About The Atlanta constitution. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1885-19?? | View Entire Issue (May 11, 1903)
4 THE COHSTITUTIOH CLARK HOWELL '...Editor ROBY ROBINSON Business Manager Entered at the Atlanta Poetofflee ns Seeend ('!•■• Mail Matter, Mar. 11, 1873. TH Fl WEEKLY CONSTITUTION. onlv S! per annum. Clubs of five. $1 each; clubs of ten, Mt each and a copy to getter-up of club. WE WANT YOU—The Constitution wants an agent at every postoffice In America. Agent’s outfit free and good terms. If you are not In a club, we want you to act as agent at your office. Write tut. CHANGE OF ADDRESS-When ordering ad dress of your paper changed always give the old as well ae the new address. Always give posteffice. county and state. If your paper ‘s not received regularly, notify us and vie will straighten the matter. IF YOU SEND US AN ORDER for new sub scribers. please allow us a week to get the names on the list and paper started before you write a complaint, as we are very much ciowded now. 1)0 NOT FORGET to make your renewals in time. Watch your direction tag and see when your subscription expires. The next six month wld be full of interest, and you should not miss a single copy of The Con stitution. ..end your orders at least a week in advance to make sure. It may not rake a week in every Instance, as we use the greatest diligence to get them on our mail ing list. I - Cleveland and a Third Term. It is plainly to be seen that there Is abroad in the country the spirit of a Cleveland revival. Not alone the St. Louis ovation is the evidence of the fact. Incidents preceding that and proposals tor the future in which Mr. Cleveland was and is to be featured almost amount to an argument from design that he is to be promoted as the precedent breaker and possible first third-term president of the United States. Such a design, if it really exists among po litical managers or a respectable mass of citizens, cannot but cause serious concern for the democratic party of the country. The Constitution will not essay the insincerity of declaring that Grover Cleveland is not a masterful man and the strong political favorite of mil lions of democratic and independent voters. He has marked qualities as a flunking publicist, a statesmanlike pose on imminent public issues and a personality in which the emphatic epi thets are independence, courage and confidence in his convictions. For these rigi ' characteristics he is in debted for most of the admiration he receives. That Mr. Cleveland is impressed by those recent evidences of iiis personal , popularity to which we have referred i is but natural. Yet he will signally fail of his reputed perception of situa tions if he assumes, or permits his nearest friends* to assume, that be cause he receives applause for his presence and agreement with his ora tions on specific themes he can achieve a preferment that has been denied to all other Americans, from the days of Georgia Washington to the present epoch. While it is true that a third term in the presidency does not in Mr. Cleveland's ease appear so badly defiant of American custom and so suggestive of militarism as it did in the instance of General Grant, nevertheless we are confident that a. serious suggestion io elect him pres ident again will arouse promptly the seeming indifference of the common people to that un-American idea. Indeed, that seeming indifference of the people which we mention is rath er due to the declarations of Mr. Cleveland himself than to any other reason. Mr. Cleveland has said open ly and repeatedly that he is “out of politics’’ and will not be a candidate for the nomination. When he means to be understood he can -ay his pur pose as resolutely and irrevocably as any man. Mr. Tilden was able to re nounce a renomiaation in 1880 so em phatically as to change the purpose of a national democratic convention. Mr. Cleveland is a- emphatic as Mt. Tilden was in saying that the prece dents against a third term in the pres idency for any man have hardened into an unwritten law, all the more sacred because i. i a pari of the na tional instinct and not a mere stat utory prohibition. The Constitution believes that Mr. Cleveland means what he says and a< cepts his declaration of non-perform ance in any way leading to the belief that he would accept a third-term nomination. Il lie is in anything more worthy of admiration than all else it Is because he is not a trimmer and a demagogue. Ami only such a person, with his knowledge and record, would flirt with this abhorrent third-term idea. I'he democrati< party is slowly and surely approaching a condition of har mony that bodes well for it and bad for its opponents. As an honored and indebted democrat Mr. Cleveland could ill afford to intrude his person ality and preference as obstructions to this most desirable process of party unification. He is not indispensable to a party victory in 1904. Mr. Bryan is not the man t achieve It. Neither of them can loyally and safely for his future in history do less than abjure his own ambitions and lead whatever following he influences into the camp and ranks of a party newly united and jub -ant, for victory. The issue of the present with the national democracy is this—-to forego any programme centering on either Cleveland or Bryan, go wisely and honestly to the work of finding that third man. who can and will lead tho party to triumph. He lives and can be. found, and