The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1897-06-27
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Once the engsh
The Art Dressing Season.

Among the good examples set by the
fashionable English woman is that OF
heing n mother. 1t is possible that you
NAV visit at her house formally, and you
will never know that there is anything
in the shane of a small child there. But
IL Won happen to know your hostess wei
the small people are brought in with the
dessert. dressed in the simplest and pref
TEST of clothes, and prepared by the
teaching that has been given them to
show not only their fnery, but their good
manners. The English woman, copying
the example set by the royalties, is proud
est when her family is large. She likes
TO 90 to drive in the afternoon up and
down the row showing the sons and
daughters that are so much of a credit
to her. She certainly looks her best at
these times, for the tall, slender girls,
with their beautiful hair; the big, hne-
looking babies. and the manipulating
hoys remind one of that small girl who
so many years ago announced to hef
mother, Il am glad you married into our
family, mama, because you are so pref
ty." The extremely smart woman in
New York is copying the English grande
dame. and goes out driving with her mid
gets about her, and tries her hardest to
IMPRESS the woman who rides with dog
as her companion how much She is to be
pitied.
Nv the bye. did you ever notice the
way some women hold babies, especially
the way they lift those unfortunate
limn-lookinc ones who seem to have no
more backbone than cells? 1t really does
e ~
kind of baby over her arm as if it were
scarf she were wearing. And nine times
out of ten the same woman will hold
plump baby as if it were a pitcher hlled
to the brim with cream, and which she
must not allow to move for fear some
might spill. / never saw a man who
didn't hold a baby well, and l never saw
a. baby. especially a girl baby, that was
not extremely anxious to be held by
man. 1t seems as if they realize, bless
their tiny hearts, that the arms about
them are good and strong and that at
last somebody is holding them who does
not fear dropping them. The children of
this generation-I mean the fashionable
children-are extremely handsome. and
the reason is not hard to discover. They
are dressed with the utmost simplicity
They eat simple food, which is proper
food. They take plenty of exercise, and
they are not supposed at an immature
age to be informed of Greek and Latin.
Their mothers are determined that they
shall be beautiful women and handsome
men, rising up to do them credit.
=
Speaking Of children, how many peO-
pie know the story of Dinah Maria Null
ock Craik's adopted daughter? Straight
ening some books the other night, l came
across a copy, an old, old copy, of John
Halifax, Gentleman" and almost before
l knew what | was about | was re-read-
ing that most delightful of books. Then
there came back to me the story of the
little girl whom she had loved so well.
At the funeral of her mother some one
said that her marriage bans had been
announced only the Sunday before. One
day Mrs. Craik and her husband were
out driving, and meeting some friends
were told by them that beautiful child,
a baby evidently of aristocratic birth,
had been found on stone by the way
side that morning, and, not knowing
what to do with it, the man who discov-
cred it had taken it to the town hall,
where it was waiting to be identified.
With a woman's curiosity Mrs. Craik
drove ON to see the child that had been
so cruelty treated. As she leaned over to
look at it it raised its little arms to her,
and the childless wife announced that,
having claimed her, it should be her
child. 1t went home with her, and for
weeks afterward a description of it was
advertised in all the English papers, for
Mrs. Craik did not propose to lose it just
as she had learned to love it. But no
word as to it was or where its parents
We're or who had abandoned it ever
reached its mother by adoption. As soon
as the child could understand she was
told that while she was not their daugh-
ter in the usual sense, she had been given
this father and mother by God, who had
laid her ON a rock where they might find
her.
The stone had been dug up and was in
the hall of the Craik house, and from
the time she was old enough it became
the duty of the little girl to put fresh
flowers upon it every day. Whenever a
beautiful vase was given to Miss Null
ock, a lovely jug or bit of china that
would hold flowers, it would be suggest
ed that it should be put on what was
known to the household as the "baby
StOIle. 1ue ldcL VI Tie
parentage was never made cruel story
to her, and she was surrounded so en-
tirely by love, by sweetness and the
beauty of life that each night she thank
ed God in her prayers that her dear mann
ma had found her instead Of some one
else, who might have been less gentle
and less thoughtful of her. A friend of
mine was present at her birthday fete,
the day celebrated being that one on
which she was discovered. At this her
tenth festivity she said to another little
mite, who was telling that she was IL
years old, and her grandmother a
Duchess, 'Oh, yes; but that's nothing.
I'm not an ordinary child like you. You
were only born, while l was found" The
story of this girl, now wife and moth
er, seems particularly sweet for me, and
/ think that she can have no better les
son than that given to her in the book
written by the dear dead woman who
was a loving mother to her, and be sure
that if she always remembers the quo
tation that is on its title page, the best
words that Ruskin ever wrote, her life