11. Are there any coöperative associations in your neighborhood? If so, describe their work. 12. What do you have a right to expect from the community? What does the community have a right to expect from you? QUESTION FOR DEBATE Resolved, that in our community public opinion is a stronger method of social control than custom. TOPICS FOR COMPOSITIONS How I depend on Others for Amusement The Story of a Gold Filling How I depend on Others for a Safe Walk or Ride Cotton from the Seed to the Consumer How my Actions are influenced by the Thoughts of Others A Loaf of Bread The Tale of a Pin How I depend on Others for a Drink of Water My Idea of a Good Citizen A Pair of Gloves READINGS FOR PUPILS (Asterisks indicate material especially interesting or illuminating) 1. Study References Lessons in Community and National Life : 1 *A-2: LYON, L. S. "The Western Pioneer." A-3: LYON, L. S. "The Coöperation of Specialists in Modern Society." *A-16: LINZELL, L. E. "Caste in India." *B-1: NAGELY, L. "The Effect of War on Commerce in Nitrate." B-4: MCLAUGHLIN, K. "Feeding a City." *C-17: AYRES, E. Custom as a Basis for Law." ROWE, HENRY K. Society: Its Origin and Development, pp. 1-23. 1 Lessons in Community and National Life, to which frequent reference will be made, are issued in three pamphlets (Series A, B, and C) by the United States Bureau of Education. Series B and C can be purchased at 15 cents each, Series A at 25 cents, from the Superintendent of Documents, Government Printing Office, Washington, D. C. These pamphlets are invaluable. 2. History, Biography, Travel, Essay BULLEN, FRANK T. The Cruise of the Cachalot. *CRISSEY, FORREST. The Story of Foods. FABRE, JEAN-HENRI C. Insect Adventures. FABRE, JEAN-HENRI C. Social Life in the Insect World. FRANCK, HARRY A. A Vagabond Voyage around the World. FRANKLIN, BENJAMIN. Autobiography. GARLAND, HAMLIN. Boy Life on the Prairie. *KELLER, HELEN. The Story of My Life. *KNOWLES, JOSEPH. Alone in the Wilderness. LEITH, C. K., and LEITH, A. T. A Summer and Winter on Hudson Bay. ROOSEVELT, THEODORE. Episodes from the Winning of the West, chap. i. SLOCUM, JOSHUA. Around the World in the Sloop Spray. *VERRILL, ALPHEUS H. Marooned in the Forest. 3. Imaginative Literature: Novel, Short Story, Poetry, Drama BROWNING, ROBERT. Hervé Riel. *DEFOE, DANIEL. Robinson Crusoe. *EMERSON, RALPH WALDO. Each and All. GROSS, MARK S. Double Eagles. *KIPLING, RUDYARD. "The Ship that Found Herself," in The Day's Work. LONDON, JACK. The Love of Life. MAEDER, STEPHEN W. The Black Buccaneer. MASON, ALFRED E. W. The Summons. *PYLE, HOWARD. Men of Iron. STEVENSON, ROBERT LOUIS. Treasure Island. TOOKER, L. FRANK. The Middle Passage. WALLACE, DILLON. Ungava Bob. WHITE, WILLIAM A. The Court of Boyville. YEATS, WILLIAM BUTLER. The Land of Heart's Desire. READINGS FOR TEACHERS EDMAN, IRWIN. Human Traits and their Social Significance. HAYES, EDWARD C. Introduction to the Study of Sociology, pp. 301-322, 398-410, 431-448, 581-595. PARK, R. E., and BURGESS, E. W. Introduction to the Science of Sociology, chaps. iii, iv, ix, xii, xiii. Ross, EDWARD A. Principles of Sociology, pp. 96-120, 158-166, 238-250, 269-282, 395-414, 423-432, 575-582. Ross, EDWARD A. Social Control, pp. 49–61. CHAPTER II THE FAMILY The strength of a nation, especially of a republican nation, is in the intelligent and well-ordered homes of the people.-MRS. SIGOURNEY SECTION I. WHY WE ARE ALL DIFFERENT Variety in nature. Nature does not like sameness. Throughout her entire kingdom there is the utmost variety. No two snowflakes are alike; the leaves in the forest are all different; the clouds in the sky and the waves of the sea have different forms; even grains of sand when seen under the microscope present variations. It is in the realm of animal life, however, that nature's most marked dissimilarities appear. The creatures which live in the air or on the land or whose home is in the sea are all different. They vary in size, color, form, and covering. Some are covered with feathers, others with fur, some with scales. Even when we examine those which belong to the same family we