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6 [thecountryhojuel Women on the Farm Conducted By Mrs. IV. H. Felton. MH Illi li !!!»>• !»••!•»♦»♦ V Correspondence on borne topics Os 4 * subjects es esp-cial Interest to wo- 4 A men ts Invited Inquirfss or letters ♦ * should bs brief and clearly writtea ♦ * in Ink on one side of the sheet. ♦ + Write direct to Mrs W H Pel- ♦ < ton. Editor Hone Department Semi- ♦ * Weekly Journal. Cartersville. Ga. ♦ + No fequirias answered by malt ♦ lIIIIIimiIHHIHHIIHI Gen. Robert E. Lee. Os an the southern generate tn the Con federate struggle. It is agreed by friend and foe that General Lee. stood on the very topmost round of the ladder. He was. and Is. to my mind, a truly wreat man. When I recollect that he had a distinguished position in the United States army and left his honors and his hopes for a regular promotion to go with the southern army and the state of Vir ginia. It goes without saying that his mind and heart underwent a terrible struggle, but having given his allegiance to his native state, he never faltered in his devotion from first to last, from be ginning to end. He was as true to his people the night before Appomattox as be was In the hour of greatest victory as commander-'n chief. It was very Interesting, some years ago, to me to go through his long-time home at Arlington, to look at the places that were familiar to him in early manhood and up to the hour when he bade adieu to his beloved home forever, to see the various things that were his and hjs wife’s during that halcyon period of domestic bliss before the tocsin of war pealed over the southland, wheri they and their chil dren occupied one of the most distinguish ed places in society, and were the Inti mate friends and associates of the best people in the union. As I wandered through the parlors. In spected the dining room and stood on the porches I could tn memory fill these places with some of the noblest of the citizens of the republic on gala occasions, and none were greater than the splendid soldier who owned Arlington, and who was even greater in defeat and comparative poverty than he was during the affluent circum stances that attended his early life. But General Lee had in himself the ele ments of greatness. He was not dependent bn mon£y or position to make his name famous. When be passed away the whole south bowed in grief and strong men wept like they were his own children. Away back yonder In his boyhood he laid the foundation for clean living and upright conduct, and he simply grew and developed into a noble Christian patriot of the finest type and character. I am anxious that the young people who read The Semi-Weekly shall study a let ter that General Lee wrote to one of his own boys. It is perfect of its kind. It will be good reading for everybody's boy fifty years from now. Cut it out and paste It tn a safe place, because It will be good to read more than once. LETTER FROM GEN.LEE TO HIS SON. “My Dear Son: I am just in the act of leaving my home for New Mexico. My old regiment has been ordered to that dis tant region, and I must hasten to see that they are properly taken care of. I have but little to add in reply to your letters of March 36. 27 and 28. Tour letters breathe a true spirit of frankness; they hare given myself and your mother great pleasure. Tou must study to be frank with the world; frankness Is the child of hon esty and courage. Say what you mean to do on every occasion, and I take it for granted you mean to do right. If a friend asks a favor, you should grant it if it is , reasonable; if not. tell him plainly why you eannot; you will wrong him and wrong yourself by equivocations of any kind. Never do a wrong thing to make a friend or keep one; the man who requires you to do to is dearly bought at a sacri fice Deal kindly but firmly with your classmates; you will find it the policy which wears best. Above all. do not ap pear to others what you are not. It you have any fault to find with any one. tell him. not others, of what you complain; there is no more dangerous experiment than that of undertaking to be one thing before a man's face and another behind his back. We should live, act and say nothing to the Injury of any one. It is not only best as a matter of principle, but it is the path to peace and honor. "In regard to duty, let me. in conclu sion of this hasty letter. Inform you that nearly a hundred years ago there was a day of remarkable gloom and darkness— •till known as the dark day—a day when the light of the sun was slowly extinguish ed as if by an eclipse. The legislature of Connecticut was in • session, and as its members saw the sudden and unexpected darkness coming on they shared In the general awe and terror. It was supposed by many tnat the last day. the day of judgment, had come. Some one. tn the consternation of the hour, moved an ad journment. Then there arose an old Puri tan legislator. Davenport of Stamford.and said that if the last day had come, he de sired to be found at his place doing his duty, and therefore moved that candles be brought in so that the house could proceed with its .duty. There was quiet- wv-s- 9 No woman’s happi- s an i® her nature to love £SJS S& «%* ■"** and want them “i.TLT.h 8 : pore. The critical ordeel through which the expectant mother must pew, however, is so fraught with dread, pain, suffering and danger , ? r ° f ,“ 6111 her with •PPrehension and ho™.’ -oere .s no necessity for the reproduction of life to be either painful or dangerous. The use of Mother’s Friend so prepares the s" rem for remedy is always KBkjKB rii SB * /wOloOf*\s of women through _____ the trying crisis without suffering. jP - ® W a r Tke Bradfield Regulator Ca„ Atlanta. 6a. " Ba jv B ness tn that man's mind, the quietness of I heavenly wisdom and inflexible willing ness to obey present duty. Duty. then, is the sublimeet word in our language. You cannot do more, you should not wish to do less. Never let me or your mother wear one gray hair for any lack of duty on your part. Your affectionate father. "R. E. LEE." Soap Making Again. • By rising a little earlier this bright, evrisp Monday morning. I was able to store away nearly six gallons of good strong lye soap for coming uses in the winter time ahead of us. As I have been without either cook or housemaid nearly all the year. I had the work to do myself. As I made such good speed towards soap-making. I am tempted to tell our Country Home readers how I succeeded. The grease was clean, some of it old and dry. I set on three large-sized stove pots and put the grease in one only. I made potash lye In all three, and when the first pot full was covered an Inch thick in melted grease. I skimmed it off into another pot and so with the third, which consumed my present supply of soap-grease. Every pot was full when I set them off about noon, and as soon as the soap grew cold, I dipped it into the watting Jars. There was some salt in the rancled butter and refuse lard, enough to make the soap turn out in a firm, st! ffjelly, but it was perfect of its kind, and I felt quiet satisfied with my work. I like to haw a plentiful supply of home-made soap about the kitchen and for washing off floors, etc. I am a prodi gal with water, when I cook, and plenti ful with soap in dish washing, etc. I can tell whether dishes have been soap-washed in /the darkest night by the feel of them, and I have never found a way to clean dirty floors, kitchen uten sils and milk vessels without soap. Frequent scaldings are helpful, but soapy dish water does the preparatory work. „ . By the way, I have a recipe for wash ing clothes without rubbing, that some of our readers might like to try when help is almost impossible ate we are finding It at this time. Cut a bar of good store soap into small pieces, and then dissolve In five gallons of soft water. To this mixture add a tablespoonful of spirits of turpentine or of kerosene oil. (I put a little of both.) Soak the clothes over night, and boll them for an hour or longer in the mix ture. . ... Rinse the clothes in three waters, a lit tle bluing in the last one. The mixture appears to loosen the dirt and boll it out without rubbing. Good lye soap ts also good to use for rough washing. Note premium list In this Issue, make your selection and subscribe at once. • Poor King Edward. Now we are told that the new king. Queen Victoria’s successor. Is afflicted with the deadly throat trouble which has haunted and taken off his ancestors for generations. His eldest sister. Empress Frederick, of Germany, died with the disease some months back and her royal husband oc cupied the imperial throne of Germany less than ninety days, for be was dying with throat cancer when he ascended the throne a few years ago. It is one of the diseases which are hand ed down, inherited, a taint in the blood, a result of marriages with kin—a curse par ticularly that follows ambitious royalties, who intermarry so closely, producing de cay in strength and vitality among them selves. Poor King Edward! For forty years, maybe more, he has been heir apparent and heir presumptive to all the glories and gifts of the British crown, with no question of his title. But his mother held on year after year, while her son waited as patiently as he could for her place and power. He saw his young manhood pass away, his middle age likewise, and he came to the throne at last a grandfather, a weary man of years and sordid vanities, when the days of his prime were all gone for ever, and his son now is waiting to step into his shoes as soon as another royal funeral can be celebrated in London. And the cancer route is a certain one for kings as well as commoner clay. Just as the new king was making ready for the grandest coronation exercises ever known or carried out on this globe, can cel steps to the front and whispers: "You must go my way. I will come for you, and soen!” Painful, loathsome, deadly, incurable and insatiable disease—the cancer germ— has been working itself from the inside to the front all these years of waiting and making ready for this whisper and the end. The Ung has had several operations of late (a? we are told) several removals of cancer from the inside of his throat, to give him relief. His breathing gets to be bad, the doctor comes, the knife is brought out and the people shake dismal heads when some body asks: "How long?” Just so General Grant passed off the stage of action and later Senator Hill of Georgia, with throat caneer. When the knife is brought in to relieve pain the end is not far off. The cancer germ is then marching on the citadel of life with all outposts carried. The horizon draws in to the four walls of the death chamber. The watchers and the doctors take the expected places of heralds and messengers bearing royal tid ings of congratulation and proud acclaim from afar. Mourners go about the house in tearsand gloom and thus passeth the glory, the pomp and the vanity of earth's greatest expectations! May the poor king And rest and peace when the end comes. Wm. Campbell Dies at Thomasville. THOMASVILLE, Ga., Nov. 4.