Newspaper Page Text
Georgia Cullings
Curtailed Items of Interest
Gathered at Random.
Athens to Have Carnival.
Athens will have a big carnival
6om e time during the month of Oc
tober. An enthusiastic meeting was
held Thursday night at the city hall,
at which it was determined to put
on the carnival this fall. It will be
given on a large scale, in keeping with
one of 1900, which was the best ever
given in the south.
* * *
Georgia Vets Meet November 12.
A subcommittee of the executive
committee at Augusta in charge-.of
the matter has selected Tuesday and
Wednesday, November 12 and 13, as
the dates for the 1907 reunion at Au
gusta of the Georgia United Confed
erate Veterans. The city is making
elaborate preparations for the enter
tainment of the veterans.
* * *
Many immigrants Coming.
Director of Immigration Jno. J. Betj
man said Friday that within thirty
days the first really considerable body
of foreign immigrants will be landed
in Georgia. Just how many are to
come and the exact date of their ar
rival, Mr. Betjman said he was not
ready to say, hut he announced that
there would be enough to prove to the
state that the immigrationists are in
earnest about bringing new citizens.
The steamer will land the immigrants
at Savannah, and from that port they
will be distributed through Georgia.
* * *
Salary Was Too Small.
State Entomologist R. I. Smith has
tendered his resignation to Commis
sioner of Agriculture Hudson to take
effect on October first. Professor Smith
leaves tlie service of the state to be
come professor of entomology and in
charge of the experiment station of the
North Carolina Agricultural and Me
chanical College at Raleigh, N. C. He
leaves because of the small salary paid
by this office.
An effort was made at the last ses
sion of the general assembly to have
it increased, but the effort failed.
* * *
Opposes Frat Organizations.
A neat publication, entitled The Fo
rum, has just been issued by the rep
resentatives of the non-fraternity or
ganization among the students of Mer
cer university and Emory college. The
purpose has been to inform new stu
dents regarding conditions at college
prior to their coming, and enlist them
in the ranks of the non-fraternity ele
ment where possible. Claiming that
non-fraternity principles are sinvPly
that every man shall have a chance
at the honors, students of Mercer,
Emory and Wake Forest, have con
tributed numbers of articles largely
setting forth their opposition to fra
ternities and the publication is now
being circulated.
* * *
Druggists Make Inquiries.
Druggists all over the state have
been eager and anxious to secure in
formation about the new prohibitory
narcotic drug law passed at the re
cent session of the general assembly.
More than 175 druggists in all parts
of the state have written Secretary of
State Philip Cook asking him as to
when the law goes into effect.
The law became effective on August
22 the day on which It. was approved
by the governor, this being specifical
ly provided in the act, After that date
any druggist selling cocaine, morphine
or similar drugs, except upon the pre
scripticn of a licensed physician, in
regular attendance on the case for
which t'ne drug was wanted is liable to
prosecution under the act.
Unlike the state prohibition law.
the effect of this act was not post
poned until January 1, hut made im
mediate.
* * *
Fulton tc Pay One-Tenth.
Fulton county, always the biggOo.
taxpayer of the «n e hundred ana ror
ty-five counties in the state, will ior
the year 1907 pay over one-tenth of
the state taxes paid on the returns
as they appear in the digest.
It has been figured out that wni
the state tax rata at tne highest point
allowed by law five mills, that Fulton
county will pay into the state on *‘ J, ‘
464,865, the sum of $367,324.32
The total amount to be col.ccted
from the entire state is $3,459,619 and
not $4,459,619, as reported. A Up
graphical eror made the amount fig
ure $4.459 619 where it should ha
been $3,459,619 and the .
. c rr -<907 on’v about v -45V
consequence "cr ‘ -
000, instead of $1,430,000 as the print
ed figures made it appear.
Fulton county has long led the state
in the matter of tax returns, and the
consequent payment of state taxes and
the increased amount of property re
turned for taxation and the higher tax
rate levied increases this lead.
* * *
Historic Landmark Passes.
With the removal of the county
property from Irwinville to Ocilla,
marks the passing of one of the most
interesting and historic places in south
Georgia.
