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About Lincoln County leader. (Toledo, Lincoln County, Or.) 1893-1987 | View Entire Issue (Feb. 1, 1907)
LINCOLN COIM LEADER Cr.SOUU.Pitblblrar TOLEDO.. .OREGON There's no denying that aa a conver Mtional topic .the trial marriage is a lure success. People who need the advertising now merely have to offer Count Bonl a Job at a liberal salary. That dentist who has been robbed four times in three years should here after go armed to the teeth. George Bernard Shaw doesn't think much of the Ten Commandments, but it is too late now to change them. If Kipling's critics don't soon stop he will be Justified In once more writ ing something that Is worth reading. Fortunately for Eve, she Is spared the pain of knowing that her diary has been excluded from the shelves of the Worcester public library. A German singer committed suicide because a married American woman wouldn't marry him. Probably her husband wouldn't let her. These long evenings are being bright ened and made profitable by the game of guessing what Mrs. Sage is really going to do with her money. philosophy, for six years a lecturer on sociology in Barnard College, daughter of a rich banker and wife of a Con gressman, proposes this "startling re form" In a book, "The Family," Just Is sued. "Trial marriage" certainly Bounds sensational. But as prosulc matter of fact, the commonness, cheapness and respectability of divorce has rendered all marriage "trial marriage." "It is difficult to Imagine greater facility in the annulment of marriage than now obtains in most of the States. No "reform" is necessary to bring about precisely the condition, In effect, which Mrs. Parsons proposes. The reform is needed in the other direction. We need to get rid of the feeling that mar riage Is a mere experiment Of course, all couples at the time of marriage expect to live happily ever after. Trial marriage could mean nothing to them at that time. People who do not feel, for the time at least, that they can take each other for life need no "trial" to prove they are not fitted. The ab sence of offspring during "trial" would be a powerful cause of failure In many marriages that might otherwise have been successful. But that would be nothing new. It Is the case now and always has been. Until there are chil dren to tie the heartstrings together there is no real trial of marriage. We are too apt to forget that most of the laws which operate toward successful marriage are provided by Nature. Human statutes provide for failure and, alas i there are too many of them already. The Cuban army is reported to be getting restless again. Why not quiet that army for all time by setting up a free soup kitchen for it somewhere? Let us have politics without preju dice, without selfishness, without graft, etc., pleads an exchange. And while we are at It, let us have the millennium. There are times when it becomes a matter of wonder bow this country has been able to grow so big and prosper ous without taking the advice of the cojlege professors. . Kind-hearted housewives should be warned that It is toq early to feed every tramp that calls at the back door with the plea that he is a poor Standard Oil magnate out of a Job. There con be no further doubt that Mr Harriman is of the opinion that much greater ability Is required to run the railroads of this country than Is needed to successfully run the country Itself. A negro was arrested, tried, convict ed and executed, all within a space of two hours, in Texas a few days ago. Surely they can't bring up the law's delays as an excuse for lynching after this. ' Persons who, may have felt like ask ing Mrs. Russell Sage for enough mon ey to, get a start in life will do much better by saving the price of the post age stamp and maklug it the nucleus of a bank account The one hundredth anniversary of the birth of Henry Wadsworth Long' fellow is to be celebrated by the Cam bridge Historical Society. A special bronze medal will be Issued in honor of ' the event copies of which it is hoped will be preserved In libraries end museums. Longfellow wrote many lines which will be preserved In the popular heart longer than the bronze will last This is one of the reasons for celebrating the anniversary of his Most people have their weak spots, Few are roundly normal. Some slap their friends on the back, some whistle in public places, some keep barking dogs, some speak monologues and think they are "conversing" and so on, but there is some hope for a tendency or a habit that Is not deliberately designed to be mischievous, such as the playing of pranks on newly married people, These Jocular outbreaks have under gone various "refinements" and they have now reached the point where a honeymoon voyage has been anticipated by a "bill, of particulars" printed In circular form and distributed among the passengers