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Show SAVAGERY OF PAST I AGES STILL LINGERS The stoy of the six-year old Delta boy who was brutally beaten by two companions a little lit-tle older than he, reveals a throw-back to primitive ancestry' ances-try' and its accompanying instincts, in-stincts, with which we are still endowed to some extent when we greet this world as infants. As years go by, these instincts are submerged by training methods worked out through years of civilization. Some of the destructive, de-structive, cruel and animal-like emotions are actually converted by diligent' effort of our parents and teachers, into useful channels. chan-nels. Others are merely veneered veneer-ed by the polish wrought by culture, cul-ture, and in some individual adults, lie latent beneath the superficial finish of the person. In cases of morons, or one in an intense rage, these primeval instincts break the bonds of inhibition in-hibition and wreck havoc against whom they jnay be directed. That is why there may be truth to the current belief that a person per-son reveals his basic qualities when drunk. Everyone can recollect instances in-stances of almost unbelievable cruelty practised by his childhood child-hood playmates. Torture and bullying of smaller children are common as well as the mutilation mutila-tion and killing of animals. When we consider that the little child is endowed most heavily by the instincts of selfishness, cruelty, greed all unsoftened by our still-new civilization the responsibility re-sponsibility of parent and teacher teach-er looms more vital. |