THE SUNDAY OREGQNIAN, POKTLAND, JUNE 21, 1903.
35
THE BATTLE OF THE CITY
BY DR. LYMAN ABBOTT, D. D.
MUNICIPAL problems are only one
phase of the great problem of hu
man life. That life Is a struggle
has long been taught by religion, and has
recently been reaffirmed by science. From
the cradle to the gravo we are engaged
In it. A struggle In the individual be
tween the higher and the lower, the ani
mal and the spiritual, the sensuous and
the supersensuors. "The good that I
would I do not, the evil I hate to do,"
is a very ancient Interpretation of this
struggle with which most of us are fa
miliar. There are few sinners so ap
parently hopelessly depraved that they
never enter on this battle. There are few
saints that have won the battle and have
no need for further fight. The city, the
modern city. Is the place where the forces
of good and evil are more than every
where else lined up for conflict. The city
Is the heart of this great campaign. The
city Is the Gettysburg of the long war.
The city Is the Quarte Bras In the Water
loo of the agea To a great city come both
the worst forces and the best forces of
the nation. Here .gather the criminals,
the Ishmaelltcs, the men whose hand is
against every man. Here. they come to
rob and to plunder, here when they have
robbed and plundered elsewhere they
come to Jive. This is their camplng
pround. This is where they easiest find
the booty, and the most. Here gather
the sensual forces. Here come the
men who want eaee and Indulgence.
Here come the men who like to dress In
line linen and fare sumptuously every
day Here are the great hotels, the res
taurants, the theaters, here the great
pleasure-givers of every kind, and here,
therefore, come the men who are seeking
pleasure. Here men come to gamble, and
to drink, and to make merry. Here the
men who have care for nothing while life
laughs its hours away. Here. too,. come
men who are" eager for wealth, who meas
ure all of life by the dollar mark, who
think success is measured by the money
a man possesses, not by the character he
develops. Here come the men and the
women who are fond of display. This is
the place to show ourselves off. This is
the place to ride in the finest carriages
with footmen and coachman. This is the
place to wear the fine dresses, the glitter
ing Jewels. This is the place in which to
00 to the opera not always to hear the
music, but sometimes to have other peo
ple look at us. Here is where we go to
the horse show, and people wonder
whether we have gone to see the horses
or for the horses to see us. Here come the
wolves that raven, the swine that fatten,
the bees that hive, the peacocks that
strut.
B ut here also come the great forces for
intelligence and for virtue. Here the no
blest elements of humanity are found,
here the strength, the heroism and the In
telligence compacted together Here are
the great commercial enterprises, not
merely money-making, but humanity
serving. A great railroad is something
more than a corporation to pay dividends
to stockholders. It is a clvillzer. Run
this railroad across the Western prairie
and where this road goes the village
springs up, the schoolhouse and the
church are built; and sending their chil
dren to these schoolhouses and worship
ing in these churches are men and women
Irom across the sea, men and women who
had no hope at home, who existed in a
dull despair that men miscalled content.
Now they have life, hope, activity, spurred
on by the opportunity in this new land.
If I were a railroad man with $50,000,003
to invest. I should not know how much
to put Into a railroad and how much into
a college. I am not sure that a railroad
would not render the best service of the
two much better than some colleges. Here
are the great newspapers. I do not think
1 quite agree with Jefferson when he said
that he would rather have a country
without government than without news
papers. But I am quite certain that we
could get along without Congress for a
year better than we could get along with
out newspapers for a year. Wonderful
enterprises they are. reaching their hands
out into all the world and gathering all
the news from all the world, and serving
it to .us with our breakfast coffee. They
are great educators. They teach us what
we are, how much our civilization is.
how much of solid mahogany and how
much very thin veneer. Here are the
great schools. To the towns and cities
come the parents, bringing their children
to be educated, because In the towns and
cities are thegreat universities, the great
industrial and professional schools. Here
the public school Is seen at Its best.
