Many of us can look back to the day when the new-born baby was wrapped up in a shawl like a wee mummy; not so much as the tip of its nose, let alone its rosebud mouth, was exposed to the air. When at last its timorous guardians uncovered the small face the baby was permitted to breathe, not pure air, but the atmosphere of a room with every window closed, and heated by an air-tight stove besides. If the baby was taken out for the so-called airing its face was covered with a blanket or a thick veil. The result was generation after generation of children afflicted with catarrh; now between the gospel of fresh air and operations for adenoids, catarrh is rapidly disappearing. While this is a fresh air age, the mother should not go to extremes in supplying the air her baby needs, nor in “hardening” its body as some faddists maintain. The baby should not be chilled nor exposed to a direct draught. The air in the room should be cool and pure, not hot and fetid. In this one respect, strangely enough, the city baby has the best of the country baby. The average city house is uniformly heated by steam or furnace, and easily ventilated. The country or farm house is still heated largely by stoves. One room is very hot, others very cold. The warm rooms are places of refuge for the entire family and they are kept too hot; often every window is closed tightly and the air is sadly vitiated. This statement is proved by the fact that at Better Babies Contests, held in connection with State Fairs, where championship prizes were offered, one for city babies and one for rural babies, the city children scored higher than the country children and showed a better chest development. The country baby should have the best air to breathe, but it rarely does have it, because its home is seldom well ventilated, and because its busy farm mother has so little time to take it out into the fresh air. The city mother is constantly reminded of dangers from impure air, by newspaper writers, by talks at clubs and social centers and at clinics. Even her older children come home from school preaching the gospel of fresh air for the family baby. She is shamed into ventilating her house properly and taking her baby out for a daily airing. The country mother keeps her house closed in winter to shut out the cold, and in summer to ward off heat, dust, and flies. Her baby has small chance to breathe fresh air.