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THE ATLANTA GEORGIAN AND NEWS. SATURDAY, JUNE 8, 1907.
ELLA WHEELER WILCOX
Write* of Those Who Are Contin.
ually Praising the “Good Old
Time*," and Wno See Nothing Good
in the Present.
(Copyright, 1*07, by American-Journal
Examiner.)
Among the most tiresome people on
the earth are those who go mourning
through the Now, regretting the “gold-
en eras gone by." .
We all know them.
These are the "artistic natures"
shrinking from this “mechniUcnl age."
They have a horror of what the rude
and crude souls about them call Prog
ress.
They detest a railroad train and an
ocean steamer, and the least references
to an old-time stage coach or sailing
craft makes them sigh with useless re
gret.
“Oh. to have lived In those poetic
times,” they cry. “when life was natural
and sweet, and people had time to
think! This Is such a vulgar, hurrying
era—and Its electric lights are so glar
ing, Its trains and trolleys so noisy. Its
Inventions so ugly and vulgar."
• The Age of Romance.
They do not for a moment realize
that In the days of tallow candles and
stage coaches there were people Just
like themselves, sentimentalists, be
moaning a still more distant "past” and
decrying vulgar progress.
The poor sperm lamp and the tallow
dip hod their day of being anathema
tized os “unpqptlc" by the romantic
mlndn filled with admiration for the
primitive.torch! And I have no doubt
the daring pioneers who first used
torches regularly to light the evening
hours were pronounced common and
vulgar by those who doted on the dark
ness as more In keeping with setftlmenL
It Is fortunate for the world that
these “poetic and artistic natures" are
In the minority. Were they not, we
should all be dwelling In caves today.
Is Progress Vulgar?
There is an artistic side to every
thing if-we choose to see It The wise
man Is he who sees It today, instead of
leaving it for his descendants to dis
cover.
Future generations a hundred years
hence will regard our methods of travel
and our recent Inventions os primitive
and romantic. They will sigh (the silly
sentimentalists) for “the good old days
when people traveled by rail and boat.
Instead of flying through the air In such
vulgar speed."
They will long for the picturesque gas
Jets—and shaded electric globes—In
place of a radiance which will be like
daylight And they will wish' they
might have lived In the days when
kitchens and cooked food were a part
of every home—Instead of the scientific
substitutes which I lie next century will
give us.
Picturesque Discomfort.
Meantime, no one who Is longing for
the delights of past centuries stops to
consider the discomforts—vulgar dis
comforts—of those days.
I have heard a dainty woman—de
voted to her two perfumed |.ath
her scientific massage, her complexion
and hair specialists, which all helped to
keep her beautiful—mourn over the fact
that she did not live In olden times. Yet
In those olden times baths in the home
were an unknown luxury, plumbing
was not dreamed of, and women plas
tered their faces with cosmetics and
their hair with visible dye when they
began to fade—Instead of preserving
their charms by the old of science.
Today Is a glorious era—It Is a priv
ilege to live In It. and to look forward
to better conditions sure to come.
Progress Is always right.
In some parts of Switzerland all the
dead are burled by the government,
without respect to wealth or position.
A college of foreign languages has
been opened In Canton, Chinn, the port
from which most emigrants sail to dis
tant ports of the globe.
New York city boasts the largest and
finest public school building In the
world. It Is of fire-proof construction
throughout and cost $2,000,000. It has
accommodations for (,000 pupils.
.Proverbs For Peaches
By DOROTHY DIX.
These be the words of Seliko, the
wise woman, spoken,to her daughter
In the mimth when the bloom of the
peach trees made a pink and white
snow upon the* hillside:
“Consider, my daughter, the ways of
the peach, which Is the embiem of thy
sex, for It Is beautiful and graceful os
a woman, sweet to the taste on all
men’s lips, and yet nourlsheth life.
Yea, more, like a woman, the peach
flourlHheth best by Its own doorstep.
~ “Keurn, therefore, of the peach and
be wise. Observe, my child:
“The ripest ptsch hangs highest on
the tree,
’This should teach thee that men
desire most that which Is unattainable.
No fruit Is so luscious as that- which
dangteth Just beyond the arm's reach,
anil no maiden so alluring us the one
who Is Just so high above a man's
head that he rlsketh his life In climb
ing up to her.
’’Therefore. If you would be sought
by inon, hold yourself aloof. Play coy.
Make yourself difficult to get, and In
proportion as thy favor costs a man
danger and bruises and scheming and
effort to win, so shall lie struggle
for It.
“Consider, likewise, my daughter,
that distance lends allurement to the
pench that hangeth highest on the tree.