Besides being the historic spot where
the late Jefferson Davis, President of
the southern confederacy, was captur
ed, Irwinville was one of the oldest
towns of the state. It was made the
county seat soon after the county of
Irwin was laid out in 1818, while that
county embraced all the territory from
the Ocmulgee river east to the Flint
and south to the Florida line.
At a time when the judges, lawyers
and ministers mads their circuit on
horseback, Irwinville was the scene of
many events that went toward the ma
king of the history of the state.
It is a noteworthy fact that the rec
ords of the county, since its organiza
tion S 9 years ago are practically com
plete, and they are very interesting,
nof only as curiosities, but valuable
contributions to the official records of
the state.
* * ♦
Jamestown Bills Paid.
All of the bills for the Georgia ex
hibit at the Jamestown exposition have
been paid, with the exception of that
for carriages used on Georgia day, to
the amount of S4OO and for flowers
used the same day to the sum of S2OO.
Commissioner of Agriculture Hud
son, who has just returned to Atlanta
from Jamestown, made this report to
the governor.
Commissioner Hudson stated that
while he was at the Georgia building
he came across the S3OO worth of
champagne, for which payment had
been refused, as it was claimed the
■wealthy water had not been ordered,
and directed that it be returned to the
wine agent.
The commissioner gave to the con
tractor, John Calligan & Co., a check
from the state for $3,710, which set
tles in full the indebtedness due on
the state building which is a replica
of the ancestral home of the presi
dent’s mother at Roswell. This includ
ed the SI,OOO bonus offered by the
commission to the contractor if he
would work day and night and have
the Georgia building complete by Geor
gia day.
The entire cost of the building was
approximately $13,500, a part of which
will be reimbursed by the sale of the
Georgia building, after the fair closes
KILLED BY AN ATTENDANT.
Asylum Authorities Responsible For Death
of Crazy Youth.
The climax to the legislative inves
tigation of Alabama's insane hospital
at Tuscaloosa was reach, d Thursday,
when Attorney Curry of that institu
tion admitted that young Hines, an
inmate of the asylum, who dLd inside
its walls some time ago, was killed in a
struggle with an attendant.
The father of Hl'.es, who is the
sheriff of Lauderdale county, says he
will prosecute every one and seek in
dictment and send them to jail.
DENTIST ATTACKED BY STUDENT.
Unexpected Effect of Gas Administered to
hull a Tooth.
While under the influence of gas
in a dentist s office in Washington,
preparatory to havir.g a tooth extract
ed, George W. Bowers, aged 28, jump
ed from the chair, and violently at
tacked Dr. R. B. Leonard, severely
beating and knocking him dowm. The
doctor reacheu icr a small hammer
nearby, and used it freely on Bowers’
head, causing a compound fracture of
the skull.
During 'the struggle Bowers’ wife
and a number of women patients were
thrown into a panic and took flight.
Bowers will recover.
ACTOR RICHARD MANSFIELD DEAD.
Best Known Theatrical Man in Americ a
Succumbs to Liver Trouble.
Richard Mansfield, the best known
actor on the American stage, passed
away Friday morning at his summer
residence, Seven Oaks, Ocean avenue,
New London, Conn.
Death was directly due to disease
of the liver, aggravated by complica
tions and was not .entirely unexpected,
ahheugh this fact had not been made
public.
vrhePui/o/r\
A SERMON “
©Y" THE RE'/~
, [R4VW£pENDEßs°]'i x^%'!l^'
Subject: The Church and Amuse
ments.
Brooklyn, N. Y.—Preaching at the
Irving Square Presbyterian Church.
Hamburg avenue and Weirfield
street, on the above theme, the Rev.
Ira Wemmell Henderson, pastor,
took as his text 1 John 2:17, “The
world passeth away, and the lust
thereof: but he that doeth the will of
God abideth forever.” He said:
Happiness is a universal human
longing. The search for it is a world
wide human characteristic. The
longing of living souls for that which
ministers to the satisfaction of the
noblest and most lasting of human
needs and desires is natural. God
created us to be happy. We were not
men did we not search for joy. Je
hovah meant us to live in the pos
session and exercise of all that is
peaceful and joyous and lovable. It
would be strange if we did not seek
to possess them. We are foolish if
we do not use them.
