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6
TJjE GOHSTITUTIOfi
CLARK HOWELL Editor
ROBY ROBINSON Business Manager
l ,n,ere ‘l the Atlant* FaatofTice *■ Second
Yia=S Mail Mutter, Met. 11, 1873.
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ing list.
Should Be No Further Delay.
The net increase in taxable values
of Georgia as shown by the county di
gests is $22,157,102. To this will be
added an increase in the property re
turns of the railroads approximating
$2,500,000, not including the franchise
returns.
With this information at hand, the
governor and comptroller general
need only to know the results of the
arbitrations upon franchise valua
tions to enable them to fix the tax
rate for the state. It is sincerely to
be hoped that, there will be no un
necessary dela.v in the completion of
these arbitrations. The present de
lay serves to draw attention io one
of the many weak points < f the arbi
tration system—that which restricts
the comptroller general to the mem
bers of the railway commission in
making his selection of arbitrators
for the state. While this plan may
not have placed an unusual amount of
work upon these three gentlemen in
the past, the enactment of the Iran- I
chise tax law has brought ou so many
arbitrations that it is almost a phys
ical impossibility tor the members of
the commission tocomplete their work
in the short time desired, even were
no obstacles in their way.
The fact is. however, that they have :
no power t > hurry the other arbitra
tors. One result of the workings of this
system, as seen just now, is that with I
the time lor fixing the tax rate at
hand, not one of the arbitrations of
the large properties has been com
pleted. It may be that these can be
hurried without jeopardizing the in
terests of the state, hut it would have
been very much better had it been
possible for arbitrators to have been
selected without putting all this labor
upon the members of the commis
sion, as then one arbitration would
not have to await the disposition of
others.
■Whatever the cause, it is to be
hoped that all concerned will cooper
ate with the governor and the comp
troller gener.il in I ringing an early
settlement of these maters in dispute,
so there may be no delay in the fixing
of the tax rate.
Even without awaiting the fran
chise arbitrations, it is now certain
that the tax rate lor the next year
will be loss than 5 mills on the dollar
—a most gratifying showing and a
highly credit able record lor Governor
Terrell's ad minis! rat ion.
The Constitution and the Flag.
It has been fully sett led by the de
cision. five to four, of the supremo
court bench, that the lonstituiiou of
the United States does not follow the
flag—the ensign of the national au
thority. That settles the fa< t. that
we have a dual form of government—
half republican and half imperial— I
‘'half horse and half alligator.” Which
ever way w. turn to escape that con
viction the ease is labeled "stare de
cisis,” for under lb ’ majority rub the
judges make as binding law from the
supreme bench as the entire nine
could make in concert.
Another and higher question is
■whether the constitution remains with
the flag at home? It is notorious with
all mon who observe am! think that
the republican party has as little re
gard for the limitations of the con
stitution here in the United States as
it has for it win n appealed to by the
Porto Ricans or the Filipinos.
No man can truthfully deny that the
republican party has established in
this country those perpetuities and
monopolies which are unconstitution
al. The party itself confesses the
charge in its masquerade warfares
against its own creations. It.; Sher
man anti-trust law. its grand stand
resolutions in conventions and its wild
colt demonstrations by the president
and the somnambulistic Knox are all
substantial evidences that it has done
unconstitutional tilings and is now
Impotent to undo them because bound
by the cords of its own iniquities.
That it would like exceedingly to
crusade against the south and deprive
a number of our states of their con
stltuiional representation is not dis
putable. But the negro is the only in
strument they can use for such an
unholy end. And just now the negro
is not available to them. He has
turned up through the wrong trap
door and performed in northern com
munities in away to make it foregone
that no pro-negro campaign can arouse
much enthusiasm anywhere west of
the Bill Garrison bronze effigy in the
Back Bay district of Boston.
The constitution requires governors
of the states to deliver up indicted fu
gitives from justice; but the republi
can party’s governor in Indiana re
fuses to deliver ex-Goverr.or Taylor to
the Kentucky authorities for trial on
an indictment ar particeps criminis in
the murder of his elected successor.
Other republican governors, including
Roosevelt of New York, guaranteed
this same fugitive free passage
through their states in order that he
might go as a delegate from Kentucky
to Philadelphia and vote for the nom
inations of McKinley and Roosevelt.
And these are but sample bricks out
| of the pedestal on which the repub
lican party stands. Were there not
scores of other instances to cite these
three should be enough to incite the
great majority of Americans against
the further dominancy of the nation
by that party. Its contempts for the
constitution make pertinent the ques
tion we ask: What kin is the constitu
tion to the flag, anyhow?
