Newspaper Page Text
MARCH 29, t902
THE SUNNY SOUTH
SEVENTH PAGE
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In Woman’s Realm
Edited by Mrs
of Thought and Home
Mary E Bryan
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Talks on Timely Topics
OMKN have had tho right to
\ oto on scnool <im stions in
Ohio since ISO:;, but only
<i f«‘\v have uvailed them
selves of the privilege un
til lately. At present there
is a wonderful change. In
Cleveland a hot political
light is on for control of
the schools. The party
leaders are anxious that
women should vote. Both
parties have opened head
quarters for the women to
register. The democratic headquarters is
thus described by The 1-coder, a repub
lican organ:
“Th(» drawing room effect in politics is
the latest innovation in Cleveland. A
headquarters lilted up with Turkish rugs,
French plate glass mirrors, luxurious
couches, and rocking chairs, elaborate
hand-painted Japanese screens, i-hito
laundered curtains, palms and beautiful
flowers, was never included In the wild
est dream of an old school politician, but
the democratic women have such a head
quarters in the Caxton building.
"The rooms were formally opened with
vn afternoon reception which might prop
erly he called a social affair. During the
afternoon more than 100 democratic wom
en called and chatted for a few moments
over the work they have in hand to get
out the women’s vote for their party.
There was a flutter of sweet femininity
in the headquarters from 2 until 4
o’clock.”
The Plain Dealer, democrat, waxes elo
quent about the refinement and culture
of the ladies who have the matter in
chaige, their zeal and ability, the delight-
fid “atmosphere” of the rooms, etc. The
republican headquarters, which were
opened some time previous, are equally
luxurious. Each party h is large com
mittees of prominent women, the demo
crats having as honorary president Mrs.
Louisa Southworth, who it will be re
membered. has collected a suffrage peti
tion of 50.000 names. Their registration
lias not yet been announced. That at re
publican headquarters has reached 10,000
and it is expected that at least 3,000 more
will be added. The democrats say they
will have quite as many.
The New York Sun believes that this
marked “Interest <n voting on the part
of the Cleveland women answers the
question so often asked. “Would the ma
jority of worm n vote if the right of suf
frage were given them?” The cause of
the indifference of the mass of women to
the matter of voting is said to he their
knowledge that it is disapproved of by
men. In editorials, in public speeches
and private conversation the changes are
rung cn the sentence: "When the ma
jority of women are for the suffrage
men will give it to them. the burning
question is when will the masses of
women begin to show more inteies,.
The writer in The Sun says the answer
is easy. Just when they have the sanc
tion of men, and no sooner. Women in
the mass are not aggressive. They do
not like to brave public sentiment. They
are absorbed in their accustomed round
of work and pleasure; politics is an un
tried field, and unless they have encour
agement only those whose sense of duty
can overcome all obstacles will go into
il They are accustomed in a large meas
ure to look to men for leadership, and
bv instinct and by training to avoid an
tagonizing them. It is natural and right
thil they should wish to be agreeable
to'men, rather than disagreeable. They
have been led to believe that nothing is
n ..re abhorrent t> men than woman suf
frage. Therefore they do not entertain it,
or T ihev do they are careful men should
not know it. When the time comes, as
in the Cleveland fight, that men desire
women to vote, they will be amazed at
the thousands of women who will frank.x
in.it that they have only been waiting
this auspicious moment to declare thmr
own wish for it.
Gardens of Love, Friendship
Religion, etc
Gardening is now the favorite hobby
of women. Some of our American women
of means and taste have exquisite flower
a id landscape gardens in the French and
I... i; in stvles; but these have not as >ot
• arr'ild the flower garden fad to the ex
tent that it has been carried by their
English sisters. .
1 ,iv Warwick, far instance, has, at
her beautiful home. Easton Lodge, an old
world garden, a garden of sentiment, a
garden of friendship and a Shakespeare
5„. in the - id world garden glow
an the old-fashioned flowers in wild luxu
riance and beyond the closely-trimmed
of vow and arbor vitae are flower-
1,'ordered spaces in which sun dials mark
the passing hour and gorgeous peacocks
S 'In 'thesentim on t garden grow only the
flowers mentioned in famous love poems,
a d Those that are endeared to tho count-
* i, v sentimental associations. Each
of the flowering plants in the friendship
1 aL nave been planted ny some inti-
xTTte Wi. nls of l.adV Warwick and bears
a heart-shaped- silver label with the
name of the friend and the date of the
P Therc I * * * S are glorious lily and rose gardens
There a but the most beautiful
at Easton Lodge, but^^ ^ ^
£? S f'mone the home of Viscountess Fal-
W ' n th It is a perfect riot of roses-
tn °" t T 1 non mass of standard roses, climb-
^°down rC a Tain of tinted and perfumed
on the
T „*io River Dec. lias a unique rclig-
^Tgnrrlom In olden times tho grounds
1 ere "attached to a monastery, and in
U,e “Ad Saints" n iok of the garden grow
“IL flowers that have been named after
ho v mmi and women or in some way
associated with their lives.
