Newspaper Page Text
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
Subscription Price—Delivered by carrier, 10 cents a week. By mail, $5.00 a year.
Payable in advance.
Melancholy and Quick
Lunch
According to Professor -Jung, one of the country's best
known authorities on gastronomies, the question of v. lien, how
anti what to eat is one of the most serious problems confronting
the nation.
“The health and happiness of our men and women.'' he
says, “rest on the abolition of the quick lunch counter; for as a
result of improper food, improperly eaten, comes melancholy,
and after meloncboly nearly anything. Bring back the good old
home cooking; let a wife's love for her husband be borne out
by her cooking."
Says Meredith; “Civilized man can not live without cooks.’’
Professor Jong recommends that every man learn to cook for
himself.
The trouble with most of us is that we sit down to a meal
we go to the dentist’s chair. The hour comes for eating and
we eat; the process is regarded as an evil to be ended as
quickly as possible. We do not, think or care what we are eat
ing; we talk incessantly, we swallow without chewing and we
get up with an air of a martyr as though we would say,
“There, that’s done.’’
Professor Jung’s recipe for conquering the problem is worth
noting:
“Assume a pleasant frame of mind before eating; think
cheerful and happy thoughts before each mouthful, for, as Pro
fessor Pavlow says, the beginning of digestion is a psychic im
pulse.
“Don't talk too much; forget everything except that you
are going to eat and intend to enjoy it.’’
Then you will emerge smiling— not a prey to indigestion
and the blues.
Crusade Against the Hobble
Throughout the West the hobble skirt has come in for gen
eral, condemnation. Ministers and club women unite in calling
it immodest.
The Civic League of Chicago voices its protest in the fol
lowing resolution sent to the chief of police: <
“Clean men constantly condemn by word and act men who
k speak to girls and women or treat them in such manner as they
would not tolerate from any man toward their own sister, sweet
heart. wife, or mother.
“Men and women alike insist upon a decent standard of
dress among girls and women -becoming, charming, but not sug
gestive, and insist that no girl or woman who is a true, thought
ful lady will dress suggestively.’’
“Year by year and month by month,’’ says Miss Balcomb,
president of the league, “the garb of women has been growing
shorter and tighter.’’
Bishop Dowling of the Catholic Diocese of Dos Moines, de
clares that the present styles are astounding. He thinks, how
ever, that American women do not wear modern clothes to be
immodest, but to follow the dictates of fashion.
“Women's gowns." he declares, “grow more immodest every
year because they are designed in a country which is frankly
immoral. “
In Omaha the Women’s Club will visit all dressmakers to
urge them to discourage the making of tight gowns. Merchants
will be asked not to sell objectionable dresses, ahd women who
wear clothes which make them objects of marked attention will
be requested to put on more modest attire.
Women should regard this growing agitation as a compli
ment. In no country are they so looked up to by husbands,
fathers, brothers and sweethearts as here. It is unfortunate that
they should do anything to forfeit this respect which once lost
is hard to regain. A
Yet the tight skirt is bringing about this very result. Since
women pride themselves upon their advance in all the mental
as well as physical attributes, why should they recklessly throw
away one of their cifief charms—modesty!
It is a question demanding their consideration.
Latent Powers of the Schools
Last October the Social ( enter Association of America was
organized at a national convention held al Madison under the
auspices of the University of Wisconsin. Governor Wilson was
the principal national figure on that occasion.
<>n the 23d of next October the second annual convention of
the association is appointed to be held at the University of Kansas,
with a special rally at the great convention hall in Kansas City.
Missouri.
This movement is trying to help the American people to realize
gr* ater dividends on its enormous investment in public schools.
Its leaders insist that the public school system of the United
States is the nation's partnership or incorporation of the arts and
sciences— its inheritance of all the powers of the mind, derived
from many ages of history in many lands. These powers of the
mind consist of all the inventions and discoveries of the past, all
the good ways of doing things that have been handed down to our
time and country from the world at large and from the generations
that are gone.