of the ocean liner. The discouraging thing is that the propen alty does not "refine" Itself out of ex Istence. It is, generally speaking, as perverse in its latter day manifesta tions as It was when the uncouth but equally well-meaning country folks sur rounded the house of the bashful bride and groom on their wedding night and made the time hideous with the beating of pans and old copper boilers with what was called a "belling." The coroner who investigated the wreck on the Baltimore and Ohio rail road near Woodvllle, Ind., In which sixty-one lives were lost, made a report in which he fixes the blame In the most positive manner. He finds that the engineer of the first section of the passenger train did not properly give the required signals and note the re sponses to them. Consequently he Is to be held to the grand Jury for man slaughter. But beyond that the system by which the road was operated provid ed no check for any such Individual neglect as that of which the engineer was guilty, and consequently part of the blame was placed by the coroner upon the road Itself. There was a time when it would have been unrea sonable to ask railroads to Install elab orate systems for the safeguarding of their trains, because the traffic was too light to Justify the financial burden, and so light Indeed that the evil was not great. In those days when a wreck of this character occurred all the blame was properly to be attributed to the guilty employe. Now, on many of the roads which do the heaviest business, the burden has shifted so that It ,1s a question whether the employe Immedi ately at fault Is more to blame or whether the greatest responsibility falls upon his superiors who left the door open to his carelessness. Before long a time will come when the great weight of the burden will be trans ferred to the shoulders of the railway administration, If Indeed that time has not come already. It is purely a ques tion of danger versus cash. The meth ods of making such accidents as that at Woodvllle impossible are well known. Some form of the block sys tem, especially the form which uses the "staff" as an entrance key to each block, would reduce the ordinary em ploye's fallibility to a minimum. The Woodvllle accident is simply one more reason or, better said, it Is sixty-one more reasons why the railroad com panies should be required to spend the dollars which will save the lives. "It would therefore seem well, from this point of view, to encourage early trial marrlRge, the relation to be en tered into with a view to permanency, but with the privilege of breaking it it ;roved unsuccessful, and, In the absence of offaprlng, without suffering any great degree of public condemnation." Roland for His Oliver. In a suit recently tried in a Virginia town a young lawyer of limited experi ence was addressing the Jury on a point of law when good naturedly he turned to opposing counsel, a man of much more experience than himself, and asked: "That's right, I believe, Colonel Hop kins?" Whereupon Hopkins, with a smile of conscious superiority, replied: "Sir, I have an office In Richmond wherein I shall be delighted . to en lighten you on any point of law for a consideration." The youthful attorney, not In the least abashed, took from his pocket a half-dollar piece, which be offered Colonel Hopkins with this remark: "No time like the present Take this, sir, tell us what you know and give me the change." Harper's Week ly. 6 ?' A- i V WHY MARRIAGE IS TEE GREAT LOTTERY. By Helen Old field. Marriage essentially Is a partnership, the closest possible association known to human ity, and as such necessarily implies commu nity of Interest between man and wife. In all legendary myth woman is said to have been created as mate for man; and In Genesis we are told that the Lord God, saying "Is is not good for man to be alone," made Eve as "an helpmeet for him." "And they twain shall be one flesh;" the halves of one harmonious whole. For which cause no marriage can be a happy one In which there is not complete and thorough sympathy between the two who are Joined in the "holy estate." It Is cause for wonder that so many marriages turn out well, rather than that some are failures, when one re flects how often a young girl stands at the altar to utter the words which bind her for better or worse, for good or evil, with only the most superficial knowledge, If any, of her husband's past ; of his real character ; his true dis position. If only women knew men as men know men, and If men knew women as women know women, there might be fewer weddings, but marriage would cease to be a lottery, and be a pleasant game in which all prizes and no absolute blanks would be the rule. BEWARE OF FIRST STEP ON DOWN GRADE. By E. O. Mlnalck. Tb "down pmrte" wems to me to be nn apt expression. It means an unsuspected slipping down the hill in life. I Imagine that