The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1884-02-15
The Survival q tn. Fittest.

The Survival sf the Ffttest.
Boston culture is proyerbial. Its re-
pute is worldwide. Travel where you
may, on this continent or any other,
from Pixies Peak to Borrioboolah Cha.
from the Andes to the Apennines. If you
meet q Young woman who speaks En-
glish and is thoroughly up ia 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. II is not confined to 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 large a city as Bos-
ton can possibly stand the processes of
culture and live through them.
The explanation docs not lie on the
surface, but it is comparatively easy. 1t
is q clear case of survival of the fittest
The result is reached in the same way
as the heslthful robustness of the chill
dren of the very poor is 1t used to be
regarded as wonderful that these chill
dren, exposed to all manner OF priva-
tons and hardships. were rugged and
stout aud hearty, with heartiness that
shamed the well-nurtured children of
the well-to-do. Social philosophers used
to moralize about it, and sttribute it to
the exposure and privstion; and they
used to recommend that the children
who had wafM houses and beds should
De sub 'ecteG to cold and hunger to
tougher" them. There is an occasion
Al philosopher 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 off. They are rug
ged and strong. not because of hardship,
but in spite of it, because they were BY
nature and inheritance so tough that
privation could not kill them in infan-
cy, as it 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 exact
ing that the weaklings have all been
killed off and only the strongest and
toughest. the ones who can stand the
entire strain. survive.
Whether the people of Boston realize
this we do not know. The physicians
60. In the death certificate given a few
iavs since in the case of little Boston
girl AIRED fourteen, the doctor wrote:
due to the Boston school system of
cramming-too much study and brain
work" He knew why it was that the
mature representatives of Boston cult
ure showed no signs of injury in the
process. 1t 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 pretty definite notion of
the process to which this particular
young girl succumbed, As hundreds
more have done. no doubt. The list of
studies in the school she attended i'm
cluded mathematics, language. geog-
raphy. history. drawing on paper and
in books. and music; and each of the
studies was divided into two or more
branches of special work. The mathc-
NAUTICAL department embraced powers
OF numbers; square root and its appli-
cations; meusurAtion of the triangle,
parallelogran. trapezoid. circle, prism.
pyramid. cylinder, cone and sphere;
cube root and its applications; book
keeping; and oral exercises and arith-
metic at sight. What the historical
study called for the Globe shows in the
following composition, found among the
examination papers OF the poor victim
a compo sition written in school upon
lem nd as one of number of histor cal
essays which pupils were expected to
be prepared with:
Foreign War: Floiden Field Henry Will
wished to PLAY great part in Europe and he
soon became mixed up in the continental
WAITS. Having been joined by the Emperor
elect Naximiliau. he routed the French at
GuineS, near Calais, and this was called the
Battle of the Spurs. on. account of the
n@ht OF the enemys cavalry. While these
things were going on in France. the scots took
advantage and invaded ENGLAND. but were
met by Thomas Howard. Earl of Surrey, at
Flodden Field. in ISL. and a severe battle
took place. in which the King of Scotland,
James VI, and the rose of the Nation died
together on the held Inc next year peace
ras made with France, Mary. sister of Henry
Viii, marrying Louis XII. of France; bur be
lied soon after. and she married Charles
BrandoI. Duke of Suffolk"
1t is not remarkable thai the poor
child, in the delirium which preceded
her final release from the examining
system, went over her studies in history
and mathematics, reciting page after
pare from her textbooks in heart
breaking repetition. But it is remark
able that with such evidence before
them of the fatality of their system. the
people of Boston do not come to the
rescue of their suffering childfen.-De-