By RUTH LAMB.
PART XII.
THE LITTLE ONES OF THE FAMILY AND THE GLORY OF MOTHERHOOD—CONCLUSION.
“Like olive plants round about thy table.”—Psa. cxxviii. 3.
hose of you, my dear girl friends, who are members of large families, know how very soon the little ones begin to observe what is passing around them. One never-ending marvel, in connection with infant life, is the amount of knowledge gained during the first year of a child’s existence.
The little creatures come into an unknown world where everything is strange. Even the mother’s face has to be studied and learned off by heart.
How quickly the baby eyes begin to follow the movements of those around them! How soon they learn to discriminate between one face and another, one object that is pleasant to the sight and a second that inspires fear or dislike!
How marvellous is that instinct of self-preservation which moves the little hand to twine itself round an outstretched finger, or to clutch at any object within its reach!