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EDITORIAL PAGE THE ATLANTA GEORGIAN Published Every Afternoon Except Sunday By THE GEORGIAN COMPANY • At 20 East Alabama St., Atlanta, Ga. Entered as second-class matter at postoffice at Atlanta, under act of March 3, 1873. i Who Are the Five Greatest Women in History? » * 9>. Probably the Five Greatest Women Are Not IN History at All—at Least Not in History as Little Men Have Written It. Luckily, the Great Women That We Know Are Numbered in Thousands, and Those Greater Still Are Unknown. - - Between “votes-for-women” parades'there is discussion of the question. “Who are the five greatest women in history?” The question is interesting, but it can not be satisfactorily an swered. You may pick out a thousand great women one after the other, and yet you would not be satisfied to put any one of them among the five greatest. For instance: Catherine of Russia. She was a big woman, in size and in brain. She did one big thing when she overcame the disadvantage of birth and surroundings. She was a camp follower, not better than other women of that low class. She established the Russian Empire probably, and saved Peter the Great, who married her, when she brought about the defeat of the Turks and the destruction of Charles XII of Sweden. She did it very simply, by giving the Turkish general all her jewelry and all the money she could get and persuading him to go home and consider himself defeated, betray ing Charles XII. She was useful to Russia, a big and an able woman —but she was NOT among the five greatest women. Then there was the other Catherine of Russia—a German prin cess married to a Russian emperor. She was an able woman. The less said about her private character the better—and in that she resembled many great MEN. She gave a good organization to Russia. But she probably would be placed properly among the five worst women rather than among the five best. THE MOTHER OF THE GRACCHI She was a fine woman, and she bore fine sons—which is about the best thing that any woman CAN do. A woman is a CREATOR of human beings, not a PERFORMER in the human arena. Her boys were probably as good, as unselfish, heroic and patriotic as any that evqr lived. And if they had lived one or two centuries later they might have saved Rome a great deal of trouble and postponed the downfall of civiliza tion and the overwhelming inrush oX barbarians. But the mother of the Gracchi was not among the five greatest women. QUEEN ELIZABETH was a wonderful woman—she did a great deal for Engalnd. And England did a great deal more for her. If she had lived in a smaller country she would have been less of a woman. She shines in the light of the greatness that surround ed her, rat her than by her own light. But she was great in a way— great as a diplomat, more than a match for the cunning Spanish and French ambassadors at her court. And she knew enough not to get married, not to let some man do badly the work that she was able to do well. But she was NOT among the five greatest. Marie Theresa of Austria was an able fighting citizen. And even against one of the greatest of men, Frederick Hie Great, she made a noble struggle for the welfare of her successors and her na tion—as she understood it But she was only a determined woman, allowing the men in her service to fight when they suggested fight ing. SHE was not among the five greatest. Joan of Arc—a beautiful character. Everything that we know about her is good. But wo do not know very MUCH about her. It is perhaps ‘rue that history, studying her more accurately, will find in her the •’MASCOT” of the French nation and the French army, rather than the LEADER oi" that army. Her courageous and beautiful death—burned alive hy the church at the command of England, because when her woman's clothes were taken from her she put on the clothes of a man—is one of the greatest tragedies and crimes in history. She was a girl of faith and courage, inspiring the Frenchmen, no doubt, to fight bravely. Intellectually, however, she was probably not a great woman. Madame Roland was great in her way, and charmingly weak in her way also. She made a great many Frenchmen change from stupid conservatism to radicalism. She talked for the revolution which the world needed—radical talk—and she complained not at all when tlje revolution finally cut off her head. She gave to the work' ii interesting sentence, on her way to the gullotine, “Lib erty. . ;>.t crimes have been committed in thy name!” It is prob able that she would have lived to a peaceful old age, if she. hail not foolishly fallen in love with a very much younger man. That hurt her judgment. She is NOT among the five greatest. CHARLOTTE CORDAY has been praised for more than a hun dred rears for stabbing Marat to death in his bath tub. The admi ration for this young woman who committed murder is based large ly upon misunderstanding of the character of Marat. Until recently, all those that talked of hint, including Carlyle, whose statements concerning him ■were nearly all false, were too near the French revolution to see anything but the blood As Burke said, they saw only the feathers, the aristocracy, and forgot the dving bird, which was the French people. After Charlotte Corday had committed her murder and given up her life for it, she was admired because it was thought that she had killed