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She turned away. Her fragrant, wind
blown hair
Gleamed darkly golden in the yel
low dusk,
And all along the palpitating air
There ran the subtle, trailing rose's
musk.
A sound of rustling garments on the
grass
And she was gone, as passing breath
of May,
And darkness fell. I saw the last
beams pass
As if she drew with her the light
of day.
I never saw her more, and all the
years
Os waiting, longing, brought from
her no sign.
Motion Pictures.
The hue and cry for a street censor
ship of the motion picture shows
brought good results.
When moving picture theatres first
came into vogue, the small capital
necessary to start one and the hand
some profits accruing therefrom, caus
ed a rush into that field of amuse
ment. Many very objectionable films
were exhibited. Details of revolting
felonies were shown. As a result,
many children influenced by these pic
tures, were led to commit crime. A
furor of protest arose against these
theatres.
On account of these conditions, the
Board of Censorship was formed, con
sisting of representatives, both men
and women, from a number of civic
and philanthropic societies of New
York. At first, their plan was merely
to investigate local moving picture
theatres in New York City. They
found the exhibitors more than willing
to co-operate with them, as the suc
cess of their business depended upon
public approval.
Later, as the work grew, the board
got into touch with the manufactur
ers of films, and one company after
another agreed to submit all their
product of films to the censorship.
Both they and the exhibitors were will
ing to help pay the executive expenses
of the board.
It is frequently claimed that mo
tion pictures are the most wonderful
invention since printing. As printing
made literature universal, so motion
pictures are making the drama uni
versal. The finest plays, the most
dramatic stories may be brought with
in the reach of all.
Not only will the moving picture
of the future be powerful for amuse
ment, it will have a vast educative
work to perform. Current events, sci
ence, agriculture and travel may be
illustrated by means of motion pic
tures. They may be used, too, in
social work and reform. If, for in
stance, overcrowded and unsanitary
conditions in a city are to be correct
ed, a set of moving pictures bringing
directly before the people the deplor
able conditions are much more effec
tive than any amount of talking.
The Teacher’s Aid.
One of the most interesting of the
THE HOUSEHOLD
A DEPARTMENT OF EXPRESSION FOR THOSE WHO FEEL AND THINK
Department of MRS. MARY E. BRYAN.
RETURNED
CHAT
"Edison anecdotes” is that in which
he pgys such a tender compliment to
his mother, telling how, when the
teacher gave him the reputation of be
ing too stupid to learn anything, this
wise, understanding mother stood by
him and refuted all such slurs and
slanders, not only by indignantly de
nying them, but inspiring him to show
the mettle that was in him. Her in
sight caught a glimpse of the wonder
working spirit she had to deal with.
Sh e believed in the boy and he jus
tified her faith in him.
With his own experience in mind,
no doubt, Thomas Edison believes
that in time moving pictures will
largely take the place of textbooks
in education. He is working earnestly
to introduce them into the schools of
his own town, Orange, New Jersey.
The criticism has been made that the
instruction in our public schools is
too abstract —that it neglects the ap
peal to dramatic interest which would
make its teaching so much more ef
fectual. This, the moving picture will
supply. Through it, the pupils will
realize the connection between their
studies and human life. Geography,
history, manufactures will live before
their eyes.
Many churches in large cities are al
ready equipped with motion picture
apparatus for illustrating sermons and
Sunday school lessons. What could
be more appealing than some of the
splendid Bible stories shown in life
and motion? Moving pictures are es
pecially effective in showing the work
and needs in mission fields, both for
eign and domestic.
Onslought on Pool Rooms.
It is now high time to wage a cru
sade against the pool peistilence.
Mother’s Magazine for August sounds
the charge in an illuminating article
prepared by Herman F. Schuettler,
assistant superintendent of police, Chi
cago. He says:
“The police of all the important
cities have had confession after con
fession from young criminals who
stated that their downfall started in
the pool room. These confessions
have been published, but fathers,
mothers, and social organizations have
continued to tolerate the evil, have
THE GOLDEN AGE FOR JULY 31, 1913
And yet with ardent vows and rain
ing tears
She had declared her heart and soul
were mine.
Last night she came —came to me in
a dream,
And all her love rushed back a thou
sand-fold.
Her soul, resplendent as the morn’s
first beam,
Turned all love’s dross and ashes
into gold.
And when I woke, so vivid did it seem
I still could feel her radiance on me
shed.
She had returned to me! It was no
dream!
I knew before they told me she was
dead!
—Will Lisenbee, in Ainslee’s.
failed to see what it was breeding in
the boy.
The ordinary game of bill ards or
pool well played under proper condi
tions tests the nerves, the eyes, the
judgment, in a helpful manner. Play
ed rightfully there cannot be a sin
gle human objection offered to these
games. Many homes might success
fully keep their Children from the
streets and worse places if small pool
or billiard tables were set up in them
and the older folks joined with the
younger in tests of skill.
