184 THE NEXT GENERATION 



Their ages run all the way from five to sixty years. Bodies 

 young and bodies old are there, bodies large and bodies 

 small, bodies strong and bodies weak. But among the 

 entire 400 not a single brain is either keen enough or 

 strong enough or mature enough to meet the requirements 

 of everyday life. Each is so far below the normal human 

 standard that it cannot be trusted to care for the body to 

 which it belongs — incurably weak-minded, every one of them. 



These people are divided into groups, each group with its 

 caretaker. They are lodged in twenty-five different buildings. 

 A schoolhouse is here, a merry-go-round there ; barns in this 

 place, broad fields under cultivation yonder ; shops and a 

 zoological garden, groves, and playgrounds — everything is 

 provided for the comfort of these 400 mentally weak chil- 

 dren. Moreover, each is trained to do something for the 

 welfare of the institution itself. Some can do more, some less, 

 according to the different grades of feeble-mindedness. And 

 it is with these defective people that scientists are just now 

 doing some of their most notable work. 



Years ago, as they looked into the dull and stupid faces of 

 feeble-minded people, they began to ask, " Has this dull 

 child any dull ancestors ? " And merely to ask the question 

 was enough. Over and over again the prompt answer came 

 back, " Yes indeed, this dull child has several dull ancestors." 



This was the beginning of the modern movement. Since 

 that time family records have been made out in the shape of 

 charts. Facts about parents, grandparents, and great-grand- 

 parents have been put in proper order ; brothers, sisters, 

 uncles, cousins, and aunts have supplied other facts ; and 

 from the midst of these ancestors and descendants the old 

 story of cause and effect has been told again and again. In 

 each family, ancestors who were feeble-minded or alcoholic or 



