Chapter 27

CHILDREN.

Statistics are generally very dry and uninteresting, but at times they take on a tragic interest, and the importance of the few submitted here is so great that they should command careful attention.

The definite figures used are taken from the Mortality Statistics, United States Census, and they cover the year 1912, which is the last year for which we have definite information. Reliable mortality statistics are given only in a part of the country, which is not to our credit. The population is reported in the volume as 92,309,348. The registration area, which is the area giving mortality statistics, contains 53,843,896 people. In this area the total deaths are as follows:

Under one year.............. 154,373 Under ten years............. 235,262

Taking it for granted that the infant and child mortality among the unregistered people is the same, we get the following number of deaths annually among children in the United States, in round numbers:

Under one year.............. 280,000 Under ten years............. 425,000

This is a very conservative estimate and 300,000 is usually given as the number of deaths annually among babies under the age of one year.

Even under ideal conditions a baby would occasionally die, but the deaths would be so rare that they would be the cause of surprised comment. Some become parents who have no right to be, and they bring children into the world who are not physically fit to survive, and these generally die within a few days or weeks of birth. However, these babies are but a small minority and at least ninety-nine out of a hundred should survive. Not one baby born physically fit would die if intelligently cared for, and the fact that each year we lose over one-fourth million infants under one year of age in the United States is an indictment of our lives and intelligence, and a challenge to better our ways.

Every child that is brought into the world should be given an opportunity to live. This is far from the case today. Children are so handicapped that they are stunted in body and blunted in mind, if they survive.

Suppose that every ten years an army of 4,250,000 men and women between the ages of twenty and thirty were destroyed at one time in this country! The indignation, sorrow and horror would be so great that a means would soon be found to end the periodic slaughter.

But we allow this many children under ten to be destroyed every ten years. The slaughter of the innocents does not bring forth much protest, because we are so used to it, and the babies go one by one, all over the country. The procession to the grave gives rise to this thought: "The little one is better off. Now he will suffer no more. It is the will of Providence." This is a libel on Providence, for this enormous mortality is due to parental mistakes, mistakes made mostly through ignorance, but blamable all the same. It behooves parents to obtain knowledge that will prevent such costly and fatal errors. Nature's law is the same as man's rule in this that ignorance of the law excuses no one. The results are the same whether we err knowingly or ignorantly.

It is difficult to teach people to treat their babies properly, because nearly all the information on the subject is so erroneous. When a teacher brings forth the truth but few accept it, for the vast majority are on the other side. Those parents who accept the truth find it difficult, to put it into practice, for every hand is against them. It takes more strength of character and moral courage than the average individual possesses to withstand the criticism of neighbors, friends, relatives and medical advisers.

The few who have the courage of their convictions and the right knowledge reap a rich harvest. They have babies who are well. They see their children grow up with sound bodies and clear minds. They are saved much of the worry which is the lot of parents of children raised according to conventional standards. Last, but by no means least, they have the satisfaction of giving to the race individuals who are better than their parents or the grandparents. There is much opportunity for human improvement, and the improvement will take place automatically, if we do not prevent it by going contrary to nature.

Healthy babies spring from normal, healthy parents. If they can have normal grandparents, so much the better, but inasmuch as we can not alter the past, let us give our attention to the present. If we take care of the present, the future will bring forth a population of healthy parents and grandparents, and then the babies will have full opportunity. The past has great influence, for the child of today is heir of the past, modified by the present. He who influences the present leaves his mark on the future. As individuals we do not usually accomplish much during a lifetime, but if we influence our time for the better it is hard to tell where the improvement will cease or what will be the aggregate result. A truth imparted to others acts much like a pebble cast into the water. Its influence is felt in ever widening circles.

Infancy and youth are plastic. Both body and mind are susceptible to surrounding influences. If the heredity is unfavorable it can be largely modified by favorable environments. If a child is born of unhealthy parents, but without any serious defect, and is intelligently cared for after birth, it will grow up to be healthy. On the other hand, a child born of healthy parents that is improperly cared for will become ill and perhaps die young.

In early years the habits are formed that will largely influence and control the years of maturity. Most children learn bad habits from birth. It is as easy to acquire good habits as bad ones, and as people are largely creatures of habits, every parent should aim to give his children a good start. Parents seldom do wrong intentionally, but they are careless and many of the parental habits of the race are bad, and for this the future generations must suffer.

It is easier and more economical to have healthy babies than to have sickly ones. The healthy way is the simple way. It merely means self-control, common sense and constructive knowledge on the part of the parents.

PRENATAL CARE.

It is commonly believed that a pregnant woman must eat for two. The wise woman will not increase her food intake. If she is not up to par physically at the time of conception she will generally find it advantageous to decrease the food allowance.

A healthy baby should not weigh to exceed six, or at most seven, pounds at birth. Five pounds would be better. It does not take much food to nourish an infant of that weight, and the baby does not weigh that much until shortly before birth. Most of the food is used for fuel but the amount of fuel required to heat a baby that is kept warm within the mother's body is almost negligible.

One of the first and most important requisites for having healthy children is to avoid the eating-for-two fallacy. Most people overeat, anyway, and there should be no encouragement in this line.

The results of overeating are many and serious. The mother grows too heavy or else she becomes dyspeptic. Overeating and partaking of food of poor quality are the chief causes of the ills of pregnancy. Prospective mothers can be comfortable. Pregnancy and childbirth are physiological. Normal women suffer very little inconvenience or pain. The suffering during pregnancy, the pain and accidents at childbirth are measures of the mother's abnormality. The greater the inconvenience the farther has the individual strayed from a natural life. The women who live normally from the time of conception, or before, until the birth of the baby will be surprised how little inconvenience there is.

For ideal results the father must be kind, considerate and self-controlled. It is a disagreeable fact that many men are brutal and inconsiderate of wives and unborn children. The extent of this brutality can hardly be realized by those who have had no medical experience. Perhaps the women are partly to blame, for they do not teach their boys to be considerate and kind and they leave them in ignorance of subjects that are important and that can best be taught by parents.

A pregnant woman should be mistress of her body. During this period the husband has morally no marital rights. If boys were educated by their parents on this subject they would be reasonable later on, and the average boy of fourteen or fifteen is old enough to receive such education.

Gestation should be a period of calm. All excitement and passion are harmful. The mother should be as free from annoyance as possible. Cheerfulness should be the rule. Those who are not naturally cheerful should cultivate this desirable state of mind. Gruesome and horrible topics should not be discussed. The reading should not be along tragic lines. The study of nature and the philosophy of men who have found life sweet are among the helpful mental occupations. The mental attitude has its effect, not only on the mother, but on the unborn babe. That the seed for good or evil is often planted in the child's brain before birth, according to the mental and physical condition of the mother, can hardly be doubted. Mothers who live naturally can dismiss all worry on the subject of harm coming to themselves through maternity, for there will be none. The absence of worry has a good effect on both mother and child.

The various ills from which mothers suffer are largely caused by eating for two. The overeating causes overweight in those whose nutrition is above par and indigestion in those who have but ordinary digestive capacity. Those who are overweight have too high blood pressure and those who have indigestion absorb some of the poisonous products of decomposition from the bowels. Headache is a common result. Palpitation of the heart comes from gas pressure. The abnormal blood pressure may result in albuminurea, swelling of the lower extremities and overweight of both mother and child. The morning sickness is nearly always due to excessive food intake. If this proves troublesome, reduce the amount of food and simplify the combinations. Instead of taking heavy, rich dishes, increase the amount of fresh fruits and vegetables.

The birth of a large baby is fraught with danger to mother and child. Sometimes one or both are injured and sometimes one or both die. Many women are afraid to become mothers for this reason. It would be difficult to estimate how often this fear causes law breaking, for all large cities have their medical men who grow rich through illegal practices among these women. Sometimes these doctors are among the respected members of the profession, eminent enough to have a national reputation. The financial reward is great enough to tempt men to break the law and they will continue to do so, so long as present conditions exist.

It is important for the prospective mother to be moderate in her eating. Three meals a day are sufficient. Between meals nothing but water should be swallowed. Lunching always leads to overeating.

One meal each day can consist of starchy food, but not more than one meal. Any one of the starches may be selected, the cereal products, rice, potatoes, chestnuts. If the digestion is good, take matured beans, peas or lentils occasionally, but these are so heavy that they should not be eaten very frequently and always in moderation. With the starchy food selected, take either butter or milk, or a moderate quantity of both. Sometimes it is all right to take some fruit with the starchy food, but this should be the exception, not the rule. Fruit should generally be eaten by itself or taken with non-starchy foods. Starch eating should be limited to one meal a day because an excessive amount of this food causes hardening of the tissues. The baby's bones, which should be very soft, flexible and yielding at birth, will become too hard if much starch is eaten.

Once a day some kind of proteid food may be taken, but this should also be eaten in moderation, for if it is not, degenerative changes will take place, which will manifest in some one of the disorders common to pregnancy. Eggs and the lighter kinds of meats, or nuts or fresh fish may be selected. Whatever kind of protein is taken, it should be as fresh as possible. Pork should not be used. With the protein, have either fruit or vegetables, and it does not make much difference which. No one could ask for a better meal than good apples and pecans.

Be sure to eat enough of the raw salad vegetables and of raw fruits to supply the salts needed by the body.

For the third meal have fruit. Cottage cheese, sweet or clabbered milk or buttermilk may be taken with the fruit. Do not take milk twice a day, for if it is taken twice and other proteid food once a day, too much protein is ingested.

A glass or two of buttermilk will make a good meal at any time. Dr. Waugh, who has had over forty years of experience and is well and favorably known on both sides of the Atlantic, recommends buttermilk very highly during pregnancy. Buttermilk and clabbered milk are better than the sweet milk. The lactic acid seems to have a sweetening effect on the alimentary tract. Sweet milk is constipating for many people. The buttermilk and the clabbered milk are not constipating to the same degree.

The use of fruit and vegetables has a tendency to prevent constipation. The only internal remedies for which there is any excuse are cathartics, and normal people do not need them. However, it is better to take a mild cathartic or an enema than to allow the colon to become loaded with waste. Constipation among eaters of much meat is rather a serious condition, for the waste in the colon of heavy meat eaters is very poisonous. The colonic waste in vegetarians is not so toxic.

