Barbour County index., 1884-02-15
The Survival of the Fittest.

Boston culture is proverbial. It's re-
pute is worldwide. Travel where yeu
may. on this continent or any otherss
from Pixies Peak to Borrioboolah Cha,
from the Andes to the Apennines. If YOU
meet young. woman who speaks En-
glish and is thoroughly up ii the
- ologies you know at once that she
comes from Boston. And If YOU are
fortunate enough to be IN Boston itself
you find that this culture is as all-per-
suasive at home as it is notorious else
where. 1t is not confined 10 one Boston
girl, or few. but to all Boston girls;
and finding this fact, one wonders how
it happens that there are no exceptions,
and wonders, most of all, how all the
young women of so largea city as Bos-
ton car. possibly stand the processes Of
culture and live through them.
The explanation does not lie on the
surface, but it is comparatively easy. 1t
is n clear case of survival of the fittest.
The result is reached in the same way
rs the healthful robustness of the chit
dren OF the very poor is. 1t used to be
regarded as wonderful that these chill
dren, exposed to all manner OF priva-
tions and hardships, were rugged and
stout and hearty. with n heartiness that
shamed the well-nurtured children of
the well-to-do. Social philosophers used
to moralize about 1t. and attribute il to
the exposure and privation; and they
used to recommend that the children
who had warm houses and beds should
be sub ected to cold and hunger to
''toughen' them. There is en- occasion
nj philosophers good deal behind
the age-who does this now But the
majority of intelligent people have
come to the conclusion that the reason
why the children of want and hardship
are stout and healthy is that the weak
lings have all died of They are rug
ged and strong. not because Of hardship,
but in spite of il, because they were by
nature and inheritance so tough that
privation could NOT kill them in infan-
cy, rs IL did their weaker brethren.
And this is the true explanation, with
out doubt, of the fact that all living
young women in Boston have become
cultured and still live. The system
pursued in making them so-is SO eSact-
ing that the weaklings have all been
killed off and only the strongest land
tOugheat, the ones who can stand the
entire strain. survive.
Whether the people of Boston realize
this we do not know. The physicians
do. In the death certificate given n few
days since in the case of n little Boston
girl aged fourteen, The doctor wrote:
'.Due to the Boston school system of
cramming-too much study and brain
ork.n- He knew why itwas that the
mature representatives of Boston cult.
ure showed no signs of injuryfn the
process II was because they were
tough enough to stand IT; while those
who were not tough-enough had given
up the struggle and been laid away in
the churchyard.
Commenting on this case the Boston
Globe gives a pretty definite notion of
the process tor which this particular
young girl succumbed, as hundreds
more have done, no doubk Hhe-Iist of
studies in the school she attended IN
cluded mathematics, Language, geoo-
raphy, history, drawing on paper Ind
in books. and music; and each Vof the
studies was divided into two. or more
branches of special work The lnnathce
matical department embraced powers
Of numbers; square root and its aapDIi-
cations;A mensuration of the trian he,
para1lelogram. ,trapszoid. circle. prism.
pyramid. cylinder, conc and sphere;
cube root and its applications; book
keeping; and oral exercises and ,arith-
metic st sight What -tha historical
study called for the Globe shows IN The
following composition, found among the
examination papers of the poor yictim
"A composition written in school upon
1emand-as one of a number OF historical
essays which pupils were expected to
be prepared with:
Foreign War: Flodden Field. Henry VIII
wished TO play great part in Europa8hd he
soon became mixed ups = the -contlhental
siect. Aaximilian. he routed the French at