Most of the wealth of the United States has been produced
through the application of this heritage of common knowledge to
the bare lands of this continent.
The lend has. for the most part, passed out of the immediate
control of the commonwealth. But the vast, the inexhaustible
powers of knowledge are still a part of the public domain. This
domain is ruled over by the public school house. It seems to be
the mission of the Social ('enter Association of America to awaken
kthe people to a fuller knowledge-of these latent powers.
The Atlanta Georgian
© © A Mystery of the Far East © ©
The Wonderful Description of a Snake Charmer in Nigeria
117/o Handles Deadly Reptiles With Freedom
' "*■ When this
• ; -. .-napshep was
taken it was
9| hissing, its
IjHy tongue darting
its hood dis-
_ , tended.
cScF HF
L.fTF Ilk ' W/ V
U 'fl.'' f 5. W /
sj s a /jl
Ready to Strike.
By CAPT. D. H. MAC DONELL
A T Sokoto, in Northern Nigeria,
there lives a man named Da
dali. who is a “snake charm
er" in the true sense of the word.
This man is a naturalist who, it
would seem, has the power of
catching ami handling poison
snakes and scorpions without fear
of danger.
Dadali was well known to the
Europeans at Sokoto; hut it was
believed that the snakes lie han
dled had been tamed or drugged.
This man got into trouble and was
put in Jail. After he had been in
prison more than a month. the
British Resident went to him and
asked if he could catch and handle
a snake if he were taken to any
place which the Resident should
choose. Dadali agreed to do this,
and was taken under guard to a
swamp at some little distance from
the station, where snakes were to
be found. After some search and
digging a black cobra was driven
out of its hole. Dadali sprang to
it. s< ized it in his hand and brought
it to the Resident. It is not possi
ble that this man. who had been
more than a month in prison,
could have arranged to recapture
a tame snake in such a place, and
without having the knowledge be
forehand that he would be called
upon to do such a thing.
A Wonderful Feat.
Some little time afterward Dadali
brought a large black cobra, over
five feet long, to the compound of
the writer. This snake he handled
with the utmost freedom, teaming it
until the reptile got angry and sat
up hissing, spreading out its hood,
while the native servants kept a
most respectful distance. (Sec
photograph.)
Dadali then (probably for the
benefit of the native servants I
dared the white man to pick up
the cobra. I called nix native sol
dier servant and told him to Io id
Woman and the Economic Problem
IT is the fashion with certain
xx l iters nowadays to call every
woman who does not earn her
living outside of the home, "a para
site."
This term of reproach is even be
ing applied to the wife and mother
who cooks and scrubs ami sews
and mends and baby tends, and who
works eighteen hours out of the
2 4 at the never-ceasing labor of
making a home and rearing a fam
ily. To the lay mind it would seem
that if anybody on the face of the
earth earns her board and keep,
ami is not a dependent, but a self
supporting member of society, it is
such a woman.
This appears, however, to be an
erroneous view of the matter and
the poor domestic drudge who
works herself to death in her own
home Is being denounced in scath
ing terms as a parasite, a despic
able leech xvlio lives on her hus
band, ami permits herself to be
supported by him.
It is a bromide to say that
welfare of humanity rests upon the
stability of the home, and that the
woman who brings up noble sons
and daughters has made the most
precious gift possible to the xvorld.
It can do nothing but harm to
teach this woman that he: work is
not worth xvhile, that it is xxithout
dignity, and that she who is only
wife and mother is a figure of con
tempt
The majority of women are only
too much of that opinion already.
And in that attitude lies the gnat
traged? of the average woman’s
life. Her work of making a home,
of making a man's happiness- and
comfort, of rearing children, has
never been recognized as the great
est work to which any human be
mg max turn a hand, as the great
est career that anx ambition might
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER L 1912.
The picture ,
above shows
J ' Dadali and a
small cobra.
