Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 18 January 1939 — Page 11

than

Shits A Are a y’ Nation of Gracohil - People : Because of Practice of |

“Carrying” Burdens on Their Heads.

ORT AU PRINCE, Haiti, Jan. 18.—On Saturday night you can stand in downtown Port au Prince and hear all around, in the outskirts, the heavy, mysterious rhythmic beat of the Haitian drums. drums.

They are not voodoo drtims, They are drums for.

Saturday night dancing. But they are still so close to the fanaticism of the jungle religion that you stop : and listen intently, and your imagination carries easily out into the night, and you hear the surge: of savagery all over the mountains and back trails: of Haiti. . This country fascinates me. Not ‘only because of its voodoo. heritage; but because everything you see and hear seems interesting. The Haitian Negroes are tall, and immensely straight, and they speak French and, best of all, they don’t all look alike, In Haiti I can’t take my eyes off the people. There is. not one

Mr. Pyle good-looking face out of . 10,000.

: But they are portraits, sculptures—earthly, enduring,

hopeless qualities in every countenance. But even more than the faces; it is the carriage of the people that makes me wild about Haiti. Never, in any country, have 1 seen such absolute grace of movement. It comes, of course, from generations of carrying burdens on top of the head, It takes perfect posture to balance a washtub full of bread-loaves on your head, walk half a mile, turn corners, sit. down and get up, get in fights, dodge autos, and even chase chickens—and still never take the tub off your head or touch it with your hands. The Haitians are the straightest-backed people I have ever seen. They walk swiftly, and with a

cadence that is neither matching nor dancing, but |

a little of both.

Voodoo Superstitions Survive

“If I had a daughter (I'm always saying this), I would certainly make it a part of her training, right

from childhood, to carry something on her head for

a little while every day. : Just walk around the room with a couple of books,

‘ or a plate, or ‘something, balanced on top of her head.

I'm not joking. If all the children in America were to start doing that today, we would be a more beauti-

. ful and graceful race a century from now.

Voodooism isn’t what it used to be in Haiti. Friends tell me that humans are no longer sacrificed at the voodooistic rites, although chickens and goats are. Buf the old voodoo superstitions still exist. A little. story. v An American firm here employs quite a number of Haitian office workers. A year or so ago orders came through from New York that a personnel report must be made out on each one. Just modern business

- efficiency you know—date of birth, parents, home

town, etc. Well, one messenger boy ‘refused to give any of this information. For a long time they couldn’t find out. why. Finally he said that giving such private data was against his beliefs, and that if he should give it, he would become a ‘zombie’ (inhabited by devils). So the Americans said to him: “Now look. You're a big boy now. You're in business. You can’t get anywhere with ideas like that. And if you don’t tell, ‘we’ll ‘have to let you go.” So, after several days of thinking it over, the boy broke down and gave them part of the required information. A week later the boy took sick. For three weeks he sent a friend to the office to get his pay. Then the friend stopped coming. It's been a year now, and the Americans, have never seen or heard of

“the hoy again.

There are some Americans here who believe absolutely in voodooism. I think if I should see a fresh egg boiled hard in cold water, as one American claims to have seen, I might begin to ‘wonder, a little, $90. I've-got to come back to Haitl,

My Diary By Mrs. Eleanor Roosevelt

Attends Philadelphia Peace Meeting; ‘Visits Mountaineer Craft Shop.

ASHINGTON, Tuesday.—I spent a most interesting day yesterday in Philadelphia. Miss Thompson and I did all the mail on the way over from New York City, so I felt the afternoon and evening were entirely free. The luncheon held by the Pennsylvania branch of the: Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom was a gathering largely composed of women, but I sat beside Mr. Rufus Jones who came back from a successful trip to Germany a short time ago. Some people laughed when three Quakers went over alone and una:med to talk to the military head of a nation. There is strength, however, in representing an accumulation of good works and a spiritual power of

‘love which functions even in the midst of hate. . When the three came home again, the laughter seemed to have died down. ;

I do not, of course, agree with everything for which ‘the League for Peace and FPreedom stands. But I have a profound respect for people who are willing to think and work for their convictions. * From the lunch I went to Miss Edith T. Maul’s shop at 1506 Race St. She is a representative of the

: mountaineer craftsmen and has many things from

the ‘Arthurdale, W. Va., workshop and Hom other craft ‘workers throughout the country.

