22-i 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[Jdse, 
use and meanino;. I don't remember whether he 
speaks of bustles, but I am sure sensible persons 
disapprove of them. But how in the world is a 
woman to make a dress in the prevailing style of 
some years past, and avoid aU these outrages of 
taste ? She must look sharp, or she will get some 
garment which demands a bustle to make it fit, and 
she will be a fortunate woman if she can dress 
" like otherfolks," and avoid meaningless loopings 
and trimmings. Oddity is unpleasant to the person 
who indulges in it — at least to a modest and affec- 
tionate person — and somewhat painful to such 
spectators as do not like to meet a person not mod- 
est and willing to conform to the public taste. 
"When we see a person oddly dressed, we want to 
know the motive for such action, and feel relieved 
to learn that religious principles of some kind, 
prompts the deviation from the prevaihng taste. 
But though social conformity nithin reasonable 
SAKATOGA POTATO PEELER AND SLICER. 
limits, is right, let us never forget that Fashion so 
far is a mere pretender in office, having no just 
right to rule us; and she never will have a just 
right until she gives in her allegiance to principles 
of health and fitness, and neighborly love. 
Dressing according to onr Station. 
Social position has something to do with deciding 
what we shall wear. It is a common rule that each 
must dress according to her station, and this very 
doctrine, perhaps, leads most people to dress be- 
yond their means, in order thus to impress others 
with their social consequence. The hired girl does 
not desire to tell every one she meets, by her dress, 
that she is a " servant," neither do the poor wish 
to publish the fact of their poverty. So those who 
rank as the "lower classes," have many a lecture 
read to them about their wicked extravagance, and 
their folly in trying to dress like those above them. 
But the leaven of Christianity works on in the great 
lump of humanity, and class distinctions ci-umble 
away inevitably, and more and more do we draw 
near each other as members of one great family. It 
is not uncommon now, for the rich to help to bear 
the burdens of the poor, by wearing plain and in- 
expensive fabrics themselves, thus making persons 
of smaller means feel comfortable at church and in 
general society. This is the law of love. 
I have heard of a woman, now placed in the high- 
est social position of any lady in the land, in a so- 
ciety where extravagance in dress is the bane of 
women and the ruin of men — a woman of such true 
womanly worth and strength of character, as to re- 
sist the strong allurements of fashion in her circle, 
and dress with uncommon fitness as a modest 
Christian woman and the wife of the President of a 
Republic, where all are supposed to be free and 
equal. I wish she could know how heartily many 
an obscure woman throughout the land thanks 
God for her good sense and courage. 
Tlle Care of Baby's Motlier. 
The baby to which we allude is not two weeks 
old. Let us suppose it to be not two days old, and 
speak as frankly as may be allowed in a journal de- 
signed for general circulation. If it is a well-be- 
haved baby, its mother needs no other company, 
though of course she needs a sympathizing care- 
taker or nurse, and may enjoy the occasional cheer- 
ful faces of near and familiar friends. But rest is 
nature's great demand ; rest fi-om all exertion and 
from all excitement. So it is a mistake to talk 
much by the bed-side, or to read aloud, with the 
intention of diverting the patient. There is no 
sweeter cup of earthly bhss, than the tender, hope- 
ful love of a mother for her new-born helpless, and 
innocent baby. So the best comfort you can give 
her is, such happy sympathy as may be in your 
power to give, besides the care she needs as a sick 
woman. The best thing for both mother and baby 
is all the natural sleep that can be wooed and won. 
It is astonishing to think of the unnecessary fuss- 
ing that was done over onr grandmothers and their 
babies — the panada with " spirits " in it, supposed 
to be absolutely necessary for the mother ; and all 
the teas necessary to put the infant's organism in 
working order — one thing to start the bowels, tea 
to stimulate the kidneys, one to improve the com- 
plexion, and half a dozen more to cure the troubles 
caused by the unnatural doses of both mother and 
child. If the baby is to draw its nourishment from 
the source Nature intends, it should begin the prac- 
tice very soon after it is properly dressed, not, of 
course, until the mother feels somewhat rested. To 
feed it at first with a spoon, is to risk trouble for 
both mother and child, for the baby needs to learn 
the use of its tongue and lips, and the mother 
needs this natural stimulant for the proper adjust- 
ment of her organism. Still there may be times 
where it becomes necessary to feed the baby artifi- 
cially, but such cases are rare. Nor is it usually 
necessary to stimulate the flow of milk. It does 
not often come until the third day, but the scanty 
fluid Nature gives instead, is just what the infant 
needs, rather than the teas of various kinds too 
often given. It is the safer course to avoid much 
fluid food and drink for a few days when the milk 
begins to come, it is so apt to be the case that the 
baby can not take it all, and trouble is sure to fol- 
low if the milk is not all drawn. When the babe 
has once become accustomed to its natural nourish- 
ment, and the supply is not too great for the de- 
mand, this caution gradually becomes unnecessary. 
