1. OVER-WORKED MOTHERS.--Children born of over-worked mothers, are
liable to a be dwarfed and puny race. However, their chances are
better than those of the children of inactive, dependent, indolent
mothers who have neither brain nor muscle to transmit to son or
daughter. The truth seems to be that excessive labor, with either body
or mind, is alike injurious to both men and women; and herein lies the
sting of that old curse. This paragraph suggests all that need be said
on the question whether pregnant women should or should not labor.
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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