Desserts should be used sparingly and seldom. They are not a necessity, but a habit, and if they are consumed daily they are a bad habit.

For the sake of the unborn child, avoid all stimulants and narcotics. Alcoholics and coffee should not be used. And it is best to avoid strong spices and rich gravies. A little self-denial and self-control in this line will pay great dividends in healthy, happy, contented babies, and there are no greater blessings.

The mother should be active, but should not take any violent exercise. Light work is good, but no mother should Be asked to do house-cleaning or to stand over the wash-tub. She should have the opportunity of being in the open every day, and of this opportunity she should avail herself. Why some women are ashamed of pregnancy is hard for normal-minded people to understand, for the praise of motherhood has been sung by the greatest poets and its glory depicted by the greatest painters of the world.

This sense of false modesty is responsible for much of the tight lacing during pregnancy. This is injurious to both the mother and the child, and is one of the reasons for various uncomfortable sensations. It helps to bring on the morning sickness. It is nature's intention that the young should be free and comfortable previous to birth, and for this reason a double bag is supplied between the walls of which there is fluid. The baby lies within the inner bag.

The tight lacing prevents the intended freedom, besides weakening the mother's muscles. It also aggravates any tendency there may be toward constipation and swelling of the legs. It prolongs childbirth and makes it more painful. This is too high a price to pay for false modesty and vanity.

If it is necessary to support the abdomen and the breasts for the sake of comfort, this can be done without compressing them and the support should come from the shoulders.

The skin should be given good attention, for an active skin helps to keep the blood pure and the circulation normal. Take a vigorous dry rubbing at least once a day, and twice a day would be better. A quick sponging off with cool water followed with vigorous dry rubbing is good, but the rubbing is of greater importance than the sponging. An olive oil rub is often soothing and may be taken as frequently as desired.

If there is a tendency to be ill and nervous, take a good hot bath, staying in the water until there is a feeling of ease, even if it should take more than thirty minutes, provided the heart and the kidneys are working well. Defective heart and kidney action contraindicate prolonged hot baths, but such ills will not appear if the mother lives properly. Under such conditions missing a few meals can only have good results. When eating is resumed, partake of only enough food to nourish the body, for anything beyond that builds discomfort and disease.

These hints, simple as they are, contain enough information to rob gestation and childbirth of their horrors, if they are intelligently observed. If civilized woman desires to be as painfree as the savage, she must lead the simple life.

INFANCY.

If the baby lives to be one year old, its chances of surviving are fairly good, but during the first year the mortality is appalling. Complete statistics are not available, but in places one-fifth or even one-fourth of the babies born perish during this time. The mortality is chiefly due to overfeeding and giving food of poor quality.

The average parent loves his baby. He loves the helpless little thing to death. In Oscar Wilde's words, "We kill the thing we love." The babies are killed by too much love, which takes the form of overindulgence. About thirty years ago the well known physician, Charles B. Page, wrote:

"How many healthy-born infants die before their first year is reached--babies that for months are mistakenly regarded as pictures of health--'never knew a sick day until they were attacked' with cholera infantum, scarletina, or something else. They are crammed with food, made gross with fat, and for a time are active and cunning, the delight of parents and friends--and then, after a season of constipation, a season of chronic vomiting, and a season of cholera infantum, the little emaciated skeletons are buried in the ground away from the sight of those who have literally loved them to death. This is the fate of one-third of all the children born. As a rule, babies are fed as an ignorant servant feeds the cook-stove--filling the fire-box so full, often, that the covers are raised, the stove smokes and gases at every hole, and the fire is either put out altogether, or, if there is combustion of the whole body of coals, the stove is rapidly burned out and destroyed. With baby, overheating means the fever that consumes him, and, in putting out the fire, too often the fire of life goes out also."

Fat babies are thought to be healthy babies. This is a mistake, for the fatter the baby, the more liable it is to fill an early grave. Thoughtful, knowing people realize that a child that weighs eight pounds or more at birth is an indication of maternal law breaking. Both the mother and the child will have to pay for this sooner or later. Overweight is a handicap. It prevents complete internal cleansing and combustion, without which health is impossible.

Because of the false ideas prevalent regarding weight of infants, it is well to put a little emphasis on the subject. If the mother has lived right during pregnancy, the child is often light at birth, sometimes five pounds or less. The average doctor will shake his head and say that the baby's chance to live is very small. The friends, neighbors and relatives will say the same. They are wrong. Let the parents remember that light children are not encumbered with fat, and rarely with disease. A light baby is generally all healthy baby, and if properly cared for and not overfed will thrive. Parents of such babies should be thankful, instead of being alarmed.

It is not natural for babies to weigh nine or ten pounds at birth, and when they do it is a sign of maternal wrong doing, whether she has been cognizant of it or not. Babies should not be fat, nor should they be fat when they grow older, if the best results are desired.

In babies it is better to strive for quality than for quantity.

Every mother who is capable of doing so should nurse her baby. There is no food to take the place of the mother's milk. The babies build greater strength and resistance when they are fed naturally than when they are brought up on the bottle. Babies thrive wonderfully in an atmosphere of love, and they draw love from the mother's breast with every swallow.

From the information available, which is not as complete and definite as could be desired, it appears that from six to thirteen bottle-babies die during the first year where only one breast-fed child perishes. The bottle-baby does not get a fair start. If a mother is ill and worn out she should not be asked to nurse the baby. If the mother has fever she should not risk the baby's health through nursing. Some mothers do not have enough milk to feed the baby. Nearly all who live properly give enough milk to nourish their infants at first. If there is not enough milk, the child should be allowed to take what there is in the breasts and this should be supplemented with cow's milk.

Dr. Thomas F. Harrington said recently:

"From 80 to 90 per cent. of all deaths from gastrointestinal disease among infants takes place in the artificially fed; or ten bottle-babies die to one which is breast-fed. In institutions it has been found that the death rate is frequently from 90 to 100 per cent. when babies are separated from their mothers. During the siege of Paris (1870-71) the women were compelled to nurse their own babies on account of the absence of cow's milk. Infant mortality under one year fell from 33 to 7 per cent. During the cotton famine of 1860 women were not at work in the mills. They nursed their babies and one-half of the infant mortality disappeared."

These are remarkable facts and bring home at least two truths. First, they confirm the superiority of natural feeding over that of artificial feeding. Second, they show that when the mother is not overfed the infants are healthier. During the siege of Paris food was scarce in that city. People of all classes had to live quite frugally. They could not overeat as in the untroubled time of peace and prosperity, and the result was that both the mothers and the babies were healthier. The infant mortality was only a little over one-fifth of what it was previously. If the French people had heeded the lesson the statesmen and philosophers of that nation would not today have to worry about its almost stationary population.

It would be much better if fewer children were born and those few were healthier. What good does the birth of the army of 425,000 children which perishes annually accomplish? It leaves the nation poorer in every way. A mother tired and worn with wakeful vigils, and at last left with an aching heart through the loss of her child, is not worth as much as she who has a crooning infant to love, and through her mother-love radiates kindness and good cheer to others. The conditions that weed out so many of our infants tend to weaken the survivors.

It costs too much to bring children into the world to waste them so lavishly. This may sound peculiar, but it is enlightened selfishness, which is the highest good, for it brings blessings upon all.

Artificial feeding lays the foundation for many troubles which may not manifest for several years. The bottle-fed babies are often plump, even fat, but they are not as strong as those who are fed naturally. They take all kinds of children's diseases very quickly. The glandular system, which is so readily disturbed in children, is more easily affected in bottle-fed babies. And so it comes about that they often have swollen salivary glands, or swelling of the glands of the neck or of the tonsils.

Do not be in a hurry to feed the baby after birth. Nature has so arranged that the infant does not require immediate feeding. It is a good plan to wait at least twenty-four hours after birth before placing the baby at the breast, for then all the tumult and excitement have had a chance to subside.

Many give the baby a cathartic within a few hours after birth. This is a mistake. Cathartics are irritants and it is a very poor beginning to abuse the mucous membrane of the intestinal tract immediately. This mucous membrane is delicate and in children the digestive apparatus is easily upset. Before birth there was no stomach or bowel digestion, all the nutritive processes taking place in the tissues of the little body. Gentle treatment is necessary to bring the best results. Cathartics with their harsh action on the delicate membranes are contraindicated. The mother's first milk is cathartic enough to stimulate the bowels to act, but it is nature's cathartic and does no harm.

As a rule the baby is fed too often and too much from the time of birth. If the child appears healthy the physician's recommendation will probably be to feed every two hours day and night, or every two hours during the day and every three hours at night. If the little one appears weakly these feedings are increased in number. From ten to twenty-four feedings in twenty-four hours are not uncommon and sometimes infants are nursed or given the bottle two and even three times an hour. The excuse for this is that the baby's stomach is small and cannot hold much food at a time and must for this reason be filled often, for the baby has to grow, and the more food it gets the faster it grows. The baby's stomach is small, because the little one needs very little food. The human being grows and develops for twenty to twenty-five years. This growth is slow and during babyhood the amount of nourishment needed is not great. The child, if properly taken care of, is kept warm. Hence it needs but little fuel. The ideas on food needs are so exaggerated that it is hard for parents to realize what moderate amount of food will keep a baby well nourished.

An adult in the best of health would be unable to stand such frequent food intake. He would be ill in a short time. Babies stand it no better, and the only proof of this fact needed is that in the United States at least 280,000 babies under one year of age perish annually. During babyhood nearly all troubles are nutritive ones. With the stomach and bowels in excellent condition baby defies all kinds of diseases, provided it is given the simple, commonsense attentions needed otherwise, such as being kept warm and clean in a well ventilated room. With a healthy alimentary canal, which comes with proper feeding, the little one can withstand the attack of the vast horde of germs which so trouble adult minds, also adult bodies, when people fail to give themselves proper care.

The results of too frequent feeding and overfeeding are appalling. The first ill effect is digestive disturbance. Then one or more of the ills of childhood make their appearance. These are called diseases, but they are only symptoms of perverted nutrition, though we insist on giving them names.