Editor Burnett’s Crusade.
Every respectable negro and every
' genuine friend of the negro race
should applaud the action of Editor
Burnett, of The Atlanta New Era, in
inaugurating a crusade against the
worthless and criminal of his race.
If he shall succeed in awakening any
number of the lespeetable, intelligent
negro citizens to a realization of the
duty they owe Io themselves and to
society by inducing them to join in
the prosecution of the vicious and
worthless, he will earn for himself an
honored place upon the roll of real
leaders of his people.
The action of Editor Burnett in
causing the arrest of a woman who
was acting in a disorder!}’ and unlaw
ful manner upon the street, and in
appearing as prosecutor against her,
deserves the highest commendation.
There is nothing truer than that one
of the heaviest handicaps from which
the good negroes of the south have
suffered —perhaps the heaviest, handi
cap of all —has been the practice of
the race, taken as a whole, in assum
ing responsibility for the acts of the
criminal by furnishing them shelter
and protectio i in their efforts to es
cape from the officers of the law.
While there have, of course, been
isolated instances to the contrary, the
rule has been that negroes have
joined to protect any negro charged
with crime and to prevent his cap
ture and prosecution rather than to
aid. as the white man does, the au
thorities in their efforts to see that
the ends of justice are met. In al
most every instance, the so-called
race wars have been directly due to
peaceable and naturally peace-loving
negroes allowing themselves to be
used by bad negroes who, to protect
themselves from the consequences of
their crimes, have appealed to racial
prejudices.
The thinking men of the negro race
have long seen that this failure of the
negroes themselves to differentiate
between the good and the bad among
them is at the bottom of most, if not
nil. of then’ troubles. The good ne
groes, and the race taken as a whole,
have suffered greatly. There can be
no uplifting of the race, no real de
velopment of good citizenship, until
the substantial and God-fearing join
in not only drawing the line sharply
against tiie worthless and the vicious,
but in giving the authorities every
possible aid in bringing the criminal
to ju-tice. Negro preachers and ne
gro teacher 1 have seen this and talk
ed it. but there has been too little
action. Editor Burnett comes to the
front as o’ . who believes in showing
his faith by his works; and now that
he has lead the way, it is sincerely
to be hoped ho will have the hearty
cooperation of all good negroes.
Ihe time for action upon these
lines is particularly opportune. The
enactment of the new vagrancy law
by rhe general assembly furnishes the
means by which worthless vagabonds,
as well as criminals, can be reached.
These vagabonds arc parasites living
upon the industrious of their race even
when they are not open law-breakers,
and their presence is an incubus from
which the race has suffered in the
past, and is suffering, greatly. Under
the operations of this law. those who
will not work can be made to work
—either for themselves or on the
chaingangs. Th south furnishes the
opportunity for honest, labor to every
man, and those who will not take ad
vantage of such opportunities, be
they white or black, should be made
to work by the process of law, and
the new vagabond act affords the
method by which it can be done.
The white men of Georgia are go
ing to sei' that this law is strictly
enforced against the worthless on
their side of the color line; the good
negroes—and they are certainly in
the majority can do no better work
for their race than in following up
the work started by Editor Burnett
by prosecuting, not only the criminal
ainong them, but the worthless vaga
bonds who are constantly bringing
disgrace upon their race.
Colombia and the Canal.
In the absence of more explicit de
tails, it is fair to assume that the an
nounced “rejection” of the canal
treaty by the senate at Bogota does
not necessarily mean that Colombia
intends to break off all negotiations
with tin government of the United
States. In all probability that rejec
tion will be found qualified by subse
quent developments. The interests of
Colombia in having the canal con
structed through the isthmus of Pan
ama is too great to permit the failure
of a canal treaty in some shape.
The rejection reported is probably
of the terms set out in the treaty as
negotiated. There has been strong
opposition throughout the United
States of Colombia to some of the
features of that treay, but even the
most unfriendly reports from Bogota
have not presaged the absolute rejec
tion of any treaty. The Colombian
senate has the same right to amend
that is lodged in the United States
senate as a part of the treaty-making
power of our government. The most
likely method of procedure, therefore,
is for the senate now in session to
amend the convention so as to make
it comport with the ideas of a ma
jority of that body.
If this is done in good faith, and if
the amendments are of a character
likely to meet the approval of this
government or to serve as basis for
a mutual understanding, President
Roosevelt can submit the amended
treaty to the senate when congress
convenes in extra session. That is
not a long way off, and the delay in
volved would probably not be ma
terial.
