What To Feed An Asperger How To Go From 3 Foods

To 300 With Love Patience And A Little Sleight

Of Hand Sarah Patten download

https://ebookbell.com/product/what-to-feed-an-asperger-how-to-go-
from-3-foods-to-300-with-love-patience-and-a-little-sleight-of-
hand-sarah-patten-47542450

Explore and download more ebooks at ebookbell.com

Here are some recommended products that we believe you will be
interested in. You can click the link to download.

What To Feed Your Baby A Pediatricians Guide To The Eleven Essential

Foods To Guarantee Veggieloving Nofuss Healthyeating Kids First
Edition Tanya Altmann

https://ebookbell.com/product/what-to-feed-your-baby-a-pediatricians-
guide-to-the-eleven-essential-foods-to-guarantee-veggieloving-nofuss-
healthyeating-kids-first-edition-tanya-altmann-11635300

What To Feed Your Baby And Toddler A Monthbymonth Guide To Support

Your Childs Health And Development Nicole M Avena

https://ebookbell.com/product/what-to-feed-your-baby-and-toddler-a-
monthbymonth-guide-to-support-your-childs-health-and-development-
nicole-m-avena-11641548

Weaning What To Feed When To Feed And How To Feed Your Baby Annabel
Karmel

https://ebookbell.com/product/weaning-what-to-feed-when-to-feed-and-
how-to-feed-your-baby-annabel-karmel-57044618

Weaning What To Feed When To Feed And How To Feed Your Baby New
Edition Annabel Karmel

https://ebookbell.com/product/weaning-what-to-feed-when-to-feed-and-
how-to-feed-your-baby-new-edition-annabel-karmel-11871348
How To Feed Yourself 100 Fast Cheap And Reliable Recipes For Cooking
When You Dont Know What Youre Doing Spoon University

https://ebookbell.com/product/how-to-feed-yourself-100-fast-cheap-and-
reliable-recipes-for-cooking-when-you-dont-know-what-youre-doing-
spoon-university-49849674

Blessing The Hands That Feed Us What Eating Closer To Home Can Teach
Us About Food Community And Our Place On Earth Vicki Robin Robin

https://ebookbell.com/product/blessing-the-hands-that-feed-us-what-
eating-closer-to-home-can-teach-us-about-food-community-and-our-place-
on-earth-vicki-robin-robin-23508132

Blessing The Hands That Feed Us What Eating Closer To Home Can Teach
Us About Food Community And Our Place On Earth Vicki Robin

https://ebookbell.com/product/blessing-the-hands-that-feed-us-what-
eating-closer-to-home-can-teach-us-about-food-community-and-our-place-
on-earth-vicki-robin-44020926

The Death Of Dieting Lose Weight Banish Allergies And Feed Your Body
What It Needs To Thrive Kidawski

https://ebookbell.com/product/the-death-of-dieting-lose-weight-banish-
allergies-and-feed-your-body-what-it-needs-to-thrive-kidawski-91759446

What Do I Feed My Baby A Stepbystep Guide To Starting Solids Leanne

Cooper

https://ebookbell.com/product/what-do-i-feed-my-baby-a-stepbystep-
guide-to-starting-solids-leanne-cooper-46413816
What to Feed an Asperger
How te go from
3 foads te 300 uith love,

Sarah Patten

LIBRARIE®OM slesa
ee NI n

&)
Jessica Kingsley Publishers
London and Philadelphia
First published in 2015
by Jessica Kingsley Publishers
73 Collier Street
London N1 9BE, UK
and
400 Market Street, Suite 400
Philadelphia, PA 19106, USA

www.jkp.com

Copyright © Sarah Patten 2015

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any material
form (including photocopying or storing it in any medium by electronic means and
whether or not transiently or incidentally to some other use of this publication)
without the written permission of the copyright owner except in accordance with the
provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 or under the terms of a
licence issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency Ltd, Saffron House, 6-10 Kirby
Street, London EC1N 8TS. Applications for the copyright owner’s written permission
to reproduce any part of this publication should be addressed to the publisher.

All pages marked * can be downloaded at www.jkp.com/catalogue/book/

9781849057684/resources for personal use with this programme, but may not be
reproduced for any other purposes without the permission of the publisher.

Warning: The doing of an unauthorized act in relation to a copyright work

may result in both a civil claim for damages and criminal prosecution.

Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data

Patten, Sarah.
What to feed an Asperger : how to go from three foods
to three hundred with love, patience and a
little sleight of hand / Sarah Patten.
pages cm
ISBN 978-1-84905-768-4 (alk. paper)
1. Asperger’s syndrome in children-Patients—Nutrition.
2. Parents of autistic children. I. Title.
RJ506.A9P35 2015
618.92’858832-dc23
2014024725

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data

A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

ISBN 978 1 84905 768 4

eISBN 978 0 85700 993 7

Printed and bound in the United States

To Dave, with love
 Acknowledgements

Grateful thanks to Tatiana Miller, Victoria Peters and Deborah

Barr, William Patten for his support and patience, and particularly
my editor Rachel Menzies for her kind, incisive steerage. My most
affectionate and deepest thanks are of course reserved for Henry,
because without him my life would have been unimaginably poorer.
 Contents

PROTACE ge rey eed SPU ee Ie 2 Ay hed a oeae oe pel eal sere A tgsliar ghbay 11

Introduction: What’s the Problem? .................. ibs.

. Knowing Me, Knowing You (There is Something

AVES Ca Ela) Mere fee oc SR tee eae ae ETE. oar 16

Do-Battle:Brealdast aon: 2c bets a uiereeenser

ds 1 OR 29

Skipping Lunch is for Sissies: Part 1: School .......... 42

Skipping Lunch is For Sissies: Part 2: Home........... 66

Sides aiid Drinks; 2300, as Oetker es eee se ee eee 92

Dinners that Work for Everyone:

Paral: Bick andsMin x, 2 oxo w cee tren essiotno Ue 109

Dinners that Work for Everyone:

Part 2: Favourite Separate Texture Meals............ 131

Palit Ui AoE vival MyCareerrene 147

Savini Else Watters? (90s 5 tt Sak) oats ae coek eee 161

 List of Recipes

Wholewheat-pancakessee 5 Ch oie acts ete eee Bae eee 30

Banana muthiisimiae.. ac at ate oo ee eee ce eee oe
Bité-size-oaty panCakesenk 5 22 vn. see. acla ous aes Seles -iapensceuete ete 33
Corn bread 4ccpts Se cle ante euawien ve eee eres let ele ee eee 34
Buttered e905 7. ts. acn.c ta ek lt oun citaae nian oan ane ee 3o
FYENCHIMOASES one arate ue tats ote ta ieee te epee emcee rae mnoee rt
Rishcakes 00. 05 tee cgentjeo ce Fond oe ae « ae ee ee 39
Mintitewiini Steaks ss os seems oer Se are ea eee ee 40
Sova bread = 2» Fe A AER PR A Bee 45
Quinodasbreadie. . "sc wie ite sckaih carte Vistaes oie Pen eae eae 47
SCOLLISIOdt CAKeS aera wnat a stake ce create cate eacdete arts netee amen 48
Adin ONGNCAKCRs sacha oleate chs eis oie ee, he Se ean ae 49
Qiinod pastashapesmin Ove. ne. < cya seeeacee aera ree 56
RiCetritters's24, ti.sace< cote « see Pe im Ai. ernpere) 58
Mini meatballs. oc k2k {oo sc%o e045 5 ooRtEe ON ee eee 59
Slow-cooked lambow). 5 a aie reat ra ne ee 61
SECret SOUP. 4 & hice ss de ee Oe ee ee 62
Stock ¢.. an ce eo RPE AMET: Pe Oe ae 63
Pork witheapples.and Cabbagesnkaaier < aetec teas Sienna 67
Wholewheat chocolate bloomer. .............c0++scuveeee 69
BRapiacky 2:tena sete seceen A gb doe ee ea en ee ie
Salmon with mixed vegetables and bread and butter.......... 73
BOLrgQers yo oad 30.5 aren eg a Gee Ee) ORR ES A 74
Steamed SHONVE shmavetee cinerea ery ee eee aaneae eee 77
Glazeciharn ve ttes cette ee cee eee eee eee ee Cem 80
 PUG ERE err er ON cole Os a, oh ts Ce 85
AVES SOY Ae TL G UTCLi <a ea eae ge oo 87
Stand CHC KEN Dake nA. Peed oa oc hi une Sn as 89
WINNS EERE Sr cies ge a a eae.) 89
|PSE GS ARG sath nee A SR a 90
MANE STG I Is oad te ee 2c 96
BU ACL EEL Cotec ee Ana Nh kes nln RAY whe vatagee 97
Segre RE Dire Mee Mets cae Rd. od Nee ene aes ek 98
Bemera ONCE GDGS Bete re eet RO cs enti Rha ee tins ke dad Ee 99
ee arse She. Cee, Sl! Pe, Seog Pee. 102
Mh Recsy Oe Dates a te Ae ee ONT, Deke cat, OO ey 104
ELM TITAS! Sere 0 ALS Sirs he, Sy CE, Gat ed oe 110
Giassisciaramole Rane. 10th. boa, eee ol oh hee Vial
Pipedoplessalsawe Teak « as, cdninernest be Noe cots eet iTS
etre: beans tee .are Shots, were: x7 Series ahha athe 114
Mrs Barra creamed ror Soe. ye Sere aga e he hoe ss 115
Mrs Bates credmedispitiachs .)dasts .ake. dooce 116
Ate elie teen Bc FUN Se Se aNeen eet ee Oe en Ome Ee eet 1
Berean Chicken see cele ee Pe eee ete 118
Ber scegipivi baci! Nave ete eb Ae ae 118
TT ECE | go Lak relayed rb es Rg nt Rm AN a ete aK WA!
LETS1 ea ee ee EO AE ey ee (BRR OSES 1235
|PS er araFathS24COA EE ANE A ae las a ee ONE eater 124
PORT LOMA SANCe a Oe te concin ntetSs ala eee Sie vis eae) en es 125
RAMON AT oSOINNGL ar, pereaes a oe eevee tketes nae oe eke ine ars
Bork Pleovirs Patlem ince cot. sre cera tape, cere cee es 127
VATICECTIVOHELLCUITV ce ee et ede onst<br s ctr eee tesa oo eee ee T3i
Bertin” (EOE ann oe a ccce aie adore tits oie ree ae ole aust cre areneys 133
iam, broad beans and boiled potatoes... 0... os. oe 136
Se re er ee ee here Nes Gere eae rete te 137
PAtKAS WILIPSALMNOI oo eee Sie ne ok ct ee atelg eo caries 139
ODICS DIC Cee a eee, er els Meee oe le ere, wee are 141
MHOCOIAe MOUSSE Mee mes. Oh es ee Ses woe eee su otenn's 142
DIY Dattertly Duns pie che oh ee ee aes vi. crevoren s earreet 144
 Preface

