THE CHILD'S DRESS
General principles. SEC. 1. Swathing the body--its numerous evils.--SEC.
2. Form of the dress. Fashion. Tight lacing--its dangers. Structure and
motion of the chest. Diseases from tight lacing.--SEC. 3. Material of
dress. Flannel--its uses. Cleanliness. Cotton--silk--linen.--SEC. 4.
Quantity of dress. Power of habit. Anecdote. Begin right. Change.
Dampness.--SEC. 5. Caps--their evils. Going bare-headed.--SEC. 6. Hats
and bonnets.--SEC. 7. Covering for the feet. Stockings. Garters.
Shoes--thick soles.--SEC. 8. Pins--their danger. Shocking
anecdote.--SEC. 9. Remaining wet.--SEC. 10. Dress of boys. Tight
jackets. Stocks and cravats. Boots.--SEC. 11. Dress of girls--should be
loose. Temperature. Exposure to the night air.
Dress serves three important purposes:--1. To cover us; 2. To defend us
against cold; 3. To defend our bodies and limbs from injury. There is
one more purpose of dress; in case of deformity, it seems to improve the
appearance.
In all our arrangements in regard to dress, whether of children or of
adults, we should ever keep in mind the above principles. The form,
fashion, material, application, and quantity of all clothing,
especially for infants, ought to be regulated by these three or four
rules.
The subject of this chapter is one of so much importance, and embraces
such a variety of items, that it will be more convenient, both to the
reader and myself, to consider it under several minor heads.
SEC. 1. _Swathing the Body._
Buffon, in his "Natural History," says that in France, an infant has
hardly enjoyed the liberty of moving and stretching its limbs, before it
is put into confinement. "It is swathed," says he, "its head is fixed,
its legs are stretched out at full length, and its arms placed straight
down by the side of its body. In this manner it is bound tight with
cloths and bandages, so that it cannot stir a limb; indeed it is
fortunate that the poor thing is not muffled up so as to be unable to
breathe."
All swathing, except with a single bandage around the abdomen, is
decidedly unreasonable, injurious and cruel. I do not pretend that the
remarks of M. Buffon are fully applicable to the condition of infants in
the United States. The good sense of the community nowhere permits us to
transform a beautiful babe quite into an Egyptian mummy. Still there
are many considerable errors on the subject of infantile dress, which,
in the progress of my remarks, I shall find it necessary to expose.
The use of a simple band cannot be objected to. It affords a general
support to the abdomen, and a particular one to the _umbilicus_. The
last point is one of great importance, where there is any tendency to a
rupture at this part of the body--a tendency which very often exists in
feeble children. And without some support of this kind, crying,
coughing, sneezing, and straining in any way, might greatly aggravate
the evil, if not produce serious consequences.
But, in order to afford a support to the abdomen in the best manner, it
is by no means necessary that the bandage should be drawn very tight.
Two thirds of the nurses in this country greatly err in this respect,
and suppose that the more tightly a bandage is drawn, the better. It
should be firm, but yet gently yielding; and therefore a piece of
flannel cut "bias," as it is termed, or, obliquely with respect to the
threads of which it is composed, is the most appropriate material.
If the attention of the mother were necessary nowhere else, it would be
indispensable in the application of this article. If she do not take
special pains to prevent it, the erring though well meaning nurse may
so compress the body with the bandage as to produce pain and uneasiness,
and sometimes severe colic. Nay, worse evils than even this have been
known to arise. When a child sneezes, or coughs, or cries, the abdomen
should naturally yield gently; but if it is so confined that it cannot
yield where the band is applied, it will yield in an unnatural
proportion below, to the great danger of producing a species of rupture,
no less troublesome than the one which such tight swathing is designed
to prevent.
But besides the bandage already mentioned, no other restraint of the
body and limbs of a child is at all admissible. The Creator has kindly
ordained that the human body and limbs, and especially its muscles, or
moving powers, shall be developed by exercise. Confine an arm or a leg,
even in a child of ten years of age, and the limb will not increase
either in strength or size as it otherwise would, because its muscles
are not exercised; and the fact is still more obvious in infancy.
There is a still deeper evil. On all the limbs are fixed two sets of
muscles; one to extend, the other to draw up or bend the limb. If you
keep a limb extended for a considerable time, you weaken the one set of
muscles; if you keep it bent, you weaken the other. This weakness may
become so great that the limb will be rendered useless. There are cases
on record--well authenticated--where children, by being obliged to sit
in one place on a hard floor, have been made cripples for life. Hundreds
of others are injured, though they may not become absolutely crippled.
I repeat it, therefore, their dress should be so free and loose that
they may use their little limbs, their neck and their bodies, as much as
they please; and in every desired direction. The practices of confining
their arms while they lie down, for fear they should scratch themselves
with their nails, and of pinning the clothes round their feet, are
therefore highly reprehensible. Better that they should even
occasionally scratch themselves with their nails, than that they should
be made the victims of injurious restraint. Who would think of tying up
or muffling the young lamb or kid? And even the young plant--what think
you would be the effect, if its leaves and branches could not move
gently with the soft breezes? Would the fluids circulate, and health be
promoted: or would they stagnate, and a morbid, sickly and dwarfish
state be the consequence?
