Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1915-10-08
ANOTHER WONDER CHILD
Twelvo-Yoag- Old Girl with Astonishing
Accomplishments


Another "Wondcr childV has been
discovered, this one in the village Of
Windhum, n. Y. For the past year or
two all these juvenile prodigcs seem to
have been girls. 1t may have been
merely within of chance, but it looks |
as if Some of the recent prodigious cncr.
ey of fcnnism may have taken effect. |
a well authenticated boy-prodigy has
not been reported since Master Willie
Sidis matriculated at Harvard at the
age of twelve. lie was already a wonder
of gilt-cdgcd intellectual attainment,
and twice since that time has he again
doomed large in public attention. Once
was during his freshman year, when he
addressed an assemblage of learned pre-
fcssors and revealed some of the alb
strusc mysteries of the Fourth Dimcn-
sion, which he had discovered all by
himself, and the other time was two or
three months ago when having attained
the comfortable middle age of seventeen
years, he solcmnly announced that he
should never marry and that the charm
of woman had no appeal for him. Hay
ing declared himself with this fatal alb
soluteness, it may be expected that he
will hereafter relapse into the pcrma
nent obscurity of uninteresting bach
elorhocd.
The most recent wonder children have
been girls. One that shattered news
paper space with whole columns of text
and doublc-column portraits several
months ago came from Pittsburgh. Win
fired Sackville steiner is n product of
'natural'' education, and she herself is
Iplr IL,
| besides being mistress of a score of ac-
| complishments. She speaks and writes
| half dozen languages, including IGs.
pcranto, and her versatility is remark
able. Thelma Arnold of Windham seems
TO be chiefly product of that admir-
able organization known as the Camp
Fire Girls. Where Winifrcd Sackvillc
Stoncr S education was wholly "nat-
ural. - Thelma Arnold s has been very
special She has just attained the dis
| tinction of being the first girl of her
years to win the grade of "Firc Maker,
which among the Camp Fire Girls is a
very great honor indeed, although as u
routine domestic accomplishment it is
not so highly esteemed. Thelma quail
fled for this superior rank with fine
list of diversified accomplishments
She can tic square knot without
hesitation five times in succession: she
can tic bowlinc, n shcepshank, II Glove
hitch, two half-hitchcs and bOwlinc OF
a blight; she can rcrite the Declaration
of Independence without faltering; she
can point out seven different heavenly
consultations; she can operate without
help an automobile for four hundred
miles, she can recitc "Marv's Little
Lamb forward and then backward
without an error, and she can make
three different kinds of cake.
All this may seem of only casual int err
est, but it does no harm tc emphasize
the fact that in this degenerate age
there are few housewives who can boas
of this versatility, especially when il
comes to rcciting the Declaration of In
dependence without hcsitating and do
ing "Mary' s Little Lamb forward an,
backward. A clever and capable wife
will Thclma he, with her rccitnticns
: her old sailor S ability in modifying
her knowledge of consultations and an
: tomobilcs and her skill with three kind
of cake.
y peculiar fact with wonder children
IL that they always seem to be 10 year
old. Young Master Sidis was 10 whcl
, he entered Harvard, little Mis- Sack
vile Stoncr is - and little Miss Arnol,
is II. This may be only chance, or i
may signify that twelve is the convcn
. tional aye of "arrival' with iuvcnil
prodigi es.-Providcncc journal.