Atlanta Georgian. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1912-1939, December 21, 1913, Image 65

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'HillAdopt 15Babies of/5Races A Curious Experiment Undertaken by a Weathy Chicago Woman to Prove That All Nationalities Can Dwell To gether in Peace and Mutual Respect and Brotherhood A Little Philippine Island Baby Mrs. Bishop Hopes to Adopt. M RS. L. BRACKETT BISHOP, of Chicago, has decided to have fifteen babies of differ ent races in her house. Her principal object is to show that children of the most diverse races can live in harmony together. She is very fond of children and it will give her great pleasure to edu cate fifteen little ones. Her pleasure will be increased by ‘he great variety of her family. If she had fifteen little American chil dren, all of about the same size and color, she might have some difficulty in telling Johnnie from Willie, but she will never have any trouble ibout distinguishing her Eskimo from her Patagonian protege. She says that she hopes to prove that children of all races can grow equally high in the scale of intelli gence and that there is no such thing as racial inferiority. Mrs. Bishop is a noted worker in many lines of social progress and reform. She is interested in woman suffrage, temperance and club work. At the time she was married she was in charge of the National Tem perance Hospital, in Chicago. At present Mrs. Bishop and her husband are occupying a handsome suite of apartments at the fashion able Chicago Beach Hotel. She will, of course, need a very large house for her children. Mrs. Bishop has established three co-operative homes in Chioago s South Side, where women employed in stores may live with their chil dren and enjoy all the comforts of private homes. "By my experience with the babies,” said Mrs. Bishop in an in terview, “I expect to demonstrate the utter foolishness of race preju dice. It will be a concrete and happy example of the brotherhood of man. I believe the plan is abso lutely feasible. Chicago has brought up fifteen different races with suc cess. Why isn’t it equally possible to bring up fifteen little people of different race types? "I believe that I have had suffi cient experience as a teacher to know what can be done with chil dren if they are handled in the right way. My training in the Hahne mann Hospital has taught me the physical needs of the child and how to minister to them. I have always felt the deepest interest in children. I believe that the children in this new home will in a measure take he place of the two little girls 1 lost In infancy. I had planned so much or their early training and later education. .. “I am a firm believer that chii- dren should be allowed to teach themselves. For instance, when our son was a little fellow he wanted to sleep outdoors. That was his own prcposal, so we put up a little tent for him and let him try it. He braved it out all right until 10 o'clock, when he crawled back into the house to his own bed. “I have always wanted t° al J°P chi’dren. I have always felt that race prejudice does a great injus tice to many, many persons, want to settle this problem, 1but t are making a start in the right d' r tlon. In the sight of God there s n difference on account of color race. Every person is entitled to every possible opportunity in development of his life. . “I am a born democrat in the > 4 'V; f'. A Little Jap Who May Join the “Polyglot Family.” widest sense of that term. As the Irishman says, ‘Everybody is just as good as everybody else, and a little bit better.’ I know that others are anxious to help with this particular plan of mine. I have received doz ens of letters offering assistance in the selection of the babies. I should like to take these babies as near to the age of one year as it is possible to get them. A house with plenty of room and playground space must be secured. The babies will not be pampered and spoiled. They will be brought up in the natural way, for I do not believe in suppressing the individuality of the child.” Mrs. Bishop intends to secure baby specimens of the Eskimo, the Negrito, the Japanese, the Chinese, the Arab, the Amu, the Gipsy, the Hottentot, the American Indian, the Hindu, the Moor, the Malay, the Finn, the Patagonian, the Thibetan, the Laplander, the Egyptian, and a few specimens of races from widely separated parts of Europe, such as the English, Swedes and Spaniards. The babies will be chosen from races as widely separated as possi ble by distance and climate. “Race prejudice, in my opinion, is one of the greatest obstacles to the progress of humanity,” said Mrs. Bishop. “It prevents people from learning what is best in the life of other races. The misunder standings due to it lead to horrible wars.” In the new Bishop home a child will be taught to look upon any dif ference in the face of its neighbor as a pleasant variation designed by the Creator. The fair-haired little