DISCUSSION 239 



difference which parent can read. In 206 families where neither 

 parent could read and there was intense ignorance, there were 710 

 children born, and 135 deaths, or a death rate of 190 per thousand 

 born. 



Mrs. William Lowell Putnam, Boston: I believe the fathers are 

 ready for education. Last year a committee of the Municipal League 

 carried on an exhibit every afternoon and evening in Boston. We 

 had a mother with her baby, a doctor and nurse, and the doctor 

 lectured to the crowds that collected. At times it was very inter- 

 esting to see that there were three or four times as many young 

 men present as women, evidently young fathers. It was evident 

 that those young men were there because they were fathers and were 

 anxious to learn, for they watched the bathing of a doll with rapt 

 attention. 



