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THE
*S! JS •'
*S||ETY IN
VOLUML TWO
NUMEEE SEVENTEEN.
WHAT WE THINK OF WHAT WE SEE
A gentleman of Bloomington, Illinois, has recently
received a letter from a woman in lowa, as fol
lows: “You will be surprised to hear from me
and perhaps more so when you read this, but when
you lived in Homer and across the street from me,
you had a good many chickens. A couple of them
persisted in getting into my garden and destroying
ray tomatoes. I thought that I would fix them, and
I took off their heads. Although this was a num
ber of years ago, I have never forgotten it, and
every little while those chickens come up before
me and I feel that I did wrong. As I am trying
to live right and a life that will please God, I
want to pay you for those chickens and ask your
forgiveness. Find SI.OO enclosed.” We are at
some loss just how to classify this matter. If she
simply destroyed the bodies of the chickens after
removing their heads, this must be a “conscience
fund” episode, purely; but if she ate them, and they
were somewhat advanced in age, the impulse has
its origin somewhat lower down. It is impaired di
gestion instead of gnawing conscience. But we
never thought the ghosts of chickens walked be
fore. Had it been beef-steaks, we could under
stand. Under certain conditions they cannot be
forgotten.
* *
We view with alarm, etc., etc., the action of the
Women’s Auxiliary of the Anti-Tuberculosis League
in issuing an edict that a placard should be sus
pended in every home reading, “Don’t Kiss The
Baby.” There are some citizens of this favored
land who will read that simple announcement with
out realizing its tremendous importance. But they
are people who do not give the future and the hap
piness of our race and the stability of our institu
tions the proper thought and consideration. Then
there is another class of beings, wiser in their own
conceit than seven men who can render a reason,
commonly known as “bachelors,” who will pretend
to rejoice in being relieved from the obligation of
kissing the little angel of the home. But the pru
dent man can foresee that this issue goes deeper.
What means is there, so sure, so completely unerr
ing and reliable in arriving at a safe place in the
regard and approbation of one’s hostess as that of
taking the baby (or in the event of twins, the ba
bies) on one’s knee (or knees)? How can a com
ing or a parting guest acquit himself properly oth
erwise? He can praise his host’s auto or the host
ess' dog, but the kiss is the crown and glory of it
all. One can’t kiss an auto. In strict families the
dogs may also be listed" in the non-kissable class.
But the saddest fate of all is that of the candidate
in the rural districts. We sincerely trust that this
reform may not rapidly spread to the country where
hospitality still flourishes in its pristine purity and
flavor. When the time comes that a candidate can’t
ride up, take gum drops from his pocket and bestow
them with a kiss on the young hopeful, give a hand
shake to the father and earnestly praise the bis
cuits of the mother, the country will be far along
the road to decay. 11l fares such a land. Through
ATLANTA, GA, JUNE 13, 1907.
Sy A. E. RAMSAUR, Managing Editor.
such innovation the Empires of Greece r-ud Rome
probably began to totter. We are willing to com
promise; it may even be conceded that a guest
should be disinfected upon his arrival, but spare us
the sweet privilege of kissing the baby.
*
Mr. W. S. Witham, the prominent Georgia bank
er, was very careful, during the early boyhood of
his only son, W. S. Witham, Jr., to train him up
to habits of care in business dealings. He would
borrow the youngster’s savings, giving him a note
for the amount and pay him interest on the
same. On a certain occasion young Witham, then
about eight years old, became possessed of five
dollars. He placed a loan with his father, but
neglected to take the customary note. For some
reason, no record whatever was made of the trans
action. Some months later, when the son, in the
role of importunate creditor, approached his father,
demanding his moneys with interest, the entire
transaction was denied. Mr. Witham couldn’t re
call it at all. The youngster insisted that, the
money had been loaned and that it should be re
paid. Mr. Witham demanded some documentary
evidence and insisted that he must be “shown” in
black and white. At lunch that day the boy ap
pealed to his grandmother, from whom he had re
ceived the five dollars, and she promptly recalled
the transaction and vouched for the loan having
been made. Turning to the colored cook, he asked
her about it. She also remembered the entire deal
in minute detail. Whereupon, the budding finan
cier turned triumphantly to his father with: “There
now, Papa, you have it in black and white; pay
up!” Mr. Witham paid.
