Wichita eagle., 1888-11-06
THE SHEATH OF CUSTOM.
HAVE WE REACHED THE VERY BEST
METHODS OF LNING2
Our Proneness to Honor Customs and
Practices Simply Because Everybody Else
Does-How Much L. Reasonable and
How Much II Merely Arbitrnry7

Practices Simply Because Everybody Else
Does-How Much Il Reasonable aud
| How Much Il Merely Arbitrary7
Every human being grows up inside .
sheath of custom. which enfolds 1t as the
swathing clothes enfold the infant. The
sacred customs Of ones own early home,
how fixed and immutable they appear to
the child 1t surely thinks that all the
world in all times has proceeded on tho
same lines which bound its tiny life. 1t
regards breech of these rules (some of
them. at LEAST as wild step in the dark.
leading to unknown dangers. The elders
only reasonably that by this time Of day
everything has been so thoroughly worked
over that the best methods of ordering
our ife-food, dress, domestic practices,
social habits-have long ago been deter
mined. If SO, why these divergences IN
the simplest and most obvious nattersi
And then one thing after another gives
way. The sacred. world wide customs In
which we are bred turn out to be only
the practices Of small or narrow caste or
class; or they prove to be confined to
very limited locality, and must be left be-
they belong to the tenets Of feeble sect;
or they are just the products Of one ago
IN history and no other.
Are there really no natural boundariesf
Has not our life anywhere been founded
On reason and necessity, but only ON srbi.
trary customsi What Is more important
than food, yet IN what human matter are
there more arbitrary divergences Of prao-
fira9 The G<otrh ui,blopIor AnrvSuhas
ON oatmeal, which the English Sheffield
iron worker would rather starve than eat;
the fat snail which the Roman country
molested in English or American gardens;
rabbits are tabooed in Germany; frogs arc
unspesksble In England; ssuerkrant Is
detested in France: many races and
gangs of people are quite certain they
would die If deprived Of meat; others
think spirits OF some kind necessity.
while 70 others again beth these things
are an abomiastion.
ABD Yrr. WHY Noff
Evesy district has its local practices In
food, and tho peasants look with the
greatest suspicion Oh any new dish. and
can rarely DO induced to aAapt IL. Though
II hos been abundantly proved that many
Of the fungi are excellent eating. such Is
tho force OF custom that the mushroom
alone = ever publicly recognized. whie
ouriouely enough it 10 said that ia some
other e0nnsviee where the claims Of other
sgsrics are allowed the mushroom itself
Is not used Finally. feel myself land
the gentle reader probably feels the same)
that | would rather de than subeist ON
insects. such il the deep seated disgust
We experience toward this class Of food
Yet !. 10 notorious that many RACES Of
respectable people adopt . diet Of this
sort, and only lstaly book hss hssn pub
HsheA giving detail II sxoeiient proven
der Of the kind we habi.uaily overlook
nasty msrsels Of cssespfiiars and bottles.
and 90 forth
And. indeed. wh.r one cones 70 think
Of II. what can II Be but prejudice which
causes one 70 eat the pervinkie and re
tecs the hand snail. or TO pssse The Lively
prsvn and prescribe the cheerful grzss-
hopperf Why do We ~ On chairs insAesd
Of o. the fopr. - tie japanese 90. or on
cueh1ons IKE the Tzskss IL 70 soseon,
and perhaps i. suits With oar oshes Gus
toms. The nme We look into oar iife snd
CONSIDER the immense variety Of hAbis h
every dspar.mA1t Of t-sven under euc-
diti0s % Ill sppearanoes e1sctiy similar
the Eors are we impressed 5y tAs aor
sence Of my serioAs necessity n ths
forms W ourselves are accrstomsd -
Each sos. ssnA GLASS. esch section ef ths
popuisssou, esch uus. even vsan1s he |
own habits Of life - superior 20 ths resf. |
- tis euly true and ns1simGts fsgms, |
and peoples and classes vf1 90 70 wa1 |
with each osher n sAs1x aasext3en % thetf |
Al A~fs~< ~~.A - 4