lour de suite, grand et petit atelier."* On the left was affixed a little red box, bearing the word "tronc,"† and in white letters below, "Pour les pauvres petits enfants." In the yard I saw the staircase of the crèche I had come to visit, and accordingly, ascending it, after two little turns, hardly worth recording, I found myself in the first of a suite of three small rooms lighted by ten windows, several of which were closed only by Venetian blinds. The rooms were full of iron cradles, and the cradles were full of babies, and the babies were evidently brimful of something or other, for they were as silent and quiet as if they were dead. At the end, on the wall of the first room, was a statue of our Saviour on the cross. In the second, dressed in coarse black gowns, on the shoulders of which hung a white napkin, covering the head, stood two Sœurs de la Charité; and as one, wearing a long black rosary terminating in a black cross, on which there appeared a figure of Christ in silver, was very young and pretty, I addressed myself to the other, a nice, warm, comfortable, honest-faced, ruddy woman, of about forty-five, who was leaning against a desk, over which was affixed a statue of the Virgin and Child, with the following inscription: "Els trouberent l'enfant couche dans une creche, et, oubrant leurs tresors, lui offrirent des dons."§ In each of the twelve arrondissements of Paris is established a "crèche," or house of reception for enfants, under the following regulations: 1. That the mother be poor. 2. That she works out of her own house. 3. That she conducts herself well. 4. That her infant is not sick. 5. That it has been vaccinated. *To let, a large and a small workshop. + Money-box. For the poor little children. They found the child lying in a manger, and opening their treas ures they offered him gifts 6. That its age does not exceed two years. Each crèche is governed by a Conseil d'Administration, composed of two or three priests, three or four gentlemen, and two or three ladies; a committee of ladies, composed of Madame la Présidente, six vice-presidents, Madame la Trésorière, the President of the Medical Committee, and about forty or fifty Ladies Inspectresses; a Medical Committee, composed of three or four physicians and an oculist; and, lastly, a Lady Treasurer. These twelve little petticoat legislatures are under the direction of a central committee or parliament, which from time to time frame and issue general regulations for the government of the whole. Every crèche is open from half-past five in the morning till half-past eight at night every day, excepting fête-days, for the reception of all who have been recommended by the ladies vice-presidents, and infants examined by one of the physicians of the crèche. The mother is required to bring her child in a clean state, to furnish linen for the day, and, if she can afford it, to pay twenty centimes (2d.) per diem for its management. She is required to suckle it when she brings it; to come and repeat the dose twice during the day, and again at night, when she takes the thing ("la creatura") away; for under no circumstances is it permitted to sleep in the crèche. The kind sister, having very good-humouredly explained to me these preliminaries, conducted me into room No. 1, in the centre of which there was what she called a 66 pouponnière," or pound, in which those little errant infants that can stand are allowed to scramble round a small circular enclosure, composed of a rail, just high enough for them to hold. Within it were seven or eight, all dressed in red caps, little blue frocks covered with white spots, and very clean white pinafores, in winter exchanged for colored ones with sleeves. Every child on its arrival in the morning is stripped of its own clothes, which are hung up in a closet, and instead thereof it wears throughout the day the costume, or, as my sœur termed it, "l'uniforme de la crèche," as described. At night it is again washed and re-dressed in its own clothes. Around the pouponnière, against the walls of the room, there stood shaded by white curtains fourteen little iron bedsteads, 2 feet 8 inches high, on each of which was appended a black plate of iron, bearing, in white letters, the name of the charitable person who had given it (the bedstead, not the baby) to the crèche. The bedding consists of two clean mattresses, both filled with oat-chaff, a soft white pillow, blankets, but no sheets. In every one of these cradle bedsteads, in each of the three rooms, I found, as, in passing along with the sœur, I peeped into it, an infant in a pink cap fast asleep. One, as I gently withdrew its curtains, suddenly twisted round, as if I had stuck a long pin through it. Another lay quite exhausted, with its little toothless mouth wide open, and with a fly on its nose. One had flushed cheeks like roses. Another, only twenty-five days old, looked flabby, and breathed very quickly. Another was sleeping with a fist on its left eye. Another had his right arm extended, with its tiny empty hand wide open. Some were lying on their sides, some on their backs. One, with its eyes open, was sucking the whole of its hand. Another was crumpled up with its head under the clothes, and its little wrong end on the pillow. One slept with its elbow up; one, with its hand under