Newspaper Page Text
Banks County Gazette.
VOL I.—NO. 50.
An Appeal to the Woman of
Banks County.
When I read the communication
of Rev. W. A. Harris on the question
of probition, how earnestly I did
wish that the women of our county
could, for just one day, be allowed
to have the quiet seclusion of their
homes, where every true wife and
mother sits a crowned queen in her
noble womanhood, and be allowed to
cast her vote against this evil that
has caused her such bitter woe.
Far be it from me to advocate
“Woman sufferage.” We women of
our beautiful south land ask no higher
destiny than to be the guiding star of
home, but, on this question, woman
should have a voice, and not be com
pelled to stand by and see her loved
ones going down under the dark wave
of intemperance and have no power
to stay the surging billows until all is
lost.
But we cannot vote, and so we
must do what we can to aid in the
prohibition movement. Let even
wife and mother use her influence
with husband and sons, and urge
them, as they value their own good
name and the future good of all they
hold dear, to vote against this accurs
ed poison. Let our daily prayer be
that victory may crown our efforts,
and that whisky shall be forever Iwn
ished from our county.
I would like to make a suggestion.
Our young people, most of them, be
long to some literary society, and
have picnics'during the spring and
summer months. Let them have tem
perance picnics. Let the young men
and young ladies have good temper
ance recitations and speeches, and
have good temperance speakers to
address them.
I remember one of these picnics at
New Salem several years ago. Prof.
Tom Carlton, Rev. Cran Oliver and
Prof. Lundy Harris made speeches
on temperance with telling succesk.
Let all our young ladies resolve to
try to influence at least oue young
man, for their sweet sakes, to vote
right
Ah! what an influence these girls
might have if they would only use
the power they possess over the young
men for good. My life work has
been to train my boys to shun the
intoxicating cup as they would a
deadly serpent. How often, when
they would kneel to say their evening
prayers, have I put my hand on the
bowed heads -and told them in the
years to come if they ever raised the
tempting cup to their lips to imagine
mother’s hand upon their head as in
the days of their happy innocent
childhood and leave the glass untast
ed, and since some of these boys have
left home they have told me that
sometimes they had been sorely
tempted, hut the thought of mother
and sister had restrained them until
now, though surrounded every day
by barrooms, there was no longer
even an inclination to drink. Oh, if
by our earnest prayers and loving
counsel we could save our boys from
the effects of intemperance.
To their honor he it said, I think
few, if any, of the youug men of our
quiet little town indulge in this de
basing habit. Would we could
that say the same of the older men.
Let the inembersof all our churches
help us in this noble fight, for if the
Bible condemns any one sin more
than another, it is intemperance. We
so often hear it said: “Weil, I see no
harm in a little moderate drinking.
Mr. Blank drinks and he is a good
church member.”
Remember a good church member
is not always a good Christian, and I
contend no one can be a good, con
sistent Christian and drink whisky.
We know it is contrary to God’s law
when we see its evil effects every
day.
We think the time has come when
an election should be held on this
issue and the past two years has sure
ly convinced every one that if
we would save the young men of our
connty from this destroyer. Prohibi
tion must win the day. We have
plenty of intelligent men and enough
good women and pretty girls to win
the day, but at the same time earnest- j
ly ask Mr. Harris to get all the good i
temperance workers from abroad he
can, and let the ministers from all j
churches come to the help of the |
women of our country who has borne
so long and so patiently this evil that
has so long east its midnight shadows
of gloom and sorrow over her once
happy home.
Lou A. Doaough.
Carnesville.
We have had fair weather the past
week.
Mr. L. McConnell spent part of last
week in Atlanta on business.
Mr. B. Thompson who was living
near here, died the sth.
The farmers have been putting in
good time fanning the past week.
There will be an all-day singing at
Cross Road church the fourth Sunday
in April. Georgia’s most famous
singers will be there. A grand time
is anticipated.
Professor M. 11. Looney has good
school at this place.
