From John Quincy Adams, in reply to the British Ambassador's complaint about
the Yanks ("Why should they wish to rip open our belly, the belly of their
mother?") --
Adams' reply: "The child would have never thought of hurting the mother, if she
had not plucked the nipple from the boneless gums, and attempted to dash the
brains out."



Another precious birthday gift was being a breastfed baby.  To be born with a
silver spoon in one's mouth does not always insure health or perfect
development, but to be born with a mammilla in one's mouth takes out for the
baby an irrevocable life insurance....
        Petticoat Surgeon, by Bertha van Hoosen, People's Book Club, 1947,
referring to her birth in 1863.


Beth Hilleke              [log in to unmask]