Republicans Kind to Her

The Chestnut Hill Forum, I. had been warned, would be entirely Republican and conservative, so I went under no misapprehension. They were more than kind to me, however, and I enjoyed my time

_ with them very much. I had dinner with Mr, and Mrs. Curtin Winsor |

Side Glances—By Clark

and saw. our grandson, Bill, ‘who has grown and developed much in the last six months. They showed

. me movies taken of them in. Europe last summer— - such beautiful scenery, such lovely villages, how can.

people living in them be so distraught? The train brought me into Washington at 11:40° p.m. TI found the President still awake, but our son, Elliott, was not at home yet, so I did not see him until this’ morning. He is here on business. At my press conference this morning, Mrs. Burton

W. Musser and Miss Kathryn Lewis came over to - answer questions about their particular interest in the

Lima Conference and we were all: deeply interested in their impressions.

Day- by-Day Science

By Science Service

ARE you one of the few people who appear to be endowed with unusual stereoscopic vision which will permit you to obtain the illusion of depth in viewing two identical pictures taken with a .stereo-

-Scopic camera? Can you, to say it another way, obtain the illusion of depth in a picture which could be

created with Grandma’s stereoscope? The British science journal Nature has had com-

‘ment after comment about this curious optical phe- |

nomenon of some human eyes. Perhaps you, too, are a human stereoscope. At any rate try out the following test as outlined by G. R. R. Bray of Knockholt, Kent,

England.

Set up two identical objects, say cubes or balls,

about a foot apart and then step back about fifty

feet.” Most people with normal vision will see two. objects. -

“But people with the unusual vision will see the | pins Sen esr ispined p them at some spec distance a rt and vie : them from the proper distance, Pa -

on oue another if they can

" The explanation seems to be that the eyes of such people tend to Hove Ther axes apart more readily 0 eonverge from the normal angle for focused vision: at mediurn distances. ‘In Mr. Bray's case also e easily

Wooden

Scientific Investigators Have Found Answers to Multiple Questions on How to Raise Babies “What am I going to do to make my little hoy

behave? How can I keep my little girl well? Shall I follow this one’s advice, or that one’s in bring- :

ing up the baby?”

These questions recurred as challenges recently as the Child Study Association of America, celebrated its 50th anniversary, featured by a conference of nationally known leaders in the ‘field of child development. Problems which specialists are frying to make clear to modern _parents are discussed in this series, =

sil : 7 8 8 By William Engle

Times Special Writer

NEW YORK, Jan. 18.—The idea that intelligent people know how to bring up

their own children without any folderol

from scientific investigators of child development has had a great many adherents.

But their ranks are thinning.

In the first place, intelligent people are almost. as prone to error as others when they lack specific information about children. In the: second place, the TepOring investigators are mot

talking folderol nowadays. -

Leaders of the Child Study Association of America said that these are facts. They said that as the association carries on its work of evaluating the con-

clusions of investigators and of passing on to parents the nuggets

of truth they see the facts proved all the time. They said that more than half the parents who come to the association, asking. for help in solving problems concerning their children, are college graduates. These parents, in spite of hav-

‘ing had an academic education

and in spite of having used what they thought was good sense, are finding that their children are not growing up happily and are not bringing happiness to them! Any one of many reasons. have thwarted their high hopes, said the leaders of the association which has weathered fads for 50 years and accepted the new only as it was established. But more often than not the underlying reason has been their failure to understand exactly what children are. They: have not comprehended how, children develop as human beings. They have not realized that their children’s lives are a progression of growth mentally, emotionally and physically. Nowadays neither the pediatrician nor the psychiatrist believes that the physical care of a child can be disassociated from attention to mental hygiene. This connection may not seem so obvious during. infancy. . But the experts think that parents, nevertheless, should know something of how the baby’s mind begins to. function and his emotions to develop as well as the technique of attending to his physical needs. ” ” ”

HEY emphasized at the Child Study Association offices in W. 57th St. that a parent's first duty is to convince the child-— from: infancy on—that he is

wanted, that he is secure. They recalled that a recens inquiry revealed children in an institution failing to develop as well as others outside and spoke of a pediatrician’s prescription for them. Tie prescription called for “two hours’ affection for them a day.” But their talk at first took the turn which the mind of a mother, with a new baby, takes at first; it concerned the purely physical aspects of - the problem which a baby in the home presents. The tradition that it is best to have a fat, bouncing baby is only folklore now, they said. It is best, instead, to have one whose weight is about right for his height and probably best of all to have one who in' appearance is what the biologists: ealk a normal baby. This normal baby weighs seven

he yawns, blinks, coughs.

: Entered. as Bocond-Olass Matter ostoffice By “Indianapolis, Ind.