-Mr. Wil liam Campbell, a prominent citizen of this city, died last night after an illness of a few days. Mr. Campbell was for several years master of roadway of the Plant system at this place. He leaves one son and one daughter to mourn his loss. THE SEMI-WEEKLY JOURNAL, ATLANTA. GEORGIA, THURSDAY. NOVEMBER 7, 1901. Sam ffones Writes From the Lofty Peaks of the Blue Ridge a Napoleonic Silence he could carry WILKBBORO, N. C„ Oct. 8, 1901. To the Atlanta Journal: The past week I have been circu lating through the mountains of Ken tucky, east Tennessee, western Vir ginia and North Carolina. Surely a week's travel among the peaks of the Blue Ridge satisfies the desire one may have had to visit Switzerland. The beauty and grandeur of the scenery surpasses description. The autumn coloring on these mountains is more gorgeous and beautiful than a swarm of butterflies among the stars. Big Stone Gap, Va., is a beautiful little city among the hills, lovely for situa tion and vigorous in growth. A most splendid, cultured people make up the population. No finer bar in the state than the lawyers of Big Stone Gap. Their public buildings are a credit to a city of 25,000. London, Ky., the seat of Taylor’s government, where his legislature met, is another mountain town of many splendid people. My stay in those towns was most pleasant. Large au diences greeted me at the lectures. At Ix>ndon J lectured in the Bennett Training school building. God bless Miss Bell Bennett. She is the most sensible, generous, self sacrificing woman in the south, and her life and • character furnish a model. She is wise in her benefactions and many will rise up in later years to call her blessed. From there I,came to Asheville, N. C., the city of altitudes and pure water and air. Wondrous city, this. With more than 300 cases of typhoid fever now in the city, I was told. A scourge, a calamity has befallen them. That dread disease seems to laugh at alti tudes, pure water and crisp atmos phere. From Asheville to Wllksboro, N. C., the capital of the state of Wilkes county. Here apples grow and branuy flows. The county where preachers run still houses and mem bers drink. No saloons, but blind ti gers and wildcat stills furnish the famishing ones with apple jack and corn liquor. They defy the govern ment and make fun of state officials. Judges wink and solicitor generals drink. Sheriffs are as blind as the tigers and preachers dumb in most cases. Yet, withal, there are many cultured, splendid people in this coun ty, and things make for the better all the time. Some preachers in this county are made of stuff they once made martyrs of. Ground down by ’poverty, yet game as a lion. I lec tured and preached here and larger and more responsive audiences I sel- Hints On Soup Making, A student of the culinary art has this to aay of soup and soup-making: As surely as oysters and apple sauce on the bill of fare indicate the season, so surely the reappearance of the soup kettle in the kitchen tells that cool weather is at hand. Notwithstanding the tradition that with the French housewife rests the secret of the soup kettle, any woman with common sense and a fair knowledge of cooking may make this article of daily diet contribute not only to the pleasure and health of her family, but in its varie ties of ingredients and flavorings, may utilize it as a daily source of economy in the employment of leftovers. Invariably the housewife who has a rep utation for fine soups is the one who su pervises the food left from each meal, and sees that no bone, unless burned in the broiling; no scrap of meat, not the least bit of gravy and not a teaspoonful of veg etables are wasted. All these she uses in her soup kettle. This, indeed, is the Frenchwoman’s secret, and she helps it out with Judicious seasonings. Fresh meat will need to be purchased at least once*a week for the soup stock. For the purpose a piece of the shin of beef, with the bone which contains marrow; a knuckle of veal for additional gelatine and the cold meat and bones which -have been saved should all soak in cold water for half an hour or so, and then be brought very slowly to a simmer. When the meat is cooked to shreds and the knuckles fall apart it is time to remove the kettle. Many persons season the stock while it is cooking, but this practice has its disadvantages. .In the first place, vege table juices will cause it to sour much more readily; besides, once it has been seasoned it is impossible to vary it so de cidedly. Then, too, in the daily scaldings of the stock, which is necessary if the fat is removed from the top, much of the flavor is lost in steam. It is an excellent plan to fill stone crocks, each holding enough for one day’s supply, to let the cake of grease form upon them, and when they are entirely cold to cover them and place them in the refrigerator. Undisturb ed, and in a cool place, the stock will keep for two weeks. A level teaspoonful of salt and two or three whole peppers should be allowed for each quart of the liquid and should be added about an hour before the soup is removed from the fire. When vegeta bles are to be used for seasoning they should not be allowed to cook longer than they would naturally for any other purpose, as overcooking destroys their fla vor. A? a flavored stock is most conven ient in the preparations of gravies and made dishes, a portion should be seasoned and saved for this purpose. In addition to the herbs and usual vegetables, such