against him there will be raised none of the objections that, would be valid against either Cleve land or Bryan. Great Issues are to be presented in the presidential campaign next year and it would be the extreme of folly for the democratic party to enter the battle weighted down witli the feuds of past campaigns. Whether Mr. Cleveland wrecked the party or nor. the discussion of the Issue now inside e party, or with its opponents, would lead to no conclusion other than our confusion and certain de feat. The democrats of the nation must rise once more to flu great attitude the party held in 1876 and set its face as a flint against the appearance even of adopting the defeated notions of republicans or preposterous partisans. The nation needs the reformations that can only come with a democratic administration and a president whose strength is in his character and the possibilities o<bis future in that, high office. The democracy is not dead and im potent; it is not poverty-stricken as to men of presidential abilities, or hopeless as t< its hold upon Ameri can patriotism. If left free to act upon the issues of the hour and to put its banner in the hands of some new and prescient leader, it stands a fair chance to win the support oi the majority of the people and to restore this great democratic government to tile ways of the fathers and the an cient landmarks that should never be removed. The Red H. nd in Kentucky. The details of the dastardly as sassination of James B. Marcum at Jackson, a mountain county seat of eastern Kentucky, are given in lull in our news < olunins. In this sec tion of that state it is by no means un common for men to be picked off irohi ambush by a rifle ball, for Breathitt county, the scene of the tragedy, is one of “The Dark and Bloody Grounds'” worst, ".eiidisl” counties and has for years been known by Hie suggestive sobriquet of Bloody Breathitt.” The cowardly murder of Marcum Is especially notable in Die manner of its occurrence ami in the light of the circumstances surround ing the assassination of Governor Goebel at Frankfort, Ky., some three years since. The victim was a well-known law yer of eastern Kentucky, a I nited States commissioner, and prominent ly identified with the turbulent poli tics of his section. As a. lawyer and politician he had incurred the mur derous enmity of a. feudist faction in Breathitt county, lor months at a time being reqi.ired to barricade him self in his home or only emerge there from with a little child in his arms or in tho company of women, in or der to thwart the purpose of the as sassin watching his human target, from cover. Professional duty re quired him to go to the court house at Jackson early Monday morning, i and just after he had filed some pa pers with the county clerk he was shot down from behind while talking with a friend in the doorway of that temple of justice. Os course, no one knows who shot him or saw him shot, even though the corridor where he stood was full of attendants upon court. There is nothing clearer than that there is a political mafia in Kentucky' and that its rendezvous is in the mountain precincts. It is not likely' that one political party is a whit bet ter than the other, so far as partisan ship is involved in these barbarous as sassinations, save to the extent that the mountaineers are largely republi cans. Attorney Marcum, it seems, be longed to the latter party, represent ing the interests of that party in a contested local election, and the offi cial incumbents he was engaged in trying to oust happened to be iden tified with a feudist faction—the Har gises. Governor Goebel, a democrat, was assassinated as the result of a cold-blooded, mafia-like conspiracy, involving, directly or indirectly, the acting governor, who was a republi can. He and the other suspects and known actors in that horrible tragedy' were east Kentuckians, the convicted murderer being a notorious feudist of that region. The plot was hatched around London, Ky., the home of the refugee. Taylor. The peculiar odium incurred by the state < f Kentucky because of a quasi political vendetta which Sicily would hardly descend to does not justify wholesale condemnation of a really ex cellent people, but there is the more reason why Kentuckians should make extraordinary efforts to hang an im pressive number of feudists. The bushwhacking feuds of the hill coun try are an old problem to the com monwealth. but the outside world does not comprehend the local conditions, ; and since the assassination of Govern 'or Goebel ..<-ntucky has been in deep disgrace. The pity is that the feuds of the Kentucky mountains were ever drag ged into state politics to tho scandal ization of the state. The armed mob that Acting Governor Taylor had brought to Frankfort from the eastern counties gave the world some insight into the manner of people who were his partisans, ami the assassination of 1 Goebel was an inevitable equel in lieu of bloody rioting. The basis of most i of the deadly fends of eastern Ken tucky is political and the outgrowth )of civil war issues. Indeed, in that 1 remarkable section, hemmed by a con i stantly narrowing cordon of civiliza i tion. the civil war resolved itself into ' a guerilla feud of extermination, be- I queathed from generation to genera i tion. Goebel, as a matter of fact, was ; the victim of this implacable old feud, and Marcum, who fell, shot from be . hind in that country court house