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THE COBSTITUTIOH
CURK HOWELL Editor
ROBY ROBINSON Business Manager
Eatared at the Atlanta PaatofTica ■■ Hecaud
C’laaa Mall Matter, Nav. 11, 18»3.
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ing list.
The Booker Washington Riot.
A riot between factions of his own
color at a lectu ? by Booker T. Wash
ington, in a church in Boston, comprise
five points of a fresh phase of the ne
gro problem in tne north.
The fight was one of factions. One
crowd'held with Washington and one
with his opponents over the question
of the proper sort of training that the
race requires in its preparation for
life, citizenship and independence from
poverty and the ills that accompany
it. Washington stands for industrial
and moral education, thrift, good
homes and law and order citizenship.
In his programme he has the strong
and impulsive sympathies of good men
north and south. He has been encour
aged in a thousand ways and by mil
lions of serious voices to persist along
the conservative and practical lines he
has adopted as a leader and counselor
of his people.
The factions were both of colored
men and women. There was a con
certed plan by his opponents to go to
the meeting and raise a controversy
with Washington. The faction oppos
ed to him was made up of the average
Boston negro who has been coddled
and maleducated by the social and po
litical equality monomaniacs of that
city until they can tolerate nothing
short of the free admission of the race
to every place and privilege with white
people. They have been taught that
the color of their skin, because it is a
badge of special privilege, should ad
mit them to even more distinction,
rights and prerogatives than the aver
age white man enjoys, until now they
feel insulted when asked to look with
honest ambitiou on the ways of work,
of political subjection under equal
laws and to doing practical things for
the general uplifting of their race..
Their desire is social preferment and
their dream is political domination
and by these tv a supreme tokens they
are a dangerous element in any com
munity north or south.
The personal pivot of the Boston
razor riot was Booker T. Washington.
This is emphatically significant. Wash
ington has spoken before great audi
ences, white and mixed, and said
things of weight upon negro conditions
that have won for him este m and nec
essary co-operation from northerners
and southerners honestly interested in
finding the equitable and enduring
modus vivendi between the two races
in this country. The Constitution re
marked some time ago up-n the repeti
tious hardness of the experiences of
Washington as the Moses of his peo
ple. He has now had also the expe
rience of Paul on Mar's Hili before an
areopagi of his own blood. Or was it
more like Paul’s experience in Ephe
sus, when his own people '/allowed
Demetrius, the chief of the silver
smiths —in this case by the negroes fol
lowing the politicians—crying. "He
would ruin our craft and by this craft
have we all our gain?”
This riot happened in a church. The
enraged negro, whether graduatt <
form the end of a hoe in Georgia or
from Harvard in Massachusetts, runs
to blind and deadly violence without
regard for God or the conventions of
man. A church is just as good ftgb:
ing ground for him as a slaughter
house. Razors, knives ami hatpins
were out and seeking blood. Ami so
much of Professor James’ prophecy
lias come to pass. The other will fol
low and the day hastens to its dawn
when a negro will be hung on Boston
common, perhaps from the outstretch
ed arms of Crispus Attucks statue, or
maybe at the head of Commonwealth
avenue with the bronze face of Wil
liam Loyd Garrison looking down upon
the scene with unchanging aspect.
Lastly, the riot was in Boston. It
would be a mean, uncharitable thing
to tell Boston all the miserable steps
bv which her people have led them
selves and their negro guests to this
disgraceful Irruption. It is to bo hoped
that Boston will not need a wider and
bloodier lesson to enforce an under
standing of her mistaken education of
negro aspirations and aggressiveness.
It will not pay Boston to factor social
end political dynamite as it has been
doing This riot Is the first evidence
of the fact and Boston seldom follows
any craft that does not pay.
The negro question is a southern
onestlon. It >s understood here by
both races and if Boston ami the north
wBl let it alone it will be speedily set
Xd with justice to both races, with-
Southern History in Demand.
The editor of an Important Indiana
writes The Constitution
JoncXng some recent historical pub-
HcatSns in the south, relating to the
hcation governed and yet gov-
"n people^' l political affairs be
coro and s?nce the civil war. He says:
* ‘ n/iincv of Dr. Curry’s “Civil His-
, 'of the confederate States” opened
t o.-x of tn sac( . that W( , p oo pi e O s
' ' are inclined to misjudge the
,h we don’t know the real
smith b ■ • istor y of the civil war. and
V'am‘’anxious to* read more books by
S °Wewouldbe pleased to respond
rranklv to more inquiries of this sort
• the north. It Is evident to us
the extension of the circulation
of our Sunny South magazine in the
north and the orders we are getting
for Tlie Constitution issues that con
tain Watcou’s “History of the Life and
Times of Thomas Jefferson” that there
are numberless candid men in the
north who are now as anxious as this
Indiana editor to get. at the truth of
the causes of the civil war and the
subsequent policies of southern states
manship. ’
There has not been a year in the
period since the civil war when earn
est writers were more engaged than in
this year in searching for and assem
bling southern historic records and
we may confidently look in the near
future for books that will enlighten
the country substantially upon many
subjects of southern polity now wholly
unknown or Just as wholly misunder
stood.