A healthy baby is one that is absolutely normal and well in every way. However, babies today pass for healthy when they are fat and suffering from all kinds of troubles, provided these ills can be tolerated. We need a new standard of health. Perfect health is a gift that every normal parent can bestow upon his children, and we should be satisfied with nothing short of this. Babies can and should be raised without illness, but, sad to relate, babies, who are always healthy are so rare that they are curiosities.

Many babies show signs of maternal overfeeding within a few hours or days of birth. One of the common signs is the discharge from the nose. This is aggravated by overfeeding the infant. And thus is laid the foundation, perhaps, for a lifelong catarrh. In due time various diseases such as rickets, swollen glands, formerly called scrofulous, mumps, measles, scarlet fever, diphtheria, pimples, eczema and cholera infantum, make their appearance. Parents have been taught to look for these diseases. They have been told that they belong to childhood. This is a libel on nature, for she tends in the direction of health.

The prevalent idea at present is that various germs, which are found in water, food, air and earth, are responsible for these diseases, but they are not. The fact that infants properly cared for do not develop one of them is proof enough that germs per se are unable to cause these ills. The germs play their part in most of these diseases, but it is a kindly part. They are scavengers, and attempt to rid the body of its debris and poisons. Through false reasoning they are blamed for causing disease, when in fact their multiplication is an effect. They are a by-product of disease. The so-called pathogenic bacteria never thrive in the baby's body until the infant has been overfed or fed on improper food long enough to break down its resistance.

The improper feeding not only kills an army of babies each year, but it handicaps the survivors very seriously. The degenerated condition of the system leaves every child with some kind of weakness. The foundation may be laid for indigestion, catarrhal troubles, which may or may not be accompanied with adenoids and impeded breathing, glandular troubles, often precursors of tuberculosis, in fact children may be acquiring any disease during infancy from chronic catarrh to rheumatism.

Mental ills are also results of senseless feeding. A healthy baby is happy. A sick baby is cross. Crossness and anger are mental perversions. Anger is temporary insanity. Enough overfeeding often results in mental perversity, epilepsy and even in real insanity. A healthy body gives a healthy mind. If people would care for their bodies properly, especially in the line of eating, the asylums for the insane would not be needed for their present purposes.

Another serious trouble that takes root from infant overfeeding is an abnormal craving for stimulants. This craving may later on be satisfied in many ways. Some use coffee, alcohol, habit-forming drugs. Others try to satisfy it by overeating. No matter how the sufferer proceeds to satisfy this craving, he does not cure it, for it grows upon what it is fed. Morphine calls for more morphine. Tobacco calls for more tobacco. An oversupply of food calls for more food or alcohol. The victim at last dies a martyr to his abnormal appetites.

Comparatively few of those who see the error of their ways have the will power to thrust off the shackles of habit. Very few think clearly enough and go far enough back to realize that disease and early death are so largely due to the habits formed for the infant or unborn babe by the parents. And the parents received the same kind of undesirable legacy from their parents, and so it goes, the children suffering for the sins of the parents. The cheerful part of such a retrospect is that there is much room for improvement, that we need not continue this seemingly unending chain of physical bondage to the next generation, and that if the children are not born right or treated right during infancy, there is still time to make a change for the better. Nature is kind and with will and determination a change can be made at any time that will result in betterment, provided such grave diseases have not taken hold of the body that recuperation is impossible. This is no excuse for making delays, for the longer errors are permitted the harder they are to overcome.

Three or four feedings a day are sufficient for any baby. The feedings should be arranged so that they are evenly distributed during the day, and nothing is to be given at night except water. Get a nursing bottle or two. Keep the bottles and the nipples scrupulously clean. These are to be used as water bottles. The water must also be clean. Heat it to 103 or 104 degrees Fahrenheit, so that it will be from 98 to 100 degrees warm when it enters the baby's mouth Let the baby have some water three or four times during the day, and perhaps it will want some once or twice during the night, but give it no milk at night.

Overfed babies are irritable and cry often. The mothers interpret this as a sign of hunger. Most babies do not know what hunger is. Like adults they become thirsty, but instead of getting water to quench their thirst they are given milk. This satisfies for a little while, then the irritability due to milk spoiled, in the alimentary tract causes more restlessness and crying, and they are fed again. The comedy of errors continues until it is turned into a tragedy.

How much should the baby be fed at a time? When the parents are healthy and the baby is born right and then fed but three times a day, the food intake will regulate itself. The child will not usually want more than it should have of milk, supplemented with water. The best way to begin is to let the infant take what it desires. That is, let the nursing continue while the infant manifests great pleasure and zest. When the child begins to fool with the breast or bottle, the source of nourishment should be removed immediately. The child will increase its intake gradually.

Some of the babies will take too much. The evil results will soon be evident, and then the mother must not compromise, but reduce the intake at once. The signs of over-consumption of food by the infants are the same as those shown by adults. They are discomfort and disease. The former manifests in crossness and irritability. The disease may be of any kind, ranging from a rash to a high fever.

The baby's stomach is sensitive and resents the excessive amount of food supplied. So the infant often vomits curdled milk, and some times vomits before the milk has time to curdle. This is a form of self-protection. If the mother would heed this sign by withdrawing all food until the stomach is settled, substituting water in the meanwhile, and then reduce the baby's food to within digestive capacity, there would be no more trouble. Vomiting is the infant's way of saying, "Please do not feed me until my stomach becomes normal again, and then don't give me more than I need, and that is less than I have been getting." Remember that it is nature's sign language, which never misleads, and it is so plain that any one with ordinary understanding should get its meaning, in spite of the erroneous popular teachings. After the child has vomited, feed moderately and increase its food supply as its digestive ability increases.

If the vomiting is wrongly interpreted and overfeeding is continued, either the baby dies or the stomach establishes a toleration, passing the trouble on to other parts of the body. One organ never suffers long alone. The circulation passes the disease on to other parts, assisted by the sympathetic nerves, which are present in all parts of the body.

When the stomach has established its toleration, several things may happen, only a few of which will be discussed, for the process is essentially the same, though the results appear so different. In infants whose digestive power is not very strong the excessive amount of milk curdles, as does the part that is digested. The water of the milk is absorbed, but the curds pass into the colon without being digested and they are discharged in the stool as curds. They are partly decomposed on the journey through the alimentary canal, producing poisons, a part of which is absorbed. A part remains in the colon, making the bowel discharges very offensive.

The passage of curds in the stool is a danger signal indicating overfeeding and should be heeded immediately. If it is not, the chances for a ease of cholera infantum, especially in warm weather, are great. Cholera infantum is due to overfeeding, or the use of inferior milk, or both. It is a form of milk poisoning, in which the bowels are very irritable. As a matter of self-protection they throw out a large quantity of serum, which soon depletes the system of the poor little sufferer, and death too often claims another young life. If cholera infantum makes its appearance the baby is given its best chance to live if feeding is stopped immediately, warm water given whenever desired, but not too large quantities at a time. Give no cathartics, for they irritate an already seriously disturbed mucous membrane, but give a small enema of blood-warm water once or twice a day. Keep the baby comfortable, seeing that the feet and abdomen are kept warm, but give plenty of fresh air. Medicines only aggravate a malady that is already serious enough. This disease is produced by abuse so grave that in spite of the best nursing, the baby often dies. It is easily prevented.

Strong babies with great digestive power are often able to digest and assimilate enormous quantities of milk, several quarts a day. They can not use all this food. If they could their size would be enormous within a short time. They do not find it so easy to excrete the excess as to assimilate it. The skin, kidneys, lungs and the bowels find themselves overtaxed. Often the mucous membrane of the nose and throat are called upon to assist in the elimination. These are the babies who are said to catch cold easily. Their colds are not caught. They are fed to them. This constant abuse of the mucous membrane results in inflammation, subacute in nature, or it may be so mild that it is but an irritation. The result in time may be chronic catarrh or thickening of the mucous membrane of nose and throat. While the catarrh is being firmly established adenoids are quite common.

In other cases too much of the work of excretion is thrown upon the skin. The same thing happens to this structure as happens to the mucous membrane. It is made for a limited amount of excretion and when more foreign matter, much of it of a very irritating nature, is deposited for elimination through the skin, it becomes inflamed. It itches. In a little while there is an attack of eczema. The baby scratches, digging its little nails in with a will. The infant soon has its face covered with sores and the scalp is scaly. The proper thing to do is to reduce the feeding greatly. Then the acid-producing fermentation in stomach and bowels will cease, but enough food to nourish the body will be absorbed, the skin will have but its normal work to perform, the cause of the irritation is gone and the effects will disappear in a short time. Two weeks are often sufficient to bring back the smooth, soft skin that every baby should have. The sufferers from these troubles are almost invariably overweight, and the parents wonder why their babies, who are so healthy, should be troubled thus!

Mothers owe it to their nursing babies to lead wholesome, simple lives. It is not always possible to live ideally, but every mother can eat simply and control her temper. Wholesome food and equanimity will go far toward producing healthful nourishment for the child. Stimulants and narcotics should be avoided. Meat should not be eaten more than once a day, and it would be better to use less meat and more eggs or nuts. Fresh fruits and vegetables should be partaken of daily. They are the rejuvenators and purifiers. The cereal foods should be as near natural as possible. The bread should be made of whole wheat flour mostly. If rice is eaten it should be unpolished. Refined sugar should be taken in moderation, if at all. The potatoes are best baked. Pure milk is as good for the mother as it is for the child. Highly seasoned foods or rich made dishes should be avoided. In short, the mother should live as near naturally as possible.

The importance of cheerfulness can hardly be overestimated. A nervous mother who frets or worries, or becomes mastered by any of the negative, depressing passions, poisons her babe a little with each drop of milk the child takes.

Some mothers are unable to nurse their babies. This is so because of lack of knowledge principally, for women who give themselves proper care are nearly always able to furnish nourishment for their infants. It may be that this function will be largely lost if the present preponderance of artificial feeding continues, and if various inoculations are not stopped. Some mothers find it a great pleasure to nurse their babies. Others refuse to do so for fear of ruining their figures.

No matter what the reason is for depriving the infant of its natural food, the parents should realize that its chances for health and life are diminished by this act. If intelligence and care are used in raising the bottle-fed babies only a few will die, in fact none will die under the circumstances, provided they were born with a normal amount of resistance. So it behooves parents of such babies to be extremely careful. That there are difficulties in the way, or rather inconveniences, can not be denied, but there are no insurmountable obstacles.

