Training.—The education of our children is never out of my mind. Train them to virtue, habituate them to industry, activity, and spirit. Make them consider every vice as shameful and unmanly. Fire them with ambition to be useful. Make them disdain to be destitute of any useful knowledge.—John Adams to his wife.
Baby's Nerves.—Never try to entertain a baby too vigorously. Little babies especially, but also children somewhat older, should never be subjected to unnecessary excitement. Older people seldom realize how exceedingly undeveloped the nervous system of a little child is, and any undue shock to it is apt to cause the direst consequence. Do not take very small children to the theatre or the circus. They don't understand it, and they can't enjoy it.
Intemperance.—Violent excitement exhausts the mind, and leaves it withered and sterile.—Fenelon.
Second Teeth.—When the baby's second teeth are cut there are often injurious influences to be combated. There is more or less chance for the formation of caries or tartar; care must be taken and counsel sought, and every effort made to prevent the aggravation of the evil.
Tears.—Tears are the safety-valves of the heart when too much pressure is laid on it.—Albert Smith.
Going Barefoot.—The careful mother does not let her child run barefoot, no matter how they clamor to do it. If they wish to go shoeless, let them wear bathing sandals without stockings, is the advice of the writer, who adds, the germ of tetanus, better known as lockjaw, is frequently found in the soil and a child with even a small scratch or cut takes big risks. For girls, especially, running barefoot should be a forbidden pleasure as it makes the feet broad and flat.
[804 MOTHERS' REMEDIES]
FROM JOHN GREENLEAF WHITTIER'S "BAREFOOT BOY."
Blessings on thee, little man,
Barefoot boy, with cheek of tan!
With thy turned-up pantaloons,
And thy merry whistled tunes;
With thy red lip, redder still
Kissed by strawberries on the hill;
With the sunshine on thy face,
Through thy torn brim's jaunty grace;
From my heart I give thee joy,
I was once a barefoot boy.
The Children's Sunday.—What can we do with the children on Sundays? Do not attempt to do anything unusual or make yourself miserable over their natural antics. Send them to the Sabbath School, never deny a child this privilege or be too negligent to give him the privilege, says the Woman's National Daily. A walk during the day to the park, woods or some place where the recreation is pleasant, is advisable. But do not get so modern in your views that you will permit them the riotous amusements in which they must usually indulge through the week. One cannot do wrong in impressing the sacredness of the day upon the children, for it is one of the deplorable features of modern life that the sacredness is sadly abused, and mostly by the young folk.