Here, too, are the great churches, Prot
estant, Catholic, Jewish. I do not say
there are not preachers as able, as de
vout. In many a country village as In the
metropolitan pulpits. We are too prone
to measure a man by the place he stands
In rather than by the work he is doing.
Yet in the main the great preachers and
pastors are to be found largely in the
great cities. Here are the auxiliary Insti
tutions, the Young Men's Christian Asso
ciations, the Daughters of the King, the
various missionary boards. They center
here, have their direction here, are mold
ed and shaped here; but their Influence
does not end here, and from these cities,
from these homes, from these churches
goes out a stream of beneficence to bless
our own land and to bless other lands. I
had occasion ten years ago to make in
quiry as to what the churches in the City
cf Brooklyn were doing. I found that In
that one year they had spent $2,250,000 on
religious work, and 1 1-3 millions on char
itable work outside the churches. And
Brooklyn Is not an exceptionally rich city,
nor has it done nearly as much as New
York. Thus we have these two forces
standing face to face in the city, wrest
ling with each other, the forces of sensu
ality and vice and crime and ignorance,
and the forces of virtue and intelligence
and courage and moral purpose. Here
they meet at close quarters. We jostle
one another on the same car, we walk by
one another on the same street, we live
beside one another on the same block, I
am, not sure that we do not sometimes
kneel bj- the side of one another In the
same church. .
The question of political reform, there
fore, is not a political question It is the
battle of the ages In a microcosm. It Is
not a. problem that can be solved by a
political panacea, or settled In half an
hour. It cannot be settled by electing one
party or another to office. 'Turn the
Democratic rascals out," and leave the
city as it iff, and the Republican rascals
will come in. "Turn the Republican ras
cals out, and leave the city as It Is and
the Democratic rascals will come in. I
think New York City has been perhaps
the worst governed city in the country
under Tammany rule, unless Republican
Philadelphia ha? not been a little worse
governed. Political reforms, if they are
simply political, do not go to the root of
the matter. The problem Is more than a
political question. It cannot be solved by
legislation. It Involves the battle of all
the ages, that began in Eden, and will
not end until the great curtain of all
human history drops down and the other
life begins, that goes on we do not know
where or how. ,
In this great battle of the ages the ene
mies of honest government in our great
cities seems to me -to be chiefly three:
Ignorance, Indifference and greed. For ig
norance the remedy is education. What in
some sense every political .campaign fur
nishes indirectly, teaching us our obliga
tions, teaching us the principles by which
we should be governed.
Indifference Is a worse enemy than ig
norance. The chief sinners are not those
who live In the tenement-houses on the
East Side, but those who live In the
brown-stone houses in the center and
heart of the city. Every voter is a trus
tee. In a hotly-contested Presidential elec
tion, out of 70.000.000 of Deoole about 14.-
'OOO.OOO vote. What does that mean? It
means that every voter votes for five
others, for the women, the children, the
nonvoting population. I am their trustee
If I neglect to vote I neglect my duty as
a trustee. If I throw away my vote, I
throw away the rights of these five people
who are entrusted to me. If I sell my
vote for a place or an advantage or a $5
bill, I sell the rights that have been en
trusted to me. And yet I think the chlef
est cause, one certainly of the chlefest
causes of this corruption has been what
I call the Indifference of our better class
of citizens. It Is an old difficulty, very
old; as old as the Book of Judges.
The trees went forth on a time to anoint
a king over them: and they said unto the
olive tree. Reign thou over us. But the
olive tree said unto them. Should I leave
my fatness, wherewith by me they honor
God and man, and go to wave
to and fro over the trees?
And the trees said to the fig tree.
Come thou, and reign over us. But the
fig tree said unto themShould I leave my
sweetness, and my good fruit, and go to'
wave .to and fro over the trees? And the
trees said unto the vine. Come thou and
reign over us. And the vine said unto
them. Should I leave my wine, which
cheereth God and man, and go to wave to
and fro over the trees? Then said all the
trees unto the bramble. Come thou, and
reign over us. And the bramble said unto
the trees. If in truth ye anoint me king
over you, then come and put your trust
In my shadow; and if not. let fire come
out of the bramble, and devour the ce
dars of Lebanon.
