The record-union., 1898-12-04


eral appearance and wear their colors
openly and are not ashamed. If they
could only see themselves as others see
them the lady correspondent believes
they would be shamed into cold water
and common sense, but as it is they
gaze at each other complacently, and
the powder and rouge business is flour
ishing.
Something new for children is found
in the dolls furniture patterns now TO
be had These are doubtless an evoiu-
ton of the printed designs that are SOLD
every holiday season, to be sewed ana
stuffed into semblance of cats, dogs,
elephants brownies and Santa Claus.
The patterns are printed on muslin IN
facsimile designs of upholstered furnl-
ture. They are carefully marked to in
dicate how they should be cut out and
sewn together, Pasteboard is slipped
in to give the backs stiffness, and they
are filed with cotton to bring out the
shape The value of the little toys IS
that they teach design, cutting out,
| drawing, sewing, form and color. They
are intended to be introduced as a sup
plement work to the industrial side or
the kindergarten.
The influence of the wide attention
given in these days to child-study is
beginning to act directly upon indiyid-
uaI children. A New York woman,
| whose little 3-year-old is the object of
her fondest devotion and tenderest care,
has applied to this same little daugh-
| ter from her birth certain principles in
which she fully believes. Nurses and
assistants she has had, but it is she
herself who has been head nurse and
who has directed every hour of the
| child's existence. The first theory or
embarrassing which she did away with
| was the notion that a middle-aged or
! elderly nurse for baby is better than
a younger one. She believed that there
was danger of the waning vitality Of
| the attendant drawing from the grow
| ing and easily given-off strength of the
Child. A woman who was still young,
and yet old enough for discretion and
| stability, was selected to take care of
| the little girl. The baby slept in a crib
at the side of its nurse in a large, airy
sunny room near that occupied by the
mother. The crib which the child used
was study in itself 1t began as one
l d
| ing built up on all sides to a hight Of
fully five feet. A gate was cut on the
side of the crib opposite from the bed
| lly which means the child could be cas-
| lily put in and taken out. The hight of
| the crib was meant to secure at night a
darkened yet well-ventilated bed for
| the baby Light curtains of dalk-
green silk were hung around the crib
4 in hot a. -;l
end 10 be drawn separately, thus max
ing shield from any light there
| might be in the room The mother
believed, too, that in this way the baby
was better protected from any infu-
ence that an older person sleeping near
might exert
The care of the little one at it's night
ly bath is another special and carefully
worked out process on the part of the
mother. The child is an unusually
strong and active one, but, like many
babies, waS at first afraid of the water.
This was counteracted by keeping the
baby after it was undressed in a
blanket and letting the little feet pad
die first in the water, then splashing a
little over the legs and knees until the
plunging in of the whole body was a
/
the mother avoids touching the child
with her bare hand and never does it
with her dry hand. The baby is
wrapped in a blanket Immediately up
on being taken from the bath and is
laid on low table on which a second,
soft, fleecy, double blanket is laid.
Under cover Of the dry blanket the first
one is soon removed without particle
of the baby's body being exposed to
| the cool air of the room A rubbing
with the dry blanket between the
mothers hand and the child's body is
the next step in the process before the
little nightgown is slipped on. The
mother thinks that massage of the
baby's body with the bare, dry hand
exhausts the child's vitality.
/ Another theory that has been care
! fully carried out as the child has grown
out of infancy is TO tell no stories of
any sort at night. The transit from
bath to bed is immediate The crib is
opened when the bath begins and the
room is made ready for the night, so
that when the mother tucks the baby
in its little bed the light goes down at
that instant, and the child ready and
trained to sleep, is quietly and at once
ar rest in the cool darkened chamber.
The mother lays great emphasis upon
the rapidity of this bathing and put
ting to sleep process. She does not ap-
prove of the romp just before bed,
claiming that it uses up the vitality
just acquired from the bath and rub
bing.
/ Still another strikingly odd theory is
that child should not be led by the
bare hand. This contact at once es-
tablishes a flow from the abundant ma
ture of the child into the absorbing VI
tality of the older person. ITO obvi-
ate it," says this mother, Il always
have the baby wear silk gloves. / feel
as If / wanted to tell mothers who are
obliged to take their little children OF
tender years with them on their shop
ping expeditions that they would find
the strength of the child much more
, enduring if a glove We're intervened be-
81 tween the two hands, Some of the
| ideas of this certainly successful
mother. for her child is rarely health
full and attractive in every way, may
seem rather fanciful. It is true, how
. ever, that scientists and teachers of
j biology are paying great attention te
trifling details. The sensible woman
i "opens Marcellas listening mind" to al
!, that goes on about her. deducing from
, what she hears that which comedies
S6N~ ~ =