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THE ATLANTA. GEORGIAN
Published Every Afternoon Except Sunday
My THE GEORGIAN OU*IFANT
At 20 East Alabama St., Atlanta. Ga.
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This Is No World for Pessi
mists
» » »>
It Is an Encouraging, Hopeful World—Despite the Misery and
Injustice That Still Disgrace It.
There arc men who are genuinely discouraged, genuinely pessi
mistic. who feel that the world Las gone wrong or that the develop
ment of our social system is too slow.
The fact is that the kind of civilization which we have now is
about the best that WE are capable of. We are building upward
slowly, through the dark waters. We shall see some improvement
in the future, as we have seen some in the past. The great scheme
subject to which we labor is a merciful scheme, and*we are allowed'
to see a little progress at least—although some imagine that
we are going backward, AND NONE Ob’ ITS Ob'
REALIZING THE GREAT ULTIMATE RESULT.
To any man who feels pessimistic about America and about
civilization in general we offer those statements of fact :
A great curse of humanity has been drunkenness. DRUNKEN
NESS HAS SYSTEMATICALLY DIMINISHED EVERYWHERE
OUTSIDE OE THE SAVAGE RACES.
The greatest of all curses in this world has been ignorance.
IGNORANCE HAS DIMINISHED IX THE PAST HUNDRED
YEARS AMONG THE INHABITANTS GE THE WORLD TO AN
EXTENT UNKNOWN IN A HUNDRED CENTURIES PAST.
The printing press has done for the brain, for education, the
greatest conceivable work, a work far superior to that done for
transportation by the steam engine. No man has a right to talk
pessimistically when he realizes that for the first time in the world’s
history the man WHO CAN NOT READ IS AN EXCEPTION.
Another dreadful feature of life on earth has b.een poverty.
Poverty we still have with us. and only too much of it. BUT POV
ERTY IS DIMINISHING. Men’s wages within the lives of those
now struggling have been doubled and quadrupled.
The long hours of work that deadened the brain and made
progress impossible have been very much diminished.
No man has a right to talk pessimistically when he sees about
him hundreds of thousands—MlLLlONS—of working meh and
women earning at least a decent livelihood, able to feed their fami
lies, and, above all, EREE EROM SERVILITY, ABLE TO LOOK
AN EMPLOYER IN THE EACE.
Superstition and brutality and cruelty bred by it have been
curses of humanity. SUPERSTITION STILL EXISTS. BUT IT
HAS NO GOVERNING POWER AMONG US TODAY. There are
no bonfires where human beings are burned alive, “TO THE
GLORY OF GOD.”
No man who has looked into the past, who has seen the rack,
the burning fire, the wretched creature tortured with all the inge
nuity that superstition could devise, has any right to talk pessimis
tically about the present.
I
As for government, it is true that we have not by any means ob
tained perfection. But we have at least escaped from hereditary
brutality in this country and nearly everywhere else. We no longer
have vile kings breeding degenerate monsters called princes, inher
iting the power to cut throats by the hundreds of thousands and set
one country fighting another.
W e DG tight still—as the dogs tight, for we are not vet civilized
—hut we at least fight more or less of our own accord.
We have at this moment in the United States a rule by money.
Money, which means power, is organized for its own protection, and
it DOES oppress the people.
But how superior it is to the superstitious government of the
heathen world in the dark times How superior to the feudal gov
ernment by disorganized armed bands' How superior to the abso
lute monarchy that succeeded feudalism '
It is true that the people ARE FOOLED. Rut while the people
have their votes, and while it is within their power to control them
selves and better their conditions as soon as they MAKE UP THEIR
MINDS TO. no man has a right to talk pessimistically.
There was a day when the prisons of the country c<tst a hun
dred times as much as al) the schools and libraries put together.
Think how that has changed ! How splendid a thing ii is when von
go into an American town to see the biggest, the finest, the costliest
building, a FREE AMERICAN PUBLIC SCHOOL! This country
has every reason to congratulate itself upon what it has achieved
AND UPON THE POSSIBILITIES BEFORE IT ESPECIALLY '
All that is required from the citizens is INDEPENDENT
THOUGHT AND INDEPENDENT ACTION In the past they have
been too much taken up with their individual supplies of money.
They have taken government too much for granted.
They can better that. AND THEY WILL. There is no ground
for pessimism.
Illusions of “Wealth Per
Capita”
A New York paper argues that the American people are in a
state of fabulous prosperity because our “wealth per capita” in
1850 was $307.60 and in 1910 was $1,310.11.