A New Jeffersonian War.
In the chapters of Watson’s “Jeffer
son,” printed in The Constitution last
week, the author makes some lucid
and valuable statements of the ele
mentary principles of democracy as
Jefferson conceived them.
At this present era of American af
fairs it. is profitable to consider some
of these fundamental truths, indispen
sable to that form of righteousness in
government which make it democratic
and the absence of which make it any
thing else that you may choose to
call it.
The revival of anti-democratic meth
ods of government in this country af
ter the Jeffersonian ideas had triumph
ed over federalism and Hamiltonian
isnt began with the appearance of the
republican party. And, singular as it
may seem to say so. the rapid growth
of that party from 1853 to 1860, when
it obtained a majority in the electoral
college and named Abraham Lincoln
as president, was due to its presenta
tion of a programme more democratic
than that of the democrats them
selves.
Jefferson’s democracy had its germ
in his instinctive and thoroughly rea
soned opposition to vested interests
that claimed special privileges and
higher rights than those possessed by
the masses of the citizenry. But the
democracy which stood for the de
fence of vested interests in slavery
was less Jeffersonian and democratic
than the republicanism that denounc
ed such vested interests and stood for
the freedom and equality before the
constitution and laws of all men who
ought to be counted in the citizenship
of the country. However, on other
theories we may try to account for the
first successes of the anti-slavery
party, this democracy of citizenship
was the chiefest factor in producing
them.
But times change and men change
with them. The exigencies of the civil
war, beginning with the need for
money to support that war. forced the
republican party to create vested in
terests and support them to an extent,
that no ante-bellum statesmen ever
dreamed could be possible in these
United States. Such are the national
bank system and the tariff-built and
btilwarkt d interests of the nation.
These have been powerful enough to
dominate its control since the restora
tion of the union and are today the
legs of. the republican party's power
and pet iormanees. On the other hand,
the democracy, having neither of
liese vast vested interests in its
lavor, deprived of any offset of
equal strength in money and po
litical machinery, has been forced
back to the fighting line of Thom
as Jefferson and has gained what
ever favor and success it has had
since the war by appealing to the com
mon people as the champion of their
interests against the encroachments
and oppressions of vested interests.
There is no hope of redeeming the gov
ernment from the control of such spe
cial interests except through the
agency of a democracy fighting for
Jefferson lan principles.
One of the greatest interests of this
or any other country it its currency.
Like the blood of the individual there
is danger in limiting it, danger in en
larging it and danger in congesting it.
It. is the life-current of national lite,
health and prosperity. Impoverish the
currency by weakening its volume or
strength and you disease the body
politics fatally. Ovcr-enrich it and
financial gout and apoplexies occur
that afflict almost as fatally as pov
erty. Congest the currency in any
one or more members and you chili
ami perhaps paralyze all the other
members. To make the currency am
ple, stable and equitably distributed is
the highest art of modern statesman
ship. To do that requires the de
struction of money’ monopoly and the
encouragement o.‘ sound local banking
in every section of the nation.
The democratic party surely should
be able to find statesmanship in its
ranks adequate to this task. We be
lieve the feat can be accomplished
without violence to the public credit
and without peril to any business in
terest .
The vested interests sheltered by
the tariff affect wrongfully the second
greatest interest of a nation —the
tights of producers and consumers.
These rights demand protection rather
than the law vested rights of manu
facturers and monopolists to special
privileges expressed in trusts.
And l>eth these interests of the com
mon people today demand a party that
will renew with zeal and patriotism
the warfare and victories of the old
Jeffersonian lines of battle for a gen
uine American democracy.
Vermont in the Pillory.
The Constitution certainly poured
hot water into a rat hole when it got
after the Vermonters about their pecu
liar suffrage system. The Rutland
Herald, which last year was convinced
that the law was bad, now tries vainly
to justify it in the face of attacks from'
many sources, north as well as south.
The best thing it can say’ for the re
quirement that every voter in that
state must have “the approbation of
the board of civil authority” of his
town is that the provision has never
been used to exclude any of the 250
negro voters in that state.
But what about the disfranchise
ment of irom 40 to 60 per cent of
the white voters of the state at every
election that is contested at all? How
fairly does it work as between republi
cans and democrats? What effect has
it in cutting down the voting popula
tion from a normal 140,000 to less
than 64,000 in 1896 and little more
than 51.000 in 1900? And those were
the landslide and walk-over McKinley
campaigns.
