Below is the OCR text representation for this newspapers page.

THE YOUNG SOUTHERNER 1 Conducted by Louise Threete Hodges. All communications and contributions intended for this department should he addressed to Mrs. Louise T. Hodges, 83 East Avenue, Atlanta, Ga. “In this world there will always be things to annoy. And life’s lessons are hard to be learned, But to cheerily look on the bright side, my boy, Is the best for all parties concerned. If you smilingly go to your work with a will, There’ll be joy in your heart all the day; If you frown the big load will grow heavier still And you’ll have a hard pull all the way. It is work while we live, and it’s rest when we die, In that city where sorrow is not, And we ought to feel glad, and we can if we try, And contented, though humble our lot. —F. L. Bixby, in Nebraska State Journal. Various attempts have been made at different times to invent a language that would appeal to all civilized peoples and be adopted as a universal medium of communication, but all such efforts have hitherto failed of success. At last, however, a Russian physician. Doctor Zamenhof, we are told by a writer in the Ladies’ Home Journal, has invented or compiled a language which seems to have at least one requisite for an international language, viz., simplicity. While “Esperants”—that is the name of the new language—has been successful in Europe for three or four years, it has just been proposed to the attention of the American people, says the writer, and the success promises to be as great, if not great er, here than in Europe. There are Esperanto clubs, the writer goes on to say, all over the world. In Paris alone forty-five courses in Esperanto were given last winter, and one of the clubs had no fewer then three thousand members. The new language is said to be a marvel of sim plicity. One central idea is the basis of the whole scheme: “Esperanto makes use of everything that is common to our civilized languages, and drops all ■ that is special to any one of them. “All sounds that are common to all languages are kept; the others are dropped. For instance, the English ‘th’ and ‘w’ which are very difficult for people of other nations are dropped; the French ‘u’, the Spanish ‘j’ and ‘n’ have the same fate. “There is no trouble in Esperanto about spelling. There are no mute letters like the ‘w’ in the Eng lish ‘written.’ For the letters that remain there is the inflexible law: One letter one sound; one sound one letter.” There is not a new word in the language. “By all means make use of what people already know, thought Doctor Zamenhof, and he did not invent one new word. But he took words in current use in various nations; he only changed their spelling in order to make the language more simple.” “So there will be very few words, comparatively, that will he entirely new to any one; most of those, it will be found, are small words like conjunctions or prepositions, as they are seldom alike in different languages.” It would seem that, since the new language is so simple and a knowledge of it so easily acquired it may in time come into universal use at least for commercial purposes. Hawks and Story Books. “In earlier days the farmers’ boys used to run for the gun whenever a hawk was seen wheeling in the air, and many an innocent bird was slain be cause some hawks do now and then kill a chicken. But today we hope the farmers know better, and have taught their boys that most hawks do more The Golden Age for May 10, 1906. good than harm, and that only a few kinds are the farmers’ enemies. There was a time not so many years ago, when it was considered by many parents a waste of time to read any but ‘serious books,’ and all story-books were frowned upon. Even when Sir Walter Scott was writing his wonderful Waverly Novels, one reason he had for concealing his authorship was the fear that his story-writing would be thought undig nified. Today it has been learned that among sto ries, as among hawks, there are the harmful and the helpful kind. Yet still there are some traces of the old feeling,- and some children are constantly ad vised to choose the ‘serious books’ or ‘solid read ing’ only. A story told of himself by a historian will shed some light on this question. He said that after he had tried for some years to acquaint himself with life in Byzantium, he could acquire only the vaguest idea of it from the his torians, but when he read Scott’s ‘Count Robert of Paris’ the period seemed to come at once to life in his mind. So much for a good story-writer as compared to historians with less imagination.”