Those whose object is to make infancy, as well as any other period of
existence, a season of happiness, will not fail to find an additional
motive for giving the little stranger entire freedom in the land
whither he has so recently arrived, especially when he seems to enjoy
it so much. Who can be so hardened as to confine him, unless compelled
by the most pressing necessity?
SEC. 2. _Form of the Dress._
On this subject a writer in the London Literary Gazette of some eight or
ten years ago, lays down the following general directions, to which, in
cold weather, there can be but one possible objection, which is, they
are not _alamode_, and are not, therefore, likely to be followed.
"All that a child requires, so far as regards clothing, in the first
month of its existence, is a simple covering for the trunk and
extremities of the body, made of a material soft and agreeable to the
skin, and which can retain, in an equable degree, the animal
temperature. These qualities are to be found in perfection in fine
flannel; and I recommend that the only clothing, for the first month or
six weeks, be a square piece of flannel, large enough to involve fully
and overlap the whole of the babe, with the exception of the head, which
should be left totally uncovered. This wrapper should be fixed by a
button near the breast, and left so loose as to permit the arms and legs
to be freely stretched, and moved in every direction. It should be
succeeded by a loose flannel gown with sleeves, which should be worn
till the end of the second month; after which it may be changed to the
common clothing used by children of this age."
The advantages of such a dress are, that the movements of the infant
will be, as we have already seen, free and unrestrained, and we shall
escape the misery of hearing the screams which now so frequently
accompany the dressing and undressing of almost every child. No chafings
from friction, moreover, can occur; and as the insensible perspiration
is in this way promoted over the whole surface of the body, the sympathy
between the stomach and skin is happily maintained. A healthy sympathy
of this kind, duly kept up, does much towards preserving the stomach in
a good state, and the skin from eruptions and sores.
But as I apprehend that christianity is not yet very deeply rooted in
the minds and hearts of parents, I have already expressed my doubts
whether they are prepared to receive and profit by advice at once
rational and physiological. Still I cannot help hoping that I shall
succeed in persuading mothers to have every part of a child's dress
perfectly loose, except the band already referred to; and that should be
but moderately tight.
Common humanity ought to teach us better than to put the body of a
helpless infant into a _vise_, and press it to death, as the first mark
of our attention. Who has not been struck with a strange inconsistency
in the conduct of mothers and nurses, who, while they are so exceedingly
tender towards the infant in some points as to injure it by their
kindness, are yet almost insensible to its cries of distress while
dressing it? So far, indeed, are they from feeling emotions of pity,
that they often make light of its cries, regarding them as signs of
health and vigor.
There can be no doubt, I confess, that the first cries of an infant, if
strong, both indicate and promote a healthy state of the lungs, to a
certain extent; but there will always be unavoidable occasions enough
for crying to promote health, even after we have done all we can in the
way of avoiding pain. They who only draw the child's dress the tighter,
the more it cries, are guilty of a crime of little less enormity than
murder.
"Think," says Dr. Buchan, "of the immense number of children that die of
convulsions soon after birth; and be assured that these (its cries) are
much oftener owing to galling pressure, or some external injury, than to
any inward cause." This same writer adds, that he has known a child
which was "seized with convulsion fits" soon after being "swaddled,"
immediately relieved by taking off the rollers and bandages; and he says
that a loose dress prevented the return of the disease.
I think it is obvious that the utmost extent to which we ought to go, in
yielding to the fashion, as it regards form, is to use three pieces of
clothing--the shirt, the petticoat and the frock; all of which must be
as loose as possible; and before the infant begins to crawl about much,
the latter should be long, for the salve of covering the feet and legs.
At four or five years of age, loose trowsers, with boys, may be
substituted for the petticoat; but it is a question whether something
like the frock might not, with every individual, be usefully retained
through life.
I wish it were unnecessary, in a book like this, to join in the general
complaint against tight lacing any part of the body, but especially the
chest. But as this work of torture is sometimes begun almost from the
cradle, and as prevention is better than cure, the hope of preventing
that for which no cure appears yet to have been found, leads me to make
a few remarks on the subject.
As it has long been my opinion that one reason why mothers continue to
overlook the subject is, that they do not understand the structure and
motion of the chest, I have attempted the following explanation and
illustration.
I have already said, that if we bandage tightly, for a considerable
time, any part of the human frame, it is apt to become weaker. The more
a portion of the frame which is furnished with muscles, those curious
instruments of motion, is used, provided it is not _over_-exerted, the
more vigorous it is. Bind up an arm, or a hand, or a foot, and keep it
bound for twelve hours of the day for many years, and think you it will
be as strong as it otherwise would have been? Facts prove the contrary.