A delicate and complex child with Asperger Syndrome requires a

calm, unflappable parent, willing to take extra time out to nurture
kindly and focus on their special needs. I am not that parent.
Brusque and blunt by nature, I am the antithesis of an Asperger’s
parenting ideal. Maybe that’s why, immersed in my own work and
busy schedule, I failed for so many years to tune in to who Henry
really was. Though, je ne regrette rien, as they say.
But I like to think that the clash of my action-oriented
personality and Henry’s introverted, thoughtful self, aged seven,
created sufficient friction to bring things to a head. The ever-
diminishing list on Henry’s menu, indeed his whole approach to
food, was driving me crazy. My insistence that he just eat what
was put in front of him caused Henry obvious mental anguish and
he pushed back with increasing anger and frustration. So we hit
that tipping point and then got on track to fix it.
This is a journey I want to relate because all our lives have
been improved by making a few simple changes. We now have
happy family mealtimes and I feel connected to a child who four
years ago was a difficult stranger. There must be a whole bunch
of you out there who can benefit from the route we’ve taken and
the discoveries we’ve made, whether you embrace it wholesale
or cherry-pick the bits that fit best for you. Not only has this
upgraded diet dramatically enhanced Henry’s ability to focus
and function, it has entirely reset his eating habits. I now have
a balanced, happy, even-tempered child able to hold his own at a
regular high school. He has a bright future. This surely is a story
worth sharing.

in
 ~

Mh sew" sagingey Ghw bliAs eslgeury bee eravital A : ~s

nT a fot nds ites oe oo pilliw test akeoninn
les 6
Wem; bf G toe rie —— Witene oul @o eumek baw. wibjia a
dep te > Seavttins wll din} ararten qddctuld bos sutunt! -
Le ee on fh Dberorium syle «nth dye Lehi gotinetiay =)
fel Wie so ane anaes Ut <a of belin2 luli yaad ~~
Ya go! Oh wet) Chor ae, Aon ane Ona :
Stor yar Wo teas ods rt Anise ed) ott 1 me
Sa Soups) Moe Lftatoven os Fwetict peer: ti.
sey atT twats a) abet? gd of onbad fehaesich
spabontrirgese alnetiw 40 tester ie eRe Weerge
tate Seep ta, wd fect Ones TA eres an gain
Dire allareem (eo eurUbveiy yrevsld Getenes aval Sepaantt fl 7
bd art! heard Des weet arlengeet drwy ddd hsrae ou
| 4, cd une ie fg earl lies Mihig gnigty a
Pe ae wey Oe aque atelin pypaeattnicdmn:
we
mar OM cm eriy Aerie ars? & yothoin ye
TSRWTbllay 4 et be ancon tvet| few esimnistes
Sat woe 2-7 Woe erlT
tite: fiekee BP Sis iseet ee oa a
 Introduction

What's the Problem?

This parenting cookbook is packed full

of mealtime tips and tricks to improve
the diet of super-sensitive Asperger kids.
I am the mother of an 11-year-old boy
with Asperger’s. Four years ago I had a child
whose limited diet and refusal to eat all but three
foods was causing both of us deep distress. Family mealtimes
were pure hell: ‘Come on now, Henry, eat the sausage! It’s a
sausage! How hard can it be?’ Followed by hysterics from Henry
who didn’t then have the vocabulary to explain that skins on
sausages were repellent. Furthermore, the herby bits in them
pretty much sent him over the edge.
It is easy to dismiss faddy behaviour as just another phase.
I am guilty of putting Henry’s increasingly bizarre eating habits
down to the ‘terrible twos’, which then rolled on year by year,
ending with the ‘psychotic sixes’. And I still thought that at some
point Henry would emerge the other side of whatever this was
and eat normally. Denial! Just looking at the way his brother ate
compared with Henry should have been enough of a wake-up
call. Will, aged five, would be happily chowing down on Pad Thai
noodles with shrimp, egg, bean sprouts, soy sauce - the whole
shooting match. Across the table Henry had a plate of plain
noodles that he eyed with extreme caution, accompanied by the
obligatory piece of chicken on a separate plate, complaining that
the spicy smells from Will’s food were upsetting his calm.

13
 What to Feed an Asperger

Bizarrely, Henry enjoyed a full and varied diet up to the age

of about two, and then someone flicked a switch and only chicken,
bread and dry cereal were on the menu. If it wasn’t bland and
white, he wouldn’t touch it. Added to that, the elements of his
meal had to be served on separate plates. Any suggestion from
me that he tried, say, a nice bit of beef stew was met with serious
anxiety that worked up to hysterics. So eating beyond the three
white ‘safe’ foods was a problem, foods touching was a problem,
even odours from our food was a problem, and all this usually
ended in Henry leaving the table an unhappy, sad boy, having
only eaten a mouthful of chicken or bread. This was distressing
and horrible for Henry and everyone around him.
At this stage he hadn’t been diagnosed (I hate that term
because I don’t think he’s ill) and the only advice I was given
from the medical profession was that most children his age were
picky eaters and I had to be patient. Patience didn’t work. Neither
did bribery, coaxing, cajoling, reasoning or ordering. And, I am
ashamed to say, threatening. None of it worked. Things just got
worse.
I reached a point at which Henry’s behaviour couldn’t be
explained away any more by his age, a bad day at school or
any other excuse. I hated what mealtimes had become and it
saddened me that I had a child who couldn’t enjoy his food
and, what’s more, was missing vital nutrients in his limited
diet. He was already very thin, with dark rings under his
eyes. I no longer believed that he was ‘just being awkward’
or belligerent to get his own way. This situation was out of
control and something had to be done.
So I decided to take a good hard look at my lovely boy
and really try to understand food from his angle. We had a
long weepy chat during which he told me that food didn’t
feel nice in his mouth. The way he described how disgusting and
unpleasant a piece of meat in sauce tastes, you would think I
had forced him to eat slugs or rats’ droppings. How could a nice
homemade beef stew evoke that level of repulsion? (I know you
are thinking it and my beef stews are pretty good, by the way.) It
seems that most textures, smells and tastes have an unbearable
intensity. “Too-strong tastes hurt my mouth,’ he said. Garden
 Introduction

peas, according to Henry, have that ‘disgusting’ combination of

slimy exterior and pulpy interior, which makes them one of the
worst things I can serve, apart from perhaps baked beans that
have all the revolting pea characteristics but in a ‘slippy’
sauce. Horror of horrors! I soon realized this wasn’t
Henry’s problem but my problem. I hadn’t tuned in to
a fundamental feature of my son’s make-up. I felt I
was failing him and I wanted to make it right.
I now know that an Asperger’s nervous system
works rather differently to ours. The human brain
continually processes information received from
receptors all over our body, helping us organize,
prioritize and understand the world around us.
Chemical receptors on our tongue are capable
of relaying a myriad of messages about what
we have in our mouths. Whether it is salty, sour, sweet, its
temperature and texture. For an Asperger these receptors are
either turned down and are hyposensitive, or cranked right up to
maximum and are hypersensitive. Hypo kids love extremely spicy
and strong-tasting foods and continually crave intense flavours,
even to the point of trying non-foods to get that taste satisfaction.
In this book, though, I will concentrate on our own experience
of hypersensitivity and the job we’ve had combatting Henry’s
screening and oral defensiveness.
What I want to say very loud and clear to all those mums, dads
and carers of Aspies out there is that YOU ARE NOT ALONE in
your struggle. And that it is not OK when a well-meaning friend
or relative says, ‘Just as long as he’s eating something, that’s fine.’
It isn’t. Or, ‘Most kids are faddy eaters; he’ll grow out of it.’ He
won’t. All children need nutrients today —- right now, not later.
Get inside your kid’s head and learn how they experience food
and then work with it. Here’s how.

15
 chapter A

Knowing Me, Knowing You

(There is Something We Can Do)

We needed to get to the bottom of exactly what

worked and didn’t work food-wise on Henry’s =
sensory map, and why. Over several sessions
we laid out fruit, vegetables and various family
meals on the kitchen counter and discussed their
merits and demerits. We drew them and pulled them apart, and
I encouraged Henry to share as much about how he experienced
these foods as possible. We started this journey of exploration
by getting to grips with the foods central to Henry’s diet at age
seven. What was so special about chicken breast meat, bread
and dry cereal? My first mistake had been to
assume it was all about taste and texture,
because Henry started out by critiquing each
of these favourites at great length based
purely on appearance. All were, of course,
uniformly white or cream-coloured, free
from dubious ‘bits’ such as herbs or seeds that
could be seen. He also focused on the uniformity of
their shape. The regularity of the cereal Os and squares pleased
him, and a chicken breast takes on pretty much the same form
from meal to meal. He preferred bread with the crusts cut off,
but such was his all-consuming (!) love of bread that he would
accept it in almost any shape and size. This, incidentally, gave
me an idea of how to move forward because any food presented
as bread would be happily eaten. But more on that later.