The president is, however, clothed
with full authority, should he see fit
I'.ULE WKKKXtX <DUIWXJ.'AMO-NBAY. AUGUST -4, liw.,.
to exercise it, to break off the nego
tiations with Colombia and renew ne
gotiations with Nicaragua and Costa
1 Rica for the construction of a canal
i by the Nicaragua route.
If the action of the Colombian con
gress is such as to leave the way open
i for further negotiations calculated to
I bring an agreement, the president will
doubtless submit, the matter to the
United States senate, which will act. in
accordance with the later develop
ments. If, however, there is no proba
bility of the acceptance of the Colom
bian amendments, if these .are antag
onistic to the principles upon which
the original treaty was constructed,
the duty of the president is plain. He
must start things going for a canal
through Nicaragua.
Coming Back to Dixie.
Reliable railway authorities along
the border report that there is a very
pronounced increase of negro travel
from the north to the south.
This is a fact that, according to
common understanding of conditions
north and south, ought, to be other
wise. In the north the negro has so
many friends whose chief business is
to inform him how badly he is treat
ed in the south; who are so eager to
make him feel that he is the equal
of themselves, their sons and daugh
ters; and who feel so honored when
he condescends to oat and drink
with them, that it becomes interesting
even if not. important to know why
the negro Is emigrating from such
Canaan-like conditions.
As a carload of these negroes land
ed here in Georgia a few days ago,
hailing from Illinois, our natural im
pulse is to ask the esteemed Chicago
Tribune to betray to us the genesis
of this exodus from its state? There
are not many states in the union
where the governor would set a state
dinner for negro militia officers, as
Governor Yates did not many weeks
ago. Os course he knew, for he is
no yellowhammor politician, that this
negro dining in the Illinois governor’s
mansion would be immensely popular,
or he would not have followed the wal
nuts and the wine of the feast by an
nouncing his candidacy for reelection
to the governorship. Now, as ne
groes cannot hope to ever take pot
luck in the state mansion in Georgia,
wo wonder why these negroes left Il
linois and came back to a southern
state, where the negro knows his
place. Perhaps The Tribune can
give us the correct explanation.
Another Instance was the return of
several families of colored people to
North Carolina, after ten years’ resi
dence in Boston. They explained that
they had only gone to Boston to get
free education for their children for
nine months in the year, instead of
the three months available to them
in North Carolina. As one of the
negro men naively expressed it:
"We’ve jest bin foragin’ on dem Yan
kees fer de schoolin’ o’ ouali chil
dern!” But that does not sound
plausible enough to adequately justi
fy their final abandonment of Boston’s
ineffable love for God’s queerest crea
tion —a black man who is the equal,
and in Boston the unqualified supe
rior, of a white man. Taking the
Boston viewpoint, we are really puz
zled to know why God made any
white men at all, ami especially the
kind that make Boston a negro
coddling ground. But The Boston
Herald keeps a man who can always
easily explain such riddles and we
respectfully apply to him to tell why
any negro should prefer North Car
olina to Beacon Hill baked beans and
Commonwealth avenuue boudoirs?
The magna charta of human rights
begins with the right to life and life
is ensued by the arts of bread win
ning. In the north the negro finds
fewer chances for breadwinning than
in the south. The negro in Boston Is
confined to a few menial employments
and barred by custom and trades un
ions from scores of skilled and well
paid employments that ho can
and profitably follow in the south.
Still we should think the average ne
gro would prefer to do menial labors
in the north for the sake of mouth
work of love done over him by poli
ticians, polyangtilar old bluestocking
girls and pulpiteers who know only
the gospel of injustice of the south.—
. 4*
Cotton and Frost.
A question of no little interest is
raised in the course of the discussion
of cotton possibilities in Egypt and
Cuba.
Can cotton bo grown successfully
where there is no frost?
An old-timer, writing from Florida
to The New York Sun, quotes John C.
Calhoun as having declared, in a mas
terly speech in the United States sen
ate, that "cotton cannot be successful
ly—that is, profitably—raised where
there is no frost."
The writer, who describes himself
as an octogenerian, says he has long
been a southern farmer and he has
learned that Mr. Calhoun’s dictum is
true. The cost of eliminating the last
year’s foliage, unaided by frost, is, he
declares, too great to make the cul
ttire of cotton under such circum
stances profitable.
Is this true?
•—
That Same Old Turk?
It does seem possible for modern
civilized powers to come to some
agreement by which the further ser
vices of the sultan of Turkey might
be dispensed with. He has been the
eye-sore and the bone in the gorge of
humanity for generations and a time
has surely come when duty to God
and mankind demands his dethrone
ment and the cessation of his suc
cession.