The plain fact Is that tie whole
THE WEEKLY OONSTITUTIONi ATLANTA, GA., MONDA Y AUGUST 3, 1903.
country has, by the initiative of The
Constitution, obtained a clear view of
the most outrageous and brutal suf
frage scheme now in vogue in any
state of the union. It hurts the Ver
monters to have their political rotten
ness shown up and it hurts their co
partners in the other states by taking
the edge off the suffrage axes they had
prepared to use oi the necks of south
ern states.
The Man with the Hoe.
This year the man with the hoe has
got a lory; lead on the man who de
pends on manual arts and the opera
tions of commerce in barter and trans
portation. The farms of the west are
teeming with crops that are record
breakers or very near to that point.
Anyhow, the railroads already have
'more < alls for cars than they can sup
ply, although since last season they
have largely increased their carriage
equipment. In the south the prospects
are brightening every day for a crop
of cotton fully up to the average and
for prices In the fall that will make
smiling faces from the Potomac to the
Rio Grande.
All these favorable things for the
farmer and planter are due to causes
that make weight, on the other side of
the national ledger and against the
men who have to live by’ other arts
and buy their living, clothing and raw
stuffs from the men who draw on the
reservoirs of Mother Nature. Aside
from the natural increase of our own
population we have this year more
than a million new mouths to feed that
have come to us from Europe. Only a
small percentage of the owners of
those mouths are going to the land in
order to raise their own food. They
come mostly from the congested manu
facturing and city districts of Europe
and are stopping in our cities to look
for the sort, of work they performed in
the old countries.
Consumption of foodstuffs and cotton
goods Is bound to increase every
year, not only in this country, but
abroad. The lands in the Orient and
the increasing demands from overpop
ulated districts in Europe are calling
for all the surplus supplies that we
can send them.
The system built up in this nation by
the Dingley form of protective tariff is
responsible for the condition now and
the worse conditions that will follow
unless there is found away to keep
an equilibrium between the producing
power of the country and the purchas
ing power of those who are essentially
consumers. This is the problem which
the labor monos America have to face
and which cannot be settled by how
ever many and however successful
strikes for shorter hours and higher
wages.
Laws That Convert Criminals.
Careful observation by experts and
the unquestionable statistics produced
seem to settle the moral value of what
is known as the indeterminate sen
tence law. The same is equally true
as to the first offense probation law,
administered at the discretion of the
trial judge.
Under the latter law first offenders,
unless their crimes are peculiarly wil
ful or amount to felonies, may be re
leased upon probation with the re
quirement of reporting for a stated pe
riod th> ir plat es of residence and oecu
pation to the court. This law has been
found very practicable in cities, espe
cially as to juvenile offenders. Wher
ever it is in force abundant testimony
Is given that but a small proportion
of the offenders return under charges,
but become industrious, law-abiding
persons.
The indeterminate sentence law al
lows a minimum and maximum limit
to the imprisonment imposed upon of
fenders. A person convicted may,
for instance, be sentenced for
from one to three years. The
convict, by good behavior and in
dustry, can be released by the pris
on authorities at the end of the first
year; but if he Is unruly, troublesome
in conduct and shows no signs of de
sire to lead a correct life, he can be
held for the maximum of the sentence.
The best statistics at hand, combining
those of Europe and those from our
own country, show that the number
of returns of criminals under this law
have been reduced from an annual
average of 65 per cent to 40 per cent.
Considering that, these sentences are
imposed upon the first offense class of
felony criminals the beneficial signifi
cance of the reduction can be readily
appreciated.
Such laws would have, doubtless, a
very desirable effect here in the south,
both in the cities, where juvenile of
fenders are mostly found, and In the
country, where the majority of the
criminals are first offenders. These
laws put. a state premium upon the
self-reformation of offenders and con
verts many persons from repeating
crimes under the false notion that a
penitentiary sentence is an insupera
ble barrier to a future life of honesty
and industry.
These laws commend themselves to
a fair trial by reason of the uniform
good results that have followed their
adoption in American and foreign com
munities.
The American Soldier.
The country produces, perhaps, no
more unique aud typical growth than
the American private soldier. He is in
a class all to himself. He no peer,
no equal and no rival. No human in
tellect could have conceived him for
a romantic figure and no painter could
have put him on canvas without the
original for a model.
The American enlists in the army
cither from stress of need or as a lark.
If a husky boy finds all the jobs occu
pied and nothing doing ou credit at his
boarding house he hies to a recruiting
station, sells out to Uncle Sara for
three years’ bedding, clothes and ra
tions, with sl3 per for recreations on
the side. Or, if he tires of the dull
iteration of Ms local environment and
wants to see the country and its pos
sessions near and far, he stuffs into a
uniform and —
"On a government ship
He takes a trip
Ten thousand miles away.”
