Some Branches of Infant Education

Cleanliness, order, neatness, regularity, punctuality, are all ‘branches’ of infant education.  They should be about the child like the air he breathes, and he will take them in as unconsciously.   It is hardly necessary to say a word about the necessity for delicate cleanliness in the nursery.  The babies get their share of tubbing, and unlimited washing is done on their behalf; but, indeed, scrupulous as mothers of the cultured class are, a great deal rests with the nurses, and it needs much watchfulness to secure that there shall not be the faintest odour about the infant or anything belonging to him, and that the nurseries be kept sweet and thoroughly aired.  One great difficulty is, that there are still some nurses who belong to a class to which an open window is an abomination; and another is, they do no all know the meaning of odours:  they cannot see ‘a smell,’ and, therefore, it is not easy to persuade them that a smell is matter, microscopic particles which the child takes into him with every breath he draws.

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