girl from Sweden will Team not to run away from the woolly-haired little Hottentot from Africa as if he were a demon. “My children will grow up in such an atmosphere of tolerance and love that when they leave this home they will spread the gospel of universal peace and brotherhood all over the world,” concluded Mrs. Bishop. “They will do more for peace than societies and meetings of grown-up people can do.” Many facts of great interest can undoubtedly be learnt by watching the development of these little chil dren of strange races. For instance, the members of nearly all other races but Europeans and Americans of European descent have very fine teeth. Is the quality of their teeth due to their structure or simply to habits of life? As the little Hottentot and Malay babies will have to live on American food, we shall be able to see whether that will give them de fective teeth such as most American children have. The Chinese and the many mil lions of allied Mongolian race are remarkable for the strength of their nervous systems. They can endure intense pain and long-continued dis comfort which would kill an Amer ican or drive him mad. We shall be able to see whether this very desir able nervous solidity will disappear under American conditions of living. Mrs. Bishop w r ill apparently en counter some extraordinary difficul ties in bringing up her curiously diverse family in the same home. For instance, the little Eskimo is used to the most intense cold. His race has been accustomed to it for uncounted generations. In a hot climate an adult Eskimo becomes prostrated and is liable to die. Will an Eskimo baby be able to accustom himself to the Summer climate of Chicago? On the other hand, people from Central Africa and the trwpical re gions of the earth require a great deal of warmth. Exposure of the skin to the sun and air is necessary to their existence, but they cannot endure such exposure in a northern Winter. How will Mrs. Bishop be able to look after the health of her Eskimo and her Hottentot baby in the same nursery? Scientists have for some time dis cussed the advisability of conbin- ing the useful qualities of various races in order to produce a more efficient type of humanity. The later careers of the babies in the Chicago home may be guided so as to help in solving this problem. Immense deposits of coal and other minerals have been found in the Arctic regions. The civilized world is desperately in need of coal, but the Arctic climate is sucl) that white men can hardly work in it. The Eskimos can endure the cli mate, but they are too lazy and un intelligent to work. If we could produce a halfbreed with the climatic endurance of the Eskimo and the strength and intelli gence of the white man, we might solve one of the most difficult prob lems of living. At present there is a strong prejudice against such a mixture of races, but scientists say that it is the rational course to fol low. One of the principal objects of Mrs. Bishop s experiments is to remove the prejudices that exist against race mixtures. The tropics contain immense stores of wealth in the shape of minerals, food and vegetable products of which we are greatly in need, but then again the white man of tne temperate zones in unable to work. The native, be he Hottentot or Malay, can stand the climate, but he will not work. If we could cross the most energetic white race with the climate-hardened tropical native, we might obtain very valuable re sults. To this mixture we might add a strain of Chinese, because that race endures pain and hardship so calm ly and philosophically. It is Interesting to know that a new mixed race has been evolved in the Hawaiian Islands to meet the new conditions and Is said to be giving splendid results. According to a high authority from the Islands, this race consists of seventy-five parts Japanese, forty-five parts Chinese and ten parts Anglo-Saxon. It also includes a smaller touch of Portuguese, Korean and Porto Rican, with slight French and Spanish in fluences. The new people are said to be extremely handsome and well built. They have a beautiful, rioh dark brown skin and fine eyes. They meet all the requirements of cli mate and industrial efficiencj admir ably. The climate is hot and dis inclines a white man to labor. The work required in the sugar fields is severe and the full-blooded Haw aiian was unwilling to do it. The new mixed type does the work well and enjoys good health. Mrs. Bishop believes that her eu genic experiment will produce many valuable results of this kind and go far toward realizing that universal peace and brotherhood of man, for which all good people hope. A HOTTENTOT MOTHER—CHILD (£) UNDERWOOD $ UNDERWOOD Mrs. L. Bracket \ Bishop of Chicago Who Has Her Husband’s Hearty Approval of Her Unique Undertaking. How to Be Your Own Weather Prophet T HE United States Weather Bureau is supposed to predict the weather we are going to have. It guesses wrong more fre quently