The best common substitute for mother's milk is cow's milk. If clean and given in moderation it will agree with the child and produce no untoward results.

Instead of using the same bottle all the time, there should be a number, so that there will be plenty of time to clean them. If three feeds are given each day, there should be six bottles. If four feeds are given, eight bottles. Use a set every other day. The bottles should be rinsed out after being used. Then boil them in water containing soda or a little lye, rinse in several waters and set them aside. If it is sunny, let them stand in the sun. Before using, rinse again in sterile water. The nipples should have equally good care. In feeding babies cleanliness comes before godliness.

Each bottle is to be used for but one feeding, and as many bottles are to be prepared as there are to be feedings for the day.

If the people live in the country it is easy to get pure milk. If in the city one should make arrangements with a reliable milk man possessed of a conscience. It is well to get the milk from a certain cow, instead of taking a mixture coming from many cows. Select a healthy animal that does not give very rich milk, such as the Holstein. She should have what green food she wants every day, grass in summer, and hay of the best quality and silage in winter. The grain ration should be moderate, for cows that are forced undergo quick degeneration. They are burned out. The cow should not be worried or whipped. She should be allowed to be happy, and animals are happy if they are treated properly. The water supply should be clean, not from one of the filthy tubs or troughs which disgrace some farms. The barn should be light and well ventilated. It should be kept clean and free from the ammonia fumes which are found in filthy stables. The cow should be brushed and the udder washed before each milking. The milker should wash his hands and have on clothes from which no impurities will fall. The first part of the milk drawn should not be put in with that which is to supply the baby. The milk should be drawn into a clean receptacle and immediately strained through sterile surgeon's cotton into glass bottles. These are to be put aside to cool, the contents not exposed to the dust falling from the air. Or the milk may be put directly into the nursing bottles and put aside in a cold place until needed. Then warm milk to 100 degrees Fahrenheit.

Pardon a little repetition: If possible let the child nurse. If there is not enough milk, let the baby take what there is and give cow's milk in addition. If it is impossible to feed the baby at the breast, get the milk from a healthy cow that is kept clean, well fed and well treated. The cow's milk should be prepared as follows: Take equal parts of milk and water. Or take two parts of milk and one part of water. Mix, and to this may be added sugar of milk in the proportion of one level teaspoonful to the quart. Before feeding raise the temperature of the milk to about 104 degrees Fahrenheit, so that it will be about 100 degrees when fed. It is best to do the warming in a water bath.

Milk should not be kept long before being used. Limit the age to thirty-six hours after being drawn from the cow. Twenty-four hours would be better. The evening milk can safely be given to the infant the next day, if proper precautions have been taken. Ordinary milk is quite filthy and upon this babies do not thrive. Make an effort to get clean milk for the baby.

The composition of human milk and cow's milk is about as follows:

==================================================================== Water Albumin Fat Sugar Salts -------------------------------------------------------------------- Human .......... 87.58 2.01 3.74 6.37 .30 Cow's .......... 87.27 3.39 3.68 4.97 .72 --------------------------------------------------------------------

The albumin in human milk is largely of a kind which is not coagulated by souring, while nearly all the albumin in cow's milk coagulates. The uncoagulated albumin is digested and taken up more easily by the baby's nutritive system than that which is coagulated. This is one of the reasons that babies do not thrive so well on cow's milk as on their natural food.

The sugar of milk is not like refined sugar. Although it is not so easily dissolved in water, and therefore does not taste as sweet as refined sugar, it is better for the child. If sugar is added to the milk, milk sugar should be used. The druggists have it in powder form.

The addition of barley water and lime to the baby's milk is folly. The various forms of modified milk do not give as good results as the addition of water and a little milk sugar, as previously described. If you believe in such modifications as the top milk method and the addition of starchy substances and lime water, I refer you to your family physician or text-books on infant feeding.

It is difficult to improve on good cow's milk. It is well to remember that the human organism is very adaptable, even in infancy. The principal factors in infant feeding are cleanliness and moderation.

Bottle-fed babies should be given fruit or vegetable juices, or both, very early and it would be well to give a little of these juices to breast-fed babies too. The latter do not require as much as the former. Begin during the first month with a teaspoonful of orange juice put into the drinking bottle once a day. Increase gradually until at four or five months the amount may be from one to two tablespoonfuls. Do not be afraid to give the orange juice because it is acid, for it splits up quickly in the stomach and is rearranged, forming alkaline salts. It is the fruit that can be obtained at nearly all seasons. It is best to get mild oranges and strain the juice. The fruit is to be in prime condition. Instead of orange juice, the juice of raw celery, spinach, cabbage, apples, blackberries and other juicy fruits and vegetables may be employed, but these juices must all come from fruits or vegetables that are in prime condition. No sugar is to be added to either the fruit or the vegetable juices.

The mother's milk coagulates in small flakes, easily acted upon by the digestive juices, after which they are readily absorbed. Cow's milk coagulates into rather large pieces of albumin which are tough and therefore rather difficult to digest. This happens when the milk is taken rapidly and undiluted. However, when diluted and taken slowly this tendency is overcome to a great degree. For this reason it is best to get nipples with small perforations.

Either pasteurization or sterilization of milk is almost universally recommended by medical men. Even those who do not believe in such procedures generally fail to condemn them without qualifying statements. For a discussion of this fallacy I refer you to the chapter on milk.

Do not give the little ones any kinds of medicines. They always do harm and never any good. If any exception is made to this, it is in the line of laxatives or mild cathartics, such as small doses of castor oil, cascara segrada or mineral waters, but there is no excuse for giving metallic remedies, such as calomel. If the babies are fed in moderation on good foods they will not become constipated. If they are imprudently handled and become constipated it is necessary to resort to either the enema or some mild cathartic. Bear in mind that such remedies do not cure. They only relieve. The cure will come when the errors of life are corrected so that the body is able to perform its work without being obstructed.

Inoculations and vaccinations are serious blunders, often fatal. The animal products that are rubbed or injected into the little body are poisonous. They are the result of degenerative changes--diseases--in the bodies of rabbits, horses, cows and other animals. Nature's law is that health must be deserved or earned. Health means cleanliness, so it really is absurd to force into the body these products of animal decay. Statistics can be given, showing how beneficial these agents are, but they are misleading. In the days of public and official belief in witchcraft it was not difficult to prove the undoubted existence of witches. Whatever the public accepts as true can with the utmost ease be bolstered up with figures.

The use of serums, bacterins, vaccines and other products of the biologic laboratory is almost an obsession today. Their curative and preventive values are taken for granted. Most of the time the children are strong enough to throw off the poisons without showing prolonged or pronounced effects, but every once in a while a child is so poisoned that it takes months for it to regain health and too often death is the end. Sometimes the death takes place a few minutes after the injection, but we are informed that the medication had nothing to do with it. To poison the baby's blood deliberately is criminal. Give the little one a fair chance to live in health. A properly cared for baby will not be ill for one single day. Knowledge and good care will prevent sickness.

A baby that is able to remain well a month or a week or a day can remain well every day.

At first a normal baby sleeps nearly all the time, from twenty to twenty-two hours a day. The infant should not be disturbed. All that should be done for it is to feed it three times a day, give it some water from the bottle three or four times a day, and keep it clean, dry and warm, but not hot.

Most babies are bathed daily. This is all right, but the baths are to be given quickly. The water should be about 100 degrees Fahrenheit. The soap should be of the mildest, such as a good grade of castile, and it should be well rinsed off, for soap permitted to remain in the pores acts as an irritant. Dry the skin so well with a soft cloth that there will be no chapping or roughness. Sores, eruptions and inflammations are signs of mismanagement. Use no powders that are metallic in character, such as zinc oxide. A dusting powder of finely ground talcum is good. If the child is kept dry and dean and moderately fed the skin will remain in good condition.

Babies do not thrive without good air. Keep the room well ventilated at all times by admitting fresh air from a source that will produce no draughts. It is not necessary to have the baby's room warm. In fact a cool room is better. When the child is to be exposed to the air, take it into a warm room. Soft coverings will keep the infant warm. The limbs should be free so that exercise can be had through unrestricted movements.

The baby should not be bothered unnecessarily. Young parents make the mistake of using the baby for show purposes. For the sake of politeness, others praise the "only baby in the world" unduly, though there are millions of others just as good. Let the child alone, thus giving it an opportunity to become as superior as the parents think it is. The showing off process creates excitement and lays the foundation for fretfulness, irritability and nervousness. The child thrives in a peaceful atmosphere. When it is awake it is well to talk to it quietly and soothingly, for thus the infant begins to learn its mother's tongue. Good language should be employed. Those who teach their children baby-talk are handicapping them, for they will soon have to unlearn this and learn real language. Baby-talk may be "cute" at eighteen months, but when children retain that mode of expression beyond the age of four or five it sounds silly.

At about the age of nine or ten months the breast-fed babe should be weaned. Gradual weaning is perhaps the best. First give one feeding of cow's milk a day and two breast feeds; then two feedings of cow's milk and one at the breast, and at last cow's milk entirely. Between the ages of nine and twelve months begin giving starchy foods. At first the child will take very little, and gradually increase. Give bread so stale that the child has to soak it with its saliva before it can swallow the bread. Working away this way, sucking the stale bread, the child learns to go through the motions of chewing, and this is valuable training. Never give bread soaked in milk and never feed milk while bread is being eaten. If the meal is to be bread and milk, give the bread either before any milk is taken, or afterwards. Starches are not to be washed down with liquids. Instead of giving stale bread, zwieback may be used. Occasionally feed a few spoons of very thin and well cooked oatmeal or whole wheat gruel, but the less sloppy food given the better, for it does not get the proper mouth treatment. The wheat products fed the child should be made from whole wheat flour, or at least three-fourths whole wheat and only one-fourth of the white flour. The refined flour is lacking in the salts that the child needs for health and growth.

Many mothers begin feeding starches when the baby is four or five months old. The child is given potatoes, bread or any other starchy food that may be on the table. This is a mistake, for the child is not prepared to digest starches at that early age. Some of the digestive ferments are practically absent during the first few months of life. Such feeding will invariably cause trouble. The baby should not be taken to the table.