The olive and the fig and the vine have
said in America. "We do not care for
politics." Then we have elected the bram
ble, and when we have elected It the
parable has been reversed, for fire has
come out of the bramble and devoured the
cedars of Lebanon. Nor can I fall to say
here one word of honor to the man who
surely belonged among the vines and the
figs and the olives, who had a position in
this city which any man might covet, a
place of distinguished honor . and also
congenial work, out of the quiet, pleas
ant, constructive labor of a great univer
sity, went forth to take up your work
and my work, and to do good service for
you and for me not to be praised for
what he did, but to be scolded, not to say
slandered, for what he was not able to do
in so short a time.
The third great enemy we have to fight
is greed, the spirit that desires to get
something for nothing, that puts acquisi
tion above everything else; the spirit
which counts honesty as something be
tween man and man, but nothing between
man and men; the spirit -which considers
it wrong to pick the pocket of a man, but
right to put the arm up to the shoulder
In the public treasury. And this spirit
of greed Is worse when it is seen In the
highest quarters. It Is not at Its worst
in the man who sells his vote for a dollar
bill or a Job in the street .cleaning de
partment. It Is worse In the men who
swear off the taxes they ought to pay;
HOW TO AVOID ERRORS
XIII HOLDING
TOO MUCH foreground cannot be
called a very serious defect In a pic
ture, but it is inartistic and objec
tionable from the fact that too much un
attractive material is included in the pros
pect. It may be said that the superfluous
foreground can be cut off and that is true
but the picture would be reduced, and
you would thereby lose an effect you
might otherwise attain. Many things are
to be considered in proportioning the fore
ground. Of course the horizon must not
divide the picture into two equal parts.
It may appear either above or below the
middle of your view. This depends wholly
upon your subject But the appearance
of too much foreground In any study,
unless It be the ascent of a mountain or
roadway, offends the critic's eye hence
it should be avoided.
XII Too Slnch Sky.
The artist would say of such a picture
as appears In Illustration No. 12, "There
Is too much canvas 'to let' here." This
fault Is Just as objectionable as a dis
proportionate amount of foreground.
There are. It is true, many pictures In
which exquisite cloud effects charm the
beholder. The words "too much" cannot
be applied to these faithful portrayals by
an appreciative and skillful photographer.
You will learn to judge, after many trials,
of the proportions to b? included in a land
scape that will give It the most artistic
value and effect. Experience and obser
vation will be your teachers.
In looking through the album of an
amateur a short time ago I perceived
that. In the majority of the photographs,
three-fourths ,of the picture was occupied
by sky, while The subject looked quite In
significant in the remaining space.
Study nature In her everyday dress, as
well as in her most tnchantlng appear
ances. Know why a certain scene makes
an attractive picture, and you will soon
become so critical that you will allow no
undue proportions to enter your pictures,
XIII Holding Camera Level While
FocaslBgr.
Pictures like that shown In illustration
No. 13 are quite common with the begin
ner; they are not the result, of incorrect
focusing, but of sheer carelessness In re
gard to the position of the camera, I have
known amateurs to overcome all the early
difficulties In photography and yet to fail
repeatedly In their pictures, because they
forgot to make sure that the camera was
perfectly level while focusing. Many op
erators use a small camera level glass,
which can be placed permanently on the
side of the instrument; but this is not
necessary if proper care Is given to the
worse in the men that bribe legislators to
give public franchises for which they
ought to be willing to pay the public a
fair compensation; worse In the men that
corrupt in order that they may ain by
the corruption; worse in the most respect
able sinners, not In thoe that are most
disgraced and dishonored; worse, in the
most Intelligent, not in the most Igno
rant, It is a sin. a black, shameful, damn
able sin, wherever It appears; in any man.
whatever his learning, his rank, his
wealth, his position, who counts the pub
lic necessity as somthing out of which
he may take for personal profit an ad
vantage, without giving to the public a
fair, reasonable. Just equivalent.