MISS KATHERINE WILSON,
Daughter of General James H. Wilson,
who will represent the United States
army at the coronation of King Ed
ward VII of England.
She will accompany her father on
his diplomatic errand, and share with
him the honors. It will be remem
bered that Mrs. Wilson met a tragic
death two years ago, while General
Wilson was stationed in Cuba.
proposed
, -{he noted emotional aet-
asked for her views on
“Should women propose?”
an of her acquaintance who
to a man and been accepted
was a breadwinner whoso
rgy, capacity for hard work
ie main chance marked her
: S ghe was quick to recog-
,ant ability of the shy. re-
nho sat beside her at tho
ie table and she was impa-
ack of push. “He will let
n all his life unless I take
• phe said, and though she
was secretly in love with
ovelv little girl who sat
at the table, she mark >d
> r own, proposed to him.and
cd in pushing her husband
,nd of the financial, ladder,
re many rifts in the lute
Stic happiness. She was a
it woman, who thought hor
iable to be wasted on tho
small details of housekeeping and child
training. She had to keep in touch with
the world of literature, art and fashion,
she said, or where would her work be?
So it came about that the father was
the mother in that family. lie it was
who night and morning found time to
climb to the nursery—the ugliest, dullest,
barest room in the house, and leaving
dignity outside the door, kiss and hug and
romp with the three children, tell them
stories, receive their small confidences,
comfort them in their grievances, and.
later on. help them out in hard school
exorcises. In return lie was boundlessly
loved by the trio, particularly the oldest
girl, who. by some strange irony of fate,
greatly resembled the sweet girl whom
the man had loved.
The mother saw this perfect love and
understanding between father and chil
dren and it hurt and angered her. She
talked with a tone of bitterness at her
Sunday evening receptions of how much
her husband owed to her. “He never
would have reached his position.” she
said, "if he hadn't had me to lean upon
and push him. He’d have been plodding
along at a salary yet.”
And her husband, who had a touch of
chivalry about him. would answer with a
patient little smile:
“Yes, my dear, your courage and clev
erness have been a great assistance to
me.”
But when he was on his death bed and
to Clara Morris, a lifetime friend, lie
was speaking of his life as a failure, he
said concerning his marriage: “You
knew how it happened. You have thought
me weak, because I accepted her. You
cannot judge. A woman cannot under
stand what a man feels in such a posi
tion. I was young, inexperienced. I had
a great respect for women. When she
proposed to me I was so ashamed for
her that i could not have looked her in
the face until I had said yes.
“Well, J have done my best and so
has she. She is a good woman, clever
and capable. J have accomplished more
than I should have done without her.
But”—he sighed heavily—“what does it
all amount to—money, position, all?
Husks, husks! For eighteen years I have
hungered for the bread of life—which is
love.”
♦
What, East er Signifies to Man
The celebration of Easter—of how much
it is significant! It commemorates the
most stupendous event in the history of
humanity.
Before this event man had no assur
ance that he would live after death had
dropped its curtain on his brief existence
here. There is no reason to feel sure
that any of the prophets and sages of
the old Bible believed In a future exist
ence. There are no positive intimations
of such a belief in their writings. The
warnings they uttered, their threats of
evil and promises of good referred to Un
earthly life. Even the Decalogue, which
is the direct message of God to man. ut
tered amid the sol mn thunders of Spinal,
contained no word that pointed to a fu
ture life. The only promise attached to
a commandment was that "thy days may
be long in the land thy God giveth thee.”
As late as tiie advent of Christ the
vague dream that there might be a con
tinuation of life after death had not
crystallized into a belief. The Hebrews
listened incredulously to the Master when
He taught that the soul was immertal
and that in His Father's house were not
one. but many, mansions—different
spheres for the souls of mortals to in
habit. One of the most learned of the
Israelite rulers, urged by a longing to
know the truth, came secretly to Jesus
in- night to propound the momentous
question: “If a man die shall he live
again?”
The Greeks, with their great imagina
tion and subtle intuitions, had the misty
conception of Hades—a shadowy world—
"out ot time, out --f space”—in which the
spirits of the dead wandered as pale and
ioyless "shades.” This idea, like their
religion, was a poetic dream, rather than
a belief. A few high spirits among them,
like Socrates and n.ato. had earnest
thought about and longings for immor
tality, and from these flowered that pa
thetic hope of a future life expressed by
Socrates in his talk with his friends just
before he drank the fatal hemlock.
This hope of immortality was little rfiore
than a longing desire for a life that
could give the soul some knowledge of its
origin and its destiny. The universe was
n stupendous puzzle: human life and
death a prolonged mystery—the purpose
of our creation an unsolvable problem.
The black door of death was shut fast
against all human hope and speculation.
Then came the Christ and His three
years of wondrous teaching, ending in
the crucifixion and the resurrection. On
that Easter morning, two thousand years
ago. when, in the pale light of breaking
day, stood One, at the door of a tomb,
who’ said to the sorrowing Magdalen.
