Omaha daily bee., 1908-11-08
The Unbiased Baby.

Don't let a microbe bite the baby"
Don't let a germ fasten its claws In his
chubby arm" Don't" don't" don't
about a thousand "don'ts" seem to be the
first course in the science of baby culture.
OF course all of us who have infants
want to have a thoroughly clean and
healthy child, an antiseptic baby, observes
the Baltimore Sun. But some Of these
germicide mothers who try to rear infants
by rule and book. as If carrying out a
recipe for cake, are likely to bring up
flaxen-haired "mollycoddles."
Two English parents have set the pace
by never kissing their own baby and never
allowing anyone else to kiss 1t and have
posted up in the hall of their house the
following set of rules:
Don't kiss the baby.
Don't handle baby unless your hands are
very, very clean.
Don't bring baby's face close to your
own or to your hair.
Don't allow baby to touch your face or
hair.
Don't talk. breathe, whistle, blow, cough
or sneeze into baby's face. We want him
to live.
Don't use your handkerchief to baby's
hands, face or mouth.
- az van appeal III
or stupid, but they are not written as a
joke or without thought. Therefore any
person infringing these rules after having
read them will incur our displeasure ex-
tremely.
Think Of a baby who has never been
kissed, never fondled, never crooned to
sleep in its mothers arms. What pleasure
does he have in life IL he can't crawl over
the floor and root around the carpet?
why, he can't even pull papa's whiskers
or mammals hair. Every time you want to
pick him up you have to wash your hands
In antiseptic soap, change your clothes to
hospital protectors and pick him up with
a porcelain kid-llfter. OF Course II you
want to keep the child absolutely free
from germs you should battle him every
hour and have him sterilized and keep him
rolled in cotton batting.
Perhaps most of us will get along with
the good old-fashioned way of rearing ba-
bies. The old saying is that each one of
us must eat his peck of dirt and II we
start young We get used to it by the time
we grow up.
The greatest men in this country have
been reared by hand" so to s~peak-reared
when the people let the kids and the
germs fight 1t out, and the germs gener-
ally got licked. We always pitied the Door
little incubator babies who could not go
back and caress the baby machine with
the same warmth of affection that they
could bestow upon the woman who rocked
them to sleep.
The antiseptic baby is a great invention,
but we will stake against It every time
the child who erawled around in the sand,
made mud pies, painted himself with chalk
or SCOT and could with ease dispose OF
thirteen fresh white dresses in a single
day. The baby that the mother holds In
her arms while she sings IT to sleep with
an old-time lullaby-the baby that can
bring his trouble to her and have them
smoothed away with a pat and a klss-is
the one who makes the man. The soft
songs that he heard as he rocked to sleep
inger in his memory like some soothing
strain to luil the cares and troubles Of life.
All the germicides and antiseptics, all the
rules and regulations. will furnish against
the trials, troubles and vicissltudes OF the
world no protection like the memory Of a
mothers love and tender kiss.
Poor little unkissed babyl