Santa Fe new Mexican. [volume] (Santa Fe, N.M.) 1898-1951, 1900-03-14
The Modern Mother.

II always smile to myself" said a
sweet old lady the other day, when I
hear old fashioned folk pooh pooh the
ways of the modern mother. l just wish
I had known as much when the stork
brought my first little one. Did l have a
thermometer to test the water Of his
bath? No, indeed, and there's no telling
how often the little cherub was nearly
parboiled. And those dreadful long tubed
nursing bottles! l understand that the
present day mother would as soon give
her little blossom a dose Of poison. /
don't wonder at it. The milk always did
sour quickly in them, and Of course 1t
never occurred to me to boil the para
phernalia. Another thing that I've no.
ticed is that this generation Of women
make such sensible mothers. They read
up to date books on baby training, and
they know such a lot about pulse beats
and temperatures and things Of that sort
that we always relied upon the family
doctor to tell us about.
II was just reading the other day."
chimed in the skeptic, that an old doctor
who has been officiating at births for 40
years says that each years crop ID a little
bit worse and more troublesome and
nervous and fussy and colicky than that
of the previous IL months"
"Don't you believe it, the sweet old
lady declared. II have always said that
a nervous mother will have a nervous
baby, although 1t doesn't invariably hap
pen that way, particularly II the baby is
not a nursing child. But your grandfa-
ther will tell you how he walked the
floor O. nights, or else how he terrorized
: q small infant by spanking or something
Of that sort. Babies have had stomach
aches and teething fracases ever since
Gain and Abel worried Eve into 4 condi-
ton of nervous p%rostration and gave
Adam a hopeless case Of insomnia.
II often think Of the time when my
first baby made this earth a paradise for
me. MY mother always superintended
the daily bath. It was a great event.
The room was got boiling hot, and all the
clothes were got out, and II a single gar
ment was overlooked and had to be hunt.
ed up after the bathing performance had
begun I was called to task for my negli-
gence in good shape. The whole family
stood about in W as the event progress
ed. Baby was dabbled as gently az IL he
were q piece Of cut glass or made Of real
lace and chiffon. We used to think that
the water must be put on carefully and
removed with the greatest gentleness. It
was all In great contrast with the work
Of the mother of today, who puts her
baby into a tubful OF water and let's him
splash and kick and enjoy life. Ny baby
was pinned SO tightly into his clothes
that when once dressed his little body
felt exactly like a bolt Of ribbon or a
pudding bag-a full, well stuffed pudding
bag. And those pins! They nearly were
the death of me. We didn't have safety
pins those days, and the most amazins
number Of the little sharp steel ones were
used. Sometimes I've undressed my
younker half a dozen times just to see II
the pin points weren't sticking In the
wrong and pain giving direction. But
It's different now. a mother told me the
other day that only . safety pin was
ussd III that wardrobe Of thsf small
daughter and that they'd bssn thinking
s~seriously Of doing away with that one,
snly they hadn't foun4 anything that ~