He is “a rookie," which is the sobri
quet of a recruit until he has had his
baptism of fire or done time in “Q
company,” after which he is a full
fledged "regular,” and when he finishes
his three years’ lour he is “a veteran.”
But all the time he is the finest and
most reliable soldier the world knows
today. He would rather fight in a blue
shirt open at the neck, bareheaded and
with his breeches torn half-off by the
cactus and the thorns than to eat pie
In a Broadway restaurant. He has the
quick, instinctive initiative of his
American forebears who learned Indian
tactics and beat the redskins at their
own tricks. He takes fighting life in
all lands, climates and conditions as
his matter of course and hardly ever
gets left. He knows that his chief
business is to “get there” and uobody
has yet been found to prevent him do
ing so.
Take him up one side and down the
other, the American private is a peach
and with all his foibles the American
people admire him, pet him and are
ready to back him against all comers.
Are There Heathens in Heaven?
Both the esteemed Washington Post
and the likewise New York Sun are
inclined, on occasions, to say dis
counting or ribald things about the
popularly applauded orthodoxy of The
Constitution in matters religious. But
recently they descanted with incredul
ity about our faith in the unification
of Christian creeds to the end that a
man might, be classified as a disciple
of Jesus without having to undergo
some of the traditional and ought-to-be
obsolete mummeries of modern church
ism.
Everybody knows that. The Consti
tution stands for churches. By no
manner of means do we desire their
disestablishment. But. while there
should be “differences of administra
tion” there should also be “one spirit”
and it is for that latter essential that
we have pleaded and do plead.
A Philadelphia preacher—and Phila
delphia is famous for its good preach
ers and bad politicians—has taken up
our demand and, being a Methodist,
i as injected it with a fire and frank
ness that we hesitated t> employ.
Rev. Amos Johnson is a brave and elo
quent preacher, known to the Philadel
phia public for a quarter of a century.
He is of the straitest of his sect and a
man of learning and spiritual acumen.
It is worth any one's while to so think
and so speak as to secure his indorse
ment.
At. Chester Heights camp ’meeting
Dr. Johnson, on Thursday, preached a
notable sermon in which he said:
There will be all denomiations and kinds
of people in heaven —even the heathen!
Ail that is necessary to be done Is to
follow the true light.
We call the attention of our es
teemed contemporaries to the fact that
the above is true Paulino doctrine,
readily provable by his epistle to the
Romans. If that was sound doctrine
for the Jews and converts at Rome
it ought to be good, practical doctrine
for us Americans of the present time.
If the heathen has within himself a
law of righteousness, revealed from
the Creator, whereby they accuse and
excuse one another, and so living up
to their truest light are admissable to
heaven, why may not a man of this
age, living up to the light of the gospel
revealed in the life of Jesus have an
equal chance for salvation and eternal
life?
It is all a part to ask if the heathen
can reach heaven what use is there
for the gospel? If the ignorant man
has equal rights under the laws with
the learned doctor of the laws, what,
need is there for education? And if
another asks “what use is there lor
missions to the heathen” the answer
is found in the now sml .britor way
of the gospels, than the instinctive
righteousness of the he. ..hen, or the
same instinct in the per on born in a
Christian land. Both am weak and
need the enlightenment and direction
of the gospel, which in its purity of
faith and uniformity of obligations is
the suffeient Alpha slid Omega of a
salvable Christian creod.
A Befuddled Commentator.
The Post-Intelligencer, of Seattle, is
very sure that The Constitution does
not fairly slate the attitude of the
southern people towards the suffrage
clauses and amendments of the nation
al constitution. Then it proceeds to
misconstrue them with a misunder
standing of their content that would
at once bar any man from being
licensed as a lawyer in any state of
the union.
Our esteemed contemporary in the
long-distance state of Washington still
harbors the delusion that the four
teenth amendment repealed the basis
of representation in the house of con
gress instead of simply penalizing the
act of any state that unconstitution
ally abridges the suffrage of citizens
who are of the state and the United
States at once.
No act of any state in the union
that wo know of has attempted to do
such unconstitutional thing. Eminent
republican authorities say that the
southern constitutions and statutes
have not done so, aud, unless it. bo
Vermont, no state in tho north has
done so.
There is but one question in the air
as to this whole suffrage dispute and
that is: Have the war amendments
stripped all the states of all power to
regulate, limit and qualify voters upon
terms that apply to all “without regard
to race, color or previous condition of
servitude?” If the amendments do
not operate to that effect, then no
state in the union is amenable to a
reduction of its representation in con
gress.
•
The Negro in the South.
(From Leslie’s Weekly.)
