Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-01-11

bobbed from taxicabs and limousines.
very fashionable audience soon had filled
every seat.
Back stage in his dressing room Faunt-
leroyish child with slick hair flowing down to
meet his collar was tuning up his violin. The
vast auditorium was awaiting the arrival upon
the stage of this prodigious musical talent.
This particular lad was Ruggiero Ricci, aged
11-one of seven children born to struggling
: musician-father in San Francisco
With an amazing confidence for his years,
young Ricci awaited the signal which would
take him before thousands of seat buyers His
phenomenal gifts had become known far and
wide.
And then-just before the minute struck
which would mark his entrance-an official
order arrived from the Manhattan Municipal
Building. The order announced that the con-
cert could not go on. 1t was signed by Mayor
James j. Walker.
The very government of a great metropolis
had taken time off from its myriad duties to
take action on the case of a child in short
trousers. A father and mother had protested
against the alleged exploitation of their child.
And a mentor guardian manager, Elizabeth
Lackey by name, had maintained that such
concert work was essential to fostering the
genius Of such a child-and that OF his brother,
too. for that matter.
The Mayor of New York felt that he had
no choice in such a matter. He felt he must
heed the request Of parents until the courts
decided Hence the mayor must cancel the
permit to hold concert. And so it was.
thousand disappointed folk slipped into their
high hats and their ermineS and went back
out into the night, grumbling.
THUS, for the dozenth time, little Ruggiero
Racci found himself again a front-page
ngure
Il was all very dramatic. But young Rug
giero, accustomed TO facing litigation and
audiences, shrugged his shoulders and asked
for ice cream. In such dilemmas he always
asks for ice cream. Whatever temperament
may be building IN his childish body gives way
at the moment to such youthful tastes as an
11-year-Old might be expected to have.
But whatever becomes of Ruggiero and his
younger brother Giorgio the tomorrows and
the days after the tomorrows may have an en-
tarely different slant on the status Of front-page
children.
The day may be just around the corner when
courts and mayors and even parents may be
OveTruled by certain findings which have yet
10 be made and which are now in the expert
mental process.
The behaviorists, born of the school of DR..
John B. Watson-and since subjected to a
number of variations and changes-have started
. study Of child behavior which may have
revolutionary effects In years to come
In the Horace Mann School, New York q
tabulation is now kept on children almost from
the cradle. Card indexes chart the family
background Of thousands of youngsters. Efforts
10 apply simple behavioristic rules to the
youngsters are under way in an organized
manner.
It's all in its primer steps-but it's a begin
ming. And the cases of scores of young folk,
Qnite outside the immediate school life are
matters of laboratorial record. How far does
pEecociousness reach? Do prodigies depart
from the ways of normal children? What
opportunities slip through the tiny fingers Of
lads and lassies whose parents are not endowed
with fame and fortune to help them along?
What becomes Of prodigies after q certain
period of time?
Should they be promoted during the
prOdagous years for all they are WORTH before
the spell breaks; or is it better to delay their
gifts toward. the later, years, of hfe2so-
In a dozen scientific sections a dozen such
QueStions-and many more-are being raised.