The wet-nurse ought to take with her dinner a moderate quantity of either sound porter, or of mild (but not old or strong) ale. Tea should be taken at half-past five or six o’clock; supper at nine, which should consist either of a slice or two of cold meat, or of cheese if she prefer it, with half a pint of porter or of mild ale; occasionally, a basin of gruel may with advantage be substituted. Hot and late suppers are prejudicial to the mother or to the wet-nurse, and, consequently, to the child. The wet-nurse ought to be in bed every night by ten o’clock. It might be said that I have been too minute and particular in my rules for a wet-nurse; but when it is considered of what importance good milk is to the well-doing of an infant, in making him strong and robust, not only now, but as he grows up to manhood, I shall, I trust, be excused for my prolixity. 39. _Have you any more hints to offer with regard to the management of a wet-nurse?_ A wet-nurse is frequently allowed to remain in bed until a late hour in the morning, and during the day to continue in the house, as if she were a fixture! How is it possible that any one, under such treatment, can continue healthy? A wet-nurse ought to rise early, and, if the weather and season will permit, take a walk, which will give her an appetite for breakfast and will make a good meal for her little charge. This, of course, cannot, during the winter months, be done; but even then, she ought, some part of the day, to take every opportunity of walking out; indeed, in the summer time she should live half the day in the open air. She ought strictly to avoid crowded rooms; her mind should be kept calm and unruffled, as nothing disorders the milk so much as passion and other violent emotions of the mind; a fretful temper is very injurious, on which account you should, in choosing your wet-nurse, endeavor to procure one of a mild, calm, and placid disposition. “The child is poisoned.” “Poisoned! by whom?” “By you. You have been fretting.” “Nay, indeed, mother. How can I help fretting?” “Don’t tell me, Margaret. A nursing mother has no business to fret. She must turn her mind away from her grief to the comfort that lies in her lap. Know you not that the child pines if the mother vexes herself?”—_The Cloister and the Hearth._ By Charles Reade. A wet-nurse ought never to be allowed to dose her little charge either with Godfrey’s Cordial, or with Dalby’s Carminative, or with Syrup of White Poppies, or with medicine of any kind whatever. Let her thoroughly understand this, and let there be no mistake in the matter. Do not, for one moment, allow your children’s health to be tampered and trifled with. A baby’s health is too precious to be doctored, to be experimented upon, and to be ruined by an ignorant person. 40. _Have the goodness to state at what age a child ought to be weaned?_