Who shall deny that truth and justice
were on the side of our friend. Clark
Howell, of The Atlanta Constitution, the
other day when he declined to assist in
manning a factory near Chicago with ne
groes, on the ground that the prospects
for colored men having skill in the trades
were less favorable in the north than In
the south, and also that the negroes, on
the whole, were sure of more protection
and fairer treatment where the most of
them now are. “Southerners think too
much,” said Mr. Howell, “of colored
workers to urge them on to the north,
only to have them return defeated and
dispirited or in coffins, or not returned at
all because they shall have perished in
‘pursuit of life, liberty, and happiness’
by honest toil in some of the cities and
towns in the east, north, and west.” If
this is satirical it is also just and true,
and woof the north may well take the
utterance to heart.
In the discussion of the negro and hts
rights and wrongs, w'e seem strangely
to overlook the fact that the vast ma
jorlty of the negroes are in the south,
and that in proportion to their numbers
and their ratio to the white population
around them the cases of outrage and
abuse perpetrated upon the negro are
much fewer in the south than in. the
north. Mr. Howell is able to cite a num
ber of localities In Ohio, Indiana, and
Illinois “where a negro is not permitted
to live, or even to get off a train, at his
town railway station." If there are lo
calities like this in the south we have
never heard of them. The north should
cease its criticisms of southern lynchings
and turn Its batteries upon the sinners
at home. ,
Still rfrp.
It seems to me that I had better answer
some of those interesting questions
through the far-reaching medium of the
press. Here are three inquiries from
among your readers who wish to know
something definite about these so-called
dog days. Os course, I know only what
I get from books, but a vast multitude
have not the books nor access to them.
Whether tho advent and the influence of
dog days be a superstition or a fact, all
that is known should be disseminated.
Pliny and Herodotus both wrote about
dog days 400 years before Christ. An
cient astronomers and modern ones agree
in ascribing to Sirius a very malignant
influence when it arises in conjunction
with the sun, for it is the brightest star in
the heavens and Its great head added to
the heat of the sun increases and intensi
fies the temperature as long las this con
junction continues. But this rising with
the sun is not a fixed day. It varies from
the 3d of July to the 15th of August and
heuce 'the almanac makers take an aver
age day and set down July 20th as the
first dog day. Some date it July 24th,
but these dates may miss it two or three
weeks. It is generally believed that these
dog days continue for forty days, but in
fact that is an indefinite period, for the
conjunction of Sirius with the sun some
times lasts for fifty-four days. The sum
of the whole matter Is that about this
time of the year we may look for very
hot weather and showers almost every
day, and to ciall It fodder pulling weather
would be as good a name as any. Wheth
er Sirius has anything to do with it or not
we can only surmise, but Sirius is the
dog star and gave the name. Sirius is
the very brightest star in the heavens,
and Is In the mouth of a big dog-a con
stellation that the ancient astronomers
named canis major. The ancient lag.' P
tlns mapped off the starry heavens with
imaginary animals and men, such as
dogs, bears, dragons, bulls, Hercules,
Orion, etc., and the names they gave to
groups of stars have never been changed.
There, is a big dog and a little dog, a big
bear and a little bear, a big dipper and
a little dipper. Right in the tip of the
tall of the little bey.r In a very notable
star called 'the Pole star, or North star,
that navigators used to sail by and they
called it Cynoskurous, which in Greek
means a dogtail. From this name we
have the word cynosure and so when we
say of a beautiful woman in an assem
bly that she was the cynosure of all eyes
It is equivalent to saying that she was
the dog 'tail of tho concern. Just how
the sailors got to calling this star the
doigtall is not known, for it is really in
ursa minor, the little bear’s tall. Ihe
ancients gave many names to the stars to
fit things In nature that they resem
bled. The word comet comes from come
tus, which means a mare’s tall. Iho
word lunatic comes from luna, the moon,
for the ancients believed that tho mind
was affected by changes In tho moon.
Those old Egyptians were very imagina
tive and superstitious, but they were
very learned. How they goit so far ahead
of the Hebrews, God's favorite people,
we do not know. Their astronomy,
mathematics and architecture have never
been improved. The scriptures tell us
that Moses was learned in all the wis
dom of the Egyptians. Job asks; “Canst
thou bind the sweat influences of Pleiades
or loose the bands of Orion? Amos calls
them the seven stars and mythology
names them the seven sisters, but modern
astronomers say there never were but six
and there are only six now. Hence the
superstitition about the lost Pleiad. Their
“sweet influences” are said to come from
the fact that whenever seen in the heav
ens it is a sign of good weather and a
safe time for vessels to sail, for pleian
means a sail. It is like tho pretty word
halcyon that literally means duck egg
time, for the eider duck never ouilds its
nest on the cliffs by the sea until pleasant
weather comes to stay for the season.
Hence the word els the sea and eon an
But I reckon this is enough about dog
days.
