EVERYDAY TOPICS.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 14, 11 October 1907, Page 3

EVERYDAY TOPICS.

UNFORTUNATE PRECOCITY.; '-'' • Most mothers- are' proud at having a child-who is not like tho; average,' but Dr.' Maximilian Groszmann, who recently' addressd : the' Now - York CityMothers' Club, considers such ■ children (called- in America atypical) very dan-, gerou's: Thcro aro- hundreds 'of thousands■of these people, ho said. Many of them are oxcoptionaTly'bright in some-respects,, and/this brightness makes thorn leaders, while their dullness in- othor ways, makos them dangerous; leaders.; ..They recruit tho ranks of. our pseudo-reformers, our demagogues. ■ Persons usually think of the child who' is off the, normal as being backward, but that is riot truo by ( any means, -according'to Dr. Grosz-' mann. ,Ho finds that the; precocious child needs individual attention quite as much,as tho-backward one. -Their health need speoialcaroj because they are usually-,unhappy, particularly -if they: aro' girl 3, and - that., reacts upon the body. To deal-with this class of children he recommends medical and psychological experts in connection with every school system, with special .classes,. special - schools, -and school-i houses, which can assume the entire caro of the child. In he considers the mother tho 'worst possible person to have the care of an atypical child. He also recommends the creation - ; of a new profession; namely, that of the consultingi pedagogue.; ' -': ■'.-

.".-.'. THE WEAKER SEX.'".'' The- latest discovery' is that men .abhor social ,'fuhctioris, simply, because they are- unfit to- stand,-the 'physical strain of them. - Scientists say that it's •particularly in bad air ■. that' women show their superior powers of-endur-ance. .They'have smaller ■ lung capacity,-, 'and-so don't need so-much oxygon,- and produce'.loss .carbonic.acid :in proportion to -their weight, than men. -: An exchange' suggests that rif !our actions are to- be influenced by the teachings .of science,-.on- occasions. ■ .when.the- air -is bad--and l the -cjiairsf ■scarce all available 'seats"must- -here"after be'givoir up; tp' the men. lEvery-. .body.knows' that men : 'go--to parties only from, a sense-of duty,' but' perhaps a little; tender consideration from 'what was formerly -'considered, the, .fragile sex., might 'in., .time,.- make. t that duty a pleasure. ' / '-•" .---•■

1 THEHYMN- OF : THE HEARTH- ' -■■;,"• ;••'■. 'STONE..-- :..■.".' . : The cottage, in the Long Island .village, of .Easthampton . which /inspired John Howard Payne to write'.."Homo;; Sweet Home," has, been saved from destruction. There . was a : danger:. of the small, simplo dwelling, which is '200 year's old, being torn down to make-way for an "improvement," hut it-has been rescued from such., a'fate by a purchaser who, out of regard for •the world-wide sentiment attaching 'to it, intends .to -preserve its exterior, just as it..has. remained since Payne lived there/as a boy. The author ]of the "national .hymn of the hearthstone," as it has been called, w .not, born ; thero. ; Payne was a New Yorker, but' his- father, a schoolmaster, moved to Easthampton, one of. the'loveliest villages of tho Long Island ridg§ which faces the shining white beach of the Atlantic. 1 ' "Homo, Sweet Ho*me". was written in London while Payne was on his way to Africa to take up the post' of United States' Consul at Tunis." 'He had been a homeless' wanderer for years, and'some deep longing for the simple . old .cottage. may, well have swept' bver. ; his mind suggesting ;the ballad. ' The house,' covered; to 'its fbof 'with Wistaria" and ivy', stands in the centre .of Easthampton, . and though it shows;evidence of age;in its low-ceilinged rooms, ' creaking narrow stairways; and 'garret ' "beneath 'its sloping roof, while an air of neglect has been allowed to* invest it; riot''a line of its architecture has been changed since it was built. • • ' :./'/