The Donaldsonville chief. [volume] (Donaldsonville, La.) 1871-current, 1915-09-18

In Jersey City, New Jersey, less
than two years ago, bit of a baby
was born to squalor, ignorance and
Indifference. Deserted by his father,
unwelcomed by his mother, it is a
wonder that the mite of humanity
did not fit back to the Great I'M
known, giving up life as a most un-
promising outlook.
However, he hlinked his eyes at a
grey world, reached uncertainty for
a mother-hand which yielded no re-
sponse-and raised his7uoice in a
piercing wall. 1t was tf.1 'determin-
ed, insistent wall which settled his
fate. His discouraged mother looked
at him in grim despair. A baby with
lungs like his was real handicap for
an unframed woman with her way to
earn. Who would pay wages to a wo-
man burdened with a wailing baby?
And where was the money coming
from to pay some one to keep the
baby while she worked?
1t was all the factory girls could do
to feed and clothe themselves, let
alone provide for another.
Decidedly, the situation was des-
perate So the young mother did what
hundreds of her kind have done be-
fore. In the dim, silent hours of
very, very early morning, she stole
to the City Hospital and laid her
baby, warmly wrapped, on the steps,
where she knew it would be found and
taken in, along with the milk and the
morning papers!
A harsh fate for the baby?
Not bit of it. Some women who
receive the divine gift of little child
are unworthy-and others, who are
worthy, hold out empty arms and
wait
When the fine, white-clad nurses of
the City Hospital saw the little stran-
ger thrust upon them, they sighed.
Here was another fight to be waged
against the legions of danger which
encompass the unmothered child, ar
tificial feeding, ignorance of the
childs constitutional heritage, in
stitutional instead of individual care.
But they gave the newcomer a
bath, clean clothes and a name-Ed-
ward Dean. There's no telling ~where
the name came from. Perhaps it was
suggested by chance visitor. Per-
haps it was the combination of names |
taken from those of doctors or pa
irons of the hospital. Perhaps it was T
merely the girlhood memory of a /
nurse. But Edward Dean it was, and
it was duly settled that if the young
man survived the age of weaving, he /
would be placed in an institution for
foundlings or farmed out to those
who take children for the municipal !
ity. There are many ways of dispos- t
ing of babies in big cities.
Did you ever stop to think what it I
must mean to start life thus, utterly |
detached from your own flesh and /
blood?
Perhaps the good angels who guard |
little children whispered into Edward |
Deans ear to be very good baby
and earn something better than a
number in an asylum for foundlings.
For certainly Edward developed into
model baby. No matter what the
nurses did for him, it seemed just the
right thing. Modified milk gave him
strong bones, firm flesh, sturdy mus
cles. Regular bathing and comforta-
BILE clothing gave him a soft, smooth
skin. Plenty of sleep in a well-venti-
.ated room gave him steady nerves.
And the love of the nurses, who SIM
ply could not withstand his winsome
nature, kept him smiling and happy.
The nurses. began to take pride in
the little man who was responding
wonderfully to their intelligent care
and feeding.
Then one day a meeting was held
in the city hall, meeting devoted to
babies. The chief official of the city
presided, Mayor Pagan, and the in
terest of Jersey City babies was rep
resented by DR.. Craven, chief of the
board of health. DR.. Craven held that
the babies of Jersey City were not
Just what they might be. In fact,
there were good many hundred ba-
bies in Jersey City that fell below the
standards of health and development. .
Or. Craven proposed a Better Babies ;
Contest to interest mothers and IA
theirs in the wiser care of children /;
physically, morally.
Jersey City was full of parents, ar
gued the doctor, who loved their ba-
bies and would like to have them bet I
ter babies if only they were told
how. And where could better oppor- s
sunity for learning be found than at ]
4 Better Babies Contest? /
1t was voted then and there that s