Advice to a Mother on the Management of Her Children

by Pye Henry Chavasse

Do not have your nursery wall covered with green paper-hangings. Green paper-hangings contain large quantities of arsenic—arsenite of copper (Scheele's green)—which, I need scarcely say, is a virulent poison, and which flies about the room in the form of powder. There is frequently enough poison on the walls of a room to destroy a whole neigbourhood.

There is another great objection to having your nursery walls covered with green paper-hangings; if any of the paper should become loose from the walls, a little child is very apt to play with it, and to put it, as he does every thing else, to his mouth. This is not an imaginary state of things, as four children in one family have just lost their lives from sucking green paper-hangings.

Green dresses, as they are coloured with a preparation of arsenic, are equally as dangerous as green paper-hangings; a child ought, therefore, never to wear a green dress. "It may be interesting to some of our readers," says Land and Water, "to know that the new green, so fashionable for ladies' dresses, is just as dangerous in its nature as the green wall-paper, about which so much was written some time since. It is prepared with a large quantity of arsenic; and we have been assured by several of the leading dressmakers, that the workwomen employed in making up dresses of this colour are seriously affected with all the symptoms of arsenical poisoning. Let our lady friends take care."

Children's toys are frequently painted of a green colour with arsenite of copper, and are consequently, highly dangerous for him to play with. The best toy for a child is a box of unpainted wooden bricks, which is a constant source of amusement to him.

If you have your nursery walls hung with paintings and engravings, let them be of good quality. The horrid daubs and bad engravings that usually disfigure nursery walls, are enough to ruin the taste of a child, and to make him take a disgust to drawing, which would be a misfortune. A fine engraving and a good painting expand and elevate his mind. We all know that first impressions are the most vivid and the most lasting. A taste in early life for everything refined and beautiful purifies his mind, cultivates his intellect, keeps him from low company, and makes him grow up a gentleman!

Lucifer matches, in case of sudden illness, should, both in the nursery and in the bedroom, be always in readiness; but they must be carefully placed out of the reach of children, as lucifer matches are a deadly poison. Many inquests have been held on children who have, from having sucked them, been poisoned by them.

166. Have you any observation to make on the LIGHT of a nursery?

Let the window, or what is better, the windows, of a nursery be very large, so as to thoroughly light up every nook and corner of the room, as there is nothing more conducive to the health of a child than an abundance of light in the dwelling. A room cannot, then, be too light. The windows of a nursery are generally too small. A child requires as much light as a plant. Gardeners are well aware of the great importance of light in the construction of their greenhouses, and yet a child, who requires it as much, and is of much greater importance, is cooped up in dark rooms!

The windows of a nursery ought not only to be frequently opened to let in fresh air, but should be frequently cleaned, to let in plenty of light and of sunshine, as nothing is so cheering and beneficial to a child as an abundance of light and sunshine!

With regard to the best artificial light for a nursery.—The air of a nursery cannot be too pure; I therefore do not advise you to have gas in it, as gas in burning gives off quantities of carbonic acid and sulphuretted hydrogen, which vitiate the air. The paraffine lamp, too, makes a room very hot and close. There is no better light for a nursery than either Price's patent candles or the old-fashioned tallow-candle.