Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1922-04-14
Sequel to Main Street

Chicago Tribune, appeared IN MS
regular column in that paper last
week. 1t does not contain as many
pages as the original book but is very
interesting at that.
No great stretch of the magma
tion is required to believe that great
many of the "Main Street" tragedies
in life are the direct result of just
such conditions as those pictured by
DR.. Evans, and coming from a health
specialist Of his rank, his story is Wotrh
of thought and consideration by every
"Main Street" when passing lndg-
ment upon any of those residents VINO
do not measure up to the standard
desired by their neighbors.
A few days ago, happening to be IN
Fergus Falls, l dropped around to the
state hospital. | had not been there
since one summer day two years ago,
when Fergus Falls was just becoming
conscious after a tornado which had
swept up the little valley across the
lake, killing and manning its citizens
and destroying their property
on that occasion l had stood on the
ridge near the hospital and looked out
over the valley at the path of the tor
nado lying like a great welt below.
Trees whipped clean OF leaves and
where the swirl had touched the
ground nothing-not even blade Of
growing grassland withstood the
force.
DR.. P. H. Hervey welcomed me to
the Institution and acted as a guide Oh
our tour around the Institution.
In one Of the rooms, quite to my
surprise, Carol Kennicott, the wife
of DR.. j. Kennicott of Sank Centre.
You may remember her as Carol
Milford of Mankato. When the Judge
left the bench he went to st. Paul.
When Carol was ID Judge Milford died.
Carol, after going through college, be-
came a librarian and eventually mar
ried DR.. John Kennicott.
[ am sure you place Carol when you
read the biography of her life in Cop
her Prairie, written by Sinclair Lewis
and given the title Main Street,
Last year l wrote story about
Carol, calling her nut, telling why
she did such things as Lewis wrote Of
her doing. My object was to Warnpar-
ents OF peculiar children as to what
future held for such children.
Most parents do not know the mean
ing of such traits of personality and
behavior, and The great possibilities
of remedial treatment by proper train
ing, and of'disaster when training is
improper.
l was surprised To find Carol in the
state hospital, for although she had
no training, and in fact no diagnosis
of her personality had ever been made,
she seemed to be. coming into quieter
waters at the time Lewis biography
left her.
She had passed through puberty
and adolescence, breaking points in
tile lives Of many dementia precox
subjects. She had weathered mater
nifty and other dangerous periods.
She had passed through many emo
tional storms in the social battles Of
her small town life.
l did not learn why she went to
pieces at the last, but she was, in the
state asylum.
Too much out of line with the thot
and life of her former surroundings
to permit her to live there without
constant, harmful friction, she had
been placed in the state institution
where she was physically we'll cared
for and mentally removed from VOL
ent contacts.
DR.. Hervey said the diagnosis was
dementia precox simplex Carol, he
said was depressed, EXCEPTIONALLY indif
ferent, sitting stoIidly most Of the
time. There were not many manifest
ations of split personality At times
she became excited and at such times
had fights of fancy in which she be-
lieved in delusions, saw things, hall
fluctuations and was restless and dill
ficult to control.
At first they said she had nervous
breakdown, and then nervous prostra
tion She got much worse and John
Kennicott said it was best to put her
where people would not initiate her
So
1t did not matter what fight had
precipitated the breakdown If it had
not been that particular one it would
have been another.
The seed of the thing started before
she was born.
The old judge was an Isolated old
dreamer who invented fairies andiair3
ales for his children.
Carol lived a lonely life. Her sister
was hot companion.
AS a child she was aloof, alway S
incoming and day dreaming.
AS she grew older she lived in tht
realm of unreal She shifted from
one day dream to another. changed
her pattern for career repeatedly
At times efferVesced, at times she
was moody never fitted in at school
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