The Sunday Oregonian., August 10, 1902, PART FOUR, Page 32, Image 32

32 , - THE SUNDAY OBEGONIAN, PORTLAND, AUGUST 10, 19(&.
. J ETHICAL TALKS BCJ gLE'RGy THE LAlTCj
TRUE CONCEPTION OF SOCIAL PROGRESS
BY REV. THOMAS B. GREGORY
j ERBERT SPENCER, In his latest
I book, "Facts and Comments," sum
A mlng up the principles .he has been
seeking for over half a century, says:
"I detest that conception of social prog
ress -which presents as its aim Increase of
population, growth of wealth and spread
of commerce. In the politico-economic
Ideal of human existence there Is con
templated quantity only, .and not quality.
James Martlneau, the greatest theo
logian that the world has produced In a
thousand yeans, said 55 years ago:
"Aptitude for business is not power of
reason; and the grandee on the exchange
may be a pauper In God's universe."
To those qf us who are to any extent
enamored of the ideal there Is great'cause
for rejoicing in the unanimity with which
the foremost scientist and the leading, di
vine of the 19th cenfury looks upon, the
all-important question of the significance
of our human life. .
Spencer says, as the result of long
study and research, that life Is qualita
tive, not quantitative, and Martln
eau declares that the man who
WE hear from all sides that the in
dissolubility of marriage is ab
solutely necessary to the happi
ness of the family, the purity of society
and the good of the state. But to my
mind, so Important is unity in marriage,
so dependent upon this the usefulness of
the home, the good of society, the solid
arity of the state; so lamentable the con
sequences ' Invariably resulting from dis
unity In marriage, that every encourage
ment to divorce ought to be given.
Transient lapses from some of the car
dinal virtues might not be as disastrous
to the peace and home llfcas a perpetual
domestic warfare, with no truce ever
granted and no quarter given.
The true standpoint from which to view
this question Is Individual sovereignty.
Individual happiness. It is often said that
the interests of society are paramount
and first to be considered. This was the
old Roman Idea, the pagan idea, that the
Individual was made for the state.
The central idea of barbarism has ever
been the family, the tribe, the nation,
never the individual. But the groat doc
trine of Christianity is the right of Indi
vidual conscience and Judgment. The
reason It took such a hold on the hearts
of the people was because it taught that
the individual was primary, the state, the
church, society, the family secondary.
However, a comprehensive view of any
question of human interest shows that
the highest good and happiness of the
Individual and society lie in the same di
rection. The question of divorce, like marriage,
should, be settled as' to Its most sacred
relations by the parties themselves; neith
WE HOLD, at least in theory, how
ever we may fail in practice, that
mankind are a family, that both
the church and tho state are a home,
where all should be cherished; that the
greater the weakness and misfortune the
greater should be the care. We have
abolished lezallzed slavery, and the bet
ter among us are urged as by a divine
"voice to think no sacrifice too great where
by the condition of multitudes of tollers
may be made more tolerable, more hope
ful. Wc recognize that the rights of man
are the rights of women .also, and slowly
we are gaining Insight into the truth that
whatever Is wrong for her Is wrong for
him.
As It Is our dally duty to protect chil
dren because they are weak and helpless,
it' is our duty to protect all who are weak
anil helpless. The young are by nature
incapable of caring for themselves, and
therefore the 'home, tho church and the
etate accept trie responsibility of pro
viding them with nourishment and nur
ture. The' adult mar. and woman should not
be weak or ignorant or vicious, and we
feel that It. is not their own' fault chiefly,
but the fault of the home, the'state and
the church if they arc so. We should
therefore make helplessness. Ignorance
and vice Impossible.
Religion Inspires love, confidence nnd
TIIS is the time of year when the
average young man, with a two
weeks' vacation to his credit, blithe
ly takes his single blessedness In his
hands and tackles the Adamlcss Summer
resort. It Is a feat of heroic daring that
meets with its own reward, for, while It
lasts, he has the center of the stage and
all tho . limelight. He is the little tin god
of the shop, and breatthes In the incense
of feminine adulation and flattery', that Is
tho most intoxicating thing on earth.
