SECTION III. On the best time and method of setting Infants on their feet. "See the plumed Parent teach her callow care "With outstreched wing to scale the ambient air, "Tempts with maternal note the rude essay, "And lures the infant bird from spray to spray: "Lo! on the ground the unfledged flutterer lies, "The meadow echoes with its infant cries; "With eddying wing the parent stands confest, "And all the Mother flutters on her breast; "Till by degrees the timorous pupil knows "To beat the air and perch the trembling boughs; "With pinion strong to mount the azure sky "And fill the groves with native minstrelsy." It is universally known that infants, if well, will show a disposition to get upon their feet very young, often as soon as the fifth or sixth month: indeed, if a child is strong and healthy, it will appear evidently pleased to stand on its feet before it is six weeks old, and even earlier, and undoubtedly this natural propensity "To walk erect, and raise the eye to Heaven," should be indulged as soon as the little creatures acquire strength to hold themselves upright. But it is a certain fact, that it is not always the most thriving children that go alone the youngest. Slender delicate infants if they enjoy good health will often walk very young; while a heavy child, although equally healthy, will not venture until twelve or fourteen months old. So that we may fairly judge that this is no certain criterion by which to estimate an infant's health. At any rate, they should never be enticed to go by any artificial means a moment sooner than they incline. Their natural propensity to imitation will incite them to evince a desire to get upon the floor as soon as they are capable of the least comprehension, and to walk as soon as they are able; therefore, they should be permitted to sit or creep about a carpet as long, and as much, as they please, care being taken not to leave them sitting in one posture too long; and even until their affecting moans grow too painful to be any longer endured, as is too often the case in the middling and lower classes of society : whereas I verily believe that even those mothers who are compelled to work for their subsistence would eventually find their account in attending more than they usually do to their infants during the first year at least, or until they are firmly on their feet; and can exercise themselves sufficiently; for I greatly fear many an unfortunate little creature becomes deformed and rickety, from no other cause than want of exercise and attention, who would, if properly attended, have contributed in a few years to the support and comfort of its parents. Chil. dren who are permitted to creep about the room as much as they please will usually prove more elegant in their forms, and strong in their constitutions, than those who are forced upon their feet too early; therefore their attendants should be instructed to hold them up occasionally by a chair or other convenient place, suffering them to sit down whenever they please, so as to avoid the possibility of distortion, from keeping too long in one posture, at the same time that they learn by degrees the use of their feet, and they will soon show their tractability by stepping round the chair; and by a M thousand enchanting looks and gestures, assure us that they are sensible they have learnt something new. After this they may ants. be led about the room, the attendants standing behind them and holding both hands. I have frequently trembled to see a heavy chubby infant swinging by one arm, and often twitched up at the imminent hazard of dislocating the limb, a cruel and pernicious custom, which can never be adopted but by very thoughtless or very unfeeling attendThus the little adventurers may be led on from step to step, until they acquire discretion to venture alone, which they will undoubtedly do as soon as their limbs have gained sufficient strength and elasticity, from an intuitive desire of imitating those around them, and perhaps a still stronger propensity to wander from place to place, which they will soon perceive they cannot readily do unless they can walk. I have often observed that they will go alone when they have something given them to carry long before they will venture without, which evinces that it is frequently the apprehension of falling only that deters them from walk ing; therefore they will sometimes gradually lose their fears by being often excited to walk with some object which will wholly occupy their attention; for instance, by standing at a short distance and calling them to take a toy or cake that you hold in your hand, and as they advance stepping gently and almost imperceptibly back, so as to decoy them on: this, however, must be done dexterously, without permitting the children to discover the deceit, or they will rarely be deceived a second time. Great care also should be taken to prevent their falling during these early essays; as they will frequently refuse to attempt walking alone for some weeks after having received a contusion on the head from an unlucky fall backwards, although previously it appeared probable they would Trip nimbly round the gay parterre in far less time. For this, and other reasons above enumerated, it may be best to suffer them to tumble about a carpet, or lead them whenever they show a great desire to walk, 4 |