16
 Knowing Me, Knowing You

With chicken, bread and cereal, what you see is

what you get. There are no hidden cavities holding
mixed-textured elements such as watery stuff or
seeds, no hard bits like nuts to take you by surprise.
They look bland and have a characteristic shape, and
that security is extended through to their taste and
texture. Nothing challenging in either department.
The fun started when we embarked on a grand appraisal
of a selection of foods I knew gave him the screaming heebie-
jeebies, and again we tried to get to the bottom of why. Henry
studied an assortment of edibles laid out before him and I was
at pains to make clear that he was required to touch and inspect
but wouldn’t be made to eat them; what I wanted was as much
information as possible without upsetting him with the prospect
of having to put these repugnant foods into his mouth.
As expected, foods that deviated furthest away from the
adored white, bland and even texture were most reviled. In other
words, anything brightly coloured, multi-textured and spicy.
Oranges tick all three of these boxes - in this case, exchanging
spicy for acidic because in Henry’s mind they amount to the
same. He would only entertain exploring the central fleshy
part of an orange segment as the combination of the
skin encasing the segments and the white
fibrous strands was entirely too challenging 5
and revolting. With only the briefest sniff, he
recoiled and described what he knew
would be a harsh, unpleasant assault on
his taste buds. It was a reaction that I
might have at the prospect of biting into a
lemon or a strong onion. This was all good
information and tuned me in to the idea that his taste buds were
working on overdrive and that, in comparison, mine were dulled
and hard-of-tasting.
On to the meats, fish and other sources of protein. Iwould have
loved to have had cheese in Henry’s diet at this stage because it’s
such great source of protein and calcium, but he found even the
mildest Cheddar intolerable. Henry had had a particularly bad
bout of gastroenteritis at 18 months which rendered him lactose

17
 What to Feed an Asperger

intolerant, and so he may connect cheese with stomach aches.

We tried him with goat’s milk and that didn’t make him sick. He
definitely acquired a taste for it because he drank pints and pints
of it until, at the age of six, he was able to switch back to cow’s
milk, but he never made it to cheese. So I am not sure that theory
holds water (or milk). The fact remains, though, that cheese was
a sticking point; try as I may, I couldn’t get him to go near it, let
alone describe what it was about it that he found so abhorrent.
Nuts were also unspeakably horrible and that’s as far as that
went. I had more luck with fish and meat. When I presented a
thick slice of lamb to him, on initial inspection he thought it was
chicken and, rightly or wrongly, I didn’t correct him. I was very
keen to get fish into his diet. And I mean veal fish, not the finger
or breadcrumbed variety. We did fish quite thoroughly and found
that very fresh non-fishy-smelling fish with a mild flavour would
not be refused outright, especially if it was presented as a shape
that resembled a chicken breast. This sounds a bit far-fetched,
I know, but white fish fried in the same way as I would fry a
piece of chicken didn’t evoke that initial visual rejection. This
was a very important discovery. Get past that visual screening by
presenting a new food to look like a favoured one and that food
had a much higher chance of being eaten.
Next we moved on to sauces and gravies. Butter and spreads
came into this category too. In essence, according to Henry, any
food was rendered ten times more revolting by the presence of
a sauce or spread. The very worst texture known to man or boy
was ‘slippy’ and slimy, and Henry just couldn’t understand why
we ate it. Why, for instance, did we prefer a perfectly nice chicken
breast covered with a cream sauce to having it ‘just plain’? He got
quite heated about this, as if the world was deliberately bent on
sabotaging perfectly good food.
I wanted to get to the bottom of the sauce/spread issue, but
apparently the sensation was too awful for words and all I got by
way of an explanation was gagging and choking noises, coupled
with a great deal of shuddering and shaking of hands. Despite
this minor setback, we persisted with the information gathering
because I felt that if Icould figure out a feature of his most hated
foods that I could fix, then we would have a starting point from
which to move forward.

18
 Knowing Me, Knowing You

uli:

So we continued in our quest and ploughed through acres of

fruit and vegetables as they were top of my list to incorporate
into his diet. I stripped the fresh produce aisles at Whole Foods
(from Henry being aged two to nine we lived near Chicago
before moving back to Tunbridge Wells) and created a fruit-and-
veggie smorgasbord, and Henry in turn addressed their pros
(hardly any) and cons (everything) as we went along. From this
extensive discussion we sectioned fruits and vegetables into
three categories based on their potential as possible foods for
Henry. And here they are:

A. Absolutely WO Way, would

cross the street to avoid
Tomatoes: plastic coated with disgusting slippy pips, watery sauce
and harsh acid taste. Worst kind: cherry tomatoes that explode all
of the above into your mouth.
Broad beans, cucumber, blueberries, grapes, peppers,
eggplant/aubergines and peas, to name a few, share that same
tomato characteristic of a smooth, tight skin with a challenging
interior, sometimes hiding ‘gritty’ seeds.
Chillis, olives, radish, pineapple, kiwi and mango have a smell
and flavour so overpowering as to be utterly repulsive. Now, I can
understand that for chillis, olives and radish, because how many
children (with the exception of Henry’s brother) do like these?
But mango? Mangos are gorgeous - that is, if they have been
allowed to ripen and not shoved into cold storage too early. But
no, mangos are too strong and not to be tolerated.

19
 What to Feed an Asperger

AV |
raspberries, celery, sugar-snap
: Mushrooms,
peas, corn (on and off the cob), fennel, celeriac,
French beans, avocado, blackberries, strawberries
and a whole host of others have horrible textures,
either single or multiple. Leeks, for instance,
‘squeak’.

2. Less hateful
Peeled potatoes (with every dark bit cut off), ‘bananas, lettuce
and mild salad leaves, parsnips, cabbage, peeled pears, swede
and squash, sweet potato, seedless mild melon such as galia
and honeydew, peeled baby zucchini/courgettes (seedless) and,
surprisingly, asparagus are all less offensive than the above list.
Texture is a large consideration, and they are all quite mild in
flavour and either green or pale in colour. Even a banana, peeled,
becomes an acceptable creamy colour.

3. Some redeeming features

Peeled and cored apples, peeled young carrots, fine green beans,
broccoli and kale were all interesting in some way or other and,
with the exception of the carrots, were green, which was the
most tolerated colour for food after white or cream. I had a
feeling that, diet-wise, green was becoming the new cream.

Commections
The structure of broccoli really caught Henry’s
attention and he loved the infinitesimal
branching. There’s no doubt that Henry
is a scientist by nature. From being a
small child he’s always had a perceptive,
enquiring mind and engaged deeply with an
object, seeing abstract features that, quite

20
 Knowing Me, Knowing You

frankly, passed me by. He’s studied everything around him, from

the structure of his layered cereal squares to the vacuum cleaner,
and made quite startling observations on their engineering and
function. On walks he’s been known to stop by a plant, say a
foxglove, and assess it for 20 minutes, fully appreciating the shape
and pattern in extreme detail. So this recognition of structure
and form came into play when we were looking at the food, and
I hoped we could use it to change Henry’s attitude towards fruit
and vegetables, and get him to see them on more friendly terms,
even if it was because they had a Fibonacci branching sequence.
Suddenly, broccoli was no longer an unpleasant foreign food but
a mathematical model and a template with which to compare
other plants. Brussels sprouts on the stem, lettuce and cabbage
leaves arranged around the stalk all follow a set pattern and
ratio of division. So science and mathematics gave us our ‘in’
with vegetables. On this particular track there’s a lot to get into.
Have you noticed how curly kale leaves expand as they furl out,
and how the curves and twists towards the end in turn create a
surface area that just seems to get bigger and bigger? It’s what
mathematicians call a hyperbolic form. Henry loves it, and it gave
him a new, exciting relationship to his food.
I don’t expect that maths or science is everyone’s thing, but
it really has made a huge difference to us because there’s now
something pleasant and interesting about these veggies that
somehow makes them more attractive to have around. Mothers
of neurotypical children for ever have been making vegetables
on a plate into smiley faces or using train noises to get food into
the ‘tunnel’. But for Aspergers who view their world in quite a
different way, I think a more in-depth approach is needed. So find
out what floats your kid’s boat. Are they into shapes or patterns?
Do they like conformity? We know Aspies who are devoted
Star Trek nuts. What do those Trekkies eat come lunchtime on
the Starship Enterprise? Do whatever it takes to get past that
initial knee-jerk reaction that instantly rejects food that doesn’t
fit their limited criteria.

21
Random documents with unrelated
content Scribd suggests to you:
Throughout the world Mr. Phillips had a reputation as helper of the
oppressed, and with this reputation, the other, more dangerous to
the comfort of its possessor, that he cared nothing for popularity,
and that he acted from his own knowledge and will alone, and
without regard to the recommendations of anybody. Thus it was
natural that every wanderer, every outcast, of every color or nation,
when he might find himself in need in Boston went first to Mr.
Phillips’s door, and that he should find the door always open to him.
He gave lavishly whenever he thought he ought to give, not only of
his time but of his money; exactly how much no one but himself
ever knew. His house became a sort of bureau of charity,
investigation and relief, so that whenever man, woman or child was
not known at the overseers of the poor, at the “Provident,” or at the
“Associated Charities,” it was the more certain that he was known at
Mr. Phillips’s. He gave his alms literally to all sorts and conditions of
men.
That would be a very queer world—and it would be hard to say
how it would fare—which should be made up of Wendell Phillipses.
But this may be fairly said—that one such man in a community like
that of New England, renders essential service. In his case, while
there were thousands who hated him, other thousands loved him—
and the thousands who loved, lived much nearer to him, and knew
him a thousand times better than the thousands who hated.
 HESITATION AND ERRORS IN
SPEECH.

