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EDITORIAL RAGE
The Atlanta Georgian
THE HOME RARER
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THE ATLANTA GEORGIAN
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The Last Day of Vacation
She Said White IJuUdo^s Were
White Rats
She Also Told the Judge Their Whereabouts V/as None of His
Business. And They Could Not Jail Her.
(Copyright, 1913.)
A lady in Chicago( her name is Mrs. Anna Beyrner, and her
address No. 10812 Hoxie avenue) owns a white bulldog—female.
This ownership she admits.
She also owns six small white animals besides the bulldog.
Enveloping these animals is a mystery.
The dog man said that they were and must necessarily be
bulldog puppies, offspring of the white bulldog.
Mrs. Beyrner had not paid dog licenses for these six white
animals, and when she WOULD NOT pay, she was "dragged
before Judge J. J. Sullivan.
To him she said, much to the surprise of all concerned,
“They are not bulldog puppies, they are white rats. The big
bulldog is not their mother. She is their policeman. I keep the
bulldog so that the cats won’t come and kill my white rats.
Dooley, the dog man, looking for license money, said, “I
saw the puppies with my own eyes.’’
Judicial wisdom sent Policeman John O’Brien to the home
of the six little white mysteries to investigate, and to report as
to their canine or other nature, and as to the white bulldog’s re
sponsibility for their being.
When the policeman got there the white bulldog was alone.
The six little white ones had vanished. The judge asked Mrs.
Beyrner, '’Where are they?’’ The lady replied:
“What business is it of yours? I don’t have to tell you, and
I won’t tell you.’’
There was much searching of the authorities by judicial as
sistants, and it was discovered that, as a matter of fact, Mrs.
Beyrner DIDN'T have to tell the judge where the rats (or dogs)
were, and that there was no way of putting her in jail for re
fusing to tell.
It is an interesting little story all by itself. It is especially
interesting because it makes it appear as though an ordinary
human being, owner of one bulldog and six white rats (?), has
rights even in a court of justice.
We are accustomed to see the ordinary citizen in a court
insulted by the attorneys on both sides, if that happens to please
them, reminded severely of dark dungeons by the judge on the
bench, and generally made to feel that, the courts of the country
are established chiefly in order to enable lawyers to make
money and ask insulting questions of citizens in order to save the
jud fe c as much trouble as possible.
So along comes a simple woman, owner of one bulldog and
six rats—(so she says)—and shows that it is really possible for a
humble lady to tell the judge “It’s none of your business,’’ and
in the language of the outside street, ‘ ‘ To get away with it. ’ ’
It is very interesting, quite apart from the unsolved bulldog
white rat mystery, which is also interesting.
Such things as this are a pleasant change from the Thaw
case.
“Children, 1 Am Through With
Life and Seek Rest"
Message Left by an Old Woman, Mother of Ten Children, in a
“Civilized” Land.
, (Copyright, 1913.)
Niels Pearson is “caretaker” in a cemetery.
Early in the morning, going his rounds to make sure that no
one had dug up a body, defaced a monument or otherwise mis
behaved in the quiet dormitory of the dead, he saw what look
like “a big bundle’’ lying on the yellow earth beside a grave just
dug. It was an old woman, not quite dead.
A bottle from which she had drunk poison was in one hand,
and in the other a short written message of farewell: “Children,
I am through ,,r ith lif?, rpst. * 1
She was old, poorly dressed and badly fed, cf course. She
had had ten children, was tired, and her mind did not work very
well. She had said to herself, “If I die right beside this new
grave they will put me in it, cover me up, and it will be con
venient for everybody and give very little trouble.’’
But the woman was not to escape so easily.
Civilization had not cared much about her as she brought,
her ten children into the world and struggled for seventy-odd
years against poverty and cruelty.
But having swallowed poison and tried to die, she found
herself suddenly very interesting and important.. Suicide is a
crime—she was now “a criminal." Criminals are interesting.
Niels Pearson ran for a policeman.
The policeman ran for an ambulance.
The ambulance came, banging and clanging.
The hospital worked at the poison and at the old woman.
Soon they had the poison and her life story out of her—both
very simple.
The poLon was the cheapest she could get. and. like other
cheap things, it didn't work very well.
Her life story was poor and cheap, and it had not worked
very well.
IT r husband was dead and could not help her.
” ten children were living, but they WO oho* not help her.
e decided, as her brief note put it, “to seek rest."