an ignorant, bloodthirsty tyrant, whom Carlyle spoke of as a “horse-leech ’ As a matter of fact, Marat was a gieat doctor, the first ♦hat -ever per formed the operation for cataract on the human eye. and he was probably the only man that could have carried the French republic upon a firm basis with out any intervening Napoleon, or any of the other slips and accidents and breakdowns of history A great and powerful man was murdered when Marat was killed And Charlotte Corday at oest was a woman who meant well. You might write ft>r a good many hours mentioning the names of great women, from. Zenobla to Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt. You might print the a*mes of hundreds of thousands of able, courageous women—and yet not print any one of the FTVE greatest that have lived The five greatest women, cY course. ARE THE MOTHERS OF THE FIVE GREATEST men. The five greatest tnen that have ever lived undoubtedly—among those that the world now knows—were Aristotle. Michael Angelo, Newton, Beethoven and Shakespeare. The mothers of those five men were probably the fire greatest women that have lived on this earth. For a great man IS WHAT YIIS MOTHER MAKES HIM. And the five women that created the greatest philosopher, the greatest scientist, the greatest poet, the greatest musician and the greatest artist in all the world were the five greatest women. But back of them, in the night of time, in the hundreds of centuries be fore history began, when the women of the stone age were cultivating the weeds and developing them into every grain that we cat today, when soma woman was bringing up the courageous boy that first crossed the big lake or the river when women had to subdue the brutality of men. protect the chil dren tame the wild animals and slowly change a savage, wandering, hopeless race’to a fixed and stable nation ay cultivating the soil and sticking to the tome i n those dd days probably the greatest women of all were bom and worked, unknown. T'n» of the five greatest women are not so important, however, as the PROBLEM OF GIViN G WOMEN OPPORTUNITY. AND THUS EN- !HUMAN RACE TO PRODUCE FIFTY GREAT WOMEN IN Future for every one that we have had in the past. Ind to this end the giving of the vote to women, the giving of intellectual interest, the giving of a share in making laws and In all intellectual occupa tions will be the first step. , And the man who doesn't help that step : unworthj of the mother who gave him whatever power he maj possess. The Atlanta Georgian HE NEVER HAD A CHANCE That Is What Nine Men Out of Ten Who Are Failures Say. Look Out That You Don’t Say It Yourself. By TAD MW Wl. i tlcdwAv \ I -know) / srtwtyz I IH 1 I ' Vl ' IwmTO I I Hli 7V<o I I !' Vi'l I' U ■ UIV' 111 I I I \lAixroJ 1 nftsT- InXL ill Bl > i 1 I®: - FJ—— . » if - ■ ,w.. ? ' • - • • : > NO 2. Yuffl was quick to learn anything out side of geography, arithmetic or history. He could do tricks with his hat, imitate a calliope, sing popular ditties, and at base ball was the idol of the gang. The school teacher called him a master of the breadless arts. He carried bats for the city team and learned to pitch. He could do most any thing the regular pitcher could with the DOROTHY DIX WRITES The Hard Lot of Stepmothers IHAV® recently received two let letters from young women who married widowers with chil dren. and who are finding the road of the stepmother a thorny one to travel. One woman, delicately and lux uriously reared, declares that she is forced to be nothing more nor less than a slave to her husband's chil dren, and that they receive all of her ministrations without gratitude or appreciation. The other woman says that she has a lot of unruly youngsters to deal with. who are prejudiced against her by their mother's peo ple. and she wants to know how- to stop the interference of these rela tives. and whether she should pun ish the children herself, or till their father on them, and let him chas tise them To these ladies, and al! other stepmothers. I extend my heartfelt sympathy. And the same to the stepchildren Undoubtedly the job of being a stepmother ft the hard est one on earth, and the one with the least pay to it Nor it is a picnic to be stepchild Artificial Bond Is Easily Broken. The bond between mother and child is the strongest and sweetest one in nature, but when this bond is artificially forged there is some thing in it that almost always makes it gall both the necks of the mother and the child beyond en durance. There is an instinctive antagonism and jealousy between the children and the woman who stands in their mother’s place and the woman and the children who are her husband's, but not hers. No child is capable of dealing w Ith this situation, and few women are big enough and broad enough to meet it in the proper way. To begin with, all children are trying. They are noisy, dirty, greedy, careless, mischievous. They call for endless labor, inexhausti ble patience and sympathy. The wise providence of God gives this to the mother, so that she thinks the ugliest and most stupid little brat a miracle of beauty and intel- WEDNESDAY, MAY 22, 1912 Bv DOROTHY DIX ligence. The yells of a squalling infant .are not maddening noise to her, but sweetest musiw But heaven works no such mir acle for the stepmother. Instead of seeing her stepchildren through a rosy mist of mother love she be holds