The Gazette is a spiev little pa
per.
Mr. Oscar Canon has the fastest
span of horses and sweetest sweet
heart in all the land.
Mr. William Bryan went to Avalon
recently to see his best girl.
Banks, county is a good county.
Our town boys likes to come over
there.
There was quite a large congrega
tion at Cross Roads at preaching Sun
day.
Cross Plains academy about three
miles from here lias the be T Sunday
school in the county.
We have the best school teacher in
the south. If you want to go to school
come to Carnesville high school.
Mr. Hathcock keeps the Gait at
this place.
The literary circle is revived ag. in.
Some of the boys had a nice coon
chase one day last week.
We appreciate The Gazette very
much.
Beyoiul Recall.
The day may have been a depress
ing one, the atmosphere overcharged
with heaviness, and the mental and
moral faculties deadened thereby.
Such days come to most of us, and
unless at such times we arc a little
m:.re careful than common to guard
well our tongues, the sharp word may
escape which cnee having passed our
lips cannot he taken back again,
though we would give years of our life
if it only might be. Like the light
ning flash it has gone forth scathing
where it lias struck. The electric
shock may have cleared the air, but
at what a cost if the spoken word
have blasted and wounded as it fell
en the sensitive ear of one wtiom w<-
would have spared had we but real
ized the fearful power of our language
to harm, possibly to hopelessly maim
another human life. In the murkines
of passion and unrest, therefore, let
us be very chary of our speech, lest
some word escape our lips which
once spoken will be forever beyond
recall.
There are numberless deeds which
we do which, could we properly count
the cost thereof, we should not do.
But an act once committed carries
with it a force which the one who de
signed it sometimes never thought of;
while it was only a mental design it
could be thought over and the plan
thereof changed. Let us, therefore,
be very chary of our deeds, lest we
in our unguarded thoughtlessness
commit some blunder which will for
ever prove a stumbling block to our
selves or others when the occasion is
long beyond recall.
Sometimes the words bring'with
them a sense of security. We love to
remember that purposes we have
cherished have produced certain re
sults, and are glad that our words
and deeds Lave passed into the cer
tainty of being beyond recall. t
It is for us housekeepers to be reso
lute’in all good and kindly feelings
and intentions, and to frame them
into the graceful speech* and the
-pleasant acts which once having been
HOMER, BANKS COUNTY, GEORGIA, WEDNESDAY, APRIL 22,1891.
spoken and performed shall be remem
bered with gratitude and thanks giv
ing by us when they and the occasion
which gave rise to them have become
things of the past and are entirely
beyond recall.
Particularly do those words hold
good in all our dealings with the little
children of our households. Their
little lives are held in very narrow
boundaries, for although
Trailing clouds of glory do we come,
From heaven,- which is our home,
the glory which a child’s life contains
is to the child itself a potential tiling.
Its very existence is full of wonder
ment, but it is terribly affected by the
tone of the home in which it finds
itself.
Heredity counts for much, but
kindness and firmness and wisdom in
the training of the little ‘ones counts
for far more. Let us be exceedingly
careful, therefore, lest we bring into
their lives elements which we fain
would root out when the fiber has
become ingrained into their natures
beyond recall.
All that is beautiful and joyous and
rijrlit, and just, as well, in the house
hold, let us give them Then will
their lives be filled with sweet memo
ries of us and our deeds when wc
sha’l have passed on beyond recall.—
Anonymous.
The .Personal Liberty Dodge.
Since the first prohibition laws
were passed there have been men
that bitterly fought them, because, as
they said, thesajaws curtailed their
personal liberty.
I should like to present a few
thoughts to men of this class:
They mean by personal liberty, to
do as a man pleases. It is the pur
pose of this article to show that the
only personal liberty a man has a
right to, or that the law recognizes, is
the liberty to do right. Let us look
at some of the laws of our country.
• The laws, in a general way, may
be divided into prohibitory and non
prohibitory.
