St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1893-08-23
KIND TO THE BABIES.
WHERE THEY FIND SHELTER WHILE
THEIR PARENTS WORK.
WORK OF THE DAY NURSERY.

Children of Tender Years Cared
For by Motherly Women :
Widows Who Find the Home
a Great Assistance-Cramped
for Want of Money-Managers
Seek New Quarters.
The attention of the passerby cannot
fail to be arrested when passing the
somewhat unpretentious house which
bears the number 146 East Ninth street
Not only will the sign DAY Nursery
attract his attention, but the dulIest
specimen of humanity would not fail tc
note that all those little tots playing
around on the small plot of ground in
front could not possibly belong to one
family. And, yet. if any one will steI
In for a moment what they will see will
remind them more of a great family,
with motherly little Mrs. Eastman at the
head, and receiving valuable assistance
from her daughter, quite as matronly
looking a person as her mother. Every
day in the year these two good women
care for the twenty or more babies who
are brought every morning by their
mothers TO the DAY Nursery"
The Nursery and Its Inmates.
Mrs. Eastman you will find very will
ing to answer the many questions that
viii suggest themselves to your mind,
as to whom the little ones belong to,
why it is necessary that they be left
with hnT hnU tho inc-itptin, =; 800
ported, etc.
In regard to the latter she will inform
you that the finances of the nursery are
taken care of by a board of fifteen lady
managers. of which Mrs. C. B. Thurs
ton IS president, and Mrs. NJ. h. East
man Is the matron.
L stopped in last evening and found
about twenty little tots from four months
to eight years of age were being cleaned
up and made ready tt 90 home with
their mothers and fathers as they called
tor them. Ii was amusing to see some
OF the ~elght-year-oid infants helping to
wash aud comb some of the more in
fantlle members OF that large family,
anu then doing themselves up. One
little boy aged eight was making des-
perate efforts to clean his small brothers.
a with the wash-rag ali rolled up
into a bail. There was a third
member of the family to which
these boys belonged, and Mrs. Eastman
told me that this trio of babies had been
cared for since the death of their mother
(Which occurred when the youngest of
the three was BORN by a father who
earned his living buying and selling
rags. He brings his three little ones to
the nursery in the morning. and comes
fnF ana nfrniNa n = U.f.rH. H. @-I.
works for a living for them, but he
bakeS their bread and washes and mends
their clothes. and, in fact, is mother as
we'll as father to them, and all the as
slstance he has is what a little ten-year-
old girl, who has Just ceased to spcAd
her days at the nursery, gives him.
"A Mothers Trial.
The prettiest baby of the home was
called for while | was there by the
mother, who was dressed SO neatly that
could hardly believe that she had done
a hard days washing, anu when Spoke
of 1t she told me that she had worked al
q house near her own home, and had RIM
over and changed her dress before con-
ing down for her baby.
Another woman called for her, four
little girls. She had not been working
Yesterday, but had been obliged to take
an afternoon to go and see a doctor, as
she mad not been very well, She said.
L was surprised when she took off the
nursery p%inafOreS that the babies weaI
while in the home to see liow neatly
dressed they were and how Well-cared-
for the childrenS' clothes seemed to be.
l asked her how she managed to get III
early enough in the morning to attend
to her babies and get them ready for
the nursery before she goes 20 her days
work. She told me that she simply got
up early and fixed the babies up, (who
were, she said. very helpfuD and then
she did as much of her work as she
could do anu let the rest wait until She
got nome al night.
Hard Working Women.
The majority of women who bring
their children TO the nursery 10 be
cared for are widows, and some few are
one whose husbands have deserted
them. they all seem to have the great.
est amount of faith in the good little
woman who cares for their little folks,
and ask her advice on all leading ques-
tons concerning the bringing up OF
their children, just at this time of the
year the women who do all the work
connected with this home have a very
aSofy OuANNh " u Jtot 90 uOOi
as the schools open they will have
SoIne relief, for most of the little
ones are old enough to 20 TO the
kIndersarteus i'll connection with
the public schools. The summer
has been such a trying one, and the To-
cation is not ali that can be desired, SC
that it has been quite an undertaking to
keep babies from fretting.
Mrs. Eastman says that there has been
very little sickness among the children
this year. and no deaths at all. The
board vf managers are now looking
around for a new location, the house
that they occupy at present being larger
than they need. and larger than they
feel tina they will be able to heat dur
ing the coming winter. They have lIol
yet been able to find anything that i,
suitable, and at the same time centrally
located, but they W determed to move
before fall, and are working with thai
| end in view. Like everybody aud every.
thing else they feel the hard times very
keeniy, but hoping that things will soor
be better they work away.