By J. MORTIMER-GRANVILLE.

Speech is, in a practical sense, more than the mere instrument of

thought. It is so far an essential part of the faculty or function of
“thinking,” that little beyond a simple recognition of the impressions
received through the sensations can be accomplished without the
aid of language—at least in one of its elementary forms. Thought
and speech are so connected, that it is impossible to separate them.
It is not a necessity that speech should be articulate and audible. It
may be set in any key, from the loudest voice-utterance to the mere
self-conscious conception of certain sounds, as when a person thinks
the pronunciation of a word, clearly marking its peculiarities in his
own mind, but in a manner imperceptible to any one else. If the
performance of this act—pronouncing a word in thought—be closely
examined, it will be found that there is an impulse, as it were, to
move the lips and tongue, but so restrained, that commonly no
obvious muscular action takes place. There are exceptions to this
limitation which not only prove the rule, but show how intimately
thoughts and actions are connected.
In sleep, during dreams, and in the case of some persons,
especially the aged and feeble-minded, when awake, the lips move
with nearly every thought, though no audible sound is emitted.
When the restraint, normally exercised, is less forcible, or the
impulse stronger, the thinker involuntarily speaks his thoughts; and
comical stories are told of persons who have betrayed their real
sentiments inopportunely by this process of thought-speaking. Faults
in speech are, therefore, likely to be due to defects in thought, the
two faculties being mutually dependent; or the reverse may be the
case, and impediments and errors of speech react mischievously on
the mind. Much interest and importance attach to the conclusion
arrived at with respect to the real cause of the hesitation or error
which marks the utterance of any particular sufferer.
First, make quite sure that it is not ordinary confusion of thought,
consequent upon a slovenly habit of thinking or the miserable
practice of allowing thoughts to drift, which has produced the
faltering or mistake that occasions anxiety. Many persons permit
their minds to become overrun with tangled scrub, so that nothing
short of the most acute or agile powers of way-finding can carry a
thought safely through the domain, and then they complain of the
difficulty of thought-driving! Clear away the jungle that renders the
mind impassable, and thought will no longer be found to wander by
circuitous paths, and too often be irrecoverably lost. The only
measure by which this self-improvement can be accomplished is one
of culture; the degree of labor required will vary from that of a
settler in the backwoods, who finds it necessary to clear and dig
every square yard of the land he would convert to useful purposes,
to the ordinary weeding and breaking the clods which may suffice to
repair the results of a single season of neglect. In any event,
however great or small the task may be, the cultivation must be
accomplished, or this, the most troublesome and inconvenient cause
of speech-blundering, a weedy, tangled, and lumpy state of mind
can not be remedied. We are not now concerned with faults of the
motor apparatus or mechanism of the voice; and, excluding these, it
maybe asserted that, of all causes of hesitation or error in speech
which lie, so to say, deeper than the surface, the neglect of self-
control in thought is the most common and, in many senses, the
most mischievous.
If a person who has previously been an easy and fluent speaker
begins to hesitate in his utterance, there is generally reason for
anxiety. Supposing the general health to be good, and nothing
specially notable to have happened in the life of the individual which
might have produced what is commonly called a “shock” to the mind
or the nervous system, there is probably some physical or mental
disorder in the background, to which attention should be directed. If
the cause be physical, the attempt to speak will generally be
accompanied by trembling or twitching in the muscles of the mouth,
the lips, the nose, or the jaw. Should any such symptom be
perceptible to friends, or self-detected, it will be wise to seek
medical advice without delay, because it may be produced by
conditions the most important, or comparatively trivial, and no one
except a skilled practitioner can determine from which of several
sources the agitation springs; whether it indicates mere weakness or
serious disease.
Commonly, when there is none of this trembling or twitching, and
sometimes even when these are present, the hesitation is mental.
Either the mind is too busy with a crowd of thoughts to maintain
proper command of the word-finding function, or that faculty is so
enfeebled that it seems incapable of any reasonable activity in the
service of the will. It is quick enough in the response to influences
which have no right to usurp control, but when the master-spirit of
thought, the judgment ruling by the will, issues a mandate, the
faculty is powerless to obey. This comes of a riotous or vicious habit
of thinking. The mind-weakness which results from the terrible error
of mental dissipation, whatever the direction in which the thoughts
are permitted to disport themselves, is one of the most perilous
conditions of exhaustion into which the faculties of a still sound brain
can be allowed to sink. It is a state of which the mind in danger is
itself conscious long before any indication becomes recognizable by
others. Hesitation in speech is one of the earliest external symptoms
which indicate this malady, but when that occurs, the weakening
power has generally been in secret operation for a length of time
sufficient to accomplish serious mischief. It is not, as a matter of
fact, too late to mend matters; but the individual who has permitted
his mind to pass into this condition has incurred a great peril.
 This is a point on which it is necessary to speak plainly. Habits of
musing, brooding, or conjuring up mental pictures and scenes in
which the thinker is himself an actor, and into which he gradually
brings his faculties of imagination, and even his sensations, are the
overlooked, the unconfessed, perhaps the unrecognized, causes of
by far the larger number of attacks of “insanity.” And; though it
seems cruel to say so, the great majority of poor creatures,
especially the younger and middle-aged persons, who with wrecked
minds drag out weary years in lunatic asylums have themselves to
thank for the experience. Any one of a score of existing causes may
overbalance the mind or occasion the outbreak and determine the
particular form the mind-malady ultimately assumes; but the
predisposing cause which renders the disaster possible and entails
all the evil consequences is the morbid habit of allowing the
thoughts to wander uncontrolled, at first innocently, then in
forbidden paths, and finally wherever the haunting demon of the
inner life, a man’s worse nature, his evil self, may lure or drive them!
The habit of preoccupation which sometimes shows itself by
hesitation in speech is less dangerous than weakness, but it should
not be neglected. Having “too much to think about” is not so bad as
having exhausted the power of voluntary thought, but it is an evil.
“Too much” does not always mean more than the mind ought to be
able to receive and deal with. It is quite as often too much for the
defective discipline of thought maintained, as really more than a due
quantity for the mind engaged if the business of thinking were
properly conducted. There is a marked tendency in modern
education—and it increases each year—to neglect the training of
minds. The subjects which were principally useful for purposes of
mental development and exercise are being eliminated because they
do not commend themselves to the commercial instinct of the day as
producing marketable information. Greek, Latin, mathematics, and
the like, are not possessed of a high value in the mart of commerce
or on ’Change, and they are therefore lightly estimated.
 We are beginning to reap the fruit of this time-serving policy in
education, and it takes the form of a general break-down of young
minds when set to any duty which involves dealing with a crowd of
thoughts at once. The untrained and disorderly thinker can not
choose his words, he has “no time” to arrange them, and can
seldom find them when wanted. He is “thinking of something else.”
It has come to be thought rather clever to be “abstracted,” and “so
engrossed,” “with many things to think about!” These are the pitiful
excuses offered by a generation of incompetent and confused
thinkers when their speech betrays them. A clever talker will often
bridge over the gap between two right words in place of interposing
a wrong one. It is amusing and, in a certain sense, interesting to
notice how admirably this is done by self-possessed though confused
speakers; but the evil of disorderly thought lurks behind, and may
be detected through the flimsy, though ingenious, artifice.
The remedy for a growing hesitancy in speech, when not the
result of serious mind-weakness—and the person affected is
generally secretly conscious of the cause—is a better method of
thinking. The first effort must be to preserve greater calmness; the
second, to be more orderly in thought. There is a process in thinking
which is the counterpart of dotting the i’s and putting in the stops in
writing, or of knotting the thread and “fastening off” securely in
needlework. If this be neglected, as it commonly is by what are
called rapid—another word for careless, reckless, or impetuous—
thinkers, entanglement and confusion in thought, showing
themselves in hesitation and errors of speech, are inevitable.
Verbal blunders are generally due to confusions of thought, but
sometimes to disease. It is important to distinguish between the two
varieties of this fault. The former is a matter for self-improvement,
the latter will require medical aid. If the mistakes made seem to
follow no particular line of error—if they are, so to say, general or
capricious, the wrong words substituted for what it was wished to
say being taken at random, perhaps from some other sentence at
the moment darting across the mind—the “confusion” may be safely
set down as one to be cured by mind-discipline. If, on the contrary,
particular words, previously familiar and ready at hand, are
forgotten, certain numbers dropped out of memory, and a sort of
method seems to determine the occurrence of faults in speaking or
writing, the matter may be more serious, and advice should be
sought. It is a curious feature of the early forms of speech-disorder
springing from physical sources—for example, incipient disease of
the brain—that particular elements of knowledge seem to be
effaced, and special processes of thought or reasoning can no longer
be performed, although the great mass of mind-work goes on
unimpaired.
A world of trouble would be saved if, in all mental derangements,
apart from brain-disease, persons who feel things going amiss with
them (and I am convinced this premonition of mind-disorder is a
common experience), whether the sensation be one of “irritability”
or of “confusion,” would undertake of their own free motive, to cure
the evil by subjecting the consciousness to a regular course of
training. The best plan is to set the mind a daily task of reading, not
too long, but sufficiently difficult to give the thoughts full
employment while they are engaged. This should be performed at
fixed hours. Perfect regularity is essential, because the object is to
restore the rhythm of the mind and brace it up to higher tension.
When, as in the class of cases we are considering, hesitation and
errors in speech are the characteristic symptoms of a break-down or
impaired vigor of mind, much good will often be done by reading
aloud for an hour or more daily to the family.
It is not only useless but harmful to read aloud when alone; the
mind conjures up an imaginary audience, and this habit of
“conjuring up” things is one of the short cuts to insanity which
should be carefully avoided, more particularly by those who are most
expert in the exercise—the highly imaginative. Another drawback
consists in the fact that when a person reads aloud, without a real
audience to engross that portion of the thoughts which will wander
from the subject, the mind becomes engaged with the sound of the
voice through the faculty of hearing; and this paves the way for
other mischief. It is by gradually substituting in fancy, and then
mistaking, their own voices for those of other beings that the weak
and morbidly-minded become impressed with the notion that they
are honored or plagued, as the mood may determine, with
communications, super-or extra-natural—which are in truth the
echoes of their own imaginary utterances.
By reading aloud any healthy and improving work which is so
interesting as to engage the thoughts, the strained connections
between thought and speech will be relieved. Properly employed,
this is one of the most patent and effective of remedies for disorders
of the faculty of speech; but it is essential to success in the
experiment of self-cure that the book read should be of a nature to
interest, and sufficiently difficult to hold the attention. In some cases
the exercise is rendered more effectual by reading aloud in one
language from a work written in another—for example, a French
book to an English audience. This gives practice in the choice of
words, and brings the memory into play, the two faculties it is
desired to develop and strengthen. Hesitation and errors in speech
are of great moment, view them as we may. In their less serious
forms they demand a vigorous effort for self-improvement; in their
more grave varieties they portend the existence of perils to brain
and mind.
ASTRONOMY OF THE HEAVENS FOR
MAY.