—St. Nicholas. Some “solid reading” is of course necessary even for boys and girls; besides “serious books” are not all dull and uninteresting. Some histories, biographies, travels, etc., are as fascinating as any story-book. Still it is well to have variety and 1 am glad that so many good writers are putting their best work in stories for young people. Many of these stories are altogether delightful and I do not wonder that the boys and girls like them. I hope we shall continue to have a great number of them. But, young friends, don’t let the story-books crowd out the “solid reading” altogether. L. T. H. With Correspondents. Dear Editor: Will you please print this letter? It is my first letter. My subject is The Average Farmer. Farmers are the backbone of the whole country. They have someties been looked upon as a lower class of people, but that was because most of the farmer boys who got an education rushed off to the cities. But now we have a mass of bright boys on the farms, and they are climbing to the top of the hill. 1 r'-R; Some of our men who have held high office were farmers; for an example, one of our governors was in the field binding wheat when he was elected. Farmers should have nice, comfortable homes, as well as those who live in cities. Some farmers think just because they are going to live on a farm they do not need an education; but this is not true. If we run large farms and keep machinery and other thing’s which are needed on a farm, we should have education. We should know the laws of the country, and how to vote for the best men to make good laws. The boys who expect to be farmers should con sider all these things and get an education, just the same as if they were going to follow any other busi ness. If they can go to college, they should study hard, then come home and settle down and make intelligent, industrious, honorable farmers. Yours truly, Tilden Ellington. Oxford, Ga. Dear Editor: I have been very much interested in The Young Southerner. The letters are, I think, good, and so is the poetry and other things on the page. I wish some one would write some good little stories for us, and also send some puzzles and games. I like very much to play nice games. I like both the city and country, the city for a home and the country to visit. There are many things of interest to be found in both. lam a member of a girls’ club. There are six of us and we are all about fourteen years of age (two are nearly fifteen). We call our club the Work and Play Club. We meet once a week and do some pretty fancy work. We always make- something useful, and each one tries to find out something new to teach the club. After we work a while, one of us reads aloud a 'nice little story or a pretty poem, then we sing a song and play games. Sincerely yours, A Club Member. Dear Friends: I want to write to the Young Southerner. My father takes The Golden Age, and we all enjoy reading it very much. I like The Aoung Southerner and the “Marvelous Light” the best of the Golden Age. We live in the country, and I love the trees, flow ers, fields and animals. We all are very sorry for the poor, homeless peo ple at San Francisco, but hope they will not suffer from sickness and hunger. The boys and girls’ letters are fine, but I hope the boys will not get ahead of the girls. I have written enough for this time, but hope the editor will have this short letter printed. I will close with all love to the little boys and girls that write for The Young Southerner. I am Your friend, Annie L. Thornton. . Columbus, Ga., R. F. D. No. 4. Dear Editor: I thought I would write to The Young Southerner and add another letter to the boys’ list. Igo to school. I am in the Fourth grade. I go to Sunday school every Sunday. My papa has been superintendent of the Baptist Sunday school for several years. Rev. L. T. Reed is our pastor, and I enjoy hearing him preach very much. We had a church rally the second Sunday in April. Mr. W. D. Upshaw was here, which added greatly to every one’s pleasure. I made him a promise that I would never smoke, chew or drink, and I am going to keep it. I have one sister. She goes to Monroe College. Hoping my letter won’t be thrown in the waste basket, I will close with all good wishes for The Young Southerner Yours very truly, Lithonia, Ga. George A. Coffey. A Drummer Boy. Tired from a long walk, which had just led through an old wood lot densely covered with a low’ growth of bushes and brambles, I sat down to rest. At my feet trickled a little brook, and opposite rose a gentle slope covered with hickories, seemingly an ideal place for birds. As I looked about, my eyes rested on a stump, and standing on it, though scarcely discernible on ac count of the blending of color was a cock partridge. The bird strutted about on the stump with droop ing wings, his fine tail spread and ruff raised, ap parently looking to see if he was observed. No one was looking, he concluded, and so he stood erect and preened himself. Then the woods re sounded with his drumming. He seemed to produce the sound by striking his wings against the side of his body. This, he did very slowly at first, then, after a short pause, he gradually increased the speed until the sound died in a continuous whirr. Ten consecutive times I saw this partridge drum, and every time he went through the same prelimi nary movements. All summer I thought of this persistent fellow, drumming on his stump to call a mate. Always there came the wish that the ruthless hunter would spare his life, and that he might secure a loving mate. Elf si a Space Jackson, in Ornithologist. L. T. H. 11