FAMOUS BABIES.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVI, Issue 170, 20 July 1935, Page 13

FAMOUS BABIES.

dionne quintuplets.

THEIR PARENTS' COMPLAINT.

«A FAMILY DIVIDED."

(By a Special Correspondent.)

CALLANDER (Ont.), June C.

The parents of the Dionne quintuplets want a larger measure of control in the

roaring of the babies who have made

them world famous. They have come .to resent the subtle check put by the authorities on their relations with their babies, while their relations with the doctor who was there at the birth are

ar from cordial

The parents do not want to remove

•.hem from the hospital which has been specially built. They do not want to endanger the health of their children through promoters' schemes; but they sav —and it is in French, be it remembered, "These are our babies. We arc capable of making decisions about them and their contracts. Why should the Government carry on a policy of interference ?"

The parents visit their own children. Thev have to ring a bell and wfcit for a padlock to be undone before they can "■liter the house, where their children

;; V e. There is something of pathos in their bearing as they stand by a glass window just looking at their babies, as at something which is theirs and yet not theirs. They Don White iGowns. After a few minutes, however, they enter another room to don white gowns. These they are required to wear before :hey can enter the nursery.. Then they do enter. They pick up the babies in turn, taking them over to the window to be admired. They beam on them, whispering endearments in the manner r,f parents tho world over. But they evidently feel uncomfortable; and very soon they wave "au 'voir" to the •nimindful babies, and to a gate which •cars tho sign, "No admission to Dionne quintuplets."

Says Mrs. Diopne in French, "I don't cet I am welcome there."

The father considers that Dr. R. Dafoe has had too much credit. Leon Dionne, brother, says that the doctor ;vas slow in answering the summons. He affirms that three of the babies were born before Dr. Dafoe arrived, that more credit is due to the mid wives who were present than to the physician; and that ;he Bed Cross and the nurses were responsible for the survival of the babies in the first few months.

Dr. Dafoe's Views. To all of which Dr. Dafoe replies nothing at all. "Why should I get into a dog fight?" he asks. "No, no, I have nothing to say about these things." - He says that the babies are in normal health for year-old babies —they -,verc a year old on May 2S—perhaps a bit ahead of the ordinary child, due to the extra medical and nursing care they

have had

"Each of the Ave ie perfect," he observed, "but if they did not get special attention, they would go to pieces. I want to emphasise that." He insists that the parents are welcome at the hospital at any time. "I have asked the mother to come over and help with the nursing and feeding, but she won't."

Mrs. Dionne, her young face, pallid, says she is not well. '"I feel tired all the time," she said. I am sick because I am worried. 1 want my babies." "We Want Our Babies." Her husband, tliin and intent, raised a dark head. "Yes, we want our babies," he said. Their eyes turned towards the hospital as they walked to the gate to bid a visitor good-bye. "Sometimes, on a still night, I can hear my babies crying," said Mrs. Dionne.

"Could you have looked after five babies in addition to the other five?" «he was asked.

"We had all kinds of offers of help," Mrs. Donne replied. "Fifty or so nurses wanted to come free of charge. And that hospital was built mostly through donations. I would have needed help, but it was available without the Government taking away my babies."

The Quintuplets' Day. Their day begins at six, when they have cod liver oil and orange juice. Bathed and dressed, they sit in their cream-coloured higli chairs for their real breakfasts of coddled eggs and glasses of milk at 7.30. Mine, de Kerline, head nurse, and Miss Yvonne Lcroux, the other nurse, ea-ch spoon-feeds one at a time, and then brush their teeth with tiny toothbrushes, a special colour for each. Diapers are the next order of the day, and inexperienced mothers would marvel at the speed and neatness with which they go on. The babies eat with dispatch. "They learned early not to poke about eating, for we just took their food away when enough time had elapsed," explained Mme. de Kerline.

In their roomy play-pens, they perform great feats with their sturdy legs, kick each other with gurgling pleasure, and generally use up all the energy they can before they are dressed in warm pink chinchilla, coats and bonnets, and their rosy faces protected with cream, for their morning sleep on the front verandah.

One by one. the nurses wheel in five identical fawn-coloured carriages. Yvonne—impish Yvonne, the heavyweight of the quintuplets —went reluctantly. She was having such fun kicking Annette. Placid Annette, who had paid no attention to lier big sister's flailing heels, went philosophically; it was time for a nap. Cecile, Emilie, Marie followed peaceably; there wasn't a whimper out of the bunch.

"Well, ladies," said Mme. de Kerline, "sleep tight." And the babies were left in tlic sunshine, while windows of the cream and green nursery were thrown wide open, so that fresh air whisked into every corner, and around the five cribs, tied with different coloured bows to match the blankets cn the carriages, and the three play-pens, and the tables on which they were laid to be dressed. Another attendant emptied the large laundry basket, and the nurses left her to clean the nursery while they sat down in the comfortable reception room for a cigaiette and a chat.

Otier Children Kept Away. The other Dionne children, their mother said, had seen their little sisters only twice since they were unexpectedly lushed from the farm house to the hosnital some months because In. 1 "afoe wanted to prol-ci them from an i>. break of whooping coujh in the neighbourhood. "Dr. Dafoe says our children have chronic colds, and shouldn't visit the quintuplets," said the mother of the babies and also of Ernest, eight years,

Rose, seven, Theresa, six. Daniel, three, and Pauline, two years. "But Dr. Dafoe hasn't made' any effort to treat them for these cplds. The children often .>k to go and sec the babies. We have to tell them they cannot." "Nothing to Smile Over." "You see,'' she said, "it is a familydivided. I would like all my children brought up together, as soon as doctors would think it riglit. But I feel hopeless, for I have heard it said that tliey will never be together."

Is Mrs. Dionne satisfied with the care and nursing the quins are receiving in Dafoe Hospital? The answer is "Yes."

Is she permitted to kiss them? Again, "Yes."

Whom does she think they resemble? "Their father. Emilie, especially, looks like him."

Finally, is she glad the quintuplets were born to her?

"I was very, very glad at first," said Mrs. Dionne, slowly, "although it was a shock to me when I saw them all. But I was happy. Now I am not so happy, because of the trouble and worrv."

And when the photographer, taking her "first anniversary" picture, exhorted her to, "Smile, Mrs. Dionne, please," she said, with a trace of bitterness, "I have nothing to smile over."—(X.A.N.A.)