By Prof. M. B. GOFF.

THE SUN.
Although, as mentioned last month, the sun gives out such a vast
amount of heat and light, we must remember that these are sent
out in all directions, and that we receive comparatively a very small
portion. The best estimates make our part one twenty-three-
hundred-millionths of the whole. But this quantity is no trifling
matter, and its effects are not to be overlooked. Speaking of the
general effect of the sun’s influence, Prof. Lockyer puts it in this way:
“The enormous engines which do the heavy work of the world—the
locomotives which take us so smoothly and rapidly across a whole
continent—the mail packets which bear us so safely over the broad
ocean—owe all their power to steam; and steam is produced by
heating water by coal. We all know that coal is the product of an
ancient vegetation; and vegetation is the direct effect of the sun’s
action. Hence without the sun’s action in former times, we should
have had no coal. The heavy work of the world is, therefore,
indirectly done by the sun. Now for the light work. Let us take man.
To work, a man must eat; does he eat beef? On what was the
animal which supplied the beef fed? On grass. Does he eat bread?
Of what is bread made? Of the flour of wheat and other grains. In
these, and in all cases, we come back to vegetation, which is the
direct effect of the sun’s action. Here again, then, we must confess
that to the sun is due man’s power of work. In fact, all the world’s
work, with the trifling exception of tide-work, is done by the sun;
and man himself, prince or peasant, is but a little engine, which
merely directs the energy supplied by the sun.” The use of the sun
as a time-piece is perhaps more frequently thought of than any
other, since its value is constantly presenting itself. Each day, as
noon approaches, the question occurs, “How is the time?” and when
possible, the time of crossing the meridian is compared with that
exhibited by the clock. For this month, on the 1st, noon by the sun
occurs at 11:57 a. m. clock time; on the 15th, at 11:56 a. m.; on the
31st, at 11:57½ a. m. Another method, though not very accurate, of
determining time, is the noting of the rising and setting of the sun.
One difficulty here would be the obtaining of a good horizon, such
for example, as could be had at sea. The following times answer
very well for most parts of the United States and Canada: On the 1st
sun rises at 5:02 a. m. and sets at 6:52 p. m.; daybreak occurs at
4:08 a. m., and twilight ends at 8:46 p. m.; on the 15th, sun rises at
4:48 a. m., sets at 7:05 p. m.; daybreak at 2:44 a. m., and end of
twilight at 9:09 p. m.; and on the 31st, sun rises at 4:37 a. m., and
sets at 7:17 p. m.; daybreak occurs 2:24 a. m., and twilight ends
9:30 p. m. During the month the days increase in length some fifty
minutes. On the 31st the sun reaches its highest elevation above the
horizon, which in latitude 41° 30′ north is 70° 33′, nearly. As we are
now moving away from the sun, its apparent diameter diminishes
from 31′ 48″ to 31′ 37″.

THE MOON
Presents the following changes: First quarter at 59 minutes past
twelve on the morning of the 2d; full moon on the 9th, at 10:59 p.
m.; last quarter on the 17th, at 11:46 in the evening; new moon on
the 24th, at 5:28 p. m.; and first quarter again on the 31st, at 11:48
a. m. On the 31st she sets at 12:12 a. m.; on the 15th, rises at
11:25 p. m.; on the 31st, sets at 12:06 a. m. On the meridian, 1st at
5:56¼ p. m.; on the 15th, at 3:58 a. m.; on 30th, at 5:30 p. m.
Farthest from the earth, 10th at 7:24 p. m.; nearest the earth on
24th, at 1:36 p. m. Highest point above the horizon on 26th, which
in latitude 41° 30′ north, is 67° 17′; and lowest on the 24th, 29°
45′.

MERCURY
Will be visible for a few evenings during the first of the month,
setting on the 1st at 8:33, one hour and forty minutes after the sun;
on the 15th, sets at 7:20 p. m.; and on the 31st at 5:43 p. m. Its
diameter increases from 9.2″ on the 1st to 12″ on the 15th, and
then diminishes to 10.6″ on the 30th. On the 5th, about midnight,
and again on the 30th about 3:00 p. m., it is stationary. At 5:00 p.
m. on the 17th it is at its inferior conjunction, that is, on a line or
nearly so, with the earth and sun, and between these latter bodies.
On the 24th, at 1:37 a. m., it will be only one minute of arc south of
the moon, but as both it and the moon will at that hour be below
our horizon, we can not see the conjunction. On the same date it
reaches its greatest distance (aphelion) from the sun.

VENUS
During this month (on the 2d about 5 p. m.) reaches its greatest
eastern elongation, and will then be 45° 33′ from the sun. One
might suppose that at this time the planet would appear to us the
brightest; but this is not the case. The surface seen, though a
greater portion of the disk than is visible thirty-two days later, is
rendered less brilliant on account of its greater distance, and hence
we find that the period of greatest brilliancy does not occur in this
instance until the 3d of June. From the 1st to the 30th the diameter
of Venus increases from 23.6″ to 34.6″, an increase of 11″, or about
50 per cent. It will set as follows: On the 1st, at 10:49; on the 15th,
at 10:49; and on the 30th, at 10:40 p. m. On the 27th, at 7:54 p.
m., is 8° 7′ north of the moon.
 MARS,
The fourth planet in distance from the sun, and, next to Venus, the
one that comes nearest to the earth, has also to the latter some
points of resemblance. Not that it is like it in size; for in fact, it is not
more than about one-eighth as large; nor yet in the length of its
year, which is nearly twice as long as one of our years (about 687 of
our days). But it has about its equatorial regions, light and dark
portions, which are generally admitted to be continents and oceans,
whose distribution appears very much like that of the land and water
on the earth’s surface. About the poles also appear during the
planet’s winter brilliant white portions, which disappear during its
summer. This is probably occasioned by the fall of snow in winter,
and its melting in the spring and summer. Again, its time of
revolution on its axis, which has been quite satisfactorily determined,
and, indeed, much more accurately than that of any other planet, is
shown to be 24 hours, 37 minutes, 23 seconds very nearly, making
its days and nights very much like our own. Its seasons also
resemble ours somewhat, though longer and subject to greater
extremes of heat and cold. The inclination of the equator of Mars to
the plane of its orbit is about 27°, or 3½° more than that of the
earth; and its year being nearly twice as long and its orbit more
eccentric, make the seasons in its northern hemisphere about as
follows: Spring 191⅓ days, summer 181 days, autumn 149⅓, and
winter 147 days (of the planet). When nearest to us, its apparent
diameter is about seven times as great as when farthest away.
These distances are in round numbers 35 and 247 millions of miles
respectively. It appears brightest to us of course, when in
opposition, that is, when we are between it and the sun, its distance
from the earth at these periods varying from 35 to 62 millions of
miles, making it seem four times as bright at the former as at the
latter distance. On account of the inclination of the equator to the
orbit, we can see 27° beyond the north pole at conjunction, and 27°
beyond its south pole at opposition; hence astronomers are much
better acquainted with its southern than with its northern regions. It
is believed that Mars has not only land, water and snow, but also
clouds and mists. The land is generally reddish when the planet’s
atmosphere is clear; this is owing to the absorption of the
atmosphere, as is the color of the setting sun with us. The water
appears of a greenish tinge. Of this planet we have to report for this
month, that it is decreasing in interest. Its diameter diminishes from
7.8″ to 6.6″. On the 2d it sets at 1:34 a. m.; on the 16th, at 12:55 a.
m.; and on the 31st, at 12:13 a. m. On the 2d, at 9:01 a. m., it is 7°
9′ north of the moon; on the 5th, at midnight, 90° east of the sun;
on the 30th, at 3:20 p. m., is again in conjunction with and 5° 50′
north of moon; and on the 31st, at 11:00 a. m., is 58′ north of Alpha
Leonis.