Not otherwise pleasure, or the sat
isfaction of lesser human desires arid
human needs, is a universal human
craving. As we long for those things
that are eternally and finally satis
fying, so do we long for those things
that are of immediate and of contem
poraneous value. And this craving
is natural. The desire is divinely
granted. It is not strange that we
want pleasure.
But happiness and pleasure are not
necessarily to be found in that (and
w r e shall deliberately circumscribe
the application of the word) which
we call amusement. Happiness may
be far from the heart that is amused.
Many a soul that is seared and heavy
with sorrow has been amused. But
amusement brings such soul no abid
ing joy and ministers no balm of
solace to heal their wouqds. Pleas
ure is not amusement. For a man
may find much pleasure outside of
that which in the common use and
acceptation of the term is called
amusement. Happiness is a matter,
at the base, of subjective satisfac
tion. Happiness is centrally a con
cern of the soul. Pleasure may con
serve happiness. But a man may be
well pleased and yet not be happy.
A man may be amused and find pleas
ure in the amusement. man
may be superlatively unhappy though
his face may be forced to smiles
through the power of amusement.
For amusement is a diversion, a
dissipation, an indication of inward
discontent. Happiness indicates con
tentment. The desire to be amused
is very nearly always an indication
of the incapacity of a man to achieve
hapifiness:
,The church expresses happiness in
the terms of eternity, of divinity, of
conscience. The happiness of man
is, in the mind of the Church of
Jesus Christ and in the light of His
truth, dependent upon its perdura
bility, its divineness, upon the clarity
of the conscience of the man who
possesses it. In the conception of
the church happiness is eternal, it is
the gift of God and a force that
propels man nearer to God; it can
not be enjoyed except the conscience
of men are void of the consciousness
of their unworthiness before God. A
man is not really happy unless his
soul is satisfied in an eternal fashion,
unless he has the joy and peace that
are the gift of God unto those who
love Him and who keep Elis command
ments as his innermost possession,
unless his mind and heart are certi
fied of his personal acceptability be
fore God.
The church expresses righteous
and worthy pleasure in the terms of
the conservation of that which is
eternal, the promotion of that which
is divine, the satisfaction of duty.
Any pleasure that does not augment
happiness is unworthy. That is to
say, that if our pleasures militate
against our growth in that which is
eternal and divine, if they dull our
consciousness of the imperatives of
the Almighty that are law and life
to the human soul, they are unright
eous.
Now', the Church measures amuse
ments by these same standards. She
asks us what our amusements do to
afford us a larger vision of the eter
nities, to increase our certainty of
the reality and of our self-possession
of divinity, to draw us into correct
relationships with God. By these
standards we have a right to meas
ure our amusements and by these
judgments they must stand or fall.
If they can meet these tests they may
remain steadfast and they will. If
they cannot be justified by them or
squared to them they will fall and
they ought to. For life is short.
Time advances. Opportunities come
and go. There is much to be done.
We must do it. We have little time
to waste. Our efforts must tend, be
they little or momentous, to the en
largement of humanity's comprehen
sion of those things that are eternal
and divine, if happiness lies in the
achievement of these graces we have
stipulated then we ought to be about
the Master’s business.
No country in the world needs the
white light of publicity and philos
ophy and of uncommon sense to glare
upon its amusements more than
America. For we are amusement
crazy. Our catch-penny, tinseled,
gaudy summer places of amusement
are evidence of our amusement fever.
Our theatres are jammed with peo
ple who want not to be compelled to
think or to be brought face to face
with reproductions of real life in
miniature. They go largely to be
amused. Our amusements are almost
wholly superficial. They minister to
the needs of the mind that is mo
mentarily surfeited, to the jaded
spirit. They are strictly temporal.
They are very nearly always inex
pressibly cheap and tawdry when we
sift them to the bottom. They are
unrelated to duty. For they are
primarily intended to aid us to forget
duty.
