Go-backs

The scales are not yet asked to give a casting vote, but the gap between the growth which mother wants and that which baby yields seems to widen, and the reason becomes more and more mysterious until some wiser dame whispers the dreaded words: "It has the Go-backs," and others echo, "It has the Go-backs."

If the length of the string is an exact multiple of the length of the foot, nothing is wrong, but if there is a remainder, however small, the baby has the Go-backs, and the extent of the malady is proportional to this remainder.