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18 THE ATLANTIAN Ol)e Outing Season 3s 3Vgain IC$. <][ Every man who can possibly compass it will go somewhere. It makes no dif ference where one goes, the difference between comfort and discomfort lies large ly in equipment—clothes—for however near we may get to Nature we must have clothes of all sorts. CJ[ The wise man will avail himself of the opportunity to get the best that can be procured, thus adding to his comfort and this he can do best by a visit to Clumber 6 "Peachtree Street ifc sd THE THERMOMETER OF PATRIOTISM. By Dr. Frank Crane. Patriotism is a long, wide word. Un der it is a deep cellar. . Just what sort of thing your patriot ism is you may ascertain by using this thermometer. The lowest degree to which a citizen may sink is not to become a bank rob ber or cut-throat or white slaver dealer; in business ho may only wrong the in dividual number or others; but it is to become a grafter, for the grafter attacks the very life of society itself, he lets the blood of the whole people. The trust magnate who corrupts a legislature or influences a judge, the political boss who operates a machine for controlling votes in the interest of his pocket, the merchant who pays a political agent to lobby for his advantage, the city admin istration that permits vice to contribute hush money to the police, all these are as far down in the scale of citizenship as it is possible to go. They are worse than thugs, fallen women, dive keepers, and bomb throwers, because they make and feed such. The man higher up is in reality the man lower down. The briber is not so bad as the grafter, for he is usually the grafter’s tool. He at least has courage to commit crime, while the man higher up is a sneak and wants the emoluments of crime without its risks. The violent include all them that put private or party vengeance above law. They assassinate presidents, put nitro glycerine on doorsteps, burn and destroy in riots. They are not so bad as the preceding two classes, because they are ignorant animals, or perverts. The criminal is the one who preys upon society. He is the enemy of law. He lives for the gratification of his own desires, without respecting the rights of others. Of such are thieves, murderers, confidence men, and the like. Bad as they are, they are many degrees better than the preceding classes. The office seeker is the man who re gards government as something that is to furnish him with a job. I do not use the word “professional politician,” be cause it is conceivable that a man might follow politics as a profession with the highest motives. But the typical place hunter has no principles, no views. He is a parasite. He is a follower of the Vicar of Bray, whose song ran: ‘ ‘ But this is law, I will maintain Until my dying day, sir, That whatsover king may reign, Why, I ’ll be Vicar of Bray, sir. ’ ’ Then come the entirely indifferent. They have nothing to do with politics except as their business is touched or their peace disturbed. The law-abiding are a little higher up. They will serve on a jury or in the militia. They do not graft nor favor political corruption.- A little better still is the party man, who is interested in public affairs, and takes his place in a political organiza tion as the best means for securing re sults. He votes with his party, right or wrong. The intelligently public spirited man is as conscientious with his party as with his church. He will follow it when he thinks it is right, and rebel when it seems wrong. He is sometimes called an insurgent or mugwump. He is the Protestant in politics; a good, healthy, wholesome trouble-maker who does much toward keeping .political parties reason ably decent.. . , The highest grade of patriot is the man we call the reformer. We heave bricks at him living and build monu ments to him dead. Of such were John Brown, Wendell Phillips, Henry George, Richard Cobden, and Oliver Cromwell. The reformer is not afraid to be in ad vance of public opinion, to champion an unpopular cause, to be in the minority, to be defeated, despised and neglected. Reformers may be pig-headed, some of them are egotistical, some are meddle some, some enjoy tumult, and, like the Irishman, “are never at peace unless they are in a fight,” but they represent the highest pitch to which patriotism can rise, for they care not for place, emolu ment, nor life itself, but only for the conviction that has gripped them. Reformer 10 Intelligently Public Spirited. 9 Party Man 8 Law-abiding 7 Indifferent 6 Office Seeker v 5 Criminal .' 4 Violent 3 Briber . 2 Grafter 1 EDUCATION IN PORTO RICO. The Progress of a D»ecade— English the Popular Language. Under, the caption, “Americanizing the Porto Ricans,” an editorial in the Baltimore Sun tells of the progress that education has made in the island iu the last decade. The editorial follows: According to .the Revue Suientifique, of Paris, the Americam/etion of Povto Rico is so far advanced that a few years more should see it completed. When Uncle Sam took charge of the smiling little island, in 1898, there were prophets who predicted that enormous difficulties would soon confront him, that the very difference in languages would foster au alien feeling among the islanders au<i make them chafe under American rule. But nothing of the sort has happened. The Porto Ricans, far from combating their American overlords, have given the latter loyalty and active aid, and the re sult is that there is peace, and the pros perity and content which go with it. The dream of the islanders seems to be not independence, but Statehood, and so they try to learn American ways and the English language, and to fit themselves for citizenship. The influence of the little red school- house is apparent in all this. When the Spaniards were driven out of the island they left behind them a typically Span ish school-system—mediaeval, inadequate and inefficient. The country schools were mere hovels, widely scattered and un organized, and the teachers, in the main, were ignoramuses. The census of 1890, the first taken under American rule, showed that but fifteen per cent, of the population over the age of ten years could read and write. To the relief of this deplorable condition the early Amer ican administrators addressed themselves, and the result is now seen in a school system superior to any other in Latin- America, and fully equal to that of most American States—a system including kindergarten, primary, grammar, high and night schools, and culminating in the University of Porto Rico, with its 300 students. Altogether there are now 2,450 schools in the island, as compared with 528 when the Spaniards left, and the attendance has risen, in less than thirteen years, from 18,243 pupils to nearly 85,000. What is more important, practically all these pupils are now being taught by competent teachers, trained in pedagogy by American instructors, and practically all of them are studying English. The insular school law requires that there be at least one teacher of English in each municipality, but the demand is for more, and that demand is met whenever possi ble. In the graded schools the majority of teachers now use English, and in the high schools the aim is so to perfect all pupils in the language that they will be ready, upon graduation, to enter any American college without further prepa ration. In brief, English is fast becom ing the language of all educated folks in Porto Rico, and even the children of the poor, who must leave school very early, have an opportunity to learn it. Spanish, of course, will survive for many years, particularly in the rural districts— as it has survived in New Mexico and Arizona—but in the long run it must give way to the tongue of the conquerors. WHAT HE THOUGHT HE WAS GETTING. The Sunday-school teacher had ex plained very carefully how Eve was created out of one of Adam’s ribs and made the wife of Adam. Little Bobby was deeply impressed with the story, and when he went home he related it to his parents. The next day, after running around a good deal, a pain developed in his side, and when his mother found him he was lying on the bed, sobbing bit terly. “Why, what’s the matter with my lit tle boy!” she asked. “Oh, dear,” was the response, “I’m getting a wife.” HIS ANCESTORS. The chauffeur never spoke except when addressed, but his few utterances, given in a broad brogue, were full of wit. One of the men in the party remark ed: “You’re a bright sort of a fellow and it’s easy to see that your people came from Ireland.” “No, sor; ye are very badly mistak en,” replied Pat. “What!” said the man; “didn’t they come from Ireland!” “No, sor,” answered Pat, “they’re there yit. ” DISCRETION. “Shall I break the bad news to Jus tine!” • “Not this moment. Wait till she has put the plates down.”—Pel Mele.