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IQ-VEN‘ . For the Hearth.
"’ HOME TALKS WITII MOTHERS.
BY MRS. MAY E. STAFFORD.
[In writing: the following article, and the articles from my pen that from mouth
to month will be published in the “ Cot Hearth,” I have tried to make them
lnterestingss well as instructive to nl! “mother" readers of our magazine. A
mother myself, I know how to sympathize with other mothers who finding them-
selves hunched upon the ocean of maternity, suddenly awake to the startling fact
that before them is something they have never studied, “How to care for the
Baby.” “Mother instinct” teaches mothers something; study and observation
teaches more. And if my little suggestions and words of advice may prove of
assistance to even one young mother, I shall feel that my efforts have not been in
vain. , Mas. Mu E. S'rA.rror.n.]
Do you believe in rocking babies to sleep? asked a young mother
a few days ago as I “cuddled”my wee two-year old Rossie prepara-
tory to rocking him and singing the lullaby that has been the last
sound to meet his ears every night during his short life.
Do I believe in rocking my baby? Certainly I do, I answered,
gathering my treasure still closer in my arms. I never heard of a
baby that was ever harmed in any way by being rocked to sleep in
mothers arms, and so long as I have sufficient strcngthito perform
this by no means arduous labor. I shall rock and continue torock
my babies to sleep. ,
I am aware that this sub'ect has been a itated to a ver reat
J 3 Y 8
extent recently. Learned men have said that it was really wrong to
rock children to sleep, Many mothers nightly undress their little
ones, and tuck them into their cribs or little beds wide awake, there
to lie until slumber falls upon the little restless form. I don’t say
that children are any worse off for being put to bed nightly awake.-
But the question is are they any better off. If they have never
known what it is to be in Mamma’s arms nestling close to her
motbcrly loving heart; to see her tender loving eyes looking down
into theirs, as she swayed gently to and fro singing a soft sweet
lullaby, then they never will miss, or look forward to anything of
the kind. The mother may have more time for other things. But
at the most it only take a little of her timeeto rock the sleepy tired
little one, and to me no time is more pleasantly spent than that half
hour after the tea-table has been cleared off, the lamp lighted and I
sit down in my low chair to“ rock baby to sleep.”
Baby might not miss the nightly rocking. He may be just as well
without it. But mothers who disapprove of the rocking process,
don't you think you miss something? I think you do. To us
mammals arms seem the most natural place for baby to nestle in,
during the time it takes for-the little form to grow quiet, the tiny
limbs to relax, and the soft white lids to close over the pure inno-
cent eyes.
At no other time do I feel quite so near Heaven. Never do
such pure sacred thoughts come to me, never do I feel subdued, so
rested and altogetherhappy and content, as when-with my treasure
gathered close, close in my arms, I sit “crooning” the over new
lullaby, “ Rocking baby to sleep.” How the mother that has been
62 ‘ THE MOTHERS’ DEPARTMENT.
in the habit of so rocking herilittle one would miss the nightly
exercise! lVhat mother does, not love to feel the soft pressure of
the little head upon her arm, to feel the soft breath upon her cheek,
and to watch the soft white eyelids droop slowly over the tired
eyes? Mothers’ on’! say it is too much trouble, or it takes too much
time to rock your baby, for if baby should be taken from you
now, you would wish you had never thought it to much trouble to
rock him, or do something for him. Mary, the gentle mother of
the ‘infant Jesus is never represented as sitting with folded arms;
or wandering. ‘about-.busy with ‘other ‘things,’ while her Heavenly
little one lies with wide-open beseeching eyes waiting for sleep to
come. No, the Baby of Babies islalways represented as lying in
the safe shelter of her mother arms. '
At the‘ most we can rock them but afew short years; soon, all tau
soon for us, they will have grown away from mother's arms. And
then how willingly, how gladly we would have them back to their
baby days again, when, knowing they are safe from all temptation,
all trouble, or evil doing, we could gather them close in the safe refuge
of ourloving mother arms, and with the pure innocent heart beating
against our’s, with the trusting baby eyes looking up into ours we
would sitsoftly singing the lullaby, rocking baby to sleep. Nay,
mother it is not a trouble, but is a mother's, sacred, holy and
blessed privilege. .
CRICKET SONGS. .
What’s the song theAcrickcts’sing-
Summer, autumn, winter, spring?
When I take my little broom
And go dusting through the room:
“ Sweep! sweep I sweep! sweep!”
“Then I go to bed at night,
Then I hear them out of sight:
" Sleep! sleep I sleep I sleep ! ”
Vllhen I wakcn, every day,
If it's sunny, then they say:
"Peep! peep! peep! peep!"
But they feel as bad as I
XVhen it rains, for then they cry:
"Weep I weep! weep! weep! ” '
-Erna! Whitney.
TACT IN THE NURSERY DURING ILLNESS.
The matron of the London Hospital, Miss Eva C. E. Liickes,
writing in Bzzbyxiood on the nursing of sick children, says:
Sick children must be left quiet rather than 15:)! quiet; their own
inclinations are admirable guides as to what is best for them in this
respect. W'e must keep our sympathies with them keenly alive,
and endeavor to understand what our little patients are feeling as
well as whatit is needful to do for them. We may reasonably try if
toys are acceptable for the moment, but if they are rejected then: is
no object in inducing a child to play. We must endeavor to soothe
it, as far as possibfe, into the restful condition it is evidently needing,
and on no account attempt to rouse the child against its inclination,
except when the administration of food or other remedies renders it
imperative to do so. On the’ other hand, if the young patient shows
a desire to play, that is a good sign initself, and it is infinitely better
to produce the wished-for toys than to risk excitement and irritation
by withholding them in what will prove a futile hope of keeping the
child absolutely quiet, supposing that line of treatment does not
commend itself to him. We can no more afford to disregard the
mental condition of juvenile patients than we can venture to ignore
it in adults, if we wish to nurse successfully.
BOOKS IN THE HOUSE.
Books are the windows through which the soul looks out. A
g house without books is like a room without windows. No man has
a right to bring up his children without surrounding them with
books, if he has the means to buy them. Itisa wrong to his family.
Children learn to read by being in the presence of books.