JUPITER,
“The greatest of the planets,” retains his position as an evening star,
setting at the following times: On the 2d, at 12:34 a. m.; on the
15th, at 11:45 p. m.; on the 30th, at 10:54 p. m. His motion during
the month is direct, and amounts to 4° 39′ 34″. His diameter
diminishes 2.4″, being 34.4″ on the 1st, and 32″ on the 31st. He is
in conjunction twice with the moon; on the 1st, at 12:21 a. m., when
he is 5° 58′, and on the 28th, at 3:42 p. m., when he is 5° 49′ to the
north of our satellite.

SATURN
Makes this month a direct motion of four degrees and two seconds
of arc, a greater advance than he has made for several months. He
rises after daylight and sets on the 1st at 9:06 p. m., on the 15th at
8:19 p. m., and on the 30th at 7:29 p. m.

URANUS
Has a mean distance from the sun of 1770 millions of miles, and
makes one revolution in 84.02 years. To find it readily it is necessary
to know its right ascension and declination, which for the 1st, 15th
and 30th are in order as follows: Right ascension 11h. 40m. 35.92s.,
declination, 2° 57′ 8.4″ north; right ascension, 11h. 39m. 36s.,
declination, 3° 3′ 1.5″ north; right ascension, 11h. 39m. 11.54s.,
declination, 3° 4′ 58.3″ north. Will be evening star throughout the
month, setting as follows: On the 2d, at 3:09 a. m.; on the 16th, at
2:13 a. m.; and on the 31st, at 1:14 a. m. Its motion will be
retrograde, amounting to 24′ 7.2″. Diameter on 1st, 3.8″, and on the
31st, 3.6″. On the 5th at 10:33 a. m., 3° 29′ north of moon; and on
31st, at 9:00 a. m., stationary.

NEPTUNE,
The “Far-away,” remains close to the sun, as can be seen by
comparing their times of rising and setting. The rising of Neptune
occurs on the 1st, at 5:37 a. m.; on the 15th, at 4:43 a. m.; and on
the 30th, at 3:47 a. m.; and the setting on the same dates in the
same order at 7:31, 6:39 and 5:43 p. m.
THE AMUSEMENTS OF THE LONDON
POOR.

By WALTER BESANT.

