1!)1 4 . 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
641 
The Significance of the Sign 
» - Prize Babies and Otherwise ^ 
“What did ye have good to eat. Sarah? 
That’s what I want to hear about first,” 
was Aunt Hannah’s greeting to Sarah 
upon her return from the all-day meeting 
of the Ladies’ Aid. Aunt Hannah was 
“bed-rid,” and came in touch with the 
outer world only as her niece, Sarah, or 
occasional visitors brought it to her in 
fragments. 
“Well, I s’pose I hadn't ought to say 
it, but I dunno as there was anything 
any better than the custard pie I carried 
myself. Miss Russell brought an awful 
good-tastin’ chocolate cake, and Kate 
Porter’s beans was good, but Viny Fuller 
brought the queerest mess—all kinds of 
vegetables, potatoes, beets, string beans, 
an’ all like that together, with some let- 
tuee at this time o’ year, too, and then a 
kind o’ cold, sour gravy on it. They 
called it a solid, but my land, I wouldn’t 
touch it, if some of the other ladies did 
say it was fine.” 
“My country ! And I s’pose y’ had to 
eat with them silver knives. I never 
handled ’em but just onct. That was to 
Hack Hines’ funeral, y’ know. I said 
then I didn’t blame folks for eating with 
their forks if they didn’t hev nothing but 
them stiff silver knives to eat with. Rut 
go on and tell what happened.” 
After a few minutes of bustling about, 
putting away the various wraps which 
had shielded her from the chill of late 
Autumn, Sarah sat with her feet in the 
oven and reviewed the events of the day. 
“Wny Fuller’s oldest girl was there 
with her baby. Y’ know she’s married 
and lives out West somewhere; in Ohio, 
I guess. It’s a real pretty little feller, 
the baby is; but with all that girl’s 
going to college, an’ all like that, she 
don’t know nothin’ scarcely about raising 
children. Y’ know, Viny always was 
proud feeling, and liked to show that she 
was a little st.vlisher and knowed more 
than other folks, but she got took down 
good to-day, and found that there was 
some things she don’t know so much about 
as some other people. Gertie—that’s her 
girl; I can't remember the name of the 
feller she married, they have such queer 
names out West—she set there next to 
me a-holding her baby on her lap, so I 
says to her, ‘Y’ ain’t weaned him yet, 
hev yi>?’ 
“ ‘Oh, yes,’ s’ she, ‘when he was 10 
months old.’ (He’s jest a year old now.) 
“ ‘Y’ did?’ s’ I. ‘Didn’t he make an 
awful fuss? He’s so young,’ I says. 
“ ‘Why, no,’ s’ she. ‘He didn’t give me 
any trouble at all.’ 
“And then Viny spoke up and sh’ she: 
‘I never saw anything like it. Gertie just 
stopped nursing him one day and began 
feeding him with a spoon, and he never 
seemed to know the difference and never 
cried at all.’ 
“ ‘Then you must ’a’ done it when the 
sign was just right,’ s’ I. 
“Gertie just smiled and didn’t say noth¬ 
ing; but I had no idee she didn’t know 
what I meant, but Inez Day says, ‘Of 
course. Nobody couldn’t wean a child 
without lots o’ trouble if the sign wa’u’t 
right.’ 
“Then Kate Porter says right out to 
Gertie. ‘Did you go by the sign?’ and 
Gertie looked kinder queer, and s' she, 
‘I don’t understand.’ Well, then, I tell y’ 
we all pitched into Viny sure enough. 
Kate Porter spoke out plain, and s’ she, 
‘W’y, Viny Fuller, do you mean to say 
that you let your daughter grow up and 
have a baby and wean it right in your 
own house and you never explained to her 
about the sign?’ 
“Viny laughed, and says, ‘I didu’t 
know that anybody believed in such out¬ 
landish foolishness these days.’ Then. I 
tell y\ Kate was kinder mad. and she 
says. ‘W’y, Viny, I know it’s so. I never 
knew it to fail. Haiu’t I took care of 
most of the babies and sick folks in this 
town for 110 years. I’ve seen it tried 
over and over again.’ 
“An’ everybody else, ’most, said they 
knew it was so. Inez Day says. ‘I guess 
I know it ain’t foolishness. When sister 
Emma’s second boy was 22 months old 
she started to wean him, but she just 
couldn’t. He cried and acted so that he 
pretty near got down sick. She finally 
looked in the almanac, and found the sign 
wa’n’t quite right, so she waited till he 
was two, and then she didn’t have a mite 
o’ trouble.’ 
“Mis’ Roland hadn’t said nothing, so 
somebody asked her if she didn’t believe 
in it, and y’ know how quiet and slow 
and pretty spoken she is. She says, ‘Well, 
y’ know, I ain’t never had no experience 
myself, but I remember my husband use’ 
to always be very particular to see that 
I'i::sr I’uze At Raby Show. 
the sign was right before he would wean 
the calves.’ 
“Everybody told of some happening to 
prove that it was true, an’ finally Gertie 
says. ‘Will you please tell me how to 
know when the sign is right? I’d like to 
understand this thing.’ So Kate told her 
about how the sign must be going down, 
and it must be below the heart, or there 
would be trouble; an’ Miss Day told how 
it was the same in doctoring, and 'spe¬ 
cially for any operation, no matter wheth¬ 
er it was docking a lamb or cutting off a 
man’s leg. I guess Viny felt pretty cheap. 
