St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1893-03-24

In looking over the reams Of advice
hat is showered upon young mothers
one's mind is often filled with wonder,
not that so few women succeed as moth
ers. but really that any have courage TO
20 on at all. Not many are so burdened
with advice as the puzzled young
mother whose maiden aunt told her
that she must not lay the baby on its
left side because she wOuld inJure It's
heart: the nurse told her she must on
no consideration lay it on the right side
for she would thus injure Its liver;
then the next door neighbOr told her she
really must never lay it on its back,
for if she did it would surely be round
shouldered. So she called up the help
less Young father and begged him to
hold their offspring while she hunted
ND her invaluable book of advice to
Young Mothers" to find out just which
was the proper position to place the
mysterious mite to sleep; but the adj
vice is varied enough to confuse any
BODY. Mother love seems to inspire
wonderful amount of wisdom, but 1t is
sometimes overland with cast-lron sort
of regard for rules that entaA an
Endless Amount of Misery
on the children of people so possessed.
One of the inflexible rules in the old
DAYS was that children should be put to
bed and left alone In the dark. How
many of us who are nearing the top OF
III ,uinAc of
ing age sprinkle frost on our heads can
remember those dreadful nights when
with chatteEing teeth and ears
strained to catch the sounds of life down
stairs we lay half frozen with fear?
What memories of stories told around
the kitchen fire of the dOings of Raw
head and Bloody Bones. or the nightly
raid of the Were Wolf or some
other equally well-knOwn Great
ures of terror that pride alone
kept us from cOnfeSslng TO. come to us
now on sleepless nights when the lamps
are out. | sometimes think That many
children have inherited this fear OF the
dark that was so real and dreadful to
their mothers as children. a bright
woman, whose heart is i'll the right
place, talks thus of this matter in the
New York Recorder:
sleep in the Dark.
In giving advice to mothers we find it
repeated again and again that children
should always be accustomed to 90 to
sleep i'm the dark. A well-knOwn writer
saws: "On no account should they be
INDUCED in the senSeless and injurious
practice of having light in the room,
simply because they are filled with
coWardly fear of the dark"
To certain extent we agree with the
writer. 1t is always best to accustom
child to 90 10 sleep in the dark If you
are certain that he Will immediately
snuggle down in the blankets and go
auietlv and peacefully 10 sleep. But if
YOU know that your child has nervous
dread of the dark, that when you dis
appear with the light and leave him to
face the terrible, if imaginary terrors OF
that dark room, you know that he is
going to lie awake trembling and Shud-
derIng at every sound, however light,
then | saw that it is nothing short of
absolute cruelty to Oblige that child to
20 to sleep in the dark. No one who has
never experienced the sensation can
fully realize how much agony may be
crowded into the time that elapseS be-
fore sleep comes to shut out the terrible
visions that will arise in spite of all
efforts to think of something else.
Act of Humanity.
Don't you think that it wOuld be SIM
ply an act of humanity to allow such a
child a light until he or she goes to
sleep? You need not have the light IN
the room within reach of the NEEDLE
some, inquisitive little hands, but leave
a light in the adjoining room, with the
door between wide open, and botl
matches and lamp left high. safe out Of
the reach of the child. This certainly
cannot ham any child's health i'll the
brief period that usually elapses before
sleep comes to the little tired eyes, ant
who shall know how much suffering
NAV be saved the little~Ones? Certainly
if a child has never known fear OF TIT
dark-and it is every mothers duty t
guard child against such fear-the.
do not need light while going Il
sleep; but, if they are afraid, ii they ar
the least nervous about having tn
light taken away. then let them have ii
Even if the terrOrS 1t dispelS are Onl.
imaginary, they are none the less real L
the children.