The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1915-11-01

We are such strange mixtures of ply.
sical. mental and moral In our makeup
that the correction OF the slightest bodily
defect cannot be successfully &C
complished unless we base our efforts
on a study of the spiritual or unseen
causes back OF it. 1 think we are grow
ing into better race OF people because
We are coming to recognize this as q
truth and In our training of our chill
dren are making a real study Of the
psychology OF all physical manifesto
tons.
1t is appalling to think OF all the sur
fering little children have endured in
the past by reason OF the blind. I'M
thinking whipping for bodily infirmities
that the parents themselves were Of
ten the cause OF because Of their very
harshness and lack OF sympathy. II
is sad, too. to feel that the children
SO depressed and driven in upon thCnI-
selves might have been 50 much more
effective as human beings II they had
been allowed to develop unrestTainedly
the gifts God had bestowed upon them
But there Is no use in wasting time
upon the might have beens." Now
that We see our mistake. the thing to do
is to put all our energy - work to bring
about results in the right way. I was
LED into this train OF thought by an ex-
perience with a mother who came to me
foI sdvice about breaking her little girl
of Ieft-handedness.
Il have tried everytn ag everybody has
Told me-" she said. 4 have taken the
sLUon or pencil or whatever she was
rs IL out OF her hand and slapped the
hand. have held the things In her
right hand for her and made her Use
them while I guided her. 1 have talked
and scolded until am sick OF the sub
ject myself. but 1t doesn't do a mite
OF good. Now she Is getting sullen
about It She hardly talks at all and
lately I have noticed that she shutters
when she does talk Her father and I
have begun to be afraid she is mentally
defective and will never be bright like
her sisters and brothers. 50 brought
her to you to ask you about her"
I handed the child a brishtly-coIored
picture book to look at while sat down
for a quiet chat with the mother. I
led the talk away from the child and her
defects and presently. as the mother
chatted of some OF the great movements
Of the day in which she is interested.
she forgot to keep her eye on the little
girl. The child. too, relieved OF the con-
seriousness Of INSPECTION, became intLr-
ested in her book and from her glowing
cheeks and the concentration with which
she compared the pictures with each
other saw she was anything but de-
fective. Then I took the little thing
out into the tiny flower garden back of
my house and told her to run about and
pick any of the flowers she wanted while
her mother and / finished our chat.
Alone with that mother. / told her she
was not only increasing the child's diff
fculty by herNharsh and even cruel meth
cd of correction, but that she was
making her a stammerer by means OF
II. The use Of the right hand or the
left, We know now. depends upon what
we call the speech center in the brain.
II the faculty OF speech develops in the
left lobe Of the brain We are right
handed" II, on the contrary. the speech
cells Of the right lobe are the ones to
be used. then the left hand is most natur-
ally employed. Punishment and severity
and a violent effort TO force the use OF
the right hand throws the delicate mech
anism of the brain out VI balance. the
speech centers become confused, and
stammcrIng. hsping
and whole train Of evils are the result.