small children (surfs) in the middle ages were used sometimes to warm the "lord"'s feet. it seems that if his feet got cold while he was hunting, he could just have a cupple of small children cut open and he'd put his feet into there still warm bodies. how's that for civilized? -----Original Message----- From: Magenta Raine [mailto:[log in to unmask]] Sent: Wednesday, May 17, 2000 7:34 PM To: [log in to unmask] Subject: Re: Disablity Awareness 101: Root Cause Analysis? Bobby, there's a book called The Kindness of Strangers; The Abandonment of children from medieval to the renaissance. (Europe) so, no, everybody threw away kids regardless of ability. It was the social norm of the times. People often left babies at hospitals (gee that sounds familiar) and at monestaries. and also when boys and girls were 7 years old, they were often sent to apprenticeships in the villages. Or they were taken to monestaries where they were educated. mag