“Mary!” and. turning, she saw Him who
had died on the cross. On that morning
tho key of hope was given to man to
unlock the black door of death that had
barred out all aspirations after the Be
yond.
M'hether that Risen One, who forbade
Mary Magdalen to touch Him, was In
the fle s-h or a disembodied spirit in some
mvstie semblance of flesh—is a contro
verted point But It doe* not matter.
The problem had been solved: the haunt
ing question answered. If a man die, he
may live again. This life does not end
the soul's search for happiness and
knowledge. It shall know how to search
more wisely for happiness in a freer and
broader life. It shall have fuller oppor
tunities for finding out and knowing—for
drinking deeply from the vast sea of
knowledge into which it here has but
dipped a tiny cup.
To all the teachings of Christ—to the
great lesson of His life and the divine
lesson of Ills death the resurrection was
the supreme crown.
With each recurrent spring the miracle
of nature’s reviving from her winter
death symbolizes our own re-creation
j and gives thrilling answer to the ques
tion asked liy the Jewish ruler under
the stars of the. Syrian sky— "When a
man dies, shall he live again?”
♦
Three Books of Verse
Easter is the time for songs. A bird in
a budding peach tree below my window
has been singing to me all the morning
that the sunshine and the peach blooms
are "Sweet! Sweet! Sweet!” and now
that 1 look within J see on my table three
pretty books of songs, saying many glad
and some sad things about the world :. s
seen through poet eyes.
In a dainty little volume Margaret
Richard has told the story of “Three
Bells.” Rather she has made the bells
relate the stories, which they have done
with a quaint realism—the church bell,
that swinging above the old village
church, has seen so many pleasant, hu
morous and tragic sights; the dinner bell
that knows by heart all the domestic
dramas of the large household that gath
ered at its call; and the old cow bell that
related ils story of its brown-eyed, faith
ful comrade, her wanderings in daisied
meadows and by grass-liordered brooks—
the happy days when she was lovingly
cared for and the dark ones when her
old friends gone, and her usefulness out
lived, she was deprived of her bell and
turned put on the common.
The stories are full of interest, tho
sentiment sweet and pqro, the versa
flowing musically, and bearing many a
flower of thought find fancy. The price
of the little volume is 25 cents and the
author’s address is Columbia. S. C.
"Elk Hill and Other Rhymes” and
“Sonnets” are two books of verse by a
young Missouri poet. Will Ward Mitchell.
The work In these is unequal in quality.
Some of the poems are admirable; others
commonplace. But if the book had been
pruned to suit critics it would have lost
its variety and its frank, homely charm,
in theme and motif the author runs the
gamut from a rollicking “cake walk"
verse in dialect to a grave study of “Two
Women.” The prevailing spirit of the
book is a cheery and blithe one—the gay-
ety of youth and a kind, clean heart.
The sonnets are more carefully writ
ten and many of them show true poetie
feeling and insight. Mr. Mitchell has
brought out tive volumes of poems and
he has literally published them himself—
Since he has set the type, often—as he
says—out of his head alone, never having
taken a pen to the verses, which, consid
ering their accuracy as to rhyme and
measure, is really wonderful. The books
arc very neatly published, the price is 25
cents each, the author’s address is Hig-
ginsvillc. Mo. The following Easter poem
“Elk Hill” is a fair sample of his work:
Resurrection
“I am the resurrection and tho Life,”
And when the carol of rejoicing birds
Awakes the world,/ these well-beloved
words
Are voiced anew with deathless cadence
rifo.
The winter snow has left the graves of
those
Beloved, who no more answer to our
call.
How sad if death should put an end
to all!
Were there no resurrection of the rose!
But never fairer time than when the
breath
Of winter calms the bouyant glow of
spring.
And so we know eternal glories cling
To mortals resurrected after death.
With the Household
Women and the Home
Have you a band of little ones,
A cosy home in which to rest
A cozy home in which to rest
When daily tasks are through?
Then envy not the rich, the great;
Yours is a happier estate.
♦
HE ’talile—a dark mahogany
—had its rich polish set off
by lace-edged linen doilies—
square and oblong—one un
der each dish and a large
one in the center. The dec
oration was a silver fl a-
gree jardiniere, in which
was a quantity e f maiden
hair ferns, set around with
two rows of pink tulips, up
right and apparently grow
ing. The luncheon began
with grape fruit, cut in
halves crossways, the pi'th removed and a
! large strawberry plentifully powdered
I with sugar, put in its place. Next cams
! a pitcher of cream and glasses filled with
I molds of cereal surrounded by slices of
j banana. Then the chafing dish was
! brought in. from which soon emerged h it
1 shad roe served with cream sauce. The
! roe had been previously parboiled with a
; little vinegar, cloves and a bit of mace,
j The butter sauce was made by cooking
j three or four butter balls that “had been
rolled in flour, then adding a lifle lemon
| juice and parsley. The parboiled roe, if-
j ter being cut in pieces, was allowed to
i stew in this for five minutes,
i The next course was of whole eggs, as
paragus tips and wfliite sauce. The eggs
were cooked hard enough to remove shells
before serving. They were Stuck end
down in the sauce. with the tips all
around them, the green ends up. A bit of
melted butter was poured over each one
just before leaving the kitchen. This was
followed by sweetbreads and new pota
toes. the sweetbreads having been cooked
on skewers dYbr the fire, alternating with
thin slices of bacon. These had (hen
been plunged into hot fat and arranged
around a mound n,f new potatoes, cooked
in cream. The next course was a salad
made of lettuce, a few slic* s of Bermuda
onions and alligator pears with a French
dressing. Two of these pears were enough
for twelve. With the salad was served
delicate cheese wafers.