Mon | day. went the same dark way. It is a difficult problem that Ken tucky has io cope with, as can well be imagined. The men from whom these political assassins come are ' hardly amenable to the extreme force of law —certainly not ordinary j forms of judicial procedure. It is but ; a few years since one of these eastern counties —Rowan —was abolished by act of the legislature for the reason j that its inhabitants turned the court nouse into an armed camp and per sisted in making the county officers ■ "hide out.” Not even martial law ' could suppress the murderous activi i ties of many of these outlaws who simulate the functions of citizenship ■ to Kentucky’s woe. i When tho truth is known, the state i of Kentucky' will not be so roundly' ; censured, unless for the reason that, hangings are too few and far between up there. The New Atomatic Theory. i The report sent out. from Madison that Professor Babcock, of the Univer j sity of Winconsin, has made a discov ; ery hailed as “the most notable con ; tribution to science of the last fifty 1 years” is. naturally, being much dis i cussed in the scientific world. His is t described as a new theory of atomic I energy, and the dispatches gives this j brief summary of it: "The theory’ is that the weight of | any substance is effected by the mole ; eular changes which it undergoes as j tiie weight of a body is inversely pro | portional to its inherent energy. “This,” we are told, “reduced to its logical sequence practically over throws the old atomic theory' and the theory of conversation of matter, lead- THE WEEKLY ATLANTA, GA., MONDAY, MAY 11, 1903. ing irresistably to the idea that all atoms are primarily identical, and that the difference of weight of the dif ferent. elements is due to the difference in their energy.” Professor Babcock thinks he has found a satisfactory explanation of the law of gravitation, and he con fesses lie lias been working on it for something like twenty years. The summary' presented of Profes sor Babcock's discovery may carry conviction to the scientific mind, but t.iere has been manifested a disposi tion on the part of some laymen to treat it with levity. For instance. The Chicago Record- Herald. breathing the atmosphere of tne stock yards, seems to think we may find by this law that “the weight of a pig is inversely' proportional as it strikes the vat to the inherent energy of the animal as indicated by its squeal.” Or. to adopt illustrations which may' be better understood by those unfortunates who have never learned to enjoy the musical beauties of the pig-squeal under such glorious conditions, “if a feather were no more ambitious than a silver dollar, it would be just as heavy; and if a chunk of lead were as anxious to do things as a piece of chalk is, there would be no difference, in their weight. This theo ry makes it evident.” continues our esteemed Chicago contemporary, “that the man who weighs 246 pounds is heavier than the man who weighs 150, not because he requires a longer belt than the latter, but because he has not so much energy.” It is now up to Professor Babcock. Georgia's Peach Outlook. Now that what is left of the Geor gia peach crop may' be regarded as out of danger, it will le interesting to learn, if possible, approximate esti mates on this summer’s yield from authoritative sources. J. H. Hale, the “peach king" of Georgia and Connecticut, has been spending considerable time of late in canvassing the situation around Fort Valley, where his great orchard is lo cated. and bis conclusions, as given in a letter to The Fruit Trade Journal, of New York, ought to be. worth some thing. Mr. Hale states that he made a careful inspection of his own orch ard and other orchards in the vicin ity, representing something like three million trees. He found that “some few orchards and some varieties have full crops, but, on the whole, the crop will be a light one.” In the Hale orchards he estimates a yield of be tween sixty and seventy' carloads, as against 154 carloads last’ year. The crop of last season, it will be remem bered, was but half of an average crop, and if Mr. Hale’s figures are borne out in the condition of other south Georgia orchards, this season’s crop will bo but one-fourth of an av erage yield. However, there are other peach au thorities who give more favorable es timates from south Georgia. The Georgia Fruit Package Company, a crate manufacturing concern of Fort Valley, can show orders booked it is said, which provide for from 350 to 400 cars of peaches from the Fort Valley district, and from 150 to 200 cars from the Marshallville district. If south Georgia makes anything like such a showing as that, there is rea son lo anticipate a third of a crop, at least. The reports from the peach belt be tween Chattanooga and Atlanta are anything but encouraging, the moun tain orchards having practically all succumbed to the cold snaps of the late winter. The outlook is but little more encouraging in northeast Geor gia, where there are many young com mercial orchards. Still, a tremendous amount of tree planting lias been done in tne last few years all over Georgia, and the bearing possibilities of now orchards in so wide an area and under varying local conditions is necessarily' largely problematical. These new orchards are like the “silent vote” in an election, and sometimes they treat Hie most painstaking statistician to some surprises. A singular fact con nected with