Of our multitude of amusements
we shall consider four: the card
table, the dance, the theatre, the
racetrack. And they are taken for
consideration, not because they are
per se evil, but because they have
become perverted, because they are
the means of entertainment for the
mighty majority of our population,
because there is wide difference of
opinion as to their morality and
propriety in the hands of Christian
men and women or of anybody else
to-day and under present social con
ditions
It is scarcely necessary for me to
say that a pack of cards in it*self is
not evil. It is far from my purpose
to insinuate that either the dance,
the theatre or the race is, under
proper and normal conditions, wick
ed. They become so, however, when
men control them. It is far from
my intention to assert that these
forms of amusement are incapable of
proper use and that the host of moral,
well-meaning Christian people who
indulge in them are not perfectly sin
cere. r have seen card games that,
were harmless, and horse-races that
were above reproach, and theatrical
performances that, with a little ref
ormation, could have been immacu
late. and dances in which it was per
fectly safe for young men and women
to glide through the mazes of the
waltz. But on the other hand, I am
painfully conscious that I became
disgusted with cards because of the
profanity, the unbridled vulgarity,
the total incapacity for self-control,
the trickery, the dishonesty, of those
who played the game. The question
ableness of most of the performances
upon the American stage make it
necessary for even a grown man who
possesses any remnants of self-re
spect to secure a theatrical Baedeker
before he attempts to go to see a
show. I have seen so many pure,
gentle, lovely girls (not in dance
halls, hut at the dances of approved
and conventioqal society of the best
type) locked in the embraces of lech
erous, villainous men whom they
would not allow within a yard of
them in the seclusion and privacy of
their own parlors, that I have passed
from wonder to disgust. Any one
who has ever taken a good, honest,
long look at the class of men who fre
quent the racetracks of a metropoli
tan district will be convinced, if he
never was before, that the average
of the devotees of the turf go to the
track least of all to see the “ponies
run.” If gambling was disallowed by
law at the tracks half the racing as
sociations of the country would go
out of business.
All these amusements are supplied
in some measure by church people.
All of them have been so perverted
that they have become stumbling
blocks to human souls. For they
have led many a man over the brink
of wretchedness into the depths of
despair. And these men have not
infrequently fallen into the meshes
of iniquity because of the ostensibly
harmless pastimes of Christian men
and women.
As an obsession it is paltry for me
to say that they are wholly evil. For
we are agreed that when they are al
lowed to dominate a life they are of
the devil. The question is, shall the
Church sanction them or shall she
ban them?
Let us look them over one by one.
When did a game of cards minister
to the enlargement of our conscious
ness of that which is divine and eter
nal? Or when did it increase our
sense of responsibility to the world or
God? Or when did the theatre or the
dance or the race? Seachingly,
honestly!
The truth is that the more we are
aware of divinity and eternity, the
more exalted our conception of the
demands of conscience, the les3 we
need these things and have time for
them. We find our happiness else
where; we secure our pleasure
through unquestionable channels.
We neither care nor need to be
amused. When I know that amuse
ments are stultifying the spiritual
efficiency of the people of God, when
I see the flagrant perversions of the
amusements of the day that exist,
then I am persuaded that the fathers
were right to condemn these things
with no uncertain sound. And I am
further convinced that it is not only
the duty of the Church to denounce
them, but also to transform and
purify them. I am certain that it i 3
our duty to divert the energies of
the multitude from following their
cheap amusements to the service of
Almighty God.
The Ideal is Attainable.
It is ours to keep on trying to do
God's will perfectly. Alone, we cer
tainly never can. How far towards
the golden goal He will sweep on oar
consecrated endeavors we may never
know. We cannot limit God. “Ail
things are possible to him that be
lieveth.” The ideal is no mirage,
no tantalizing illusion, no fatuous
“will-o’-the-wisp.” It is attainable;
else it would not be an ideal at all.
God’s Son once reached it. Some day
He may permit other sons to ciimb
the sunlit heights.—Herbert N. Be
vier.
We Shall Receive Strength.
It is a great deal easier to do that
which God gives us to do, no matter
how hard it is, than to face the re
sponsibility of not doing it. We have
abundant assurance that we shall re
ceive all the strength we need to per
form any duty God allots to us. —J
R. Miller.
THE SUNDAY SCHOOL.
INTERNATIONAL LESSON COM
ME NTS FOR SEPT. 8 BY THE
REV. I. \V. HENDERSON.
Subject: The Brazen Serpent, Num
bers 21:1-0—Golden Text, John
3:14, I.l—Memory Verse, 9
Commentary.
Doubting, trustless Israel is con
founded. When the Canaanitish king
hears that they are coming his way
he sets forth against the Israelites
and take 3 many of them prisoners.