It is quite generally believed that a baby should cry to exercise its lungs. A healthy, comfortable baby will do little or no crying, and it is not necessary. It is not difficult to give the little ones some exercise to fill their lungs. Babies can hang on to a finger or a thin rod tenaciously. Elevate the infant that does not cry thus a few times above the bed and let it hang for a few seconds each time. This throws the chest forward and exercises the lungs. What is more, this small amount of gymnastic work is thoroughly enjoyed. It helps to build strength and good temper. The crying helps to make the baby ill-tempered and fretful. A little crying now and then is all right, but much indicates discomfort, disease or a spoiled child. It would surprise most mothers how good babies are when they have a chance to be good.

After reading this, some are sure to ask how many ounces to feed the baby. I don't know. No one else knows. Different babies have different requirements. The key is given above. If the babies become ill it is nearly always due to overfeeding and poor food, so the proper thing to do is to reduce the food intake.

A healthy baby is a source of unending joy, while a sick one saps the mother's vitality. It is too bad that the art of efficient child culture is so little known.

CHILDHOOD.

Children may roughly be divided into two types, the robust and the more delicate or nervous ones. The robust children can stand almost all kinds of abuse with no apparent harm resulting, but the immunity is only apparent. The growing child naturally throws off disease influences easily and quickly, but if the handicap is too great the child loses out in the race.

The nervous type can not be abused with impunity, for the bodies of these delicately balanced children are easily disturbed. They must have more intelligent care than is usually bestowed upon the robust type. If the care is not forthcoming they become weak in body, with an unstable nervous system, or perish early.

Some parents complain because other people's children can do what their own can not and they wonder why. No time should be wasted in making such comparisons, for no two children are exactly alike, as no two leaves and not even two such apparently similar objects as grains of wheat are exactly alike. Therefore the care necessary varies somewhat, though it is basically the same.

If the nervous type is given proper care, good health will be the result. These children do not tolerate as much exposure or as much food as do the robust children. The important thing is to learn what they require and then see that there is no excess, and in this way allow the child to grow physically strong and mentally efficient.

The delicate children are perhaps more fortunate than the stronger ones, for they learn early in life that they have limitations. If they commit excesses the results are so disagreeable that they soon learn to be prudent. This prudence serves as protection so long as life lasts.

The robust children on the other hand soon learn that they are strong. They hear their parents boast about it. They get the idea that because they are strong they will always remain so, that nothing will do them any serious harm. By living up to this fallacy they undermine their constitutions. Parents should teach their children about the law of compensation as applied to health, that is, he has permanent health who deserves it, and no one else. The children will not always heed true teachings after they have left the parental influence, but the parents have at least done the best they could.

The robust children have their troubles, such as chicken-pox, mumps, fevers and measles, but these are thrown off so quickly and with so little inconvenience that they are soon forgotten. As a rule the parents do not realize that these diseases are due to faulty nutrition, and that faulty nutrition is caused by improper feeding. It is generally believed that children must have all the so-called children's diseases. Some mothers expose their infants to all of these that may happen to be in the neighborhood, hoping that the children will take them and be through with them.

Every time a child is sick it is a reflection on either the intelligence or the performance of the parents. It is natural for children to be perfectly well, and they will remain in that happy state if they are given the opportunity. If they are properly fed they will not take any of the children's diseases in spite of repeated exposure. There is not a disease germ known to medical science strong enough to establish itself in the system of an uninjured, healthy child and do damage. The child's health must first be impaired, through poor care, and then the so-called disease germs will find a hospitable dwelling place. If children are given natural food in normal quantities they are disease-proof. Feeding them on refined sugar and white flour products, pasteurized or sterilized milk, potatoes fried in grease pickled meats, and various other ruined foods breaks down their resistance and then they fall an easy prey to disease.

Some parents make the mistake of believing that they can feed their children improperly and ward off disease by vaccinations or inoculations of the products of disease taken from various animals. This is contrary to reason, common sense and nature and it is impossible. Any individual who is continually abused in any way, be he infant or adult, will deteriorate. If the disease is not the one that has been feared, it will be some other one.

The robust children generally develop into careless adults. That is why so many of them, in fact the vast majority, die before they are fifty years old, although they are equipped with constitutions that were intended to last over a century. They are shining marks for typhoid fever, Bright's disease, various forms of heart and liver troubles, rheumatism and pneumonia, all of which are largely caused by too hearty eating. These diseases often come without apparent warning. That is, the victims have thought themselves healthy. However, they have not known what real health is. They have been in a state of tolerable health, not suffering any very annoying aches or pains, but they have lacked the normal state of body which results in a clear, keen mind. As a rule there is enough indigestion present to cause gas in the bowels and a coated tongue. Enough food is generally eaten to produce excessive blood pressure.

The foundation for such a state of affairs is laid in childhood, yes, often before the child is born. It can readily be seen how important it is for parents to impart a little sound health information to the children. At least, they should teach them what health really is, which many people do not know.

When these strong people become sick it is often difficult, or even impossible, to do anything for them, for their habits are so gross and have gained such a mastery that the patients will not or can not change their ways.

The weaklings have a better chance to survive to old age, because many of them learn to be careful early in life. In reading the lives of eminent men who have lived long it is common to find that they were never strong.

At the age of one year the baby is generally weaned. The ordinary child needs the mother's milk no longer, for by this time the digestive power is great enough to cope with cow's milk and various starches. The most important problem now is how to feed the child. If no errors of importance are made it will enjoy uninterrupted growth and health. If the errors are many and serious there will surely be disease and too often the abuse is so great that death comes and ends the suffering.

Until the child reaches the age of two years the best foods are milk, whole wheat products and fruits. No other foods are necessary. The simpler the baby's food, and the more naturally and plainly prepared, the better. Adults who overeat until they suffer from jaded appetites, may think that they need great variety of food, but it is never necessary for infants or normal adults. Milk, whole wheat and fruits contain all the elements needed for growth and strength and health. By all means feed simply. Children are perfectly satisfied with bread and milk or simply one kind of fruit at a meal, if they are properly trained. The craving for a great variety of foods at each meal is due to parental mismanagement.

Children should not be fed more than three times a day. There should be no lunching. The children will get all that is good for them, all they need in three meals. Candy should not be given between meals, and fruit is to be looked upon as a food, not as a dainty to be consumed at all hours of the day. If they are not accustomed to lunching, there will be no craving for lunches. If children are used to four or five meals a day they want them and raise annoying objections when deprived of one or two of them. It is easy to get children into bad habits. We can not blame the average mother for giving her children lunches, for she knows no better and sees other mothers doing the same.

The children who do not get lunches thrive better than those who always have candy, fruit or bread and jam at their command. It is the same with adults. In the Dakotas and Minnesota are many Scandinavians and Germans. During the haying and harvest these people, who are naturally very strong, eat four and five times a day. The heat, the excessive amount of food and the great quantities of coffee consumed cause much sickness during and after the season of hard work and heroic eating. The so-called Americans in these communities are generally satisfied with three meals a day, and they are as well nourished and capable of working as those who eat much more.

Refined sugar made from cane and beets should be given to children sparingly. Refined sugar is the chemical which is largely responsible for the perversion of children's tastes. A normal taste is very desirable, for it protects the possessor. A perverted taste, on the contrary, leads him into trouble. Sugar is not a good food. It is an extract. It is easy to cultivate a desire for sugar, but to people who are not accustomed to it, concentrated sugar has an unpleasant taste.

The perversion of the sense of taste, generally begun with sugar, is made worse by the use of much salt, pepper and various condiments and spices. If the child is fed on unnatural food, highly seasoned, at the age of a few years its taste is so perverted that it does not know how most of the common foods really taste, and refuses to eat the best of them when the health-destroying concoctions to which it has been accustomed can be had.

It is natural for children to relish fruit, but some are so perverted in taste that they object to a meal of it if they can get pancakes or waffles with butter and syrup, mushes with sugar and cream, ham or bacon with fried potatoes, or fresh bread and meat with pickles. Many parents allow their children to live on this class of food to the exclusion of all natural foods. Children need a great deal of the natural salts, and when they live so largely on denatured foods there is always physical deterioration. It is true that to the average eye such children may appear healthy, but they are not in one-half as good physical condition as they could be.

Tea and coffee should never be given to children. They are bad enough for adults. In children they retard bodily development. The stimulation and sedation are bad for the nervous system. Coffee is as harmful as tobacco for the growing child.

To warn against alcohol may seem foolish, but some parents really give beer and whiskey to their infants. The beer is given as a beverage and the whiskey as medicine to kill pain and soothe the children. Those who have not seen children abused in this way may find it difficult to believe that there is such a profundity of ignorance. These children die easily.

Others quiet their children with the various soothing syrups. The last analyses that came under my eyes showed that these remedies contained considerable opium, laudanum, morphine and other deadly poisons. Morphine and opium are not well borne by children and these "mother's friends" have soothed many a baby into the sleep from which there is no waking. Make it a rule to give the children no medicines, either patent or those prescribed by physicians. Please remember that any remedy that quiets a child is poisonous. Children who get proper care require no medical quieting.

Condiments should not be used. Salt is not necessary despite the popular belief to the contrary, though a small amount does no harm. Salt eating is a habit and when carried to excess it is a bad one. Salt is a good preservative, but there is little excuse for our using preserved foods extensively. There are so many foods that can be had without being preserved in this country that it would not be difficult to exclude these inferior foods from the dietary. Children whose foods are not seasoned do not desire seasoning, provided they are fed on natural foods from the start. They want the seasoning because they are taught to eat their food that way. If they are given fresh fruit every day, such as apples, oranges, cherries, grapes and berries, they get all the seasoning they need and they get it in natural form.

The objection is made that such feeding deprives children of many of the good things of life. This is not true. Natural foods taste better than the doctored ones every time. Nature imparts a flavor to food products which man has never been able to equal, to say nothing of surpassing it. Children are taught to like abnormal foods. What is better, to give children good foods upon which they thrive, or denatured foods which taste well to a perverted palate, but are injurious?

Instead of giving sugar or candy, give raisins, figs, dates or sweet prunes. Small children may be given the strained juices of these fruits, obtained either by soaking the raw fruits several hours or by stewing them. Children who are given these fruits do not crave refined sugar. They like these natural sugars better than the artificial extract. These sweet fruits take the place of starchy food.