He Is King, with nobody to dispute his
kingdom with him. He may bask not
only in the smile of one woman, but a
hundred. He finds that Amaryllis, who
was an Iceberg in December, Is In a melt
ing mood in August; that Gwendolln the
proud has become Gwendolln the humble,
and that the man a woman wouldn't look
at In the Winter she. will pay out money
to behold in tho dog days. 'Probably no
otner human being ever so completely
has tho world In a sling as the solitary
representative of his sex at a Summer re
sort; but, alas, every pleasure has a string
to it, every rose a thorn, and the sltua
ipn is as full of danger as it Is of de
light. r
There is, of course, the awful chances
thajt a young man will be danced Into
nervous prostration, or golfed Into a home
for Incurable cripples, but the chief peril
is not to wind and limb, but to his heart.
Many men go annually to . Summer re
sorts. Few return unengaged. Still
fewer know how it happened. Sentiment
was in the air. and they caught it! Thte
would be an ideal state of affairs If every
man was prepared to marry. Unfortunate
ly this Is not true, and, while the Sum
mer' engagement is as .brittle as the pro
has the most may be the poorest.
Spencer reached his conclusion after 55
or CO years of Inductive reasoning; Mar
tlneau conclusion, was a priori an In
tuition .pure and simple,, a great Inspira
tion from he knew not'wbere; and the
two conclusions are the same.
When Herbert Spencer say&ithat life at
bottom Is not quantitative but qualitative,
he simply means that it Is spiritual and
not material, moral and not mercenary a
matter not of population, but of principle,'
not of wealth, but of wisdom, not of
commerce, but of conscience.
' And when Martlneau says- that the gran
dee on the exchange, may' be a pauper In
God!s universe, he simply -means to say
that a man may have unbounded wealth
and all that goes along with It and still
be destitute- of- pharacter, of love, of the
larger "ope staid -of the'.Uvlng soul which
enables one' to'-enjoy the beauty cf nature
and" tire humanities, of .his'Tellow-men.
Both bf these great- men-r-the leading
scientiyt and .Tb leading theologian agree
in holding tEatin theast analysis;, life Is
.subjective and not objective, an affair
-7-
MARRIAGE AND DIVORCEIV
BY ELIZABETH CADY 'STANTON
er the state nor'1 the church have any
right to intermeddle therein. As to the
property and children, they must be view
ed and regulated as a civil contract. Then
the unlon should be dissolved with at
least as much, deliberation and publicity
as it was. formed.
There might be some ceremony and
witnesses to add to the dignity and so
lemnity of the occasion, Like the Quaker
marriage, which the parties conduct
themselves, so in this case, without any
statement of their disagreements, the
parties might simply declare that after
living together for several years they
found themselves still unsulted to each
other and incapable of making a happy
home:
If divorce were made respectable and
recognized by society as a duty as well
as a right, reasonable men could arrange
all of the preliminaries, often the division
of property and guardianship of'chlldren,
quite as satisfactorily as it can be done
In the courts. "Where the mother is cap
able of training the children, a sensible
father would leave them to her care,
rather- than place them In the (hands of
a stranger.
But where divorce Is not respectable,
men -who have no paternal feeling will
often bold the child, not so much for its
own good, as to punish, the wife for dis
gracing him-
The love of children is not strong In
most men. and they feel but little re
sponsibility In regard to them. See how
readily they turn off young sons to shift
for themselves, and unless the law com
pelled them to support their Illegitimate
children they would never give them a
second's thought.
EVILS OF RECKLESS MARRIAGES
- BY BISHOP J. L. SPALDING
courage, and science, lights the way of
life with the torch of knowledge. As
disease Is largely preventable, we believe
that vice, pauperism and crime are also
preventable.
The law ol -causation is universal, and.
the cause being known'the finding of a
remedy ought to lie within the reach of
intelligence and love.
Our progress consists largely in the dis
covery of remedies for ignorance and Im
potence. .
Quinine, drainage and sanitation have
made vast regions' habitable where hither
to healthful life had been Impossible. The
discovers of the causes "of many of the
worst diseases has shown us , how they
may readily be cured or prevented.
The knowledge of the causes of evil,
whether physical or moral, necessarily
leads to the Inquiry how they may be
suppressed or controlled.
The cosmical and geographical condi
tions which Interfere with the normal
development of human endowments we
can hardly hope greatly to modify. In
the tropics the race is and probably will
always be Indolent, ignorant, weak and
sensual.
Heredity, too, plays a great part in the
destiny of each one. We are In mind as
In body, largely what we have assimilated
or what heredity, which is the outcome of
endless assimilations, makes us.
DANGERS OF THE SUMMER MAN
BY DOROTHY -DK
verbial pie crust, It Is still much eaBicr
to get' into an engagement than it Is to
get out of one.
