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EDITORIAL PAGE THE ATLANTA GEORGIAN Published Every Afternoon Except Sunday R> THE GEORGIAN COMPANY At JO East Alabama St., Atlanta, Ga Entered as second-class matter at postoffice at Atlanta, under act of March 8. 187 J. Subscription Price—Delivered by carrier, 10 cents a week. By mail. ?5 00 a year. Payable in advance. This Is No World for Pessi mists » It S | It Is an Encouraging, Hopeful World—Despite the Misery and Injustice That Still Disgrace It. There are men who are genuinely discouraged, genuinely pessi mistic, who feel that the world has 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 of us imagine that we arc going backward, AND NONE OF ITS IS CAPABLE OF REALIZING THE GREAT ULTIMATE RESULT. To any man who feels pessimistic about America and about civilization in general we offer these statements of fact : A great curse of humanity has been drunkenness. DRUNKEN NESS HAS SYSTEMATICALLY DIMINISHED EVERYWHERE OUTSIDE OF THE SAVAGE RACES. The greatest of all curses in this world has been ignorance. IGNORANCE HAS DIMINISHED IN THE PAST HUNDRED YEARS AMONG THE INHABITANTS OF THE WORLD TO AN EXTENT IN KNOWN IN A 111 N'DRED < ENTI RIES 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 been 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 MILLION’S—of working men and women earning at least a decent livelihood, able to feed their fami lies. ami. above all, FREE FROM SERVILITY, ABLE TO LOOK AN EMPLOYER IN THE FACE. Superstition and brutality and cruelty bred by it have been curses of humanity. SUPERSTITION STILL EXISTS, BUT IT HAS NO GOVERNING POWER AMONG L’S 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. 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 I 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. We DO tight still as the dogs fight, for wo are not yet civilized •—but we at least tight more or loss 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. But while the people have their votes, and while it is within their power to control them selves and bet ter 1 he if com] it ions as soon as t hey M A KE CP TH El R .MINDS TO. no man has a right to talk pessimistically. There was a day when the prisons of the country cost a hun dred times as much as all the schools and libraries put together. Think how that has changed ! How splendid a thing it is when you go into an American town to set'the’biggest. the finest, the costliest building, a FREE AMERICAN PCBLIC SCHOOL! This country has everv reason to congratulate itself upon what it has achieved. AND I I’ON THE POSSIBILITIES BEFORE IT ESPECIALLY \ll that is required from the citizens is INDEPENDENT THOLGHT 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 THE\ 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, may be interested in a word or two of explanation of the illusions of “wealth per capita." In the first place, it is to be remarked that there is no known way of stating the wealth of 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 one class of citizens against an other class, and in part of more or less romantic guesswork. In the second place, if 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 ou r the necessaries and con veniences of existence. No country in which it is hard to make a living can I ailed rich even though every man had a high figured bankbook and a big stack of watered stocks, bond* ami other certificates of indebtedness aeainM society at large ► Finally, take notice that aioiui of a hundred million paupers and om- trillionaire would have a w alth per capita ot about ten thousand dollars. i The Atlanta Georgian His First Drink---and His Last By HAL COFFMAN. iff ' I All 1 ’fl fe 1® il A : KW ’ | Mu Ji Wsii s llii! w’ i • wter jL MW HI i iSiMw ■wi Demanding the Impossible A WOMAN, who has been mar ried six years and says she’s never had a single peaceful day In them, wants to know how to please a hipercritieal husband. She says: “My husband is very particular about his food, and complains if everything Is not perfectly cooked, yet after I have spent hours over the stove preparing a dinner to his liking he grumbles because 1 smell of the kitchen. “He says I 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 tne because I 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 I had stayed at home “How can I please such a man as this?" You can't. A lady angel from I heaven couldn't. The only ««y to deal w ith 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 l>e pleased, anyway, so y ou had as well please yourself. This man has an aggravated case of a very common failing among husbands, and that is they I expect the impossible from their wives They demand that their wives 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 cornea home. Very Unreasonable. of course, this is utterly unrea sonable The woman who doea her own work is bound to have rough ami work-hardened hands She is bound to be tired and nerve w rot ked. It takes money and leisure, and ease of body and mind, fol a woman to be able to keep lu rn ls calm and serene and beau tifully dressed, and up to the min ute in converMtion. Honestly when you see whst ’»!#-( I i | *»f | It* *1 (****> l*»*iK * if # h> ■]» ft I !*» | i- sn fevot of poi gamy < ertatn- i MONDAY, AUGUST 26, 1912. By DOROTHY DIN. 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 wife to entertain him and go about with him, and always look Z 'rp® 1 i i DOROTHY DIX. like a living picture. And both ladles 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 Maty Ann in the kitchen and Uueen Ann in the parlor, to be able to get a dinner with one hand and play the piano with the other, to dress like a fashion plate and sp« nd no money H> even marries on this platform Ho picks out foi w lf> a silly little dr outanti who rot’s her n him and .«-k- him f •ollsli queM!■ mr and th n he if i .irribly dlsai pointed in I lo rienced. 