Some notable person—I believe It was
Lady Montague—said “There is no enter
tainment so cheap as reading and no
pleasure as Tasting. w Especially is this
true nowadays when there is so much
to read that is cheap, instructive and in
teresting. Tit fact, reading is now the
best part of a liberal education. A well
read poison is wiser, happier and better
fitted for the duties and trials of life than
the scholar who has graduated at the top
in the arts and sciences. Os course, I
mean good reading—such as history, an
cient and modern; biography, where we
get bot't example and precept; good story
books and standard novels that teach
good morals; good magazine literature
and good newspapers, whose editors are
conscientious and fee! their responsibility.
“As a man sows, so shall he reap.” and
we might as truly-say what a child reads,
so will bls or her moral and emotional
character be. The schools educate the
intellect only, but reading affects tho
heart, the emotions and passions and
establishes the character of the young
for good or for evil. Man has been de
fined to be a bundle of prejudices, and
these prejudices most generally come from
the books, magazines or newspapers that
we read.
Little stories like “Androcies and the
Lion” or “Damon and Pythias" have
molded the character of thousands of
children, and just so have “Robinson
Cruso,’’ and “Young Marooners” and the
“Swiss Family Robinson” established the
characters o’s children of a larger growth.
Whether a man despises or admires Na
poleon depends on whether ho has read
Scott dr ’Abbott. Whether a man was
a whig or a democrat in the old times
depended on the newspaper he took. As
great a man as Dr. Miller, who was an
old line whig, had a contempt for Thomas
Jefferson because ho was per-se the
founder of the democratic party. “Jef
ferson must have been a very great
man,” said I, “for he wrote the declara
tion of Independence.” “And what is
that,’’ said the doctor, "but a series of
ungrammatical platitudes that any school
boy' might have written. The first sen
tence is ridiculous, for it says a decent
respect for the opinions of mankind. A
decent respect! Who ever heard of an
Indecent respect? Why didn’t he say
’respect for’ and leave out the decent,”
and he scarified the whole document from
a whig standpoint.
Well I was ruminating about this while
reading Percy Gregg's high-toned but
merciless criticism of Harriet Beecher
Stowe. "Uncle Tom’s Cabin.” Gregg had
sojourned in the south during slavery
times and knew the book was a lie when
it was written, and that it was written
to inflame the northern mind and precipi
tate a collision. That Beecher family
was smart, unprincipled and malignant.
It was Henry Ward Beecher who incited
old John Brown to his reckless deeds and
daring and who declared from his pulpit
that Sharp's rifles were better mission
aries than Bibles, and that to shoot at a
slave holder and miss him was a sin
against heaven. It was ttiat same Beech
er who, while a preacher, seduced the
wife of one of his members and broke up
tho family, and after weeks of a mock
trial got a whitewashing verdict from a
packed committee.
But I was ruminating about the far
reaching influence and effect of that book
and how it'fired the northern heart and
the English heart against us, and how it
was a lie and wholly misrepresented our
people, and how the Lord cursed She
maiah, one of the prophets, because lie
made the people believe a lie, and how
St. John said nd one should enter heaven
who loveth or maketh a He, and so I was
wondering where the Beechers are now.
BILL ARP.
Shrank Stanton,
The Thankful Song.
fjcts’ sing a song o’ thankfulness for all
our blessings .past.
Though the morning found the twilight
and the blossoms met the blast:
Let’s say that on the way
We were happy for a day,
And though wo mourned the winter, we
knew the flowers of May!
Let’s sing a song o’ thankfulness tor
hearts that truly beat;
Even if we missed the mountaintop, the
valley's shades are sweet!
Let's dream that God does best!—
Though the thorns be at the breast.
We shall dream His dreams of Silence,
reap the roses of His rest!
Difference of Opinion.
”1 think,” said Brother Williams, “dat
de devil must be in de weather.”
“Great mistake,’’ replied Brother Dick
ey. "De devil is In you, en dat's what
makes you sweat so!”
The Lazy Singers.
The folks that sing of fields of green,
and meadows wide, and such.
Ain’t never had to hoe a row—ain’t never
plowed ’em much.
It’s well enough to write ’em down in
that ’ere city style,
But, you bet they never leave the town
to plow the fields a while!
It’s all right—this here ringin’ about the
fields an’ streams,
When y'ou’re underneath your rooftree,
from the hot sun’s blazin’ beams;
But every one would change their tune
and quite forget to smile.
If they struck the fields In August, and
plowed them fields a w'hlle!
When the Rivers Find Sea.
The world is lookin’ lonesome,
But all the grief will go;
Some day, in perfect music,
The streams shall seaward flow.
And we’ll reap undreamed-of roses when
the Winter brings the snow’!
What though the hills before us
Seem ever dim and high?
