The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1902-03-24

and you can pick up a cat o. a dog by
the scruff of the neck; but you can't pick
up a child that way, so his arm serves S
a handle, by which he is lifted over hard
places greatly. to his discomfortUre. if
not positive injury, for the shoulder may
be dislocated by the strain.
When a child is old enough to sit up
any old thing is supposed to do for
chair If he has high chair his toes are
about two feet above the level Of the floor
When he graduates from the high chair
he usually has to put up with the crdn-
airy chair with his feet still suspended
IN air When he goes to school the
chances are that the seat will either be
too high for him or else it will be too low
In either or all these cases, the child is
subjected to constrained position, which
Is little short of torture, which If 1t does
not lead to absolute physical deformitieS
or disease will lead to mental instability
manifested in after life by fretfulness and
irTitability. The conformation of chair
to the lines of growing child is an al
NEST unheard of thing, yet the child can
not grow up straight in body if he Is not
supported by a proper chair chair back,
Which is to the growing child as a trellis
to vine. In fact, there are few people
today who are perfect specimens Of the
typical human figure.
Seats have been invented for schools
and will no doubt be eventually used in
All schools, which conform to the natural
lines OF the body and are adaptable to
varying dimensions of the body and limb.
put no manufacturer has made chair
for the home, which the child can call
his own, along these lines. The child's
little easy chair or rocking chair. which
ne loves so we'll and in which he locks so
cunning, is often but an altar to MolOch
on Which is sacrificed grace of form and
soundness of body Some enterprising
manufacturer may some day build a chair
which shall suit the child in all respects
beth of comfort and hygiene, but until
that day parents who can afford it cannot
90 Detter than purchase an adjustable
school chair and desk in which the child
can be trained up in the way he should
go and when he is old he will bless his
parents Tor their considerate thoughtful
ness. II this is beyond the means Of the
parent, better let the child sit on a box
adapted to his height, which can be
changed for higher one graduated to the
ch1ldS growth.
1t may be that there are children who
starye to death, but for one child that
dies OF starvation there are ninety-nine
VINO are stuffed to death. The prevalent
opinion seems to be that If the baby is
not full to the mouth and running over
ne VIII die, as they say a COW will die
II she loses her cud, but the fact is a
healthy child will go some time without
food without starving.
The good old-fashioned way, the natural
way for nursing child, is unhappily
out OF fashion. So the modern baby
must take to the bottle or nothing. Peo-
pie, reasoning falsely, seem to think that
they can make up for quality by quan-
uty If the baby cries, if he wakes up
or losses ABOUT, or behaves in any way
out of the ordinary, his mouth is imme-
dlately stopped with the bottle and he
has to drink or choke. He reminds one
or the method of examining goose, but
the papy Is destined for far better pur-
pose than pate fOie de gras. Early in
his life, probably before he can man
age 1t, he graduates from the bottle to
the spoon, but the same examining pro
cess is Kept up with added enthusiasm.
After prepared and cereal foods he soon
graduates to vegetables and meat which
are good enough in their way, if the
youngster can digest and assimilate
them. Then, last stage of all, the indul-
gent mother plies her hungry child with
pies and cakes and adds the keystone to
dyspepsia If not more acute more serious
and fatal maladies.
In Edinburgh years ago medical men,
observing that many children were
made i'll and died at Christmas time
coined the word bun fever and it is
fact that although when Christmas
comes 1t brings good cheer, it also brings
sorrow, for while healthy child may
only be made sick by indulging in too
much plum cake or pudding a child in
Ill health, or recovering from Illness NAV
die from one or two indiscretions in eat
ing. Thus many children are sacrificed
modern festivals.
AS for soothing syrups the less given
the better. Children are especially sus-
ceptible to opium. which usually forms
the active part of soothing syrups, and
If they do not die on this diet thew
grow up irritable and irresponsible. If
the baby is fretful he is probably hun
CRY or perhaps a pin is sticking into him.
satisfy hunger or pull out the pin, al
though it may kill the pain and the
baby, too.
The use of teething rings to aid a
child in cutting its teeth is almost as old
as humanity. OF course, Adam. accord
ing to the Biblical record of his creation
had no use for a teething ring, but no
doubt if Adam had kept a family record,
or still better life history Of his chill
dren, he would have referred to Gains
teething ring. Probably when Cain
chewed too hard on Ewes fingers she
gave him an old dried bone to bite on
and punch his teeth through.
1t seems hardly necessary to define the
meaning of a teething ring. Everybody
knows that it is ring or cylinder of
some substance; it may be hard 1t may
be soft, which IS given to children when
they are about six months old with the
on, and that it helps the teeth to get
out of their hiding place in the gums
This idea, however, is more theoretical
than practical, and aside from amusing
the baby and thus serving to keep him
quiet, 1t is not only more ornamental
than useful, but it is harmful and pro-
ductive of serious disease. Whether it
be hard or soft the constant rubbing of
the gums hardens them much as a loose
shoe causes cornS and the gums are ac-
tually callouSed so that instead of MAX
ing the eruption of the teeth easier it
really hinders the process and leads to
irritation and Inflammation, often neces-
stating the use of the gum lancet by the
physician Moreover the child alternate.
~ sucks or bites the ring and allows it
to dry during the intervals of rest so