The first we wish to consider:
Laws that aim at crime are prohibi
tory. Thus, the law prohibits murder,
theft, arson, and many other crimes.
These laws necessarily curtail the
personal liocrty of the criminal. The
law in return for these crimes impris
ons, punish, or even hangs according
to the greatness of the crime.
Now r , the question atises, has the
law the right to thus curtail the
liberty of these men ?
No sane man would deny but that
it hud the right, since it mean; the
protection of society and is an intimi
dation to other men who might com
mit crime.
To sum it up, the law has the
admitted right to curtail the liberty
of the criminal.
No man but what will admit that.
That being true every man admits
the principle that prohibition laws are
necessary.
Now, what is the analogy between
the curtailing of men’s liberty as re
gards whisky and the above 1
It is easily traced.
\\ liisky is the great prime cause
of many crimes. In fact Statistics
make the startling statement that
nine-tenths of the crimes are traeable
to whisky, and the "fact lias never
been dispi’oven. Also, the evidence
of our common country but confirms
it. Let your mind run back over the
history of our country for a moment,
and think what caused every murder
in its baundries. The answer in al
most every case is: Whisky. All
right, then, it becomes as clear as that
two and two make four tLat whisky
is the responsible party.
If then the county lias the right to
prohibit the commission of murders,
has it not the same right to enact
laws against the causes of murder?
Yea, a greater right, because if you
strike at the root of the matter and
remove the cause, then the crimes
will cease.
Any intelligent physician will tell
you that the way to get rid of a dis
ease is to remove the cause.
For a man to claim that it is a cur
tailment of his personal liberty is as
absurd as for the murderer to claim
that the law ought not to touch him
for taking the life of his fellowman.
If a man gets in the condition when
he xvi 11 commit a crime, and as we
have shown, the chances are nine to
one when under the influence of liquor
he will, his personal liberty ought to
be taken away, and that summarily.
The law ought to permit no man to
go fref when that man’s freedom en
dangers the peace of the community.
No, my friend, the only personal
liberty that a man ought to have is
that which belongs to a seemly and
upright life, and the sooner the law
enforces this fact the better it will be
for all. W. A. Harris.
That the world will love its own is
a divine saying, as true to-day as
when delivered by Christ. The world
never changes its principles, never
alters its attachments, nor perverts
its affinities. With the world like
begets like, and like consorts with
like. Our fealty to God may be de
termined by- how the world treats us,
if it love ns the love of God is not in
us; “Dogs bark not at those whom
they kitow, and with whom they are
familiar, but against strangers they
usually bark; not always for any hurt
which thay feel or fc;Tr, hut commonly
by nature or depraved custom. How,
then, eanst thou be a stranger to the
world, if it doth not molest thee? If
it distract not from thee?”—Christian
Advocate.
The Ihvsbytorian well says : “One
of the gr. atest obstacles to any great
advance in the temperance reform is
the divided sentiment of its friends
as to the proper means of suppressing
intemperance. There, is need for
greater unity of view and action, and
a larger and heartier co-operation.
When we all agree as to what we ex
act),'', want in tho way.of legislation,
and when we settle down on some
practical measures, we will show a
spirit and power which our enemies
will dread and which will bring about
results that will carry hope and joy'
to our hearts. Instead of quarreling
among ourselves about men and
methods, we will be able to combine
our forces and present a solid phalanx
against the liquor cohorts, rally to our
side thousands of halting, hesitating
ones, and win success in a determined
and persistent warfare upon the
saloon.”
Lying as a Fine Art.
In one of Kant’s books he says: The
highest violation of the duty of man
to himself, considered as a moral
being, is a department from truth, ox
lying. A lie is the abandonment, and
as it were, the annihilation of the
dignity of a man.”
“Liars are the cause of the sins
and crimes in the world,” was the
judgment of one of the most famous
leaders of philosophy and morality
among the ancient stories. To speak
the truth is a boundless duty imposed
upon all mankind by all the doctrines
and creeds of Christendom, and pa
gandom as well, whether represented
by Confucius, Buddah, or Mahatnmed.