Anyway, she didn’t say nothing; but 
Gertie says she was glad to learn about 
it, ’cause she hadn’t known anything of 
it before. We all told her she must of 
just by accident happened to strike it 
when the sign was just right, an’ how 
lucky it was. Rut. I declare, I must get 
the supper on now, and I’ll tell you the 
rest while we’re eating.” 
In Viny Fuller’s little cottage at this 
same hour Gertrude was saying to her 
mother: 
“Have you an almanac, mamma? I 
certainly must see this matter proved 
conclusively. Let’s see if the sign was 
below the heart.” 
A few moments’ search and a swift 
turning back and forth of pages; then: 
“You’re all right, mamma. I began to 
feed him on the tenth, and on that day 
the sign was exactly in the neck." 
GRACE TAFT STUTSMAN. 
A Prize Baby. 
James Kenneth Glennie, whose picture 
is shown on this page, is a prize baby. 
He took first prize in his class of babies 
of .”ti months in the “Retter Babies Con¬ 
test,” which was conducted by the 
Mothers’ Club of Ruffalo. X. Y. Con¬ 
tests for better babies are certainly as 
useful and ought to be a good deal more 
interesting than contests for calves, or 
colts, or vegetables or fruits. As a rule 
the baby who takes a gold medal in a 
prize contest is quite likely to take the 
leather medal in the great contest of 
life, unless his parents are hard-headed 
sensible people who realize the limita¬ 
tions of the baby contest, and its prize. 
It is not likely that James Glennie will 
have a case of enlargement of the head. 
as the result of his success. The Buffalo 
Express in speaking of him has the fol¬ 
lowing : 
The Scotch were in the lead, also the 
contest showed a high order of babies and 
was a triumphant commentary on the 
Scotch infant’s sturdiness and health. 
This little man is almost a thoroughbred 
Scotchman, but of American birth, his 
father and maternal grandmother being 
of purely Scotch descent. 
The Scotch people are shrewd and 
thrifty as a rule, and are not likely to 
forget that this prize merely starts the 
baby on the race of life, with a good 
chance to win out again later on. This 
boy is the son of Mr. and Mrs. Stanley 
Glennie, who are members of Niagara 
Grange. \Ve wrote Mrs. Glennie asking 
her to tell us how she raised her boy so 
as to give him sturdy frame and health, 
and enable him to start the battle of 
life so well. Her sensible answer is 
printed below. 
We are very glad to see that Mrs. 
Glennie has such sensible ideas in re¬ 
gard to feeding a child. It seems that 
this boy has lived upon grain and fruit 
very largely and with little if any meat 
thus far. We believe that is a sensible 
way of bringing up a child. Children 
will be better off all through their lives 
if they are kept from meat until their 
second teeth are well developed at least. 
We know that this idea is ridiculed or 
combated by some very good people. We 
have seen children less than two years 
old gnawing a ham bone, eating large 
pieces of meat, or consuming the thick 
pot liquor in which corned beef and cab¬ 
bage bad been boiled. We have watched 
the development of a good many such 
children and without exception they have 
developed into nervous. high-strung 
young people, never thoroughly strong, 
but always with physical defects in some 
vital organ. Prize babies are not pro¬ 
duced on a meat diet, but Mrs. Glennie’s 
way of feeding the child is far more sen¬ 
sible. 
Raising the Prize Baby. 
1 am a farmer’s wife with a scarcity 
of help, and two prize babies to look 
after, making no account of milk, cream, 
chickens, and ducks. As to how I raised 
that particular baby, I am almost at a 
loss what to say, but first we never woke 
him up. My mother always said that 
when he was sleeping he was growing, 
and he certainly did not belie the state¬ 
ment, for he was as vigorous at four 
months as many babies at eight. He got 
his food from nature's fountain and in 
no other shape until he was a year old; 
then his diet was strained rolled oat por¬ 
ridge, shredded wheat and milk. Later 
on he developed an appetite for mashed 
potatoes. He was never indulged in 
pastry, but instead had bread and but- j 
ter and cooked fruit with milk. He al¬ 
ways slept in his basket alone and had 
plenty of outdoors, but I think a strong 
factor in his make-up is his Scotch an¬ 
cestry. for he is almost a thoroughbred; 
there being some Scotch blood on my 
father’s side also. I might add that he 
had a great-great-great uncle who com¬ 
manded a battery in the Civil War and 
died a few years ago at the advanced age 
of 07. This might also have acted as an 
invigorant. I think this is about all the 
information I can give that will furnish 
light on his condition, except that he is 
an outdoor boy ; only a storm keeps him 
inside. mbs. Stanley glennie. 
A man who had bought some currant 
buns at a bakery found a fiy in one. Re¬ 
turning to the bakery, he made an im j 
dignant complaint, and demanded another 
bun in place of the inhabited one. “I’m 
sorry, sir,” said the saleswoman, “I can’t 
give you another bun. but if you will 
bring back the fly I will exchange it for 
a currant."—Credit Lost. 
When you write advertisers mention Tut: 
R. N.-Y. and you’ll get a quick reply and a 
“square deal." See guarantee editoria' page. 
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THE RURAL 
NEW-YORKER 
333 West 30th St., 
New York. 
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