Very young babies have reflexes which serve in place of conscious thinking. Because of: reflexes

: Emperor of China);

pounds and is 19 inches. high. He measures about. the same around the chest and the abdomen—13% inches, and his head, around, is about 14 inches. His : ‘head,; chest

and, abdomen ought. ‘to incréase

proportionately through the first year, so that at the end each is

‘close to 1 inches. If the growth is disproportionate there is some-

thing wrong—probably nutrition.

In the first few days after birth” he will. lose five - or six ‘ounces, then by the seventh regain, it. After that he ought to gain an ounce a day until he is a. month old; then two ounces a day until he is six months old; then a half i a day until he is a year 0 -At the start he will have certain reflexes which will serve in the place of conscious thinking. These

are movements that are largely = =

automatic, operating from the

lower level of the mid-brain or . - spinal cord, instead of from the

cerebrum, where conscious control originates, 5 ” 8 O, because of reflexes, he breathes, he yawns, he blinks, he coughs, and he has defense. mechanisms inherited from rrehistoric, arboreal ancestors. defense mechanisms come into play when he is moved: by the only two fears which he brings with him into life—the fear of falling

and the fear of a noise. When he -

hears a loud sound, or when he is rolled over quickly, he .automatically clutches and cries, When he first opens his eyes the cone cells and the macula or point’ of clearest vision still are only

partly formed. He probably sees a

dim world without color and it will become vivid only gradually as the retina develops in the: next 16 weeks. He will be 10 "weeks old before the nerves connecting his eyes with his brain are entirely formed so that they can transmit the im-

pulses he receives. Meanwhile, his

eyes wander. His mother even may fear groundlessly that he is cross-

: ‘eyed.

He does, from the day he is

"born, show that he senses light,

and by the end of tke second month he recognizes familiar cbjects. In his hearing, he: is luckier. His

hearing - apparatus ‘is complete

when he is born. He can smell, {00. ‘He knows the appetizing odor of milk and will root for its source with ‘his ‘mouth, The investigators

“he

believe he can taste, also, and that :

he shows it by resenting cod liver

Ol es ahi His smile begins when he jis

about four weeks old; and C. An-

derson Aldrich; associate professor .

of pediatrics at Northwestern University, in “Babies Are’ ‘Human Beings,” explains it thus:

achievement. It is of major importance in understanding human development to note that within a few days of the time he is able to

' smile, the baby consciously grins

in response to the invitation of his mother. He takes advantage of his ability ‘to please ‘his ‘mother

and to make his first friendly: con-

tact.

He has ‘begun, to use. his brain,” :

oe s = . rd IN his feeding, opinion as to

what is good for him at different

ages has veered. here and. there,

but pediatricians still agree that .

his mother’s milk is best for him. Nowadays they add that besides

nourishment from nursing, he ‘gets an enjoyment which is good

for ‘him—a- sense of security and well-being. - Next best, they still .cow’s milk, diluted in proportions at different ages as the doctor recommends. : In artificial feeding he ought to have orange juice. almost right away; certainly before the first month is over; ‘a teaspoonful twice a day at the end. of the first month and up to two tablespoonfuls at five months. Tomato juice is all Tight, too, but he will need twice as much as

orange juice. Each adds the vita- . mins which the cow’s milk lacks. If he needs still more vitamins

and nutrition, he can have half a. teaspoonful of cod ) daily after he is a month old; a teaspoonful = when he is. two months old and two teaspoonfuls after the first year. ; Many of the moderns prefer instead of cod liver oil the concen-

trate, “Viosterol 520 D,” and dur-

ing the first two years prescribe 10 to 20 drops a. day.

When first to feed him solid food has been a moot: question alDr. Arnold Gesell, profes- . agreement with other eminent in- . vestigators. The new fashion is to . force the child as little .as possible +. +=in weaning:as in everything else" —and to introduce changes grad“In recent years there has been - ually. : : So his opinion with regard to

ways.

sor of child hygiene and direc-

tor of the Yale Clinic of Child

Development, is recognized as an

authority in all : phases of child study, and here’is his latest word:

a marked policy to add solids’ to

“The most interesting thing - says,

about the smile is not its physical

Crees

liver oil

the diet of infants at increasingly

+ early ages. This. bold policy must

have a natural limit. “Some infants are ready neuro-

“muscularly’ as early as 12 weeks

of age, but in general it is better to defer solids until about the age of 16 weeks.

