IMPROMPTUS

Otago Daily Times, Issue 21733, 26 August 1932, Page 15

IMPROMPTUS

lI.—BABY BUNTING , (Written for Notes for Women,) I .. X j It t stood on a corner seat in a tramcar. ' A fig for those critics who say that you insult a baby when you describe it as “it”! “He" and “She," though adding to a baby’s individuality, take 1 away by that very token V great portion of a baby’s charm.; for a baby is something generic, - a no-age, no-sex scrap of umanity, and as soon as you' label it “ male " or “ female ” you destroys part of the nature of its heritage. , v ‘. ■ It was a Baby Bunting clothed from head to foot in white woollens. Its suit was white and its cap was white, but, because its eyes were the bluest things that ever looked out of a cherub’s face, it had a pale blue vest beneath 1 .its coat, and a thin line of blue around ,; its; cap. Probably it had just been bathed, because its hair, which was like sunburnt hay in colour and was worn in a fringe down to its eyebrows, was fluffy and soft , upon its forehead, and the ends which shewed at the nape of its neck were inclined to curl into little drakes’ tails. Its mouth was a red japonica bud. -T&; It stood there, leaning against its mother’s side, and kicking a small foot in a white silk shoe. It knew ; what was. happening around it-r-16oked (Interestedly at the car conductor for a moment and prettily begged its mother for her ticket. But, for the most part, its thoughts were elsewhere, and it gazed put of the; window , with dreamy eyes a# if it were Remembering wonderful thibgs. When those who watched tried to coax it to srailei, it regarded them gravely and looked hway. Obviously it was beyond familiarity. By and by, however, fumbling downwards 'with practised fingers, it - lifted the end of its jacket to its cheek,;, You knew that this was what it did in bedcuddled a teddy bear or soniething.equally soft and cosy and gained comfort from the contact; and you watched the loving of that jacket-end and the sweet and tender confidence with which .it was pressed against that cheek. Unawares, a small thunib stole into a mouth, and eyes which had been looking dispassionately through the windows, half-closed to show their lashes while their owner concentrated its attention on a sucked thumb and a cuddled coat. A babe in a brown study !,, 'Such sweetness! Such serenity! And such exquisite poise! Only once was the' pose altered —when the mother beside looked up to smile and the baby drew its thumb away so that it might kiss her and pat her cheek with a gentle palm. Then it lifted its jacket again and the dreaming was resumed. But though you were still with admiration you would no more have attempted to break that * spell of aloofness with , a demonstration of the affection that it suddenly called forth in you than you would have interrupted a queen in council. Yet —noting again the kicking foot, the fluffed fringe and the curly nape, and following the Baby Bunting line from crown to heel—how you would have liked to, had you dared!