But “Lord, Lord, how the world is
given to lying. Social lies, profes
sional lies, political lies and malicious
lies. Everyone condetns lying, and
yet there comes times in evex-ybody’s
life when it would take a
most mighty struggle to tell the truth.
Especially' in society are what ai-e
called white lies common.
Women err greatly in this respect
without intending to be deceitful.
They are so given to gush that they
exagerate far beyond the truth. They
kiss some of their mere acquaintances
with as great a show of affection as
their best and most intimate friends.
They make one whom they may tor
dially dislike as welcome as if their
souls had been longing fur her pres
ence. Courtesy is a pleasant thing
and good manners should never be
lost sight of, but an exaggerated
show of kissing and sympathy where
neither love nor respect exists is as
suredly a sort of deception.
Another way in which women lie
in the drawing-room, is in ti’eating
notoriously bad men with the same
courtesy and cordiality' they' would
extend to gentlemen of highest char
acter. This is one of the sorriest rev
elations of fashionable life in this
country. ■ It is not only an illustra
tion of lying, but is a show of snob
bery that is shameful, when the most
disreputable owners of foreign title
can find a warmer welcome among
the women of society than their own
countrymen of greater intelligence
and virtue. For social convenience,
women—and men as well—shirk
truthfulness. They tell what they'
call “white lies” because, they' say,
society cannot get on without them.
It would not do, it is thought,_to ex
press in words what they really feel.
Compliments, somebody say's, are
really lies, but when every body knows
they are, nobody is hurt. There are
many' conventional expressions of
courtesy' that people arc taught to use
and are wholly understood that can
not properly bo called lies, becauso
there is evidently no attempt at mak
ing a false impression. In Washing
ton it has become the custom for
callers to inquire: “Is Mrs. Blank
receiving to-day?” The answer is
plain yes, or no, as Mrs, Blank has
ordered. “Not receiving” is the same
thing as tho old “Not at home”
about which so many people have
scruples. But while there are found
sticklers upon forms of words there
are many whose whole social life is a
lie. These live as people of wealth
when they cannot pay their honest
debts. Those are arrayed sumptu
ously in purple and fine linen, while
their creditors are suffering for their
money. These are holy' and devout
on Sundays am', saints’ days, hut they
prove themselves liars and hypocrites
iu society and business. These make
a parade of their high birth and blue
blood, who really had no grandfathers
to speak of, as gossip goes. .Such
small vanity and lying only expose.-,
them to ridicule and contempt. Lying,
it is said, is more a sin among women
than men. Children are more given
to it than grown people. Why ?
Women held in subjection by coercion
lie to keep out of trouble, just as
children lie through fear of punish
ment. Truth is fostered by love and
liberty and confidence. “A lie is
bom of weakness on one and
tyrany on the other.” If a man acts
the bully at home, a woman with her
wits about her will adopt the policy
of Gen Grant, and employ strategy.
While with English-speaking people
lying is held, at least in theory', as
disgraceful and dishonerable, the
French are not nearly so scrupulous.
A French woman, it is said, can lie
with such cool, clear-eyed effrontery
as to seriously discount Ananias and
Sapphira. This is due, doubtless, to
education. A writer on the schools
and text books of France saysthflt in
their manual of morality “conscience
is distinguished as right or erroneous,
certain or doubtful. A distinction is
also made between true truth, doubt
ful truth and false truth. Lies are
divided into three classes: The prej
udicial lie, which is wrong in propor
tion to the injury it causes; the offi
cious lie, which is venial because it
does not cause grave trouble, and the
pleasant lie, which, of course, is
whiter still. Mental restrictions,
equivocations and expressions which
can stand two interpretations, are
allowable. Under such a system of
morality it might be supposed that
many of the people in this country
had been tiained rather than that
which condemns all lying as an abom
ination. The lawyers—just pause
and consider liow they are given to
lying as a matter of business. The,
most of them have a complete mas
tery of every variety of casuistry and
and ingenious falsifying. Every pow
er in them is bent to deceive the jurv,
even when they have absolute knowl
edge of their client’s guilt. Dr.