If it be objected t hat the maintenance
of the porte is the core of a truce
that supports the peace of Europe;
that to abolish it would involve a
struggle between the powers of the
eastern continent, to control the stra
tegic values of the now neutral buffer
state of Turkey, that objection can be
disposed of by another Berlin con
gress and treaty from which, the rep
resentatives of the interested powers
can return to their capitals announc
ing, as Beaconsfield did in 1878, that
they “return bearing peace with hon
or.”
Such a congress of the powers
could demand the abdication of Abdul
Hamid, decree that the Turkish dy
nasty is at an end and substitute for
the government an administrative
commission so adjusted as to main
tain the equities between the powers,
guarantee peace and prosperity to the
Turks themselves and so remove from
the circle of Christian civilization a
monster of intolerable character.
The riot at is due to be read be
fore the Yldiz palace and a transport
should be easily provided to take the
old rascal to some twentieth century
St. Helena.
Taft and the Philippines.
The president’s tender of the war
portfolio in his cabinet to Governor
Taft has naturally given rise to wide
speculation over the probability of the
acceptance of that, important post by
the man who has made the civil gov
ernment in the Philippines an accom
plished fact. When Governor Taft de
clined the proffer of a place upon the
supreme court, it was taken for grant
ed that nothing could tempt him from
his present, post unless it was the
chief justiceship of that court, to
which exalted position he has a right
to aspire. But several considerations
which did not then outer into the situ
ation scorn likely to influence hint to
accept the war secretaryship.
One of these is his health. Govern
or Taft has been in the tropics long
enough. He has, upon more than one
occasion recently, shown that the
strain of work near the equator is tell
ing upon him, and the warnings he has
received are of a character not to be
disregarded.
This, however, may bo taken as the
consideration least likely to sway a
man who has shown himself ready to
make every sacrifice of ambition and
personal convenience in order to carry
forward the groat work to which ho
lias been chosen. The fact that civil
government must by this time be so
firmly established and in such good
working order that his presence is no
longer essential to the peace and de
velopment of the islands, and, especial
ly, the fact that the office of secretary
of war would furnish him the oppor
tunity to see carried into effect those
policies which he deems necessary for
the success of the American adminis
tration of those islands of the Orient,
are the considerations most likely to
influence his acceptance.
As secretary of war, Governor Taft
would be in a position to do more to
promote the right, government of the
islands that in the position he now
holds. He would be a greater influ
ence in shaping the policy of the ad
ministration and, as such, better able
to prevent the domination of the civil
branch out there by the military. He
has won the confidence of all elements,
native and foreign, rb a degree which
could hardly be attained by any suc
cessor to the governorship and in this
respect the elimination of his person
ality from the immediate scene would
be a loss; but this loss would certain
ly bo more than offset by the gain to
all interests of having him at the head
of the war department, where he
would have, practically, the final deci
sion in all matters affecting the Phil
ippines.
If Governor Taft does accept, the
place in th, cabinet tendered hint, it
vvill doubtless bo duo to (his higher
consideration rather than to any per
sonal ambition. From the standpoint
of Philippines peace anil prosperity. It
is to Ito hoped ho will consent to be
come the successor of Secretary Root.
For Good Roads.
The promptness with v. ill' ll the com
missioners cif a. number of counties
have made application for convicts to
be worked cm the reads speaks elo
quently of the. popularity of the new
law.
I p to Thursday thirteen counties
have filed with the prison commission
formal application lor the quota to be
assigned them. In a number of other
counties the officials have Ute matter
under consideration, and there is
every indication that by the time the
new law, making the short-term con
victs available for this purpose, goes
into effect, the full number will be
applied for.
in this way the first real impetus to
systematic road building will be given
in Georgia. With nearly eight hun
dred felony convicts being worked
upon the roads, and with this force
supplemented by the misdemeanor con
victs in the different counties, the
good roads movement will become a
reality in the state.
When the new law shall have been
in operation long enough to show tan
gible results in the line of scientifical
ly constructed highways, it. will, we
feel confident, find such favor with
the people that the next step will be
Hit' use on the roads of the convicts
with sentences as high as ten years,
instead of being restricted to the men
sent up for five years and less, as the
law now provides; and ultimately
Georgia will use all, save perhaps her
life convicts ami those of notedly des
perate character, upon her roads, until
the state shall lie covered with such a
uet-work of good roads as will carry
the blessings of prosperity to the
rural communities of every county.
The new law has come to stay. Its
popularity lias already been demon
strated, notwithstanding the dire pre
dictions of some of its opponents.