Nor is the. Summer engagement to. be
attributed to the fault of man. It is en-,
tirely the girl's for being so charming
that nobody can resist her. With the
man it is' a case of Scylja and Charybdls.
He dodged one fascination merely to fall
into the wiles of another, for the Sum
mer produces Its own peculiar type of.
girl, and many a man escapes matrimony
in tho Winter merely to embrace It In the
Summer.
Advice is. of course, generally wasted,
especially on men. Still, ono cannot be
hold the unprotected Summer man going
out to meet his fate without desiring to
call his attention to some of the perils he
will encounter and warning him of his
danger.
First, he will meet the picnic girl, who
knows' just how .to fix up a lunch and
hang a bottle in the water so that It will
cool. She's very dangerous. A man will
.get to thinking whata dear little house
keeper' she would make before he knows
it. Beware of her.-Like as notiier.mother
made the sandwiches and the cook con
cocted tho cake. " -
Then there's tho rowing girl, who will
take you out In' a--boat and let you He
on your back and stare up at the sky
while she pulls the oars. Watch but. for
her. Tou think she would make a good
wife who would always Jook out for your
comfort, and the Idea is enticing. But
the chances are that she would expect
you to do all the hustling after you were
married. Besides, .tho woman, who pulls
the stroke oar In a family, always does
the bosslne. '- .
not of fine -buildings and grand material
fortunes, but of fine spiritual Ideals real
ized, of noble principles reduced, to action,
of the poetry apd music and beauty and
Joy of the soul experienced In the" daily
common life. - .
. Take Coicago the miracle of ' history,
yesterday a wild, wind-swept prairie,
where the otter and the muskrat reigned
today a city of 2.000.0QO of people, with
industries that reach out to the ends of
the earth, with a commerce that flecks
every ocean with its sails and shakes
every continent with its rumbling -trains;
its sky-scrapers laughing old Babel tow
er to scorn; Its wealth making- the plled
up coffers of ancient Tyre, Rome, Venipe
look "like trivial nothings tfnd what does
it nmount to? . ' '. ,
All depends upon the question: How
many clean, happy homes are therk In -It;,
how many manly, men and womanly wo
men; how many men and women who
would scorn to debase their manhood,
their womanhood; how much devotion to
, . . ... , ... ,
. .
personal and civic righteousness, whlcb.l
On the mother soul rests forever the
care and responsibility bf. human life.
Her love for the child borri out of wed
lock is often intensified by the infinite
pity she feels for Its disgrace. Even
among the lower animals we find the fe
males ever brooding over the young and
helpless.
Limiting the causes of divorce to phys
ical defects or delinquencies, making the
proceedings public, prying into -all the
Intimate personal affairs of unhappy men
and women, regarding the step as quasi
criminal, punishing the guilty party In the
suit all this will not strengthen ' frail
human nature, will not Insure happy
homes nor banish scandal.
No, the enemy of marriage, of the
state, of eoclety, is not liberal divorce
laws, but the unhealthy atmosphere that
exists In the home Itself. A legislative
act cannot make a unit of a divided
family.
Many writers on divorce seem ' to fear
that liberal divorce laws would destroy
the very foundation of our social life.
Seeing how difficult, a matter "it la to
trace all the pitfalls In society to their
true causes, it is an unwarrantable and
wholesale assumption to attribute all our
social upheavals to the liberal divorce
laws that have, been passed within the
last 50, years.
Whence came all the adverse winds that
produced the terrible corruptions and
endless changes in the marriage relations
through polyandry, polygamy, the mut
terrecht, concubinage and the morganatic
relations so frequent in the ros-al fami
lies of the Old Word?
Marriage has been a bone of contention
In ohurch and state for centuries, that
They who are born with a taint In tho
blood, with perverted instincts and en
feebled wills, not only fall Into vice more
easily than others, but they are also more
difficult to reclaim.
If man shall ever learn to do for his
own kind what breeding and training en
able him to do for various strains of do
mestic animate, he will have discovered an
effective means for preventing crime and
mlserj. But what he calls his rights,
which often are but his prejudices and
passions, will probably continue to keep
him from treating his own species with
the wisdom with which he manages in
ferior creatures.
Reckless and senseless marriages are an
inexhaustible source of evIL Many of our
people enter Into wedlock as thoughtlessly
as they take a stroll or fall' asleep, and
the result Is quarrels, contentions, divorces
and children reared In an atmosphere
which blights their tender lives.
Hence crime among the young la in
creasing far more rapidly than the popu
lation grows. So long as this poison foun
tain remains open, so long will vice and
pauperism continue to breed degradation
and wretchedness.
