The commonwealth. (Scotland Neck, N.C.) 1896-1929, 1896-07-16
TALL AND STRAIGHT.
WINDING UP THE BABY.
This is Why they do it.
The Household.

The Household.
The people of Sweden, mainly on &C
count of their isolated position from
the rest of Europe, still maintain many
of their peculiarlties in dress and hab
Its, particularly among the peasantry
and perhaps more so in the country
of Dalecarlia, on the shores OF Lake
Silian, than in any other part OF the
country.
As YOU travel through this country
YOU begin to get a little bewildered
at the sterotyped editions of men and
BOYS that you meet at the roadside
for they seem to be dressed all alike
in their sheepskin coats-the fur side
of the coat toward the body and the
smooth white skin on the outside be-
sides this, they wear leather aprons
knee breeches, long stockings, and low
shoes.
The girls and women are also dress
ed alike in similA skeepskin coats.
only much shorter, in addition to
which they wear dark skirts, ornament
ed IN front with bright-colored striped
aprons.
On their heads they wear jaunty
little red caps, and on their feet low
shoes with the heel almost under the
middle of tho foot
The mother puts the little one in
kind of basket or sack and sings it
on her shoulder, after strapping it in
firmly so that it shall not drop out
while the mother is walking along or
performing some kind of farm labor in
the fields.
But If you want to see the real trial
OF Swedish baby you must follow me
into 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
yon can move from place to place, but
solid fixture, forming part OF the
framework of the house, with posts at
the corners ard a wooden shelf on top.
From the shelf hang down snow
white towellings, embroidered with
bright colored yarn, making a very
artistic and pretty effect against the
natural woodwork of the bed and
walls.
From the shelf hangs short, stout
strap OF 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 feasted your eyes on
this aesthetic piece of bedroom furni-
ture, you notice something like small
meal sack surlnounted by a chubby
little head, with blue eyes and faxen
hair, stuck down in an upright posi-
ton between the bedding and the side
of the bed.
You call the mothers attention to 1t
as she sits by her hand loom or spin
ming wheel, and she says, "Oh, yes,
g. that is the baby, and it Is about time
/ wound it up"
In your establishment you venture
to ask If it Is customary to wind up
babies in Sweden as we wind up clocks
to keep them in regular order for a
week. time, when she will answer you
with smile:
"Oh, no, not just the same, for we
wind our babies oftener, generally
three or more times day, and, if you
have time, I will show you how we do
It,"
She then proceeds to take the baby
from the bed and commences to un-
wind it-that is, 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 I'M
wound.
When fully released 1t is given the
freedom OF its 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.
Commencing at the feet the mother
winds it 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
toward the feet again, and SO on, until
the little one is made nearly as stiff as
a board, and put away either on the
bed or between it and the bedding in
an upright position, as when we first
discoyered it.
The process is continued, until the
child is from ten to twelve months old.
and it is the universal custom in Swe-