Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1926-08-09

EL1LAbE DGANooAS al LIZ
POSSESSED A VOCAB1
school. My class work kept me on
the campus only three hours q day,
and these hours were arranged so
that I could dash home between
classes to feed and care for Elizabeth.
There was no time for "spoiling"
the baby, even if DR.. Hollis baby
book. which I was following slavishly,
because I knew nothing from expert
ence about raising an infant, had not
been so firm on the subject. She was
never rocked to sleep in her life. and
she never discovered. in her entire
babyhood that attention could be had
by crying for 1t.
She seemed perfectly content to be
left to herself. At three months she
could sit alone: at four months she
could pull herself erect in her peram-
| bulator She was fed exactly on the
dot. according to the schedules and
formulas laid down in the baby book,
and spent her daily quota OF hours
in the open air, regardless of weather.
/ studied and typed with an eye
always on her perambulatOr or cflD,
but there was little time for playing
with her. For 1 had to keep right on
with my work. to pay my half or the
board bill and to earn my tuition.
Charles continued his night news
ma per work and his afternoon classes
at college.
Knew Five Words.
When Elizabeth was eight months
old I entered her in Better Babies
clinic and she was examined from
head to toe. AS I had feared, her
unusual size counted against her, for
at eight months she was as tall ana
weighed as much as a yearold child.
Rut thew could find absolutely moth
ing else the matter with her, and she
scored SO per cent. The doctor VINO
made the mental eXamination-eX-
tre1nely elementary, Of course-was
startled to hear her call out:
Mama, dinnah, dtnnah, dlnnan!
The clock in her tummy mad toid her
that the doctor was OBTAINING her
past the dinner" hour.
The physician looked at her caro-
again. saw that she was only eight
months old. then began to take a Sc
rious interest in her. On the edge OF
her report he wrote Ave words when
he had heard her use: Mama, dln-
ner. button, byebye, man.
He said that she had the mental
DEVELOPMENT Of the average 1S-montn'
old baby. Her father and l told each
other that we were not bit sur
prised. OF course. we had the most
wonderful baby in the world!
1t was about this tyne we gave up
boarding and rented four-room house
For s15 a month. Since the baby could
not be left alone while was at school,
T hired a treasure, colored Texana, ~
years old. who minded" Elizabeth,
did the washing and ironing ana
heIned me with the housework-all Tor
the princely wage of s. week.
"Swanked" About Nurse.
Her help permitted me to do more
tyning and Secretarial work In the
college, which brought in more than
anoueh money to take care OF the eX-
20 evnense. / am afraid 1 'Swanked'
a little at college about my baby's
nurse" Indeed, felt that had quite
come up IN the world.
7 was IS years old-very grown up,
married. q college sophomore, the
mot her of a wonderful baby, the mis-
tress of a house whose furniture was
almost paid for, and l had a servant.
In addition, was keeping up my
..straight A record in college. was
one Of the editors of the Literary. and
on loved some prestige as an assistant
IN the English department. l snali
rrohahlv never again in this life feel
SO grand as l did then.
Inst before Elizabeth was Is months
old she was given her first psychology
cal fest, | was taking a course in
governmental psychology, and DR..
Stoutemeyel asked me to brlng Eliza
beth to the class for three days for
observation. the specific test TO be OF
vocabulary.
tho room. talk with the students-she
was never shy in her life-make
scrawling marks on the blackboard.
and do anything else that her fancy
d;ctated. The students made lists OF
the words she used.
I must interpolate right here that
no one was ever allowed to talk baby
talk" to Elizabeth. had always an
s,yered her inSistent What dls? by
naming the object very distinctly over
and over until Elizabeth, watching
my lips closely. could pronounce the
word. She was comically disguised
with herself if her rendition of a word
was hampered by her inability to
sound every letter in the alphabet.
Called Elizabeth Joy Baby"
When the students had compared
their lists, made during the three one
hour periods, il was found that she
had used a total of 159 different
words, all entirely intelligible to the
whole class. DR.. Stoutemeyer pro-
nounced her prodigy on the strength
Of this vocabulary test and of other
tests he made of her powers of dis
elimination, concentration and mem
Dry.