there are few people who have not bad a little ex perience of it Millions get upon the down grade, and slide far enough to find themselves in awkward and uncomfortable positions as more or less failures In life. The "down grade" to unhappiness in the home is found by thousands. Bluebeard,-1 expect com menced his course gradually, and I dare say that he nev er realized that be was not a husband of a tender dispo sition. As to extravagant wives, I have known a woman who managed once on a time to keep house comfortably on $750 a year bring ruin to her husband's head when bis Income was $5,000, all through not being able "to make ends meet," and who could never believe that she was extravagant An occasional hour or so of self-questioning would lead to some wonderful revelations of the most useful character to most people. It would save them also from a great deal, and afford them many hints aa to the best course to pursue for success In life. Many people have a dread of being "Impertinent" to themselves. They re mind me of the man Mark Twain described, who would never look at himself in a looking glass without he had kid gloves on. BACHELORS ARE ABNORMALITIES. By Benjamin Ide Wheeler In the long run, .what upholds the family will uphold the state. The state cannot ex ist without the home. If the home is left out none 'of that solid moral fiber can exist in the nation which must come from home vir tues. Good morals are nothing less than the regularities and the ordinaries of social life between morals and religion. There can be no dividing line. Good morals are a constit uent part of life. Individualism is danger to the state. Bachelors and club men are the bandits, guerrillas and outcasts. I would be in favor, if it were possible to do such things by law, of a special tax upon bachelors. They don't take part in the moral work of society. They are abnormali ties, and abnormalities should pay the taxes. The unit of society and the state is the family. Beware of the doctrines which base themselves upon false conceptions of Individualism Instead of the family, which is the only social unit "NO WOMAN POLITICIANS." By Pope Plus X The church blesses every movement tending to raise the intellectual and social level of humanity. We ought all to work, and why should not women do their part? They should study everything, with, of course, the excep tion of theology. They should become law yers, doctors and teachers. The care of the poor is in all its forms a woman's calling above alL What Is the exercise of Christian charity except maternity In the widest sense of the word? Women in Parllameat ! The idea is preposterous. Men there make blunders sufficient At most, women can exer cise as Indirect Influence on politics in urging their male kindred to vote arlgnt But, before all, they should bring up their children in the consciousness of their civic du ties. But let us have no women politicians ! TWO GODS. A boy was born 'mid little things, Between a little world and sky And dreamed not of the cosmic rings Round which the circling planets fly. He lived in little works and thoughts, Where little ventures grow and plod, And paced and ploughed his little plots, And prayed unto his little God. But as the mighty system grew, His faith grew faint with many scars ; The Cosmos widened in nil view But God was lost among his stars. Another boy In lowly days, As he, to little things was born, But gathered lore in woodland ways, And from the glory of the morn. . As wider skies broke on his view, God greatened in his growing mind; Each year he dreamed his God anew, And left his older God behind. '. i He saw the boundless scheme dilate, In star and blossom, sky and clod; And as the universe grew great He saw in it a greater God. New England Magazine. Then he sat down and thought It erfer. Next morning Mrs. Ames heard an awful crash In Billy's room, and ran to see what was the matter. "Here!" he gasped. "Telegram fath er better coming to see wife Ellen la country!" He rushed to the window. "Father here now. Getting out of car riage! Mrs. Ames, you have got to be my wife !" "I couldn't!" she exclaimed. "You've got to!" Insisted Billy, and as he spoke, his father entered. Mrs. Ames hadn't been kissed co. thoroughly for years. The old gentle man bubbled with Joy over his son's acquisition. "What made you 'marry so quickly?" he demanded. "Now, father," blurted Billy, "we haven't a minute. Run, dear, and get ready for the train. One moment I'll go with you. Excuse me a moment, father?" and Billy leaped after Mrs. Ames to Induce her to keep it up. No sooner had they gone out of the room before a gentleman entered, In army dress. "Looking for my wife," he said. pleasantly. "Little surprise for her oh, I beg your pardon!" This to a they hid themselves obediently, as Bil ly returned with his rather unwilling bride. It was an astonishing