as cqlery, parsley, turnip, carrot, onion, etc., a tftblespoonful or two of the small pep pers found now in most of the stores will oe thought an improvement by most peo ple. Two or three cloves and whole all- KU Many years ago there lived in this coun try a number of beavers who were just like those of the present day except that their tails were long and thin, like those of muskrats, instead of being large and flat as they are now. And the reason that the tails of the beaver folk became so changed, in shape is this: Even in those early days the beavers lived in fine houses which they built in ponds and streams, and in which they laid by a great store of food to last them through the winter when ice should chain up the water courses and keep the ani mals prisoners in their own homes. Os course they took good care to be snugly at home before the cold weather arrived, but once (and you shall hear how nearly they came to losing their lives through their carelessness) a party of Incautious young beavers went too far in search of some particularly desirable logs, and, to their dismay, found on returning to the stream which held their homes that its surface was covered with a thick coating of ice. They had been so hard at work over the logs that they had failed to notice the increasing cold, but now the unexpected sight of the ice sent a chill to their very hearts. Still they did not Intend to sit still and freeze, but set about their return as speedily as possible, hoping that some charitable relative had remembered their absence and kept a passage open by which they might return to their fine, warm houses. But, alas! when they reached the village of their people, the ice was solid as a rock and only the tops of the dome like houses rose above the glassy surface. The entrances were all far below near the bottom of the stream, and nowhere did sgSSg • - ;V dom see. These mountain ranges have furnished tp America some of the brainiest men that have come to the surface in the life of our country. I note another fact. These mountain counties in Virginie, Tennessee, Ken tucky and NorfOCarollna are most all Republican in politics, and most every Republican county is under lo cal option and most every Democratic county in these states are wet coun ties. Whisky is legally sold. Caleb Powers was found guilty again and sentenced to life imprisonment. While I was in eastern Kentucky I never met a Democrat but who re garded the sentence as just, nor did I meet a Republican but who thought the whole thing was a farce. Such is politics. A Republican politician indicted in a Democratic court stands no more chance in Kentucky than a cat stands at a dog show. I .frequently shake hands with myself and congratulate myself that I am neither a Democrat or Republican. But all in all, I admire these moun tain people. They have the stuff in them which if rightly treated will make grand men and women of them. They drink and cuss, many of them, but they won’t steal- They will pay their debts, as a rule. I am at Salisbury, N. C.. tonight and then Sumter, S. C., and Bruns wick, Ga. And as I turn my course homeward I begin, to run upon the | “Race Equality | | Is Impossible” I Governor Candler in reply to a tele gram from a New York newspaper has written a pointed letter regarding the education of the negro and equality be tween the Caucasian and African races. The message sent out asking the gov ernor for his views on this question is from the Hearst syndicate of newspa pers. - The following is the telegram received by the governor: NEW YORK. Nov. I.—Allen D. Candler, Governor of Georgia. Atlanta, Ga.: Mr. Hearst is getting up for his three papers, the New York Journal, the Chicago American, the Sam 'Francisco Examiner and papers of the Hearst syndicate throughout the country a symposium for this Sunday on .education of the negro. Will you kindly wife collect today your views as to whether the negro can be benefited by education and as to whether the men like Washington can lead them to the level of the white man. Has Washington’s meeting with Roosevelt helped .or injured the problem? How best to educate the negro? • C. J. MAR, The Hearst Syndicate. The governor replied as follows: "C. J. Mar, The Hearst Syndicate, New "York City: Rational education benefits any people of whatever race. What the negro needs most is moral education. The states in which he lives are providing reasonably well for his education in the text-books. Washington is doing good work for his race, but he cannot lead them up as a race to the level of the white man. The white man is the high est type of the human family; the negro the lowest. God has made no other race equQl to the Caucasian, and education cannot do that which God has failed to do. Individual members of the negro race will rise to the level of the white race, but the race, as a whole, never will. "The receiving of Washington by the president on terms of social equality will not affect the question in any way. If sensational newspapers had not made so much ado about it nobody would have thought or cared anything about it. . "A. D. CANDLER, spice are liked by some, but are frowned upon by others. One housekeeper claims that her soup is always the best when she has a baked apple or two to add to it. If a brown stock is wanted the meat and vegetables are fried in butter before going into the soup kettle. they find an openlng’by which they might enter. The poor beavers were in despair; the cold was steadily Increasing and chil ling