What are -we going to do? It Is clear
that this Is a battle not to be won merely
by voting, nor even chiefly by voting. It
is to be won by lessons taught and learned
In the home. It is to be won by mothers
teaching their children patriotism and
purity and truth and honor. It is taught
by the Influences that are more potent
than political power. It Is to be won by
Ideals which we hold ourselves and foster
and inspire in others. It Is to be won by
the work of the minister. Not by his
preaching on trusts and strikes when they
are being discussed by the newspapers;
not by doing the work that belongs to
the press: not that. But ,by recognizing
tho fact that religion Is to do Justly, to
love mercy, to walk humbly with God;
by recognizing the fact that our prayer
is not an idle one, "Thy kingdom come,
thy will be done on earth aa it is in
heaven." By oo preaching and so minis
tering as to fit men and women to live
noble lives In New York City. If. the
ministers can do this, we can leave prob
lems concerning the celestial city for a
little while." We shall be ready for it
when the time comes. We will be build
ing a celestial city on earth.
For the battle is not to be won by poli
tics, which Is a mere method of life, but
by life itself. It Is to be won by the rec
ognition by us of the truth that we are
in this world, not for pleasure, not for
wealth, not for any subsidiary thing; that
we are here as our Master was here, to
love and to serve; that we are here to
fight the battle so long as God shall give
us life; that we are here so to live that
when at last the end shall come, we can
look back upon our city life and say, not,
I was a millionaire; not. I had a good
time; not, I was In society, but, I fought
a good fight and I kept the faith.
New York City.
The Fat Man's Farewell to Golf.
New York Sun.
"No," said the fat man. as he ordered
another high ball, t have given up golf.
I thought I was making some progress,
but never again. Last Sunday finished
me.
"I started out early and thought I
could sneak off by myself for a little
practice before the others. But a miser
able little caddie boy followed me up to
the tee and offered to caddie around for
me for Jfl cents."
" 'Never mind, son,' said I. 'I'll get
along.'
"With that I made a magnificent drive
at the ball and missed it by three feet.
The boy unlckercd and I tried to look
CAMERA LEVEL WITH FOCUSING.
jf?: ft Sfc Ah
XI TOO MUCH FOREGROUND.
sition of the camera.
I There are. on the other hand, beginners
! who are so anxious to have a "straight
i picture," tEat they lose sight of the char
acter of their subject, and in their per
sistent but mistaken efforts to have things
oblivious; and then I made another grand
swipe, with the same results.
" 'Say, mister. said the caddie. Til go
around with you for a quarter.
"I declined. 'Then.I made another swing
and drove the ball about ten feet. The
boy laughed and retreated out of reach.
"Say, mister.' he called. 'I'll go around
with you for 10 cents.' , "
"I was rattled by that time, and when,
I tried to hit that ball I made a worse
mess of it than I ever did before, and I
repeated it three times more. And then
that little demon got back about 30 feet
and yelled: 'Say, mister. I'll go around
with you for the fun of It.'
"That let-me out. I told him to go to
another place, packed up my things and
came back home."
DANGERS OF A
LARGE INCOME
Yw HIUIs the other night, "when we
have $50,000 a year." "Or most of us," he
added, heidglng a little. "Some men can
stand It, but not many." Fifty thousand
a year is the Income of only one minion
well Invested, and we have long since lost
the habit oft accounting the 51,000,003 man
rich. The proportion of the $5O,0OO-a-year
men to the rest of the population Is not
yet large In this country, but the absolute
number of them Is pretty big, and if most
of them are going to the devil it Is a ser
ious matter. However, Dr. HIllls was not
dealing with statistics, but giving col
loquial expression to an opinion. The
opinion was that an Income of $50,000 a
year Is unwholesome. He spoke of divorce
In "high life,"' and of "the pampered
sons and daughters of luxury, rotten be
fore they are ripe, and drowned in the
honeysucklei Juice of Indulgence." We all
see enough of the evils of wealth; of lives
that might have been useful blighted by
It; of homes thit might have been happy
devastated by It. Any industrious and
observant person could get together facts
enough about promising young lives that
had come to no good from lack of the
pressure of necessity, to make careful
citizens hesitate to say whether. If they
had to choose, they would prefer the
risks of $50,000 a year or tuberculosis.