For the last course the table was cleared
of all debris, before a cafe mousse (coffee
moss) was served in tall, slender glasses,
topped with a foam of whipped, sweeten
ed cream, flavored with almonds. With
this came a big basket of crisp, ’tin*
crullers.
♦
Spring Costumes—How to Make Them
Economically
Very dainty are the styles shown this
month fur misses and children. The yoke
costume, with its endless variations, is
the prime favorite, and no wonder, for
besides its picturesquely trim appearance,
it offers to the economical mother a
chance to display her good taste and save
many dollars by using the materials on
hand f >r the various decorations. Odd
pieces of lace, braid, embroidery, velvet,
etc., that have been Upd aside front time
to time, are now !>r .'>ght forth and used
wi’th very satisfactory results.
The flounced skirt is also a boon to her,
as it can he evolved front smaller pieces
than the whole length skirts, and in mak
ing over dresses this Ts juite an advan
tage. By ush g Diamond dye-: the best
parts of two dresses of the same quality
can lie combined in one dress without
showing that they were originally two
colors. A few yards of velvet ribbon or
pretty braid to cover the joining of skirt
and flounce and to decorate the bertha,
and a dim > fer the Diamond dye is often
all 'the necessary expense for a pretty
dress.
A lace yoke, or one of the goods, trim
med with rows of narrow ribbon, alter
nating with briar stitching of Asiatic
twisted embroidery silk, is very pretty.
The bertha may also have the stitching
with the ribbon if desired.
Many fancy shapes are shown for the
bertha, some in points, other scalloped,
while some resemble a fancy sailor collar,
joining of vaist and yoke outlined with
joining of waiste and yoke outlined with
velvet ribbon. Some of these dresses fas
ten in front, some on the side and others
at the hack. A faded or otherwise injured
dress of the mother’s may lie colored with
Diamond dye and made over for the
young miss, securing a finer dress than is
usually purchased for growing children.
EXPERIENCE.
^ Household Letters
Is It Just a Fad?
I like our dear Mrs. Bryan. I remember
with the Household, to whom I now ex
tend the right hand of fellowship and
ask to he forgiven my sins of omission
and commission.
I like our dear Mrs. Bryan. I remember
old College Temple as an honored alma
mater. Also I knew Mrs. Gorman, then
Miss Clay, as the kindest, host of teach
ers, to whom we girls carried our trou
bles, sure of consolation and sympathy.
I • remember when Mrs. L. Virginia
French read the commencement poem on
“Women of Georgia” at College Temple;
that she thus characterized our Household
head:
“Bryan!—hers tho words ihat glisten;
Opal gems of sunlit rain!
S i much the woman, you may listen,
Heart throbs heating in her brain.
“She, uponTier pen has won
Hybla's honey, pure-distilled;
And from wine-vats of the sun
With bright nectar overrun,
Her urns of eloquence are filled!”
The “new thought” interests me, though
I confess my "thought” about it has been
that it is more or less one of the passing
"fads.” There may be more in It than
my philosophy has dreamed of To just
what state of perfection humanity may
he brought could our lives he pure and
our bodies sound through obeying moral
an hygienic law. it is imp issiblo to
know.
But there have always been those who
have endeavored to live up to a hijji
standard. We know that a strong, reso
lute mind, even in a weak body, may per
form wonders. Witness, Hon. Alexander
Stephens. His life was pure, his spirit
resolute, his vitality strong, ye’t he finally
succumbed to the frailty of his body. It
is hard to overcome t.he evils flesh Is
heir to and the natural inclination of the
flesh. It is hardly probable tha.t the con
summation predicted by “new thought”
disciples will be brought about by our
own efforts. Some higher power must aid
us before we can obtain glorified hu
manity.
As to our pedagogue sister’s query
whether we think poetry should be strick
en from the text-books, I say no. While
children enjoy prose stories, they seem
reqi'Yf .1 when they nave a lesson in poetry.
For declamations they almost invariably
choose virse. partly because rhyme and
measure find quicker place in the memory,
but also through an innalte love of the
spirit of poetry. I am sure there is not
too much poetry in the text-books of my
state (Alabama). I would be glad if they
contained more.