them to the very marrow of their bones, and they felt that whatever they did was to be done 1 quickly or else they would die there in the bitter atmosphere within a few feet of their relatives and friends, who were doubtless at that very moment busily eating or taking long, cosy winter naps in their warm, comfortable houses. The unfortunate exiles made frantic ef forts to dig through the ice. but they found that it only wore out their toenails' and made their feet dreadfully sore, all to no purpose. Then they tried to dig their way through the top of one of the houses, but the frost had rendered the mud-plas tered sticks of which it was built as hard as stone; so they were obliged to aban don that idea also. They jumped up and down and banged with their tails on the tops of several of the houses, hoping to attract the attention of some of the in habitants, who might in some way aid them in effecting an entrance, but all their efforts seemed fruitless, and they were just about to resign themselves to their fate and lie down on the ice to die, waen the top of a partly ruined house, on which they had been jumping as a last resort, caved in with several of th£m. You may be sure that it did not take the freezing animals long to scramble through the opening and make their way by various under-water passages to their several homes, where, after a hearty meal, they at once settled down to sleep without disturbing any of their friends, who were one and all found wrapped in deep slumber. But the next spring, when the ice melted Atlanta papers and see that our leg islature is in session and the • bills they are introducing, etc. Go it, boys. But if you will take your governor’s advice and cut down pensions to needy indigent cases and the public school and one-half, you can then go home and I will be one to vote you the best legislature that ever assem bled in Georgia. And if you don’t do those two things I would not pay your salaries for all the balance you do enact. The wall of the taxpayers this winter is going to make cold chills run down the back of every politician in Georgia. Give us relief, gentlemen, or stay too drunk to work until your time is out. I note the papers are subsiding over Roosevelt and his colored folks din ing. But the world will move on and white will remain white and black will be black long after the president has been gathered to his fathers. We boast of living in the finest coun try God’s sun shines on. Then we kick at the guest sitting at another man’s table. Roosevelt dined the greatest negro on earth, and a negro who leads his race and leads the right. Now don’t any old woman jump on me and say I am for social equality, for I ain’t. But when a white man south sits down fend eats with a ne gro he will sit down on a tack every pop and wish he hadn’t. I suppose the president won’t do so any more and if he don’t let’s forgive him. I don’t believe in bearing mal ice. I find the corn crop short everywhere. Corn is going to be corn for twelve months to come, and happy is the man who has the crib full. I see now I will lose, nearly a million dollars on corn this year, by not having the corn to sell, and it’s so high. But we have the wheat and folks and stock can live and do well on wheat. Cotton will reach 10,000,000 bales, and if we can get 7 1-2 cents for It we won’t suffer. The country seems prosperous everywhere. Passengers fill the trains and freight trains one may see Sidetracked as we whirl by. We will have good times a year long er any way, I think, but by and by we will have hard times and woe uhto the fellow that’s head over heels in debt. He will wish he had never been born. But the fellow who owes nothing is o. k.. whether times are good or bad. Yours, S. P. JONES. P. B.—Begin meetings in Mobile the 7th of November, for 10 days or two weeks. We hope to see the Savannah meetings duplicated. S. P. J. Women Don't Want To Vote. It is a singular fact that men acknowl edge the justice of woman suffrage, but at the same time delude themselves Into believing that they are doing no injus tice to women by withholding from them that which they consider for themselves one of the most sacred rights of citizen ship, viz. the ballot. The Minneapolis Times says: “The Times desires to state in behalf of the men of the nation, that the prin cipal obstacle to the granting of women’s suffrage’ is in the disinclination on the part of the large majority of women to accept such grant. This being true, it would seem to be fair to acknowledge that masculine skirts are free from stain in Vhis regard.” This seems rather an excuse for defer ring Justice. In the first place how are we to Judge whether women want to vote or not until we have given them the op portunity? In the four enfranchised states the women vote as generally as the men and seem to enjoy it. If you don’t believe it. Just cry to take the ballot from them and see what will happen. If t!he women do not wish to vote and still do so front a sense of duty, they are the most con scientious beings on the face of the earth and are certain.y needed in governmental affairs. There have been more petitions pre sented to our legislative bodies asking that woman be given the uallot than all the other peutions combined. But why demand that a majority of women petition fbr the ballot when no such contest has ever been required of the various classes of men that have been enfranchised since this republic was formed? Originally on ly free-holders voted. Did the poor men unanimously petition