Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-01-06

toes, the bean. I have done right"
And then, when the boy is brought to her
and placed by her side, her Joy Is COM
plete, for she knows that the moment he
was born a spear was placed In his chubby
right hand and he will grow up great
hunter after his father.
A month later the baby falls seriously ILL.,
His meanings paint wildly in his mothers
mind the picture Of a little mound, with
thorns growing upon 1t, at four cross roads
the grave of child who has died in In
fancy. And as the women pass by she be-
holds each fearfully throw a few blades Of
grass on the grave, that the ghost of the
child will not enter into her and be born
again.
But in the long night, when her heart is
well-nfgh breaking, a faint note in the
child's wail-so delicate that only savage
mothers ear could detect it-tells her that
the turning for the better has come, and
when the paternal grandfather appears at
the end of two months after birth to con-
duct the ceremony OF sitting the child up
that important little parsonage Is rietously
healthy, fat of body and sleek OF skin from
his daily bath In the juice OF plantain
leaf and subsequent vigorous rubbing with
butter. Err
Ceremony of 'Sitting up"
1t is early in the morning that the grand
father comes With the mother watching
his every movement, he places a bit Of
bark cloth near the door, and on to 1t he
lifts and sits his Growing grandson. There
the child experiences the sensation Of sit
ting up for the first time, the mother
watching him betimes, while the family
gathers for a small feast In honor of the
suspicious event.
In surprisingly short while the child
shows determination to crawl. Does
the mother sigh half regretfully, saying to
herself as she does so, I'm afraid I'll have
TO put him in short dresses, he's growing
so fast" The picture is of far different
sort. Laughing, the black mother grabs
up her child. places small bells about his
ankles and wrists, and these musical orna-
ments are the only clothes that he will
wear until, at about three years, he begins
to run around
But the picture, then?
The child has just been weaned-the Ba-
ganda mother, like many of her savage
sisters. is slow in weaving her babies. In
the village. distant two days journey by
trail, lives her husbands sworn friend. He
now stands in the presence of the mother,
having come secretly in the night to the
house. There is no need to ask why he
is come. The mother. opedient to the will
of her husband and tribal traditions, takes
a long farwell look at her child, and the
next moment he Is gone in the arms of
the friend. slipping quietly out into the
night. And the mother? She fights back
the tears, demonstration of any sort-for
she knows that 1t is best for the child. She
safety. Left at home, or placed openly in
the keeping of some friend or relative, her
husbands chief, or king for grievance or
debt, might seize the boy and sell him
into slavery.
Naming the Child.
Or. there is that picture Of ordeal at the
ceremony Of naming the child when he Is
two years old.
Four mothers, whose children have been
brought UP together for the ceremony, are
the central figures. The relatives of the
families gather round a feast; the mothers,
with plantan girdles about their chests. Sit
apart: the legitimacy Of their children Is
still to be established. The children are
seated upon mats placed near the door.
The feasting is over. Before each mother
In turn a member Of the gathering places
a vessel containing a mixture of milk beer
and water. With face tense with ex-
pectancy, each mother drops a peculiar
substance into the vessel. Praise be to the
Baganda gods, 1t floats In each case--the
children are legitimate beyond the shadow
of doubt. But II In any case the sub
stance had sunk. then a fiogging would
have been the least part of the punishment
TO her husband though she has been in all
her acts and thoughts from the day that
he won her.
And now the mothers still sitting apart,
the paternai grandfather of each child reads
the names of the child's ancestors on his
paternal side. He places the child upon the
back of strong girl, q reiative-the chubby
little legs about her waist the little hands
under hers and gripping her shoulders He
pours some of the mixture from the vessel
upon the child's head then he goes over to.
where the beaming mother is sitting with
the others. .,
Repeating to her the names of the childs
paternal ancestors. he slowly raises YES
sci containing little food. to her mouth.
She takes a bite-and then, with the hap
piest of giances In the direction of her
baby, sets to work with the other women
to prepare another feast to be served after
sunset.
The lights OF the feast burn low, the pic
ture fades from view. But with the first
rays of the morning sun 1t appears clear
and sharp ag:lin The mothers standing
by, the grandfathers give the children their
names-those of ancestors. but never of
fathers. Then the comical little heads are
shaved, the ceremony Is ended, the guests
speedily depart. and the last glimpse OF the
picture shows each mother and child alone,
the child pressed close to its mothers
bosom.
Eskimo Mother and Child.
Seated cross-legged upon the sleeping
bench OF western Greenland winter house
of turf and stone. an Eskimo mother Il
busily engaged in chewing bird skin that
It may be made pliable for fashioniug into