•er • as one of many things that civilization would
..... let L ” have
n i appens in a land well provided with churches,
editors, etatesmm, public libraries and money.
. read of an old gorilla killing herself in tne jungle
er ten je ng gorillas wouldn't help to feed her. we
say, 'T: at sounds improbable. Surely taey would at
,ei— keep her alive.”
-ut we are not surprised at ten human gorillas that let
their mother seek death and rest in the graveyard in the early
morning.
And we are not surprised at the weak, suffering, old wom
an’s repey to the doctor who asked her name:
"No. I will not teh you nij name. 1 don't Want to tlisg!
my children.”
grace
Elbei't Hubbard
Writes on
Frat ernity
Lifts Us from Casua
Acquaintance to Broth
erhood; It Develops and
Evolves Us.
By ELBERT HUBBARD
Telling* the Troth About Ghosts
The Word “Gas” and “Ghost” of Similar Anglo-Saxon Meaning
and H*v' ITen Proved Actually Identical.
| MONT (1578-16*4), the
Flemish physklan who In
troduced the word "gas” in the
terminology of the science of
chemistry, said: "Hune splritum,
$
iniognitum hactenus, novo no
mine gas \oco,” which In plain
English means: "This vapor,
hitherto unknown, I call by a new'
name, ‘grts.’ ”
Now the word "gas" In Anglo-
Saxon means "ghost,” and the
appropriateness of VanHel-
mont’s definition Is singularly
shown by certain researches of
Franz Schneider, Jr., sanitarian
in the department of surveys and
exhibits of t the Russell Sage
Foundation. It was while Mr.
Schneider was connected with the
Massachusetts Institute of Tech
nology as a biology and health
expert that he was called upon to
investigate a so-called "haunted”
house in Doston.
Frightened Children,
He found the ghost, removed
the troublesome guest and
brought joy and courage to a dis
tressed and unhaooy family. The
house, a large, handsome four-
story structure in the fashionable
Back Bay district, for many
months had borne the disagree
able reputation of being tenanted
by urit irthly midnight visitors.
Servants who slept on the top
floor said it \>as a common ex-
p rience for them to awaken at
night "as if someone were touch
ing me," or wi*h a "creepy feeling
going all over me as though I
\\» being paralyzed."
Children of tile family were
similarly affected; one of them.
« little bov. rushed screaming
into tae nurse's room one .night
uiui a* tiiaai was waiving
him up and asking why she let
him be frightened so. Previous
occupants of the building had
been troubled In the same way,
some of the servants actually
declaring they had seen walking
apparitions. Sounds were also
heard as If some one were walk
ing about the house or overhead,
and these sensations continued
after the sleeper was thoroughly
awake and even after the lights
had been turned on.
Pathologists often have traced
mental disturbances. anemia,
malnutrition, loss of psychic pow
ers ami diminished vigor to the
vitiated air of sleeping rooms.
Bearing this in mind, Mr. Schnei
der sought at once to ascertain
If the uncanny conditions in the
upper part of the house were not
due to a defective furnace, sewer
gases or leaking gas Jets, and soon
found that his suspicions were
correct. •
He traced the trouble to the #
heating apparatus, and found the
separation between the hot-air
ducts and the fire-box (upon
which the integrity of a hot-air
furnace depends) was badly brok
en, as a result of which the whole
household was bathed in an at
mosphere of diluted flue ga«-«es.
Worst Upstairs,
Conditions were worse on the
upper floors, where the fumes of
sulphurous oxide and carbon
monoxide were sufficiently heavy
to produce the most serious
svmptonis. including sanitations
of oppression, hallucinations and
overwhelming fear.
('arbon dioxide or carbonic acid
gas acts as a narcotic poison
when present in the air to the ex
tent of only 4 or 5 per cent. It
constitutes the *\hoke damp" or
coal mines. Monoxide Is even
more poisonous and more subtle.
It is produced when a coal fire
burns with a smokeless, pale-
lavender flame. Sulphurous ox
ide, a gas formed by the combus
tion of sulphur in the air. has a
suffocating odor, Is fatal to life
and very Injurious to vegetation.
It tarnishes silverware and Is a
plague to the housewife, who finds
her geraniums and other plants
dying from this unsuspected
cause.
Time to Inspect.