for the franchise? Did a majority of the negroes in tfye south ask for the ballot? Have the majority of the Alaskan men asked for it? Have the various tribes of Indian men been enfran chised because the majority requested it? Did the majority of the Hawaiian men ex press a desire for it? Did a majority of the Porto Rican men insist upon being made voters? Is universal male suffrage provided for in the new Cuban constitu tion because a majority of tae men have petitioned for it? D d a majority of the native born Chinamen ask for rite ballot? Is there in the whole history of our gov ernment one—Just one—instance where any class of men have had the franchise bestowed upon them because a majority demanded it? Not in one single case has this been done, and yet legislators, politicians, editors, ministers, lawyers, dismiss toe plea of women for representa tion witn the Illogical remark: "When the majority ask for it they can have it.” No one has ever asked that these wo men who do not wish to vote be made to do so, we only ask that those women who do take an interest in the affairs of their country be allowed to express that inter est at the ballot box. This is simple jus tice, and V is always expedient to be just. ELNOR-- MONROE BABCOCK. and the village awoke, the beavers who had so' narrowly escaped death told the others all- that had befallen them. And then the chief of the beavers, an animal so old that his whiskers were gray with age, issued a proclamation in which he ordered all of his people to fasten wooden paddles to their tails, so that tn case of a similar occurrence they would be able to make enough noise to be heard by those below, who could easily break through the roof from within. And the beavers, obeying this order, soon found that these paddles were of the greatest assistance in building and plastering their houses; and gradually, through much exercise in using the wooden Implements, the shapes of their tails changed till they were large and flat, like the tails of beavers of the present time. FLORENCE A. EVANS. is wears out your clothes —e "'u month of ordinary wear is less than one dose oi wash-board wear. PEARLINE does away with the deadly wash-board rubbing—thus it saves wear, work, worry, and money. Can you doubt it’s economy? Millicyts use PEARL lNE—bright people. Educational Field | Conducted By Hon. M. B. Dennis || The Needs of the Rural Schools. "Democracy la a government by the common people and its perpetuity de pends upon the education of the masses rather than the classes. It is not as im portant for the few to receive-a superior education as it is for the many to re ceive a liberal one. As the masses begin and end their education in the common schools it is all important that these schools come first in the minds of the people and should be given every consid eration that the state and nation can af ford. • "While the common schools which are to be found in our towns and cities are on a permanent foundation, the rural school is on a foundation which may mean one thing today and something entirely different tomorrow, depending largely upon the teacher and community. And yet these rural schools are the places where the masses of our rural popula tion receive their education. While the colleges, universities, the normal schools, the town and city schools are making rapid progress and are forerunners of civilization, the rural school lingers on the threshold of progress.” Why is this true? There are several reasons for this condition of affairs but we will consider one or two only. In the first place, it is largely chargea ble to neglect. Visit the legislative halls while a session of the general assembly is in progress and mark what the leading educators are working for. The State university is not without representation whenever an important measure touching its interest is to come up. The State Normal is never wanting for advocates whenever this school is interested. The Technological is defended by able coun selors when its Interest is at stake. The Girls’ Normal and Industrial is never lacking in warm and influential friends when opportunity offers. Higher educa tion in almost every state is ably cham pioned when its interest is Involved. Like wise the city and town systems are ob jects of deep concern, and are general ly protected and provided for. And this active interest and intense solicitude are not confined to individuals; the leading newspapers are vociferous in their de mands for the higher institutions of learn ing. We would not be misunderstood. We are not fighting higher education, and its maintenance, even at the expense of the state; neither would we decry the ones working for its improvement. On the con trary we rather admire their interest and zeal. Would God the common schools of the country districts had in proportion as many ardent advocates to champion their cause! "Higher schools of learning have their place and educators who are la boring to advance them are doing a grand and noble work, but the time has come when the rural school should no longer be treated as a football; it should be given due consideration by all who are interest ed in the welfare of this republic. The ru ral school is a very sick child and it needs physicians—not Inexperienced physicians to practice upon it, for its criitcal con dition is the result of such, practice—but specialists, the beet the country affords." Who are working for legislation look ing to the improvement of rural schools? The state school commissioner