Average American families of average size, who are wondering
what has become of their five times $1,310.11, or $6,550.55. mav be
interested in a word or two of explanation of the illusions of
“wealth per capita. ”
In the first place, it is to lie remarked that there is no known
way of stating the wealth ot a great nation in a gross sum. Everv
attempt to do so in tables of statistics is made up in part of ac
tually existing values, in part of speculative values, in part of le
gally enforceable claims held by on** class *»| citizens against an
other class, and in part ot more or less romantic guesswork.
In the second place, it is to be observed that a really prosper
ous country is a country where honest and industrious human be
ings have a high purchasing power over the necessaries and con
veniences <*f existence No country tn which it is hard to make a
living can be called rich even though every man had a high
figured bankbook and a big ,tn*k of watered stocks, bonds ami
other <'**rt ifieales of m<t* 1 i> dm against '.<>«>), i\ at larg'
Finally, take notice that ** nation of a hundred million paupers
and one trdltonatre would havt u wealth p. r capita ot about
ten thousand dollars.
t
The Atlanta Georgian
MONDAY. AUGUST 26. 1912.
! His First Drink—and His Last
By HAL COFFMAN.
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W■, toiTiiiMMii Os B llil WI 111 I
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r''.'i : !
Demanding the Impossible
WOMAN, who has brer, mar
ried six years ami says she's
never had a single peaceful
day in them, wants to know how
to please a hipercritical husband.
She say's:
“My husband is very particular
about his food, and complains if
everything is not perfectly cooked,
yet aftgr 1 have spent hours over
the stove preparing a dinner to his
liking he grumbles because I smell
of the kitchen.
'He says 1 don't read enough,
then when I read he complains of
my wasting my time over novels
instead of looking after my house.
"He finds fault with me because
1 am not stylishly dressed, yet
when I want a new gown he com
plains of my extravagance,
'He says I'm not companionable |
enough, yet when I go out with him
he shows that he's bored to death
and wishes that 1 had stayed at
home.
"How can I please such a man
as this?"
You can't. A lady angel from
heaven couldn't. The only way to
deal with that kind of a disgruntled
grouch is to let him alone, and go
along and do the way you want to
without any reference to him. He
wouldn't be pleased, anyway, so
you bad as well please yourself.
This man has an aggravated
case of a very common failing
among husbands, and that is they
expect the impossible from their
wives. They demand that their
w ives shall be lightning change ar
tists, who can be household drudges
one minute and society butterflies
the next, who can do the cooking,
and washing, and ironing, and sew -
ing and mending, and baby tending
for a family, and yet always appear
with beautifully manicured, lily
white hands, and dressed in silk
and lace party gowns, and be able
to hand out a line of bright and en
tertaining small talk when hubby
comes home.
Very Unreasonable.
Os course, this Ik utterlv univa-
Monuble. The woman who does her
own work i»* bound to h«\< rough
and work-hardened hand* She Ih
bound to bt- tind and nerve
wrecked It taken tnonex and
hirnm, and vaiw* of body and mind,
for a lAoiiign to tit* able to keep
h?r*« f • .dm hih! renv and hrau
tifuHs dn-md, and up to (he min*
ul« in conversation.
Ih»lie*th, who son aha’
»ot n ek|“‘‘ t “f thru wiver* it dot »
look a * If Ihert a<i| • good deal !<>
( i■r , ■ gamj Certain* I
By DOROTHY DIX.
ly being a wife is a two-woman job.
for if any man got what he thinks
are his just deserts In matrimony,
it would require one wife to look
after his physical comfort, and bear
and rear his children for him,»and
another w ife to entertain him anil
go about with him, and always look
'fl M 1
w
DOROTHY DIX.
like a living picture. And both
ladies would have their hands full,
believe me.
The law of the land and the high
cost of living preventing this sim
ple solution of the problem, a man
falls back upon the expedient of ex
pecting' his wife to combine all
sorts of antagonistic qualities in
her one person, and to be able to
turn out every sort of varied per
formance. He expects her to be
Mary Ann in the kitchen and
Queen Ann in the parlor, to he abb
to got a dinner with one band and
play tin- piano with the other, to
dies- ike a fashion plate and
spend no money.
lb even mar li - on this platform
H picks out tot a wifi- a silly little
d< bui-ntr w Ito rolls her ey is at him
and a l. him foolish question,. and
thin >u IS I.o.iibx di-.ppomted n
bl I U'ltttui .'lie . .-it t a alsi, xpe- I
rieneed. broad-minded, sane wom
an. He selects a girl because she
is beautiful, and dainty, and help
less. and then complains if she isn't
practical, and economical, and a
good manager. He. v ill even mar
ry a professional woman and then
feel himself ill-used because she
knows more about temperament
than she does the proper tempera
ture .to bake bread.
