Nursery Decoration And Hygiene.

NURSERY DECORATION AND HYGIENE .

THOUGH we have no " wife ? ' of our bosom" to " lay down the law , " or alarm us with her extravagant actions ; though for us , as the poet sings , it will be true , at the supreme hour of life , that No maiden with dishevelled hair , Shall feign or feel decorous woe ; and therefore " nursery decoration and h yg iene" is a subject on which we

ought not to enter , yet being cosmopolitan in our taste , our temper , our proclivities , and our proceedings , and knowing so many matrons interested deepl y about " baby , " we have thought it well to print the following paper . In Soribner for January , 1881 , is a very remarkable paper under the above headings , and as it may interest some young mothers , and some old mothers amongst us , we beg to call their attention to the following hints and directions as to nursery " decoration and h yg iene . " "We shall all be struck with the idea of the " fine lady , " and as bachelors , we do confess we think there is great deal in it .

My idea of a model nursery , ' said a fine lady , not long ago , " is a padded room , with barred windows , and everything in it , when not in use , hung out of reach upon the walls . Then , one might sit downstairs in the drawing room , and read , or practice , or receive with a mind at rest . " But what uf the melancholy little starlings caged above , piping their woeful plaint , "I can ' t get out ? " And , in many cases , it is no wonder they should want to get out .

The truism in the following passage will be appreciated by our readers : To the nursery are generally consigned , year after year , all the faded fineries from downstairs , the worn carpets , the slightly soiled chintz , the decrepit tables and chairs . It is a Hotel des Invalides for retired furniture . This , of course , does not apply to the first nursery , fitted up with floating draperies of pink and blue , with fine embroidery and cobweb lace , with costly cradle and dainty basket , for the installation of that unparalleled wonder—His Serene Highness , Baby Number One—with a prime minister in attendance , to whom all

this magnificence appears but dross , whose manner is of the mildly enduring sort , as becomes one who has been used to better things , but , in spite of all , condescends to exalt , with her presence , for a space , these humble scenes ! During a little while Baby reclines at ease amid his princely surroundings , but , by and by , when abandoned by his prime minister , the natural self-assertion of man takes possession of him . He kicks over the bassinet , rends his filmy envelope of silk and lawn , makes ducks and drakes of the interior of his dressingbasket , sets the ivory brushes afloat in his bath-tub , and cuts his teeth upon any object within reachother than the coral and bells provided for the ban infatuated

god-, purpose y father . Then , at last , does an indignant and long-suffering household turn upon this aggressive ruler , and send him into banishment . An usurper sits upon his throne , who is , in turn , displaced , and goes to join his hapless comrade condemned to hard labour in the thirdstory Siberia ; and so until the ranks are full , till the pink and blue has faded out of the draperies , and a new baby has ceased to be a wonder .

Wc are inclined , however , to agree with the following practical suggestions : To redress the wrongs of these little exiles , in the matter of brightening their place of retirement , is a task outside the limit of any society as yet organized in behalf of injured innocence , but none the less is a worthy and important one . We enter the average nursery to find it , perhaps , darkened by heavy moreen curtains of a style compelling their retirement from any of the modernized rooms downstairs ; with a velvet or Brussels carpet with half-effaced pattern of lilies and roseslong since trodden into dingy uniformitof tintand

, y , a rug of another colour that , as they say in France , swears at all the rest . The paper upon the walls , soiled by finger-marks , has a pattern of green and yellow stripes . The furniture is cumbrous and shabby ; the fire hidden from sight by an iron guard , where draperies for ever hang . Homely articles of wearing apparel depend from door and chair backs ; combs and brushes mingle with medicine bottles and spoons upon the dressing bureau . If the nurse rallies , in a frantic attempt to put things to rights , her idea , generally , is to clear the floor of blocks and toys , and rigidly taboo their re-appearance—bidding the children amuse