peaeli harvests is that the blight of insect pests and meteorolog ical damage are rarely universal in their ravages. Such misfortunes fall, like summer showers, “in spots,” and it is often astonishing what near neighbors success and failure are in peach culture. In one locality will be found bearing orchards and barren orchards. Atmospheric conditions, by’ reason of elevation or location, or different methods of culture or lack of cultivation, may' account for a great variation in productivity. It is, therefore, difficult to even approxi mate a Georgia peach crop at this time of year; but it is generally safe to add a substantial per cent to pessi mistic. estimates. It would not sur prise some people if as many Iced oars rolled out of Georgia the coming peach season as last, though it must be admitted there are lew so hope ful. In the letter referred to Mr. Hale talks enthusiastically about the qual ity' of the present peach crop, declar ing that he never saw larger fruit at tliis season of the year. “With normal conditions from now on.” ho writes, “the fruit promises to be double extra in size and quality, and big poaches do fill up crates mighty’ fast.” He* looks for the crop to be practically marketed between June 20 and July 10. as the fruit Is so far advanced, and the greatest yield will be of the mid early varieties. It is encouraging to note that Mr. Halo predicts “a good many more and bolter peaches than expected two or three weeks ago.” The Saving of the State Road. Incidents and rumors accumulate to verify the 'ft.-made prediction that railway interests centering in Atlanta will finally ruin the value of the state road as an asset of the people of Georgia. It is too early to discern between the truth and fiction in the rumors of mergers and consolidations which, whether so intended or not. would log -1 Ically bottle up the Western and At lantic road at. both ends. But should they happen to come true within the next dozen years the result will be that at the end of the present lease the line will be worth scarcely more to the state than the market value of unable equipment. The Constitution has heretofore dis : cussed these possibilities fully and is frank to say that events appear to be I marching to the conclusion we have above stated. But we are gratified to know from many sources and evi dences that the solution of that event suggested by' The Constitution months ago has found plenteous lodgment in the 'minds and favor f a host of our fellow-citizens. The thing which the people of the state must look forward to as their best, and most profitable esi a a loss of nine-tenths of the value of the state road is Ihe extension of it to tide, water-—by the state itself! The people of Georgia are even more vitally interested in maintaining a public rail highway between Atlanta and the Tennessee river as they were in the days when their chiefest patri ots advocated and secured the build ing of the state road. Competition in the exchange of traffic between Geor gia and the west is of far greater ne cessity now than then. The only ab solutely reliable and coal rollable com petition we can now command as against railway mergers and commu nities of interests, is by the water routes that cannot bo monopolized. The ocean is freedom’s last invincible domain and the rivers are the proper ty' of the people and cannot be trust blockaded. In the fierce conflicts for freightages in tiie future no one need doubt that tiie steamers of the Mississippi, Mis souri, Ohio and Tennessee rivers will not eagerly seek count • tion with our state road at. Chattanooga, if the road runs to the sea the tramp and independent steamers of the world will gather at Savanna.i or Brunswick to take and give tonnage from the state's cars. Goods from the eastern and European ports <an be delivered to the state road at tide water and by it be distribr’ed throughout tho state at. rates made by our own authorities, since it will then he internal state cotamerce. These plain facts, combined with the modern ease with which the state can make the extension, are winning to tiie project thousands of adherents in ail parts of Georgia. It will not be a long stretch before this question of the extension of the state road to the sea will become a dominant ami ning issue in the politics of the state. WISE AND OTHERWISE. Progressing. Punch: She—How’s 1 motor car get ting on. Sir Charles’’ lie —Well, fact is. r. <■ seen very little or If. You see. Eve had it: three months, and when it isn’t In the hospital 1 am. Moderation Necessary. Detroit Free Press: Tom- I think a man ought to try to look pleasant. Dick—Ye-s; but when r look too pleas ant some fellow walk, up and tries to borrow $5 from me. Knew What He Wanted. Illustrated Bits: Gerald—May T ks = s you? Geraldine—Mother Is tn the next room. Gerald—That’s all right. Your father can kiss nert One for the Ladies. Yonkers Statesman: Church—l see a Jersey man is complaining because his wife thought, more of. a log than she did of him. Gotham—Well, perhap the dog growled less. A Disgrace of the Ould Sod. Chicago Post: "Will : go r-round an’ shake hands with th’ prize-fighter?’ he repeated, "Ntver! He’s a Irishman an’ a. dtsgra-arc to his nut ■■ land, no liss." "How is that?” “He won’t fight Ixeipt f r money. ’ An Event Big with Eate. Tom Johnson will visit Bill Bryan, they say. And now all the quidnuncs are dyln’ To know whether .Bryan will Bryanlze Johnson, Or Johnson will Johnsonlze Bryan. —Chicago Tribune. Entitled to His Little Joke. Judge: “Ha, ha!" laughed the first street railway magnate, who was going through his mall. “Here’s a funny let ter." “What Is It?" asked the second street railway magnate. "Oh, the usual bunch of complaints about the service." explained tiie first speaker; “but it is signed ‘A Patron of Twenty Years’ Standing.’ ” He Must Be Kansas City Star: During a. speech In the Nebraska legislature Senator O’N- 111, of Lancaster county said. “Every man should bo proud of the land of his nativ ity, whether he was born there or not." In of his name Senator O'Neil! must be an Irishman. Sufficient Provocation. Detroit Free Press: “Why does Mrs. Dinsmore hate Mr. Templet. >4 so relent lessly?” asked Hojaek. “He once alluded to her as a. well pre served woman, and someone reported It to her," replied Tomdlk. A Sectarian Language. Little Chronicle: Hellen, a little daughter of Presbyterian parents, be came very much annoyed one evening at the maid-of-all-work for conversing with her friends in the Norwegian tongue, and exclaimed. “Why don’t you talk the way we do? We don’t talk Norwegian, we talk Presbj terian!" The Song of the Camp. ••Give us a song! ' the soldiers cried, The outer trenches guarding, When tho heated guns of the camps al lied Grew weary of bombarding. Tho dark Redan, In «ilent scoff, Lay, grim and threatening, under; And the tawny mound of the Malakoff No longer Kicked its thunder. There was a pause. A guardsman said, “We storm the forts tomorrow; Sing while wo may, another day Will bring enough of sorrow.” They lay along the battery’s side. Below the smoking cannon; Bravo hearts, from Severn and from Clyde, And from the banks of Shannon. They sang of love and not of fame; Forgot was Britain's glory; Each heart recalled a. different name, But all sang "Annie Eaurie.” Voice, after voice caught up the song. Until its tender passion Rose like an anthem, rich and strong— Their battle-eve confession. Dear girl her name he dared not speak. But as the song grew louder, Something upon the soldier's check Washed off the stains of powder. Beyond the darkening ocean burned The bloody sunset’s embers, While the Crimean valleys learned How .English love remembers. And once again a fire of hell Rained on tho Russian quarters. With scream of shot ami burst of shell And bellowing of the mortars! Ami Irish Nora's eyes arc dim For a singer dumb and gory; And English Mary mourns for hint Who sang of “Annie Eaurie.” Sleep soldiers! still in honored rest Your truth aid valor wearing; The bravest, are tiie tendercst— The loving rue the daring. BAYARD TAYLOR. Weekly Constitutions **£ig ttree Jrank <£. Stanton, Eet's Take a Day in the Country. Let's take a day in the country—cities are growing so fast They shut out. the life-giving sunshine, .•iml all tho blue skies overcast. Let’s take the road to tiie woodlands, far from tne lever and rush— Lulled by the ripple of rivers and the silvery song o’ the thrush. Let’s take a day in the country!—all the green meadows we know,— The home of the wild honeysuckle—the banks whore the violets grow; The mulberry trees by the home-place the maple-leaves twinkling with dew, Tho breeze bending all the glad branches that bow a “Good Morning" to you! Let s take a day in the country! Birds, bees and bloom -hear them call! Life is not bound by the cities, and the gold that we glean is not all! Farewell, the desk and the counter—wel come. the vine-shadowed ranch, And a rollicking time -dike the old times— with the b.arefottcd boys In the bra neb! He Wanted Rope. He alius wuz a-sayin’ That life- had little hope; He had no opportunity— They “wouldn't give him rope;” An' he aIIUS wuz a rolling like a barrel down the slope! An’ the worried-out community. They let him have his say, Anticipatin' trouble In every wliichaway! But some of ’em made up their minds they'd give him rope some day! .An' they picked ’em out a saplln'— Made arrangements all complete, An' tun him down an' out o’ town. To a secluded beat; An' give him all the rope they could— ’bout ten an’ twenty feet! » • » ♦ • Springtime in Billville. During the past week we had five mar riages and six thunder storms. Very few snakes have been killed, so far. A better brand of whisky Is being used now. Tliis world is bright enough for us, anil we are inclined to regard a very bright hereafter with some suspicion. Spring came in yesterday, shook the snow from her slippers and spread her sealskin cloak on a honeysuckle vine. Tiie Literary picnic was largely at tended. A jumping match to decide who was tho b'est literary man in town re sulted in a tic. Our summer hotel has opened its doors, with six boird bill collectors, a mill pond full of li- i and ten alligators for shoot ing purposes. Their Annual Vacations. The weather's not a jest now— The white clouds Heck the blue; The parson needs a rest now. And the congregation, too. Farewell, tho hard-worked author. Who needs a restful trip. And fare you well, the creditors, Loud howling at his ship! But not for us the stormy foam— Tho rest that Europe makes. Our sad vacation’s spent at home, A-killin’ time and snakes! Just Across the Hills. “Where are all the green fields— Where the shining rills?” Just across the hills, lad,— Just across the hills. “Where the flowering valleys Where song forever thrills?” Yonder, in the light, lad,— Just across tho hills. An ever and forever