TO KIND MOTHERS

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLIV, Issue 13502, 29 July 1907, Page 8

TO KIND MOTHERS

It may seem impossible for a Jcind andconsiderate mother to be guilty of cruelty towards her children, and yet there are many persons, who, looking back upon their childish days, remember medicine-giving that was downright cruelty. "Though cruel only to be kind," cruel is what parents undoubtedly Were. The torture which dwells most poignantly in the memory is castor oil. Camomile was bad, powders were worse, but nothing ever evon.; approximated to the nauseous slirnitiess of castor oil. The dose in all its oily horror was forced down the unwilling throat, m the unhappy youngster under threats of dire penalties. One may talk of the necessity for firmness in dealing with children, of the value of Spartan training, and of" 1 ? high moral value of duty performed ,l 1 1". flitiehingly; but * these forcible administrations of unpalatable drugs to ailing chiklrta', too often resulted in a physical dread/0* medicines of every sort and in a revulsion of feeling against* them. There was, ; j)er-. haps, some excuse for the cruelty, ;is : tl>o, medicines of the past generations were !<■>' ' the most part crude and drastic. It was even thought that a pleasant .medicinal could not bo as effective as one that waJ repulsive in appearance and disagreeable to the palate. It is now known that Nature has in her bounty provider; remedies as agreeable a* others are nauseous. California, .Syrup of Figs i- « mutual laxative remedy, far more certain in it-s effect th.t'i the oils, salt-, pills, and powders of <«:: forefathers, whilst its pleasant teste and-, gentle action are in strong contrast to the violent remedies of an earlier day. Children iook forward to the time for taking it, fti.d any mother who still adheres to the "oldfashioned" drugs is guiltv of a real s:i<" ' unnecessary cruelty to hor'littlo ones. California Syrup of Figs is sold in two me?, at Is 3d and Is lid.