tableau that greeted Billy a momenj: later, when he saw Ellen returned tq the city, and a rather upset officer who called himself Captain Ames, so, as there was nothing: else to do, he owned up. "What a boy!" cried Mr. Blake. "Well, we'll forgive you, eh, Captain Ames? Billy, here's your wedding pres ent with this stipulation the first youv spend of It must go for a dinner for ns all, Including " "His wife for five minutes !" laughed Mrs. Ames. Kansas City World. His Wife $ For Five Minutes Aromatic Petit Larceny. "I hope you notice how sweet I am," smiled the girl when they were out on the street again. "While the man was wrapping up the toothbrush I was try ing all the perfume on the counter. He looked at me awfully hard." "I should think lie would have had you arrested," remarked her companion severely. "What If everybody tried all the perfumes like that? How much would he have left to sell?" New York Press. Every woman takes aa much time la getting off a street car as If she thought her destination was aa far aa -lira, Elsie Clews Parsons, a doctor of , the car expected to go. 944444444444444444444444 IT I X , . , I 1 1 . 1 q) sat looaing aisconsoiaieiy O) out upon the chimney tops. "I never dreamed I co,uld owe so much money !" he groaned. "I guess I owe all there Is in the world $1,500 ! Here I'm engaged to Ellen, and the old gentleman writes he will give me $5,000 the day we are married, and I shall be dead of starvation or in Jail, one or the other, long before that And Ellen's gone to the country, and oh, hang It!" "Morning, Mr. Billy!" cries Mrs. Ames, a pretty little wqman who lived in the next room, her army husband having been sent to some particularly Inhospitable country. "Why, you look real comfortable and miserable." Whereupon Billy told her all about It. adding that his father had written hlra he was confined to home with the gout. "So he's sure to be In a bad humor," he added. . "Nonsense," laughed Mrs. Ames.' "If you had that $5,000 you could pay all your debts and have money over, couldn't you? Listen!" She was open ing the door to go out "You are already married married this morning. Think It over," and she was gone. Did he dare? He must! It seemed reasonable. Ills father could not como to the city. He would risk It "Dear Father," he wrote. "Circum stances In my wife's family made it nec essary, so we were married this morn lng, and leave for our honeymoon to- I morrow. Please send check. Billy." ffli r "711 "TELEGRAM FATHEB COMING." very pretty girl who was standing in the hall, a puzzled look on her face. "I am looking for Billy Blake," she said. "That's my son,' said the old gentle man, "We are engaged," said the girl, ap proaching him confidently. "Engaged ! Bless my soul ! Why, Billy's " ' There came a sound of voices approaching, and an Inspiration dawned on Mr. Blake. "Here behind the door, both of you," he ordered, and INVENTING FOR THE INVENTOR. T. A. Edlaon Learn How He Hade Great Discovery. In a certain New York State factory given over to the manufacturing of electrical appliances visitors are of dally occurrence and guides a necessi ty, says Lipplncotts. A guide named Steve took such pride In the work that If surprise and enthusiasm did not al ways respond to his personally con ducted tours he would promptly Im agine various things, to awaken what he believed to be the proper emotions. One day, with an unusually undemon strative man In- tow a man seeming ly not even Interested iu the "features"' shown him, while he paid close atten tion to details of apparent insignifi cance Steve began on the subject of the Incandescent light. "It was discovered purely by acci dent," said he. "Mr. Edison says him self that he would never have thought of the thing If he hadn't seen soma lightning playing around a fork that had been left In an empty pickle bot tle." The visitor looked up rather oddly at this Information, but still so quietly that Steve, to cap his climax, added: "And so was born that boon to all mankind, the Incandescent light" , At tBat Instant a passing employe caught sight of the visitor and, com ing up to him with hand outstretched, exclaimed: "If it Isn't my old boss I How are you, Mr. Edison?" Steve sat down on the first object handy and, with his head in bis hands, tried to recall what he had said and think quickly of some way out When he looked up the "Wizard of Menlo Park" had departed, undoubtedly wis er than when he began his tour round the factory, but also undoubtedly con siderate of Steve. And a fortnight later that gentleman received from West Orange a book on electrical sci ence, "written down" to Juvenile read ers, and on the fly-leaf, beneath a sketch of a fork in an empty bottle, were written these words: "And so was born that boon to all mankind, the Incandescent light!" A child's first Impression is usually made by the paternal slipper.
