 have ever seen. He screame
3fom the time he entered until all hi
9lpthes were taken off, and you would hay
s4rcained, too, II you had been dressed lill
llim His clothes, that were not so very baC
ware tied on him until great rings were CT
4A in his flesh, his mother having been in
IA vicious mood evidently, when she dresse
VA him. Like the other he succumbed to th
charm OF the bath and was soon asleep j
n, She little cradle in one corner of the shad
" stand the art that the poor woman do,
7lS not--that of making room cool an
sweet.
M PRACTICAL HELP EXTENDED.
The little cots were all filled, and the
was silence expressive of great joy whe
X the last baby of all came in. My friends,
'E was living, breathing, horrible evident
l4 of the truth that the sins of the fathers d
S scend upon the children until the THU
and fourth generation. 1t was mass
M disease, and yet it was dear to the wretcht
Rl looking woman who brought it in, al
s. who knew SO little how to take care of
Even these brave women shrank fro
. touching it; but one of them she who hi
land her last child to sleep under the war
NJ earth last winter, said: "Give it TO me
l.l X And the tender hands of the gentle woml
NAi bathed and dressed this awful specimen
a' H mans brutality to his own, and the rest
4 N Az thought we saw halo about her hea
The woman who brought it said:
" "A thought maybe you'd liketo have linn
adwell as the rest Mrs. Connolly, she h
uftn worrying ME to bring him, and 81
sAld, You're. so fond of your baby Y,
npght TO give it chance to get wei
* Ilmmy's mighty poor, to look at, but
bis fathers away getting drunk me Vi
Jimmy understands each other and
8luggles mp to me, and think, oh, we
7a0 matter If Tom is getting drum
ii be Is bad sometimes, he is Jimmy
fA<her.'" She was asked to sit down al
bs little neighborly. and asshe apparen,
h&d nothing TO do and didn't seem to
4uite willing to leave Jimmy wi
SfrAngers, she stayed, and hands that !,
Silmmer made tea in a swagger drawn
room in London made her cup, AnC
good one. of that drink which always d.
~ Cheer a woman, When she saw 4 suit
Giean clothes laid out for Jimmy, her
HAa nnboupded, and later OH, when
eNties began to waken up, and were Civ
&#Aet, cool milk and a bit of ice, a
y Yf&aere a baby was sick, teaspoonful