Everybody knows, in general terms, how the English working

classes amuse themselves. Let us, however, set down the exact
facts, so far as we can get at them, and consider them. First, it must
be remembered that the workman of the present day possesses an
accomplishment, or a weapon, which was denied to his fathers—he
can read. That possession ought to open a boundless field; but it
has not yet done so, for the simple reason that we have entirely
forgotten to give the working man anything to read. This, if any, is a
case in which the supply should have preceded and created the
demand. Books are dear; beside, if a man wants to buy books, there
is no one to guide him or tell him what he should get. Suppose, for
instance, a studious workingman anxious to teach himself natural
history, how is he to know the best, latest, and most trustworthy
books? And so for every branch of learning. Secondly, there are no
free libraries to speak of; I find in London one for Camden Town,
one for Bethnal Green, one for South London, one for Notting Hill,
one for Westminster, and one for the City; and this seems to exhaust
the list. It would be interesting to know the daily average of evening
visitors at these libraries. There are three millions of the working
classes in London; there is, therefore, one free library for every half
million, or, leaving out a whole three-fourths in order to allow for the
children and the old people and those who are wanted at home,
there is one library for every 125,000 people. The accommodation
does not seem liberal, but one has as yet heard no complaints of
overcrowding. It may be said, however, that the workman reads his
paper regularly. That is quite true. The paper which he most loves is
red hot on politics; and its readers are assumed to be politicians of
the type which considers the millennium only delayed by the
existence of the Church, the House of Lords, and a few other
institutions. Yet our English workingman is not a firebrand, and
though he listens to an immense quantity of fiery oratory, and reads
endless fiery articles, he has the good sense to perceive that none of
the destructive measures recommended by his friends are likely to
improve his own wages or reduce the price of food. It is unfortunate
that the favorite and popular papers, which might instruct the people
in so many important matters—such as the growth, extent, and
nature of the trades by which they live, the meaning of the word
Constitution, the history of the British Empire, the rise and
development of our liberties, and so forth—teach little or nothing on
these or any other points.
If the workman does not read, however, he talks. At present he
talks for the most part on the pavement and in public houses, but
there is every indication that we shall see before long a rapid growth
of workmen’s clubs—not the tea-and-coffee make-believes set up by
the well meaning, but honest, independent clubs, in every respect
such as those in Pall Mall, managed by the workmen themselves.
Meantime, there is the public house for a club, and perhaps the
workman spends, night after night, more than he should, upon beer.
Let us remember, if he needs excuse, that his employers have found
him no better place and no better amusement than to sit in a tavern,
drink beer (generally in moderation), and talk and smoke tobacco.
Another magnificent gift he has obtained of late years—the
excursion train and the cheap steamboat. For a small sum he can
get far away from the close and smoky town, to the seaside
perhaps, but certainly to the fields and country air; he can make of
every fine Sunday in the summer a holiday indeed. Again, for those
who can not afford the country excursion, there is now a park
accessible from almost every quarter. And I seriously recommend to
all those who are inclined to take a gloomy view concerning their
fellow creatures, and the mischievous and dangerous tendencies of
the lower classes, to pay a visit to Battersea Park on any Sunday
evening in the summer.
As regards the workingman’s theatrical tastes, they lean, so far as
they go, to the melodrama; but as a matter of fact there are great
masses of working people who never go to the theater at all. Music
halls there are, certainly, and these provide shows more or less
dramatic, and, though they are not so numerous as might have been
expected, they form a considerable part of the amusements of the
people; it is therefore a thousand pities that among the “topical”
songs, the breakdowns, and the comic songs, room has never been
found for part-songs or for music of a quiet and somewhat better
kind. The proprietors doubtless know their audience, but wherever
the Kyrle Society has given concerts to working people they have
succeeded in interesting them by music and songs of a kind to which
they are not accustomed in their music halls.
The theater, the music hall, the public house, the Sunday
excursion, the parks—these seem almost to exhaust the list of
amusement. There are also, however, the suburban gardens, such as
North Woolwich and Rosherville, where there are entertainments of
all kinds, and dancing; there are the tea-gardens all round London;
there are such places of resort as Kew and Hampton Court, Bushey,
Burnham Beeches, Epping, Hainault and Rye House. There are also
the harmonic meetings, the free-and-easy evenings, and the friendly
leads at the public houses.
As regards the women, I declare that I have never been able to
find out anything at all concerning their amusements. Certainly one
can see a few of them any Sunday walking about in the lanes and in
the fields of northern London, with their lovers; in the evening they
may also be observed having tea in the tea-gardens. These,
however, are the better sort of girls; they are well dressed, and
generally quiet in their behavior. The domestic servants, for the most
part, spend their “evening out” in taking tea with other servants,
whose evening is in. On the same principle, an actor, when he has a
holiday, goes to another theater; and no doubt it must be interesting
for a cook to observe the differentiæ, the finer shades of difference,
in the conduct of a kitchen. When women are married and the cares
of maternity set in, one does not see how they can get any holiday
or recreation at all; but I believe a good deal is done for their
amusement by the mothers’ meetings and other clerical agencies.
There is, however, below the shopgirls, the dressmakers, the
servants, and the working girls, whom the world, so to speak,
knows, a very large class of women whom the world does not know,
and is not anxious to know. They are the factory hands of London;
you can see them, if you wish, trooping out of the factories and
places where they work on any Saturday afternoon, and thus get
them, so to speak, in the lump. Their amusement seems to consist
of nothing but walking about the streets, two and three abreast, and
they laugh and shout as they go so noisily that they must needs be
extraordinarily happy. These girls are, I am told, for the most part so
ignorant and helpless, that many of them do not know even how to
use a needle; they can not read, or if they can, they never do; they
carry the virtue of independence as far as they are able; and insist
on living by themselves, two sharing a single room; nor will they
brook the least interference with their freedom, even from those
who try to help them. Who are their friends, what becomes of them
in the end, why they all seem to be about eighteen years of age, at
what period of life they begin to get tired of walking up and down
the streets, who their sweethearts are, what are their thoughts,
what are their hopes—these are questions which no man can
answer, because no man could make them communicate their
experiences and opinions. Perhaps only a Bible-woman or two knows
the history, and could tell it, of the London factory girl. Their pay is
said to be wretched, whatever work they do; their food, I am told, is
insufficient for young and hearty girls, consisting generally of tea
and bread or bread and butter for breakfast and supper, and for
dinner a lump of fried fish and a piece of bread. What can be done?
The proprietors of the factory will give no better wages, the girls can
not combine, and there is no one to help them. One would not
willingly add another to the “rights” of man or woman; but surely, if
there is such a thing at all as a “right,” it is that a day’s labor shall
earn enough to pay for sufficient food, for shelter, and for clothes.
As for the amusements of these girls, it is a thing which may be
considered when something has been done for their material
condition. The possibility of amusement only begins when we have
reached the level of the well-fed. Great Gaster will let no one enjoy
play who is hungry. Would it be possible, one asks in curiosity, to
stop the noisy and mirthless laughter of these girls with a hot supper
of chops fresh from the grill? Would they, if they were first well fed,
incline their hearts to rest, reflection, instruction, and a little music?
The cheap excursions, the school feasts, the concerts given for
the people, the increased brightness of religious services, the bank
holidays, the Saturday half holidays, all point to the gradual
recognition of the great natural law that men and women, as well as
boys and girls, must have play. At the present moment we have just
arrived at the stage of acknowledging this law; the next step will be
that of respecting it, and preparing to obey it; just now we are
willing and anxious that all should play; and it grieves us to see that
in their leisure hours the people do not play because they do not
know how.
Compare, for instance, the young workman with the young
gentleman—the public schoolman, one of the kind who makes his
life as “all round” as he can, and learns and practices whatever his
hand findeth to do. Or, if you please, compare him with one of the
better sort of young city clerks; or, again, compare him with one of
the lads who belong to the classes now held in the building of the
old Polytechnic; or with the lads who are found every evening at the
classes of the Birkbeck. First of all, the young workman can not play
any game at all; neither cricket, football, tennis, racquets, fives, or
any of the other games which the young fellows in the class above
him love so passionately; there are, in fact, no places for him where
these games can be played; for though the boys may play cricket in
Victoria Park, I do not understand that the carpenters, shoemakers,
or painters have got clubs and play there too. There is no
gymnasium for them, and so they never know the use of their limbs;
they can not row, though they have a splendid river to row upon;
they can not box, fence, wrestle, play single-stick, or shoot with the
rifle; they do not, as a rule, join the volunteer corps; they do not
run, leap, or practice athletics of any kind; they can not swim; they
can not sing in parts, unless, which is naturally rare, they belong to
a church choir; they can not play any kind of instrument—to be sure
the public school boy is generally groveling in the same shameful
ignorance of music. They never read. Think what it must be to be
shut out entirely from the world of history, philosophy, poetry,
fiction, essays and travels! Yet our working classes are thus
practically excluded. Partly they have done this for themselves,
because they have never felt the desire to read books; partly, as I
said above, we have done it for them, because we have never taken
any steps to create the demand. Now as regards these arts and
accomplishments, the public schoolman and the better class city
clerk have the chance of learning some of them, at least, and of
practicing them both before and after they have left school. What a
poor creature would that young man seem who could do none of
these things! Yet the workingman has no chance of learning any.
There are no teachers for him; the schools for the small arts, the
accomplishments, and the graces of life are not open to him. In
other words, the public schoolman has gone through a mill of
discipline out of school as well as in. Law reigns in his sports as in
his studies. Whether he sits over his books or plays in the fields, he
learns to be obedient to law, order, and rule; he obeys, and expects
to be obeyed; it is not himself whom he must study to please; it is
the whole body of his fellows. And this discipline of self, much more
useful than the discipline of books, the young workman knows not.
Worse than this, and worst of all, not only is he unable to do any of
these things, but he is even ignorant of their uses and their
pleasures, and has no desire to learn any of them, and does not
suspect at all that the possession of these accomplishments would
multiply the joys of life. He is content to go on without them. Now
contentment is the most mischievous of all the virtues; if anything is
to be done, any improvement is to be effected, the wickedness of
discontent must first be introduced.
Let us, if you please, brighten this gloomy picture by recognizing
the existence of the artisan who pursues knowledge for its own
sake. There are many of this kind. You may come across some of
them botanizing, collecting insects, moths and butterflies in the
fields on Sundays; others you will find reading works on astronomy,
geometry, physics, or electricity; they have not gone through the
early training, and so they often make blunders; but yet they are
real students. One of them I knew once who had taught himself
Hebrew; another, who read so much about coöperation, that he
lifted himself clean out of the coöperative ranks, and is now a
master; another, and yet another and another, who read perpetually,
and meditate upon, books of political and social economy; and there
are thousands whose lives are made dignified for them, and sacred,
by the continual meditation on religious things. Let us make every
kind of allowance for these students of the working class; and let us
not forget, as well, the occasional appearance of those heaven-born
artists who are fain to play music or die, and presently get into
orchestras of one kind or another, and so leave the ranks of daily
labor and join the great clan or caste of musicians, who are a race or
family apart, and carry on their mystery from father to son.
But, as regards any place or institution where the people may
learn or practice or be taught the beauty and desirability of any of
the commoner amusements, arts, and accomplishments, there is not
one, anywhere in London. The Bethnal Green Museum certainly
proposed unto itself, at first, to “do something,” in a vague and
uncertain way, for the people. Nobody dared to say that it would be
first of all necessary to make the people discontented, because this
would have been considered as flying in the face of Providence; and
there was, beside, a sort of nebulous hope, not strong enough for a
theory, that by dint of long gazing upon vases and tapestry
everybody would in time acquire a true feeling for art, and begin to
crave for culture. Many very beautiful things have, from time to time,
been sent there—pictures, collections, priceless vases; and I am sure
that those visitors who brought with them the sense of beauty and
feeling for artistic work which comes of culture, have carried away
memories and lessons which will last them for a lifetime. On the
other hand, to those who visit the Museum chiefly in order to see
the people, it has long been painfully evident that the folk who do
not bring that sense with them go away carrying nothing of it home
with them. Nothing at all. Those glass cases, those pictures, those
big jugs, say no more to the crowd than a cuneiform or a Hittite
inscription. They have now, or had quite recently, on exhibition, a
collection of turnips and carrots beautifully modeled in wax; it is
perhaps hoped that the contemplation of these precious but homely
things may carry the people a step farther in the direction of culture
than pictures could effect. In fact, the Bethnal Green Museum does
no more to educate the people than the British Museum. It is to
them simply a collection of curious things which is sometimes
changed. It is cold and dumb. It is merely an unintelligent branch of
a department; and it will remain so, because whatever the collection
may be, a museum can teach nothing, unless there is some one to
expound the meaning of the things. Is it possible that, by any
persuasion, attraction, or teaching, the working-men of this country
can be induced to aim at those organized, highly skilled, and
disciplined forms of recreation which make up the better pleasure of
life? Will they consent, without hope of gain, to give the labor,
patience and practice required of every man who would become
master of any art or accomplishment, or even any game? There are
men, one is happy to find, who think that it is not only possible, but
even easy, to effect this, and the thing is about to be transferred
from the region of theory to that of practice, by the creation of the
People’s Palace.
Let me say a few words as to what this palace may and may not
do. In the first place it can do nothing, absolutely nothing to relieve
the great fringe of starvation and misery which lies all about London,
but more especially at the East-end. People who are out of work and
starving do not want amusement, not even of the highest kind; still
less do they want university extension. Therefore, as regards the
palace, let us forget for awhile the miserable condition of the very
poor who live in East London; we are concerned only with the well
fed, those who are in steady work, the respectable artisans and
petits commis, the artists in the hundred little industries which are
carried on in the East-end; those, in fact, who have already acquired
some power of enjoyment because they are separated by a sensible
distance from their hand-to-mouth brothers and sisters, and are
pretty certain to-day that they will have enough to eat to-morrow. It
is for these, and such as these, that the palace will be established. It
is to contain: (1) class rooms, where all kinds of study can be carried
on; (2) concert rooms; (3) conversation rooms; (4) a gymnasium;
(5) a library; and lastly, a winter garden. In other words, it is to be
an institution which will recognize the fact that for some of those
who have to work all day at, perhaps, uncongenial and tedious labor,
the best form of recreation may be study and intellectual effort;
while for others, that is to say for the great majority—music,
reading, tobacco, and rest will be desired. Let us be under no
illusions as to the supposed thirst for knowledge. Those who desire
to learn are even in youth always a minority. How many men do we
know, among our own friends, who have ever set themselves to
learn anything since they left school? It is a great mistake to
suppose that the working man, any more than the merchant man, or
the clerk man, or the tradesman, is ardently desirous of learning. But
there will always be a few; and especially there are the young who
would fain, if they could, make a ladder of learning, and so, as has
ever been the goodly and godly custom in this realm of England,
mount unto higher things. The palace of the people would be
incomplete indeed if it gave no assistance to ambitious youths. Next
to the classes in literature and science come those in music and
painting. There is no reason whatever why the palace should not
include an academy of music, an academy of arts, and an academy
of acting; in a few months after its establishment it should have its
own choir, its own orchestra, its own concerts, its own opera, with a
company formed of its own alumni. And in a year or two it should
have its own exhibition of paintings, drawings, and sculpture. As
regards the simpler amusements, there must be rooms where the
men can smoke, and others where the girls and women can work,
read, and talk; there must be a debating society for questions, social
and political, but especially the former.
As for the teaching of the classes, we must look for voluntary
work rather than to a great endowment. The history of the college in
Great Ormand Street shows how much may be done by unpaid labor,
and I do not think it too much to expect that the palace of the
people may be started by unpaid teachers in every branch of science
and art; moreover, as regards science, history and language, the
University Extension Society will probably find the staff. There must
be, however, volunteers, women as well as men, to teach singing,
music, sewing, speaking, drawing, painting, carving, modeling, and
many other things. This kind of help should only be wanted at the
outset, because before long, all the art departments ought to be
conducted by ex-students who have become in their turn teachers;
they should be paid, but not on the West-end scale, from fees—so
that the schools may support themselves. Let us not give more than
is necessary; for every class and every course there should be some
kind of fee, though a liberal system of small scholarships should
encourage the students, and there should be the power of remitting
fees in certain cases. As for the difficulty of starting the classes, I
think that the assistance of board schoolmasters, foremen of works,
Sunday-schools, the political clubs and debating societies should be
invited; and that beside small scholarships, substantial prizes of
musical and mathematical instruments, books, artists’ materials, and
so forth, should be offered, with the glory of public exhibition and
public performances. After the first year there should be nothing
exhibited in the palace except work done in the classes, and no
performances of music or of plays should be given but by the
students themselves.
There has been going on in Philadelphia for the last two years an
experiment, conducted by Mr. Charles Leland, whose sagacious and
active mind is as pleased to be engaged upon things practical as
upon the construction of humorous poems. He has founded, and
now conducts personally, an academy for the teaching of the minor
arts; he gets shop girls, work girls, factory girls, boys and young
men of all classes together, and he teaches them how to make
things, pretty things, artistic things. “Nothing,” he writes to me, “can
describe the joy which fills a poor girl’s mind when she finds that
she, too, possesses and can exercise a real accomplishment.” He
takes them as ignorant, perhaps—but I have no means of comparing
—as the London factory girl, the girl of freedom, the girl with the
fringe—and he shows them how to do crewel work, fret work, brass
work; how to carve in wood; how to design; how to draw—he
maintains that it is possible to teach nearly every one to draw; how
to make and ornament leather work, boxes, rolls, and all kinds of
pretty things in leather. What has been done in Philadelphia
amounts, in fact, to this: That one man who loves his brother man is
bringing purpose, brightness and hope into thousands of lives
previously made dismal by hard and monotonous work; he has put
new and higher thoughts into their heads; he has introduced the
discipline of methodical training; he has awakened in them the sense
of beauty. Such a man is nothing less than a benefactor to humanity.
Let us follow his example in the palace of the people.
I must go on, though there is so much to be said. I see before us,
in the immediate future, a vast university, whose home is in Mile End
Road; but it has affiliated colleges in all the suburbs, so that even
poor, dismal, uncared-for Hoxton shall no longer be neglected; the
graduates of this university are the men and women whose lives,
now unlovely and dismal, shall be made beautiful for them by their
studies, and their heavy eyes uplifted to meet the sunlight; the
subjects of examination shall be, first, the arts of every kind; so that
unless a man have neither eyes to see nor hand to work with, he
may here find something or other which he may learn to do; and
next, the games, sports, and amusements with which we cheat the
weariness of leisure and court the joy of exercising brain and wit and
strength. From the crowded classrooms I hear already the busy hum
of those who learn and those who teach. Outside, in the street, are
those—a vast multitude, to be sure—who are too lazy and too
sluggish of brain to learn anything; but these, too, will flock into the
palace presently to sit, talk, and argue in the smoking rooms; to
read in the library; to see the students’ pictures upon the walls; to
listen to the students’ orchestra, discoursing such music as they
have never dreamed of before; to look on while Her Majesty’s
Servants of the People’s Palace perform a play, and to hear the
bright-eyed girls sing madrigals.—The Contemporary Review.
 THE DEAD-LETTER OFFICE.