And yet. $50,000 a. year has Its good points.
Its opportunities, its privileges; and here
In New York, at least, there are facts
and considerations that go far towards
neutralizing Its perils.
Suppose it' is a mere income derived
not from Investment, but- from labor or
business. Its possessor. If he is prudent,
will save $20,000. and perhaps he will give
away $3,000. That will leave him only
$25,000 a year to live on, and though, even
If he has a family, he can live in comfort
on that sum, that he cannot live in prlde
ful luxury upon it Is so well known that
there is no need of going Into details to
tell why. If his $50,000 comes to him In
dividend checks and coupons without
trouble or anxiety to him, the situation
is harder. It Is an awful thing to be rid
of the struggle for existence. It is really
the next thing to being dead, and yet It
is what almost every one of us aspires
to and reaches after all the time. The
first thing the beginner usually tries to
buy with his money is ease; the next Is
pleasure. That's where the $50,000 gets In
Its deadly work. When Its possessor buys
ease and pleasure Instead of opportunity.
It may raise the devil with him, as Dr.
HIllls justly suggests. Harper's Weekly.
IN PHOTOGRAPHY
XII
level present many odd and untruthful
effects, such as losing sight of the true
horizon, and making their hills and as
cending roads appear on the level. I have
In mind an example of this kind of work.
It Is a photograph of a man standing upon
OBADIAH OLDWAY ON COLLEGE GIRLS
THE PESSIMIST FROM HOAXVTLLE RECORDS HIS OBSERVATIONS
H
OA7CVTLLE; Or., June 15.-Mr, Edi
tor.) I've just got home and got my
blled shirt and stiff collar off and
Into my old duds. I've got to rtst a.
spell, so I'll write a few lines whilst
.things Is quiet. As you know. I don t
wear a blled. shirt and starched collar
everyday and maybe you'd like to know
where Ive been, and that's just what I'm
a-goln' to tell you.
You see, Hanners niece has been
a-gola- to college, as she calls It, for nigh
about three years', and nothln' would do
Hanner but we must go down and see her
graduate. As near as I can find out, In
these here college and hlfalutln schools, as
are a-rulnln the country, a young person
goes and listens to what the pro
fessors, as Bell calls the teachers, has
to say on different subjects. That takes
about four hours a day; then she goes
down to a restaurant and eat3 pickles and
Ice cream and thinks It over. At night
she opens a book or two and studies a lit
tle grammar and works a little while on.
a sofa cushion or some other fandango
untfl bedtime. It takes about three years
for the professors to tell all they think
they know, and then the girl graduates.
They call the ceremony commencement.
I don't know why unless it's because she
commences Jo tell what she thinks she
knows, and to show off a lot of new duds.
Maybe It's because her daddy, as she
calls him, has to commence makln his
fortune all over again. I don't know,
but we went down to. see the doln's any
way. I tried to beg off, but Hanner, she's
so sot In her way that I had to go to
"keep peace In the family" ast Shake
speare says.
We got up early In the mornln to get
reedy for the cars. Hanner had a big
basket to carry, so I helpted her over
to the depot with It.
"Hanner," says I, "this feels awful light
for dinner, and we'll be mighty hungry
against noon."
"That ain't dinner," says she.
"What in all natur is it then?" says L
"It's flowers for Bell," says she in such
an uppish tone that I didn't say anything
more.
We had to wait half a hour for the
cars, and that derned collar was just a
sawln my neck off. Hanner she spent
the whole time a tellln where and why
wo was again and a-actin as proud as
If she was the Governor of the state,
while all the other women a-walting for
the cars was a-3ayin, "You don't say!"
"Do tell!" and so on.
By and by the cars arrived, and we
got on, me a carryln' that : basket ilke a
posy girl at a weddln'. Every seat was
full. Hanner she squeezed in alongside of
another woman from Hoaxvllle and I had
.to stand up.