Very few people know anything definite about food values. Those who have studied foods and their values in order to be able to feed children properly generally make the mistake of believing that they should have all the necessary elements at each meal in about the proper proportion. This is a grave mistake and leads to trouble. The child needs salts, protein, sugar and fat, and in the absence of sugar some starch. Milk contains all these substances except starch. Give one fruit meal and two meals of starch daily. Milk may be given with all the meals or it may be given but once or twice. Do not overfeed on milk, for it is a rich food.

Until the child is two years old, confine it in its starch eating pretty much to the products of whole wheat. Give no white bread. White bread is an unsatisfying form of food. It is so tasteless and insipid and so deprived of the natural wheat salts that too much has to be eaten to satisfy. Children who would be satisfied with a reasonable amount of whole wheat bread eat more white bread and still do not feel satisfied. The same is true of rice, the natural brown rice being so superior to the polished article that there is no comparison.

The bread should be toasted in the oven until it is crisp clear through, or else it should be stale. Let the bread for toast get stale, and then place it in the oven when this is cooling off. Make the slices moderately thin. This is an easy and satisfactory way of making toast. Scorched bread--what is usually called toast--is not fit food for young children.

After the second year is completed gradually increase the variety of starch. Some of the better forms of starch that are easy to obtain are: Puffed rice or puffed wheat; brown, unpolished rice; triscuit or shredded wheat biscuit; the prepared corn and wheat flakes; baked potatoes; occasionally well cooked oatmeal or whole wheatmeal gruel. Mushes are to be given seldom or never. Children seldom chew them well, and they require thorough mastication. The rice is not to be sugared but after the child has had enough, milk may be given. A small amount of butter may be served with either rice or baked potato. The cereal foods should be eaten dry. Let the children masticate them, as they should, and as they will not if the starches are moistened with milk. When they have had sufficient of these starches, and but one kind is to be served at a meal, give milk, if milk is to be a part of the meal. To observe the suggestions here given for the manner of feeding starches to children may mean the difference between success and failure in raising them. It is the little things that are important in the care of children.

The acid fruits should not be given in the meals containing starchy foods. Strong children who have plenty of opportunity to be in the fresh air and who are very active can stand this combination, but it is injurious to the nervous type. It is not a good thing to make such combinations habitually for robust children. A good meal can be made of fruit followed by milk. Do not slice the fruit, sprinkle it with sugar and cover it with cream. Give the child the fruit and nothing else. Neither oranges nor grapefruits are to be sugared. Their flavor is better without. If the children want sweets, give them a meal of sweet fruits.

When the child is eighteen months old it should have learned to masticate well enough to eat various fruits. Apples, oranges, grapefruits, berries, cherries, grapes and melons are among the foods that may be given. If the child does not masticate well, either grind the fruit or scrape it very fine. The sweet fruits require so much mastication that only their juices should be fed until the child is old enough to masticate thoroughly. Bananas should also be withheld until there is no doubt about the mastication. They must be thoroughly ripe, the skin being dark in spots and the flesh firm and sweet. A green banana is very starchy, but a ripe one contains hardly any starch and digests easily.

At first the meal is fruit, followed with milk. Buttermilk or clabbered milk may be substituted for sweet milk. A little later, begin giving cottage cheese occasionally in place of milk, if the child likes it.

The succulent vegetables may be given quite early. At the age of two years stewed onions, green peas, cauliflower, egg plant and summer squash may be given. Gradually increase the variety until all the succulent vegetables are used. At first it may be necessary to mash these vegetables.

The longer children go without meat the better, and if they never acquired the meat-eating habit it would be a blessing. If the parents believe in feeding their children meat, they should wait until the little ones are at least four years old before beginning. Meats are digestible enough, but too stimulating for young people. Chicken and other fowls may be used at first, and it is best to use young birds. Beef and pork should not be on the children's menu. At the age of seven or eight the variety may be increased. However, parents who wish to do the best by their children will give them little or no meat. Many of the sorrows that parents suffer through their wayward children would be done away with if the young people were fed on less stimulating foods.

Eggs are better for children than meat. However, it is not necessary to give them. The children get enough milk to supply all the protein they need. Eggs may be given earlier than meat. At the age of two and one-half years an egg may be given occasionally. At three they may be given every other day, one egg at a meal. At five or six years of age, an egg may be given daily, but not more than one at a time. If they are soft boiled, three and one-half minutes will suffice. If hard boiled, cook them fifteen to twenty minutes. An egg boiled seven or eight minutes is not only hard but tough. Longer boiling makes the albumin mellow. Always prepare eggs simply without using grease.

Eggs may be given in combination with either fruits or vegetables. Milk is not to be taken in the egg meal, for if such combinations are made the child gets more protein than necessary. Eggs are easy to digest and the chief objection to their free use in feeding children is that the protein intake will be too great, which causes disease.

Nuts should not be given until the children are old enough to masticate them thoroughly. The best combination is the same as for eggs. Children under six years of age should not have much more than one-half of an ounce of nut meats at a meal. The pecans are the best. Children rarely chew nuts well enough, so they should seldom be used. They may be ground very fine and made into nut butter, which may be substituted for ordinary butter.

Give no butter until the child has completed his second year. The whole milk contains all the fat necessary. Butter should always be used in moderation, for although it digests easily, it is a very concentrated food.

Again the question will be asked: "How much shall I feed my child?" I do not know, but I do know that most children get at least three times as much food as is good for them. People can establish a toleration to a certain poison, and seemingly take it with impunity for a while. Some arsenic eaters and morphine addicts take enough of their respective drugs daily to kill a dozen normal men. However, the drugs, if not stopped, always ruin the user in the end. It is the same way with food. Children seem to establish a toleration for an excess for a shorter or longer period of time, but the overeating always produces discomfort and disease in the end, and if it is continued it will cause premature death.

About one-third or one-fourth of what children eat is needed to nourish them. The rest makes trouble. Read the chapters in this book on overeating and on normal food intake. They give valuable pointers. Parents know their children best, and the mother can, or should be able to tell when there are signs of impending danger. If there is a decided change in the child's disposition it generally denotes illness. Some children become very sweet when they are about to be ill, but most of them are so cranky that they make life miserable for the family. A foul, feverish breath nearly always comes before the attack. A common danger signal is a white line around the mouth. Another one is a white, pinched appearance of the nose. A flushed face is quite common. The tongue never looks normal. Except the abnormal tongue, these symptoms are not all present before every attack, but one or more of them generally are. No matter what the signs of trouble may be, stop all feeding immediately. If this is done, the disease generally fails to develop, but if feeding is continued there is sure to be illness. These symptoms indicate that the digestion is seriously disturbed. It is folly to feed when there is an acute attack of indigestion. Besides, it is very cruel, for it causes much suffering.

Such symptoms in children are caused by improper eating, and overeating is generally the chief fault. The remedy is very simple: Feed less.

A coated tongue indicates too much food. A clean tongue shows that the digestive organs are working well. If the tongue is not smooth and a pretty pink in color, it means that the child has had too much food and the meals must be reduced in quantity until the tongue does become normal, which may take a few months in chronic cases. Peculiar little protruding spots when red and prominent on the tip and edges of the tongue indicate irritation of the alimentary tract and call for reduction of food intake.

The parents can soon learn how much to feed the children if they will be guided by these hints. Poor health in the children indicates parental failure, and this is one place where they can not afford to fail. Parents must be honest with themselves and not put the blame where the doctors put it--on bacteria, draughts, the weather, etc. Sometimes the climate is very trying on the babies, but it never kills those who have intelligent care.

If it is found that the child next door, of the same age, eats three or four times as much as your child, do not become alarmed about your little one, but give the neighbor's child a little silent sympathy because its parents are ignorant enough to punish the little one so cruelly.

For those who desire more definite hints regarding feeding of children, an outline has been prepared for several days. This is very simple feeding, but it is the kind of feeding that will make a rose bloom in each cheek. The child will be happy and contented and bring joy to the hearts of the parents.

Breakfast: Whole wheat toast, butter and a glass of milk.

Lunch: A baked apple and a dish of cottage cheese.

Supper: Steamed or boiled brown rice and milk.

Breakfast: Puffed wheat and milk.

Lunch: Oranges and milk.

Supper: An egg, parsnips and onions, both stewed.

Breakfast: Oatmeal or whole wheat porridge and milk.

Lunch: Berries and milk.

Supper: Baked potato, spinach and a plate of lettuce.

Breakfast: Shredded wheat biscuit and milk.

Lunch: Stewed prunes and milk or cottage cheese.

Supper: Whole wheat toast and milk.

These are merely hints. Where one juicy fruit is suggested, another may be substituted. In place of the succulent vegetables named, others may be used. Any of the starches may be selected in place of the ones given. However, no mistake will be made in using the whole wheat products as the starch mainstay.

Desserts should not be fed to children often. Rich cakes and all kinds of pies should be omitted from the bill of fare. It is true that some children can take care of them, but what is the use of taking chances? A plain custard, lightly flavored, may be given with toast. If ice cream is above suspicion a moderate dish of this with some form of starch may be given, but milk is not to be taken in the same meal with either ice cream or custard.

At the end of the third year it is time enough to begin to feed the salad vegetables, though they may be given earlier to children who masticate well. The dressing should be very plain, nothing more than a little salt and olive oil, or some clabbered cream. No dressing is necessary. The salad vegetables may be eaten with the meal containing eggs and the stewed succulent vegetables.

At the age of about seven or eight the child may be put on the same diet as the parents, provided they live simply. Otherwise, continue in the old way a little longer. For the best results in raising children, simplicity is absolutely necessary.

Children who are early put on a stimulating diet develop mental and sexual precocity, both of which are detrimental to physical welfare. The first desideratum is to give the children healthy bodies, and then there will be no trouble in giving them what knowledge they need.

In overfed boys the sex urge is so strong that they acquire secret habits, and sometimes commit overt acts. Too much protein is especially to blame. These facts are not understood by many and the result is that the parents fail in their duty to their children.

It is best not to bring young children to the table, if there is anything on it that they should not have, for it nearly always results in improper feeding. The children are curious and they beg for a little of this and a little of that. Unthinkingly the parents give them little tastes and bites and before the meal is over they have had from six to twelve different kinds of food, some of them not fit for adult consumption. If the child understands that it is not to ask for these things and abides by this rule, it is all right, but such children are rare. A child that fretfully begs for this and that at the table upsets itself and the parents.