Peradventure It Is no rosier, no sweet
er, of no more |>erfcct shape than tho
one that hangeth on the lowest bough,
hut the one at hand Is within reach
so that every man may see Its Im
perfections. while the other Is too far
away for the eye to mark Its blem
ishes. This teaches us. my child, why
the woman who rhummeth with all
men hath many friends and no hus
band.
“Consider, also, my daughter:
“No man gathersth the overripe
peach.
"I know not, my daughter, why the
peach that la ready to fall Into any
man's hand no man deslrcth, and every
man paaseth It by: but I did not make
nmn and I ran only put thee next to
his ways, which are strange and past
all reasoning. And this Is even as I
tell thee, and what Is true with his
way of the peach Is also true of his
way with woman.
"The woman who hath prepared her
self to make a good wife, who under-
stnndeth the pot nnd the pan, and eke
the gns range: who hath skill with the
neeblc anil can cunningly patch nnd
mend, ant) who la frugal with the
mnxumn. nnd who wenrtclh not In her
chnse of a husband, la never lleet-
footed enough to rateh one. Many,
yen, verily, n multitude of widows nnd
old maids liuvr I seen upon the anxious
seat waiting for a husband, nml thud
have 1 heard Ibelr lamentations, 'Any
body, O Lord, anybody!' but In vain
were tlielr supplications.
“Therefore, my daughter, be not
pencil that Is ready to drop Into any
mouth. Keep always a firm grip on
the tinrent stem,-nml turn toward men
a aide that Is a little hard and bitter,'
and that looketh as It It might have
a lang to It. Bo shall thou escape
the mortification of hnving been of
fered nnd rejected In case thou dost
not marry.
“Likewise, forget not. my daughter:
“That neither nsturs nor srt can
give back the down to th* peach when
it hath onco been rubbed off.
"What the down Is In the peach, my
child, the Innocence and Ignorance of
youth are (o a maiden. It Is made up of
dew nnd dawn, nnd all subtle allure
ments and enchantments, and It Is so
K rlshable that at a touch, a word, a
>k It vanlsheth forever.
“Many women, O. my daughter, do
High Salaries Make Reckless Wives.
•xia AHiouoa
who thlnketh to render herself attract
ive to men by shedding the down of
feminine reserve and reticence and del
icacy. They call this variety of peach
In the market place 'The Good Fellow,’
and every passerby turncth It around
nnd handleth It, and the gossips relate
strange stories In Its presence, and
mayhap, at last, some one with a strong
stomach purchascth It, but the connois
seur passeth by to' where the fresh
peaches lie with the down still upon
their rosy cheeks.
“By and by the old peach percelveth
her mistake and seeketh to undo what
Is done, and to afreet the Innocence and
unanphlstlcatlnti that she luis lost, but
In vain. The blush cometh, back no
more to the cheek that la hardened, nor
the look of Innocence to the eyes that
have seetf. Therefore, my daughter, be
not In haste to lose that Innocence and
unworldllncss that are the chief charm
of woman to man, and that hath been
the means of many a simpleton catch
Ing a good husband. For If thou wilt
look about thee, thou wilt perceive that
most of the fools are married, while
tho wise woman hath to earn her own
bread and butter.
'Consider, also, my daughter:
Even M shriveled ptsch looketh rosy
whon a pink mosquito netting cover
eth the basket.
“Learn front this, O child of my
henrt, the value of environment and
dress. If thou hast beauty, enhance
It by raiment that will bring out thy
strong points, nnd If peroilventurc
heaven hath dealt hardly by thee, and
bestowed upon thee a pug nose, carrot-
ty hair and a figure of tho similitude
of a bean polo, withhold not thy hand
from purchasing the Imported gown,
yea, nnd the pattern hat. po shalt men,
beholding thy fine feathers, mistake
them for thee, nnd great shall be thy
praise In the bazaars.
“These be the lessons of the peach. I.
who was, once young and a peach my
self, and am now old and canned, speak
(hem unto thee, who art still a peach."
Lord Cromer stale* that Egyptians have s
propensity for hoarding gold. A native,
who recently died, left 2400,000 stored to
gold In his hnnne, and many of them pos
sessed of wealth will borrow money st In-
foousbiv vnx-zrtSKFS .z was
zooliNliiy, but none 10 fool tali on biipjoj converted into onumonta. *****
By MRS. JOHN A. LOGAN.
(Copyright, 1907, by American-Jour-
nal-Examfner.)
There Is no denying that the high
wages of skilled workmen and of effi
cient men who receive high salaries
from corporations and managers of pri
vate enterprises have had the effect of
changing the ambitions of a majority
of their families. Many of them have
acquired extravagant habits and are no
longer satisfied with the style of living
to which they had been accustomed In
the days of conservatism.