When we got about half way to where
we was a-goln' the conductor come in and
I says, says I. "See here, Mister, if that
tarnal railroad company makes. me pay
for my ride I'm a-goln to set down."
"Alright," says he.
"But." says I, "there ain't any seat as
I can see."
"Come with me, then," say3 he, with a
grin.
He took me out into another car, that
didn't have many people In it and told
me to find a seat In there. Well, I did.
Several More
By
XIV PHOTOGRAPHING AGAINST
Copyright. 1902, by George W. Jacobs & Co.
TOO MUCH SKY.
a wharf, while the water in the back
ground runs uphill, when In truth It
should be perfectly level. You can Im
agine the ridiculous effect of such a. scene.
I would suggest an 'easy and . simple
remedy. Take a . lead pencil and draw
There was a black nigger, amakln' up a (
lot of beds and stuff. He kept awatchln
me and amutterln somethln' to himself,
about people not knowln their places, but !
I'd paid for my seat and I was agoin to
keep It.
In a few minutes more we got to the
place where we was agoln, and when I
got out I' liked never to have found
Hanner In the crowd. When I did find
her we went up to Hanners sister's and
brushed up a bit, and then went over to
where the exercises as they call 'em was
agoln' to be.
You'd ought to have saw the flowers
and the flags and the buntinVandI don't
know what all, ahangin' on the walls and
in the windows.
Pretty soon a girl with about two yards
of extra dress goods atrallln behind her,
and some more stuff ahangin onto her
elbows like remnants at a bargain sale,
swept across the platform and began to
drum on the piano. In come a lot ot
girls awalkln as if their pretty white
slippers was a lnterferln with the corn
crop. Bell was amongst- 'em, but I
wouldn't aknowed her 1 Hanner hadn't
nudged me and whispered. "There she is-"
She was a lookin as meek and gentle
as a lamb, but all her folks knows she's
a roarln Hon, when things don't go to
suit her to home. They got up on the
platform and set down so's everybody
could see their fine clothes, and alookln'
so happy, whilst there I was a beln
murdered by that pesky collar.
The head teacher made a speech, and a
preacher prayed, and then another girl
without any collar or sleeves on. got up
and sung a song, with her mouth wide
open like she was havin' a tooth filled. I
reckon she was some kind of a foreigner,
for I couldn't make out only one word,
and that was "lost." She kept a repeatln
It In such a distressed " voice that I sug
gested to Hanner, "If It's her sleeves she's
awantln that other woman's got enough
extra on her skirt to make her a pair."
"Shut up." says she. "That's the style
for singers."
When she got through the head teacher
began to call off the girls' names and
what they was" agoln' to speak, and then
they commenced. Each one would come
out to the front and roll her eyes and
make a bow, and give us a bit of advice.
There was a lot of gush about beln not
seemln. doln' your, duty, fixln' your eye
on the stars, etc.. etc., and then come
Bell's turn. The head teacher called out,
"Oration, 'Beyond- the Alps Lies Italy,'
by Mies Arabella Arosa Allison."
Then she as was plain Bell Alison be
fore commenced. You'd a thought the
sweet critter astandiri' there clothed In
such raiment as Solomon In all his glory
never seen, with her No. 6 feet crammed.
Into No. 4 slippers, and her face powdered
until you couldn't see a freckle, would
never be able to be anything but what
sho looked, but Shakespeare says, "Ap
pearances are deceitful." "We must lift
our eyes upward," say3 she in a unrecog
nizable voice, "never stoppln for the little
difficulties we meet, keep a ollmbln'
and you'll surely find your reward at the
top. Over the Alps lies Italy! Let us not
look below lest we fall. Be not discour
aged but press onward and upward, with
a cheerful word to the less fortunate
about us, lending a 'helping hand to the
needy and bringing them up to higher
planes of life, etc., etc."
"That's all very well," says I to' Han
ner. I hope she s turned over a new
Valuable Hints to Amateurs
Charles M. Taylor
THE SUN. .
upon the ground glass of the camera a
true horizontal and a true perpendicular
line. Thus
This will materially aid the eye of .the
operator in hl3 work, and secure abso
lutely correct lines in his results.