Although very
small this cobra
was no less
deadly than the
big one shown
in the other
pictures.
his carbine, and -aid in the na
tive tongue: "I am going to ptdfc
up that snake. if it bites me. shoot
that man." indicating Dadali. Tin
snake charmer was then asked if
he still wished the cobra to be.
touched, upon which lie laughed
and said:
Handling the Snake.
“Pick the snake up—if you do
not fear." 1 then picked up the
cobra, taking hold about the mid
dle of its body. The creature kept
quite still while it was being lift
ed. writhing its head gently in the
air. while the snake charmer kept
in front of it. It is probable that
litis man was capable of exerting
some kind of mesmeric power over
snakes and possibly something in
liis sense o* touch enabled him to
handle them xx ithout their wishing
to hurt him.
I have seen him take four or five
poison snakes out of the pocket of
his robe, holding the wriggling hand
ful as if they had been a bundle of
sticks, while the bite of any one of
the snakes that he held meant death
in something under half an hour.
The photographs were taken by
myself at a distance of about six
feet from the snake, after it had
been made angry. In one it will be
seen I hat the cobra has its mouth
Just open and is in tile act of
striking.
Willi regal d to this. Professor
Boulenger writes: "The snake is,
no doubt. Nnia nigricollis, a com
mon species in Nigeria, of which I
have mi two occasions received ex
>11111»I«' x friiiii Snkotn It is known n«»
Bv DOROTHY DIX
W e actually speak of the xvoman
w ho is engaged in this tremendous
labor as being "supported" by her
husband. W’e rega d her as a de
pendent. and she has no tinaneial
status. She draw sno wage for her
services, ami even the government
census report refuses to ■ nroii her
among those women who are en
gaged in "gainful occupations.”
No wonder the indisi riminating
and those without a sense of hu
mor call her a parasite! No won
der that she even looks upon her
self as one!
With their giowing freedom in
other matters it becomes more ami
more humiliating to wives to be
forced to go to their husbands and
ask. like beggars, for every penny
they spend. Every woman witli her
own pocketbook fills the woman
with no pocketbook with an envy
that turns her thoughts toward the
outside world. The wife knows that
she labors harder than the business
or professional woman, and that tier
services are better worth paying
for. and she rebels at the injustice
that makes her a dependent, sub
ject to the whims of her husband.
It docs not take any prophet to
foresee that the job of wife has got
to have a pay envelope attached to
it hereafter, or else women will fol
low the advice of those who tell
them to put their children In
creches, or some other kind of in
stitution designed foi incubating
human chicks, and that they will go
away from home and follow some
pursuit that will furnish them xvith
at least enough mmicy to preserve
their own self-respect.
This would be a most unfortunate
state of affairs, since the consensus
of experience shows that no scien
tifii care of children can take the
plate of mothering, and also that
women succeed best in the c < upa-
Ihe "spitting snake' of West Africa,
being in the habit of ejecting pois
on through its fangs, often ala
considerable distance. In his work
on Liberia. Sir Harry Johnston lias
the following remarks on this much
dreaded reptile:
" "Naia nigricollis is not infre
quently seen in native villages,
which it visits on account of the
rats and other vermin that form
its food. The snakes frequent the
; jSg&T -N
■ ■ - -- -- -4
Getting Angry.
thatch more especially, and do not
generally interfere with human be
ings unless first attacked. Even
then, instead of striking with
their fangs, they seem to prefer to
eject tlie venom by compression of
the muscles of the poison gland,
so that . . . this serpent bears
the nickname of "spitting snake"
. . . The natives say that the
snake aims at the eyes, and that if
the venom enters the eye it
causes a very severe inflammation,
but nothing worse.
"" "One fact is certain (from my’
own observation), that these Afri
can cobras are very slow to strike
xvith their fangs. I have once or
twice trodden on one. and the snake
Ills rapidly withdrawn to a safe
distance, and then adopted its at
titude of menace.’
Are Unwilling to Bite.
