Another World: Fragments from the Star City of MontalluyahLumley, Benjamin
Science
Another World: Fragments from the Star City of Montalluyah
Lumley, Benjamin
Utopias
The precautions now taken are very numerous. Many by themselves alone
would be productive of great good, but when all are carried out, some
contemporaneously, others successively, a result is scarcely less
certain than the solution of a mathematical problem, based on accurate
premises, save of course in the case of inevitable accidents. My laws
provide for the protection of the child from its birth, nay, as I have
before stated, prior to its birth; for the protection of the parent
precedes that of the child. I knew that if the mother was sickly, or
indulged in injurious habits, the child would suffer. I enjoined
attention to these laws as a portion of the religious duties of the
people. Amongst other things I explained the value of beauty in the
human form, and how, when united with other qualities, it tended to the
happiness of the individual and the well-being of the world. This I did
at length, and in a manner to secure conviction, because it had been the
fashion to decry beauty as a matter of minor importance.
At the risk of repeating myself, I assert that I omitted nothing,
however seemingly insignificant, looking as I did upon my system as upon
one large continuous volume, in which every page had its value. The
absence of a single leaf would somewhat mar the general effect, but
still the remaining pages might retain their worth if pregnant with
good. On the other hand, if every leaf that was torn out had the effect
of loosening the rest, and causing them to be lost, till but a few would
be left in the cover, the effect would be far more serious.
XXXII.
INFANTS' EXERCISE-MACHINES.
"Does a man throw his precious pearls and diamonds into the sea?"
"Why, then, do ye cast the priceless health and beauty of your
children to the winds?"
I cannot undertake to relate at present one tithe of the precautions
taken in the care of infants. Did I venture so to do I should have to
"descend" to the minutest particulars, such as the dispensing with
"pins," and the making the baby's dress in one piece, the nursing, and
form of the cradle, to the mode in which the baby is to be placed at the
side of the mother, to prevent its being overlaid or injured,--
everything, in fact, which in Montalluyah is thought essential to
protect infants and save them from unnecessary suffering, in order that
their young strength may be husbanded for the future requirements of the
man.
To give you some notion, however, of the minutiae to which our care
extended, I will explain to you one series of precautions which has
great influence on the child's health, beauty, and intelligence.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account