THE HOUSE IN THE HOLLOW 



In this log and pole cabin, built by a feebleminded Hickory man and his two sons, thirteen 

 persons lived, all sleeping in a single room without any windows. A double bed, a single 

 bed and a trundle bed were all the sleeping accommodations available. Members of a 

 family like this, which is characterized by hereditary feeblemindedness and constant 

 dependency, are not useful citizens, yet they are increasing in number every year, under 

 the present regime of public indifference and careless charity. (Fig. 2.) 



rural schools where a large number of 

 feeble-minded were found. Every child 

 in the two schools was given an intellig- 

 ence test in order to verify the judgment 

 of the field-worker. There were thir- 

 teen children in the first district school, 

 of whom six, or 46%, were feeble- 

 minded; two, or 15%, were borderline; 

 and five, or 38%, were of normal intel- 

 ligence. The six feeble-minded child- 

 ren included two brothers and two 

 cousins, while the two borderline cases 

 were sisters of one of the cousins. The 

 district in which this school was situ- 

 ated was an old mining village where 

 the mine had been abandoned and the 

 more industrious part of the popula- 

 tion had moved to a region affording 

 better industrial advantages. 



The second district school studied 



had thirty-one children enrolled. Of 

 these, thirteen, or 42%, were feeble- 

 minded; eight, or 26%, were borderline; 

 and ten, or 32%, were of normal intel- 

 ligence. This district was a rural 

 community where most of the inhabit- 

 ants owned small pisces of land and 

 worked in the mines. The homes were 

 situated along a creek between two 

 high ridges. There were twelve family 

 names in the school of thirty-one child- 

 ren. Nine children, only one of whom 

 was feeble-minded, belonged to five 

 different families and were in no way 

 connected with other families in the 

 valley. The remaining twenty-two 

 children had seven family names, each 

 one of which stood for a defective 

 strain. Members of five of these fami- 

 lies had married back and forth freely. 



293 