"Tile fact that some cobras are
unwilling to bite is corrobatcd by
Mr. H. M. Ridley. Writing on the
Malay cobra knoxvn as Naia sputa
trix, he observes that ’When an
noyed. the cobra sits up in the well
konwn manner and makes a very
curious snorting noise, holding its
mouth open in the form of a circle
and every now and then spitting
its saliva (read shooting its pois
on) at its opponent. It never at
tempts to bite, but spits witli great
accuracy, at a distance of eight
feet.’ "
As the man Dadali is a natural
ist. he is probably well acquaint
ed with the behavior of the Sokoto
cobra. Many of the most poisonous
snakes. Hie Indian graft, for in
stance, can only be induced to bite
by inflicting actual pain on them
as when stepped upon, for instance.
Il is folly to talk of any'woman
making real home, and being a
real mother in the fullest sense of
the term, and folloxving a career, or
carrying on a successful business at
the same time. No xvoman lias the
health or the strength to do both,
to sax nothing of the impossibility
of giving all of one’s time, and
thoughts, and aspirations, ami hopes
to two divergent things at the same
time.
No hired housekeeper, however
competent, no trained nurse, how
ever skillful, no governess, hoxx -
ever faithful, can take the place of
a wife ami mother in the household,
or give to a home just that brood
ing atmosphere of love ami tender
ness that a home must have to be a
success. It takes tile one xx’oman in
all the world to whom the house is
tlie be-all and the end-all of life to
make the real home.
This is woman's ancient occupa
tion. the one she was ordained to by
nature, and in following which she
finds not only her greatest happi
ness, but her greatest profit, for
ftxx women can support themselves
as comfortably as they live in their
husband's home.
But the bread of independence is
sweet, and the cakes and ale of de
pendence bitter, and henceforth the
domestic xvoman"s position in tlie
family must be recognized as that
of one of the partners In the firm,
not as a hanger-on, who takes What
stray coins are thrown her way. and
is expected to be grateful for being
suppm'ted.
in a word, xvife and mother is
going to strike for her own. She is
tired <>f being called a parasite
x< hen she works harder than any
body else in the family.
Rut If she oxer sixes up the cook
Stove and the , radh for the desk
THE HOME PAPER
Ella Wheeler Wilcox
Writes on
The Indifference of
Most People To
ward Cruelty to
Animals
Written For The Georgian
By Ella Wheeler Wilcox
Copyright, 1912. by American-Journal-Examiner.
WILLIAM G. SPRAGUE, of
the American Humane as
sociation. offered a prize
for the best essay on "Humane
Education."
Tt was won by Mrs. Hugo
Krause, of Louisville, Ky.
Speaking of the indifference of
well born and well educated peo
ple toward leaser creatures, Mrs.
Krause says:
"Here are some of- the forms
this indifference assumes. The cru
elties of commercial greed and av
arice, such as killing the animal
parent and leaving the young to
die of starvation and exposure.
"Ten thousand seals die annually
of starvation because their moth
ers are killed in the breeding sea
son.’—David Starr Jordan in Maf
ka and Kotik. Depriving the par
ent of its young and leaving the
parent to be consumed with the
agony of grief over its loss. "When
a mother loses her child her heart
gives a cry like the cry of a wild
beast: when a wild beast loses its
young it gives a cry like that of a
human mother.' -Victor Hugo in
The horrors of the Western
plains during the snow season —
so forcibly brought to public at
tention by the action of the Amer
ican Humane association, in pro
curing photographs by a special
agent sent out for investigation.
Crowding cattle when transport
ing them in such away they can
not lie, and keeping them thus 28
hours without rest, food or waler.
The cruelty of trap and spring
pole. when the death of the dumb
victim comes afier hours, some
times days. of suffering from
broken limbs, lacerated flesh and
the agony of fever and thirst
caused by these, not to mention
all the terror and fright endured.
Woman’s Vanity Causes
Much Useless Slaughter.
The vanity which leads to all
this trapping and hunting, the
adorning of the body with the
heads, claws, tails and skins of the
little furry brothers, the decking
forth with the beautiful plumage
of the kin of wood and glen.