Mary Templeton has my sympathy in
her trials of moving and giving up her
old home. I hope she may be happy in
the new home to which she came under
such inauspicious circumstances.
W. A. I.
• ‘X-Ray” Enters With a Message From
the Sunrise Kingdom
Dear Editress Household Department: I
inclose a letter from Miss Lizzie Thomas,
formerly 'the Household head, now a mis
sionary teacher In Ja.pan. I would have
sent this before, but it has so happened
that I have seen very little of the grand
old “Sunny” in these latter days. For
merly, I occasionally ventured to join
the happy Household circle, but this was
in the old days when I had El Bonitz. Old
Boy and other masculines to keep me in
countenance. Now. T have heard that
under your administration “mere man” is
not encouraged to enter the precincts
sacred to the better 3tk1 brighter sex Is
this true or not?
If it be true, I will be pardoned for
entering his time as bearer of news—old
i.f date though it be—of one who is dear to
all the Household circle. I have not re
plied to her letter, because she gives no
address, save Hiroshina. Japan-—no
street, no number. I trust that you have
a fuller address and that through your
paper I can acknowledge the receipt of
her letter, while giving your householders
a fragrant bouquet from the Sunrise
Kingdom. Thanking you in advance and
with a hurried glance around for my old
friends—Firefly, Bonnie Sweet Bessie, et
aT., I am fraternally, X-RAY.
President Diaz, of Mexico, has sent to
Mrs. Roosevelt three pieces of exquisitely
drawn linen. The specimens are consider
ed the most beautiful that have ever
come to this Country.
Easter greeting to you,
dear friends! I am sure
you are rejoiced to hoar to
day from Miss Lizzie
Thomas, your erstwhile
hostess, now one of tne
noble missionary workers
in far Japan.
The letter is eight months
old, yet it seems to bring
freshly before us the dear
little woman in that alien
land—her work, her gentle
patience, her love and her
zeal. Tt is wonderful and pathetic to
hear how much good she has done with
that little money—$5S—sent by her House
hold friends to aid her work. Truly, every
pc nny fulfilled its mission. The letter was
kindly sent us by our Washington city
member, who veils his personality under
the unique nom—“X-Ray.” H e _ would
have sent it earlier, he said, but Hesitated
about entering the Household, even with
this message, as he had understood men
were strictly excluded under tho present
regeime.
In this ho is mistaken. We have several
men contributors to this department, and
we are always glad to hear from them.
It is good to have the masculine point of
view in the little discussions that engage
our members—discussions about matters
that concern men as well os women. In
deed, the men members of our circle seem
to ’ appreciate the Household letters an-1
their writers even more than do the la
dies themselves. As an instance, Samoth
has just sent us a complete list of the oid
Household members—not only their
“norns,” but their real names and the ad
dresses of each. How dal lie know? is
he clairvoyant? Any way, I thank hint
for his thoughtfulness in sending the
list. Romulus had each of the members
to figure by name in his imaginary re
ception to Mr. Kruger. Limited space
obliged the list to be cut short, much to
the grief of Romulus, who wished all to
know who they were.
W. A. I. and Tommye Stoekard—two
i new members whom we have with us to
day—are anxious to Know something more
concerning the “new thought. Ihej will
lead with interest "My Creed.” n compre
hensive talk by Juila Neely Finch, whicn
appears this week (or next) and has for
its motif the unfolding of the new ideal
about latent mental forces.
Marie, dear, I don't think you have ever
been in love, else you would know that a
girl usually idealizes their beloved one
into a hero, no matter how far short of
the hero standard he may really tali. By
the time Cupid’s fillet drops from her
eyes, womanly tenderness (which has al-
wavs a touch of the maternal in it) has
come uppermost and she is still ready to—
"Be to his faults a little blind,
And to his virtures ever kind.”
With some women the gilding never
w< ars off the idol and they go on idealiz-
! ing quite commonplace men and are hap-
[ py in doing this, which is fortunate as
j these devoted ones are often least appre-
t elated.
I Bachelor Maid wishes to know of the
j Household if they do not think, the tinn-s
have grown more propitious for platonic
affection. For my part, I have my doubts,
little “maid.” There is a deal of un
suspected out explosive gunpowder sprin
kled along the flowery ! ath of Platonic
affection. There are exceptional instances
(as I s;dd in a recent Timely Talk) where
eli se comradeship and sympathy may ex
ist without risk between two young peo
ple of the opposite sex; and when this
is possible tt is a beautiful and helpful
relation. What do you think about it.
friends?
“The Edgefield Ghost!” The tw'o words
make the years roll backward to the days
when my mother read to me about the
wonderful spook from the files of a news
paper which had given sensational ac
counts of the ghost’s performance week
after week. The mystery was never ex
plained, nor has the mystery of that
noted “haunt” in Tennessee, to accounts
of which The New York Herald gave up a
page a few years ago, a wicked spirit that
was said to have mocked the preachers,
spoiled the dinners and broke up the wed
dings in a sorely tried household. If all
the spirits were as lovely and benificent
as the one of which “Old Man” tells the
Household, they would lie welcomed as
God’s messengers indeed.
