16.  After the birth of the baby, the mother should be kept perfectly quiet for the first 24 hours and not allowed to talk or see anyone except her nearest relations, however well she may seem.  She should not get out of bed for ten days or two weeks, nor sit up in bed for nine days.  The more care taken of her at this time, the more rapid will be her recovery when she does get about.  She should go up and down stairs slowly, carefully, and as seldom as possible for six weeks.  She should not stand more than is unavoidable during that time, but sit with her feet up and lie down when she has time to rest.  She should not work a sewing machine with a treadle for at least six weeks, and avoid any unusual strain or over-exertion.  “An ounce of prevention IS worth a pound of cure,” and carefulness will be well repaid by a perfect restoration to health.

[Illustration]

[Illustration:  MY PRICELESS JEWEL.  What will be his fate in life?]

* * * * *

WHERE DID THE BABY COME FROM?

  Where did you come from, baby dear? 
  Out of the everywhere into here.

  Where did you get the eyes so blue? 
  Out of the sky, as I came through.

  Where did you get that little tear? 
  I found it waiting when I got here.

  What makes your forehead so smooth and high? 
  A soft hand stroked it as I went by.

  What makes your cheek like a warm, white rose? 
  I saw something better than anyone knows.

  Whence that three-cornered smile of bliss? 
  Three angels gave me at once a kiss.

  Where did you get this pretty ear? 
  God spoke, and it came out to hear.

  Where did you get those arms and hands? 
  Love made itself into hooks and bands.

  Feet whence did you come, you darling things? 
  From the same box as the cherub’s wings.

  How did they all come just to be you? 
  God thought of me, and so I grew.

  But how did you come to us, you dear? 
  God thought about you, and so I am here.

  —­GEORGE MACDONALD.

* * * * *

CHILD BEARING WITHOUT PAIN.

HOW TO DRESS, DIET AND EXERCISE IN PREGNANCY.

1.  AILMENTS.—­Those ailments to which pregnant women are liable are mostly inconveniences rather than diseases, although they may be aggravated to a degree of danger.  No patent nostrums or prescriptions are necessary.  If there is any serious difficulty the family physician should be consulted.

2.  COMFORT.—­Wealth and luxuries are not a necessity.  Comfort will make the surroundings pleasant.  Drudgery, overwork and exposure are the three things that tend to make women miserable while in the state of pregnancy, and invariably produce irritable, fretful and feeble children.  Dr. Stockham says in her admirable work “Tokology:”  “The woman who indulges in the excessive gayety of fashionable life, as well as the overworked woman, deprives her child of vitality.  She attends parties in a dress that is unphysiological in warmth, distribution and adjustment, in rooms badly ventilated; partakes of a supper of indigestible compounds, and remains into the ‘wee, sma’ hours,’ her nervous system taxed to the utmost.”