The Pleasantville press. (Pleasantville, N.J.) 1912-1929, 1922-07-22

in Saddle fer Which Fastener Is
Renowned-The Arab Child Sits on
Its Mothers Head-Portable Cradle
of the american Indian.
"The modern 'jo%y-riding' family that
hangs the baby in Il small hammock
in the back of the automobile where
motion of the car is no more ingeni-
than the woman of the Holy Land
who, as soon as her baby is able to
sit alone, places him astride Ter shout
der, for she thus teaches the young
ster to ride horseback and gives hin
that fearless and immovable seat in
his saddle for which the Fastener is
Washington ID. C.) headquarters OF
the National Geographic society.
Besides this, her method has many
other a~dvantages-it strengthens the
baby's back and legs, for he must
learn the proper grip in ORDER to main
tain his balance as his mother goes
unconcernedly about her work. it
leaves her arms free, strengthens and
improves her figure, expands her
chest, and gives her that grace and
ease which characterize the nov
ments Of Eastern women.
":Seon he loosens his bands from her
hair which AZ first he clutches fran
tically, having learned that trick of
holding ON with his knees.
THE boys only are carried in this
fashion, the little girls never being
thus dignifled. This is probably the
idea the Prophet Isaiah had in mind
when in describing the forthcoming
glory of Israel he says, THY daughters
on their shoulders shall be carried
Though the sculpture of ancient
Egypt and Assyrid shows that this
method of carrying children has been
a custom for at least 1000 years. many
eastern women carry their children
in a scarf slung hammockwise over
their backs, especially in their early
infancy. Others place the babies
astride their hips.
Sits on Mothers Head.
MANY of the Arab women, when
they fill their great earthenware jars
at the fountains have babies or small
children suspended in sheets from
their backs, the little fellows legs
stretched about their mothers and
their little heads peeping out at the
curious world. When the jar has been
filed, it takes the place OF the baby
on the woman's back, and the young
ster mounts his mothers shoulder or
her head, from which eminence he
may gaze out over the plain In envy
of a father who is galloping across the
sands to exercise his horse and amuse
himself with rifle practice.
among the people of Nigeria
a mother carries her newborn baby
around In a calabash shell, which re-
sembles a gourd. Though the fathers
of the tribe are said 10 be fond Of
their children, they are guilty of
carrying them.
THE kagoro women may be said to
wear their children attached some
where about their bodies. When the
baby is very young the mother puts
him on her back and holds him IN,
but he soon learns to hang on without
any assistance. If she is going any
great distance, however, she usually
lends him a little support by tying
one end of a %sail-shaped carrier made
of leather to her neck and the other
around her waist. He can thus stick
his legs out each side of her body and
rest comfortably in the sling.
Everyone knows what the Amer
lean Indian baby's portable cradle
looked like. The Indian father usually
made his new baby a wooden frame
work basket which his grandmother
covered and ~ornamented with designs
done in beads or quilts. But the infant
practically never stayed in this cradle
when he was not on a journey of some
sort. At home he developed the mus
Giles In his arms and legs by rolling
around on a bed or the grass.
Swings From House Roof.
1.-The New Guinea mother weaves a
netted bag much like a large crocheted
shopping bag. places the baby In the
bottom of 1t on a small sleeping-mat,
and hangs 1t from the roof of the
house, where it is swung gently to
and fro by anyone who cares to pull
the string. When the mother is going
on a journey she hangs the bag from
her head suspended in front of her and
with her teeth holds a mat over the
infant to keep him from the sun and
wind. She must tie a long streamer
or vine to her skirt which trails along
after her during her journey, for if
the child's spirit should wander from
It's body, there must be some conyen-
lent way of it's crawling back from
the ground.
but the little Eskimo baby has the
real 'cineh, when it III to having
a soft place to ride and to sleep in. Its
mother makes for him a bag of baby
reindeer skin and lines 1t with fur,
and then stuffs him, feet first, into the
hood at the back of her fur garments.
From its depths his beady black eyes
peer out frof YER her shoulder. When
he get to-. -avy she dumps aim out
of her rod into a snowdrift and he
chnrid D.. and COOS as H. grabs hand
~ ~. snow; when he whimpers she
{ very easily dump him out of the
hooc head foremost to feed him or
she car gently shrug MIN to Sleep