The Chinese swathe the feet of their infant females; and they are not
only small, but weak.
I have said their feet are smaller for being bandaged. So is a hand or
an arm. Action--healthy, constant action--is indispensable to the
perfect development of the body and limbs. Why it is so, is another
thing. But so it is; and it is a principle or law of the great Creator
which cannot be evaded. More than this; if you bind some parts of the
body tightly, so as to compress them as much as you can without
producing actual pain, you will find that the part not only ceases to
grow, but actually dwindles away. I have seen this tried again and
again. Even the solid parts perish under pressure. When a person first
wears a false head of hair, the clasp which rests upon the head, at the
upper part of the forehead, being new and elastic, and pressing rather
closely, will, in a few months, often make quite an indentation in the
cranium or bone of the head.
Now is it probable--nay, is it possible--that the lungs, especially
those of young persons, can expand and come to their full and natural
size under pressure, even though the pressure should be slight? Must
they not be weakened? And if the pressure be strong, as it sometimes is,
must they not dwindle away?
We know, too, from the nature and structure of the lungs themselves,
that tight lacing must injure them. Many mothers have very imperfect
notions of what physicians mean, when they say that corsets impede the
circulation, by preventing the full and undisturbed action of the lungs.
They get no higher ideas of the _motion_ of the _chest_, than what is
connected with bending the body forward and backward, from right to
left, &c. They know that, if dressed too tightly, _this_ motion is not
so free as it otherwise would be; but if they are not so closely laced
as to prevent that free bending of the body of which I have been
speaking, they think there can be no danger; or at least, none of
consequence.
Now it happens that this sort of motion is not that to which physicians
refer, when they complain of corsets. Strictly speaking, this bending of
the whole body is performed by the muscles of the back, and not those
of the chest. The latter have very little to do with it. It is true,
that even _this_ motion ought not to be hindered; but if it is, the evil
is one of little comparative magnitude.
Every time we breathe naturally, all the ribs, together with the breast
bone, have motion. The ribs rise, and spread a little outward,
especially towards the fore part. The breast bone not only rises, but
swings forward a little, like a pendulum. But the moment the chest is
swathed or bandaged, this motion must be hindered; and the more, in
proportion to the tightness.
On this point, those persons make a sad mistake, who say that "a busk
not too wide nor too rigid seems to correspond to the supporting spine,
and to assist, rather than impede the efforts of nature, to keep the
body erect."
Can we seriously compare the offices of the spine with those of the
ribs, and suppose that because the former is fixed like a post, at the
back part of the lungs, therefore an artificial post in front would be
useful? Why, we might just as well argue in favor of hanging weights to
a door, or a clog to a pendulum, in order to make it swing backwards and
forwards more easily. We might almost as well say that the elbow ought
to be made firm, to correspond with the shoulders, and thus become
advocates for letting the stays or bandages enclose the arm above the
elbow, and fasten it firmly to the side. Indeed, the consequences in the
latter case, aside from a little inconvenience, would not be half so
destructive to health as in the former. The ribs, where they join to the
back bone, form hinges; and hinges are made for motion. But if you
fasten them to a post in front, of what value are the hinges?
If mothers ask, of what use this motion of the lungs is, it is only
necessary to refer them to the chapter on Ventilation, in which I trust
the subject is made intelligible, and a satisfactory answer afforded.
But I might appeal to facts. Let us look at females around us generally.
Do their countenances indicate that they enjoy as good health as they
did when dress was worn more loosely? Have they not oftener a leaden
hue, as if the blood in them was darker? Are they not oftener
short-breathed than formerly? As they advance in life, have they not
more chronic diseases? Are not their chests smaller and weaker? And as
the doctrine that if one member suffers, all the other members suffer
with it, is not less true in physiology than in morals, do we not find
other organs besides the lungs weakened? Surgeons and physicians, who,
like faithful sentinels, have watched at their post half a century,
tell us, moreover, that if these foolish and injurious practices to
which I refer are tolerated two centuries longer, every female will be
deformed, and the whole race greatly degenerated, physically and
morally.
Those with whom no arguments will avail, are recommended to read the
following remarks from the first volume of the Library of Health, p.
119:
"It is related, on the authority of Macgill, that in Tunis, after a girl
is engaged, or betrothed, she is then _fattened_. For this purpose, she
is cooped up in a small room, and shackles of gold and silver are placed
upon her ancles and wrists, as a piece of dress. If she is to be married
to a man who has discharged, despatched, or lost a former wife, the
shackles which the former wife wore are put on the new bride's limbs,
and she is fed till they are filled up to a proper thickness. The food
used for this custom worthy of the barbarians is called _drough_, which
is of an extraordinary fattening quality, and also famous for rendering
the milk of the nurse rich and abundant. With this and their national
dish, _cuscasoo_, the bride is literally crammed, and many actually die
under the spoon."
We laugh at all this, and well we may; but there are customs not very
far from home, no less ridiculous.