Mrs. Sylvia Gail Ward’s story of her
first Easter in a dark corner of Florida is
instinct with the sense of humor that was
seen in her little sketch about “How the
Baby Lost and Found Herseif,” which
was written for the Household, but
strayed somehow into The Constitution,
losing its signature on the way. Humor
gives spice also to the realistic little story
of “Cap’n” by a new contributor, which
we hope may find room in the Household
this week.
I am sending to all the members of
the Household whose address I have—
ala ut fifty in number—a little Easter card
as a token -if appreciation for their inter
est in this department, and of the friend
ship and good wishes of your
MATER.
♦-
The Edgefield Ghost
T was interested in Detective’s letter
about “Alabama spooks” and would like
to relate an old ghost story, the mys
tery of which was never solved. Many
years ago a Mr. Burnette lived a few
miles from the little town of Edgefield.
My parents knew the Burnette family
quite woli. and tho story I am going to
tell is often republished in the Edgefield
paper. One afternoon the Burnette famiiv
were sitting on the piazza enjoying the
evening breeze. They heard some one
coming up the l ire whistling “Is It Boh
Jones.” Mr. Burnette remarked “He’s go
ing ’pdssum hunting with the boys to
night, but blamed if I can see him,” he
added as the whistling came nearer. The
family were amazed and alarmed when
the invisible whistler whistled out, be
tween a whittle and a whisper, “Good
evening,” and then went upstairs, still
whistling gaylv. They could toll where
the intruder was hy the sound and it
Would talk to them between a whisper
anil whistle.
This went on day after day and the fam
ily, dreadfully worried, spoke of moving
away, but the ghost assured them that it
didn’t intend to harm them, and if they
moved it would go with them. People
flocked from far and near to talk to the
thing, and one man, a Baptist preach*r,
asked it if it knew Jesus Christ. To this
it would not reply and refused to speak to
him again. I suppose it was an evil spirit.
It stayed with the Burnette family a year
and left and was never heard of after
wards. Some people thought it was a ven
triloquist. hut Mr. Burnette declared fhat
a ventriloquist could nof have kept up
ihe continual noise that that ‘thing”
made night and day for a year. He said
he could hear it any time In the night
whistling and whispering. I don’t believe
in ghosts. I never saw nor heard one,
but I give you this story as ft was told
me hy my parents and as I have frequent
ly seen it in print. MARIE?.
Crossvil!e, S. C.
Let us Know More About Them
A newcomer to the iTouseVild would
like to tell the members how greatly she
enjoys their realistic litle stories and dis
cussions of current topics. Margaret
Richard, I too am interested in tel'lipathy.
I enjoyed your story about the old gen
tleman who declared, if he were courting
his wife again, he would use telapathy to
win her. T wish some of you would ex
plain telapathy a little more fully; also
the “new thought,” which excites my in
terest.
Well, spring has come at lust with its
sunshine and Balmy airs. All nature is
rejoicing; man alone not content. Is it
not true that—
“We phirk from the earth, the sea and
'the air,
Yet not all their treasures will silence our
care.”
If welcomed to the Household, I will
gladly come again, and tell you some
thing about the people and scenery of
our beautiful hut most caricatured state.
Your Arkansas friend,
TOMMY STOCKARD.
-*•
Ideal Heroes^None In Real Ufe
I have been “nimir-a ting.” as Bill Arp
says, on the question “Should women
vote?” and I have derided that I have as
many “rights” and duties as T can con
veniently manage. This mornfTg T chop
ped stove wood, cooked breakfast and
hoed my garden, and the day’s work is
not yet half done. No, I don’t think I
care to vote.
I see very little said in these days
about the southern riovelisT—Augusta
Evans Wilson. Yet her novels, particu
larly her novel heroes, were the idols of
so many southern girls. In her last hook,
“At the Mercy of Tiberius,” what a
grand man is Lennox Dunbar! T fell in
love with him In my early girlhood and
| turned up my nose at the commonplace
swains who paid me court, but T learned
as T grew older that grand and tender and
constant men like Mrs. Wilson’s heroes
do not exist on this mundane sphere. Dear
Julia Neeley Finch, do you think it pos
sible the “new thought” may evolve one?
If so. I’ll wait. MARIE.
♦
My only Supernatural Experience
Defective’s spook story brings irp an
incident that occurred when T was a mere
Boy and that influenced all my after life.
M.v mother was an earnest and active
Christian. Well informed in the scrip
tures, she was always prepa'red to give a
reason Tor her faith. One day a young
man called who was a member of her
Bible class. He had been reading Tom
Paine’s “Age of Reason.” and he began
to attack the Bible from Paine's stand
point. My mother defended it zealously.
I and a young cousin. Mabel, were inter
ested listeners. The discussion made a
different impression on our minds. My
cousin believed that mother was right. I
held to the opinion that the young man
had the best of T*ie argument. We re
newed our controversy between ourselves,
maintaining our individual views to the
end. At last Mabel said: “We cannot
agree If we argue all day Let us make
this contract. If I die first, I will appear
to you and you will know there is an
other life, ff you are first to die, you are
to return and let me know.