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 will 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 anywhere 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 ft converted into ice cream when he got home. He wouldn't expect his dog to suddenly burst into song like a canary, hut 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 the ones they' marry. Women have a talent for that, too, and nine-tenths of the complaints that you hear from wives are 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 w harness 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 dissatisfied because their hus bands can’t make as much money as a Wall street broker. In short, the feminine idea! of a perfect mate is as impossible of realization as the masculine X > man is at once a gteat money maker and an idealist, no man inn make a fortune In the grocery trade and hold his wife’s hand at the same time, any more than a woman can be both a leaflet of fashion and a household drudge It is because men and women ex pet I the impossible of each other ' ; ,> iTl.igr .» often i l.n li THE HOME PAPER Ella Wheeler Wilcox Writes on _ The Failure of Wo- men To Be the Best Mothers Possible ! — Written For The Atlanta Georgian By Ella Wheeler Wilcox Copyright. 1912. hy Amerlcan-Journal-Examlner. { tF the parents of a rough dfa- 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 would do his utmost to add a touch here and a touch there to the personality of his 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 toilet, 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 PARKTN, M.D. IWIRH these words, by one of 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 dally. Children Show Their Mothers’ Teaching. Women are pushing forward their claims for higher recognition, everywhere and every day; and women are succeeding in almost all the arts, professions ttnd trades for merly pursued by men exclusively: yet women ARE ALMOST UNI VERSALLY FAILING TO BE THE BEST MOTHERS POSSI BLB. 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. Parkyni "There are great possibilities in a new wooden barrel; provided it is empty. It is very easy to fill it with syrup or kerosene, or any other liquid. But if a barrel be filled first 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 tike a barrel, so far as its first impressions are concerned. Its mind is an empty thing, wait ing to be filled with any kind of impressions, and 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- I * :: Virginia Dare :: ' By REV. THOMAS B. GREGORY. \tIRGINIA DARE, the first child ' of the English race bom within the limits of what is now the United States, had her 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 of the sex which is today al! over the earth making congresses, legislaturesand 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 , rcw. and in attempting to reach home in the other vessel sank tn a great storm near Eat al, exclaiming ia lie went down The wav to heaven is as n< ar by s< a as bv land.” in 1584 another expedition. >,nt out by Raleigh under Vine is ind Harlow, i cached tin counti . n a known a; Nvith ta.oiuia. p.< .id ' portance of giving attwntfon M these little habits cannot be ton strongly impressed upon tho , minds of parents of young ehU-. dren. So many parents believe that if they teach their ohildren what 1s right and wrong, from • I moral and ethical point of clothe them and send them to school, they have done all that 1a required of them, and that th* children will do the rest them, selves and make a auccess in Ufa*’ Mothers of culture and ednea* J tion are to be found all about u» who have allowed their fitti® sona to pass through ha formative period of childhood without ona distinguishing trait of habit erf re fined. considerate manhood, and who consider the brusquenMt and boorish deportment of their aff •prtng as natural phases of boy hood, which trill be evwntn.ny outgrown. In America, children are allowed tn occupy an unngtnnaJ position in the home, and are per mitted to demand favws of their elders, where foreign ohndrso gently request; to dispute, and flatly contradiet, where other* would only question or remain silent, and to sit tn the presence of their parents and grandparents without waiting for permission or observing whether any one Is dis. commoded by their conduct. Mothers permit their Httle some to interrup conversation; to enter a room noisily, without removing their hats; to be first at the table without showing the courtesy sentlng the mother or sister or guest, and to air their Ideas and opinions aggressively in the proa, •nee of older people. The very greatest work a woman ran do on earth Is to guide and train the mind and manners of a little child into gentleness, kindli ness, courtesy, consideration, po liteness, respect and 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 tn life, No matter what other work a mother may be doing in the wertd. if she Is neglecting this worit which is the work God has giver her. she le miserably failing as an individual and a citizen, as well as a mother. Not One Woman in 100 Is a Scientific Mother. However bright a boy may he in his lessons, however he may excel in the athletic field, he is not growing into admirable and excel- • lent manhood unless ha la receiv ing the delicate and gracious touches of educatton which a mother should consider ft her great privilege to give. Bnt this can not be given In a day or a year. Tt must be done day by day and year by year, unobtrusively and tactful ly. until the child has absorbed the wholesome and refining system un consciously. And we do not find one American mother in one hun dred who Is unselfish and patient enough to bestow so much time and thought on the profession of srign flfic motherhood. , into Albemarle and Pimlico sounds, touched at Roanoke island and re turned to England. The following year (Uffl) Ra leigh sent out a colony of a hun dred or more men under I.ane to make the beginning of a aettle ment, but nothing caine of it, and the remnants of the colony were taken back to England by the old sea fighter Drake. I nw filing to abandon the project that was so dear to him, Raleigh tn the spring of 1587, made still an other attempt, sending out some 154 men and 17 women under the gov ernorship of John White The set tlers reached Roanoke island the last of July, and there, on kuguat 17, was born Virginia Dare the daughter of Ananias and Eleanor Dare. Whites settlement perished, be ing known in a* ibe t’olonv ” Say» EUhe. When tne JatncMowr. s<tt ~ »ume Uiey »cie * people left at Roanoke had mmgi r o with the natives and lived with tnem for ome 'isis on iiiUK.Ut terms, until at ti instigation of been murdered. . f O ui ~.€ l two boys and a young woman »&•» ■ 1 • |>t *e have no m.au* of gac*-