The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1895-03-14
TAKE A LESSON FROM TABBY.
Mother Shouldn't Allow Their Babies {
BE Caressed to Excess.

You know how it is with Kittens
they mustn't be handled too much if
you want "ratters. says the Springfield
Republican,. But the baby is passed
from grandma to Third Cousin Maria;
he is tickled tossed squeezed poked
and kissed until the marvel is where the
world gets its human "ratterS.' To be
sure. there is here and there an indie
pendent baby, baby, who mods all
promiscuous cuddlings in righteous
scorn. He is not 4 popular lahy (re-
formers never are), you don't dare toss
him. yOu hesitate before troU;ng him,
and YOU would no more think of bury
inc your face in the satin folds of his
pink neck than if he were young gen
tleman of years instead of months.
Mamma and grandma call his itsty and
rchc,lous yelIs "spunN"; dip omatic
relatives get out Of it with wise mods
ald the somewhat ambiguous remark
that the world will hear from him vet.
AHd so it does. generally. 4 baby born
with sufficient firmness OF character to
regulate the inmiiartics Of iHtimatcs
will be pretty certain to have Il voice III
the worlds affairs later on, and TO some
pHrpose. If there are abuses to be done
away with-rats to be caught,as it were
he'll e keen on the scent. | don't
think Dr. PMrkhurst could have been Il
popular" baby.
1t doesn't seem aS If it would take
anything beyond aa ordinary cNiOW
mGnt OF common sense to see that if
handling is bad lor kittens it is ten times
worse for babies The average we'll
hammered infant accepts the squeezings
and tossing as peculiar conditions of an
existence he is too young to understand,
and so late is he from angel land that
he even ventures goo goo" after a
peculiarly trSng squeeze. This we
take as indicative of enjoyment, and we
squeeze again; if he protests we look
for a pin-surely, nothing but pin
would make our "ownSey dOwnsey" cry
when his little stomach was full; if he
still murmurs, we toss him. But if he
lives through what would Kill ninety
lives in cat, what does he amount to?
Look about YOU, what has he amounted
to? For one ratter how many sleek
TaDbies and Toms are there doing in
comfort? They are seldom so lost to
all sense of duty that if a mouse ran
across the floor they would not run after
it; they have even been known to sit two
hours on a stretch before a crack in the
china closet, but to 90 down cellar and
deliberately hunt rats, like a common
cat, they may not reason it out but they
don't do it.
1t is unfortunate for the kittens and
babies that their charms are of so irre-
sistible a nature, but irresistible or not,
what right has an'admiring stranger to
take liberties with the helpless little
things just because they are soft and
pretty? It's quite time some one took a
stand. Too many babies are being
'eaten up" by fond grandmas, aunties
and cousins. The country can't stand
the drain.
Another thing; it ought not to take a
physician to teach us that a tender baby
body is not to be squeezed and tossed
about like worsted ball, and that every
body's breath, or even the breath of an
extensive family circle, is not good for
baby lungs. Where is the blame?
Watch the old cat next time you take up
| her kittens to cuddle; human mothers
could take lesson from this mother
! cat.