"There is a country four or five thousand miles westward of Tunis,
where the females, to a very great extent, are emaciated for marriage,
instead being fattened. This process is begun, in part, by shackles--not
of gold and silver, perhaps, but of wood--but instead of being put on
loosely, and causing the body or limbs to fill them, they are made to
compress the body in the outset; and as the size of the latter
diminishes, the shackles are contracted or tightened. As with the
eastern, so with the western females, many of them die under the
process; though a far greater number die at a remote period, as the
consequence of it."
SEC. 3. _Material._
I have already committed myself to the reader as favoring the use of
soft flannel in cold weather, especially for children who are not yet
able to run about freely in the open air. The advantages of an early use
of this material, at least for under-clothes, are numerous. The
following are a few of them.
1. Flannel, next to the skin, is a pleasant flesh brush; keeping up a
gentle and equable irritation, and promoting perspiration and every
other function which it is the office of the skin to perform, or assist
in performing.
2. It guards the body against the cooling effects of evaporation, when
in a state of profuse perspiration.
3. By preventing the heat of the body from escaping too rapidly, it
keeps up a steadier temperature on the surface than any other known
substance. The importance of the last consideration is greater, in a
climate like our own, than elsewhere.
But there are limits to the use of this article of clothing. Whenever
the temperature of the atmosphere is so great, even without artificial
heat, that we no longer wish to retain the heat of the body by the
clothing, then all flannel should be removed at once, and linen should
be substituted; taking care to replace the flannel whenever the
temperature of the atmosphere, as indicated by the thermometer, or by
the child's feelings, may seem to require it.
It should also be kept clean. There is a very general mistake abroad on
this subject. Many suppose that flannel can be worn longer without
washing than other kinds of cloth. On the contrary, it should be changed
oftener than cotton, or even linen, because it will absorb a great deal
of fluid, especially the matter of perspiration, which, if long
retained, is believed to ferment, and produce unhealthy, if not
poisonous gases. For this reason, too, flannel for children's clothing
should be white, that it may show dirt the more readily, and obtain the
more frequent washing; although it is for this very reason--its
liability to exhibit the least particles of dirt--that it is commonly
rejected.
One caution more in regard to the use of flannel may be necessary. With
some children, owing to a peculiarity of constitution, flannel will
produce eruptions on the skin, which are very troublesome. Whenever this
is the case, the flannel should be immediately laid aside; upon which
the eruptions usually disappear.
If parents would take proper pains to get the lighter, softer kinds of
flannel for this purpose, and be particular about its looseness and
quantity, I should prefer, as I have already intimated, to have very
young children, in our climate, wear this material the greater part of
the year, excepting perhaps July and August.
My reasons for this course would be, first, that I like the stimulus of
soft flannel on the skin, if changed sufficiently often, better than
that of any other kind of clothing. Secondly, cotton is so liable to
take fire, that its use in the nursery and among little children seems
very hazardous. Thirdly, silk is not quite the appropriate material, as
a general thing, besides being too expensive; and fourthly, linen is
not warm enough, except in mid-summer.
Except, therefore, in July and August, and in cases of idiosyncracy,
such as have just been alluded to, I would use flannel for the
under-clothes of young children, throughout the year. But whenever they
acquire sufficient strength to walk and run, and play much in the open
air, I would gradually lay aside the use of all flannel, even in winter.
Great attention, however, must be paid to the _quantity_. The parent
who, guided by this rule, should keep on her child the same amount of
flannel, and of the same thickness, from January to June 30th, and then,
on the first of July, should suddenly exchange it for thin linen, in
moderate quantity, might find trouble from it. It is better to make the
changes more gradually; otherwise, whatever may be the material of the
dress, the child will be likely to suffer.
SEC. 4. _Quantity._
The quantity of clothing used by different individuals of the same age,
in the same climate, possessing constitutions nearly alike, and
following similar occupations, is so different as to strike us with
surprise when we first observe the fact.
One will wear nothing but a coarse linen or cotton shirt, coarse coat,
waistcoat, and pantaloons, and boots, in the coldest weather. He never,
unless it be on the Sabbath, puts on even a cravat, and never in any
case stockings or mittens.
Another, in similar circumstances in all respects, constantly wears his
thick stockings, flannel wrapper and drawers, and cravat; and seldom
goes out, in cold weather, without mittens and an overcoat. He is not a
whit warmer: indeed he often suffers more from the cold, than his
neighbor who dresses in the manner just described.
Why all this difference? It is no doubt the result of habit. Any
individual may accustom himself to much or little clothing. And the
earlier the habit is begun, the greater is its influence.
Some persons, observing how little clothing one may accustom himself to
use and yet be comfortable, have told us, that so far as mere
temperature is concerned, we need no clothing at all. They relate the
story of the Scythian and Alexander. Alexander asked the former how he
could go without clothes in such a cold climate. He replied, by asking
Alexander how he could go with his face naked. "Habit reconciles us to
this;" was the reply. "Think me, then, _all_ face," said the Scythian.