That word tho silence chills, Till silence seals tho singing Just across the hills. A Soug of the Morning. Don't you sigh, believers, wid de trouble in yo’ soul— De worl' won't quit a-ro!lln' kaze you .ell It not ter roll; Dey's all de joy a-comln’ dat de arms er , you kin hoi'. De hilltops is shinin’ wld do mawnln’l Don't yon sigh, believers, w’en de barrel gittin’ low— De seed what make de harves' Is a-fixin’ fer ter grow; De summer'ls a-slngin’ er de good times, high en low,— De hilltops Is shinin’ wld de mawnln’l Vanity of Vanities. De win' des know he's pleasant Ez lie ripple 'cross de wheat, En de mockin'bird is singin’ Kaze ho know his voice is sweet! De crow dar. in de co’n flel'. He des so black, you know. Ho think he mus’ be purty— Dat why he take-on so! It's vanity, believers, Ez high ez sun en star; We rnos’ too good fer heaven: — Dat why so few Is dar! A Laugh Along the Way. Care. Is like a bubble— Melts In mist away; Here’s a world o’ trouble. But a laugh along the way! Solemn, sighing sorrow— But what's tho odds today? Joy will come tomorrow— A laugh along the way! Seaward we are drifting— Time is old and gray, But the storm is lifting: Life laughs along the way! * • • * • Love’s Own. Love shall lead us where he will— Nevermore to sever; Let him kiss, or wound, or kill— We are Love's forever. Blood-red thorns, or snow-white flowers, Still through life Love's way Is ours! Be a wilderness our lot. So that Love may share It; Kind would be a savage-cot With Love's roses near It! Golden dreams, or stormswept day. Still through life—through death Love's way! A Fishing Accident. “Terrible thing Ims took place!" said the Billville citizen, as lie entered his gate, disconsolately. “Mercy on us! What can it be?" "Alligator swallered little Billy an' the can o' bait!” • * + * • “He Never Did Complain.’’ No matter what the trouble in the sunshine or the rain. Es you axed him of his feelin s. Well—lie never did complain! 'lhotlgh tiie hives had lost the honey, An' there warn’t a cup to drain, - Jest ax him of »is feelin's, An'—he never did complain! An' 1 reckon it wuz wisdom: Fer tiie world'll jump a train To make the glad acquaintance Os the chap who don't complain! Jirp. I AM feeling sick and sad. Another friend has gone and left me. Jim Warren was my college mater and I loved him for near sixty years. He was only two months my junior and I some times wondered who would be called away first. What an awful death was that. Crushed and mangled and his poor old body torn and dragged for a quarter of a mile and his dismembered limbs strew ing the track and his brains larding the rails. Alas, itow little do we know about life or death! Sometimes I watch the cattle goirg to the slaughter pen and am thankful that providence conceals from them their impending fate,but we do not know much nu re about, our own. How shall ve des and when? James Warren was one of my true friends. I loved to lov him and it g ive me comfort that lie loved me and always called me Charley as tenderly as a brother. His body was killed and that was all. His pure soul went back immediately to its Creator ami is now resting In the bosom of God. 'I nut :s my faith and 1 hope it is the faith of all those who loved him, for my heart bleeds with them. “Strike for your altars and your fires, Strike for the green graves of your sires. Strike until the last armed foe expires." 1 used to speak that speech, and when I got to that part which said, “They come— they cornc’-the Greek -the Greek!" I put r.n martial agony and elevated my voire and shook the floor. I thought of all this the other day when f read about the strikers in Atlanta going to Mr. Byrd's publishing house and trying to seduce his non-union printers to leave him. His partner, Tom Lyon, showed light and vsed sima cuss words awl drove them off. and they had him arrested and the recorder fined him for disturbing the pub lic tranquillity, but if I had been the re corder I would have excused Tom. This thing has come home to me nt last, for Mr. Byr 1 is printing a book for mo and 1 can't get a copy, and am fightirg mad about It. The striking in terlopers get all his printers away, but two or three and the rascals hung around the back door and all that Toni could do was to watch them and exclaim, “They come—they come the Greek—the Greek." But Toni is grime anil says he will whip the fight anti have some books for me by the last of the week, 'i'he first edition has ail been sold and the sec ond is in the press and lias been delayed and enfiladed and barricaded and para lyzed by these contemptible strikers, and if there ever was a justifiable excuse for using cuss words a man ought, to be hired to stand at the brick door and cuss 'em by the day as fast as they came. I've no patience with these strikers and less with their leaders. One of my boys has just established a telephone plant in Houston, Tex., and bad about forty girls employed at good wages, when sud denly florae Interlopers came and made them all strike and he hired others to take their places and the interlopers w. nt round to all his patrons and tried to get up a boycott, but failed. The rich Mr. Huntington is the chief owner an J he telegraphed my boy to whip that fight regardless of expense and he has whipped it. Last year at Dayton, Ohio, a big heart ed rich man established a cash register plant and had two hundred girls em ployed and he cared for them just, like they were