2.  FOOLISHLY IDLE.—­At least it is certain that they should not be foolishly idle; and on the other hand, it is equally certain that they should be relieved from painful laborious occupations that exhaust and unfit them for happiness.  Pleasant and useful physical and intellectual occupation, however, will not only do no harm, but positive good.

3.  THE BEST MAN AND THE BEST WOMAN.—­The best man is he who can rear the best child, and the best woman is she who can rear the best child.  We very properly extol to the skies Harriet Hosmer, the artist, for cutting in marble the statue of a Zenobia; how much more should we sing praises to the man and the woman who bring into the world a noble boy or girl.  The one is a piece of lifeless beauty, the other a piece of life Including all beauty, all possibilities.

[Illustration]

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WORDS FOR YOUNG MOTHERS.

The act of nursing is sometimes painful to the mother, especially before the habit is fully established.  The discomfort is greatly increased if the skin that covers the nipples is tender and delicate.  The suction pulls it off leaving them in a state in which the necessary pressure of the child’s lips cause intense agony.  This can be prevented in a great measure, says Elizabeth Robinson Scovil, in Ladies’ Home Journal, if not entirely, by bathing the nipples twice a day for six weeks before the confinement with powdered alum dissolved in alcohol; or salt dissolved in brandy.  If there is any symptom of the skin cracking when the child begins; to nurse, they should be painted with a mixture of tannin and glycerine.  This must be washed off before the baby touches them and renewed when it leaves them.  If they are very painful, the doctor will probably order morphia added to the mixture.  A rubber nipple shield to be put on at the time of nursing, is a great relief.  If the nipples are retracted or drawn inward, they can be drawn out painlessly by filling a pint bottle with boiling water, emptying it and quickly applying the mouth over the nipple.  As the air in the bottle cools, it condenses, leaving a vacuum and the nipple is pushed out by the air behind it.

When the milk accumulates or “cakes” in the breast in hard patches, they should be rubbed very gently, from the base upwards, with warm camphorated oil.  The rubbing should be the lightest, most delicate stroking, avoiding pressure.  If lumps appear at the base of the breast and it is red swollen and painful, cloths wrung out of cold water should be applied and the doctor sent for.  While the breast is full and hard all over, not much apprehension need be felt.  It is when lumps appear that the physician should be notified, that he may, if possible, prevent the formation of abscesses.