Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1924-02-21

~N' ~ ~ "s~CAihS . SFtN$A iSiAS
round ones neck in NUTSHELL
Evangeline.
Among the most interesting of super
stitions are those concerning disease
and its cure Wearing something
around ones neck to ward off disease
or to cure disease is one of the most
common superstitious practices. and is
almost as much in vogue now as it was
In Evangeline's day. City school teach
ers can tell tale of woe about the lit
tie red flannel bags filled with asafoe-
tida or with garlic cloves that tene-
ment children wear to protect them.
from sore throat, diphtheria, whooping
cough, and the like. Strings Of Jobs
tears are still sold to mothers who be-
lieve that baby that wears a string
of these tears. will cut its teeth pain
lessly. Rabbits feet, secured under
proper conditions, when worn on
string around the neck will protect the
Wearer from variety of ailments. as
well as bring him good luck
There is scarcely a community that
does not boast of at least one person
who can blow fire out of a burn and
prevent blistering. The blowing must
be accompanied by the repetition of
a charm that cannot be communicated
by one woman to another or one man
to another, but must always be taught
by one of the opposite sex. The neigh
Dor who blew the fire out of all the
burns in the neighborhood when was
a child is now stately old dowager
who is pillar in the church and
mainstay Of the local cultural move
ments; but she still blows fire out of
her neighbors' burns.
There is scarcely a community Of
auy size that does not have in it at
least one old woman who can meas
ure" child and so cure it of the stake
off, an ailment that doctors dignity by
the name of marasmus.
There are likewise few communities
that lack at least one ''pow-wow" doc
tor who will cure any sort of ailment
from collie to cancer by reciting charms
and incantations. We usually pride
ourselves upon having outgrown witch
craft in medicine, but I have never yet
found a high school student who did
not know either the name of white
pow-wow doctor or some one who did
know the name Of one. They never be-
lieved in them personally; but they al
ways had an aunt or cousin or
neighbor who did believe in them.
"And that other child, not on the
hearth-he would not forget it; he
would see that 1t was well provided for.
That was fathers duty Silas Mar
ner.
Just now we have with us many who
say it is not the fathers duty to see
that his children are well provided for,
but that it is the states duty. They
would have the state take over the care
of the children, as was done in ancient
Greece, and leave, the parents unham-
pered, to go about their work or play
as they wish.
One thing these people overlook is
the fact that the same Greek state
which took the children from their
parents and reared them, carefully Sc
lected the ones that we're to live. Deli
cate and ailing babies were left out in
some deserted spot where they would
speedily die of exposure. Only the
strong and healthy were allowed to
live.
Unless some such artificial means OF
selection is employed, then the only
means we have of securing the survival
of the fit is to hold each father respon-
sible for the support of his own chill
dren. The idea is that If each father
must support his own children, then
the strongest, ablest, most intelligent
fathers will be the ones who can pro-
vide for the most children, and so will
have the greatest number of children
reach adult life
Just now we are living in period
when neither natural selection nor ar
tificial selection is allowed to operate.
We have in every community Organiza-
lions that spend much money and more
energy in trying to keep alive every
baby born in that community whether
crippled, diseased or feeble-minded.
We now gauge our civilization by our in
FAINT death rate-the lower the rate the
more civilized we consider ourselves
as If it were a more humane thing to
nurse suffering weakling to adult life,
where he must take his crippled place
in life's battle, rather than to let him
die during his infancy.
When natural selection is not al
lowed to operate by making every ia
Their responsible for the support of his
children, and when the state has no
sort of artificial selection such as that
employed in ancient Greece, the quality
Of the population is bound to be low
ered-so say the biologists. They say
the results of our present policy are al
ready very evident. The University Of
Oregon, for example, made a state
wide survey of mental detectives few
years ago, and found that out of pop
ulation of $4,000 more than $4,000
were dependent, delinquent or feeble
minded-all unable to work and con-
slant strain on the finances, health and
morality of the state. There is no rea-
son to suppose that the older states are
any better off than this state, which is
still so close to pioneer conditions.