Back to the Plantation.
There is an undoubtedly growing
tendency in the south to go back to
the old plantation system of agricul
ture that prevailed before the war.
It has been found that the negroes
are not fitted, even after the experi
ence of a third of a century, to be
come reliable landed proprietors un
der the small farm system. They are
not equipped with the means, scien
tific intelligence and habits that are
the essentials for making such farms
productive to their highest possibili
ties and so the negro tenant and pro
prietor farmers are always in debt,
under mortgage, disappointed them
selves and the agents of disappoint
ment to their landlords and cred
itors. Most of them know little else
than cotton-raising and their lack of
thrift in that is too conspicuous to be
ignored. Scarcely one in twenty of
them produce as much of a crop inde
pendently as lie would produce un
der hire and intelligent superintend
ence.
On the other hand, it has been
demonstrated within the past few
years that large tracts of land can
be consolidated under competent, man
agement and worked with hired la
borers at a minimum of expense and
larger profits than by any form of
tenant and crop-sharing system. A
time is coming when even farming
will be a corporation field and com
panies will be formed to hold and cul
tivate cotton, corn and wheat as they
have been formed and used success-
fully to raise sugar cane, tobacco and
cattle.
The mechanism of money-making is
delicate and moves on wheels made
of dollars. It grinds recklessly and
remorselessly. And it is not much
longer to be kept out of the vast cot
ton fields of the south. Here was an
industry, one of the best in the world,
that the negro might have easily mo
nopolized as his own had lie been
wisely guided into industries after
emancipation instead of being lugged
into politics and notions of social
equality. But. his chance has been
neglected anil the crowns of independ
ence he might have wrought arc sure
to be worn later on by a smaller con
tingent of “farmer kings.”
The large incorporated plantation
will be a novel and surprising in
stance of combination. It will raise
cotton for its surplus crop and food
stuffs for self-support. It will gin its
own cotton, express its own seed-oil,
use its own hulls and meal for cattle
feed and fertilizers, and manufacture
its own crop and gin-lint in its own
factory. It will market “olive oil.”
beef cattle and various grades of cot
ton goods. Nothing will be neglected
—nothing wasted.
Those who have figured on the
feasibility and returns of cotton en
terprises thus organized and operated
are sanguine that the future will wit
ness a rapid organization of incorpor
ated plantations and that when these
have multiplied until their power is
supreme in the field the south will
prosper beyond every dream and bo
no longer at the mercy of speculators,
eastern mill-owners or foreign tteom
petitors—and the rural labor problem
will be fully solved.
Conger and Prince Ching.
The intrinsic value of the promise
which Prince Ching is reported to
have given Minister Conger may be
aptly described as a questionable
quantity.
As usual there is a string attached
to every development in the Manchu
rian controversy. This time it comes
in the form of a time allowance, the
head of Chinese foreign affairs having
given the American minister some
sort of a promise that on October 8—
a date conveniently in the future—a
treaty shall be signed guaranteeing
that two Manchurian ports shall be
“open.”
On October B—providing B—providing there is
no extension of time, providing the
Russian authorities do not interpose
objections, providing the dowager em
press does not change her mind, pro
viding—well, many other things.
All these conditions may not be set
forth in the “written promise” Prince
Ching is reported to have given Min
ister Conger, but that, they were bus
ily at work in his celestial mind when
he attached his official signature to
that note there can be no doubt.
Minister Conger is clearly up
against a heads-I win-tails-you-loso
proposition in these Manchurian nego
tiations, the other fellow holding tho
winning end. First, China says she is
willing, but that Russia, being in pos
session of Manchuria, is the govern
ment to consult. Russia replies that
she has nothing to do with it, as the
country belongs to China, not to tho
czar. China suggests that, this may
be the case in theory, but it is certain
ly not in fact; tlrwn Russia retorts
that as she has said her stay in Man
churia is only temporary, nobody has
a right to question her promises or
her intentions. It. being up to China
again, there is more squirming and pro
testing.
Finally Minister Conger thinks ho
has obtained something substantial,
but despite his reports the uncertain
ties of the situation remind one most
forcibly of those surrounding the hero
of the vaudeville classic, who was
Off again.
On again.
Gone asaln.
Finnegan.
We will believe tiiose Manchurian
ports have been opened only when we
see them.
Not an Easy Mark.
There is concern in the heart of Tho
Now York Sun lest democrats conduct
their next presidential campaign on
tho theory that the inevitable candi
date of Mo repv.olican party is some
thing easy.