These gases, then, were the
"ghosts’ that were frightening the
members of that Boston house
hold. The trouble was made even
wmrse by the presence of a small
steam-heating system which had
been placed within the fire box
directly over the fire, the effect
being to cool it and so cause in
complete combustion. When the
furnace was repaired the servants
and children were restored to nor
mal health, and they were never
again aw’akened by their imagi
nary tormentors.
A few weeks hence and thou
sands of families will be packing
up their household goods for re
moval to new domiciles. It is well
in renting a new house to pay
particular attention to the plumb
ing and heating arrangements.
A defective flue will surcharge a
big house with deadly gas from
the most perfectly-built steam or
hot-water furnace, a. 1 poor bath
room fixtures may imperil many
lives from noxious sewage fumes.
"Brick sewers have been found
to be permeable to illuminating
gas. May not these poisonous
flue gases sometimes escape into
houses through porous or leaky
chimneys?” asks Mr. Schneider,
adding that many headaches and
anemias of obscure origin have
been traced to slight leaks of il
luminating gas.
On cold nights—w’hen the win-
! dows are closed and ventilation
is poorest—that is the time the
greatest harm is wrought by these
unhealthful conditions. It is Al
ways well to leave the windows
partly open in sleeping rooms at
night: draughts are less danger
ous than these vapors that no
often prove fatal.
The RussaII Sage Foundation
expert’s discovery brings with It
certain plain hygienic lessons, but
is none the bess interesting to ex
perimental psychologists and in
vestigators of psychic and spirit*
ual’stic manifestation. It may be
tne beginning of a world-wide un
derstanding of the subject of all
so-called ghostly” phenomena.
Basis Is Ignorance.
Universal belief in wandering
spirits Is a survival of fetlchism.
ancestor worship and demonology
of the primitive savages, accord
ing to Huxley, all of which are
different manners of expressing
absurd dread of things not un
derstood. Its basis is ignorance
and superstition. Education, he
ins’sts. will annihilate the fiction
of supernaturalism, the belief in
a mysterious and unnatural God
and an all-powerful and natural
devil. The most startling phe
nomena, if baneful, thus nay be
banished from the -domain of
thought and only that which is
useful, harmless and indestructi
ble remain.
Encouraging, indeed, is the
knowledge that the Russell Save
Foundation, formed “to improve
social and livinar conditions in the
United States." is enlisted in a
scientific warfare on common su
perstitions. A grateful public w .11
accept its expert's truth-telling
about ghosts and beware of the
perils of a tainted atmosphere.
ELLOWSHIP is heaven,”
said William Morris;
“lack of fellowship is
hell.’’
Therefore was Eve created.
Therefore were so many of us
brought into this great old world
together.
And in all our quarrels we still
recognize the bond of fellowship.
Quarreling in moderation may
be a blessing in disguise. For does
it not often reveal to us the value
of a true friend?
There is, however, a higher de
gree of fellowship than the one
usually accepted.
It is fraternity. It lifts fellow
ship from casual acquaintance and
society niceties to intimacy and
brotherhood.
Fraternity is the banding to
gether of individuals to the com
mon interest.
It is a constitutional and mutual
affection between men.
It is the law of association, and
is as old as Nature.
As a matter of fact, It is this law
that creates, develops and evolves
us.
No man cab live to himself alaso.
And while we ha\-* diversified gifts
and peculiar wants and desires,
out general needs are identical.
Happiness is dispensed or re
ceived, according to onr ability to
give.
Probably the priinai• dea of fra
ternity was to insure safety—the
safety 'it numbers.
The Cities Great.
Single-handed, man was likely to
suffer at the hands of nomadic
tribes or marauders.
His flocks and herds, left un
guarded by reason of his inability
to be in two places at once, fell
prey to wild beasts.
go men banded themselves to
gether in a community or fra.sr-
nity for the common good.
The isolated Sug-out, the rude
cabin, was succeeded by p score
or more of tents. The fort became
a town, the town a city.
Perhaps some may say that the
city is hideous, noisqme and unin
spiring.
Still, is it not strange that thou
sands delight in the contemplation
of the beauties of the New Jerusa
lem—the City of God!
Always have the cities been
cited as examples of a country’s
greatness.
We say Rome, Athens, New
York. Chicago, Paris, London.
Visions c beauty, splendor, activ
ity and effort come to us.
It is only natural that man's di
versities in opinion shall develop
in certain directions. And frater
nity, recognizing free and inde
pendent opinion as sacred, shall
give every one the right to ex
press it.
Variety is necessary to form the
mosaic of life, and fraternity ad
justs the fragments to make one
harmonious whole.