Homes which are hells thwart the wisest
efforts to reform abuses. They hinder the
school, weaken the church and undermine
the social fabric Our chaotic and lax'j
marriage laws encourage . and facilitate :
The bathing girl U a tantalizing-and de
lightful little thing! She lets you float
her, and you get bewitched and say silly
things about mermaids.' Go slow, brother.
Life Is spent on dry land. You want
somebody who will bo a duck on earth
as well as In the wnter.
The girl who gathers wild flowers is a
sweet, sentimental little thing, but be
fore you invite a vine to wreathe around
you consider if your salary Justifies the
ornament.
Give a wide path, unless you mean busl-
'ness, to the girl who delights In fishing.
Fishing is a waiting game. It .requires
tact, patience, nice skill, but the girl who
can. land a trout never falls to hook he
man she Is after. You may.nlbblo at the
bait, and play with the hook, but sooner
or later you will go under.
The girl with a book Is only dangerous
to certain types of men. Fools will pass
her by, but to the Intelligent man of sym
pathetic tastes she is bo much of a men
ace she ought to be required to wear a
red lantern around her neck. The man
who reads sentimental poetry, or warm
romances aloud to a woman under a green
tree, or by the still waters, does so .at
'his peril.
Widows have all times and seasons' for
their own. They are probably no more
.dangerous in the Summer than at any
other time of year, but when a man ac
quires the 'habit of taking nice long strolls
In the twilight with orje, or gets to con
fiding his secret sorrows and aspirations
J to her as the waves 'beat upon the beach
uis suarcian. angei snuis up toe snop ana
goes out of business.
The athletic girl Is a nice, chummy sort
of a girl, little given to sentiment,., and
cannot be bought with gold, or by-any
sort of threat intimidated. Into doiflg that
which Is contrary to right-ands'Uce?
Bulk, quantity, volume, whether of
wealth or piled up masonry, or population,
amount to nothing, it Is quality that
tells the character that there Is Id the
innaoitants, ,tne moral wortn tn.at is rep
resented In them, the. good that th'ey are
doing, not to advancer their own little
petty, passing interest,- but to buildup the
commonweal for a thousand years to
come. . '"
After Rome had beaten'King Pyrrjins
and so vaulted to the hegemony of the
Italian peninsula some of the more ambi
tious, of her citizen thought' It would be
well If the Eternal City had larger and,
finer houses, streets and monuments, and
accordingly it was proposed that steps "be
taken to make the aspect of th,e city
moreV In keeping- with Its imperial for
tunes. . - Y
Then it was that, one of the wisest
speeches of all history was made by a
plain "and unpretentious old, man. "Fel
low, "citizens," said the old man,- ;'I am
not .opposed to " spacious. .-husesT . wide
streets and glorious public structures; but
before we -go further -with" this let, us
make ourlcltizenshlpv great.- Better it Is.
""' Kreux EUU16-
to have great souls- in small houses than
lt nourn oe 10 nave
small, souls."
great houses and
made the canon'arid clv'Ulaw a kind' of
football for popes and King, ecclesiastics
and statesmen, and now, because under
free republican institutions a new type
of womanhood has "been developed, de
manding larger freedom in the mnrrlage
relation, justice, liberty and equality un
der xthe law. ourvconservativcs think the
whole Institution Is about to toppie on
their heads,
, I would, recommend every rational man
and .woman thinking and writing on this
subject to run through their life experi
ence, summon up all the divorced people
they know, gauge their moral 'status, and
If possible the influence of their lives as
writers, speakers, artists and philanthro
pists, and see If they do not compare
favorably with the best men and women
of their "acquaintance.
In my own circle of friends I can -recall
at most two dozen all as gifted,
moral and refined men and women- as I
ever knew. "iBut few. of the women mar
ried again, and those who did have been
exceptionally happy In their new re
lations. The rapidly Increasing number of di
vorces, . so far from showing a . lower
state of morals, proves exactly the re
verse. Woman, is in a transition period from
slavery to freedom, and she will not ac
cept the .conditions in married life that
shfc has heretofore meekly endured.
When the mother with her steadfast
love of home and children demands re
lease, we may rest assured her reasons
for sudering the tie are all sufficient to
herself and should be to society at large.
The frequent demands for divorce sim
ply mean that we have not yet reached
the Ideal marriage state. Divorce-is a
challenge to our present system. EvoluH
uua nas Deen tne jaw or. life. The rela
'tlon of the sexe3 has passed through
many -phases, and Jb likely to pass
through many more. .
