Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 34.djvu/92

82 the passage of the child through the pelvis, and tends to expedite the after-birth, the woman in a surprisingly short time resumes her household duties quite as if nothing unusual had occurred. There is no ceremony of purification for the mother, nor does she receive congratulations. On the contrary, it is the



father who is congratulated; and when the poor mother has taken up her drudgery once more, it is he who remains by the fireside, wrapped up in his good clothes, to receive the felicitations of his relatives and friends, smoking constantly and drinking many a