The mother's food should be simple and nourish- 
ing, but not too hearty. Her food must feed two, 
to be sure, but need not therefore be more than 
enough for one, for Nature has made provision for 
the case in another way. By eating with a view to 
providing food for two, a mother will probably 
overtax her digestive powers, and injure the quali- 
ty of the babe's food, without increasing the quan- 
tity. Enough food for her own good health, is all 
that is required, and this should contain all the 
elements needed for the gro\vth of the babe. 
Cleanliness and liigllt. 
Cleanliness is not at all to be feared for the sick 
mother, but is greatly to be desired. There are at 
this day old-fashioned nurses, who keep a bab3''s 
mother's sick-room so foul with bad air, from lack 
of cleanliness about the patient, that few can bear 
to enter it. They refuse to change the bedding or 
the patient's clothes for at least a week — most bar- 
bai'ous treatment of mother and babe, and all the 
friends. There is no danger from changes of 
clothes, if the fresh clothing be well aired, and put 
on without chilling or fatiguing the patient. And 
washing of the whole body is not at all perilous, if 
the water used be of comfortable temperature, and 
the air of the room quite warm. Thousands of 
women every year have sitz baths before their 
babes are a week old, and recommend the practice ; 
but though I know by experience that it is safe and 
coDxfortable rightly administered, I will not recom- 
mend it to any one who has not a nurse or physi- 
cian accustomed to such baths, and ready to super- 
intend them. Very serious disease sometimes re- 
sults from lack of proper washing in sickness of 
this kind, in hot weather. Every sick-room should 
be kept as light as the patient's comfort will allow 
—not darkened at aU, unless the Ught hurts her 
eyes. All reasonable efforts must be made to 
keep the air pure without chilliness or draughts. 
Cliildreii's XJnder-'Waisls. 
A reader of the Ajnencan Agriculturist sends me 
some anxious inquiries about children's undcr- 
waists — how they should be made, and how low the 
lowest row of buttons may be al- 
lowed to come. She would hke 
the same pattern that I use, and 
she is quite welcome to it. if she 
will get it in the same way that I 
do. Probably there are better pat- 
terns to be had from the regular 
pattern venders. I make anunder- 
waist for any child under six years 
of age, in this way : I tear off a 
strip of cloth, cotton or flannel, as 
wide as the length of the child's 
waist, measuring from top of shoulder to hip, and 
as long as the loose '• bust measure " of the child, 
allowing for wide hems in the back and room to 
button, and for a wide hem at the bottom. Having 
turned in the hems for lapping at the back, double 
the cloth in the middle, and again, so as to make 
" four-double," (flg. 1), the last made creases to 
come under the arms. Hold this up to the child's 
body, and cut roomy arm-holes where they ought 
to come, with triangular pieces cut out above the 
arm-holes, to make the sloping shoulder seams. 
When opened, the pattern will be as in fig. 2. For 
half a dozen years of its life, a child's body has no 
fixed form, and a waist made by this pattern, will 
J 
Fig. 1. 
be as 
likely to pinch at the 
bottom 
as 
higher 
up. 
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Fig. 2. — PATTERN OP child's WAIST. 
The waist should never be "snug" in fit for a grow- 
ing chUd — nor for any one who likes to breathe 
freely. Older children need some slope of seams be- 
low the arms, and when nearly full-grown, darts in 
front. Never let the waist be tight about the bust- 
About the buttons about the waist, I am not 
capable of deciding that matter outright. It de- 
pends upon the comfort of the child, and the con- 
venience of the mother. I have never used more 
than two rows of buttons on one waist, and 
those not more than an inch apart. The flannel 
under-suit worn in winter has no buttons, unless to 
fasten the upper and lower parts together. In this 
case, a strong cotton waist is worn over, to which 
the colored flannel " dress drawers " and flannel 
skirt are buttoned. When a pair of drawers, and a 
skirt, button to the same waist, I make but one 
row of buttons, but use alternate sizes for the 
separate garments, as shown in the diagram (fig. 2), 
the larger buttons supporting the drawers, and the 
smaller ones the skirt. This arrangement answers 
for summer as well as winter use. 
A Potato Peeler and Slicer. 
One of the essentials in preparing the choice 
fried potatoes now popularly called "Saratoga," is 
to have the slices of uniform thickness, so that 
they will cook equally. Various slicing machines 
have long been in use, but we have not had one 
that ^ould both ijeel and shce until the one here 