"The choice in solid foods, he is’ wide. patent foods are approved. . by

‘medical assqciations, and strained

vegetables and fruit pulp, some

‘of them vacuum-packed, have ° “eminent advocates. The attending doctor, for each baby, should Strained vegetable soup comes early in the | «

prescribe the formula.

diet; then vegetable pulp; then

cereal gruel. : ‘The best time to Begin’ offering

- solid food, Dr. Gesell concludes, ‘is at the Syening meal.

The baby,

next day. . ® 8 8&8

Y the nt he is: 2% ook AD old he should be in‘a high -chair, Dr: Gesell says,

slumping is. not too marked.”

After he is 36 weeks old he may be so active. it will be best to hold

him or let him stand if he can. It is all right for him ‘to stand up when he wants. to; he ‘won't get

bow legs from it; lack of vitamins ; gives him bow legs.

“But the old theory that we

- ‘must train the infant by sheer discipline to do the ‘right’ thing

(in this case, sit quietly at meals) is not tenable,” Dr. Gesell says.

“The growing child is constant- :

ly shedding habi Dr. Gesell has found that cereal, good and favorite food in the first year; that some babies like spinach and some carrots; ‘that some babies judge food by taste, some by its consistency; that bananas in the first year are popular and

“jello in the. fourth ‘quarter; but-

ter at 12 to 18 months old and

unground meat after 18 months.

And some like raw vegetables. “It is all good for them. : “It is hard to.be arbitrary about the time of weaning,” ‘he says, in

. Some excellent

ance between

; Ib is. “self

ere to try him half ee down; if he won’t have any, he shouldn’t ‘be. forced, but: offered ‘some the

if ‘his -

particularly oatmeal, is a of another generation.

getting the baby. to sleep takes this into account. An open door and a dim light, he believes, are not “disastrous concessions.” But

usually it is just as easy to estab-

lish a routine of security for the

‘baby in which he will not want a

light; a routine ‘in which he accepts as a matter of course the ordinary noises and movements of a household. “Harsh and forcible methods,” 3 Dr. Gesell says, “have no justifiea-

" tion in relation to either Teeding or sleep transitions.’ J

» iv

behavior hygiene of the ‘infant is to strike a sensible bal1 ‘doing for the child’ and ‘letting him do for himHe may be over-dependent or over-passive. “The mother should not make a fetish of self-help. This would

lead to undesirable tensions and The objective should .

discipline. not be trained in motor skill, but encouragement . of self-initiative and self-reliance.” : Right there is a. prime. essentia! in what is called progressive education—the education ‘of the child as he progresses mentally,

emotionally ' and physically from

stage to stage. It begins away back in infancy. Impartial students of child behavior think it can be followed advantageously by parents, whether or not they intend to send their child to a progressive .school. - - Along with such newer ideas in education, parents of new babies now have a variety of conveniences which were denied those The inventors keep pace with, the peda-~ gogs. So this year, while mothers wonder about behavior problems they never knew by name before, they have to smooth. their way with such devices as the protec-

" tive pad with waterproof layers

and the revolutionary ‘moistureproof mattress.

They have, too, the bottle which

without stove or electric plug

brings milk to the right tempera-

ture; when a little cold water is added to the chemical ‘in the heating pad which fits around it the milk warms up.

rules.

HE central problem in the

Next—When no rules are ve good

Everyday Movies—By. Wortman

}| 1—Pegasus.

TEST YOUR KNOWLEDGE 1—Nume ihe winged hotse of

2—<What is sidereal time? 3—In what year did Robert Ful-

__ton’s first steamboat navigate

the Hudson to Albany?

_ 4—Name the lake that is the

source of the. Susquehanna River. :

5—What is the citizenship of a

‘child born in this country, whose mother is an Amer- ~ jcan and: whose father is. an alien who entered the U. S. + illegally? 6—In which state is Colonial : National Historical Park?

8 a a Answers

2—-Time measured by the apparent motion of the stars. .

