Household. Dinah's Croup Remedy.

Tuapeka Times, Volume XXIV, Issue 1904, 11 June 1892, Page 2 (Supplement)

Household. Dinah's Croup Remedy.

" Yes, missis : its tbe croup sure enough I'm afeard ; jest let me listen agin'," and Dinah bent her anxious sable face over the baby boy of two summers lying in my lap. It was some years previous to the "shoulder blanket" episode and Dmah .* as comparatively a new-comer in our family.

" There is no mistakin' the sound," she said after a moment's listening that seemed an hour to me.

" What shall I do ?" I moaned in my helplessness. " Fred away, and the night bo •sold, my boy must die."

-' Don't take on bo missis," said the cheerful voice. " Havo you any alum in the houee?"

" Plenty," I answered. "But what good is alum for croup?" ''Don't talk, miceis; but just tell mo where it is," ar:d tho good woaion's fingerß were lifting tho lid eff tho box almost before my words of direction were uttered. WUh rapid footsteps Ehe disappeared into my kitchen, and p. isontonous sound of scraping issued from it mingling with baby's choked breathing ; then rncro hurried footsteps, a rattling of Bpoona in their holder, and Dinah reappeared carefully carrying a well tiled teaspoon.

" We will give him but half at ones," aha eaid, and turning pait oi the contents into a eauce-plate from the table, hurried to my side, the half-filled spoon and a glass of water in either hand. Great be&da of perepiratiod Btood on her brow Beamed with its anxious wrinkles.

" Hold him up 'most straight if you can," wfie the direction 6he half whispered, " an' he won't be co apt to choke." I did so, and firmly but with the utmost tenderness she coaxed the mixture into ths little mouth and down his throat, following it with two or three tea-spoonfuls of the water.

" Now give him to me, misßes," she said, as the little bead fell back on my arm, and I held him closer to my frightened hears. II You are tired all out, au' no wonder aholdin 1 an' a-tendin' him all these hours. I'm sort of used to croup a-h/ingin' up my 10, you know." Ths cheerful voice, and the kindly face bending over me, icpp r d me with a ray of hope and I g ave tbe !i:tlo one into the strong, motherly arms r.nd steed by waiting in my turn to help, and noticg (even with a mother's eye) how much rnoro tecderly ehe aided my baby in its struggle for life than I (inexperienced young thing that I wftp) could have done myself. Ten. fifteen, twenty minutes passed, then Dinah's eyes that had not beforo left baby "a face were lifted to mine, aud she noddad toward the medicine loft on the table. I hastily brought it, and to my surprise the little one took it with much leas difficulty than it had the first. Then Dinah nodded towards tho little orib.

" He'll be more comfoiabls like in his own bod now," fiho said, " fcbe stall's bepinnia' to help him, sure :" Tacking the warm blaul»et around his little throat after laying him on his pillow, DiDah took her station close beside tbo crib while I too nsrvosa to remain quiet, paced to and fro between it and the window, outside oi which the storm raged with increasing fury. It might have been 20 minutes, certainly not longer when Dinah beckoned rue olosor to her side. ' Laan down close, mispis," ehe eaid, "an* listen to him now. His breath is oomin' real easy like, an' he'a goin' off to sleep sure." I bent olope over my boy ; his hands and brow were moist and his breathing quiet — almost natural. My baby was aafe. Truly God wna very good to me. " What was it you gave him, Dir R h?" I asked aa a little later sbo camo to me, in tbe kitchen, busy making supper for the " good man's " homo-ooming.

"Only jest alnm an' augar, missia," Bho replied. " I scraped a good half a tea-spoonful oil that lump of alum, an' filled tha spoon up with sugar. Some uso burnt alum, but I don't : an' you reust be careful to scrape it very fine (like fiour 'most) an' only give half at once unless tha little one is over four yeara. It's powerful good medicine, missis. Now, I'm a goin' back agin' to eit right by him till you come an' then I'll be gifctin' home. He won't have no more spells toni?ht sure." So baok ehe went good, faithful soul, and I passing back and forth, before the halfclosed door, oould hear her singing (more to herself than the baby I fancied), in the plantive tone peculiar to the race. We's goin 1 baok to Glory, We's goin' back to Glory, We's a gittirT'nearer eb cry day. ©Id Folks, Old-Fasitioned Fare 9 Aud Freedom. Duty and pleasure do not always go " hand in hand ;" but in the duty of studying to please the various taetca of her household the housewife often finds a real pleasure, and where there are old people in our homes, is is especially our duty to minister to their preferences, and in all available ways to seek to make life seem to them bright and desirable. Let them feel themselves " a burden " and "in the way," and they will droop and. wither like the plant within the window perishing for lack of water; Bhow them thao they are appreciated and necessary to our well-being, our homes ar.d our liappm^s, and they will respond as the drooping ilower revives beneath the grateful dew or the jjfntle summer rain. As in the case of children, small things make or mar their happiness*. I once knew a good old man, who, living with a son, was made uncomfortable and really unhappy because tbe daughter-in-sa\r, among other small tyramjiep, banished from their home the " boiled dinner " to which he had ail his life occasionally been accustomed, it not beiDg to her taste, or "in fashion." This principle is all wrong. Let us who are £0 fortunate aa to have at our fireside and cur board, tho dear face of father or mother, grandfather or grandmother, spare no pains to make them comfortable and happy ; let us never allow them to feel that they have " outlived their usefulness;" and let ua teach our little ones to be moet tender of the dear grandparents, to honor and obey, love and cherish them, and to look upon them as a peculiar and a priceless blessing.