Having no faith in God Israel falls
an easy victim to his prowess as a
warrior. The calamity sends Israel
back to God for consolation and for
comfort. Misfortune is the dynamic
that impels many a man and people
Godward. A trial of her unaided and
unenthused fighting ability displays
Israel’s weakness to herself. Strength
is found in communion with God.
Israel prays. And petition brings
power. Israel’s prayer is a confes
sion and a dedication. It is a confes
sion of human incapacity and of hu
man reliance on God. It is a dedica
tion of the divinely empowered mili
tary energy of Israel to the service of
God. All prayer ought to have these
elements. And all true prater will
effect results that are beneucial to
humanity and well pleasing to God,
lilpny a man who is battling with
little success might do wonders for
God if he ■would apply to God for
strength. Self-reliance that discounts
the power of God is egotism. Self
reliance that comes from ihe con
sciousness of God’s favor is glorious.
The effectiveness of each is illus
trated in some measure in the first
four verses in the lesson for the day.
The circumstances surrounding the
raising of the brazen serpent are sug
gestive. Thirty-eight years have
passed since the ten spies advised
against doing the will of God and
obeying the call of Jehovah implicit
ly. The years of wandering in the
wilderness are nearly over. Another
generation has grown to manhood.
God has cared for them all the years
in spite of their weakness and sin.*
And yet Israel has not gained that
spiritual consciousness that she
should possess. The way, though
short, becomes beset with difficulties.
And the people, discouraged with the
obstacles along the way, revile
against God and against Moses.
Moses had labored with them and for
them for nearly forty years of desert
wandering. God had fed .them. And
yet they forgot all that. They cursed
God. They cursed Moses. With
Canaan just in Light they looked back
through the long perspective of the
years of sorrow that they had
brought upon themselves, upon the
leeks and the garlic and the flesh
pots of Egypt. And, as always hap
pens, leaving their faith in God they
were assailed by worse terrors. The
serpents wrought havoc among them.
. The results of their sin brought
them back to their senses and to a
realization of the enormity of their
sin. They prayed Moses for aid. And
Moses prayed for them. God’s pa
tience went out to them and the fiery
serpent was given as a cure for their
ills and a sign of the interest and the
grace of God.
The method of salvation from the
serpents' bites was simple and ef
ficient. It is worthy of rote. Out of
the midst of their trouble Israel cried
unto God and He heard them. And
He afforded them a way of escape
from their afflictions. As soon as
they cried in sincerity and humble
ness with a sense of their own sin,
God answered them. His method of
relief was simple. They had but to
look upon the brazen serpent and
they were delivered. But they had
to look. The salvation became ef
fective when they accepted it. That
is to say, it became active when they
looked.
Not otherwise do we experience
salvation in the Christian economy.
Out of the depths of his gin and
shame man calls upon God for aid.
Christ holds Himself up as the gift
of God to the age for the healing of
the sins of the individual and of the
nations. But the salvation does not
become effective until the man looks
and accepts. And it becomes ef
fective then. The moment that a
man takes Christ as the active truth
of God in his life and renders himself
subject to the control of God as Ho
reveals Himself in the person of Jesus
Christ and mediates His truth to men
to-day through the person of the Holy
Spirit, that moment the man is a
saved man. His salvation begins
there. Then he is born anew. He
starts a new existence. He is a new
creature. He matures in another
sphere.
We are bitten with sin that is more
harmful than the bite of any serpent.
For the sin that destroys us is the
power that is able to confront God
and to utterly confound unaided man.
But even as the serpent of brass
saved the men who were poisoned
with the venom of the desert snakes
so the crucified Christ saver, us from
that body of the living death that
men call sin.
Israel always made a mistake when
she forgot God or attempted to pro
gress without him. And there is a les
son there for us. Many men to-day, as
we march toward better and diviner
things, are prone to curse God and
the better leaders of the time. Many
a philosophy of social regeneration
leaves God out of account entirely.
Religion as an active force is mini
mized. This is a mistake. The sur
est foundation of success is that
which is built upon the religious con
sciousness of a people. If we pro
ceed without God—that is to say,
without a proper religious motive—
we shall be bitten with the serpent.
