The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, August 9, 1896, Page 17

THE SAN FRANCISCO CALL, SUNDAY, AUGUST 9, 1896. MRS. MERCIE M. THIRDS, Writer and Speaker In Our Old Age Peace Should GCome Like the Mellowing Sunshine rry apd labor? Why should its rush infect even our thinking, and banish peace father cured him of haste when 2 boy by telling him this grew- v ng for the carriage he was overcome by im- enter it to stay there always. As time goes on the nails are bsorbed in the chase for future good. The present, t that gathering years, which shounld form. To every season of life is d and cool shadows gather, there onfidence, a more enduring hope. Tire m the experiences of the past learns les- t to storm-tossed mariners upon life’s sea, illumi- or when the voyage is over. A greater dignity beiongs to h goes forth to conquer, for having laid aside desire for old age” that has ever been held as synonym for wisdom. Physical strength and it, out s tenderer grace will come upon it, as mosses wreath and beautify old treesor ened with h. women [ ever met had neariy reached life’s measure of three score years and ten. could not conceal the hopefulness of her step nor lessen her gentle grace. _had touched only to give it in fading a more ethereal w of discontent lay upon it nor seam of selfish passion. It bore alone the traces of thought, ace. beauty that in some measure all ola age should po: Even though it must wear the marks e it snould have at least the serenity that comes with its on. d labor at tasks fitted o for the strong, but far more pitiful is it that age should compete in folly and in strife. A Mrs. Skewton, living on the breath of fattery or a white-haired miser gold are abortions of nature. They have never enterea the stream of true life at ail, conse- o decay. Their old age is not the rounding of a life. It is the blighting of a purpose. this is the resuit of nearly all modern living. The struggle for bread, or for worldly ned to the end, modified oaly by a possible increase of attention to physical needs. Bat ng whose mind should override matter; be is a soul who should direct his mind. material things alone, therefore, is to willfully dwarf his own higher nature. As intel- of ideas, so does character unfold by reflection. By caimly weighing ue, and learn by degrees where to prune and where to caltivate. ife takes note of all these things; but, just as the twilight hour invites to does the eveaming of life, Laying aslde active duties man sinks into his riy does nature indicate the method of her work with man that only indifference can needs. Or is it that he has come to believe in the physical life only? s of Indie have for centuries maintained a custom that isevidently intended to give an i fac of man’s three-fold nature. One-third of Iife they devote to education, and the remaining span may be devoted to contemplation and the castom cer has the advantage of securing to old agea well- s. nowledge. Thi: peak pityingly of the aged. Is it because they are nearing the close of a life 1 Or is i cause we have a haif perception of the fact that in our modern r the play of powers that are distinetively their own? that youth is “the valley of the shadow of death.” He cited its glowing ppointment; its fervid desires that would pale into bitterness, its high JAMES H. BARRY, Editor and Orator 11PN dim/y / 14 e father, “thereis one who is making a house for you. It is| It is pitiful enough that | season not to be used for mere drowsy enjoyment, bat for winnowing the grain from chaff | What Gauses Poverty and the Way It May Be Gurzd : Is poverty the natural order of things? There can be but one Answer to that. | Poverty is not the natural order. God did not intend that poverty should exist. It | is entirely artificial. The natural state is that every one should have enough.. That | poverty should be so common, that the rich should constantly become richer while | the poor are growing poorer,is due to & false sysiem and to bad laws. The Mal- [ | thusian theory, which is in essence the idea that there are too many people in the | world and that poverty must increase and that/the way to diminish the population | is to stop bearing children, has iong been discarded. The earth contains sufficient | resources to provide not only for those who are now living on the earth, but alsoa much larger population. Consequently the Malthusian teaching has generally been adjudged to be absurd and monstrous. Henry George in “Progress and Poverty” bas pointed out that the Creator has | provided amply for every human being. There is enough even considering improved machinery and all that is implied by that. The great trouble is the iniquitous system of landlordism. Enormous tracts are held unused for speculative purpcres, and they | are only nominally taxed. While, for instance, the poor farmer improves his barn and