2 By Aton Shore

HINGS everybody around here ought

know: James A. Collins, former Judge of t Marion County ‘Criminal Court, will be i mighty good company when His Majest Peter II, King of Yugoslavia, decorates hin with the Order of St. Sava next week. As a matter of fact, he'll be sitting right up in front with Wi liam Fortune (Order of the Double Dragon by th

Bishop Joseph M. Francis (Officer of Crown of : ‘Belgium),: and Dr. Vincent A. Lapenta (Officer of Crown of Italy, and Knight Commander of Crown of Rumania). To say nothing of Robert H. Tyndall, Croix de Guerre

| with Palm and Commander Legion

d’Honneur (France); and Paul V. McNutt, Commander Polonia Res-

| tituta (Poland), and Legion d’Hon-

neur (France). And maybe you don’t know about the Schultze family who used to live at 442 N. Penn

| Sylvania St. That was all of 25 years ago. Char E. Schultze, the 70-year-old head of the family used

to teach piano around here at the time. His so Carl, headed for New York and was next heard fro as the author of the comic strip “Foxy Grandpa.” There is a legend around here, too, that Jam

{ Whitcomb Riley was ashamed of only one thin

he ever wrote, and that was “Milo Jones’ Wife.” it was the meanest poem he ever thought up. Ther may be some truth in it because, try as you will, yo can’t find it in the Biographical Edition, the mi

complete collection of Mr. Riley's works.

This is. as good a time as any, too, to tell yo

that the Zaza excitement of 1898 was responsible fo:

two local laws—one, by the police; the other, by th School Board—both of which had a lot to do with th future conduct of Indianapolis boys Dr. T. Victor Keene was at i bottom of both He would be. The Keene kid, somewhere around 1 years old at the time, had just been graduated wi the Shortridge February Class of 1898. To kill tim until June, he spent part of it doing postgraduat

| work, At the same school, of course.

A Day at the Theater

That was back in he days when the boys of In dianapolis were ‘curious about the Empire Theater and what went on inside. As-a rule, they picked Monday afternoons to find out. The reason the; picked Mondays was because that was the only da they were absolutely sure to see the show as billed After that, the police usually tampered with th program, ¢ . Well, on this particular afternoon in the Nineties the Keene kid lured a lot of Shortridge boys, mostly undergraduates, to see Zaza, a can-can ¢ancer a, was the headliner of “Billy Watson’s Beef Trust,” : called because the smallest chorus lady weighed 180 : pounds. The boys in the Keene party included Claude Bowers, Pax Hibben, Sam Mansfield, George Langs= dale, Frank Spencer and Herbert Duckwall, the very flower of Shortridge. I don’t know whether the boys bragged too much

| or whether somebody squealed on them. Anyway

when Mr. Hufford, the principal, heard about it, kicked the whole punch out of Shortridge. They wer out five days and it wasn’t until Mr. Goss, superin: tendent of schools, pardoned them that Mr. Hufford had the heart to take them back. That wasn't all, though. As a result of the rumpus

the : police of Indianapolis: barred high school boys

from going to the Empire. The School Board got busy too, and did away with February graduations.

Jane Jordan—

Young Singer Told to Withdraw Interest in Indifferent Youth

| D JANE JORDAN—A month ago I started sing

‘orchestra. This fellow started joking with me and I

took it seriously. I asked him to a party but he said he couldn’t come that a Now when I sing, plays up to me and makes remarks as though he means them. In between dances he never even looks at me ‘I saw him dance a few waltzes with a girl. He goes to college through the week. He told the orchestra leader’s wife that I had

‘a swell voice and would go far but that I acted child=

ish. He is about 24. He has no car and rides home with Some of th other boys and when he leaves he never says goodby to me or even looks in my*direction. I like him very much and I don’t know how to win him. The orches= tra leader's wife says I should leave him alone. ii Tve tried to like other fellows but they just don’ interest me. He told some of the fellows that I was

Tunping after him. JUST EIGHTEEN.

Answer—The orchestra leader's wife has given you good advice. Let the man alone. You are too youn to interest him. The mannerisms and remarks whi would attract a boy of 18 seem childish and silly ° the ripe old age of 24. : «If he told his friends that you were running af him, you have your answer as to why you aren’t ceeding in your plans. Men like to make their conquests and shy away fromi an over-anxious You must learn not to show your feelings so rea Let your ‘attitude toward him be more casual and. le

' romantic.

You think he plays up to you when you sing haps so, but it isn’t indicative of any real ere in you. I imagine he is only baiting you boca he is aware of your feelings toward him. / | were smart you would at least pretend an ud in the other boys and let him wonder whether he

lost out or not. You must be more dignified ir

wan to attract men older than you are, 5 =» EAR JANE JORDAN—I am a man ) 3 have been married but was divorced : ago. Since then I have had dates with ferent girls. Most of them either hs

diggers or they insisted on marriage

had a chance to get well enough 1 sure we were really interested. Aren’t the today well enough educated to know that likes to do. his own proposing, or am 1 d-fe

Answer—Well girls, here you. have the 1 viewpoint I have been telling

‘a lesson to you!

—

answer your r questions in this column: daily, E

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