its cap, was pinching and pulling at its own ear. Of one nothing was to be seen but the back of its pink nightcap. Out In each room, close to the windows, which were all wide open, stood a row of white basins, with two small sponges in each. In the middle of the room hung a thermometer. side the windows of the three chambers, in a balcony 30 feet long and 4 feet broad, covered with a chequered awning, and wired at the sides, I found a number of infants in "uniforme,” enjoying the fresh air. The sœur, now taking hold of a bunch of polished keys, which, beneath the black rosary, had been dangling by her side, led me to the door of a cupboard, quite full of bottles of nauseous-looking medicine of various sorts. She then showed me the lingerie," a large wardrobe, replete with blue and white clothes, neatly folded, and beautifully clean; a passage, in which the clothes belonging to the children were hanging for the day; a small kitchen, about 10 feet square, containing in the middle a hot plate, not a yard square, with a number of little pans hanging on the walls; and, lastly, a little room, containing two rows of exceedingly small, low, rush-bottomed chairs, all possessing a certain strong family likeness, which need not more accurately be described. As we were walking through the establishment, I observed, attending to the children, three or four young women, dressed in blue gowns, with white handkerchiefs covering their heads, and ending in a corner down their backs. Each of these "berceuses" is required to take charge of six infants not weaned, or twelve that are weaned, or twenty that can eat and run alone. The youngest, besides the natural nourishment their mothers are required to give to them, are kept quiet (i e. full) during the day by means of what the sœur called а biberon," Anglicè, a bottle with a zinc top. The weaned are collected together into a pouponnière, where they are filled with soup and bread. Among a long list of very sensible regulations, by which the crèches of Paris are conducted, and which the sœur was good enough to explain to me, the following are submitted for the consideration, not only of such of my young readers as may lately have happened to set up a baby, but of any one who secretly believes that some of these days he, she, or both, may perhaps have one or possibly two : No flowers are admitted into the crèche. No bonbons-no cakes-no painted toys to suck. The curtains of cradles should never be entirely closed. Every baby should enjoy "pieds chauds, ventre libre, tête fraîche."* It should never be lifted by one arm. It should be caressed, but-(the following regulation applies only to the baby)—seldom kissed. It should not be awakened when asleep. It should be seldom scolded-never beaten. If an infant begins to squall, the best way to quiet it"calmer ses cris"-is to play to it gently on an accordion. Lastly, its mother, however poor, should teach it "à être aimable, aimant, poli, bon, reconnaissant." 't The good sœur, now taking me to her desk, showed me a book, containing the daily report of the physician, whose statements, open to the public, may thus be verified or complained of; also one, ruled like an almanac, containing the addresses of the sixty children (the present number of inmates), to whose names she is required to make a cross every day they come; * Warm feet, an unconfined stomach, and a cool head. another book. for the lady inspectresses of the day (there are no less than sixty of them), stating, in a report which they then sign, the number of children received; another, detailing not only the number of children admitted per annum, but a little history of each, i. e. their names, residences, dates of admission and departure; deaths, if any; their parents, with the profession of each. An account-book, very clearly written, of receipts and expenses. Lastly, a list of the contents of the crèche. In this inventory the furniture of the rooms is described as follows:- Room No. 1. "Un Christ, un bénitier, un tronc." Room 2. "Une vierge, une horloge, et un autre tronc."* Lastly, the sœur gave me the following blank printed formula, which the ladies inspectresses (among them are twentythree baronnes, one comtesse, and one marquise) are daily required to fill up : Questionnaire sur la Tenue de la Crèche pour Mms. les Inspectrices. † Mesdames les Inspectrices sont priées de donner un rapport dans le courant de chaque mois. Ce rapport continent les réponses aux questions; et si Madame l'Inspectrice juge à propos d'y mettre quelques observations, le Comité les examinera très attentivement. Jour et heure de la visite: 1. L'escalier est-il propre ? 2. Combien de degrés marque le thermomètre ? 4. Sont-elles bien rangées ? List of Questions on the State of the Crèche for the Lady Inspectresses, The Lady Inspectresses are requested to give a report in the course of each month. This report contains the answers to the questions; and if the Lady Inspectress thinks proper to add any observations to it, the Committee will examine them very attentively. The day and hour of the visit: 1. Is the staircase clean? 2. At how many degrees does the thermometer stand? 3. Is there any bad smell in the rooms? 4. Are they well arranged? A Christ, a holy-water pot, and a money-box. A Virgin, a clock, and another money-box. |