Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1913-12-12

philandering philanthropists insisting
that the prison life of our criminals
should be greatly softened and sweet
ened; that, in addition tao their board
and keep, amusement should be provid-
ed for their leisure and that the thick
est cream that may gather on the milk
of human kindness should be their por-
ton. This policy, carried to the de-
sired limit, could but render our peni-
tentiaries the most desirable habta-
lions in the land. Some of the prison
experts recently in our city went to
this extreme. and even In the neither
world there must have been some clan
destine popularity over this ultra solici-
tude for the wrongdoer.
That some practical progress has
been made was evidenced in the dis
cussions. Less stress was laid upon
heredity than upon environment. For
one, permit me to give preference to
environment, l believe that were fifty
babies-no, that's too many, say twen-
ty babies-taken from as many differ
ent lands and kindergartened in Hol-
land, they would each and every one
grow up as Dutch as tulip. If you
and / were nurtured under the palm
trees on South sea island we might
have developed taste for broiled mis-
sionary, no matter what the predilec-
tions of our torbears.
New this country, as we have been
told over and over again, is the mixing
pot of nations. Out of the infants Of
perhaps hundred different peoples we
are called upon to make good Ameri-
cans. Let US furnish the right kind of
environment All our weed and thistle
seeds are not blown to these shores
from abroad Many of them are native
a child is like a vine. Some of us can
remember little of the oldfashioned
child culture when the mother would
say to father concerning recalcitrant
kid, take him out, Henry, and give
him g. good trimming. Trim up child
in the way he should CO.
Were this system of homo-culture
spplied to the minor offenders in this
country, even when past childhood's
years there would doubtless be fewer
felonies and some severe back-smarts;
from twenty to forty lashes we'll laid
on would save much of the board bills
that the county now pays to the sher-
| if.
"The little state of Delaware has
good reason to believe In the efflcacy
of nogging. Lying though she does on
the highways that lead to the great
coast cities, the wayfaring marauders
shun her inhospitable shore and lightly
walk around her. There are some queer
| things in this country regarding the
| treatment of criminals. There are Cit
les to which they repair for sanctuary.
| One such city is said to be on the
south side of Lake Erie. to which the
eyildoers run and remain undisturbed
until the hue and cry against them has
abaited. While there they are on their
good behavior and will not be disturb
| ed as kong as they remain good "A
logging law might better things some
what in Indiana, especially in Indian
apolis, though 1t would run counter TO
the mawkish sentimentality OF the day.
"Of course, something is to be SAID
| on the score of heredity. Were a setllhg
of eggs to be placed under staid and
Geraure hen one might count upon
chicks Of a like fashion. But not from
duck eggs. The downy ducklings would
greatly to the distress of the mother'
Get their feet wet at the neighooring
pond. 1~o.l
Indiana, to my mind, furnishes one
of the most romantic and interesting
| illustra tions of the strength of environ
ment in contrast with heredity-and
| that the call of civilization can not pre-
vail against the call of the wild. 1t is
the story of Ma-con-a-quah, the White
Rose In the year IT'S in the month of
July. during the revolutionary war, a
tribe of Delaware Indians, melted by
the British, swooped down upon the
| Wyoming valley, near Wilkes-B Barre,
Pa.
Many of the white settlers were
Killed. In one house five-year-old girl
had crawled under a stairway to hide
from the savages. Her little feet were
sticking out. One of the Indians pulled
her from her hiding place, swung her
over his shoulders and carried her
away. She was taken to New York
state, near the falls of Niagara, ana
was adopted by the chief. Dressed as
q savage she grew up one. The Indi-
ms we're good to her. They gave her
the name of White Rose. She married
twice, first to a Delaware Indian ana
later to a Miami chief, She-buck-o-nah,
who was deaf. She removed to 1ndi-
ana. In 1889, George Winters, an In
diana artist, went to Deaf-Man's VII
Iage, on the Mississinewa river, near
Peru, and painted portrait from life
of this woman. (Winters. 1t is recall
ed painted a picture of the Battle OF
Tippecanoe. This picture, large can
vas, hung upon the wall of the supreme
court room when that court was held
I'm building at the southwest corner
of washington street and Capitol ave-
nue.. 1t was afterward removed to the
city library. when that building stood
On the site of the Newton Claypool
building. The picture has since disap-
peared.)
ut was In September 1887, fifty-nine
wears after the abduction that the Sis
tiers and brothers of Frances Slocum,
for such was her name, reached the
Indian village on the Mississinewa- She
had entirely lost her mother tongue
Her older brother identified her by the
| nail being gone from her left fore fing-
CT as it had been when she was lost
She recalled the name of Frances when
| 1t was spoken to her. They begged her
to return with them for a sight of the