But admitting that certain individuals, and even a few rude tribes,
have gone without clothing; did they therefore follow, in this respect,
the intentions of nature? The greatest stickler for adhering to nature's
plan, cannot prove this. Analogy is against it. Most of the other
animals, even in hot climates, are furnished with a hairy covering from
the first; and in cold climates, the Author of their being has even
provided them with an increase of clothing for the winter. Their fur, on
the approach of cold weather, not only becomes whiter, and therefore
conducts the heat away from the body more slowly, but, as every dealer
in furs well understands, it becomes softer and thicker. And yet the
blood of the furred animals of cold countries is as warm as ours, if not
warmer.
The inferences which it seems to me we ought to make from this are, that
if other animals require clothing, and even a change of clothing, so
does man; and that as the Creator has left him to provide, by his own
ingenuity, for a great many of his wants, instead of furnishing him with
instinct to direct him, so in relation to dress. And even if it could be
proved that dress were naturally unnecessary, with reference to
temperature, I should still defend its use on other principles. The few
speculative minds, therefore, that in the vagaries of their fancy, but
never in their practice, reject it, are not to be regarded.
The principle laid down in the commencement of the chapter on
Temperature, is the great principle which should guide us in regard to
dress. But although we should always keep a little too cool rather than
a little too warm, it is by no means desirable to be cold. Any degree of
chilliness, long continued, interrupts the functions which the skin
ought to perform, and thus produces mischief.
The same rules, in this respect, apply to eating, as well as to dress.
It is better to eat a little less than nature requires, than a little
more. It is a generally received opinion, however, that mankind
frequently, at least in this country, eat about twice as much as health
requires. This is owing to habit; and perhaps the power of the latter is
as great in this respect as in regard to dress.
The great point in regard to food or dress is, to _begin_ right, and,
observing what nature requires--studying at the same time the testimony
of others--to endeavor to keep within the bounds she has assigned. It
has already been more than intimated, that if the nursery be kept in a
proper temperature, a single loose piece of dress is, for some time, all
that is required. In pursuance of this principle, through life, I
believe few persons would be found who would need more at one time than
a single suit of woollen clothes, even in the severest winters of our
northern climate.
I have always observed that they who wear the greatest amount of
clothing, are most subject to colds. There are obvious reasons why it
should be so. This, then, if a fact, is one of the strongest reasons in
favor of acquiring a habit of going as thinly clad as we possibly can,
and not at the same time feel any inconvenience.
But after all, whether it be winter or summer, we must vary our clothing
with the variations of the weather, as indicated by the thermometer, and
our own feelings. Sometimes, in our ever-changing and ever-changeable
climate, it may be necessary to vary our dress three or four times a
day. Some cry out against this practice as dangerous, but I have never
found it so. I have known persons who made it a constant practice; and I
never found that they sustained any injury from it, except the loss of a
little time; and the increase of comfort was more than enough to
compensate for that. There is one thing to be avoided, however, whether
we change our clothing--our linen especially--twice a day, or only twice
a week--which is, _dampness_.
SEC. 5. _Caps._
The practice of putting caps on infants is happily going by; and perhaps
it may be thought unnecessary for me to dwell a single moment on the
subject. But as the practice still prevails in some parts of the
country, it may be well to bestow upon it a few passing remarks.
Many mothers have not considered that the circulation of the blood in
young infants is peculiarly active; that a large amount of blood is at
that period carried to the head; that in consequence of this, the head
is proportionably hotter than in adults; and that from this source
arises the tendency of very young children to brain-fever, dropsy in the
head, and other diseases of this part of the system. But these are most
undoubted facts.
Hence one reason why the heads of infants should be kept as cool as
possible; and though a thin cap confines less heat than a thick head of
hair does when they are older, yet they are less able to bear it. The
truth is, that nature furnishes a covering for the head, just about as
fast as a covering is required, and the child's safety will permit.
At the present day, few persons will probably be found, who will defend
the utility of caps, any longer than till the hair is grown. The
general apology for their use after this period, and indeed in most
instances before, is, that they look pretty. "What would people say to
see my darling without a cap?"
But when the head is kept, from the first, totally uncovered, the hair
grows more rapidly, dandruff and other scurfy diseases rarely attack the
scalp; catarrh, snuffles, and other similar complaints, and above all,
dropsy in the head, seldom show themselves; and the period of cutting
teeth, that most dangerous period in the life of an infant, is passed
over with much more safety.
"Nothing but custom," says a foreign writer, "can reconcile us to the
cap, with all its lace and trumpery ornaments, on the beautiful head of
a child; and I would ask any one to say candidly, whether he thinks the
children in the pictures of Titian and Raffaelle would be improved by
having their heads covered with caps, instead of the silken curls--the
adornment of nature--which cluster round their smiling faces. If there
were no other reason for disusing caps for infants, but the improvement
which it produces in the _appearance_ of the child, I would maintain
that this is a sufficient inducement." And I concur with him fully.