Imprudent marriages, but the origin of the.
evil lies deeper.
Institutions, it has been said, are in the
control of men, public opinion In that of
women.
,Women decide how we shall build and
furnish our homes, what we shall eat and
wear, what we shall And beautiful and en
tertaining, where -we shall live, what wo
shall rtad, whom we shall consider friend
or foe, and what beliefs or prejudices we
shall hold and what religion we shall have.
From them we learn our mother tongue,
from them our notions of right and wrong,
of propriety and-Justice.
If they were, more large-minded. more
Intelligent, more unselfish, more ierious,
moro loving, three-fourths of the deprav
ity and sin which make life a curse would
disappear. s
The fountain head of social good or evil,
ot vice and crime Or of honor arid .virtue
Is In the home, and the wife and the
mojther make or unmake the home.
Whatever view we may take as to
whether man or woman .was -the most
guilty, primal offender, woman bears the
greater responsibility for the wrongs and
miseries which afflict and oppress '-the
modern world, since the force of public
opinion, which Is Jn her keeping," is
mightier than riches and armies and laws.
More than any age since the beginning
of time wo have given opportunity to
woman,- have placed her In the seat of In
fluence and power, and shall she prove
false or frail or ungrateful, traitorous to
thO rflCf AnAifAnMA tvVI XV. nil U t
n0Diest and m08t chivalrous in man has
led him. to repose in her?
she Is the season's preferred risk. Still,
bear in mind that Cupid is often a caddy
for the golf game, ana" the long hours on
the links make a kind of. comradeship
that It Is easy to mistake foj- love.'
Beware of the hammock "girl on moon
light nights. The homeliest' gfn on -earth
looks like an angel on a moonlit night pn
a vine-shaded veranda, Any man, young
or old, married or single, will make lo'e
to a woman In a hammock, and the only
safe course under the circumstances Is
to go and sit in the hotel office in the
full glare vof the deadly, prosaic electric
light,-'.
Also fight shy of tho Summer widow,
She generally has a large, robust husT
band, who doesVt understand platonle
affection, and It is 'always so -unpleasant-to
argue questions with that sort of per
son.. BY
TEN years ago, at a congress of the
Sons of the American - Revolution
held In Chicago, a proposition was
made to undertake a patriotic propaganda,
among such elements of our population
as seemed ignorant of American princi
ples and hostile to our Institutions. Tho
project was not favorably considered at
that time. The objection was madethat it
might be deemed political. But a num
ber; of things have happened since then..
An anarchist element has developed In
our midst which evidently holds that our
Government is a despotism which should
be tempered with assassination. Natural
ly there has been qultga change, even
among conservative people, as to how our
army bf disco tent, should fbe , treated.
When President McKlnley was murdered'
there was & demand for repressive meas
i
MYSTERY
BY -
THERE Is no stranger sensation than
that experienced even by the
thoughtless when they arrive at
BOm break or In hU road oC
life where they are obliged to pause for a
moment and View, spread out before
them, the landscape of their past life. Its
possibilities and its actual performance
These careless beings may suddenly come
to see the real drift of the HneTthey have
Unconsciously taken, and also how far
their schoolfellows and, contemporaries
have forged ahead, while they have loit
ered to pick flowers by the way, only, per
haps, to throw'them down to perish in the
dust. Some who" started with every dis
advantage, physical and financial, have
yet 'outstripped -all competitors, reached,
andivperhaps passed, the goal they once
set before their eyes as the highest possi
ble earthly, bliss or prize; but the taste
of It. in "the mouth is far removed from
"what they hoped or thought. They may
be fqrglyen. if they look at the Jovial,
happy;gblucky faces of former compan
ions, -.shining with health if not with
.weaithdevold alike of ambition or envy,
and leisurely sauntering where we have
tolled and etralnyd. Or fate may have
landed others in quite as desirable coigns
of vantage as those to which we have
climbed, and, perhaps, from no quality
Inherent In them, but. as It would seem,
out of .sheer favoritism, while to us her
averted face and grudging gifts, extorted
by constant toil, have clearly shown that.
in her eyes, we occupy the unenviable
place of Dr. "TJelL Fortune Is capricious,
not only to such as serve her humbly
but to those who flaunt their .Independ
ence In her face and flout her most pre
cious gifts. How many men and women
have started as her darlings, with beauty,
wealth, talent, and, above all, that great
est giftjof all the power of attracting
love, which we call fascination. This love
THE
E1
VERY man when he marries, be he
ever so hard-headed, indulges him
self In some sort of dream regard
ing the home that is to be his, with
something in his dream of an Ideal sort,
if he allows the word ideal. He Is out
and about In a stormy world of effort,
of strife, of attainment; he Is breathless
from the struggle, so to say, and tired
of the turmoil, and when he opens his
door, in his fancy, it is to go into the
chamber called Peace.
