"Why would a baby die?" Our father gave the same long explanation each time, about how children in the olden days weren't as healthy as you kids now -- and then he would list all the illnesses. Diptheria, scarlet fever, small-pox, influenza, consumption. I always listened for the name of our sister's disease, wondering what she had, why she had died. Only once did I get up the courage to ask: did Charlotte have diptheria or influenza? No, my father said, looking as solemn as I'd ever seen him. Sometimes babies died,