Atlanta Georgian. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1912-1939, September 04, 1913, Image 16

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EDITORIAL RAGE The Atlanta Georgian THE HOME RARER i THE ATLANTA GEORGIAN Published Every Afternoon Exrept Sunday Bv T11 K (I K<»FtO A N CJ> M P A N Y At 20 East Alahann St Atlanta, r:a Enter'd as second-class matter nt pn^t«>ffl< *- at A iruler act of March ... 1 3 Subscrmtmn Price—Delivered by carrier, 10 < • nts a week By mail, $.*.00 a year Payable in Advance. 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 t/i <>. 1