The Unadjusted Girl, With Cases and Standpoint for Behavior AnalysisThomas, William Isaac
Science
The Unadjusted Girl, With Cases and Standpoint for Behavior Analysis
Thomas, William Isaac
Female juvenile delinquents -- Case studies; Young women
Go, little letter, across the broad sea, for I cannot come to you.
When I arose in the morning, I looked up to the heavens and thought
to myself that to you, dearest Olejniczka, a little letter I must
send.
Dearest Olejniczka, I left papa, I left sister and brother and you
to start out in the wide world, and to-day I am yearning and fading
away like the world without the sun.
If I shall ever see you again, then like a little child, of great
joy I shall cry. To your feet I shall bow low, and your hands I
shall kiss. Then you shall know how I love you, dearest Olejniczka.
I went up on a high hill and looked in that far direction, but I see
you not, and I hear you not.
Dear Olejniczka, only a few words will I write. As many sand-grains
as there are in the field, as many drops of water in the sea, so
many sweet years of life I, Walercia, wish you for the Easter
holidays. I wish you all good, a hundred years of life, health and
happiness. And loveliness I wish you. I greet you through the white
lilies, I think of you every night, dearest Olejniczka.
Are you not in Bielice any more, or what? Answer, as I sent you a
letter and there is no answer. Is there no one to write for you?
And now I write you how I am getting along. I am getting on well,
very well. I have worked in a factory and I am now working in a
hotel. I receive 18 (in our money 36) dollars a month, and that is
very good.
If you would like it we could bring Wladzio over some day. We eat
here every day what we get only for Easter in our country. We are
bringing over Helena and brother now. I had $120 and I sent back
$90.
I have no more to write, only we greet you from our heart, dearest
Olejniczka. And the Olejniks and their children; and Wladislaw we
greet; and the Szases with their children; and the Zwolyneks with
their children; and the Grotas with their children, and the Gyrlas
with their children; and all our acquaintances we greet. My address:
North America [etc.] Good-by. For the present, sweet good-by.
The sets of habits and reactions developed socially, under family,
community, and church influence, may become almost as definite as the
mechanistic adjustments which I mentioned at the beginning of the
chapter. The “folkways” become equivalent in force to the instincts and
even displace them. In the following case the girl is completely
isolated, and in a very critical situation but resists temptation on the
basis of her memories.
35. This happened fourteen years ago. I had been in America but a
short time and was a healthy and pretty girl of nineteen.
I had worked in a place seven months and earned the gigantic sum of
$4.00 a week. But soon slack set in and I lost my job. It was summer
and in the hot days I continued to look for work. The whole day I
used to drag my tired body from place to place, only to come home in
the evening all fagged out and with no prospect of work.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account