The Daily times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1886-1889, 1888-10-19

Our rroncness 20 Horror Customs and
Practices simply Because Everybody Else
Does--iiow Much Il Reasonable and
How Mich Is Merely Arbitrary?
Every human being grows mp inside
sheath OF custom. which cnfolds II as the
swathing clothes enfold the infant The
sacred customs Of ono's own early home,
how fixed and inmgtable they appear to
the child II surely thinks that all the
world in an times has proceeded on the
Same lines which bound its tiny life. II
,.o,,arj. "a breach Of these rules ls0ne OF
ibem. at leasO rs WILD step in the dark,
leading 10 unknown darCcrs. The elders
have alwgYa. said tend indeed IL seems
onlg Ieas0nible) that By This time Of day
everything has been 80 thoroughly worked
over that The best methods OF ordering
our hfc-f00d. drcss. domestic practices,
social habits-havo long ago been deter
mined. If 80 why these divcrgences in
the simplest and mos obvious nattersy
And then one thing after another gives
way The sacred. world wide customs in
which wo are bred turn out 10 be only
the practices Of small or narrow caste or
class. on they prove % be confined % q
very limited locality and must be LETT be
hind when we set out on our travels, or
they belong 20 the tene.s Of feeble sect,
OF they are iust the products q one age
IN history and no other
Are there really no natural boundaries,
Has not our life anywhere been founded
on reason and necessity but only On arbi-
trary customsy What IS more important
than food yet in what human matter are
there moro arbitrary divergences Of prac-
iice. The Scotch Highlander ilourishes
on oatmeal. which the English Sheffield
iron worker would rather staryc than eat,
tho fat snail which the Roman country
gentleman once so priced now crawls I'M
molested in English or American gardens
rabbits are tab0oed i'm Germany; frogs arc
uuspeakable in England sauerkraut is
,ieiestcd IN France; many races and
gangs of people are quite certain they
would die if deprived of meat, others
think spirits Of some kind a necessity,
while to others again both these things
are an abomination.
AND YET, WHY N0Tf
Every district has its local practices in
food, and the peasants look with the
greatest suspicion on any new dish, anc
can rarely beinduccd 10 adopt It, Though
il has been abundantly proved that many
Of the fungi are excellent eating, such /.
the forcc of custom that the mushroom
alone is over publicly recognized, while
curiouslv enough il is said that in som'
other countries where The claims OF Othei
agarics are allowed the mushroom itsel
is not used Finally. feel myself (arC
the gentle reader probably feels the same
that ! would rather die than subsist Oh
insects. such is the deep seated DISCUS
we experience toward this class of food
Yet it is notorious that many races o
respectable people adopt diet Of Thu
sort and only lately a book has been pub
hshed giving detail of excellent proven
der of the kind we habitually overlook
nasty morsels Of cnterpillars and beetles
and so forth.
Aud, indeed when one comes TO thinl
of it. what can it DC but prejudice whicl
causes one 10 eat the periNinkle and ne
iect the land snail or 10 prize the iivei
prawn and prescribe tho cheerful grass
bopDer2 Why do We sit ON chairs instea'
of on the iIOOr, rs the japanese 90, or ol
cushions like the Turks! II is custom
and perhaps it suits with our other Gus
toms. Tie more wo look into our life an
consider the immense variety of habit d
every department Of it-even under con
diti0ns TO all appearances exactly slmila
the more are we impressed by the az
sence of any serious necessity IN th
g...o,5 ,-a onr1nivae nra QrruSfO mpd ia
Each race. each class, each section Of tn
population, each unit even, yaunts It
own habits Of life as superior TO the rest
as the only true aud legitimate forms
and peoples aud classes ~ill 90 TO wa
with each other In their assertion OF thei
own special belief and practices. but IN
question that rather presses upon the III
genuous and inquirng mind is wheihe
any of us have got hold of much true III
at AL. Home journal.