I agreed to this and we shook hands
upon it with the innocent confidence that
we would be able 'to keep our promise.
Mabel was a noble girl. I cannot now re
call a fault she had. Tn a few weeks she
unexpectedly passed out of this life jnto
the “great unknown.” One night, short
ly after the sad event, I sat atone in my
ri.om. The lights were all out. the room
was in darkness, every other occupant of
the house was asleep. As I sat, motion
less but wakeful, I suddenly became in
tensely aware that some one was ap
proaching the house. In another second
the room became filled with a soft, mellow
light that permited every object to he
visible. Strange to say, I was neither sur
prised nor frightened. Nor was I alarmed
at what followed. Soon after the room
became light the door opened noiselessly
and there stood Mabel. She was more
BeautiTul than she had been in life, a soft,
white raiment, wholly unlike her grave
clothes, seemed to cling lightly to her
form. Her face shone with happiness and
as she looked at me her eyes and her
smile said as plainly as words:
“Now, cousin, you know ffiere is another
life: there is a heaven: meet me there.”
For one moment I saiw her thus then
the light faded, the room was dark, the
vision gone. I called my mother. We
searched the house and could find noth
ing: examined the doors and f uind them
fastened as they had been when mother
retired.
What was this apparition? Was it an
optic illusion? It might have been. Was
i't a dream? Hardly. I feel sure I was
awake. I am no believer in ghosts—aim
lessly walking specters—but whatever this
vision was it had a strong and salutory
effect on my whole life, convincing me
that there is another existence, another
and a happier place of abode for the soul.
THE OLD MAN.
Cardiff, Ala.
♦
Letter From Miss Lizzie Thomas
In Japan
Many of the memhers of the Household
must have thought that I might at Fast
acknowledge the money they so kindly
sent me to aid the missionary work in
Japan. The money came t’o me In Jan
uary. 1051. and after that time I had a
long illness—overwork, the doctors said,
hut I believe the illness was providential—
that God had a special work for me to
do. Of this I will tell you some other
time. Now, I wish you to know how your
contribution of $58 was used, the good it
•has done and will do.
Already It has paid for a dozen nature
readers, which could Shot he bought here.
I rent these books to the girls at 10
cents a school year. Among the children
who entered school was one from the free
kindergarten who looked starved. The
fund you sent has given her a dinner with
the hoarders every day and she looks like
another child.
There was a Christian girl who wanted
II he a t -acher. The governor would give
her board, clothes and tuition, hut would
not allow her to teach Christianity, so she
prefers to come here where we can only
furnish board and tuition. Her mother,
who is a Chrstlan, gives her the clothes.
This alone will cost $36 a year, and it
takes two years. You wonder how I will
manage about the rest. Well, in a few
letters I received last year I had $9 sent
mo from various sources. I applied this
to the support of a girl, whom I had taken
on faith. A Sunday schol class assumes
her support this year. I believe in things
being conducted on a sound financial
basis, but I also believe strongly in faith.
The other money will come.
Meantime the money on hand was not
idle. I have let it pay a hospital debt, and
help a sick girl buy eggs for her diet,
and it still continues 'to bless.
I would like to tel! you more of the
school and my work, hut until I get
stronger T must write short letters. Please
ask me some questions. This is a land of
| paradoxes. Nothing illustrates this plain-
| er than the gentleness and vileness of the
j people. Though f have- not written to
| you before, r have taken your most time-
I ly and welcome contribution to our Fath-
| er’s footstool in earnest prayer many
j times. Hoping to he ir from v r u and
j thanking you "again, I am jours faith
fully, LIZZIE O. THOMAS.
Hiroshaina, Japan, June 13, 1001.
♦
■’Cap’n’’
He had been seen several times skulk
ing around the hack yard in the neigh
borhood of the fowl house—a gaunt, dis-
if-nutahlo specimen of the canine fam
ily.
Evidently he was aware of the dishorr-
oralileness of his intentions and that they
merited punishment, for he disappeared
like a streak of dingy lightning when ho
saw that he was observed. Vain, there
fore. was the hope that his career could
be stopped by a bullet; and he avoided
the steel trap with more than brut n-
| stinct. He kept up his quest for eggs
j with a persistence calculated to discour
age the hens and exasperate the house
wife who. every day, found the nests emp
ty with a tell-tale pile of egg sit. ils beside
them.
One day a neighbor—a fellow sufferer
from the “yaller dog’s’ ipp< tite f
fruit—ran over with a look of triumph on.
her comely face.
“I’Ve got it!" she announced. “I’ve hit
on a way to put an end to that dog’s
depredations. A little poison inserted in
an egg and a bit of shell pasted over
! tho hole will do the business for him.
j We’ll mark the egg so it will do nobody
any harm if it should fuij its mission.