makes a manly and persistent fight every year, but he stands alone and is often compelled to bear harsh and unjust criticism for do ing what he conceives, to be his duty. He has no help in these battles; no co workers; no advisors. With but one or two exceptions the newspapers are not at all outspoken. If they indulge in com ment or dare make suggestions in the least favorable, they are characterized by a conservatism so courteously refined not a ripple is produced. The army of teach ers seem to be criminally indifferent. The school officials seem to have been inocu lated with a narcotic as effective as death. The great mass of parents, forgetful of the sacred obligation resting upon them to train and educate their children to honorable, useful lives, are conspicuously reticent. In the next place, it is due to the un just war waged against public schools by a few who stand high in authority and in fluence. The cry of burdensome taxation is a popular wall, and In the hands of a jrily politician it can be made to wield a tremendous power. If there is a de ficit in the treasury, the public schools are responsible. If there is to be enacted any measure looking to smaller expen ditures the school fund becomes at once the object of attack. If there is charged any extravagance whatever In the ad ministration of public affairs, it is all laid at the door of the public schools, not withstanding the average salary paid ru ral school teachers in Georgia is not ex ceeding 1125 per annum, and the average amount paid for their supervision is only about MOO a year. Politicians pave their way into office with promises rich and plentiful for the uplifting of the public schools, only to change their minds when, under the pressure of hard times, the people cry out against high taxes. The man at home with large accumulations but no children to educate, and actuated by selfish motives will denounce the sys tem as burdensome, unjust, undemocrat ic and diabolical in the extreme; and strange to say, the first man to fall under the sway of his logic and believe as he believes is the poor fellow under the hill in a two-room log hut on rented land, with less than 825 worth of furniture, but a house teeming with children grow ing up in Ignorance as black and dense as Egyptian darkness. Opportunities to prepare his children for life’s duties are afforded him by the common school sys tem at a cost per aumn less than an or dinary month’s tuition that otherwise he could never hope for, but he is blind to them, and allows himself to be persuaded to believe the system a hydraheaded monster and the product of the brains of men whose purpose it is to curse the race of mankind and blast forever its hopes of prosperity- and happiness for both time and eternity. "In my Judgment, an educational cam paign similar to the political campaign of 1896, is needed in the rural districts. The people must be aroused to the needs of the rural school, and this cannot be accomplished until the rural school ts first in the minds of prominent educators.’ It will take firing of cannon and beating of drums to awaken the rural population, and then if the leading educators and oth ers will give their attention to the rural school, we feel sure that it can be placed upon a permanent foundation. But it will take an educational revival to do it. "You can talk about the little school house on the hill and laud its good work to the skies; but any person with com mon sense knows that the foundation of the present rural school system is a very poor one, if a foundation at all, and if the masses of the rural population are to begin and end their education in this school, they are not likely to become educated men or women. "Consolidation must come before the ru ral school will be on a souad basis. It will take’ a great effort on the part of all educators to bring this about; but when it has been accomplished and the rural school has been made equal to the town and city school, the universities, colle ges and normal schools will find the at tendance of rural students in the higher schools of learning much greater than it is today, for the consolidated or central ized rural school means the more favor able consideration and liberal support of the masses. This is the century of cen tralization. With the aid of the foremost educators of this state may it not be ap plied to the rural school! _, _ The Evils of Irregular Attendance. of the schools. Nothing tends more to greater enemy to combat, no more stub born obstacle to overcome, no more vital malady to feed upon its life, than the non attendance, or irregular attendance, of the children upon school. This is more or less true everywhere in the south, but es pecially so in the rural districts. It is simply alarming In its proportions in cer tain sections, and how to overcome it is one of the knotty and serious questions confronting educators today. It produces a condition of affairs that is bad, not only from the standpoint of the children— i the hope of the country—but from that of all true, progressive educators having in mind a purpose to increase the efficiency of the schools. Nothing tends more to create enemies to the system than does this condition; nothing invites so fully un friendly and unjust criticism. For example, the enrollment may be never so large, so full indeed as to include every child of school age, but if on ac count of irregular attendance the aver* age number of children attending regular ly and receiving the full benefit of