is taxed accordinely, his next neizhbor,-who holds 1000 acres of land unimproved, is taxed very little. It does not require any extended argument in view of the general | growth of intelligence and the wider acceptation of the teachings of Henry George to | convey clearly the idea that this system is a serious hindrance to industry. It ties | up resources which need development. i Its operations are even-worse in cities, where land valves and consequently ground ; | rents are created by the inhabitants and the city bailt up, but the whole of theseenor- | mous values is taken by those who as landiords do nothing for their creation, and | when a city wants and owns its water or light works its citizens must pay heavy in- | terest on bonds to get them, when the cost stould be wholly defrayed by taxes on the ground value owners who reap the main benefit. Meanwhile a large proportion of the industrious citizens must live in slums and alleys, debarred from air and sunlight | that a few may live in palaces. Others are driven into vice and crime, directly or in- directly, because lanalords absorb the earnings of labor to an extent that preventsthe masses from purchasing supplies for their physical, intellectual and moral necessities. All monopolies are based upon land. This istrue even of the Standard Oil monop- | oly which may be cited for purpose of illustration. 1If the oil welis owned by and con- | trolled by the Staudard Oil Company were taxed fully, it is very evident that the | monopoly could not continue to exist. | Herbert Spencer has pointed out that there are no rational ethics in land ownership under the existing conditions. But it should beclearly understood that the advocates | of the single tax, tnat tax to be placed on land values only, do not propose to cut up the land into small pieces for ownership. That would be of no avail because the small par- I cels would speedily find their way back, as Iaws now are, into the same hands or at | least would be in the hands of a few. so that nothing of value could be effected by any | such pian. The proposition of the Single-taxersis to make the rental valuation of land the basis of taxation and to exempt improvements and personal property from | taxes, The holder of land does not creste its value. The enhancement is due to the { community which surrounds the land with improvements and institutions which increase its desirabitity for use. From this it follows equitabiy tnat the community and not the individual should profit by the increased income which is made possibie by the community. If the single-tax system were in vogue in all parts of the United | States, as it is partly in New Zealand and sas I believe it will bein Delaware, conditions which now promote the unequal distribution of wealth wouid not thrive as they do at this time. 1 Land which is now held in the iron erip of private ownership, for speculative pur- poses only and which does not contribute to the welfare of mankind, woula then be thrown open for use. It may also be set down as truth that no man would work for wages { which would not equal what he could earn from the land. There is no basis for any assertion that poverty is a divihe institution. Nor can any doctrine growing out of any such assertion be successfuily upbeld. The solution of the poverty problem does not consist in elaborate schemes requiring intricate legisiation. The real need is not for the State to give or guarantee people employment, but to remove the artificial obstacles which prevent people from employing themselves by the application of labor to natural resources from which | they are now locked out. These obstacles can be removed by the single tax. When they are even partially removed, as by the Pingree plan, stili more by the Murray ! River co-operative settlements, South Australia, on land owned and obtained by the Government, it is a matter of positive fact that no difficulty wouid be experienced in | seli-support, with full and free access fo the land. And these experiments are ham- pered to an extent that would not exist under the singie tax. They prove that what is needed to remove poverty is not coddlirg regulation, but ifreedom and equai | rights to ail, economic.as well as political, the abolition of privilege and the enthrone- | ment of service as alone entitled to the product of industry. Jaxes H. Bazzr. | What Makes The Successful Man or '~ Woman in Life i i What constitutes the successful man? What are the elements of success? These | are rather abstruse questions, it seems to me, as Do twd men might agree on the first propositicn, ti.ough all might have more or less harmonious opinions on the latter. For instance, s burglar might sueceed in making a series of pocket-enriching ex- | peditions without finding himself behind the steei bars of a cell as a reward for his | ambition. As he chuckled to