a very spurious kind of _tenderness_ that
prevents a mother from doing the things which, though disagreeable to
the child, are so necessary to its lasting well-being. The washing daily
in the morning is a great thing; cold water winter or summer, and _this
never left to a servant_, who has not, in such a case, either the
patience or the courage that is necessary for the task. When the washing
is over, and the child dressed in its day-clothes, how gay and cheerful
it looks! The exercise gives it appetite, and then disposes it to rest;
and it sucks and sleeps and grows, the delight of all eyes, and
particularly those of the parents. 'I can't bear _that squalling_!' I
have heard men say; and to which I answer, that 'I can't bear _such
men_!' There are, I thank God, very few of them; for, if they do not
always _reason_ about the matter, honest nature teaches them to be
considerate and indulgent towards little creatures so innocent and so
helpless and so unconscious of what they do. And the _noise_: after all,
why should it _disturb_ a man? He knows the exact cause of it: he knows
that it is the unavoidable consequence of a great good to his child, and
of course to him: it lasts but an hour, and the recompense instantly
comes in the looks of the rosy child, and in the new hopes which every
look excites. It never disturbed _me_, and my occupation was one of
those most liable to disturbance by noise. Many a score papers have I
written amidst the noise of children, and in my whole life never bade
them be still. When they grew up to be big enough to gallop about the
house, I have, in wet weather, when they could not go out, written the
whole day amidst noise that would have made some authors half mad. It
never annoyed me at all. But a Scotch piper, whom an old lady, who lived
beside us at Brompton, used to pay to come and play _a long_ tune every
day, I was obliged to bribe into a breach of contract. That which you
are _pleased with_, however noisy, does not disturb you. That which is
indifferent to you has not more effect. The rattle of coaches, the
clapper of a mill, the fall of water, leave your mind undisturbed. But
the sound of the _pipe_, awakening the idea of the lazy life of the
piper, better paid than the labouring man, drew the mind aside from its
pursuit; and, as it really was a _nuisance_, occasioned by the money of
my neighbour, I thought myself justified in abating it by the same sort
of means.

259. The _cradle_