70 Hattie Plum Williams 
care of them. Her ambition sometimes gets the better of her 
judgment and sends her out to wash and scrub when the children 
would be as well off with fewer clothes and more personal care; 
but this applies more to children who have reached school age, 
than to the younger ones. The mother’s chief failure, as with 
most mothers, comes through ignorance of elementary but im- 
portant hygienic principles. The existence of a simple family 
diet may not save the small child from being fed things that are 
hurtful and fatal to it. Irregularity of feeding does more harm 
than unclean or improper foods. The customary dependence on 
home remedies tempts the family to delay calling medical help 
until every other means is exhausted, and this often proves too 
late to save the baby, as is not infrequently noted by the physi- 
cian on the certificate of death. This attitude of mind results 
also in the use of patent medicines and liquor which, as a rule, 
is kept in the home “as a medicine.” The general principles of 
hygiene in its relation to infant welfare are largely an intuition 
with the Russian German mother. The houses are, as a rule, 
kept cool in the summer, not because she knows the scientific 
effect of heat upon infant mortality, but because she has been 
accustomed to cooking outside. Sometimes where the summer 
kitchen is lacking, women will be found doing the cooking over 
an open fire in the yard to save heating the kitchen. 
Definite education of the women and girls would undoubtedly 
accomplish results in a comparatively short time. The raw immi- 
grant mothers could be reached through the midwives if these 
were properly instructed; while others might be helped: through 
visiting nurses.°* The girls are being better prepared by the 
teaching of hygiene in the grade schools, and further specialized 
instruction is possible through special clubs and other existing 
organizations. The movement for “Little Mother’s Clubs” is 
good in principle but unfortunate in the name chosen. It is too 
suggestive of relieving the proper agent of care and of placing 
responsibility upon those not physically or mentally mature 
54 At present (June, 1915) the city jointly with the Charity Organization 
Society and the Board of Education employs a visiting nurse who gives a 
large proportion of her time to work in the settlements. 
196 