The Sun will, of course, be found
supporting that candidate, though at
present it loses no opportunity of
shieing a. brick at the passing Roose
veiißii she 1 . . But witness tho fol
lowing quotation from The Nashville
American, which appears in the col
umns of its New Yora contemporary:
Unbalanced, unreliable, full of self,
empty of prudence, of knowledge, of dis
cretion, of tho comprehension of the laws
of nations, of the laws of his own coun
try, of even the little social laws, Mr.
Roosevelt is a failure. Is that not pal
pable. Must we needs butt our heads
against a plainer proposition to take cog
nizance of this all 100 apparent national
misfortune? Must there be yet a greater
one?
And yet the republicans have already
committed themselves to this man's re
election, or rather a number of them
have. States have instructed for him,
conventions have indorsed him and for
what? In the happy appreciation amt
enjoyment of our wondrous prosperity
have any of us stopped to think for what
good or gain we owe Mr. HooseveJt? Is
it not all 'Ju- reverse? What democrat
can do worse?
The Sun characterizes this an “in
discriminating opinion” of President
Roosevelt, and warns the democrats
that if they are to have any reasona
ble expectation of defeating that gen
tleman. they nr -,t not ir ike the mis
take of underestimating his political
strength or his personal popularity.
At the same time, however, this able
representative of eastern republican
thought does not overlook the oppor
tunity to present this southern esti
mate of the man to its many republi
can readers, presumably in tho hope
that it may contribute to the discom
fort at Oyster Bay.
“The Only Bruffey.”
(From The Albany Herald.)
Bruffey, the only Bruffey, who can over
come more obstacles and sweep aside
more objections with a mere wave of the
hand than any other man in Georgia,
when on the trail of a sensational news
story, went to Milledgeville to get the
•whole story of the whipping of Mamie De-
Gris at the state prison farm, and to in
terview the woman herself, and he was
successful in both. Others had tried and
failed, but Bruffey never fails in such
emergencies.
Mills Will Not Stop.
Americus Times-Recordcr: The British
courts refuse to recognize South Dakota
divorces. Well, the Sioux Falls patent
“separater” can get plenty of grist with
out importing it from across the pond.
{Frank <£. Stanton.
The Tune of Love.
What time she loveth me, I know
A million roses deck the snow;
What time she loveth not—ah, me!
No rose in all the world may be.
But heaven and earth arc- nil amiss.
And in the spring the winter is!
What time T glimpse the bluest skies
1 gaze deep in her smiling eyes;
What time the darkest storms 1 see
Is when those eyes are closed to me!
But all the world is bright when she
Opcneth those lovely orbs on met
»#* ♦ ♦
Many modern authors are receiving
monuments these days, and yet very few
are anxious to get under them.
♦»* ♦ *
The Coining Day.
The fields will be bright with the har-
vest
And sorrow and sighing will cease
When the land which our toil has made
brighter
Shall smile in the beauty of peace!
if * « * *
A Dream of Fall Time.
Dogs a-barkin’ long en loud.
Finger on de trigger;
Turkey fer do white man,
’Possum fur de nigger.
Run, chile, run!
Keep de fire hummin’—
Put de pot en griddle on,—
Mister ’Possum cornin’l
Dar he settin’ on de tree—
How he wink en frown, sub!
Shtin’ dar, a-watchin’ me:—
Aint’ you cornin’ down, sub!
Run, chile, run!
Keep de lire hummin’!
But don’t you let de preacher know
Mister ’Possum cornin’ 1
««• * ♦
Only Hungry.
Hero is a merry item from The Wire
grass Blade:
“Two min who took dinner at Kitchens
restaurant last Wednesday claim that
they ate 5 pounds- of steak, 12 biscuits, 1
quart of sirup and drank 2 gallons of
coffee.”
The Good Time in Georgia.
It’s a good time In Georgia, believers—
no matter what people may say;
The stars for* our dreams, and the sun
shine is making the beautiful day!
It’s a good time in Georgia, believers—
no matter what people may say!
It’s a good time In Georgia, believers
no matter the clouds in the sky—
Tho rainbow is there, like a ribbon, and Is
shining from meadows on high!
It’s still the same rainbow of promise
which God in his kindness lots fall,
And this beautiful thing to God’s chil
dren: there’s gold at the end of it all!
It’s a good time In rjporgla, believers! —
See, how o'er the fields that are bright,
The toilers are dreaming of harvest
where tho seed has come up through
the night!
We are drifting from darkness to dawn
ing;—no more shall the dark have us
thrall:—
The'rainbows of God, like a promise,
have the gold at the end of ’em all!
A Natural Born. Growler.
“How do you like this weather?”