XIV Photofjrapliinf? Against the
San.
The beginner frequently makes the mis
take of photographing against the sun
that Is, placing the lens In such a position
as to receive, either directly or Indirectly,
the rays of the sun while exposure is being
made. This produces a cloudy effect and
spoils the picture, as shown in plate No.
14. Protect the lens by having the sun at
the back of the camera, or on one side of
It while photographing, the latter posl
tlon being preferable. If It la absolutely
necessary to face the sun, shade the lens
from above by your hand or hat I have
seen amateurs recklessly disregard this
rule and in consequence produce worth
less pictures.
ReturnlBR Slide to Holder Edgenlae.
When replacing the slide In the plate
holder after exposure has been made, be
careful to put It in squarely not first In
serting the 'edge of the slide. The reason
for this Is obvious. The plate-holder Is
made "with, a small spring or door,, as it
were, which closes quickly, when the slide
Is withdrawn, and fills the space allowed
for It; thus you can readily see that If
you Insert the edge of the slide first. In
returning It to the holder, the door or
spring Is opened . and light admitted.
thereby fogging or streaking the plate, as
In the illustration.
It- would not matter so much were the
slide not squarely Inserted In' the holder
If the camera was completely, covered by
the focusing cloth; but in forming a habit
for correct working It Is well to practice
the safe and careful way. You will thus
avoid possible error and insure the moat
desirable results.
leaf and lends a hand to help her mother
a little oftener than she used to."
j When they alf 'got through a man from,
away off somewheres made a speech.
I 'spose they got him so's he'd say a lot
of nice things about the girls as had:
graduated, because, you see he'd never
seen one of 'em before, and didn't know1
but what they was always just so smll
in' a.nd gentle. -He give 'em each a little
roll tied up with a lot of ribbons, which
he said Was a diploma of graduation
from the school.
Then the Joins' broke un and every
body began to talk to everybody else,
and shakin' hands with the girls., just
like they do at meetln' when somcbody
gets religion. We followed the crowd,
and when I' shook hands with Bell I says:
That was a good speech you made.
Bell, and I hope you'll practice what you
preach." But she kinder sniffed, and I
knowed she was the same spoiled girl as
she was before she commenced to tell
us what country was on the other side
of the Alps.
Alter dinner tney all put in to have us
stay until the next' day. Bell wanted her
Aunt Hanner to go to the picture gal
lery with her when she had her picture
took, with all her finery and flowers,
and diploma and other ftxtns'. but I just
made up my mind that I Wouldn't en
dure It any longer, so I left Hanner
there and come home on the afternoon
train, and mighty glad I wa3 to get
here.
Now; Mr. Editor, I ain't asayln' as
how them colleges ain't good for notjhln.
but I do say they turn out a heap of
foolishness.
What's the use In a girl's gettln up
there and oratln" about Alps and stars
and things like that when It's all put on?
They won't do nothln but build alrcastles
until some good sound experience brings
'em back to earth and shows 'em that
they ain't no better'n other people.
xou needn t tell as how a college wom
an Is better able to bring up a family of
good citizens than a woman as hasn't
no such fandangoes in her head. She'll
Just bring 'em up to follow In her foot
steps, and the time will come when there
won't be anybody in the country but
what's gone to college. Such people as
me and you will be crowded out of tho
world and the good old days will be for
got
The evenlns will be spent In readln
clubs and such like Instead of parln
apples and sewln carpet rags as we used
to when I was young. Its a comln':
I've been seeln it for a good many years
now.
Hanner couldn't get un and tell where
Italy was, like Bell did today, but she
had 26 pieced quilts when I married her.
It's a plain fact that all this college
education is what's aliftin' women up to
tnlnk they re equals of the men and
causln all this agitation about votin'
and so on.
If we as a nation don't want to go to
destruction we've got to take a back
track and get onto the old paths our
forefathers trod, and not- be carried away
with every wind of doctorin. Yours
truly,
OBADIAH EVERAT OLDWAY.