find striking contrasts: no one has any difficulty in distinguishing lions, leopards, tigers, panthers, lynxes, and wildcats from one another. Indeed, if a careful examination were made of all the members of any one kind of house cat-for there are such great differences among house cats that they have been divided into many distinct varieties—it would be found that no two are exactly alike. Causes of variations. Now what causes these variations? In part they are due to differences in surroundings. Animals living in a cold climate need to be protected by warm coats of fur; those which live underground need paws and teeth suitable for burrowing; those which dwell in the water, like the beaver and the duck, need webbed feet for swimming. Thus differences in temperature, rainfall, homes, and modes of living all play a part in causing variations among animals. These variations are due chiefly, however, to the method of reproduction nature uses in all but the simplest forms of life. Among the higher plants and animals life is preserved from generation to generation by having two parents participate in the creation of a new individual. Since in this method of reproduc tion two lines of ancestry meet, the new individual, although he may resemble one or both parents, is inevitably different from either of them. In this way variation takes place. Transmission of life by two parents is, in fact, nature's chief method of preventing sameness. Biological basis of the family. The mental and physical ANCESTORS This youngster has the unusual opportunity of visiting with his four great-grandmothers and two of his great-grandfathers. Notice how different they are. From each of them he has inherited some of his characteristics. traits which are not quite alike in any two of us and which play such a vital part in making us interesting to one another depend, then, largely on the fact that everyone has two parents. The infinite possibility of such variation appears from the fact that within only thirteen generations every human being has a total of 8192 ancestors, each of whom has made some contribution to his inherited traits. Existence and hereditary characteristics come, then, from one's parents. Consequently the family is important, in the first place, because it is the institution through which life and, to a large extent, variety are made possible. QUESTIONS AND PROBLEMS 1. Who was Charles Darwin? How did he explain the differences which exist among animals? 2. Can you name physical or mental traits which you have inherited from either of your parents? 3. Read Oliver Wendell Holmes's poem "Dorothy Q." How does it relate to this section? SECTION II. FAMILY LIFE AMONG ANIMALS AND MEN Number of young. The number of young produced by different animals varies widely. Certain snakes lay as many as 100 eggs in a season. A lobster lays 10,000 eggs at a time. A fully grown female white ant deposits 80,000 eggs a day steadily for several months. During her life of four or five years a queen bee lays about 5,000,000 eggs. On dissection a large codfish was found to contain about 9,000,000 eggs. A fish like the turbot produces as many as 15,000,000 eggs in a season and is capable of living and producing for many years. Pigeons, on the other hand, produce about 15 young annually; a robin lays 5 or 6 eggs in a year; and a cow may give birth to only one calf during a twelvemonth.1 Neglect of young by lower animals. These great differences in multiplication among animals are accompanied by other important contrasts between the lower and the higher forms of life in their provision for their young. Insects often deposit their eggs carelessly in places unfavorable for hatching; potato bugs, for example, frequently lay eggs on weeds even when potato vines are near at hand. In most of the lower forms of life, in fact, what care is given is usually limited to laying the eggs in surroundings suited for hatching and in places where a supply of food will be available for the young. Parental care then ceases. The eggs are left to 1 D. S. Jordan and V. L. Kellogg, Animal Life, p. 61. |