As to the notion--now I hope nearly exploded--that it is necessary to
cover up the "open of the head," as it is called, nothing can be more
idle. This part of the head requires no more covering than any other
part; and if it did, all the dress in the world could not affect it in
the least, except to retard the growth of the bones, which, in due time,
ought to close up the space; and this effect, anything which keeps the
head too hot might help to produce. Of the folly of wetting the head
with spirits, or any other medicated lotions, and of making daily
efforts to bring it into shape, it is unnecessary to speak in the
present chapter.
SEC. 6. _Hats and Bonnets._
The hats worn in this country are almost universally too warm. But if it
is a great mistake in adults to wear thick, heavy hats, it is much more
so in the case of children.
The infant in the nursery, as we have already seen, needs no covering of
the kind. It is absolutely necessary that the head should be kept as
cool as possible; and absolutely dangerous to cover it too warmly. At a
later period, however, the danger greatly diminishes, because the
circulation of the blood becomes more equal, and does not tend so much
towards the brain.
Still, however, the head is hotter than the limbs, especially the hands
and feet; and I cannot help thinking that the hair is the only covering
which is perfectly safe, either in childhood or age; except in the
sunshine or in the storm. There may be--there probably is--some danger
in going without hat or bonnet in the hot sun; though I have known many
children, and some grown persons, who were constantly exposed in this
way, and yet appeared not to suffer from it.
But this may be the proper place to state that we are ever in great
danger of deceiving ourselves on this subject. If the individuals who
follow practices usually regarded as pernicious, while their habits in
other respects are just like those of other persons around them who have
similar strength, &c. of constitution,--if these individuals, I say,
were wholly to escape disease, through life, or if they were to be so
much more free from it, and live to an age so much greater than others
as to constitute a striking and obvious difference in their favor, we
might then safely argue that the practices which they follow are at
least without dangers, if not of obvious advantage. But when we see them
beset with ills, like other people, it is not safe to pronounce their
habits favorable to health, since it is impossible to know whether some
of the ills which they suffer are not produced by them.
These remarks are applicable to the disuse of any covering for the head
in the sun and in the rain. For you will find those who adopt this
practice from early infancy,[Footnote: I say, from early infancy;
because we may adopt the best habits in mature years, after our
constitutions have been broken up by error and vice, without effecting
anything more than to keep us from actually sinking at once. Indeed, in
most cases we ought not to expect more.] subject to as many diseases as
those around them with similar constitutions, but with habits somewhat
different; and as our diseases are generally the consequences of our
errors in one way or another, it is impossible to say with certainty
that some of them might not have arisen from exposure of the head.
I should not hesitate, therefore, to advise all mothers to put a light
hat or bonnet on the heads of their children, whenever they are to be
exposed to the direct rays of the summer sun, or to the rain. And as we
cannot always foresee when and where these exposures will arise, and as
it is believed that these coverings, if light, will never be productive
of much injury while we are abroad in the open air, it will follow that
it is better to wear than to omit them.
But while I contend for their use as consistent with health and sound
philosophy, I must not be understood as admitting the use of such hats
as are worn at present, even by children. They are, as I have said
before, too hot. What should be substituted, I am unable to determine;
but until something can be supplied, which would not be half so
oppressive as our common wool hats, I should regard it as the lesser
evil to omit them entirely. The danger of going bare-headed, if the
practice is commenced early, we know from the customs of some savage
nations, can never be very great.
SEC. 7. _Covering for the Feet._
The same reason for avoiding the use of any covering for the head, in
early infancy, is a sufficient reason for covering the feet well. For
just in proportion as the blood is sent to the head in superabundance,
and keeps up in it an undue degree of heat, just in the same proportion
is it sent to the feet in too _small_ a quantity, leaving these parts
liable to cold. Now it is a fundamental law with medical men, that the
feet ought to be kept warmer than the head, if possible; especially
while the child is very young, and exposed to brain diseases.
So long, therefore, as children are young, and unable to exercise their
feet, stockings ought to be used, both in summer and winter; but I
prefer to have them short, unless long ones can be used without garters.
Everything in the shape of a garter or ligature round the limbs, body,
or neck of a child, except a single body-band, already mentioned in
another chapter, ought forever to be banished.
It has often been objected, I know, that stockings will make the feet
tender. But as no child was ever hardened by _continued_ and severe cold
applied to any part of the body, but the contrary, so no one was ever
made more tender by being kept moderately warm. Excess of heat, like
excess of cold, will alike weaken either children or adults; but there
is little danger of heating the feet and legs of infants too much during
the first year of infancy.
It is also said that stockings are apt to receive and retain wet. But as
I shall show in another place that wet clothes should be frequently
changed, this objection would be equally strong against wearing coats
and diapers.
