cles of the back and chest; and thus, in both cases, do irreparable mischief. A shoe for child ought to be made with a narrow strap over the instep, and with button and button hole; if it be not made in this way, the shoe will not keep on the foot. It is a grievous state of things, that in the nineteenth century there are but few shoemakers who know how to make a shoe! The shoe is made not to fit a real foot, but a fashionable imaginary one! The poor unfortunate toes are in consequence screwed up as in a vice! Let me strongly urge you to be particular that the sock, or stocking, fits nicely-that it is neither too small nor too large; if it be too small, it binds up the toes unmercifully, and makes one toe to ride over the other, and thus renders the toes perfectly useless in walking; if it be too large, it is necessary to lap a portion of the sock, or stocking, either under or over the toes, which thus presses unduly upon them, and gives pain and annoyance. It should be borne in mind, that if the toes have full play, they, as it were, grasp the ground, and greatly assist in locomotion-which, of course, if they are cramped up, they cannot possibly do. Be careful, too, that the toe-part of the sock, or stocking, be not pointed; let it be made square, in order to give room to the toes. "At this helpless period of life, the delicately feeble, outspreading toes are wedged into a narrow-toed stocking, often so short as to double in the toes, diminishing the length of the rapidly growing foot! It is next, perhaps, tightly laced into a boot of less interior dimensions than itself; when the poor little creature is left to sprawl about with a limping, stumping gait, thus learning to walk as it best can, under circumstances the most cruel and torturing imaginable." * It is impossible for either a stocking, or a shoe, to fit nicely unless the toe-nails be kept in proper order. Now, in cutting the toe-nails, there is, as in everything else, a right and a wrong way. The right way of cutting a toe-nail is to cut it straight-in a straight line. The wrong way is to cut the corners of the nail-to round the nail, as it is called. This cutting the corners of the nails often makes work for the surgeon, as I myself can testify; it frequently produces "growing-in " of the nail, which sometimes necessitates the removal of either the nail or a portion of it. *The Foot and its Covering, second edition. By James Dowie. London: 1872. I beg to call a mother's especial attention to this valuable little book: it is written by an earnest intelligent man, by one who has studied the subject in all its bearings, and by one who is himself a shoemaker. 133. At what time of the year should a child leave off his winter clothing? A mother ought not to leave off her children's winter clothing until the spring be far advanced: it is far better to be on the safe side, and to allow the winter clothes to be worn until the end of May. The old adage is very good, and should be borne in mind: "Button to chin 134. Have you any general remarks to make on the present fashion of dressing children? The present fashion is absurd. Children are frequently dressed like mountebanks, with feathers and furbelows and finery; the boys go bare-legged; the little girls are dressed like women, with their stuck-out petticoats, crinolines, and low dresses! Their poor little waists are drawn in tight, so that they can scarcely breathe; their dresses are very low and short, the consequence is, that a great part of the chest is exposed to our variable climate; their legs are bare down to their thin socks, or if they be clothed, they are only covered with gossamer drawers; while their feet are encased in tight shoes of paper thickness! Dress! dress! dress! is made with them, at a tender age, and when first impressions are the strongest, a most important consideration. They are thus rendered vain and frivolous, and are taught to consider dress "as the one thing needful." And if they live to be women -which the present fashion is likely frequently to prevent what are they? Silly, simpering, delicate, lack-a-daisical nonentities; dress being their amusement, their occupation, their conversation, their everything, their thoughts by day and their dreams by night! Truly they are melancholy objects to behold! Let children be dressed as children, not as men and women. Let them be taught that dress is quite a secondary consideration. Let health, and not fashion, be the first, and we shall then have, with God's blessing, blooming children, who will, in time, be the pride and strength of dear old England! DIET. 135. At TWELVE months old, have you any objection to a child having any other food besides that you mentioned in answer to the 34th question? There is no objection to his occasionally having, for din☛ner, either a mealy, mashed potato and grayy, or a few crumbs of bread and gravy. Rioe-pudding or batter-pudding may, for a change, be given; but remember, the food recommended in a former Conversation is what, until he be eighteen months old, must be principally taken. During the early months of infancy-say, for the first six or seven-if artificial food be given at all, it should be administered by means of a feedingbottle. After that time, either a spoon, or a nursing boat, will be preferable. The food, as he becomes older, ought to be made more solid. 136. At EIGHTEEN months old, have you any objection to a child having meat? He ought not to have meat until he have several teeth to chew it with. If he has most of his teeth-which he very likely at this age will have-there is no objection to his taking a small slice either of mutton, or occasionally of roast beef, which should be well cut into very small pieces, and mixed with a mealy mashed potato, and a few crumbs of bread and gravy; either every day, if he be delicate, or every other day, if he be a gross or a fast-feeding child. It may be well, in the generality of cases, for the first few months to give him meat every other day, and either potato or gravy, or rice or suet-pudding or batter-pudding on the alternate days; indeed, I think so highly of rice, of suet, and of batter-puddings, and of other farinaceous puddings, that I should advise you to let him have either the one or the other even on those days that he has meat-giving it him after his meat. But remember, if he have meat and pudding, the meat ought to be given sparingly. If he be gorged with food, it makes him irritable, cross, and stupid; at one time, clogging up his bowels, and producing constipation; at another, disordering his liver, and causing either clay coloured stools-denoting a deficiency of bile, or dark and offensive motions-telling of vitiated bile; while, in a third case, cramming him with food might bring on convulsions. 