The Washington times., 1895-05-19
Gareloss Nurses
In DISTRICT Parks
EVILS THAT ALWAYS RETURN
WITH THE SPRING.
Siestas and F1irtations Take
the Attention Which the
Baby Should Receive.

| pdIeiculariy attractive with the blossoms
the birds and the babies. The teclnica
seasons OF the two former classes have reaIl
passed away, and the babies alone may b.
said to be in full bloom.
These babies, the apples OF mamma 8 eve
as they are called at home, are a eiistinc
| feature OF the outdoor life in the late spring
and high summer season. Tie parks arc
OF course the haunts of these coming high
rollers and kickers of the ne xt twenty years
Any morning after breakfast, the nurses
with their charges, betake them to the
nearest park and enjoy the morning hours
and to give the little people sun bath and
a draugat of the elixir or breeze in the
shady hooks or our lovely public gardens.
| There are nurses and nurses Some of
| them come out pushing their good things
| along in pink-lined carriages under pink
shaded umbrellas to match the deciued red
or the chubby Checked ciierubiin.
AN EXUBERANT PAPA.
These glorious and dainty carriages are
usually those which are bought by an
| exuberant papa over the first orleuse
by ana Dy the paint wears away, The
pink gets 10 be rusty brown, and the
last baby rides in the family baby car
riaSe, of course, bat it lacks the iuster
which was the thing Imperative for the
initial seraph.
Other nurses, IN their own dialect.
tote the babies, While Others in Charge
OF grown-up children lead them along
lazhy into the SYLVAN siin,ies. So a
pretty park, as Franklin or LAFAYETTE in
the mornings and afternoons is a good
place to see local baby show Especially
IS this true OF Lafayette Square, where
oDServant people W i'll notice that lie
geni OF the grand French monument there
are huge bronze be Dies.
History does not tell whether these are
the babies of Lafayette, DeGrace, Brin-
villiers or D'Estaing but one thing is very
certain about theIn-they are not at The
mercy OF careless or cIGel nurses.
There is possibly no nurse so aIfectfonate,
so tender, or so interested in white baby
over which She has absolute control as one
of the veteran colored baby farmers
They are "sponsible" for the bringing up
of great majority OF the old regime of
Virginia and Maryland. The fin de steele
young coiored nurse is a different thing
They are all of them not so good and many
OF them are positively bad, careless and
cruel.
There is a fine OF So il one pIucks a
blossom from tree in the park. There
is So for the maltrcatIaent or killing OF a
miserable English sparrow, but an English
baby can be kicked, cuffed, spanked,
dragged, drugged, blistered blinded or
benumbed, ana It's uObody's business. but
that OF some Of these young friends of
so-called nurses.
A CHARACTERISTIC SCENE.
One can observe some if not all of these
phases of intense punishment TO the inno-
cents abroad in these parks. Here is a char
acteristic scene. A rUIse gets down about
II O'Clock with her baby and carriage. She
takes seat in Il cool spot. BY and by an
Ethiopian dude comes sauntering down the
alley and also takes his seat. 1t is an ap-
poiutmeut.
The world, tie time, eternity, and the
Lany are forgotten. Inc sun moves AMI tie
baby is exposed 10 the fierce heat. II he is
a good baby he suffers III silence until some
woman comes aloug and calls attention to
the burned checks aud the fever that has
begun TO rage. At night the nurse doesn't
know anything about it. and if tie little
thing dies, she knows still less about the
cause.
Here is aEother and more frequent occur
renee. The street carriage umbrella is taken
down In the shade o the park, but when the
nurse goes home, or rolls il along in Quiet
converse with her seductive swain. the baby
gets the benefit OF the binding blaze OF tt,t.
umbrella over the brunette brute by hiss side
This is more brain fever, more weak eyes,
more infants gone wrong because of the
senseless, thoughtless woman OF girl who
rolled him around in the fiery furnace.
Everybody has seen this: A child that
can walk has strayed away, first after
butterfly or q pirCi and g-ts lost in tn,,
crowd. The dreamy, snoozing nurse, who
has been up at an all-Right fandango, real
ICES that her charge has disappeared. She
IS mad when she starts from her sieSta. runs
aftef the little thing, seizes it rudely by
the arm and gives it 4 jerk that would dis
locate grown child's shoulder
She hurrieS italCng, dragging itand lectur-
ing it all the way back to her seat, where
it undergoes the purgatoraI treatment of
being kept severely and sadly alone till the
nurse goes to sleep again, when perchance
the tyrannical, brutal scene is reenacted
COST OF PEACE.
They say that some of the nurses obtain
peace from their babies at fearful cost.
Their hours OF billing and cooling must be
Tree from The annoyance OF a crying baby
who, perhaps, has been Scorched a little on
The way down to the park. Several cases
are known where a quietus has been put
on tie cnlid ny generous dose OF para
gore. Babies are easy to hypnotize with
with such dose and sleep Soundly when
drugged.
Babes asleep, or trying to sleep, on
uoupiCd-iu arms, or on faces turned down
on pillows, bathed in perspiration are not
spectacles; aHd Tor these, things
there are no possible excuses
Ferhaps one OF the saddest results on the
growing generation in these parks Is The
evil communications, and especially as ar
1ectlnS the girls. One frequently hears
passages Dc: 2 cen colsregateu flippant vi
clous nurses that no manner of cir,,,ln,t,,c,-
uon would make decent enough for pubi
cation. Sometimes it is the Billingsrate
or quarreliug, but more often the telling of
tales OF adventure, or of stories the nurses
nave heard and recount for the delect alton
OF the passing hour. Blisterng a baby's
lace, or putting him to sleep with an over
dose OF paragoric, bad as it is, is uotI,iuy
to the familiaifzatiou of Innocent uttIe
girls with the phrases ofthe slums.
There is probably not a better place in