Following our suggestion rather diffidently made
in last week’s Golden Age, anent the trouble the
Atlanta Evangelical Ministers’ Conference has been
having in securing proper reports of its proceedings
in the secular press, the matter was on last Monday
taken under consideration and ways and means to
that end extensively discussed. It was proposed by
some members that reporters be excluded from the
meetings and that a committee of the ministers be
appointed to give out such information as to the
conclusions reached in various discussions, as was
considered desirable to be made public. Others op
posed this, feeling, perhaps, that such action would
antagonize the reporters and cause them to prepare
accounts even more misleading than formerly. Aft
er a discussion of the question a committee was ap
pointed to consider and report. Each local paper
contained a story of this meeting; the matter being
handled from different angles in each publication.
One paper carried the following headline: “Bap
tists Would Muzzle the Press.” That gives the
wrong impression to the public, we fear. As a
matter of truth, while Baptists are at times impul
sive and on occasion rush into what may be ill-con
sidered action, there is no set of folks on earth so
far from wanting to muzzle anything as they are.
They simply will not be muzzled themselves; and
they are too busy giving evidence that they are un
muzzled, to even think of preparing a muzzle for
anything or anybody. They believe in absolute and
unlimited freedom in the territory where muzzles
are popularly supposed to be applied. And going
further, we do not give credit for a moment to .the
statement that any one wants to muzzle the press.
What the ministers want is a good and accurate re
port of the conclusions reached in the discussions.
I f it should occur that there is some In tie friction
in the meeting and that brethren speak warmly unto
brethren, this should not be recalled. When finally
peace settles calmly down upon the scene, let the
newspapers tell of the happy situation as it then
exists without dragging in unimportant means
through which the end was attained. The whole
trouble lies in the fact that the reporters don’t
know how to express what they want to tell. They
don’t understand the terms in which theological
questions are expressed. They are a set of young
men who have grown up, beset upon”one side
by the buffets of this cruel world, and shielded on
the other by the dispensations of that wonderful
providence which doeth some mighty queer things.
They mean well; they should be borne with rather
than censured. They do the best they can with
their lights. We still have confidence in our for
mer suggestion as to the appointment of a special
reporter for this work, and that he should be ex
amined before he leaves, and improper information
carefully taken from him.
Out in Kansas City there is being builded a new
church which will be called the Roanoke Boule
vard Christian Church. The actual work of con
struction is being done entirely by ministers, almost
every Christian minister in the city assisting. Not
one of them is a carpenter, but they all know how
to saw* and drive nails. They arrive on the scene
early in the morning, take off their clerical gar
ments, don overalls, and fall to. They have em
ployed a regular carpenter to supervise the work,
so that when completed the structure will resemble,
in general outlines at least, a house. The female
members of the congregation assemble on the lot to
discuss church problems while the pastors are at
work, and at the noon hour serve a repast. In the
beginning it was feared that some embarrassment
would be caused by the hasty remarks of the ama
teur carpenters when they hammered their fingers
and when the saw refused to go straight through a
board, but an agreement has been reached whereby
any language apparently rude or harsh should be
regarded as intended in a Pickwickian sense merely,
and the user should be given a number of demerits,
the number to be determined by a graduated scale,
and said demerits to be worked off by extra hours.
The architecture of the building is in the style
of the early Pilgrim Fathers Renaissance, and when
completed post-card pictures of it can be obtained
at the usual prices.
TWO OOLLAES A YEAE.
FIVE CENTS A COPY.