The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-06-27

l half-starved children to get well and strong, like others need have any fear that his or her shortcomings will not be condoned, when the day of reckoning comes
 1 It is not going to be then.
 How many schools did you build?' or How many libraries did you erect with your name on the cornerstone?"
 No; it is not going to be like that on the final day.
 The Recording Angel Is going to turn back the pages of his shining book and maybe wrinkle his brow a bit, but he'll say:
 "Oh, well. you have left undone two dozen and a half hundred things you ought to have done; but l note a credit slip here, saying you helped keep up a place where BABIES-dear. pink-faced, chubby handed little babies-could get well, and so you can just come right in. It will be all right, think" It would absolutely frighten you to hear Miss Pauline Embry, the sweet-faced, gentle nurse in charge of the Milk Sta tion and Dispensary for Babies, tell of the infant mortality in this civilized world of | ours.
 Last year 100000 babies died in the United States.
 Health authorities speak of 1t as the "black year."
 The summer months-June, July, Au- gust-were the period of frightful mor- tality
 Babies died like flies; and there is no
 indication that the present year will be different.
 i, I felt that "The Murder of the Inno- cents wasn't a bad way to express con ditions when Miss Embry told me that so many, many, babies die unnecessarily | from one cause or another
 "There are many more deaths among babies than from sufferers of tubercu- losis of all ages" said she. I I actually gasped.
 'It is so important to save the bables," said Miss Embry, flor once you save a baby. you've got good citizen. There l are three million babies who die annually | in the world, and do you know that the United States ranks third in infant nor | tality. Seventy per cent of these babies might be saved" "How?" I asked.
 By common sense and cleanliness" was the answer. Most of a babys ills come from improper nourishment. That Is what I am here to teach the mothers. | That is what makes this institution edu- cational in It's nature. I show the mothers | every morning how to prepare food for their babies; how to sterlize the bottles; how to keep things clean and, above all, how to care for their children" What is the most critical time in a ! baby's little life?" l asked.
 "The second summer" said Miss Elm bry. "Then he begins to be fed artif- cially. The question of proper food, there- fore,g becomes the most important thing to mother. Most inexperienced mothers attribute their childrens illnesses to what is called summer complaint If they only knew it, that Is deadlier disease ] than typhoid, smallpox, measles or near ly any other disease Just at this point Miss Embry suggest ed that I look in upon the Day Nursery part of the little home for babies.
 Passing through the neat little recep- tion room, I saw a mere slip of a girl probably IS years old-not more. She was holding tight in her arms a big blue-eyed baby Ewho was devouring a bottlesof milk, relishing it as though 1t were a Christmas turkey and cranberry sauce.
 said to the girls mother: lsht It nice to have a place like this to come with your sick baby?'
 She smiled faint glmmer of smile and said so gratefully:
 You don't know what it means to me. It is a God-send. And, oh, how I hone my baby will get we'll" There were dozens of things that I wanted to ask Miss Embry-things dis puted over every day:
 Are all babies worth saving?" was ona of the many questions in my mind. From scientific viewpoint, I mean?"
 "They are," Miss Embry asseverated You never can tell the possibilities that may develop in a child under the proper conditions. Environment is everything"
 But what about it's parentage?" I asked.
 "A child isn't responsible for that" said Miss Embry 'Take any baby and care for it properly, feed it properly, and put about it influence for good and the chances are that it will turn out to be as good a citizen as the child of model par ents."
 As I was leaving, Dr. Norborne Cooke, one of the visiting physicians, came in to pay his morning call, and I asked him to tell me what success so far the Milk Station and Dispensary for Babies was meeting with
 He replied:
 "We have done very well. feel great ly encouraged over the prospects,
 What seems to be the geratest diff