Baby’s Fine Dresses.—­If the baby’s dress is not made of the finest of handkerchief linen, French nainsook or a very fine batiste is usually chosen.  These are the soft materials, soft as well as sheer.  They are the materials on which embroidery is done most successfully and the baby dress de luxe is always hand embroidered.  It may have on it the merest touch of hand work—­scarcely more than a few eyelets and a tiny blossom and stem and yet follow the prescribed lines.  The little round yokes are attached to the fulled on skirt portion with the tiniest of beading or else the yoke scallops are lapped down over the fullness.  The neck is edged with the little hand-made scallops.

Nicknames.—­A good name will wear out; a bad one may be turned; a nickname lasts forever.—­Zimmermann.

Undergarments.—­In buying the little wool shirts (wool being considered the most satisfactory for infants’ undergarments) never get the heaviest weights; there are four usually offered, even for winter wear.  The next to the heaviest is quite warm enough for winter, and for summer the lightest weight obtainable, preferably of a mixture of silk and wool; cotton and wool should not be used.  In hot weather shirts of cotton gauze or a soft porous cotton stockinet are satisfactory.

Training.—­The education of our children is never out of my mind.  Train them to virtue, habituate them to industry, activity, and spirit.  Make them consider every vice as shameful and unmanly.  Fire them with ambition to be useful.  Make them disdain to be destitute of any useful knowledge.—­John Adams to his wife.

Baby’s Nerves.—­Never try to entertain a baby too vigorously.  Little babies especially, but also children somewhat older, should never be subjected to unnecessary excitement.  Older people seldom realize how exceedingly undeveloped the nervous system of a little child is, and any undue shock to it is apt to cause the direst consequence.  Do not take very small children to the theatre or the circus.  They don’t understand it, and they can’t enjoy it.

Intemperance.—­Violent excitement exhausts the mind, and leaves it withered and sterile.—­Fenelon.

Second Teeth.—­When the baby’s second teeth are cut there are often injurious influences to be combated.  There is more or less chance for the formation of caries or tartar; care must be taken and counsel sought, and every effort made to prevent the aggravation of the evil.

Tears.—­Tears are the safety-valves of the heart when too much pressure is laid on it.—­Albert Smith.

Going Barefoot.—­The careful mother does not let her child run barefoot, no matter how they clamor to do it.  If they wish to go shoeless, let them wear bathing sandals without stockings, is the advice of the writer, who adds, the germ of tetanus, better known as lockjaw, is frequently found in the soil and a child with even a small scratch or cut takes big risks.  For girls, especially, running barefoot should be a forbidden pleasure as it makes the feet broad and flat.