them surrounded by a pea green aura of jealousy. Their faults are not hidden, but magnified, and it takes almost superhuman strength of character to make her deal with them justly and Jtindly. And this difficulty is exaggerated if she has children of her own and is called upon to hold the scales be tween her own infant phenomenon and the first wife’s ordinary off spring Women Heroic Who Weds a Father. Nor is the stepmother’s position rendered easier by the stepchil dren’s mother's relatives putting their finger* into the pie. They make a bad matter worse by con stantly blow ing about the slumber ing feud between the two factions. Certainly any woman must be of heroic mold, or else fond of taking foolhardy risks, who marries a wid ower with children. But having done so, she should reflect that the position she finds herself In is of her own choosing and that she vol untarily took upon herself its ob ligations. It Is a hard thing to be a good mother. It is a much more difficult task to be a good step mother. But it can be done, as thousands of noble and devoted women have proven who have taken other women's children to their heart and mothered them so warmly that they never knew they were motherless. There have been many cruel step mothers, but there have been many other stepmothers who have been better, more intelligent, more lov ing and tenderer mothers to their stepchildren than their own moth ers could have been. There are many stepmothers who have come like an inspiration into the lives of motherless boys and girls, and w ho have been more loved and revered by their stepchildren than they w’ere by their own. ball, and the boys were certain that his curves “broke better.” On Saturdays and Sundays Yum grab bed a piece of change here and there toss ng them over the platter for the home team. His life was wrapped up in the game now and he quit school entirely. What did a ball player want with pen manship and algebra?, Nothing' They couldn’t fool him; he knew. In dealing with stepchildren there is only one rule to follow, and that is the Golden Rule. Treat them as you would have some other woman treat your children were you dead and another reigned in your stead. When the youngsters are bad, or mischievous, ask your self if you could rest in your grave if some other woman w-as beating your child’s tender little body for an unthoughted prank. When you are tempted to scold a child, or send .him supperless to bed, ask yourself if heaven would be heaven to you if you could look down and see your baby’s trembling lips and hurt look, and hear your little child sobbing himself to sleep. • As to my correspondent's ques tion as to whether she should pun ish her little stepchildren, or tell their father on them. I should say: Do neither The only way that any human being can be ruled is by love. To beat and punish children does nothing but make little hypo crites and sneaks and liars out of them. and. at most, the rule of fear Is so short! There is such a little time that a. child stands in bodily fear of the whip, or the cor ner, or whatever instrument of tor ture you devise for it. And when that is over, when the child is as strong as you are. if you do not rule it through love, you have absolutely no hold upon it whatever. It laughs at you and de fies you, but if you have made it your slave through tenderness and love, you mav rule it to the longest day of your life. Use Diplomacy to Win Childrens' Hearts. So I would advise this young stepmother to forget everything else and go to work to win her stepchildren's hearts by using as . much tact and diplomacy and charm as she did in catching their father, and she will find that they will do for love of her they would never do through fear. More over. when she makes the children love her she can snap her fingers in the interfering relatives faces, and her husband will rise up and call her blessed if she is. indeed, a mother to his motherless little ones. THE HOME PAPER - Ella Wheeler Wilcox Writes on The Crosses We Build in Youth --and-- How Our Nobler Selves 1 Are Born Written For The Atlanta Georgian By Ella Wheeler Wilcox Copyright, 1912, by American-Journal-Examiner. PAUSING a moment ere the day was done While yet the earth was sciri tillant with light. I backward glanced. From valley, plain and height. At intervals. • where my life-pa v th had run. t Rose cross on cross; and nailed upon each one Was my dead self. And yet that gruesome sight Lent sudden splendor to the fall ing night, Showing the conquests that my soul had won. Up to the rising stars I looked and cried: There is no death! For year on year, re-born I wake to larger life; to joy more great. So many times have I been cru cified, So often seen the resurrection morn, I go triumphant, though new Cal varies watt. EVERY man, every woman who has made use of life, and grown in nobility of character with the years, haij been many times crucified; many times nailed to the cross of his own crea tion; and many times has known the joy of resurrection. We build our crosses in early youth; our crosses of mistakes, ambitions, and false pleasures: of self-centered hopes; or of idle ness, and love of ease. Then come the relentless years; Alas, the Poor Bachelor! By ADA PATTERSOX. THE world *seems to have con spired against the peace of mind of bachelors —both kinds. A Boston woman wants them to