the en tire term’s instruction should fall to or below one-half the enrollment we will hear it said, "The whole scheme is a failure and unworthy the confidence and supports of the people/’ The school term may be increased to nine or ten months, but if the average attendance is not unproved “the result does not justify the effort put forth.” The finest talent available may be employed as instructors in the schools, . but if the pitiable average is not aug mented “the increased outlay is not war ranted." "If the present educational op portunities are rejected and spurned by parents and children, why spend more money to improve them?” V These and similar expressions are con stantly heard, and while greatly exagger ated they contain no little truth. The evil effects of Irregular attendance upon school—not to mention non-attend-, ance at all—is simply fearful. Could the people at large be brought to comprehend its evils they certainly would labor to correct It. Let’s look at some of these evils. 1. It affects the teacher. It makes his i work more difficult and infinitely less sat isfactory. It places him where it is utter ly impossible for him to act with strict Justice to the pupils in the matter of grad ing and classification. He cannot do jus tice to the pupils in the matter of grad ing and classification. He cannot do jus tice to the children, the community or himself. It hampers him, embarrasses him, and, no doubt, harrasses him. 2. It affects the school work. It disor ganizes and makes the school more diffi cult to disciplines It interferes with the system of graduation and classification. It demoralizes and disjoints the entire in ternal machinery of the school and se riously impedes its healthy progress. 3. It affects the child. It lessens the child's regard for punctuality and regula rity and forms in him loose and careless habits relating to the demands of life. It encourages and fosters a disregard for good order and law, and engenders a dis position to be insubordlhate. 4. It affects the child's home. A girl or boy allowed to form such habits Will soon become a menace to the peace, happiness and good government of his or her home, and open rebellion will likely follow. 5. It affects the community. Just what the child is regarding his school duties and home duties will be when, as a re- • suit of his majority, he becomes a citi zen. If he is careless, negligent, insubor dinate and defiant in the one, he will bs so in the other. As is the boy, so will the man be. This is a law of nature, and only now and then can exceptions be found. Right along on this line I reproduce from the Canadian Educational Journal the following article on FORMATION OF HABITS. The character might be not Inaptly de scribed as the sum total of the personal t habits. As “the straw best shows how the wind blows,” so the ordinary, com paratively unimportant act of speech af fords a better guide to the real char acter than that which is studied and de liberate. In serious and critical cases the man has opportunity to take counsel with prudence. selflnterest or expediency. He takes into account what the distant es-; sects of his course of action may be,', what others may think or say of it. how it will affect his reputation and future prospects and governs himself according ly. But the words spoken and the things done on "the spur of the moment." the . perpetual succession of little actions which make up the bulk of every life, are more truly characteristic. They may j be regarded as the spontaneous outcome of what the man is in his own nature and training. Intellectual habits are of the essence of education. By repeated acts of rea soning. comparing, discriminating, etc., the process becomes easy, the power is developed and the habit established. This thinking habit is what chiefly distin guishes the truly educated from the un educated. The man to whom the exer cise of each faculty of mind has become easy through habit, brings all his powers of thought to bear instantaneously upon any matter of interest or importance, while he who has formed no such habit finds it laborious and fatiguing, if not impossible, to concentrate his mental forc es at will upon any object, however wor thy of attention. CASTOR IA Tor infants and. Children. The Kind Yon Han Always Bought THE KICKER. Kicking In the morning, kicking all the day, Kicking if he's busy, kicking at delay; Thus the chronic kicker fills his life with woes. Frowning, grumbling, wrangling, everywhere he goes. . , , ’ Nothing ever suits him, always finding fault. Every kind of pleasure he is sure to halt. Scowling at the children, growling at his wife. Turning peace and comfort into constant strife. Kicking if the weather happens to be dry. Kicking when the rain is tumbling from the sky, Kicking in the summer, heat has then no charm; Kicking in the winter, then he’d have it warn’-. Kicking every mealtime, glaring at the meat, Often he Is saying. ’'Nothing fit to eat;" Kicking when he's reading, grumbling at the light. Now and then denouncing everything in sight. Kicking In the morning, kicking all the day. Kicking In the evening, kicking should he pray. Kicking while he’s thinking, kicking when In bed— Wonder If he’ll keep on kicking when he’s dead. —Pittsburg Chronicle-Telegraph. For $l4O we will tend The Semi* Weekly one year and the Five Vaseline Toilet Articles and any one of the premium papers offered with The Seml-Wsekly at SI.OO. Thia Is the greatest offer ever made and you should take advantaoe o» m —**hout