By Mrs. PATTIE L. COLLINS.

The sarcasm that “Good Americans expect to go to Paris when

they die,” has lost its force. They have a City Beautiful of their own
which more than justifies the enthusiasm of those who dwell within
her gates. There are no tall houses that shut out the blue sky and
the sunshine, no narrow, filthy streets swarming with the children of
the vicious and starving, but everywhere clean, broad highways,
decent abodes, and the priceless blessing of a pure atmosphere. The
smoke of factories does not drop its dusky mantle over the smiling
river and the church spires glancing heavenward. Not even does the
sound of a great traffic intrude into the peaceful repose of this ideal
city. Art schools, musical conservatories, libraries, and various
institutions of learning offer every inducement for liberal culture at
rates so cheap that it may almost be said to be “without money and
without price.” Into this community one can not come without
feeling its broadening and elevating influence. Prejudices are
obliterated, gentle toleration is followed by wide charity, sectionalism
dies, and to thoroughly understand and appreciate these things
makes a residence under the shadow of the dome a blessed
realization. But I should go on endlessly if permitted to dwell upon
this home of my heart; the historic Potomac touching the hem of her
garments, and the wooded heights of Georgetown forming a
Rembrandt-like background, are accessories of a picture to which no
words, unless “touched with fire,” could do justice. I have often
thought that not even Genoa the Superb, with its palaces and rich
cathedrals rising high and yet higher above its gulf of sapphire, and
finally encircled by its olive-crowned hills, was more beautiful.
 If, as has often been said, America has no distinctive style of
architecture, at least the anomalous constructions of the Capital are
harmonious, artistic, and imposing. The hoary cities of the Old World
can only vie with her in her bold and lusty youth. The Smithsonian,
that temple of knowledge, the Treasury, custodian of countless
millions, those twin sisters, the Patent and Postoffice Departments,
and the peerless Capitol itself are all monuments of national power
in which we have a legitimate pride.
Washington is scarcely less the shrine of the Republic than is
Mecca to the followers of the prophet. Its fifty millions seem to ebb
and flow, like the tide of the restless sea, through its grand avenues,
its parks, its public buildings, ceaselessly, from January to December.
Perhaps, among these casual sight-seers, no place is so much visited
as the Postoffice Department, in a general way, and, if I may use the
expression, the Dead-Letter Office, specifically, which is the very
sanctum sanctorum of written communications. It is characteristic of
human nature to stand with mere vague wonderment before any
question or occurrence that appears distant and impersonal. But
anything that comes in the shape of an everyday occurrence, that
touches intimately social and domestic relations arouses at once an
acute interest. The Pagan element thus selfishly asserts itself in this
ready subordination of the great problem of humanity to personal
considerations. This may account for the eager delight and interest
always displayed by the Dead-Letter Office pilgrims. And, on the
other hand, it may be observed that those who, officially speaking,
possess a proprietary interest in defunct epistles are akin to the
dealers in other wares—they like to vaunt their merchandise!
The gleaming pile of white marble, chaste, symmetrical, inviting,
might be likened, after an exploration of its contents, to many
another sepulcher—but I forbear a premature expression of opinion,
and beg to invite you, my readers, through the front door, which,
like the gates of mercy, stands ever wide open, and allow you to
receive your own impressions.
 Dry statistics, I have idly observed, are not usually relished by the
average knowledge-seeker, or shall I say even tolerated? But I shall
presume that all of mine will patiently grapple with my arithmetical
statements, which I promise shall not be complicated, and I also
hope to escape the incredulity which painfully embarrassed a modest
gentleman in this office, while making statements in regard to its
workings to a party of visitors. He said to these unbelievers, as they
stood among Uncle Sam’s mail bags, piled to the right and to the left
of them, watching the busy clerks assort their contents, that from
twelve to fifteen thousand letters were received upon every working
day. This was received with a depressing silence. Proceeding further,
he added that the mails were a means of transportation not only for
letters, but for clothes, books, jewelry, and almost every article of
merchandise. At this, a somewhat ironical smile was discernible. The
gentleman was now somewhat disconcerted, but determining to die
by his colors nobly, he seized upon an immense brogan lying upon
an adjacent desk and exclaimed, desperately: “This is a specimen—
could not go forward to its destination on account of being over
weight—more than four pounds.” Here the auditors smiled broadly
(it was conjectured afterward that one of the ladies must have been
a Chicago belle and that, like Cinderella, she had lost her slipper).
“However,” continued the narrator, somewhat abashed, but not
wholly discomfited, “that is nothing compared to this,” showing an
iron hitching post! At this the supposed western belle sweetly and
gravely inquired, “Was the horse fastened to it, sir?”
To be exact, the precise number of letters at the Dead-Letter
Office during the fiscal year which ended July 1st, 1883, was
4,379,198. The official report furnishes the following information:
“Of these 3,346,357 were advertised and unclaimed at the offices to
which they were addressed; 78,865 were returned from hotels,
because the departed guests failed to leave a new address; 175,710
were insufficiently prepaid; 1,345 contained articles forbidden to be
transported by the mails; 280,137 were erroneously or illegibly
addressed, while 11,979 bore no superscription whatever. Of the
domestic letters opened, 15,301 contained money amounting to
$32,647.23; 18,905 contained drafts, checks, money orders, etc., to
the value of $1,381,994.47; 66,137 enclosed postage stamps;
40,125, receipts, paid notes, and canceled obligations of all kinds,
and 35,160, photographs.”
Compare this statement with the record of the office during
Franklin’s administration; one small, time-stained volume contains
the history of every valuable letter received, duly inscribed in the
crabbed hieroglyphics of the period. The contrast between the
forlorn, dilapidated, provincial little city of Alexandria, beloved of the
Father of his Country, to the Washington of to-day is not more
forcible. Now nearly one hundred employes are needed to perform
the duties of the office. A vast apartment, surrounded by a broad
gallery, and seven smaller rooms, beside the space allotted for
storage in the basement, are the quarters at present occupied by
this division of the public service.
Everything is so systematized that an immediate answer can be
returned to the thousands of inquiries received during a year in
reference to letters or packages that have miscarried and been
finally sent to the Dead-Letter Office.
A large proportion of the money is restored to the senders, and
the balance is deposited in the Treasury to the credit of the
Postoffice Department. But despite every precaution, parcels of all
descriptions accumulate so rapidly that it has been found necessary
to dispose of them at public auction as often as once in two years.
The Museum contains a curious collection of articles which have
not been offered for sale. They are arranged upon shelves covered
with dark crimson cloth, and protected by glass cases. It is certainly
a heterogeneous assortment. A miniature mountain of minerals,
many-colored and gleaming, open bolls of cotton, a box filled with
small gold nuggets, and specimens of valuable woods are silent but
eloquent witnesses of our immense natural resources and still
undeveloped wealth. A bottle of imported cologne, carefully wrapped
in herbs, probably just as it was captured from a would-be smuggler,
Welcome to our website – the perfect destination for book lovers and
knowledge seekers. We believe that every book holds a new world,
offering opportunities for learning, discovery, and personal growth.
That’s why we are dedicated to bringing you a diverse collection of
books, ranging from classic literature and specialized publications to
self-development guides and children's books.

More than just a book-buying platform, we strive to be a bridge

connecting you with timeless cultural and intellectual values. With an
elegant, user-friendly interface and a smart search system, you can
quickly find the books that best suit your interests. Additionally,
our special promotions and home delivery services help you save time
and fully enjoy the joy of reading.

Join us on a journey of knowledge exploration, passion nurturing, and

personal growth every day!

ebookbell.com