Tho angels brush, with wings of white.
Their green crowns, from the sky.
And they feed God’s flocks forever, and
they'll rest us by and by!
Just a Song of It.
We’re thankful for the winter, when the
frost Is all around
And the squirrels send the hlck'rynuts
a-pattering to the ground;
And we’re thankful for the summer, when
the birds and blooms abound—
And God is God forever and forever!
We’re thankful for the sorrow—though It
saddens all the years,
For, brighter for the tempest, still the
Star of Hope appears;
We catch a glimpse of heaven through
the glimmer of our tears,
And God is God forever and forever!
O, best are all the thorn-ways where
wounded feet may roam!
The barque will breast the billows, and
sight the shores of Home,
And “Welcome!” in a chime of bells, will
float across tho foam,
For God is God forever and forever!
In Watermelon Weather.
Afar we’ll leave the dusty town,
And skip the bloomin'
And send the drippin’ buckets down
In watermelon weather.
The oak’s green branches bending o’er.
We’ll seek the shade together,
And carve the red fruit to the core
In watermelon weather!
A Flower Song.
Roses for the lover —
Let their thorns bring rue;
Daisies for the dreamer,
Violets for you!
Yet never sweeter dreamer
Reaped daisies in the dew!
Star-loved fields of clover
Where the brown bees roam,
Gardens where Love’s lilies
Fleck the dust like foam, —
Lead us there, sweet dreamer,
’Till the heart sings “Home!”
*«• * «
Sic Transit.
Fade file earth-scenes from our view—
Swords in scabbards rust;
Centuries are drops of dew;
What are worlds that fleck the blue?—
Like the fleeting life of you,
Dreams—and starry dust!
♦ * • * *
A Fishing Story,
Flshfn’ in the river—
Headin' fer tho lakes,
Johnny hollers, with the jug—
“ Look out fer snakes!”
Chilly, by the river side—
Old Malaria wakes;
Tilt the jug an’ fill the mug:—
“Look out fer snakes!”
Homeward in the twilight—
Crooked path he makes;
Woman with a broomstick:—
“Look out fer snakes!”
The Leading Qtiestion.
Dis Is de way de roun’ worl’ run:—
Some got money, en some got none;
But which er de lot is de happy one?—
Answer now, believers!
Dis man live in de mansion high,
Dat man—yander, in <de desert dry;
But which er de Jwo gwine ter shout
bimeby ?
Answer now, believers!
Trouble knockin’ at de big house do’
Same ez de cabin, whar de wil’ grass
grow;
Who is de rich man, en who is de po’?—
Answer now, believers!
The World Moves On.
Who stood upon the hills lies low
Beneath the blossoms 'and the snow;
Like dreams we come, like dreams we
KO,—
The world moves on!
And this one leads the world, and men
Look not to see his like again;
He fades even in a breath, and then
The world moves on!
Poor shadows 'neath the eternal sun—
Driftwood on streams that seaward run;
The. word' is said, the task is done, —
The world moves on!
When Money Talks.
Hush 1 good people—not a word!
Not the chirpin’ of a bird—
Let not even a breath be heard!—
Money's talkin’!
Listen—all ye rich and poor!
Not the creakin’ of a door!
Money—money has the floor, —
Money's talkin’!
From the winter to the May
Sure he is to have his way;
To the far-off Judgment D:W
Money’s talkin’!
* * ♦ ♦ ♦
If the Heart Sings.
Sorrow comes in darkness,
And 'fain would dim the day,
But any time is Joy time
If the heart sings on the way!
Sarge iPtunkett.
RELIEVE the loneliness. Institute
good schools, and our women will
be happy, the children cheerful, the
farmer prosperous and the whole world
blessed.
It is a common occurrence for people to
visit Decatur for a day or a week or a
month to escape the discomforts of the
city and breathe the fresh air of DeKalb,
as pure as that of the mountains in iso
lated and inconvenient places. While
these visitors receive their comforts by
coming to us, we very often learn things
of profit from them and a knowledge of
the world that many of us would have
never known save for their coming.
We had tho pleasure and the profit, we
hope, of meeting an intelligent French
gentleman at “Decatur Inn” and spending
an afternoon one day last week in hear
ing him tell of some of the customs across
the water. From this gentleman’s account,
France is a most wonderful agricultural
country and, in his opinion, these hills of
Georgia could be made just as wonderful
in that lino. I wish that every farmer of
the south could have heard him tell of
just how tho people of France live and
farm, remarking Incidentally that from
what he could see in a visit to our coun
try, the lands here were just as good and
would yield as well under the same treat
ment and methods as is practiced in
France.
To start with, the schools are brought
to tho children instead of the children
having to go to the schools. The churches
also and tjje conveniences of village life
are brought to tho people and the loneli
ness of living in the country and pursuing
agriculture is done away with.