The cruelty of sport when inno
cent and beautiful creatures like
deer, moose, wild song bird and
fish are sacrificed to the human
delight in slaughter and bloodshed.
But sacrificed to » still greater
degree when wounded and left to
die slowly of wounds and starva
tion.
The cruelties practiced in con
nection with the exhibition of trick
animals. Lions beaten over the
head xvith clubs till the blood flows
from nose and ears: horses, dogs
and cats whipped unmercifully in
being taught; elephants urged by
the jerk of an iron hqok inserted
in the ear.
The neglect, indifference, igno
rance and cruelty of which domestic
animals are the vitftims.
And the crowd of cruelties per
petrated by man. the unmention
able secret crimes of the vivisec
tor's laboratory.
These are the practices, not of
the ancient days of bloody sacri
fices. nor of Hie middle ages of
dark and secret crimes, but of the
open, progressive, moral nine
teenth and twentieth centuries.
For all this. Mrs. Krause thinks,
with every intelligent and kind
hearted being, that the remedy lies
with the mothers and teachers.
She suggests what has been said
in this paper many and many a
time, that Sunday schools should
teach children to love and under
stand animals, and tha ministers
should preach on this subject from
the pulpit, and that classes should
be formed tn educate mothers how
to educate their children.
nav i jv*
And added to all this that;
Humane education should be a
part of the curriculum of the reg
ular school course.
First—Because of its value in
racial evolution, national progress
and individual development, as
set forth in the. preceding para
graphs.
Reasons For Teaching
Humanity in Schools.
-Second—Because this would be
the best means of extending hu
mane education to ALL CLASSES
of children, irrespective of creed,
class, nationality, etc.
Third—Because human educa
tion, when taught pedagogically
and correctly, is so closely related
and corelated to the other courses
essential to the curriculum that Ils
omission mars the presentation of
the former.
Nature study, civics and ethics
are so corelated with humane edu
cation that to omit the latter is to
mar the presentation of the for
mer.
Fourth—Because educators are
generally advance guards in re
form measures, and are, therefore,
the most easily approached and
convinced by argument for its es
tablishment.
I ntil humane education is so
regularly constituted a part of the
public school course in a commu
nity, those interested in its pro
motion should classify the city or
community into districts with the
various schools as nuclei.
A place of meeting should he
selected in each district. These
places might be a room in the pub
lic library, V. M. C. A. building,
the school house, a church, private
home, hired hall. etc.
The children of the school or
schools- which are the centers of
be districts should be invited to
come to the respective meeting
places and the officials of the
schools be urged to co-operate in
the work of their district.
Each group of children should
be under the guide of a volunteer
worker in this great cabs.-. Ano
all the groups cho'tld be under the
leadership of one general leader
tn order to promote harmony and
a systematized unification of th#
work.
After organizing on the same gen
eral parliamentary plan through
out the several districts, the work
should be carried out by following
a prepared outline, also uniform 'it
the main features throughout the
districts.
Meantime, here is an excellent
thing for every mother to do who
wants her child to grow into use
ful. constructive and noble ma
turity. and to escape destructive,
ignoble and unworthy propensi
ties.
Literature About Birds
of Interest to Children.
Let her write to the Audubon
.Society. 1974 Broadway, New York,
and ask for literature about birds
suitable to interest a child. She
must inclose a stamped and ad
dressed enx'elope. and then she
must be willing to read this liter
ature and to give a little time
daily talking With her children
about It.
This society is organizing man."
thousands of school children and
other young people into classes
for bird study, and aids in many
other ways educational work along
the lines of bird study,
it publishes and distributes
thousands of illustrations of North
American birds, accompanied by
leaflets containing in popular form
a resume of the latest known fact'
regarding the feeding habits and
general activities of the birds de
scribed.
it will show the mother hoxx to
be a factor for helping to mak"
the world better in generations to
come.
sure to send -tamped envelope-