“Not muclj. I’m ’feared it’s goln’ to
rain.”
"Well, how's times with you?”
"Sorter so-so,—but they won't last!”
“Folks all well?”
"Yes; but tho measel.< is In the neigh
borhood.”
“Well, you orter be thankful you're
a-livin’.”
"Yes; but we've all got to die!”
•»» « »
The Unsatisfied.
If a fiery heavenly chariot should come
for me today
I’d want to stop at stations, fakin' ice in
or the way I
And' landed safe in glory, I ain’t got
any doubt
I'd growl about the climate till the good
saints turned me out!
The Happy World.
"How’s the. old world doin'?”
1 bet you she would say—
11’ only she could answer —
"I'm happy .on the way!
I'm happy with my great hills—
My meadows rich with hay;
Green fields and singin' rivers—
I'm happy on the way!
“How’s the old world doin’
In winter, cold an’ gray?
Tho lonely nights are starless,
An' sunshine's left the day!”
But still tho brave world answers:
“In winter wild, and May,
I’m rollin' on to glory—
I'm happy on the way!”
(■**««
Good News by Wholesale.
A postal card sent from Millville to one
of the absent brethren, reads:
“Dear Jim- Nothin’ but good news to
tell you. Your crap paid off the mort
gage, your brothef broke out o’ jail, an'
your daddy has jest got SI,OOO out the
railroad fer runnin’ over his leg. Ain't
Providence providin’!”
“Do po’ man cries en do Lawd hoars
him,” says Brother Dickey, “but some
times he cries so loud dat he distracts
de angels!”
Not Visible.
"Any race problem whar you come
funi?”
"No, suit; folks in my section Is too
busy tor hunt fer It!”
*****
The Times A-Coming- ’Long'.
The cool breeze sets me thinkin’ of the
times a-comin’ 'long.
When Life'll meet the music of a halle
luia song!
The happy time of fall,
When you hear tho fiddle call.
And yon balance to yer pardners till the
dancin' shakes the hall!
*** * •
“We goes out in do worl’ ter hunt for
happiness,” says Brother Diekey, “en
w'en happiness slips in by »de back gate
dey’s nobody ter open de do' en let him
in!”
Joy on the Way.
Sorrow comes, but will not stay:
Joy is ..whistling on the way;
Every winter drcam of May:
Sing it so, believers!
Though the rain bo round the eyes
Every rain-cloud fades and tiles;
Bight is streaming from the skies:—
Sing it so, believers!
*** * *
The Light Undying.
Never a day in the world shall seem dim—
Never a winter seem weary
While Dove lights the skies
Os my darling's bright eyes—
The beautiful eyes of my dearie!
Never a storm tinge the pathway with
gloom—
Casting its shadows so dreary:
Songs for Life’s sighs
In the light of her eyes—
The beautiful eyes of my dearie!
Sarge {Plunkett.
JEFFRIES is now the heavy weight
hero of every boy who reads the pa
pers, and thousands of men, women
and girls like to talk of the great fight
just ended at the city of San Francisco.
Tills same Corbett fought Fitzsimmons
a few years ago and got whipped then,
but those who take interest In such brutal
proceedings were sorry for him then ani
have clung to him as a fighter woithy
their esteem till this good day. Now that
he has been whipped again there will
grow a contempt for his powers and Jef
fries will remain the hero that he is till
I a greater brute is found that ’ can knock
I him out.” and then ho, too, will be rele
gated til the background along with Sullß
van and the rest.
But the fashions of the day and thu
trend of youthful minds is to magnify
these pugilists into virtuous heroes, and I
am no such fooi as to think of crushing
out this vulgar spirit that seems to be a
bond companion of the commercial idea
that holds our country in Its grip. As
hopeless as 1 feel of being able to ac
complish much at crushing out this pugil
istic sentiment, yet we should everyone
strive and keep on striving to the end
that a more holy and refined ambition
should take possession of tho masses.
Surely I have seen fights greater than,
these pugilists ever fought and I have
seen thousands of people, frail in physical
development, whose moral courage and
the moral healthfulness of their efforts
made them the superiors of these pugilists
In every sense of the word. Not a word
of these heroes of mine or of the fights
they have made have been heard in ths
land, and it will be hard for me to per
suade the youthful mind to give them tha
thought that I know they deserve.