As to shoes, there is some variety of opinion among medical men. A few
hold that they cramp the feet, and prevent children from learning to
walk as early as they otherwise would. If it were best for children
that they should learn to walk as early as possible, the last objection
might have weight. But it seems to me not at all desirable to be in
haste about their walking. Indeed, I greatly prefer to retard their
progress, in this respect, rather than to hasten it.
As to the first objection, that shoes cramp the feet too much, nearly
its whole force turns upon the question whether they are made of proper
materials or not. There is no need of making them of cow-hide, or any
other thick leather. The soles are the most important part. These will
defend the feet against pins, needles, and such other sharp substances
as are usually found on the floor; and the upper part of the shoe, so
long as the wearer remains in the nursery, may be made of the softest
and most yielding material--even of cloth. Infants' shoes should always
be made on two lasts, one for each foot.
The philosopher Locke held, that in order to harden the young, their
shoes ought to be "so that they might leak and let in water, whenever
they came near it." There may be and probably is, no harm in having a
child wet his feet occasionally, provided he is soon supplied with dry
stockings again; but it is hazardous for either children or adults to go
too long in wet stockings, and especially to sit long in them, after
they have been using much active exercise. I am in favor of good,
substantial shoes and stockings for people of all ages and conditions,
and at all seasons; and believe it entirely in accordance with sound
economy and the laws of the human constitution.
SEC. 8. _Pins._
The custom of using ten or a dozen pins in the dressing of children,
ought by all means to be set aside. They not only often wound the skin,
but they have occasionally been known to penetrate the body and the
joints of the limbs. So many of these dreadful accidents occur, and
where no accident happens, so much pain is occasionally given by their
sharp points to the little sufferer, who cannot tell what the matter is,
that it is quite time the practice were abolished.
Do you ask what can be substituted?--The following mode is adopted by
Dr. Dewees in his own family, as mentioned in his work on the "Physical
and Medical Treatment of Children," at page 86.
"The belly-band and the petticoat have strings; and not a single pin is
used in their adjustment. The little shirt, which is always made much
larger than the infant's body, is folded on the back and bosom, and
these folds kept in their places by properly adjusting the body of the
petticoat: so far not a pin is used. The diaper requires one, but this
should be of a large size, and made to serve the double purpose of
holding the folds of this article, as well as keeping the belly-band in
its proper place; the latter having a small tag of double linen
depending from its lower margin, by which it is secured to the diaper,
by the same pin.
"Should an extraordinary display of best 'bib and tucker' be required
upon any special occasion, a third pin may be admitted to ensure the
well-sitting of the 'frock' waist in front;--this last pin, however, is
applied externally; so that the risk of its getting into the child's
body is very small, even if it should become displaced."
The writer from whom the last two paragraphs are taken, says be has seen
needles substituted for pins; and relates a long story of a child whose
life was well nigh destroyed in this manner. It underwent months of ill
health, and many moments of excruciating agony, before the cause of its
trouble was suspected. Sometimes its distress was so great that nothing
but large doses of laudanum, sufficient to stupify it, could afford the
least relief. At last a tumor was discovered by the attending physician,
near one of the bones on which we sit, and a needle was extracted two
inches long. The needle had been put in its clothes, and, by slipping
into the folds of the skin, had insinuated itself, unperceived, into the
child's body. It is pleasing to add, that, although the little sufferer
had now been ill seven or eight months, and had endured almost
everything but death,--fever, diarrhoea, and the most excruciating
pain,--it soon recovered.
This shocking circumstance is enough, one would think, to deter every
mother or nurse, who becomes acquainted with it, from using needles in
infants' clothes. Happy would it be, if, in banishing needles, they
would contrive to banish pins also, and adopt either the plan of Dr.
Dewees, or one still more rational.
SEC. 9. _Remaining Wet._
On the subject of changing the wet clothing of a child, there is a
strange and monstrous error abroad; which is, that by suffering them to
remain wet and cold, we harden the constitution. The filthiness of this
practice is enough to condemn it, were there nothing else to be said
against it.
It is insisted on by many, I know, that as water which is salt, when it
is applied to the skin, and suffered to remain long, while it secures
the point of hardening the child, prevents all possibility of its taking
cold, it hence follows, that wet diapers are not injurious. But this is
a mistake. Every time an infant is allowed to remain wet, we not only
endanger its taking cold, but expose it to excoriations of the skin, if
not to serious and dangerous inflammation. In short, if frequent changes
are not made, whatever some mothers and nurses may think, they may rest
assured, that the health of the child must sooner or later suffer as the
consequence.
Nor is it enough to hang up a diaper by the fire, and, as soon as it is
dry, apply it again. It should be clean, as well as dry. Let us not be
told, that it is troublesome to wash so often. Everything is in a
certain sense troublesome. Everything in this world, which is worth
having, is the result of toil. Nothing but absolute poverty affords the
shadow of an excuse for neglecting anything which will promote the
health, or even the comfort of the tender infant.