But unfortunately, through the cun
ning of pool room keepers, their avar
ice ,and the indifference of the public
to the situation, the games as play
e 1 in these public places have devel
oped into an aggravated form of gam
bling and the associations for a boy
of fairly good tendencies are just
about as evil as they can be made.
Where the police catch a pool-room
keeper in a law violation, his license
can be revoked by. a mayor; but as
a rule these keepers keep their acts
just within the pale of the law and
if they are caught they slip from
punishment through technicalities
which no police in the world can over
come. I am, however, not taking the
police side of the proposition. I wish
to present the boy’s side as the po
lice see it.
The First Step.
Every country town has from one
to five pool rooms; every city has
from one hundred to a thousand, us
ually well located in prohibition and
residential districts. Archibald Brown,
fifteen years old son of respected
parents, knows nothing of the games,
but he drops into one of the playing
rooms of an evening. He can enter
the front door freely, for no liquor is
sold. He finds a large room filled
with gaming tables, where young and
old men are playing, while the air
is blue with tobacco and cigarette
smoke.
He pays five cents for th e use of a
cue during a game and is slowly
taught how to manipulate the balls.
He hears a good deal of “queer” con
versation, but most of the fellows he
meets seem very genial and glad to
welcome him. He spends ten or fif
teen cents during the evening and
goes home having had a new diver
sion. The next night and the next
he returns.
Second Step.
Gradually he discovers that through
the medium of “Kelly Pool,” and other
forms of the games, the players—not
the house —may gamble for consider
able sums of money. “Tournaments”
are arranged which are really blinds
so 1 ’ gambling. Archibald, of an even
ing, wins ten dollars and the money
comes to him so easily that he won
ders why one should work when gold
may be secured in a handier way.
He wins again, and gradually the in
terests of the pool room clouds his
mind to the extent that his capacity
for work decreases. Then he loses,
loses heavily, and to recoup, borrows
or steals —one or the other. The
rest of his fate is easily written. But
besides learning how treacherous is
gambling money, the boy receives oth
er education. The topics of conver
sation abQut the tables are rarely ele
vating. The characters of few. women
in the neighborhood are spared. The
opposite sex is spoken of lightly and
stories are freely told which ought
to be barred from every tongue. In
some rooms liquor is secretly served
and cigarette smoking is encouraged.
Gambling games with cards are also
privately introduced.
The idler, the loafer, and the boy
with vicious tendencies seek the pool
room because it is warm, and with
very little money he can be “some
body” there, and he is free from pub
lic espionage. In a prohibition dis
trict, if the police find it necessary
to round up suspicious characters,
their first raid will be upon the pool
rooms.
The Tilt Over.
Such games as are played in these
pool rooms do not encourage a boy
in working habits or in regularity
of living. He finds well-dressed boys
who are cunning or unscrupulous in
their playing making what seems to
him comfortable livings, from the ta
bles. Stool pigeons, decoys, all lure
him on to becoming as they are or
to ruining himself financially for their
benefit. Every rightful inspiration of
life is taken away from him by the
pool room atmosphere.
Now, as I have pictured the real
influence of the pool room upon the
average boy who patronizes it, let
me add that if Chicago, we will say,
vere to have twenty thousand police
men instead of four thousand, or if a
smaller city were to have two hundred
instead of twenty, the police with all
their power would not be able to
reach and eliminate the gravest evils
of the pool room. Make a police force
just as honest as human nature can
be. and yet there is much it cannot
accomplish.
The pool room evil —and it is grow
ing tremendously fast —ds to be reach
ed through a combination of powers,
the union of the home and the law.
If a home is made attractive for a
boy, if a boy’s legitimate pleasures are
provided for him there ,if he is not
compelled to sit around and twiddle
his thumbs for lack of something to
do, the pool room will have no power
over him. He may occasionally play
a game there but it will be merely
to play the game and not because he
is a victim of the environment.
Then the license of the pool room
keeper can be made so high that only
reputable men engage in the business.
Severe penalties leading to the per
emptory revocation of license can be
provided for the sale of liquor or
the permitting of any games that in
volve a gambling stake. It is also
possible for any community to pass
an ordinance forbidding boys under
the age of eighteen or twenty-one
from engaging in any pool room sport
and heavily penalizing the proprietor
who violates the law in this respect.
Give the boy home resources of
sport that harmonize with his nature
and punish the pool room keeper who
tempts him to fall, and the present
evil is ended.
“My father has lost everything!”
Exclaimed distracted Sue.
As Herbert rose to go, he said,
“Oh, no, he still has you!”
—June Lippincott’s.