They have an especial abhorrence of
all kinds of domestic duties and insist
upon having servants In their families,
they put up with all kinds of stupidity
and wastefulness on tho part of the 11-
Iv-tralned domestics they are able to
secure, when If they paid attention to
their household affairs, doing part of
the work themselves, making all the
purchases of supplies of all kinds—es
pecially those used In the culinary de
partment—they would save at least half
the expense; and If they saw to It that
till foods were properly prepared and
economically used they would beyond
question add materially to their com
fort and consume much less of their
husDands' salaries.
In matters of dress they are equally
reckless, and as a rule are dissatisfied
with the styles! wearing apparel which
Is really more appropriate for. them.
They wish to Imitate their acquain
tances who may be wealthy and able
to afford expensive wardrobes.
In many of these' fatnillea there are
children who never do anything but go
to school. If they are boys, they must
have all the requirements for athletics
of every description. They must pay
their dues In their clubs and be fur
nished with money for car fare to and
from the fields where they practise and
play their games, and never think of
taking exercise by trying to earn a dol
lar by securing chanco employment.
They seem to think that It Is their pa
rents' duty to support them until they
are 21.
Girls are even more dependent, and
require greater expenditure of money
to supply their demands for dress and
Indulgence in all sorts of things that
only the rich are Justified In spending.
In many cases the president of the cor-
tstration and his family are simpler In
their tastes and their expenses than
Ills high salaried employee and his fam.
Ily.
One is very glad to see capable and
faithful men rewarded by compensa
tion commensurate with their services,
but regrets that they do not emulate
the example of economy of their em
ployers more frequently and save up
for adversity, which Is sure to come to
most persons.
The doubling of prices of everything
one must have to live even comfortably
has not seemed to make any changes
in the manner of living or disposition
on the part of these wives and motheni
to practice self-denial and strict econo
my, or to-be more octlve'ln the care of
their resources. They only Inveigh
against trusts, corporations and every
supposed cause of the Increase of prices
and wages.
If they took a different course, while
they could not cure all the evils of
present conditions, they could mlnlm-
xe the Inconveniences and difficulties,
which beset them.
The wives are not wholly to blame.
The men. feeling sure of thelr-comfort-
able salaries. Indulge themselves In ex
cesses that are really unpordonablo.
Somebody once collected statistics to
prove that salaried men rarely saved
any money, that the surety of their
stated Incomes made them Improvident
In their provision for the day when
they might be unfit for duty; that
MRS. JOHN A. LOGAN.
ter, half year or year they will re
ceive their salaries or wages makes
them reckless and extravagant, and It
was found there were but few who
did not spend more than they were to
receive at a stated time.
■“Fixed salaries upon which Individu
als can rely make cowards of all men,
since the old adage, “a bird In the hand
Is worth two In a bush,” so well known,
deters far too many from making a
dash for something uncertain, how
ever promising, when they have a cer
tainty of even less return for their la
bors. MRS. JOHN A. LOGAN.
The Kentucky Colonel.
Recently s Washingtonian In conversation
with “OHIe" James, the gigantic and gonial
congressman from Kentucky, made certain
Inquiries with reference to a mutual friend
whom he had not seen for a nutnlier of
years—a Colonel I*., of tho state mentloaod,
says LimitDentt'a Mngaxlne.
"Ami now does my old friend, the colonel,
spend his declining years?” asked the. Wash■
Ingtonlaii.
"Beautifully, sir; beautifully,'' answered
James. "He has-a fine fnnn, sir. And n
string of trotters, sir. And s barret of
whisky sixteen years old, and a wife of tbs
same ugc, sir,"
' His Temperature.
“That was rather alighting," aald Senator
Revcrldgo of a certain speech. "It was like
the speech of the old Adams Imtler. When
I was a Imy In Adams county Judge Illauk
was taken very III. The doctor called regu
larly, lint the Judge kept getting worse, and
finally the crisis came. The morning after
the crisis tho doctor rang the Judge’s bell
The quantity of damm or macaroni wheat
exported from Atlantic and Onlf ports from
July I, ISOO, to March 15, 1907. was 14,36*.-
*71 bushels, or nearly twice as much aa In
tile same period of 1906-1905. Most of It Is
bought by tho countries along the Mediter
ranean sea. but shipments to Great Britain.
Havre, Antwerp, Rotterdam, Hamburg and
Bremen constitute nn Important part of
the total—about one-third. Italy Is the
.... 106 bushels),
hnsholsl si
a,007,115 bushels).
The Grand Trunk Pacific Railroad Com-
pany la shout to erect what Is aald to be
the largest grain elevator In the world nt
Mission river. It will have a capacity of
10,000,000 bushels.
The Southern rad fie railroad has thirteen
new lines nnder constroetlon, rennwentlng
on expenditure of 253,000,000.
knowing at toe tod of a monuC',^ WMS BSBL"? *