Make no sudden changes in the manner of feeding, unless the feeding is decidedly wrong.

Active children get all the exercise they need. They should spend a large part of the day in the open, and this is even more important for the delicate ones. The bedroom should be well ventilated, but the children must be kept cozy and warm or they do not sleep well.

After the child is old enough not to soil itself, one or two baths a week are sufficient. There is no virtue in soaking. Swimming is different, for here the child is active in the water and it does not weaken him so. Swimming should be a part of every child's education.

Bed time should be early. The children should be tucked in and the light turned off by 8 o'clock, and 7 o'clock is better for children under five. If they want to get up early in the morning, let them, but put them to bed early at night.

Infants should not be exposed long to the direct rays of the summer sun, for it is liable to cause illness. It upsets the stomach and then there is a feverish spell. If nothing is fed that will generally be all, but it is unnecessary to make babies ill in this way. They should not be chilled either.

Husband and wife do not agree at all times, but they make a mistake when they disagree in the presence of their children. Young people are quick to take advantage of such a state of affairs and they begin to play the parents against each other. When a point comes up where there is a difference of opinion, the decision of the parent who speaks first should stand, at least for the time being. Then when they are by themselves, man and wife can discuss the matter if it is not satisfactory, and even quarrel about it, if that gives them pleasure. Parents who do not control themselves can not long retain the full respect of their children. Lost respect is not very far distant from lost love.

People often object to a change in methods, for, they say, the new plan will cause too much trouble. The plan here outlined causes less trouble than the conventional method of caring for children. It is simpler and gives better results. If it were followed out the mortality of children under ten years of age in this country would be reduced from over 400,000 annually to less than 25,000. In spite of everything, a number of young people will get into fatal pranks.

There are difficulties in the way of raising children properly, but a healthy child is such a great reward that the efforts are paid for a hundred times over. Nothing wears the parents out more quickly than a child who is always fretting and crying, always on the brink of disease or in its grasp. In raising children the best way is the easiest way.

THE CHILD'S MENTAL TRAINING.

A healthy body is the child's first requirement. However, if the mental training is poor, giving wrong views of life, a good physique is of but little service.

It is quite generally agreed among observers that the first seven years of life leave the mental impressions which guide the whole life, and that after the age of fourteen the mental trend rarely changes. There are a few individuals with strength enough to make themselves over mentally after reaching adult life, but these are so few that they are almost negligible, and even they are largely influenced by their youth and infancy. It is as easy to form good mental habits as bad ones. It is within the power of all parents to give their children healthy bodies and healthy minds, and this is a duty, which should prove a pleasure. The reason such heritage is so rare is that it requires considerable self-control and most parents live chaotic lives.

Upon the mentality depends the success in life. "It is the mind that makes the body rich." No matter how great an individual's success may seem in the eyes of the public, if the person lacks the proper perspective, the proper vision and the right understanding, his success is an empty thing. Wealth and success are considered synonymous, but I have found more misery in the homes of the rich than among the poor. Physical wants can be supplied and the suffering is over, but mental wants can only be satisfied through understanding, which should be cultivated in childhood.

"All our problems go back to the child--corrupt politics, dishonesty and greed in commerce, war, anarchism, drunkenness, incompetence and criminality."--Moxom.

Given a healthy body and a good mind, every individual is able to become a useful member of society, and that is all that can be expected of the average individual. All can not be eminent, and it is not necessary.

Upon the child's mental impressions and the habits formed in infancy and youth depend the mental workings and the habits of later life. Therefore it is necessary to nurture the little people in the right kind of atmosphere. If the child is trained properly from infancy there will be no serious bad habits to overcome during later years, and, as all know, habits are the hardest of all bonds to break. To overcome the coffee and alcohol habits is hard, but to overcome bad mental habits is even more difficult.

First of all, let the infant alone most of the time. Some mothers are so full of love and nonsense that they take their babies up to cuddle and love them at short intervals, and then there are the admiring relatives who like to flatter the parents by telling them that the baby is the finest one they have seen; it is an exceptional baby. So the relatives have to bother the infant and kiss it. This should not be. The child should be kept in a quiet room and should not be disturbed. There are no exceptional babies. They are all much alike, except that some are a little healthier than others. If they are let alone, they have the best opportunity to develop into exceptional men and women.

Paying too much attention to babies makes them cross and irritable. They soon learn to like and then to demand attention. If they do not get it at once they become ill-tempered and cry until attention is given. Thus the foundation of bad temper is laid in the very cradle. They gain their ends in infancy by crying. Later on they develop the whining habit. When they grow older they fret and worry. Such dispositions are the faults of the parents.

It does not take long for children to learn how to get their way, and if they can do it by being disagreeable, you may be sure that they will develop the worst side of their nature. Let the child understand that being disagreeable buys nothing, and there will soon be an end of it. Children who are well and well cared for are happy. They cause their elders almost no trouble. To lavish an excessive amount of care on a baby may be agreeable to the mother at first, but it is different when it comes to caring for an ill-tempered, spoiled child of eight or nine years.

Many crimes are committed in the name of love. Many babies are killed by love. Unless love is tempered by understanding it is as lethal as poison. Many parents think they are showing love when they indulge their children, but instead they are putting them onto the road that leads to physical and mental decay. True love is helpful, kind and patient. The spurious kind is noisy, demonstrative and impatient.

Do what is necessary for children, but do not allow them to cause unnecessary work. What they can do for themselves they should do. They can be taught to be helpful very early. They should be taught to be neat and tidy. They should learn to dress themselves and how to keep their rooms and personal effects in good order early in life, no matter how many servants there may be. These little things are reflected in their later lives. They help to form the individual's character. It is what we do that largely make us what we are, and every little act and every thought has a little influence in shaping our lives. An orderly body helps to make an orderly mind and vice versa.

Many of the rich children are unfortunate indeed. Some times poor parents have so many children that each one gets scant attention, but the children of many of the rich get no parental attention. The parents are too busy accumulating or preserving a fortune and climbing a social ladder to bother with their children. Their raising is delegated to servants. At times the little ones are put on display for a few minutes and then the parents are as proud of them as they are of the expensive paintings that adorn the walls or the blooded dogs and horses in kennels and stables. No amount of paid service can compensate for the lack of parental love.

The ideal today, especially for female children, seems to be to make ornaments of them, to train them to be useless. Girls, as well as boys, should be taught to be useful. They should be taught that those who do not labor are parasites. If some do not work, others have to work too hard. The story is told of Mark Twain that he dined with an English nobleman who boasted that he was an earl and did not labor. "In our country," said Mark Twain, "we do not call people of your class earls; we call them hoboes."

It does not matter how wealthy parents are, they should teach their children how to earn a living, and they should instill into them the ideal of service, for a life of idleness is a failure. The shirkers and wasters are not happy. The greatest contentment in life comes from the performance of good work. Ecstatic love and riotous pleasure can not last. Work with love and pleasure is good. But love and pleasure without work are corroding.

Children who are waited upon much become selfish. They soon become grafters, expecting and taking everything and giving nothing. This is immoral, for life is a matter of compensation, and consists in giving as well as in taking. Children should be taught consideration for others, and should not be allowed to order the servants around; not that it harms the servants, but it has a bad effect on the children.

Because the child's period of development is so long, it is important to have a proper adjustment in the home between parents and the children. Lack of adjustment wears out the parents, especially the mother, and gives false impressions to the young people. To prevent friction and get good results, children should be taught obedience. Obedience is one of the stepping stones to ability to command.

In those homes where the words of the parents are law there is but little friction. Obedience should be taught from the very start. As soon as the child realizes that the parents mean what they say and that it is useless to fret and complain about a command, that is the end of the matter. How different it is with disobedient children! The parents have to tell them what to do several times and then the bidding often remains undone.

Begin to teach obedience and promptness as soon as the children understand, for it is more difficult later. The older the children the harder it is. Children know so little and are so conceited that they do not realize that because of lack of experience, observation and reflection they can not safely guide themselves at all times. When they are allowed to act so that they are a nuisance to others and harmful to themselves, they do not give up this license with good grace. There are times to be firm and then firmness should be used. It is necessary for the parents to cooperate.

Various parents have different ways of correcting their children, and it is not difficult to make them realize that obedience is a part of the plan of early life. To illustrate: If the children are called for a meal, they should come promptly. If there is a tendency to lag, tell them that if they do not come when called they will get nothing to eat until next mealtime, and act accordingly. This is no cruelty, for no one is harmed by missing a meal. It generally proves very effective.

At the table, serve the children what your experience has told you they can take with benefit, without saying anything about it. If they ask for anything else, give it if you think proper. If not, say no. If they start to beg and whine, tell them that such conduct will result in their being sent away from the table, and if they still continue, do as you have said, and let there be no weakening. This may cause a few very disagreeable experiences at first, but it is much better to have a few of them and be through, than to continue year after year to have such trouble. Some children can eat everything with apparent impunity and their parents usually pay no attention to what they eat. But there are others who become ill if they are improperly fed. Children who are often feverish and take all the diseases peculiar to the young, are maltreated. They are not properly fed. Those who are prone to convulsions must be fed with great care, or there is danger of their becoming epileptics. Firmness in such cases generally means the difference between health and disease or even death.

By all means be firm in such matters. Indulging the children to excess is invariably harmful. When your children become ill and die, you can truly say, "Behold my handiwork."

In the same way teach the children to do promptly whatever they are told to do. If they are told to go to bed, it should be done without delay or protest. All the little duties that fall to their lot should likewise be accomplished promptly. However, the parents should be reasonable and they should avoid bombarding their children with commands to do or not to do a thousand and one things that do not matter at all. Let the children alone except when it is really necessary to direct them.

Unfortunately, most of the parents are blind to their own faults, but see very clearly those of others. The mistakes they make in their own families open their eyes to those of others, and then they are often very impatient. I know one gentleman who has excellent knowledge of the proper training of the young, but as a parent he is a total failure. He is so explosive and lacking in patience and firmness, perhaps also in love, that his knowledge has not helped him. It is not what we know, but what we apply, that makes or mars.

