Evening star., 1894-03-24


You have both, Elaine, and you are
charming. So We accept your theory un-
challenged: Please mount the platform and
give us lecture on how to become beauti-
full. and, what is more to the point, tell Us
how to retain it after we have got it," And,
amid chorus of Just the thing Nora
flung a big hassock in front of Elaine for
an impromptu platform. She was a little
disconcerted, but, with merry laugh, de-
clared that as private lectures were the
order of the day, she was perfectly willing
TO do her share in furnishing food for the
hungry mind. But what shall 1 talk
about, and where shall begin?" she asked.
Tell us where to begin to get beauty of
body and soul and mind" suggested Louise.
early?"
The cradle is a good starting place."
suggested Dorothy.
Strart Right From the Cradle.
Indeed it is,' replied the matter-of- fact
Elaine. Somebody has said that the way
to build a perfect man is to start a hun
dred years before the child is born And If
there is anything in heredity his theory is
the correct one. Men follow out this theory
with Stock and 1 don't see why it will not
hold equally good with human beings. But
as we cannot go back of the parents, the
cradle is the place to begin to make beau
tiful women and stalwart men. | have had
good deal of experience with little chill
dren in the hospitals and kindergartens of
chicago, and do you know, girls l have the
profoundest sympathy for baby. Some of
them do have such helpless mothersi Now
what sort of show for life would a baby
have that was placed in the arms of one of
us today If we didn't have mothers or sis
ters or somebody to care for it for the first
six months of its life, while we were learn
ing that II its bands We're tight 1t would
suffer just as We do in tight stays, that to-
bacco smoke will give it collie and tea and
coffee are only fit to poison it's elders? l do
certainly pity the average baby! Just think
II one OF us was taken today and pumped
/ n 10 MT ~hnx
be good to us, but could not understand our
cries, and suppose she tossed us in the air
to hear us catch our breath in fright, and
| then because we howied laid us over her
knee and trottei the breath out of us.
Suppose she chucked US under the chin to
make US laugh, and when we INDIGNANTLY
shrieked instead she filled us up with such
| slops as catnip tea and peppermint on the
| theory that when baby cried IL rad either
| the collie or was hungry. Think OF ha wing
| everybody that visited the house stuffinE
| big finger in your mouth 20 feel he teeth
| that proud mother insists are there, and
| being forced to face a glaring sun that tI.
| guest may see the color of Nour eyes.
| tell you that the first two or three wears of
| a childs life are its hardest ones and Ii is
a wonder to me that by the time n child is
| five years old it has not developed into a
perfect little fiend. There is the njuiicic Us
| humoring which effectually Spols II. and
| then come the indiscriminate spankings to
| eradicate little tricks which were taught it
| at two and thought cute, but which a. five
are forward and impertinent The child
| sees the injustice Of it, and rasenis Il in the
| only way in its power, by being worse than
| ever.
| Simple Mode of Life.
| Il think-to get back to the question of
healthy growth-that a little child is simply
| little animal, and we should have the
| same care for its we'll being thar men have
! for their blooded stock. 1t shomi be fed
| only those things that agree with il, and il
| should not be handled and is temper made
| irritable by everybody that ca me along |
| would not invite chronic dyspepsia 10y de-
| stroylng the coating of its Stom-lrn with
| strong drugs and soothing sruDs any more
| than would think of impairilg the future
| usefulness Of q fine colt or dog by dosing it
| The mother who permits her baby to tie
| stuffed with sweets that she knows DISAGREE
| with herself, or dulls it into qLietuda with
| narcotics. is paving the way for ills of
| every kind. Some babies with cousritll-
| tions of cast iron live through such trials
| and seem strong. But it is only one in
| hundred. A child to grow up in a perfectly
| healthy way should have only the plaiaest
ana simplest food 1t should be cOmfurtn-
| bly, clothed and grow up in the open air
| dot-house children never 10 amount to
anything.
There are three things that a chill mist
| nave to grow up wholesome ana gOod-corl-
| Portable clothing. plenty 20 eat and wise
training. child should be m ade 70 otey
| implicitly. But whatever ei Sc ii |, | would
not permit child to be taught things shat
II must finally 'unlearn.' My music teacher
once said to me, am forced TO spend yalu-
able time eradicating the errors Of false
training. 1t would be better If Won had
never touched piano; one never quite gets
over bad methods l think that is ;lue
with children. Some of the children IN Che
kindergarten had no training ut all, ard
the fraction left over would have beer bet
ter without any. for what they had Was of
vicious sort. horse trainer would be
discharged on the spot who was discovered
teaching a colt to kick or bite or rear, be-
| cause it looked cute when its Iuty in life
was to beat the record trotting, fer faults
| of that kind will destroy the value o. the
| animal.
Because 1t Looks Cute.
But l have seen children paid to do a
| parrot-like recitation of shady songs, to
| sully their red lips with the latest slang
and to smoke pipes or cigars just to crafty
| the taste of some inconsiderate brlIa who
| thought it smart and who liked TO see the
! wry faces made. They were not the chill
| dren of the slums, either. but Of wel-to-do
| people, who later would wonder how Provl-
| dence ever came TO affiict them with chill
| dren who would swear, drink, smoke and
| had all the other small vices. when they
| had tried SO hard to rear them right AS
| they really had after these small error; had
| grown to be habit. One mother, l rem en-
ber particularly, almost cried when she was
| relating to her pastor the trials shat she
| had with her young daughter. whom she
| characterized a regular little limb, With
| the tastes of a circus come Han yet l
| knew that when the child was small she
was bright and quick and had been tauc hit
| to do the very things that her mother wus
| then SO bitterly bewailing. She loved to
| sing, and they were at some painS . teach
| her the lines of a low song sung in variety
| theaters. because the sentiments were so
| funny as coming from her baby lips The
mother was only reaping what she sowei.
| Certainly the seeds of beauty are sown
| in every soul. If the sunlight of love and
| tender watchful care are withheld, the seed
| enough to start. it will be like the slip held
| shapen. Washington Irving said, 1T is the
| divinity within that makes the divinity with
| out: and | believe 1t. That is why I think
| that the cradle is the place to begin to make
| people beautiful. / have been a long time
| getting to it, Louise. but you see that
| think you cannot begin too early to acquire
| beauty. AS for the other question, whether
| it is ever too late-well il is never too la tie
| to do good; and the woman who wants to
| please her friends can always do so by
| making herself attractive. 1t is too deep a
| question to consider just now, except in the
| abstract, but | think that there is always a
| chance for improvement as long as one re-
tains the faculties with which they were
| born. When get too old to learn, IL is
| time for US to get out of the way. OF all
| from the woman who thinks she knows II
| all. She Is the very one who should be ia king
"beauty lessons. for she has failed to learn
| the first letter of the alphabet of beauty to
| be considerate of the feelings of others"
| ''It looks to me-" said Jennie, ref1ectively