137. As you are so partial to puddings for a child, which do you consider the best for him? He ought, every day, to have a pudding for his dinnereither rice, arrow-root, sago, tapioca, suet-pudding, batter-pudding, or Yorkshire-pudding, mixed with crumbs of bread and gravy-free from grease. A well boiled suet-pudding, with plenty of suet in it, is one of the best puddings he can have; it is, in point of fact, meat and farinaceous food combined, and is equal to, and will oftentimes prevent the giving of, codliver oil; before cod-liver oil came into vogue, suet boiled in milk was the remedy for a delicate child. He may, occasionally, have fruit-pudding, provided the pastry be both plain and light. The objection to fruit pies and puddings is, that the pastry is often too rich for the delicate stomach of a child; there is no objection, certainly not, to the fruit-cooked fruit being, for a child, most wholesome; if, therefore, fruit puddings and pies be eaten, the pastry part ought to be quite plain. There is, in "Murray's Modern Cookery Book," an excellent suggestion, which I will take the liberty of quoting, and of strongly urging my fair reader to carry into practice :-"To prepare fruit for children, a far more wholesome way than in pies and puddings, is to put apples sliced, or plums, currants, gooseberries, &c., into a stone jar; and sprinkle among them as much Lisbon sugar as necessary. Set the jar on an oven or on a hearth, with a tea-cupful of water to prevent the fruit from burning; or put the jar into a saucepan of water, till its contents be perfectly done. Slices of bread or some rice may be put into the jar, to eat with the fruit." Jam-such as strawberry, raspberry, gooseberry-is most wholesome for a child, and ought occasionally to be given, in lieu of sugar, with the rice, with the batter, and with the other puddings. Marmalade, too, is very wholesome. Puddings ought to be given after and not before his meat and vegetables; if you give him pudding before his meat, he might refuse to eat meat altogether. By adopting the plan of giving puddings every day, your child will require less animal food; much meat is injurious to a young child. But do not run into an opposite extreme: a little meat ought, every day, to be given, provided he has cut the whole of his first set of teeth; until then, meat every other day will be often enough. 138. As soon as a child has cut the whole of his first set of teeth, what ought to be his diet? What should be his breakfast? He can, then, have nothing better, where it agrees, than scalding hot new milk poured on sliced bread, with a slice or two of bread and butter to eat with it. Butter, in moderation, is nourishing, fattening, and wholesome. Moreover, butter tends to keep the bowels regular. These facts should be borne in mind, as some mothers foolishly keep their children from butter, declaring it to be too rich for their children's stomach! New milk should be used in preference either to cream or to skim milk. Cream, as a rule, is too rich for the delicate stomach of a child, and skim-milk is too poor when robbed of the butter which the cream contains. But give cream and water, where new milk (as is occasionally the case) does not agree; but never give skim-milk. Skim-milk (among other evils) produces costiveness, and necessitates the frequent administration of aperients. Cream, on the other hand, regulates and tends to open the bowels. Although I am not, as a rule, so partial to cream as I am to good genuine fresh milk, yet I have found, in cases of great debility, more especially where a child is much exhausted by some inflammatory disease, such as inflammation of the lungs, the following food most serviceable:-Beat up, by means of a fork, the yolk of an egg, then mix, little by little, half a teacupful of very weak black tea, sweeten with one lump of sugar, and add a table-spoonful of cream. Let the above, by teaspoonfuls at a time, be frequently given. The above food is only to be administered until the exhaustion be removed, and is not to supersede the milk diet, which must, at stated periods, be given, as I have recommended in answers to previous and subsequent questions. When a child has costive bowels, there is nothing better for his breakfast than well-made and well-boiled oatmeal stirabout, which ought to be eaten with milk fresh from the cow. Scotch children scarcely take anything else, and a finer race is not in existence; and, as for physic, many of them do not even know either the taste or the smell of it! You will find Robinson's Pure Scotch Oatmeal (sold in packets) to be very pure, and sweet, and good. Stir-about is truly said to be "The halesome parritch, chief of Scotia's food."-Burns. Cadbury's Cocoa Essence, made with equal parts of boiling water and fresh milk, slightly sweetened with lump sugar, is an admirable food for a delicate child. Bread and butter should be eaten with it. 139. Have you any remarks to make on cow's milk as an article of food? Cow's milk is a valuable, indeed, an indispensable article of diet, for the young; it is most nourishing, wholesome, and digestible. The finest and the healthiest children are those who, for the first four or five years of their lives, are fed principally upon it. Milk ought then to be their staple food. No child, as a rule, can live, or, if he live, can be healthy, unless |