CHILDREN AND DIRT

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Jun 12, 1900

CHILDREN AND DIRT.

The mother who would have her children healthy must not be afraid to have them occasionally dirty. While cleanliness is akin to godliness, there is a clean dirt that comes from contact with the sweet earth that is wholesome. Have the little ones bathed frequently, insist that they come to meals with immaculate hands and faces; but between meals have them so dressed that they will be free to run and romp as they will.

An overcareful mother of an only child complained to a physician that her baby was pale and delicate. He asked to see the child, and the nurse brought in the two-year-old from the veranda, where he had been seated on a rug,

looking at a picture-book. His dainty nainsook frock was spotless, as were also the pink kid boots and silk socks.

“What that child needs is wholesome dirt,” was the physician’s verdict. “Put a gingham frock and plain shoes on him, and turn him loose on the lawn or in the fresh earth. If he is not rosy and happy in a month, let me know.”

At the expiration of the prescribed time the baby was transformed. The eyes that had been heavy were bright, the skin had acquired a healthful glow, the arms and legs were plump, and the languid, tired little patient had become a rollicking boy. The freedom, fresh air, and clean dirt had, in a month’s time, wrought a greater change in the child’s system than all the skill of the medical fraternity could have effected.

Mothers who take their little schoolboys and girls away for vacation should let them romp at will out of doors, fish in the brook, ride on the hay, and wear strong shoes and clothing of which they need not be too careful. A child is much happier if untrammeled by too many “don’ts.” And the mother is happier if she need not say “don’t” every hour in the day. — Harper’s Bazar.