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TT TT7 T T Z'A TTQTT T T /"A T TA Conducted by
fl JIL JljL v_Z O tv 11 Vz JU J_X Ada Louise “Bryan
A Department of "Expression Tor Those Who Teel and Think.
THE HILLS OF PEACE.
Beyond the surge of the shining river,
Where pain and sorrow and care shall cease,
Where our spirits freed, shall be joyous ever,
I look and behold the hills of peace.
On their towering heights there is light and splendor,
For they guard a land of sweet release
Where, after we pass life’s fitful fever,
Our souls shall rest on the hills of peace.
Beautiful hills, whose glorious summit
Is bathed in the light of the Savior’s face!
Beyond the gold of the sunset’s portal
Behold these fair bright hills of peace.
Hearts aweary, lives full of sadness,
Time will bring to all surcease,
Life will be changed to a dream of gladness,
When our feet shall stand on the hills of peace.
Belleview, Ga. MAY E. McMILLAN.
CHAT.
We have several new members to welcome today.
It is indeed a pleasure to greet Thomas Lockhart —
the sage of Missouri —who was one of the best
known and most interesting members of the Sunny
South Household.’ Mr. Lockhart contributes to a
number of journals, North and South, and has a
regular department in the Women’s Dally Paper of
St. Louis. He has published four books, written
by his hand, or, rather, his thumb and forefinger.
They are full of sunny philosophy and graphic life
pictures, and yet he is a physically helpless invalid,
who has lain for a score of years immovable In his
bed. It Is his marvelously vital spirit that won’t
let him stay shut in or complain of his lot. Success
and continued life and usefulness to Tom Lockhart.
His letter is crowded out this week.
S. T. P. writes well and convincingly about women
and politics: these two words in conjunction are
sure to be the signal for masculine sneers, news
paper ridicule and vigorous protests from women
that, indeed, they had not the slightest desire to
meddle with the political buzz-saw. How times have
changed! Now, some of the most prominent poli
ticians —statesmen, indeed —are insisting that women
should have the ballot, not onlv as a just measure,
but the one best calculated to purifv government
and straighten national affairs. Well, not many
women care to vote, but all women should Inform
themselves as to the movements of the government
under which they live and are taxed, and should
try to unlift men’s Ideas as to nubile dutv and re
sponsibility. I agree with S. T. P. most heartiilv.
“Hold up your heads: have opinions of your own.
and courage enough to express them.” savs Ten
nesseean. and one feels sure that he is just the
frank, independent man most women admire. I
am sure he doesn’t Intend to advise us to stick to
our onlnions if we should find they are wrong. No,
he would have us couraerennslv acknowledge anv
mistake, frame a new nninion and sneak that out.
too. “Say what you think today—in trnod. round
words, and if tomorrow finds you of a different onin
ion. sneak out that onininn nlainlv also.” savs Em
erson—nr words to that effect. I haven’t read Em
erson since my school davs.
Charlie Havwood asks If women are not tn blame
when men are rude to them or when they act
wickedly. Women are no doubt to blame for toler
ating weakness and Immorality in men. but men
claim to be the stronger sex. and thev should cer
tainly prove It by showing more moral Integrity.
How can a woman Inok un tn a man who has a
weak and wobbly back bone? Mothers should train
their boys to have as high standards of moral purity
as thev impress on their girls.
TTpcle Reuben Is a good match for Gwinnett Far
mer. There is a lot of truth In what he says about
the women of today, but what are you going to do
about it, Uncle Reuben? Women have taken a new
tack this twentieth century, and they’ll never be
got back in the old rut, I’m thinking. Mrs. Frank
Rowland informs us that the fifteenth of thfs month
is our editor’s birthday. He will no doubt receive
a shower of .congratulatory post cards on that day.
Mrs. Rowland relates amusingly how she once wrote
a girlish letter full of high-flown rhetoric to “Earn
est Willie” on his birthday, and had him to shake
The Golden Age for October 10, 1907.
his fist at her for so doing. Os course, the fist
was shaken playfully. Earnest Willis is a good
hand-shaker, but he never shakes his sist —in earnest
—at anything but the arch imps—“Licker” and
Lucifer. May McMillan’s Autumn Idyl is as lovely
as anything she has written, which is saying much;
always her verse has the heart-throb in it. It
also has to be saved until next week. Mr.
Wheeler, I will have to get you to build me a cottage
some day. I know just how I want it —cosy and
sunny—and big enough for me and —my friends
when they come to see me.
ADA LOUISE BRYAN.
Witb ®ur Correspondents
HAVE A LITTLE INDEPENDENCE.
No one more deserves the respect of men than
the independent thinker —the one who has ideas
of his own, and the courage to express these though
they differ from some other people’s views. I de
not mean by independent thinker the chronic ob
jector, who prides himself on always being in the
opposition, but men and women who think out life’s
problems for themselves, actuated by the wish tc
think aright, and in the direction to help their fe 1 ,
low-beings.
There is too much pandering to convention, cus
tom and fashion; too much inclination—particularly
among women —to follow the bell-wether sheep
though he may leap fences too high for them to
take. There are ladies who think they must follow
the fashions set by Mrs. Quality Hill, regardless of
expense or convenience. Such a woman, if married.,
will do her best to spread her John’s little SSOO
income over a thousand-dollar expenditure, that she
may move in her leader’s class, and John is made
to feel mean and unhappv because he has not pro
vided the luxuries and pleasures for his helpmate
that Mrs. Quality Hill’s wife enjovs. This is all
wrong. Quit slavishly trying to “follow my leader.”