Of the impropriety and danger of suffering wet clothes to dry upon us, I
shall speak elsewhere; as well as of the evil of suffering children to
remain dirty,--their skins or their clothing.
SEC. 10. _Remarks on the Dress of Boys._
Whatever tends to disturb the growth of the body, or hinder the free
exercise of the limbs, during the infancy and childhood of both sexes
is injurious. And as every mother has the control of these things, I
have thought it desirable to append to this chapter a few thoughts on
the particular dress of each sex. I begin with that of boys.
"Nothing can be more injurious to health," says a foreign writer, "than
the tight jacket, buttoned up to the throat, the well-fitted boots, and
the stiff stock." And his remarks are nearly as applicable to this
country as to England. The consequences of this preposterous method of
dressing boys, are diminutive manhood, deformity of person, and a
constitution either already imbued with disease, or highly susceptible
of its impression.
No part of the modern dress of boys is more absurd, than the stiff
stock, or thick cravat. It is not only injurious by pressing on the
_jugular_ veins, and preventing the blood from freely passing out of the
head, but, by constantly pressing on the numerous and complex muscles of
the neck, at this period of life, it prevents their development; because
whatever hinders the action of the muscular parts, hinders their growth,
and makes them even appear as if wasted.
It would be a great improvement, if this part of dress were wholly
discarded; and when is there so appropriate a time for setting it aside,
as _before we began to use it_; or rather while we are under the more
immediate care of our mothers?
The use of jackets buttoned up to the throat, except in cold weather, is
objectionable; but this is very fortunately going out of fashion.
Boots, if used at all, should fit well; to this there can be no possible
objection. What the writer, whom I have quoted, referred to, was
probably the tight boot, worn to prevent the foot from being large and
unseemly; but producing, as tight boots inevitably do, an injurious
effect upon the muscles, a constrained walk, and corns.
What can be more painful, than to see little boys--yes, _little_
boys--boys neither fifteen, nor twenty, nor twenty-five, walk as if they
were fettered and trussed up for the spit; unable to look down, or turn
their heads, on account of a thick stock, or two or three cravats piled
on the top of each other--and only capable of using their arms to dangle
a cane, or carry an umbrella, as they hobble along, perhaps on a hot
sun-shiny day in July or August?
But this evil, you who are mothers, have it very generally in your power
to prevent, if you are only wise enough to secure that ascendancy over
your children's minds which the Author of their nature designed. At the
least, you can prevent it for a time--the most important period, too--by
your own authority. This you will not need any urging to induce you to
do, if you ever become thoroughly convinced of its pre-eminent folly.
SEC. 11. _On the Dress of Girls._
The same general principles which should guide the young mother in
regard to the dress of boys, are equally important and applicable in the
management of girls. The whole dress should, as much as possible, hang
loosely from the shoulders, without pressing on the body, or any part of
it. This, I say, is the grand point to be aimed at; and this is the only
great principle, whatever some mothers may think, which will lead to
true beauty of person, and gracefulness of gesture.
There is, however, a slight difference to be made between the dress of
girls and that of boys. The greater delicacy of the female frame
requires that the surface of the body should be kept rather warmer, as
well as better protected from the vicissitudes of the atmosphere.
But is this the fact? Is not the contrary true? While boys in the winter
are clad in warm woollen vestments, covering every part of their trunk,
many portions of the female frame, and especially many parts of their
limbs, are left so much exposed, that in cold weather you scarcely find
a girl abroad, who appears to be comfortable.
Nay, they are not only uncomfortable abroad, but at home; and if I were
to present to mothers in detail, a tenth of the evils which their
daughters suffer from not adopting a warmer method of clothing, I should
probably be stared at by some, and laughed at by others. All this, too,
without speaking of going out of warm concert rooms, theatres, ball
rooms and lecture rooms, into the night air, or out of school rooms and
churches, to walk home with measured and stiffened pace, lest the sin
unpardonable of walking swiftly or RUNNING,--that active exercise which
health requires, which youthful feeling prompts, and which duty ought to
inspire,--should unwarily be committed.
The tremendous evils of confining the lungs have been adverted to at
sufficient length. In reference to that general subject, I need only
add, that if the chest be not duly exercised and expanded, the liver,
the lungs, the stomach, digestion, absorption, circulation and
perspiration, are all hindered. And even so far as the various internal
organs of the body _are_ active, they act at a great disadvantage. The
blood which they "work up," is bad blood, and must be so, as long as the
lungs do not have free play. Hence may and do arise all sorts of
diseases; especially diseases of OBSTRUCTION; and such as are often very
difficult of removal.
What can be a more pitiable sight than some modern girls going home from
school or church in winter? Thinly clad, the blood is all driven from
the surface upon the internal organs, and what remains is so loaded with
carbon, which the lungs ought but cannot discharge, that her skin has a
leaden hue; her teeth chatter; her very heart is chilled in her panting,
frozen bosom; she cannot run, and if she could, she must not, for it
would be vulgar! Every mother should shrink from the sight of such a
picture.