Not a care Is to flutter Its dark wings
there; all Is to be sanity and sweetness
and gentle grace and gayety. His wife,
In that dreim, always wears a calm
and trustful smile; she always wears
pretty clothes,, too; he does not know
wh,at, but of pleasing effect; she Is
always as she should be, spotless and
soignee. There is no disorder any
where Jn her region, n6 loud op sharp
tone marks the silver qf her voice; all
the wheels of her housekeeping move
noislessly and smoothly; all her ways
ar,e pleasantness and all her paths are
tpeace. When he fishes to go out with
her, she Is ready on the moment; when
,ho wishes to stay at home he sees her
in tho low chair opposite with the
pretty work basket, or she goes to the
piano for the, new song, never having
suffered herself to fall out of practice
in her music. She rtever grows old; she
never grows unlovely, In his thought;
SALARIES IN
T IS difficult to explain why the diplo
matic and Consular service should al
ways be under the ban of Congres
sional prejudice. Members of our National
Congress are prone to boast on all occa
sions of the pride of American citizens in
the generosity of their Government, As
a rule this, boast is well founded, but in
the provision for the services mentioned
there is always manifested by Congress
the most niggardly parsimony, making in
variably unequal divisions of the appro
priations for the- maintenance of our rep-,
resentatlves abroad.
It has been carried to such an extent
toward our most important embassies and
legations that none but wealthy men can
afford to accept these positions, notwith
standing poorer men may be eminently
qualified to discharge the duties with
much- iredit to themselves and their coun
try, and are entitled to consideration on
account -of their services to their party
and country at home.
Wc Jiav In mind en illustration of the
humiliation of one of the ablest diplomats
the United States has ever had. on an oc
casion of importance, to one of the rich
est courts, and one, too, that has ever
been" roost friendly, to the United. States.
Our,Ambassador, a man of distinguished
ability and attainments, with very con
servative views, was so much embar
rassed by financial considerations that It
was impossible for him to accept or extend
hospitalities that seemed obligatory prop
erly to sustain, the dignity 'and importance
of his country, with her boundless wealth
and plethoric-treasurji '
We hear constantly outcries against the
extravagant appropriations to sustain our
embassies at Great Britain. Germany.
France and Mexico, and yet the 517.0CO
ANTI-ANARCHIST CRUSADE
GENERAL THOMAS M. ANDERSON
ures.' After the heat of public Indignation
had copied, the sober second thought sug
gested that we should try educational
methods as well as retributive Justice.
This found expression In the last con
gress of the .S, A. R. in the following
resolutions:
' Whereas, One of the principal objects
'of this eoclety is to Inculcate the spirit'
of American patriotism among the people;
and
Whereas, Many thousands of foreigners,
aliens In language and purpose, come to
our land every year, whose education in
the spirit of American institutions Is of
the highest importance; and
Whereas, Work of this nature is In full
accord with the purposes of this organi
zation;, therefore
Resolved, That a committee of five be
appointed by the President-General at his'
early convenience to consider some prac
,QF FATE AND FORTUNE
SUSAN, COUNTESS OF MALMESBURY
Is not at all the same thing as confidence,
for here we are willing to give oureelve3
and all we have as we follow the star of
our fate where It leads, 'even Into a
swamp.
The strange hereditary tendencies which
crop up after generations In the young
scions' of a race, If strong enough to sur
vive a course of steady, hard work in the
shape of serious preparation for a special
career, however unwelcome to the family
that career may be, must perforce be
Indulged; for it is as useless' for age to
argue with youth a3 It Is for youth to
try to convince age. But age must al
ways remember the time, of Its own Illu
sions the shimmering mist which then
blinded Its eyes and remain ready to ex
lend a saving hand when a fall threatens
to ruin a young and tender. If headstrong
and obstinate, life. It has happened to
most of us that fortune, ih the shape ot
some kind friend, has tried to help us out
of a grave difficulty, while fate. In the
form of our own blind stupidity, has for
bidden us to take advantage of this coun
sel or assistance. The most valuable
quality which can be bestowed upon a
man at his birth is a spirit of teachable
ness, the rarest gift, in my experience,
that is found, and most intimately asso
ciated with genius and all success In life.