P. S. I forgot it was school meetln
day today, and they re-elected Abrams
for director and voted a two-mllL tax
for to keep more school while I was eone.
That's just my derned luck. O. E. O.
MECHANICAL BAIT.
Wiggle By Electricity and Lures
Game Pish to the Hook.
Philadelphia Record.
The fisherman who resorts to trickery
or to machine methods of luring the fish
to his hook Is always open to criticism
from his fellows, but, notwithstanding
this fact, there has been expended a
great deal of ingenuity in devising ap
paratus of this character. The first step
in this direction was probably taken years
ago, when Izaak Walton rigged up a
device on the banks of some cool stream
to permit him to take a nap while wait
ing for a bite, and yet feel assured that
he would not miss the coveted chance of
landing his finny foe. Prom this, by a
gradual evolution, fishing machines have
developed into elaborate affairs, some of
which are calculated to relieve the fish
erman of all work except that of taking
the fish from the hook, or hooks, on
which it has become automatically im
paled. It is a well-known fact that most fish
are endowed with more keenness than
one would suppose from a cursory exam
ination of his physiognomy. It is diffi
cult to deceive him In the matter of
bait, and he has been known to unhesi
tatingly pass a whole aggregation of fish
temptingly strung on a line for his es
pecial benefit, merely for the reason that
they did not display the proper degree
of freshness by an occasional squirm. It
Is not always possible to keep the "hooks
supplied with live bait, and It Is never
convenient, so it has occurred to some
inventve fisherman to make a fish for
bait to which could be Imparted the
squirm so necessary to tempt the dis
criminating mouth of the game fish.
Because of the somewhat proscribed
limitations of the case, it has not been
convenient to make fee of the usual
mechanical means available for this pur
pose, but the general Introduction of
electricity to all such purposes has per
mitted the design of an exceedingly life
like Imitation of a fish, with all the fin
and tall movements necessary- to deceive
the most careful, denizen of the deep, and
this, too, without making the fake fish
of any abnormal size.
The inventor of this device is Thomas
A. Bryan, of Baltimore, Md., who asserts
that It may be made In the shape of a
minnow, crawfish, fly or any other body.
In the interior of "which Is mounted an
electro-magnet, and having movable parts,
such as flna and tall, having armatures
for the electro-magnet3 connected there
with. By means of a small dry battery
fastened to the rod or carried. In the
pocket of the fisherman, and a conven
ient touch-button, with the necessary wire
connection between them, it Is possible to
send, a current through the parts as de
sired, when the tail and fins of the mimic
fish will be agitated so rapidly and life
like that no member of the flnny tribe
could think for a minute of questioning
Its genuineness.
This dtceptive construction can be made
of metal, although the Inventor Is of the
opinion that rubber would be .preferaBle
for the purpose. Where It Is desired to
make them of metal the wires connecting
the fish and battery may be readily insu
lated, so that there will be no means of
fered for the escape of the current. Rub
ber, however, has advantages of construc
tion, and Mr. Bryan says that the rubber
can be as readily painted and colored to
deceive the game fish as metal.
Dovrle Defied, "by Droath.
Chicago Chronicle.
Followers of John Alexander Dowle who
live in ZIon City have begun to feel a
weakening of their faith In the self-styled
"Elijah .II," and all on account of the
recent rain storm which visited that part
of Lake County. At every corner where
gossip Is bandied about, this rain affair
was the subject of discussion recently.
For weeks the "healer" had been praying
for rain, and lots of It, especially for
Zlon. Everybody expressed confidence In
the efficacy of his supplications and all
seemed sure their flelds would be given
plenty of moisture. Finally' the rain
came, but with the precision of a Gov
ernment surveyor It located the boundary
lines of Zlon and not a drop fell within
the city limits. All the farms far and"
near were benefited, while within Zlon
township vegetation Is turning brown.
California produces more dollars' worth
of oranges than of gold oranges ever
JlS.000,000 and gold T.17,00O,CO0.