The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1896-07-13


they wear dark skirts, ornamented in
front with bright-colored striped
aprons.
On their heads they wear jaunty lit
tie red caps, and on their feet low shoes
with the heel almost under the middle
of the foot.
The mother puts the little one in
kind of basket or sack and sings it on
her shoulder, after strapping it in firm
ly so that it shall not drop out while
the mother is walking along or per-
forming some kind of farm labor in the
fields.
But If you want to see the real trial
of a Swedish baby you must follow me
into a Dalecarlia farmhouse.
AS you enter the workroom, that is
into the eating and sleeping room, your
attention is Instantly drawn to the
great double bed in the corner Of the
room, for it is not bedstead that you
can move from place to place, but a
solid fixture, forming a part of the
framework of the house, with posts at
the corners and a wooden shelf on top.
From the shelf hang down snow
white towelings, embroidered with
bright-colored yarn, making very ar
tistic and pretty effect against the nat
ural woodwork of the bed and walls.
From the shelf hangs short, stout
strap or cord, terminating in a stirrup-
shaped handle that is used to take hold
of when rising in the morning to hoist
yourself up in sitting position.
After you have Toasted your eyes en-
this aesthetic piece of bedroom furni-
ture you notice something like small
meal sack surmounted by chubby lit
tie head, with blue eyes and haxen
hair, stuck down in an upright position
between the Bedding and the side of
the bed.
You call the mothers attention to it
as she sits by her hand loom, or spin
ming wheel and she says, ooh, yes
that is the baby, and it is about time I
wound it up
In your astonishment you venture
to ask if it is customary to wind up ba-
bies in Sweden as we wind up clocks to
keep them in regular order for weeks
time, when she will answer you with a
smile:
oh, no, not just the same, for we
wind our babies oftener, generally
three or more times day, and, if you
have time, will show you how we do
it,
She then proceeds to take the baby
from the bed and begins to unwind it,
that it, to unfasten one end of long
linen band, about six or eight inches
wide, and gradually to release it, either
by turning the baby over and over or
by passing the band around the baby
as it is being gradually unwound.
When fully released it is given the
freedom Of it's legs, arms and body for
a short time, and, after being washed
and fed, she proceeds to wind it up
again with fresh linen band
Beginning at the feet the mother
winds tightly in spiral manner up
ward to the armpits, and sometimes
the arms are also laid close to the
body, and the linen band passed
around the arms and body, and round
and round towards the feet again, and
50 on, until the little one is made near
ly as stiff as board, and put away
either on the bed or between it and the
bedding in an upright position as when
we first discovered it.
Inc process is continued Until Inc
child is from ten to twelve months old,
and it is the universal custom in Swe-
den among all classes of the people,
from the lowest to the highest.
Why do the Swedish women keep Up
to this very day this peculiar method
Of winding up their infants?
Ask them and they will tell you that
it is done for the purpose of making
the children grow up tall and straight
limbed and to prevent them from be-
ing hunch- backed or bow-legged, as
well as to prevent their feet from turn
ing inward; and, as matter Of fact
there seem to be fewer deformed peo-
pie in Sweden than in some other coun-
tries where this practice of winding the
babies is not in use.
Whether or not the results are al
ways as anticipated is uncertain, but
for all that you can never prevail upon
q Swedish mother to give up her daily
practice of winding UP the baby.