not to leave the bed too early. If the walls of
the abdomen are much relaxed, the bed should be kept from two to three
weeks. Gentle frictions daily with spirits and water will give tone to
the muscles. But the most important point is to wear for several months
a _well-fitting_ bandage--not a towel pinned around the person, but a
body-case of strong linen, cut bias, setting snugly to the form, but not
exerting unpleasant pressure. The pattern for this has already been
given.

THE MOTHER.

_MATERNAL DUTIES AND PRIVILEGES._

It has been well said by Madame Sirey, that women who comprehend well
their rights and duties as mothers of families, certainly cannot
complain of their destiny. If there exists any inequality in the means
of pleasure accorded to the two sexes, it is in favor of the woman. The
mother who lives in her children and her grandchildren has the peculiar
privilege of not knowing the grief of becoming old.

'So low down in the scale of creation as we can go,' says Professor
Laycock of Edinburgh, 'wherever there is a discoverable distinction of
sex, we find that maternity is the first and most fundamental duty of
the female. The male never in a single instance, in any organism,
whether plant or animal, contributes nutrient material.'

Among the Romans, it was enacted that married women who had borne three
children, or if freed-women, four, had special privileges of their own
in cases of inheritance, and were exempted from tutelage. Juvenal has
recorded the reverence paid in Rome to the newly-made mother, and the
sign by which her house was designated and protected from rude
intruders, namely, by the suspension of wreaths over the door.

At various times, and in different countries, legislators have made laws
discriminating in favor of matrons, justly regarding the family as the
source of the wealth and prosperity of the State.

Louis XIV. granted, by the edict of 1666, certain pensions to parents of
ten children, with an increase for those who had twelve or more.

NURSING.

So soon as the infant is born, it ought to be placed at the breast. From
this source it should receive its _only_ nourishment during the first
four or six months, and in many cases the first year, of its life. The
child which the mother has carried for nine months and brought with
suffering into the world, still depends upon her for its existence. At
the moment of its birth her duties to the infant, instead of ceasing,