These French farmers, from this gen
tlemiain’s account, live in villages some
thing on the order of plantation negro
quarters of before the war, saving, of
course, that the houses are of brick in
stead of logs, and. tho place has the air
of comfort and freedom rather than that
of the quarter for slaves. Instead of
the farmer building to be In the midst of
his work, they build for the covenlences
of their families. Instead of the chil
dren: having to travel three and four
miles along lonely and dangerous roads
to arrive at school, the school is at
home, and tho men travel tho distance to
their work. Instead of tho go'xl wife
having to remain, in a lonely home day
after day by herself and little children,
she is given the sociability of village con
tact and the conveniences thereof.
To • hear this gentleman talk, should
| fall as a suggestion to the land owners
I of the south. No one can doubt but that
; the loneliness of country life in Georgia
has much to do with tho dissatisfaction
that has appeared in our country homes.
This is so true that we may talk about
other things as much as we please, but
it will do no good till country life is re
lieved of its loneliness, and has the
other adviamtages of people Jiving close
together as in villages. The truth is
that if rough, strong men had to Stay
all alone in some of the houses where
frail and timid women do stay day after
day, and often at night, there would lie
no living in the country—men would
never stand the loneliness, much less the
I fear, that lurks in the conditions of life
on the farm here in Georgia. Then, 1
say. as I have said before in other con
nections, these drawbacks must be re
lieved; it should be every man’s desire
to correct every drawback that attaches
to farming, and how to do this is the
greatest question that confronts the
southern people today.
These suggestions from strangers with
in our gates are well worthy of consid
eration—this is the way to learn. The
northern vlslte>-s laugh at out implements,
at our lltth's mules and Texas ponies and
slip-shod harness, and so on. 'i hey al.
agree that people in the north would
starve under such methods and thus pay
a deserved compliment to the soil and
climate of the south. But the making
of greater quantities of produce is not
the most Important thing. How to re
lieve the anxiety and loneliness of coun
try life >s the more important. What
matters it if abundance in produce is
everywhere upon the farm if the good
wife lives in loneliness and constant
dread. Os course an abundance of prod
uce is to be desired, and we should
consider every suggestion that points to
that, but other matters must be con
sidered, also 1 . Schools), churches and
something of conveniences as attach to
the village idea is just as important as the
abundance of produce and the dread and
loneliness must be relieved or this abund
ance fails to satisfy and agriculture
stands a crippled industry.
I have been impressed from listening
to this French gentleman that this farm
ing from a village is entirely practicable
here in Georgia. Concentrate the homes
of a settlement in some central location
without reference to tlie roads as they
now stand—the roads will regulate them
selves. Say that the farmers in a radius
of 4 miles get together and build a vil
lage in the center of that radius and
work the land from there. It is much
better for the men who work the land
to labor under the inconvenience of going
a distance to their work than for the
women and children to spend their lives
where a loneliness tnood.s and a fear is
upon them. And the importance of thus
regulating our schools is illustrated from
the fact that the people move as they do
move to the villages to secure these school
conveniences. As we stand today rural
schools are worthless. Concentrate the
homes and bring the schools there and let
every’ community pay its own teacher,
while the public money’ now thrown away
or our schools could be used to better
advantage in building roads that would
have to be built under this suggested
system.
I learned much of the difference in
economy between ourselves and those
French people. There is more waste of
produce here than the French farmer
makes. They would be horrified to see
fine crab grass and weeds that cattle
relish go to waste and lie and rot as it
does rot everywhere in Georgia. They
save every- sy rig of grass and weeds in
that country and their fuel is secured
by cutting the twigs from the Italian
poplar. These trees are trimmed at a
certain time of every year, and so the
Frenchman’s fuel is secured. What
would those people think of the waste
in our woods? But we have it to waste.
The Lord has done more for us than
for them, and while we are thankful
for these favors, we should all strive to
gether to profit by any suggestions of
the conditions that ire there No oom
plaint can be brought against our sols
aud climate, ’’’hey will do their part; it
is for us to do our part. We all desire
to make agriculture a great success. To
know bow is the question. When these
strangers from a distance come among
t.s we should listen and learn from then,
the secrets of success and profit by their
examples.
So mote it be.
SARGE PLUNKETT.
Gray Is Coming as Arbitrator.
Wilmington, Del., July’ 30.—Judge George
Gray decided today to accept his ap
pointment as fifth member of the Ala
bama coal strike commission and so tel
egraphed to the other members of the
committee at Atlantic City. He made his
acceptance conditional, however, upon ths
commission's work being done during Au
gust, as he will have to preside over a
session of th.' United States court of
appeals beginning the second week in
September. In order to attend to the
committee work he will have to forego
bis usual August vacation.