The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1910-08-07

ample set by Queen Mary in paying the
closest personal attention to her children
| is bound to have its effect on society to
the great good of hundreds of baby
| aristocrats whose mothers, as was SAID
recently by the Duchess of Hamilton,
| considers that she has fulfilled all her
obligations as a mother when she has
we'll trained nurse to look after her
children.
| Queen Mary, when the royal children
were infants, used to make point OF
visiting the nursery at least twice day.
and often would remain for several
hours at a time with her children, ana
the good health which the Princess Mary
and the princes happily enjoyed is large
| ly due to the unceasing and ever-watch-
full care of their devoted mother.
There never was a period when the
babies of the very wealthy were reared
amid such luxurious surroundings as
they are today and yet. in spite of this
there never was a time when the real
welfare of the children OF the rich was
so much neglected
The amount of money spent by fash
ionable and wealthy people on luxuries
for the nursery is almost Incredible FOR
example, cot blankets made of the hhese
wool and dyed in various colors BY
highly expensive process run from $25
most double that figure. In many lux
urious nurseries baby has its morning
and evening wash in a bath lined with
the finest porcelain ornamented with
quaint designs. These are, however,
harmless luxuries; not so are the costly
preparations put into babys bath 10
keep his skin soft, and give 1T an entire
ly artificial smoothness and glossiness.
Some of these preparations are poison
Gus and highly injurious to the health
of the unhappy little victims upon
whom they are used.
One of the worst of the miseries which
the child of well-to-do parents often has
to suffer is that of being over-burdened
| with clothes.
Almost from the day of his birth the
child of wealth is often literally half
smothered in silk and lace at the time
when 1t is of the utmost Importance to
his physical well being that he should
have perfect freedom in the use of his
limbs and, above all, of his respiratory
organs, which he cannot exercise prop
erlv when overloaded with these costly
garments.
A we'll known physician recently sat
ed that he had attended many infants
whose health had been seriously, II not
permanently affected by the insane de-
sire on the part of their parents to put
a weight of costly clothing on their
lluckless babies, which must have caused
them very considerable amount of dis
comfort, and, in some cases, great
deal of suffering.
The primary cause of all the ills which
beset so many of the children of wealthy
parents is that they are left practically
altogether in the charge of their nurses
and are really seen very rarely by their
mothers.
i OF course. there are many wealthy
women in society of whom this certainly
could not be said. The Duchess of Nor
folk, for example, Is a most devoted
mother, and so, too, is the Duchess of
Portland When her grace's children
| were in the nursery, the duchess re-
nounced most of her social engagements,
and was constantly with them.
But It is undoubtedly true that the ma
jority Of wealthy women nowadays shift
as much as they can of the burden and
responsibility of motherhood on to the
shoulders of paid hireling, who, in
, spite of her many credentials and GER
. tificates, Is rarely, If ever, fitted to have
complete charge of child without the
mothers supervision.
! The suffragette movement has not
reached Japan yet, according to the Jap
. anese ambassador, who in recent
speech said fundamentally the moral
of obedience to three persons In the
T course of life to their parents, then to
their husbands, and finally to their chill
, dren, That code has come to be regarded
as quite insufficient for the modern re-
lations between men and women, and the
!. day must soon come when the rules and
t customs which had always regulated the
9 relations of the two sexes had to be
entirely recast on the principle of more
power to the women. Personally he did
not regret the movement; on the contra
nv, he was fully convinced that the real
Il progress of any nation could only be Sc
n cured by the recognition of the claims OF
woman, and the recognition by her of her
. proper place in the domain of domestic
. and social life. The women OF Japan had
not reached the stage when they de-
manded political rights. and he could moi
r help thinking that the day was long dis
+ tant when they would.
, popular and very prominent member
s of the British royal family has written
h q book. no doubt In emulation of Me
v German Emperor. Probably for reasons
). 1 of state, neither of those works will evel
be published, but the manuscript of the
British Royal Highnesses has beer
through the hands of publisher and
: he, with wonderful seif-sacrifice, pointed
out that to issue such novel would be
q unwise.
The book would probably have made his