Page:The physical training of children (IA 39002011126464.med.yale.edu).pdf/29

 his own mother. How many celebrated men have owed their greatness and their goodness to a mother's training!" Napoleon owed much to his mother. "'The fate of a child,' said Napoleon, 'is always the work of his mother;' and this extraordinary man took pleasure in repeating, that to his mother he owed his elevation. All history confirms this opinion The character of the mother influences the children more than that of the father, because it is more exposed to their daily, hourly observation."

I am not overstating the importance of the subject in hand when I say that a child is the most valuable treasure in the world, that "he is the precious gift of God," that he is the source of a mother's greatest and purest enjoyment, that he is the strongest bond of affection between her and her husband, and that

"A babe in a house is a well-spring of pleasure, A messenger of peace and love."

In the writing of the following pages I have had one object constantly in view—namely, health—

"That salt of life, which does to all a relish give; Its standing pleasure, and intrinsic wealth, The body's virtue, and the soul's good fortune—health."

ABLUTION.

3. Is a new-born infant, for the first time, to be washed in warm or in cold water?

It is not an uncommon plan to use cold water from the first, under the impression of its strengthening the child. This appears to be a cruel and barbarous practice, and is likely to have a contrary tendency. Moreover, it frequently produces either inflammation of the eyes, or stuffing of the nose, or inflammation of the lungs, or looseness of