Down Will Come Baby: 1915

Good way to decrease the spread of tuberculosis. Fresh air was very important for people who lived in crowded conditions where airborne diseases were easily spread.

Subjected as she was to such bizarre parenting skills, I guess it's no wonder she offed herself at 31.

>> Sometimes I honestly wonder, and NOT about the topic.

The problem is, people forget that there were no home air conditioners (least of all window units) in 1915. They see a box hanging out the window, they dismiss it mentally as an air conditioner, and they keep looking for the baby bed - something with rails, like a crib.

They simply don't figure out that the baby bed IS what they've already dismissed as an air conditioner.

Still there. With window units! All these buildings look so imposing in black-and-white. Then when you see them in Google Technicolor Street View with a minivan parked out front, they shrink.

The house is now the Embassy of the United Republic of Tanzania.

View Larger Map

>> I don't understand. Where is the baby?

What the? Sometimes I honestly wonder, and NOT about the topic.

I'm curious where this is. Is it in Washington? I didn't think there were many five story row houses here. Anyone have a clue where this is?

[2139 R Street N.W. - Dave]

Lileks has one of these in his book "Mommy Knows Worst: Highlights from the Golden Age of Bad Parenting Advice."

http://www.amazon.com/Mommy-Knows-Worst-Highlights-Parenting/dp/14000822...

Very funny book, with lots of old adverts.

...until someone figures out what in the world this has to do with a baby! I've even tried looking to see in the windows...no luck anywhere...

[The bed is the box sticking out of the window. - Dave]

I kept thinking, "What? All I see is an air conditioner!"

I don't see anything even remotely looking like an open air bed.

[It's a puzzle, isn't it. - Dave]

I don't understand. Where is the baby?

No wonder she was unbalanced, poor woman.

It seems it was her destiny to die sleeping.

That thing could be cemented directly to the foundations of the house, with a forest of backup safety chains, and there's still no way I'd put a baby in it. Scary.