Even as that wondrous toy of
our childhood—the kaleidoscope—
formed beautiful designs as we
willed, so the theories and theses
of men fall into place Jn the hands
of the fraternal orders.
They are adjusted to the needs
of his fellows, and every one is
blessed in proportion to his ca
pacity to appreciate and enjoy
them.
Fraternity, as exemplified in our
great fraternal orders, stands for
helpfulness and progress.
Man looks on man as a brother.
He also becomes brother to the
trees, the flowers and all plants
and animal life.
He reverences the source of all
life.
Thrilling Stories.
He is thrilled with the story of
Calvary, and is filled with admira
tion when he reads how Buddha
gave himself to the famished lion*
i as—whose dugs ran blood—so that
she might, nourish her cubs.
These thoughts bring about men
tal uplift, give nobler aims and
aspirations, finer ideals.
Fraternity makes for purity in
thought, word and deed.
Purity, aid, progress are the
watchwords of fraternity.
These, with charity, justice and
fidelity, from the foundation and
fabric of fraternal orders every
where.
Possibly fraternal orders do in-
estimaifie work toward preserving
universal peace.
War can not take place where
charitableness and brotherly love
are manifest)
“Charity sutfereth long and is
kind; doth not behave itself un
seemly.”
And fraternity is its synonym.
Fraternity also stands for jus
tice—for right government
"God give us men! A time like
this demands
Great hearts, strong minds and
willing hinds.
Men irhi.m llie love of office
cun not kill.
Men whom the spoils of office
can not hug.
Men who possess opinions and a
will.
Men who have purpose, men who
will not lie. ‘
For uihile the rabble with their
thumbworn creeds,
Their large professions and their
litHe deeds,
Wrangle—-in foolish strife—io!
Freedom weeps;
Wrong rules the land, and icail-
ing Justice sleeps."
Loyalty the Keynote.
Perhaps, however, the keynote
that holds the arch of \fraternal
orders together is that of fidelity
or loyalty.
Without loyalty, united effort is
Impossible.
The tow-line of progress becomes
a rope of sand.
Loyalty springs from love—the
love Chat believes in the object,
institution or order you are asso
ciated with.
And so the loyalty of fraternal
order members mirrors their love
for that order and the principles
for which they stand.
Their loyalty is like a cloth of
gold, spread on the altar of their
affections.
Each for all and all for each, is
the slogan of fraternal orders.
To practice this divine selfish
ness is not so simple as it appears.
For it is hard to think of others
and the ultimate instead of the
persona] and immediate.
But fraternal orders are teach
ing us th^t the Brotherhood of
Man is a reality.
The Cavalier Parliament
By REV. THOMAS B. GREGORY.
T WO HUNDRED AND FIF
TY-ONE years ago the
Cavalier Parliament of
Charles Second forced two thou
sand rectors and vicars, consti
tuting about a fifth of the Eng
lish clergy, to leave their par
ishes as nonconformists. The
evicted clergymen were reduced
to dire poverty and distress. This
outrageous business was followed
by the law by which any person
above the age of sixteen who was
present at any religious service
not according to the Prayer Book
was to be imprisoned three
months for the first offence, six
for the second, and to be trans-
ported for the third.
It was a gala time for the
Cavaliers! Things were eonvng
their way in great style! The ac
cursed Pur' , ns were at last down
and out for good and for all.
But the trouble with the Puri
tan is he will not remain down
and out. He is the toughest
human proposition on earth, or
that ever was on ,arth. l'ou can
not annihilate him. Crush him
to-day, and he will rise up to
morrow stronger and more de
ft nt tnr.n ever. He has the most
virile brain, the most powerful
will, the most unconquerable in
dividuality of any man on tha
planet.
Hence it came about that in
turning out the Puritans the
Cavaliers in the end got the worst
of the bargain. As Green put it:
The persecution noon blended
the nonconformists into one, and
the Church for the first time In
•Its history found itself confronted
wKb an organized body of dis
senter-.- without its pale.' The im-
poss.bility of crushing such a
body as this wrested from Eng
lish statesmen the first legal roo-
oemtior. of freedom of worship in
the Toleration Act. their rapid
growth \f) later times has bv de
gree, s- ripped the Church of al-
nost all the exclusive privileges
w uich it enjoyed as a religious
body, and now threatens what re-
matns Of it, official connection
with the State,”
,
M
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