wear labels, "Not taken,” or words to that effect, like the "To let” sign on a vacant house. Another says she is quite willing to see the rule enforced with both sexes, the word “maid” being bla zoned in a conspicuous place on the Apparel of the woman who is wth out a husband. A famous woman declares that women who will not wed should be fined; that a bachelor sex-tax should be imposed upon the skirted as well as the trousered bachelor. And now comes from a pulpit the sweeping statement that all bach elors, regardless of sex, are useless beings and should be banished to an island, there to get along as well as they can, but to finish their work out of sight of useful citizens. So Jane Addams, who founded Hull House, and Clara Laughlin, who has guided the destinies of so many maidens' by her tender pen that she is known as "The Girl's Fri’end,” and Mary Garrett Hay, who is the president of the Federa tion of Women's Clubs in the Em pire State, and Miss Mary Dreier, who directs the Women’s Trades Unions, and Gertrude Barnum, who is similarly active, and Florence Guernsey, who is arranging the transcontinental excursion of the women’s clubs to San Francisco, and Ada Rehan, who never married because she was too busy immor talizing the characters of Shake speare’s women,, and Maude Ad ams, idolized by the young girls of this country . to whom she is ar ex ample of the studious life, of the gospel of self-development, of quiet charity, are useless. And Harrison Fisher, who draws the new beauty in her perfection of health and character, setting a new standard for womanhood; the Wright brothers, who blazed some Bank Goblins By WILLIAM WALLACE WHITfiLOCK. ONCE there was a little bank. That got itself in bad. And couldn't pay depositors. Who acted quite like mad, And stormed around Its doors and cried: "We want our hard earned pay!" And wouldn’t hear a word of sense, And wouldn’t go away, So 'long there came a great big man And gobbled it like that’ And J. P M l! get you 'Fore you know where you are at. and they tie us to our cross, and nail us upon it: and they leave.us .. there until we die. Until the Self which cared for - things dies, and a nobler and truer, and wiser, and more . spiritual self rolls the stone away .. from the door of the sepulchre, and comes forth. ’ ’’ Yet even this Self comes forth only to be again crucified; and again buried, and again resurrect ed to a still higher and finer Self. • Whatever you are suffering to day. whatever despair, disappoint ment and anguish may be yours, think of it as a crucifixion of some lesser and baser part of your mul tiple Self, which is to be followed by a resurrection of the REAL. Self; the Real YOU; strong, and wise, and brave, and made more useful and universal by this ex perience. And just in proportion to your acceptance of this truth, which life is endeavoring to teach you, will be lessening of your cruci fixions. Once the lesson is perfectly learned, the teacher does not ask its continual repetition. When the illumination comes and your old self is dying upon the cross, you will lift your eyes and say, “It is Finished.” and then the Spiritual You will be born; to live evermore in the Light of knowledge and power and love. of the first paths to the skies; George Ade, who has furnished the >onic for dispirited lives by making laughter, and James Whitcomb Ri ley, who has sunk the pummet to the very depths of feeling by his homely verse; Brand Whitlock, who practices the Golden Rule in the city government of Toledo. Suppose they were all banished to a far island in the Atlantic or Pacific. Harrison Fisher would cease his sketches of splendid, long-limbed young women and pee vishly set about crayon drawings of landscapes without allure or promise. The Wright brothers would dabble no longer in aero nautics, and would sullenly try their constructive skill at plows. George Ade, with no masses of hu manity to inspire him to jest, would compose- dirges for the fu nerals on the island, and James Whitcomb Riley would lose his in terest 'iii humanity and write about squirrels. Brand Whitlock, having no scope for his. organizing powers and no inspiration for his novels, would turn sullen misanthrope. Jane Addams could build no more Hull Houses except for the bach elors, who would probably ungra ciously refuse to live in. them. Miss Laughlin might pen essays on "Suggestions for the Greater Ami ability of Men,” which would not be appreciated and certainly not fol lowed. Miss Dreier, Miss Hay. and Miss GuernsA- would grow, fretful because they bad nothing to do ex cept for themselves, and Adi’ Re- " han and Maude Adams would play for each other, and each, unstimu lated by large . audiences, would turn acid critic. Better not banish them, Mr. Preacher. The world is not of your opinion, of their uselessness. And. doubtless, each of these distin guished individuals and al! the less er company of bachelors by choice know better than you. whether they would make good husbands or wives Then there was another bank That tried a lot of stunts. * Hypothecatin’ bonds and things. And some too more than once. And when the bank inspectors came They covered up their tracks. And laughed and wene on doin’ tricks And laughed and went on doin tricks But. oh’ that great big man he knew, And watched ’em like a cat— And J. P. M 1! get you ’Fore you know where ■'•ou are at.