! But I feel sure it won’t fail, and that
[ we needn’t hunt through th> cook book
to find recipes for making cake with ft w
eggs.”
Thus it was that the “yaller dog's”
doom was decided on. The sequel :3
best given in the words of the tall youth:
whose besetting sin is that h-- finds sport
in shooting the birds that are put here to
make the woods musical and save tha
fields from the ravages of insects.
“It was a bad day for game,” he said:
“cold and windy. I had bagged nothing
but a rabbit, and I ITad just climbed the
hill beyond the grave yard, thinking f
■ might scare up a bunch of partridges
! in the stubble field on the other side,
| when I suddenly came upon a wizened
'old darky standing : m2rsimmon
tree, knocking off the ripe persimmons
with a long corn stalk and putting them
carefully in a battered tin bucket.
“Hello, uncle!” I called out. “Going to
make persimmon beer?”
He took off his hat, revealing a baU
head with a narrow fringe of white
wo >1 around ;•►. and looking • at nr*,
with his bleared eyes, replied with a
chuckle:
"I'se gwine to eat ’em. marster; hut
I’se pickin’ ’em now mos'ly to tek my
mind off my ’fiiction.”
“Any trouble befallen you lately?”
“Who, me? Not me, zaokly; it's Cap’n,
my dog: an’ dat teches me pintedly, caze
me and Capn's been frien's a mighty ior.g
time ”
“What's the matter with your dog, un
cle?"
“I don’ know zaekly. but he’s mighty
low. Marster. would you min’ d
oie nigger de favor er lookin’ at Cap'n
and seein’ what you think mont ail him?”
I told him certainly 1 wouldn’t mind it.
and he led the wav to his half tumbl !
down cabin a little distance off. In a
corner of the big clay and stick chimney,
on a pile of old guano sacks, lay the
identical “suck-egg dorg” ag insi wh
I had heard so many dire threats made
lately. Evidently, he would e
eggs.
The old negro squatted down hy the
dog and patted its head.
“Cap n, look tip, Cap’n! Here’s young
master come to see you!”
“Why. uncle, don’t you see your dog
is dead?"
“So he is! To’ Cap'n! lie was d. b s’
frien' T ever had! He's ketched man;/ a
coon an’ possum for me in his young
days. Po' Cap’n. Well. I knowed sumpen
tad was gwine to inip’n wh n . it -j.
owl kep er hollerin’ dost to mj I
las’ night ntt-er I done drive it away onct
hy turnin’ my pocket wrong side out. I
said den some er do family gwine to die.
An’ dls mornin’ jos at daybreak I he r 1
Cap'n whinin’ and moanin’ tin' w'on T
got to him he was down and couldn't
get up. I sot in to doctorin’ him. I
made mullen leaf tea and poured it
down him and rub him iaig wid sperret3
turbentine and karsine iie. hut it never
done him a mite er good. Po’ Cap’n!”
“Don't you think he might have got a
dose of poison while he was prowling
around after eggs?”
“Who, him? No, salt. Who gwine pistrt
my dnrg? An’ Cap’n ain’t never suck no
aig. I raise dat dog; an’ I teached him
more manners an'"to suck aig-. 1 • , s , ,j
dat dog lie down right by my hin nes’
and never so much as smell de aig. No,
sab, it's my can'id ’pinion ’at dat dorg
was cunjered”—lowering his voice mys
teriously. “Dar's a yaller 'oman w'at
lives not so far f’om hyar, what wants
to marry me, an' w’en she sees I don’
speshily tek ter her, she nacherly try
harder to ’tract me. 'Bout er week ergo
dat ’oman fotch some tater pie ober hyar,
mekin’ like she mighty frien’ly, but I
spishun's ’bout dent lub powders, an' I
tell her I ain’t hongry now. I’ll eat de
pie Iiimeby, an’ w’en she gone I dig er h • ■
and put dat pie in it an bury ’em, ’caze
I know it chock full er lull powders. Nex
day, hyar she come, an’ w’en she see me
jis de same' she git mad fer she, bc-
caze I sadisfy wid jes Cap’n an' my two
grain’darters w'at wuck ober at Cunnel
Jeems Caperses. Den Cap'n he gin to
look poly film dat day.”
“Well, uncle, why didn't you take the
cunjer spell off of him?” I asked as
gravely as I could.
“Who, me? I ain’t no hoodoo nigger.
I knowed de onliest way to tek de cunjer
offum Cap'll was to marry dat ’oman
and git roun' her to tek it off.”
“Why didn't you marry her. then?”
“Shoo'” replied the antiquated lady-
killer in tones expressive of much con
tempt. “Dat 'oman too ole fer me. She
gwine on to forty year ole.”
“I suppose you are about seventy-
five.”
“Who. me? I uz 87 dis January gone.
I done had t’ree wives a'rtady tin’ I
cyamt lie boddered wid annudder one. An'
now I done los’ Cap’n! Hue come da
A’mighty to chastise me djf way, T
dtinno.” M. M. B.
Fairfax, S. C.