Obedience reduces friction and trains the children into habits of efficiency. It is not only valuable in preserving the health of the parents, but in increasing the child's earning capacity when the time comes to labor in earnest.

Plato said that democracies are governed as well as they deserve to be. Likewise, parents get as much obedience, respect, affection and love as they deserve, and the three latter are largely dependent upon the former. It would be difficult to overemphasize the importance of obedience.

In nature we find that the animals teach their young how to live independently as soon as they have the strength to care for themselves. This is what parents should teach their children. This may cause the mother pain, for many mothers like to keep their children helpless, dependent and away from contact with the world as long as possible. Wise mothers do not handicap their children thus. The best parents are those who teach their children early how to make their own way.

Doubtless the greatest happiness is to be found in a congenial family, where the parents understand and love each other and their children. Those parents who are so busy that they lack the time to become acquainted with their infants and keep up this intimacy, are losing a part of life that neither money nor social position can give them. Many wait until too late to get on intimate terms with their children. When young, the children are naturally loving and then the beautiful ties which neither time nor misfortune can sunder are formed. When the children are grown it is too late to establish such a relation. Then they look at their parents with as critical eyes as they use toward other people, and though they may become very good friends, the tender love is lacking. Love between man and woman is unstable, but the beautiful love that springs from companionship of children and parents lasts until the end.

While some mothers neglect their children, many become too absorbed in them. The children become all of the mother's life. As the young people become older, their horizon naturally widens. During infancy the parents can fill the child's whole life, but soon other interests crave attention. There is always a tragedy in store for the mother who refuses to see that her children, as they grow older, will demand the human experience necessary for individual growth and development. If the mother has no other interest than her children she will one day be left with a heart as empty as the home from which the children are gone. There are so many interesting things in this world, and every mother should have her hobby. She should have at least one hour each day sacred to herself, in which she can relax and cultivate the mind. This will help to fill the coming years, which too often prove barren. Loving parents get all the reward they should expect from the beautiful intimacy that exists between them and their growing children. So-called ungrateful children have incompetent parents. Parents have no right to demand gratitude. They do no more for their children than was done for themselves in the morning of their lives. The right kind of parents never want for rewards. They are repaid every day so long as they live. Children grow under the care of their parents, but the parents also grow and expand in understanding, sympathy and love through association with their children.

Today society does not treat the mothers with the proper consideration. The mothers deserve well, for they have to give many of their best years to the children. These are the productive years, and generally unfit the women to go into economic competition with the rest of the world afterwards. Society owes it to the mothers of the race to see that they are not made to suffer for fulfilling their destiny. Motherhood today is as dangerous as the soldier's life, though it ought not to be, and it is more difficult to raise children than to conduct a successful business. However, the financial rewards for motherhood are generally nil. The least society can do is to see that these women do not want for the necessities of life.

Most children are interrogation points. This is well, for they learn through curiosity. The questions should be answered honestly, or not at all. It is common to give untrue answers. This is poor policy, for the answers are a part of the child's education and untruths make the young people ignorant and superstitious. It takes considerable patience to raise a child and he who is unwilling to exercise a little patience has no right to become a parent.

Whether to use corporeal punishment or not is a question that the parents must decide for themselves. Many parents are in the habit of nagging their children. It is, "Don't do this," and "Don't do that," until the little ones feel as exasperated as the Americans in Berlin, where everything that one has an impulse to do is "Verboten." The children have not yet acquired caution, nor are they able to think of more than one or two things at a time. Consequently they forget what they are not to do, and then parental wrath descends upon them. Parents can well afford to be deaf and blind to many things that happen. Those mothers who are ever shouting prohibitions soon cultivate a fretful, irritable tone that is bad for all concerned, and which does not breed respect and obedience. Make it a rule not to interfere with the children except when it is necessary, and tell them to do but one thing at a time.

If too many commands and prohibitions are issued, the children are prone to forget them all. If they are talked to less, what is said is more deeply impressed on their minds, and the chances are that they will remember. Boisterousness is not badness, but indicates a state of well-being, which results in bodily activity, including the use of the vocal cords. It is common to all young animals, and the human animal is the only one that is severely punished for manifesting happiness.

If the parents decide that corporeal punishment is necessary, they should be sure that it has been deserved, for a child resents being punished unjustly, and undeserved punishment is always harmful. Many parents become so angry that they inflict physical punishment to relieve their own feelings, and this is very wrong. If a parent calmly decides that his child needs punishment, perhaps this is the case. The punishment should be given calmly. Nothing can be more cowardly and disgusting than the brutal assault of an angry parent upon a defenseless child, and such parents always regret their actions if they have any conscience, but they are generally of such poor moral fibre and so full of false pride that they fail to apologize to the children for the injustice done. These parents inflict suffering upon their children, but they punish themselves most of all, for they kill filial regard and love. Children have a very keen sense of fair play.

If it is decided to administer corporeal punishment, it should have enough sting to it so that it will be remembered. Parents who temper their justice with patience and love are not compelled to resort to corporeal punishment often.

Children should never be hit on the head. Pulling or boxing the ears should not be recognized as civilized warfare. Blows on the head may partly destroy the hearings and affect the brain.

Another thing that may not come under the head of punishment in the strictest sense, is lifting children by one of the arms. Women are prone to do this. Often it partly dislocates the elbow joint. The children whine and no one knows exactly what is the matter. If one arm is occupied and the child has to be lifted from curb to street or over a puddle, stoop and pass the unoccupied arm about the child's body and no harm will be done.

No one should suggest to the child that it is bad. It is better to dwell upon goodness. If a child is often told that it is bad, it will soon begin to live up to its name and reputation, just as adults often do.

Many parents are in the habit of scaring their children. If the little ones cry or disobey, they are told that the boogy-man is coming after them, or they are threatened with being put out into the dark, or perhaps some animal or bad person is coming to get them. Fear is injurious to everybody, being ruinous to both the body and the mind, and it is especially bad for growing children. The fear instilled in them during childhood remains with some people to the end of life. It is not uncommon to find people who dare not go out alone after dark because they were scared in childhood. Children like exciting stories that would naturally inspire fear, but it is not difficult for the reader or story teller to inform the little ones that there are no big black bears or bold robbers in the neighborhood, and that now there is nothing to fear in the darkness.

Many teach the children to be ashamed of their bodies. Every part of the body has its use and whatever is useful is good. Those who do not abuse their bodies have nothing of which to be ashamed.

The education of children in the past has been along wrong lines. It has been the aim to cram them full of isolated facts, many of them untrue. We are slowly outgrowing this tendency, but too much remains. Thanks largely to Froebel and Doctor Montessori, our methods are growing more natural. The adult learns by doing and so does the child. Doctor Montessori teaches the children to use all their senses. She gives them fabrics of various textures and objects of different shapes and colors. Thus they learn colors, forms, smoothness, roughness, etc. She teaches them how to dress and undress and how to take their baths. She lets them go about the schoolroom instead of compelling them to sit still at their desks in cramped positions. In this way they get knowledge that they never forget. They learn to read and write and figure in playful ways through the proper direction of their curiosity. Little tots of four, or even younger, are often able to read, and there has been no forcing. All has come about through utilizing the child's curiosity.

If children are delicate, they should not be put into a schoolroom with thirty or forty other children. Keep such children outdoors when the weather permits and allow them to become strong. The education will take care of itself later. There is nothing to be gained by overtaxing a delicate child in the schoolroom, which too often is poorly ventilated, and having a funeral a little later.

Children should be taught the few simple fundamental rules of nutrition until they are second nature. A thorough knowledge of the fact that it is very injurious to eat when there is bodily or mental discomfort is worth ten thousand times as much to a child as the ability to extract cube root or glibly recite, "Arma virumque cano Trojae," etc. The realization that underchewing and overeating will cause mental and physical degeneration is much more valuable than the ability to demonstrate that a straight line is the shortest distance between two points. This knowledge can be given so unobtrusively that the child does not realize that it is learning, for there are many opportunities.

When a child gets sick and is old enough to understand, instead of sympathizing with it explain how the illness came about, and please remember that in explaining you can leave the germs out of the question, for diseases of childhood are almost entirely due to improper feeding. The value of education like that is beyond any price, for it is a form of health insurance. Reforming the race, means that we must begin with the children.

In parts of Europe cultured people have a working knowledge of two or three languages. This is certainly convenient. Those who wish their children to know one or two tongues beside English should remember that in infancy two tongues are learned as readily as one, if they are spoken. Those who can use three languages when they are four years old are not infant prodigies. They have had the opportunity to learn, and languages are simply absorbed. The language teaching in the public schools is a joke. After taking several years of French or German the school children can not speak about the common things of life in those tongues, though they may know more about the grammar than the natives. In other words, they know the science of the language, but not the language itself.

A time comes when the child wants to know about the origin of life. If the parents have been companions, they can impart this knowledge better than anyone else. If they are unable to explain, the family doctor should be able to impart the knowledge with delicacy. I do not believe that such knowledge should be imparted to mixed classes in the public schools, as advocated by some. If the parents do their duty, there will be no need of public education in sex hygiene.

The doctor should be an educator, so he merits consideration here. Nearly all families have their medical advisers, and these professional people have it in their power to bring more sunshine into the homes than their fees will pay for. On the other hand, they can, and too often do, give both advice and remedies that are harmful They should sow seeds of truth. If the infant is properly cared for, it is never ill. Inasmuch as there are but few families with sufficient knowledge to keep their babies healthy at all times, there are many calls for the doctor. Parents are generally unduly alarmed about their infants. Nearly always the trouble is primarily in the alimentary tract, due to improper feeding, and the doctor with his wide experience can relieve the parental anxiety, and at the same time tell them where they have made their mistakes and how they have brought suffering upon their little ones.

Of course, there should be no dosing with medicine and no injections of foreign matter into the blood stream. Rest, quiet, cleanliness and warmth are what the children need to restore them to health. The right kind of physician when acting as adviser to intelligent parents who wish to do the best by their children will see to it that there is little or no disease.

If the parents do not know what to do, the most economical procedure is to consult a physician who has understanding of and confidence in nature. Pay no attention to the women of many words who give advice "because they have had many children and have buried them all."

It is not as difficult to raise healthy children as sickly ones. It is so simple that it takes many pages to explain it.