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10 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.