686 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



and play, or cry, or sleep, as it will. The neighbor's nerves are not 

 weak as far as children's crying is concerned. The day-nurseries 

 which benevolence has established for the care of these little ones are 

 truly a blessing to poor mothers, who earn their living by washing and 

 scrubbing. The babies are well fed, amused, and generally well cared 

 for, far better than in their own homes ; the mothers pay from five to 

 ten cents a day out of their wages. But more often the poor baby 

 has brothers and sisters, and they take care of it almost entirely. 



Many city infants perish from bad feeding. More especially is this 

 true of the tenement-children. The youngest member of the family 

 is placed at the common table at an incredibly tender age. Often in 

 the dispensary in response to the question, " With what are you feed- 

 ing your baby ? " comes the reply, " It eats what we all do." With 

 these people, even if they are not extremely poor, milk or anything 

 else purchased especially for the baby, is an item of extra expense, 

 and therefore it is considered easier and cheaper to feed it with the 

 rest of the family. The sins of feeding among the poor people are 

 monstrous. Coffee, tea, brandy-and-water, as well as beer, had been 

 fed to babies from their nursing-bottle ! With such a regime of feed- 

 ing for the poor and middle classes, it is no wonder that two and a half 

 times as many infants perish of diarrhoeal disorders as of any other 

 disease. 



City infants of all classes are at a disadvantage in regard to their 

 food. Unfortunately, city mothers who nurse their own children are 

 fewer than those in the country. The search for a wet-nurse is one of 

 the most disheartening. The supply is in no way proportioned to the 

 demand. A woman of the poorer classes who has any home at all 

 must stay in it and look after it for her husband, even if she were 

 willing to give up her child for the sake of the money. The woman 

 who applies for the position as wet-nurse has either been deserted by 

 her husband or has had none. She must depend upon her own exer- 

 tions for the support of herself and her child. If she finds a place as 

 wet-nurse she earns from twenty to thirty dollars per month and a 

 good home, for it is only the well-to-do who can afford to hire her. 

 She usually rules the household with a rod of iron. Since, as a gen- 

 eral thing, she comes to take care of a puny child who can not live 

 without mother's milk, and recognizes that the family are dependent 

 upon her, she is exacting and aggravating, oftentimes almost beyond 

 endurance. It is only because the thralldom will not last forever that 

 it is tolerated. The wet-nurses obtain their positions through agencies 

 which exist in the large cities and through advertisements. The ne- 

 cessity for a thorough investigation of the health and status of the 

 applicant for such a position by the family physician is imperative, 

 and in recommending one he takes upon himself a grave responsibility. 

 The wet-nurse will generally try to deceive as to the age of lier baby, 

 that she may make her milk appear desirable. The best evidence is the 