his children and had batn rooms on every floor and hot -md cold water, and mirrors and soap and towels, so that they could bathe and clean up be fore they went home and the girls were contented arui happy, for all this was no part of the contract, but some inter lopers came along and ordered a strike because some poor old women who did not belong to the union had the job of wash ing the towels that the girls used in their batn rooms. Well, now, that Is one side of the case, but it Is said every case has two sides. The war between capital and labor still goes on, but labor ho.s but little to corn plain of in this blessed land. We see by the papers that these union strikers in Atlanta have plenty 'of money in their treasury t > live on while they are Idle and some of them have gotten up a baseball club and are having a good time generally. There is no suffering here like there was in London seventy-five years ago when Tom Hood wrote the song of the shirt ami the lay of tho laborer. It would make an angel weep to read that poor woman’s song; “For Its work, work, work—my labor never flags. And what are its wages-a bed of straw. A crus; of bread and rags, This shattered roof, this naked floor, a table, a broken chair. And a wall so blank, my shadow I thank For sometimes falling there " Iler sad song aroused all Lon don, but there was no strike. Our own George Peabody was there tn tiie banking business and it. aroused him. Immediately he bought the ground in the suburbs and spent $2,000,000 in building cettages for the poor Nice cottages, with bath rooms and hot and cold water and flowers in tiie front yard and vines over the door and paid the taxes ami charged only a. little, nominal sum for rent, just enough to keep up the repairs, and m less than a year he had comfortable homes for over 20,000 people. That's tho kind of philanthrophy. Our wisest statesmen ask tor an Income tax as they have in England and it is based on that principle that the more a man accumulates the heavier Ills tax should be—a graduated Income tax—and so if he has piled up $10,000,000 in a year, take half of it for tux. This would stop Rockefeller and Morgan and Carnegie and the surplus would be as Bob Toombs said, “poured back in the jug " It Is no great honor to a man to give a goifti part of his profits to charity. It is a sui prise and that is all. Men forget that all they have, got is but a loan and sooner or later they must give it all up and pay tiie debt. ’ BILL ARP. How Long? Out of the south is the chill wind blow ing. Straight from the white world of Ice and snow, And over the wild sea my thoughts are going To a. far country where roses glow; For, d( ad. unto thee, when the clouds are flying Like war-torn banners the skies along. In mournful measure my heart is crying— "Oh, my beloved! How long? How long?" Low overhead are tho dark mists trailing. Ami hiding tlo mountains from longing eyes And, far beyond them, tho ships are sail ing To thy fair homeland Love's Paradise! But here tiie skylark has ceased his sing ing And dropped to his nest witli a broken song; Ami ever to thee is my wild erv winging— " Love Os my heart! How long? How long?” —Clara Pinger Poynter, in Chambers’ Journal. Full of Prunes. Chi' I . igo News: Aunt Elviry Yes. ya Is out in the orchard prunin some o' the trees. City Boarder- <>h. do you reallv raise your own prunes? My, how lovely i THE second Sunday dn May is “big meeting” Sabbath of the ’’Hardshells” at old Hardeman church, and I wish that all of Georgia could bo there. Hardeman church is among the oldest churches in our county and being located in a typical “Hardshell" settlement, it has never become tainted with any of the newfangled ideas nor departed from the primitive customs that were so com mon with our fathers and under which sociability flourished, a reverence for age was the rule and a dependence on God was the prop to sustain. Me and my folks «nd Brown and bls folks are preparing for the day. Tho second Sunday in May and the second. Sunday In August are the two Sundays of every* year, from time immemorial, that these people have held their big meeting days, and the occasion never grows less with those who are raised in that faith and who have been so suc cessful in preventing the encroachments of progress within their fold. Just as it has been for years, on tliis second Sun day people will flock there from every direction, a few in buggies, many In wagons, some on horses and some afoot. I hey will begin to arrive at the church full two hours before meeting time and as they arrive they will gather in groups, the men on one side under the trees and tiie ladies on ths other, and there is where the great sociability of the occa sion is made manifest. Saunter around, from group to group and you will soon, know of everything that is passing in each settlement. If any h*ive died you wiil soon learn it, and you may leat n of all the characteristics of the departed one. If any are sick you will miss them and soon know what doctor is attend ing them, what kind of medicine is being i -••<!, how the doctor compares with (•ther doctors, and, certain, you will hear of many remedies that cured others af fected with tiie same disease. All the niaricagos will be made known, and if thcr • arc any new babies you will learn v hether they are girls or boys and which side of the house tiie baby favprs. Such as this will furnish a pleasant pastime until tiie