that it guesses right. A vast numbc’- of people depend more upon local and unauthorized forecasters than they do upon the official predic tion. This is particularly true in fish ing and farming communities. These unofficial forecasters depend upon natural signs for their predictions and their deductions are based upon a series of observations that in many cases have been handed down from father to son for generations. A community of weather prophets that has the most honor, not only out of their own country, but in it, dwell in Berks County, Pa. There for years lived the venerable Elias Hartz, the pioneer "goose bone man,’’ who foretold the Winter by the size and location of dark spots on the breast bone of a goose. We may ask by what means a goose can form sufficient dark spots on Its sternum, or muskrats can know months in advance of Winter that it will be necessary to build their houses higher, when the Govern ment's official forecasters can do nothing of the sort The answer is that the causes which make a cold or an open Winter may begin to operate early in Summer, and that the phenomena noticed are some of Copyright, 1913, their results. The muskrat doesn't build his house higher because he knows the Winter is going to be cold, but the same factors that later pro duce the Winter weather stimulate thus early his building faculty also. How do the common house swal lows of New England know in Sep tember that it is time for them to fly South? Clearly by subtle climatic changes to which they are sensitive, and to which we an dthe Weather Bureau are not. The goose bone method still holds the place of honor, but there are. many other signs as implicitly be lieved in. Here is a collection of the most weathered, most tried and best vouched for. They have been compiled from a hundred of Berks County's most honored prophets. An early departure of birds indi cates an early Winter. If the ground is white on Christ mas it will be green on Easter. An early fall of leaves indicates an early Winter. When the leaves of the trees turn red early in the Fall, the subsequent Winter is sure to be long and severe. A heavy crop of nuts and persim mons indicates a heavy Winter. This was the case this year, both crops being exceedingly large. Long bristles on hogs, as well as long and shaggy hair on horses and cattle in Fall, indicates a long Win ter. by the Star Company. Great Britain Rights Reserved. i The Weather Telling Goosebone. It Is Divided, as Diagram Shows, Into Months. The Size, Position and Degree of Darkness of the Spots Indicate the Severity of the Win ter and the times of Snow and Cold. This Bone for 1914 Shows Open Weather Up to the Middle of December and Severe Weather Into April and May. If the hull on shellbarks and wal nuts is thick it indicates a long and severe Winter. Whenever the husk is found to be close and tignt on the corn ears, the Winter will be severe. This was the case this year. Tliick shells on onions indicate a hard Winter. If in the Fall it is found that the hair on the squirrels’ feet extends down over the claws, or that the feathers on the legs of partridges extend almost to the claws, the Win ter will be severe. If between Christmas and New Years the geese waddle in mud, they will do so every month of the fol lowing year, for the ground will not be frozen. Whenever on September 29 the wind comes from the south, the Win ter will be late and mild. If the weeds are plentiful and tall in the Fall, the snow will be plenti ful and deep. If the month of November is a warm month, the Winter will be severe. The number of days from the first snow fall to the end of the month indicates the number of snow falls for the Winter. A heavy fur on cats, wild bears, raccoons and opossums all indicate a severe Winter. If the leaves of the trees and grape vines do not fall before November 11 the Winter will be a long and severe one. If trees are covered with a thick layer of moss on the north side the Winter will be severe. The moss will be a protection from the north winds, sleet, hall and snow. If wild bees gather a large store of honey Winter will be a long one. If the weather is pleasant on No vember 23 and 24 the Winter will be mild, but if the wind is from the aorth it will be severe. The early moulting of domestic fowls means early Winter; otherwise the Winter wiil De late. If the spleen of hogs is short and thick the Winter will be short. If the scales on the buds of trees are short and thick the subsequent Winter will be severe. If there is ice in November that will bear a duck, there will be nothing thereafter but sleet and muck. If horses and cattle have a raven ous appetite in the Fall the Winter will be a long one. If nuts are plentiful the Winter will begin late but wiil be long and severe. If tortoises go down into the ground early and burrow to an un usual depth severe Winter follows. If corn husks are very thick and the stalks lean to the west, watch for a bad Winter. \