Yet, the very man who expects
the impossible of his wife is not
illogical enough to look for mira
cles to happen any where else. He
wouldn't buy an automobile and
expect it to turn into a church or
gan. He wouldn't pick out a steak
in a butcher shop and expect to
find it converted into ice cream
when he got home. He wouldn't
expect his dog to suddenly burst
into song like a canary, but he
does expect just as utterly incon
gruous things to take place in a
woman as soon as the marriage
ceremony is read over her.
Nor are men alone in expecting
the impossible of tile ones they
marry. Women have a talent for
that, too. and nine-tenths of the
complaints that you hear from
wives arc simply the result of
ladies demanding that their bread
and butter shall also be caramel
cake.
You hear plenty of women, re
splendent in imported finery, sigh
ing" because their poor, dear Johns
_ are so absorbed in money-making
that they haven't time to attend
Browning circles, and Ibsen mati
nees. Sometimes these wives even
go so far as to consider that their
husbands' lack of soulfulness justi
fies them in having long-haired,
high-browed affinities with whom
they- can discuss the whatness of
the ain't and other throbbing prop
ositions.
Another Side.
Again you see other women mar
ried to literary or artistic men who
lament that they have more com
panionship than dollars, and who
are dissatislied because their hus
bands can't make as much money
as a Wall sheet broker.
In short, the feminine ideal of a
perfect mate is as impossible of
realization us the masculine. No
man is at once a -great money
maker and an idealist, no man can
make a fortune in the grocery
trade and hold his wife's hand at
tin same lime, any more than a
woman can be both a leader of
faihlon and a household drudge
It is because men and women ex
pect the im|>o-sib|e of each othet
I that marriage is «.> often a tailu <.
THE HOME PAPER
Ella Wheeler Wilcox
Writes on
The Failure of Wo-
men To Be the IOS
Best Mothers
Possible ’• 818
Written For The Atlanta Georgian
By Ella Wheeler Wilcox
Copyright. 1912. by American-Journal-Examiner.
44 T 1 the P arents of a rOU B h <sia "
I mond could only realize the
handicap they place in their
child by starting him out into the
world without polishing him as
much as possible, I am sure every
parent woul'd do his utmost to add
a touch here and a touch there to
the personality of Ms offspring dur
ing childhood, for it is during child
hood* that the little habits are
formed, which, taken as a whole, do
so much to influence his future
career and station in life. I refer
to habits of tidiness, manner, de
portment, carriage, table etiquette,
care of the tdllet, etc. There comes
a time in the life of every child
when habits of this class have to
be formed, and there is no reason
on earth why they should not be
formed in such away that in later
years they will not be a source of
embarrassment to him.”
—HERBERT A. PARKYN, M.D.
I WISH these words, by one ot
America's most gifted and dis
tinguished physicians and met
aphysicians could be written in
letters of gold and .hung where
every mother and teacher in the
land might read them daily.
Children Show Their
Mothers’ Teaching.
Women are pushing forward their
claims for higher recognition,
everywhere and every day; and
women ate succeeding in almost all
the arts, professions and trades for
merly pursued by men exclusively;
yet women ARE ALMOST UNI
VERSALLY FAILING TO BE
THE BEST MOTHERS POSSI
BLE.
You who read these words may
take exception to such a statement.
Yet. employ your leisure hours the
next week in looking about you
critically and dispassionately for a
really perfect, or even “near per
fect” mother of boys and girls of
that embryo age, from eight to
fourteen.
It is during that period children
show forth the training and teach
ing which has come to them from
close association with their moth
ers.
To again quote from Dr. Parkyn:
“There are great possibilities in
a new wooden barrel, provided it
is empty. It is very easy to All
it with syrup or kerosene, or any
other liquid. But if a barrel be
Ailed Arst with kerosene it Is very
difficult to so completely get rid
of its impressions on the barrel
that the barrel can be used after
ward for syrup, the barrel as it
were, having formed an auto
suggestion which, is hard to over
come.
“A young child’s mind is very
much like a barrel, so far as its
Arst impressions are concerned.
Its mind is an empty thing, wait
ing to be Ailed with any kind of
impressions, ami the impressions
of childhood are by far the most
lasting.
"Childhood is the most favorable
time to develop the little habits we
carry through life, and the Im-
:: Virginia Dare ::
By REV. THOMAS B. GREGORY.