I shall not take these heroes of mine or
their fights in the order they occurred, for
even since I began to write there hax a
gone by two young girls that call to my
mind the great fight of a noble widow
who lives not very far from where we
live. These girls arc the remaining un
married daughters of this good widow,
and to look upon them and know their
characters as we know them is enough,
to proclaim the victory of this mother in
I the fight she has made so much higher
and hollier than that of Jeffries at San
Francisco that a comparison would be
odious and a sacrilege. ’J his widow s fight,
which has preserved to the world tha
priceless character of these gins, is worth
more than all the “gate money” and al)
the “winnings” and all the glory of every
prize ring that ever occurred or that ever
will occur, though they should be popu
larized and softened by gloves to relieve
their brutishness for a thousand years.
The fight that this good widow has made
to make and keep her family what it is
has been known by many, many people,
and yet I doubt if she has ever received
the plaudits of a single individual in
recognition of her bravery, her fortitude
and her example to the world, or caused
a passing thought from the fashionable
world on the great blessing to the world
of which her children give such promise.
When left all alone with three little
daughters and bowed down in sorrow for
tho loss of her husband, this good widow
went to work as never a pugilist has
worked, as never a baseballist has work-
I ed, as never a devotee of the races has
worked, and as frail as she was she re
ceived buffets from the world without
flinching that would have caused the
strong frames of Jeffries or Corbett or
Sullivan or Fitzsimmons to quiver from
the contact, not to mention the mental
anguish she suffered that the prize ring
has never known nor could “sporting”
circles understand.
She heard those little girls cry for
bread when she had not bread to give
them. Did ever pugilists suffer like this?
She tended them with a mother's love
through sorrow and through gladness and
worked, worked. She worked till the blis
ters on her hands would burst and dye
her fingers with the crimson blood, but on
and on she worked. She smothered tho
sobs that were almost breaking her
heart, but on she worked, chaste, brave,
dutiful. Never was there a "sport” so
grand as she and never a "sport” with
such a weight of sorrow.
No whirl of excitement was ever with
this widow to stimulate and agg her on.
There were no such cheers as came from
the prize ring to ever greet her ears.
She had no ambitions that took her from
her duty-. She simply worked and stuck
to duty and by these and that mother
love, which is past finding out, she fought
a fight that, pugilist has never known
and won a victory which has given to tho
world a blessing In the character of her
daughters that Is beyond and above all t o
prize, rings of the world or tha "win
nings” of all the pugilists.
I have simply mentioned this one widow
-thousands in this land could be mention
ed who are just as deserving as she. but
they are not mentioned. It Is a strange
thing to me that human nature is su -h
that these real heroines, and heroes as
well, do not make such impressions as tn
cause their names and their deeds to bo
flaunted before the world. The colonels
and generals and honorables and gov
ernors and senators seem to impress tho
average mind that these are all tho on-s
that should be made large and have hon
ors thrust upon them when we are look
ing for our ideals of masculine superiori
ty, while the leaders of the fads, tho
dressers in tho fashion, the splendid
singer, or fine musician, are the ones ■ «
select when out for our ideals of femin', a
superiority.
This should not be so.
I.ast Wednesday' me and Brown traveled
in a buggy through the portion of our
county known as “Arabia." Just why
name of "Arabia” was given to this region
Is lost in tho ravages of time and the
confusion of memories, but it Is just ?> i
a section and peopled with the people
that suits my purpose here.
There yet remain in this section many
old people who fought wolves and pan
thers and wildcats, and felled the forest,
with a gun standing against the near. A
tree to be ready for any emergency, and
when [ heard them tell of those pioneer
days it struck me that the world I '■»
never produced a breed tho equal of tic -e
men and women who settled this Imd
Their hard hands, made hard from a
splitting of rails and the cutting down f
tiie forest, and those quick eyes win a
have not yet lost their quickness, f' < m
there now. in ths seventies and close to
the eighty mark, can shoot a squirrel
the eye from the tallest pines or poplars.
As I contemplated these and consider"* 1
their peaceful achievements, it struck n'*
that such as these are the ones to in 'll*
large and magnify upon the honor i 'il !
Georgia’s great men, and tiie blessed
women who yet remain to remind -
the courage that protected the hab. i’>
the cradle while the man was in the ii 1 ’ 1 '!
and spun and wove the clothes, cooked
the meals and blessed the world in th*
children they gave it—these are my he
roes; these are my heroines, and may tb*
good Lord bless them and set us b i i< t 0
the example they set. They are greater
than pugilists, greater than the leaders >f
fads—brave champions for the best in
morals, for the home and for God.
SARG E PLUNKETT.
Sunny Stanton.
(From The Snarks Enterprise.)
Frank L. Stanton is the "Sunny Jim'
of Georgia journalism. There is a ray
of sunshine and a sparkling drop of
dew in every poem he writes.