Clinch Valley news. [volume] (Jeffersonville, Va.) 18??-2019, 1910-06-10
WHEN CHILDREN BECOME a
NUISANCE

Are children ever nuisances? \
correspondent writes: Il wish you
and all newspapers would call atten-
tion often to the old, apparently for
gotten, saying. children should be
seen, not heard. Fond mothers and
relatives oftener than they thinK, in
siSt upon thrusting the baby or
bright "kid" upon the attention OF
the visior in very Objectionable
manner. l like children and dogs,
but not out OF their places" We
don't suppose our correspondent
meant TO compare children with
dogs, of course not, but all the same,
there is truth in what he says, and
no doubt he has many sympathizers.
IL too frequently occurs that the ba-
by is allowed To monopolize the en-
tire time and attention of the compa-
NY present. The mother, and the
grandmother, too, think that the ba-
10y is the greatest ever, and perhaps
IL is, but The visitor cant exactly en-
Ter into their feelings. He wants 10
talk with the people not the baby.
and unless he is Il politician, seeking
votes, and finds il an uphill business
To devote all his time to the baby.
We recall a case in point, some wears
ago We paid a visit 10 the Come of
an old friend. \ daughter living in
another state, had just arrived with
her fine baby boy about one wear
old. Lille was strenuous for the en-
tire household. That baby held the
boards as we'll rs the high chair at
the table, on all occasions. The ba-
by was cit. The visitor was nit.
1t was passed around, pulled around.
kissed, talked 10, chuckled under
the chin, ETC., by every member of
/ > '~''-'N 4i"''i Sio4iN-Id anu grand
ma down TO the youngest child. OF
course there was trouble. The baby
finally bumped it's head and began
TO squall. 1t shut both eyes, opened
it's mouth, and such IA wall. Every
body grabbed ii and began TO kiss
the bumped head, rub il, hug it.
trot ii, and finally the mother took
ii and ran with it To another room
and stuffed it's little mouth full of
that which is generally a panacea
for all baby ills, and it went To
sleep. And then, every body was I'M
easy fearing that tie baby's long
deep sleep was due TO conclusion of
the brain, and it was aroused. and
passed around again. Finally it got
back into it's normal condition. The
grandfather took it and insisted
that | should take him, "iust to
see how heavy he is l did so. He
was heavy enough. He began a reg
ular onslaught on me, by pulling
my HAIR, what little 1 had, then he
tackled my cravat and pulled that
loose, and verybody laughed. Then
he tackled my collar and mussed
that. Then my watch chain. Then
my eye glasses were seized and flung
on the floor. Everybody seemed de-
lighted at the torture, My impulse
was to accidentally drop the baby, but
l was afraid he would get badly hurt
perhaps. Finally the little rascal seiz-
ed at the lapel of my coat and cts
I poor little head" came in contact with
a pin, and there was something doing
then. He yelled, and to my delight
somebody grabbed him. and there was
another scene. OF course was sorry.
or at least / said / was, and took ont
the pin ann threw it away, but really |
was not 81 sorry. If il hadn't been for
that pin that baby would have torn
me to pieces. and the mother and all
or the family would have said that If
was the 'smartest thing 10 the wolId"I
left, blessing all the babies in the
world, but wondering why otherwise
sensible people cannot see that the
place for babies is III the nursery or
some place where they cannot make
everybody miserable. We agree with
our correspondent that children NAV
sometimes be nuisance.