We may be tempted to say, with Mr.
William Watson:
On boon of fortune I Implore,
"With one petition kneel;
At least caress me not, before
Thou break me on thy wheel.
For, Just as In climate it is the sudden
changes that kill, so with our lives; it
Is the "bolt from the blue" which finds,
us most open to a wound. But neither
fate nor fortune has sovereign authority
over us; they cannot bring us complete
misery nor happiness. Of the two, it lies
more in our power to defend ourselves
SLOVENLY WOMEN
BY ONE 7HO IS NOT THAT SORT
sorrows may come, and trouble, and
years will pass, but she is to be always
the beautifully developing flower of the
girl he loves.
What would he say to himself, then,
if he could look Into futurity with any
prescience and see her at the breakfast
table, In her slatternly morning gown
and with .her hair, twisted up carelessly,
while she could write her autograph In
the dust on every plane surface In the
house, and two of them on the piano,
which she has long since ceased to
open? What, when he sees the break
fast table itself with soiled cloth awry,
dishes cracked and nicked, napkins for
gotten to be changed, salt cellars Just
as they were last dipped Into, silver
dull, knives stained, the coffee thick,
the bread heavy, the steak burned and
noting hot or inviting?
It may be his own fault, toi some ex
tent, that the piano is unopened; but
it Is not his fault that her hiir is un
dressed, for In sheer self-respect she
should have found the Instant to arrange
a neat toilette, and to snatch some
dainty neckwear from that upper
drawer of hers, which Is usually in
no more confusion than har mind; and
it is not. his fault that the food ho his
provided is made unfit to eat and the
house unfit to eat in.
Is there not a kind of dishonesty In
such stewardship of the goods en
AMERICAN DIPLOMATIC SERVICE
BY MRS. JOHN A. LOGAN
per annum received as salaries py our
Ambassadors Is a mere bagatelle in the
expenses they should make to keep the
United States in her proper place In the
respect of other great nations. Wealthy
citizens of our country go to these Import
ant countries and entertain more lavishly
than but few of our representatives can.
There la not a single embassy, legation
or Consulship abroad that receives what It
should.
Albeit in proportion to the Importance
and requirements, some of the South
American legations are larger than those
of other European countries, yet they do
not receive one cent more. The appro
priations for the more Important should
be greatly Increased.
Contrast, for Instance, the provisions
made for the American Embassy in Lon
don with that made by Great Britain for
their embassy in Washington. Forty-live
thousand dollars is vastly more than J1T.
000. France is much more generous In
support of her embassy to America than
America Is in the support of her embassy
to France. These comparisons might bo
made down the whole diplomatic list, and
yet American representatives abroad en
tertain much more lavishly than foreign
representatives do in Washington.
The Diplomatic Corps are , much more
inclined to entertain each other than they
are to extend hospitality to Americans,
unless, forsooth, it be the official list,
whom courtesy requires them to consider;
which includes tho cbmmittees- on for
eign relations of the House and Senate.
The secretaries of foreign embassies re
ceive much larger salaries than those of
American embassies and legations, mak
ing it impossible for gentlemen without
private means to accept these positions.
tical means by which foreign and other
elements In our country, particularly
those who have formed associations which
seem to bo Inimical to our institutions,
may be Informed concerning distinctively
American principles. In order that they
may become patriotic citizens of the
country.
Carefully as the above resolution was
drawn, it seems to be somewhat mislead
ing. Quite, a number of our correspond
ents have assumed that our purpose is
to ferret out professional anarchists. It
Is, of course, needless to appeal to a crim
inal class. As. I understand it, the object
of our society is to prevent people from
drifting into crime. With tihis object in
view, a committee was appointed to de
vis'e some method by which a discontent
ed and lgnorantly antagonistic element in
pur population can be taught distinctive
from the blows of fate than from, the
softer hand of fortune, which, like tho
unklndnes? of one we love,, first bare3 a
vital spot, and then plunges In the dagger
to its hilt. It rests with us to meet with
equal mind both Southern breeze and
Northern blast, and here It is that char
acter, another heavenly gift, must help
us up the hill. Nearly every trouble in
life takes Its real sting from the view we
happen to take of it, and fortune some
times sends a blessing In disguise. Wo
turn away and try to escape our sentence,
but. finally decide to make the best of
what we think a cruel blow. It is not
until long after that we reverently kls3
the rod which smote us and remember
with gratitude the bitter draft we were
forced to drink. Had It not been for such
and such a lash from the whip of fate,
which left us breathless, bleeding, and
-exhausted . at the time, we might never,
have seen the real and lovely face of
truth. We might never have felt tho
sympathy with which we now yearn over
others' grief, nor have been able to help
them In their distress with a word of en
"couragement and love, spoken from
knowledge and experience of pain.
