The daily Minnesota pioneer. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1854-1855, 1854-05-17
The Horrors Of Idiocy.

The Horrors of Idiocy.
Of all the long and weary pains Of mind to which
the unsesh can be subject, know Of none 20 ter
rible a. that Of the mother attaining the certainty
that her child is an idiot. Reviewing the whole case
as we have ourselves observed it, It seems to Us
affection made tocrable only by its gradual growth,
and the length of years which it is spread
How sweet the prospect Of the little one coming
not only in the sacred anticpaions Of the parents
but when the elder children told, in quiet, joy
fu moments Of confidence, that there would be a ba-
by in the house by-and-by! And when it came' now
amiable and helpful, and happy everybody wa,
keeping the house quiet for the mothers S'"e' "''
wondering at the baby, and not mno'"s ""y "'s"'
laritv or little uncomfortableness while the mother
xas upstairs Perhaps there was wager that baby
voud stake notice. turn its eyes to bright watch
~ .,oons. or looking glass, at the end Of ten days
=. E,rtnight, and the wager was lost. Here, per-
hans. was the first faint indication. But it would not
he thought much Of, the child was very young -
As the weeks pass, however, and still the child takes
no notice, sick misgving sometimes enters the
mothers mind-a dread Of, she does not know what,
but it does not last long, You may trust mother for
finding ont charms and promise Of sort or anoh-
er in her lnby-bc what it may. Time goes on; and
the snsulary is apparent that the baby makes NJ re-
sponse to anything. He is not deaf. Very distant
street music probably kind ofquver through
his whole frame. He secs very we'll. lie GER
tainly is aware Of the flies which performing min
uets and reels between him and the ceiling. As for
his other senses, there anything like his
keenness Of smell and taste. He is avsnous for food
even already unpcasantly so-but excessively diff
cult to please. The terrible thing is his still, taking
notice.
His mother longs to feel the clasp of his arms
around her neck but her ondlngs receive TO return.
His arm hangs lax her shoulder. She longs for
look from him, and lays him hack on her lap, ho-
ping that they may look into each others eyes, but
he looks at nobody. All his life long nobody will
meet his eyes; and neither in that way any other
way will his mind expressly meet that Of anybody
else. When he docs at length look at anything it is
at his hand. He spreads the liagcrs, and holds
up the hand close before his face, and his head
from side to side. AT first, the mother and the resi-
laugh, and call it baby trick; but after time the
laughter is rather forced, and they begin TO wish he
would not do so. We child on her moth
er's lap laughing at the spinning of half-crown Or
the table, when, in instant, the mother put the lit
tie creature down-almost threw her down the
carpet, with an expression of anguish in her face
perfectly astonishing. The child had CHANGED to hole
up her hand before her face in her merry fidget ant
the mother, who had watched over idiot brother
from her youth up, could bear that horrible toker
although in this case it was mere accident.
The great improvement in the treatment Of IDIOT.
and lunatics since science began to throw light the
the most striking instances in all human experience
the practical bessedness induced by knowledge.
1t is for to act upon the medium view sanctioned
alike by science and mOrals-neithcr cast out ou
idiots, like the savagos who leave their helpless one:
to perish, nor to worship them, the pious Egyr.
tans did, and other nations who believed that tho
gods dwelt in them, or less, and made oracle.
of them-a perfectly natural belief in the case of be-
ings who manifest very few faculties in extraord
nary perfection, in the apparent absence of all others
Our business is, in the first place. to reIuc. the mum.
Der of idiots to the utmost of power BY attending
to the conditions Of sound life and hcah and cspec-
tally by dscountcnancing crime the mar, iage of
bIoOd-reations and, in tho next place, by trying TO
make the and the best of such faculties as these
imperfect beings possess. 1t is not enough to repeat
the celebrated epitaph idiot, and to hope that
his privatons here will be made up to him hereafter.
We must lesson those prvations to the utmost by the
careful application of science in understanding his
case, and Of skill, and ncxhaustble patience and
love, in treating it. Happily there now nstitu.
tons, by aiding which any Of may do something
towards raising the lowest and blessing the most al
ficted members of our race.