Arnold, of Rugby, it is said, was so
profoundly impressed with the moral
danger to which a lawyer was ex
posed, that he used to advise his
pupils not to study law. Madauly
raised the question in England as to
whether a man with a wig on his
SINGLE COPY TIIIiEE CENTS.
head and a gown on his back was
justified in doing for a guinea what a
private citizen, withont these decora
tions, he would consider wickea and
infamous to do for an empire. This
question, however, has never yet
been settled. One of the most fa
mous lawyers in this country has
said that “lawyers make half their
living by lies.” But, after all, there
are honest lawyers, men of high mor
al principle, who consider it dishon
orable to lie, even professionally, for
a fee.—Metropolitan.
On Child Life.
Blessed be the hand that px-epares
a pleasure for a child, for there is no
saying when and where it may again
bloom forth. Does not almost every
body remember some kind hearted
man who showed him a kindnen in
the days of his childhood ? The writer
of this recollects himself, at this mo
ment, as a barefooted lad, standing
at the woo len fence of a poor little
garden in his native village, where,
with longifig eyes, lie gazed on the
(lowers which were blooming there
quietly in tho brightness of a Sunday
morning. The possessor came forth
frtmi his little cottage; he was a
woodcutter by trade, and spent tho
whole day at work in the woods. He
was coming into the garden to gather
flowers to stick in his coat when ho
went to church. He saw the boy,
and breaking off the most beautiful
of Lis carnations, ..which was streaked
with red arid white, lie gave it to
him. Neither the giver nor the re
ceiver a word, and with bounding
steps the boy ran home. Aiid how,
here at a distance from that home,
after so many events of so many
years, the feeling of gratitude which
agitated the breast of that boy ex
presses itself on paper. The carna
tion has long since withered, but it
now blooms afresh.—Douglas Jcrrold.
Remedy i'or Vacancies.
Much is being said now in regard
to the number of vacancies in the
Southern Presbyterian church. Why
are there five hundred vacant
churches in the boundn of our assem
bly ? Have not a great many of them
been organised without sufficient
reason ? When there is a tolerably
strong, growing church in a communi
ty, is there any reason to organise
another church right at its doors
because, forsooth, somebody is not
exactly pleased with everything about
it? Churches that are organised as a
result of a bad spirit are a detriment
to the cause of Christ, and Presby
tery should be very careful how she
encourages splits in churches.
Let us strengthen the churches we
have, ar.d not organise more unless
they are more than a few miles from
efficient churches of the same faith
and order, and can show a better
reason for existence than the fact that
somebody wants to get away from his
church because he does not like some
one there. —Southern Presbyterian.
The expression “blot out” is tio
scriptural expression to declare God's
act in pardoning sin; the radical
statement of a radical fact. The
process is suggestively explained by
the trade method of the Eastern mer
chant. He writes his account on a
waxen tablet with a sharp-pointed
pencil. When the account is paid
he sweeps the surface smooth with
the broad end of his pencil. This
obliterates every impression, and the
surface of the tablet is as though
nothing was ever written on it. So
our sing are clear gone forever when
God’s mercy sweeps and keeps the
heart.—Christian Advocate.
It is a faithful thing, this, pruning
w'ork, this cutting off of the over
luxuriant shoots in order to call hack
tho wand- ring juices into the healthier
and more living parts. In religion
it is described thus: “Every .branch
of ine that beareth fruit, he pnrgeth
it, that it may bring forth more fruit.”
The keen edge'of God’s pruning-knife
cuts sheer through. No weak tender
ness stops him whose love seeks
goodness, not comfort, for servants.
—F. W. Robertson.