Next, the covering for the tiny feet. Tradition and maternal sentiment demand crocheted or knitted bootees and, strange to say, modern autocrats of baby-raising in the medical profession have not yet condemned them. The bootees may be made in silk-and-wool yarns, with wee drawing-strings of soft ribbon or yarn-cord, which must never be tied tightly enough to cause a ridge around the leg or ankle. When the baby begins to kick vigorously a soft, silk elastic can be substituted for the drawing-string; but it must not be tight enough to bind the tender flesh. The last warning may seem almost unnecessary to the average mother, yet at one of the Better Babies Contests a mother told me that she had solved the problem of keeping on her baby’s socks in this unique fashion: “Every time I looked at her feet she had kicked off her socks, and they were no good to her at all. So I took little chunks of brown laundry soap, moistened them, rubbing her legs and the inside of the socks with them, and I never had any more trouble. The socks stuck to the legs.” Quite likely they did—but what of the tender skin, plastered with vile laundry soap, reeking with alkali and unhealthy fats? Can you imagine what irritation might result? For the active baby the diaper may be attached by safety-pins to the knitted band or shirt, and then long stockings may be pinned to the diapers. Never, NEVER use round garters on little babies. They will deform the limbs. These long stockings, like socks, come in fine grades of cotton-and-silk, and pure silk. Children should never wear woolen stockings after discarding the bootees. They cause perspiration and invite cold. When baby’s clothes are shortened, tiny slippers or moccasins made of kid or piqué are worn with long or short stockings, according to the weather. The fad of sending young children barelegged into the cold is passing. It was supposed to harden the flesh and increase the child’s powers of endurance. To-day parents realize that children should have their legs exposed only in warm weather. Now for the flannel skirt, which for a month at least is the only skirt the baby wears. A very good model consists of two strips of flannel, silk-and-wool, or cotton-and-wool, one 25 inches long, and the other 30 inches, bound all the way round with a flat silk braid. The longer piece forms the back of the skirt, and folds up over the front like the flap of an envelope. This may be fastened with safety-pins or with very flat buttons and buttonholes or loops. It affords a perfect protection for the baby’s feet. If the old-fashion straight skirt is preferred, it should be 26 inches long, finished with binding-ribbon or closely worked scallops. Hems in flannel always wash badly. Either one of these skirts is hung from the shoulders, never gathered on a band and pinned round the waist. What is known as the Gertrude skirt has shaped armholes, is closed back and front and is fastened with little buttons over the shoulders.