Fate is a gardener who prunes our use
less twigs and lays rich soil about our
roots: he will cauee our hearts and minds
to bring forth llowers and fruit each in
Its season: flowers, tha promise and prep
aration for better things; and fruit to
quench the thirst oi-moisten the lips of
those who falter with fatigue. And one
gift let us receive on bended knee that of
understanding; though It may come toa
late to help ourselves, we may use It for
others, but must bear, like other crosses,
the disappointment of seeing our hard
won knowledge cast aside by youth, in its
fever and hurry to reach a goal of which
it can know nothing scarcely even this,
that it Is veiled from view by the goIJen
haze of the sunrtee of life.
trusted to her? 13 there nt a tra.t
of dishonor In the appearance of this
untidy and unlovely creature In tho
place of the charmer who once charmed
him so wisely?
There are countries inhabited by bar
barians, and by the semi - chTIzed,
where such conduct as that of this in
dolent woman would give her husband
the risht to put her away forever. Hero
It acts In a precisely opposite way. as
It has the power to send -him away to
scenes that are more to his mind. And
the womin who then finds herself in a
neglected home has no one to thank
for It but herself. There Is an old
Scotch song that portrays the Joy a
wife feels in the return of her husband
from a long illness:
"O. hand me down my blggonet.
My bishop's satin sowi?
she cries; and also that the whole
house shall be festal,
"Gle little Kate her cotton sown,
. And Jock his Sunday shoon."
and the poor fish wife of the blithe
song knew more ot the effect of what
the boys call "giad rags" than tho
slovenly wife ever thinks best to put
in practice; for as nothing but death
excuses one from a dinner engagement,
nothing but sickness unto death ex
cuses a woman from breaking her en
gagement to make herself and her
house pleasant and attractive to her
husband.
their salaries ranging from $1200 to ?2G25,
being no more than is paid to clerks la
the departments at Washington, who find
it hard to live on this pay at home, and
certainly it would not enable them to livoi
respectably abroad If they had not rrl-
vate means to supply the deficiency be
tween what they receive and what is ex
pected of them.
Our military and naval attaches receive
only their regular pay and allowances
as Army and Navy officers, and more than
one specially capable oftleer has been
obliged to ask to be recalled because they
could not afford to stay at their porta,
few of them having any other income.
There are but few of our Consulships that
pay more than a beggarly salary, and yet
the Consuls of no country have more
actual labor to perform than ours.
Consular positions are responsible one3
and require more than ordinary ability to
fill. We have always made a point when
traveling abroad to call upon the repre
sentatives of the United States, no mat
ter how small the positions they filled,
and have been deeply pained to see how
meanly some of them lived, because they
could not afford anything better. Man7
of them have In the past had to send
home to friends for money with which.
to pay their passage home.
The much-bruited cheap living abroad
proving false, they have often found It
almost impossible to live at all on their
salaries and fees attached to the con
sulates at many important commercial
points, the question of hospitality never
occurring to our Consuls, who realize it
is not to be thought of with their meager.
resources. If we are to maintain tho !
prestige we have gained with the nations
of the earth we must be more liberal with 1
those who are to sustain our dignity ;
aDroau.
ly American principles. Our plan of ac
tion has not yet been formulated, but
there was in our congress an expression
of opinion that we should publish pamph
lets in various language?, explaining In the
simplest way the application of undis
puted American principles to present con
ditions, Tvith explanations of how every,
one can secure justice in thici country
without resorting to violence.
Every good man and woman in this
country can help In this good work. If
there are any that have no influence "or
good, like the barren fig tree, they should '
not cumber the ground. We should no
longer be satisfied to belong to gilt-edged i
mutual, admiration societies. The time I3 1
post for ancestor worship and -post-prandial
patriotism. There Is a disease spread
ing In the body politic which must bo
eradicated. Rottenness Is not confined to
ancient Denmark. The cancer of anarchv
and the dry rot of Indifference are even
now sapping the life of the state. It is for
these reasons that the Society -of the!
Sons of the American Revolution naaJ
sounded this note of warning.