\tIRGINIA DARE, the first child
/ <if the English race born
within the limits of what is
now the United States, had het
natal day three hundred and twen
ty-five years ago.
In the light of present-day events,
there is something thrillingly sig
nificant in the fact that the first
English child born in this country
should have been a girl—a mem
ber v of the sex which is today all
over the earth making congresses,
legislatures and parliaments "sit up
and listen” to its demands for rec
ognition as a factor in world gov
ernment.
The circumstances in the midst
of which little Virginia was ush
ered into the world were not of the
fairest description.
The gallant knight. Sir Walter
Raleigh, in 1583 sent his half
brother. Sir Humphrey Gilbert, to
make a settlement in the New
World. On the American coast
probably that of Newfoundland
Sir Humphrey lost one of his ships,
with nearly all of its crew, and in
attempting to reach home in the’
other vessel sank in a great storm
near Fayal. exclaiming as he went
down: "The wav tn heaven Is as
near by sea as by land."
In 1584 another expedition, sent
out by Raleigh under imides md
Harlow reached the <ountry now
known as North Carolina. '
porthnee of giving attention to
these little habits cannot be too
strongly impressed K upon the
minds of parents of young chil
dren. So many parents believe
that if they teach their children
what is right and wrong, from a
moral and ethical point of view,
clothe them and send them to
school, they have done all that la
required of them, and that the
children will do the rest them
selves and make a success in life.”
Mothers of culture and educa
tion are to be found all about us
who have allowed their little sons
to pass through he formative
period of childhood without one
distinguishing trait of habit of re
fined, considerate manhood, and
who consider the brusqueness and
boqrish deportment of their off
spring as natural phases of boy
hood. which will be eventually
outgrown. In America. ■ children
are allowed to occupy an unnatural
position in the home, and are per
mitted to demand favors of their
elders, where ' foreign children
gently request; to dispute, and
flatly contradict, where others
would only question or remain
silent, and to sit in the presence
of their parents and grandparents
without w'aiting for permission or
observing whether gny one is dis
commoded by their conduct.
Mothers permit their little sons
to interrup conversation; to enter
a room noisily, without removing
their hats; to be Arst at the table
without showing the courtesy of
senting the mother or s i ste r or
guest, and to air their ideas and
opinions aggressively in the pres
ence of older people.
The very greatest work a woman
trJ 1 ! ?n° n T aFth 18 tO » ulde and
” t^ m nd and manners of a
ttie child into gentleness, kindli
ness, courtesy, consideration, po
liteness. respect aaid reverence for
whatever is great and good, and to
teach the embryo man or woman
. those small refinements of deport
ment which mean so much in life.
No matter what other work a
mother may be doing in the world,
if she is neglecting this work,
which is the work God has given
her. she is miserably failing as an
individual and a citizen, at well as
a mother.
Not One Woman in 100
Is a Scientific Mother.
However bright a boy mav he In
his lessons, however he may excel
in the athletic Aeld, he is not
growing into admirable aiM excel
lent manhood unless he is receiv
ing the delicate and gracious
touches of education which a
mother should consider it tKfr great
privilege to give. But this can
not be given in a day or a year. It
must be done day by day and year
by year, unobtrusively and tactful
ly. until the child has absorbed the
wholesome and reAning system un
consciously. And we do not And
one American mother in one hun
dred who is unselAsh and patient
enough to bestow so much time and
thought on the profession of seien
tinc motherhood.
Into Albemarle and Pimlico sounds,
touched at Roanoke island and re
turned to England.
The following year (1585) Ra
leigh sent out a colony of a hun
dred or more men under Lane to
make the beginning of a settle
ment. but nothing came of it, and
the remnants of the colony were
taken back to England by the old
sea fighter Drake.
Unwilling to abandon the project
that was so dear to him. Raleigh, in
the spring of 1587, made still an
other attempt, sending out some 150
men and 17 women under the gov
ernorship of John White. The set
tlers reached Roanoke island the
last of July, and there, on August
1... was born Virginia Dare, the
daughter of Ananias and Eleanor
Dare.
White’s settlement perished be
ing known in history as the "Lost
Colony.” Says Fiske. “When the
Jamestown settlers came they were
told by the Indians that the'white
people left at Roanoke had mingled
with the natives and lived with
them for some years on amicable
terms until, at the instigation of
certain medicine men. they had all
been murdered, except four men.
two boys and a young woman, who
were 'pared by. order of a chief.
W het lie i this young woman vta
V.rglnla Imre the first American
girl w. have no mean* of know
ing.'
