At six months having, as yet, had none of the diseases supposed to be inevitable, the boy weighed thirty pounds.

Then the stately Peter came again into requisition, and in his strong arms the child spent many of his waking hours.

Peter, with a long, elephantine gait, slowly wandered over the town, lingering especially in the busy marts of trade.

Peter's curiosity had strengthened with years, and, wherever a crowd gathered round a monkey and hand organ, a vender's wagon, an auction stand, or the post office at mail time, there stood Peter, black as coal, with "the beautiful boy in white," the most conspicuous figure in the crowd.

As I told Peter never to let children kiss the baby, for fear of some disease, he kept him well aloft, allowing no affectionate manifestations except toward himself.
My reading, at this time, centered on hygiene.