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Show WILD BABIES A touch cf nature makes the whole world kin, eo we have chosen a trite illustration of the truth of thia statement, state-ment, and venture to exhibit it by showing to our parents the manner in which certain savage people treat their offspring, because a pleasant and enviouB nation is entertained here and in other civilized preciucta that young Indians grow jutt grow as Topsy thought she did- But it is not so : they have sore eyes and bad tempers; tem-pers; they wake up in the night with lusty yells and the colic; they have fits; they raide riotj when cutting their teeth; aud they are just as much pitted and just as mischievous as our own. The mothers of Pocahontas and Red Jacket worried over them with just as much earnestness as, perhaps, did the materns.l progenitors of Mrs. Hemans and George Washington, while quite as much paternal super-vie super-vie ion was given doubtless to one as to the other. When tbe question of love and tenderness alone' is mooted, then it should be uaid without hesitation hesita-tion that the baby born tc-day in the shadow and amoke of savage life is as carefully cherished as tbe little stranger that may appear here, simultaneously with it, amid all the surroundings of civilized wealth; and the difference between tbem does not commence to show itself until they bave reached that age where the mind begins to feed and reason upon what it aeea, hears, feels, and tasteB; then the gulf yawua between our baby and the Indian's; the latter stands still, while tbe former ia ever moving onward and upward. The love of an Indian mother for her child U made plain to us by tbe care and labor which she oftens expends ex-pends upon the cradle : the choicest production of her skill in grass and woolen weaving, the neatest needlework, needle-work, and the richest bead embroidery that she can deviss and bestow are UviBbed upon the quaint-looking cribs which savage mothers nurse and carry their little ones around in. This cradle, though varying in minor details with eaoh tribe, is essentially the same thing, no matter where it ie found, between the Indians of Alaska Al-aska and those far to tbe south of Mexico. The Esquimaux are tbe exception, however, for they use no cradle whatever, carrying their in-f in-f tnte snugly ensconced in the hoods to their parkies and otter-fur jumpers. The governing principle of a pappoose cradle is an unyielding board upon which the biby can be firmly lashed at full length on its back. This board is usually covered by softly dressed buckskin, with fl-ips and pouches in which to onvelop the baby; other tribes, not rich or fortu-naio fortu-naio enough to procure thin material, have recourse to a neat combination of shrub wood poles, reed splints, graes matting, and tbe solt and fragrant ribbons of the baas or liuden tree birk. Sweet graeB h used here as a bed for the youngster's tender back, or else clean dry moss plucked from ttie bended limbs of theBwamp firs; tneu, with buckskin thongs or corda of plaited grass, the baby is bound down tight and secure, for any and all disposition that its mother mav ste fit to make of it for the uext Cay or two. Indian babiea, ns a rule, are not kept in their cradles more than twenty to twenty-four consecutive hours at any one time; they are usually unlimberetl for an hour or two every day, and allowed to roll and tumble at will on a blanket, or in the grass or Band if the sun Bbiues warm and bright. But this liberty is ul ways conditional upon their good behavior when free, lor the moment a baby begins to fret or whimper, ihe mother claps it back into ita cradle, where it rests with emphasis, for it can there move nothing save its bend; but so far from disliking these rigid couches, the babies actually eleep better in tbem than when free, and poaitiveiy cry to be returned to them when neglected and left longer than usual at liberty. This fact is certainly an amusing instance of the force oi babit. When the pappoose is put away in its cradle, the mother has little or no more concern with it, other than to keep within sight or hearing, (t she is engaged about the wigwam or in the village, she standa it up in the lodge cornor or bangs it to some convenient con-venient tree, taking it down at irrt-gu lar intervals to nurse. When she retires at night, the baby is brought and suspended at some point withiu easy reaching; if tbe baby is ill, it is kept at her aide, or Bhe sits up all night with it in the most orthodox fashion. When the women leave the village on any errand, Buch rb going to the mountainp for berries or to the river cafion for 6th, the cradles with the babiea therein are nlung upon the mothera' backs, and carnal, no matter how far, bow rough the road, or bow dismal the weather. Uenry W. Elliott, in Harper's Magazine, VsAUER6RG'S 3.A.JST K.BfJs' Established 1859. DBAl.KlW Ifl EXCHANGE. COIN and BULLION Wo draw Exchange on tho following Loading Chios of Jfiuropo. GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND London. Belfast, Dublin, Kdmburg and Glasgow. SWITZERLAND, 1 Ubsio, llorae, Gooova, Laorono, Lausaano, Zurich and Vevoy. FRANCE, Bordeaux, Biarili, Bayonno, Boulogne, liar;, Lyons and farii. BELGIUM. |