Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1903-12-09
Tho lusuy ii sablss.

with the boredom ofliying, attention
may appropriately be called to the
remedy involved in the rearing Of a
child. A baby, which to outsiders
appears to be only q hahiess and
colicky bit of albuminoid matter, has
been known repeatedly to quite
transform household.
In q recent magazine article a
clever writer has discoursed on the
luxury of children, and has urged
every family to proyideitself with at
least one boy and a school girl But
really 1t isn't necessary to wait for
them to reach school age. An infant
may be as good remedy for ennui
as child old enough to read "Iyan-
hoe" To be quite frank, most men
--if they dared express their inmost
thoughts--would prefer to skip the
first six months OF 80. A woman, Of
course, will thoroughly believe that
an little bitsie baby six months old is
just too sweet and cunning for any
use. But such a belief requires too
heavy a stretch ofthe average masou-
line imagination.
The father--tbe "proud tather," of
course-will disoreetly assent, but
with mental reservations. Perhaps
masculine vanity is responsible, for it
is difficult for man to get up a
great amount of interest in a creature
which pays no more attention to him
than it does to the stove.pipe. In
spite of this paternal indifference the
first six months are by no means
wasted. The maternal Instinct, being
nnhampered by masculine crassness,
finds all manner of signs of intelli-
gence in the most unpromising
manifestations of iufantile activity.
In the mind of the mother every
pucker of the face, every squeal,
every kick, is invested with signifi-
canoe. There is good deal ofluxury
in watching a woman's delight in a
baby, even in the first six months of
its life.
After the child is half year old
the average man begins to find it a
source of pleasure. By that time it
has become accustomed enough to
living to take an intelligent interest
in things. 1t begins to practice say
ing nonsense syllables, and repeats
long strings of "nin- nins" and
"goidn- goidns." BY degreesi it comes
to associate certain syllables with
general ideas. Thus "mum-mum-
mum" in the first stages seems to
in dicate an uneasy desire for some-
thing. AS this longing becomes more
definite it centres upon the mother
and gradually she becomes the "mum-
mu-mum" and then the "ma-ma. no a -
In the same way cha ba-ba" may be
first an expression of interest at NOV
ing objects, which gradually it's
applied to all animals and finally is
restricted to dog or perhaps COW.
A very blase person is apt to find
himself taking a decided interest in
this evolution of language-which is
only one of large group of develop
ment processes that are constantly
going on. 1t is surprising, for instance,
to observe how much of knaohk !: is
to drink out of cup when you have
no notion of how to fix your lips, or
how interesting it is to attempt to
balance an old tin pail on rocking
chair when you are just beginning to
get acquainted with the force of
gravity and the properties of matter.
The man who is bored to death with
everything finds it hard to preserve
his indifference when the baby first
begins to laugh over his homecoming.
The argument that all this pleasure
lie more than offset by the trouble
incident to caring for the infant has
always been fallacious. The fallacy
is more apparent than ever nowadays
under modern methods of child rear
ing. The twentieth century baby
isn't rocked to sleep. He is put to
bed and left alone. He isn't taken
up when he cries, and the conse-
quence is that he sleeps all night.
Occasionally a baby is nervous or
cantankerous. But the average
healthy infant, nationally treated,
doesn't produce as much insomnia
in month as strong cup of coffee
occasions in single night.
While it isn't to be denied that a
boy or girl in school is q greater
luxury than an infant, still baby is
piece of furniture not to be sneezed
at. 1t will furnish immensely more
diversion than an automobile and a
steam yacht combined. - Kansas
Star.
The State Baptist Convention of Geor.
gia has adopted resolution advising
that whiskey drinkers be excluded from
the churches and declaring that nc
church member has right to vote 70,
the legalized sale Of whiskey under any
circumstances.