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Indiana University Studies 



naturally; but the classification made here has been based 

 mostly on the related general home conditions and atmos- 

 phere — the two general types of homes, where an attempt at 

 cleanliness and care of the children is exhibited, and where 

 conditions are inexcusably neglected and dirty. The classifi- 

 cation of average and poor incomes is also a purely approxi- 

 mate division, as in the types of families illustrated by these 

 cases, the incomes are irregular and constantly changing up 

 and down the scale, depending upon conditions of industry and 

 employment in which the father or mother of the family is en- 

 gaged. An exception to this class of shifting wage-earners 

 is the class of farm laborers, who for the most part do not 

 change their occupation. Of the 12 cases of foreigners in- 

 cluded in this group of 150, the standard of living is in almost 

 every case below the average. The children of these foreign- 

 ers were in most cases referred from the public schools, and 

 the parents remain curiously aloof, with diffidence and shy- 

 ness. The type of social surroundings which form the back- 

 ground of the crippled children is usually superior in a gen- 

 eral way to that of the majority of the dependent sick cases, 

 tho there are exceptions such as one case here cited. 



Case G. W. This case is a twelve-year-old girl who was 

 frightfully burned by a kerosene explosion when she was 

 alone at home. Subsequent hospital care brought slow and 

 discouraging results ; the burn had extended down the child's 

 left side from the shoulder to her hip and eventually the 

 entire arm had to be amputated. She remained in the hospi- 

 tal for many months before the wounds had healed suffi- 

 ciently for her to be discharged, and always she was a pa- 

 thetic, spiritually-starved looking child. A home visit gave 

 the explanation of ,.her manner : the family is a typical Ken- 

 tucky ''poor white trash" brand, with all the shiftlessness, 

 filth, and ignorance that that term can imply. The house 

 was in shocking disrepair when seen; the bed, a mere heap 

 of filthy coverings; and the children who came to the door 

 were clothed in dirty rags and looked as peaked and neglected 

 as our little patient. Later investigation resulted in the dis- 

 covery of syphilis in both the mother and father acquired 

 since moving into the city. The case is a typical illustra- 

 tion of neglected home conditions and maladjustment to new 

 surroundings, 