Let the floors be uncarpeted, the walls show only
cheap but tasteful engravings, and your rooms only
plain furniture, so that a cheerful fire and a smiling
wife and daughter welcome the tired and often
worried bread-winner when he comes from his office,
shop or field. He who does the best he can. makes
the best of his circumstances, keeps his mind free
from subjection to the ideas of others —while having
a wholesome respect to public opinion—has treas
ures that time cannot destroy and a home, how
ever humble, where the canker of discontent cannot
come. The majority of us can have kind and loving
hearts, a clean and cheerful home and meet the
world about us bravely and kindly, making those
with whom we come in contact feel that association
is restful and good.
Tennessee. TENNESSEEAN.
* *
WOMEN AND POLITICS.
I wonder how Miss Bryan and the members of
the Household would like for us to discuss “Wo
man’s Interest in Politics.” I do not mean woman’s
suffrage specially, though the writers might discuss
that Question, too. Personally, I do not care for
woman’s suffrage. It seems to me that women do
not need more rights so much as they need to use
the rights that thev have —the right to be pure, true,
courageous, helpful, refined, sympathetic; to stand
for the ideal and sacred things of life.
But because a woman does not vote is no reason
whv she should not know something about politics.
Political Questions —the money system, the railroad
problem, the tariff, direct legislation, etc. —are im
portant only because they affect our every day liv
ing. And a woman ought to want to know some
thing about a svstem upon which the material well
being of herself and her family depends.
Because of her influence on the men of her fam
ily. a woman has an effect on politics even though
she herself cannot vote. If this influence is bad she
has failed to come up to her responsibility and
opportunity. She cannot make it good and intelli
gent unless she knows something about it. She
may hold up a high standard of honesty and up
rightness before her husband, her son or her brother,
but if they are honest and ignorant they are in
danger of becoming tools in the hands of political
schemers.
Politics, "as they Is,’’ are pretty corrupt. Some-
body is to blame for it. How are we to know who
it is if we never keep up with the doings of the
“powers that be”? A woman should show ,her
scorn and contempt for an officer who accepts a
bribe or betrays the trust that his constituency has
placed in him as quickly as she would for any other
kind of dishonesty. Did you know that, because
of your indifference, you are to blame for much of
the “graft” and other political evils of today?
It is not a good thing for any one to live in ig
norance and indifference concerning the vital things
around them. And in the broader sense of the
word, politics affects us in almost everything we
do. The wages we receive, the profit we make, the
prices we pay for everything we buy, the prices
we get for everything we sell, The schools
we attend or patronize, the condition of the streets,
roads and bridges over which we walk or ride, the
security of everything we own or get depends upon
politics—upon the way government is organized
and administered in our town, county, state or na
tion.
In the recent splendid prohibition victory in Geor
gia, women played an important part and they re,
ceived praise and credit for it, too. The railroads,
through the criminality an.d gross neglect of their
officials to provide safety appliances, good road
beds and sufficient working force, are killing al
most as many people and wrecking almost as many
homes every year as the liquor curse. Why
shouldn’t a woman be just as righteously indignant
when a railroad kills or ruins her husband, her son,
her father, her brother, her mother, sister or daugh
ter, for the sake of dividends as she is when the
saloon does the same thing for the same purpose?
Adel, Ga. S. T. P.
H It
ARE NOT WOMEN TO BLAME?
I have just been reading an article in a home
magazine warning women against men as though
they were prowling mad-dogs or savage beasts. Now
I don’t believe men are anything of the kind. Those
I have associated with are well behaved, well spoken,
ready to oblige and never presuming. I believe
if women would exercise good sense and treat men
with gentle courtesy and friendliness, tempered by
a little dignity, they would have no cause of com
plaint. Men are men—not angels by any means.
They are women’s best friends, and seldom, indeed,
does a man say detracting things about a woman un
less she gives him good cause to say them. Men
are capable of a fine, helpful kind of friendship
for women when they find them possessed of true
womanly qualities. Some women cannot be sat
isfied until a man is courting them, whether he is
in earnest or not. Their looks, actions and talk
are all a challenge to him to make love to them.
Instead of seeking to waken his esteem and admira
tion, they try to excite a lower emotion. Such a
craze for conquest and flirtation is the reason why
the friendship between men and women is looked
on with distrust, and why gossip and scandal so
often destroy woman’s reputation and peace of
mind. Let our women set higher standards of con
duct for themselves; let them appeal to men in a
nobler and more intelligent way, and we will have
less occasion to talk of men as though they were
beasts and warn women against them.
CHARLIE HAYWOOD.
It It
GADDING ABOUT, EATING “STORE-BOUGHT”
DINNERS, ETC.
Gwinnett Farmer, I am with you in everything
you have said in The Golden Age. .Times have
changed, sure; folks are not like they were when
I was growing up. We loved our homes in those
days, and stayed at them except Sundays, when we
went to church and dropped in to see our neigh
bors. But nowadays the young folks treat home
like it was a coaling station; they just touch it now
and then -to get a clean shirt, or a fresh starched
shirt waist, or to see how much eggs and butter
money there is in the cracked teapot, and borrow
it from pa and ma, forgetting to return it, of course.
As for the wives—the young ones especially—
they declare they’re not going to be tied down at
home. They find more business outside, what with
church fairs and society and club meetings and
receptions, than was ever heard of in my time. If
they don’t feel like cookin’ dinner and haven’t got