preacher arrives and a song is started by some of the old brothers an t sisters which calls tiie congregation in side the chur'-h. Thus it has been for j ears and so it will be on this second Sabbath, and we are all anxious for ths coming who have felt the delights and hope that the same old customs may always attend the meetings at Harde man There is nothing strange In all these customs to old people, for all old people, whether of town or country, have seen just such, but that a church should re tain them in such purity within 10 miles of the greatest city of tho south is rather a wonder and may strike some young and "progressive” folks as not being the best conditions to be desired, but the people of Hardeman are satis fied with it all, and if they are pleased who should object? Tho very squatting around in groups and every fellow whit tling as they do whittle, has a charm for us, and the song, perhaps— “ All hail the power of Jesus' name. Let angels prostrate fall. Bring- foit.ii th:- royal diadem And crown Him Lord of All” — which call.- the crowd Inside Is sweeter to me than all the music of the opera, and takes us back through all the years to feast cm memories that seem so dear down to the grave. As already stated, tho second Sunday is an extra occasion. It Is foot-washing da- with the Hardshells, and this only • ■ curs twice in the ..-ear. Whoever may attend one of these meetings on the idea of seeing them wash feet will be disap pointed if they expect to find anything in the ordinance of a light or frivolous nature. It Is the Hardshell’s sacramental occasion and is serious all the way through, and is more calculated to bring tears than to create fun for the Idle and thoughtless who may attend through cu riosity to see the “washing of f :.-d.“ There is certain to be a good old fashioned sermon, with several go. t songs by the whole congregation before the .sacrament begins, and these are lia ble to touch any sensible person with the impression that It is no place for fun before the rito of washing feet be gins; but if it does not, then when feet washing does begin the veriest fool will discover that it is not at all funny. . Tiie ladies gather on one side and men on the other when sacrament begins. A cloth is taken from the table and the bread and wine partaken of just about as in other churches, and with which 1 hope there are none so heathenish as not be familiar. Then t'eet-washing l>- gins, and it is just as impressive as tb.j taking of bread and wine. The nv wash each others' feet, the ladies wti •: the ladies'. A man pulls off his -.oat. roils up iiis sleeves, puts a towed rouri.i his waist, and then humbly kneeling h<.« washes the brother's foot that sits ne.- to him. In turn this passes till al! a: 'washed, and the whole is so serious ■ to put the scoffer to shame and to draw nearer to <>od tho most thoughtless youth of the land. No stranger Is allowed to depart from the Hardeman settlement without their dinner. Brown anticipates this with tho greatest pb-asure, and at dinner is an other sociable hour. The truth Is 'hat all the day is a least of sociability. The pi otile grow up in sociability. Babe., ara caiiied to the church at everv meeting they grow up together and learn tn love each other, and they love the old chur b and the trees around and the spring whero they saunter to quench th<!r thirst or to court mid be with each other. All these things pertain at the old church of Hardeman and we r !o!--- that tho day Is at hand that calls )" there once more. There we will meet o! : friends, hear of those who have pass-', awa.x, learn of tho sick and the new born. Not the least of the pleasures w anticipate Is to see the babes In the mothers' arms. They are a prolific no Ihi 1 thereabout, and the only person expect to sea happier than'th-’ young mother with a babe is the one with tv babes A pretty babe in its mother't arms at an old-fashioned church Is , sweetest thing this side of heaven, a r b:iko to “fashion” and a promise fort! o future that can never bo expected fr children raised up almost strangers mothers, away from tho church and p.u taking of such things as the servant upon which it leans may choose to in still. The sociability of such occasions Is a belli to religion, an inspiration to neh:!’- borly affection, and charms the hearth stone of the humblest cabin to surp.-iss all tho elegancies of tho modern nr a sion. If such settlements ns Hardeman are behind on culture, they are ahead on reverency, ahead on a dependence la. God. ahead on that, tireside sociability that lent charms to home and love be tween kindred. They may not have the charming books to read that thrills with stories so pleasing to the taste of the cultures, but, tliis gives them time at night around the hearthstone to enter tain each other, to know each other better, and to store up in their hearts a. love so sweet that it remains a happy memory wherever they may go or what ever they may do. They may never be f; sinated by travel nor feel the thrll's of fashionable dissipation, but this only makes them like the more the meetings at the old church and soothes the spirit of discontent to a better relish of their country picnics and winter parties. At , last, when "fashion" has went all tho gates purchasable by wealth or de nintided by the "bloods." there is noth ing in it sweeter nor better than the customs of tiie good people around old Hardeman. SARGE PLUNKETT.