himself in a downtown resort, with the musical tinkle | of the coin in his trousers ringing in his ears, he would doubtless deem himself a | success, compared with which Abraham Lincoln was fit only to rank in ths second | class. However, I take it that the term ‘‘success in life,” as used in the broad, general | sense, means that success which not only satisfies the ambition of the immediate actor, but also adds to the sum of human happiness. | The elements of success are innate in every human being, and in one sgnse all | are created equal—not all createa to be lawyers, physicians, preachers, or, in fact, to | follow any profession at all, but created with an equal capacity for some special work. Society can no more do without the scavenger than the statesmsan. The fanction | of the one is to remove the causes that lead to the breeding of disease germs, and of | the other to educate the people to avoid the path that leads to anarchy and conse- quent chaos. | " Success, I take it, lies in the sttainment of the individual ideal. A man may bea | suceess in his own opinion, and yet not be so regarded by his fellow-men. The loftier his ideal, as considered by the mass of educated mankind, the less conservatism is | manifested in his recoznition as a factor of society. i It is work that makes the man. Occasionally bright, intellectual stars rise above the borizon and electrify the world with the sparkling rays of genius, but ere they ! attain the zenith their scintillation suddenly ceases and thex disappear even beyond | the range of the telescope. Work must not cease when success is attained; it requires | patient tcil to remain at the top of the ladder. . To diguify labor one must blend true | aristocracy of mind with democracy of the body. | That tree is the sturdiest which has withstood the severest storms. The effect of | its swaying bas been only to root it more firmly in the soil. So it is with man. How- | ever much he may be swayed by the breezes of popular opinion, let him not lose sight | of the fact that he hasa goal in life, the picture of which always before his mental vision should spur him on to greater efforts. A mah must have a high ideai, whether be attsin it or not. He may fall far from | realizing his ambition, ana yet in the eyes of the worla be deemed a hero. Napoleon | never realized bis cherished desire to see French arms dominate the world, but no | man would care to make the rash assertion that as a warrior he was a failure. | Virgil was so disappointed with his Eneid that on his deathbed he expressed the | wish that, as he could not live to revise it and brine it up to the literary plane on i which it should rest, it might be destroyed. The Eneid survives him. however, and from it Virgil's name is rendered immortal as the most graceful and polished of Latin versifiers. My idea of the successiul man is he who realizes that he is only one brick in the vast structore of humanity, and bas no schemes of self-aggrandizement by | { .| which his fellow-men will have the bloody sweat wrung from their brows; |he who has not enough of the world’s goods to keep his mind worried with | business complications and yet posesses enough to permit hifn to tive in comfortabie circamstances; he who, while he is engaged in the affairs of life, stills finds time in | sowne way or other to add to the sum of human hapoiness; and, above all, the man | that can go home at the close of his aay’s labor ana find rest and peace in his domestic tife. A loving wife and heaithy, laughing children are the best promoters of mental | tranguillity with which an all-wise Providence has endowed oar world. G. W. Daywarr, M.D. | ideals that the world would so ruthlessly demolish. “Later years will brinz their | burden of pain,” he said, “but never such keennessof anguish as is suffered when we | are young.” ;'hn&.thmhme truth in this view all observers of ‘human emotion will be in | clined to admit. The activities of middle age distract attention from the blows we may receive, and solace is found in whatever philosophy of life we have been persuadd ! 20 adopt. Old age calmly accepts inevitable results, pondering their meaning. In- | elining to reflection it extracts the honey from all experience, whether good or evil. Each has s lesson of wisdom to impart. Why then fret about troubles that have ben- efited mind and character? Why any longer desire pleasures that tempt bat to dis- appoint? Peace settles upon the soul like mellowing sunshine, and in that peace is ripened the fruitage of life. An old age to which peace is a stranger is abnormal. It is like work without rest, or like dsy without night, that leaves mo time for nature to work on the other side of her sphere. In her economy there is no pause when activities cease, for they mimndinxe!ym-ndhnnfinm In the same way do our own energies re- treat within when we withdraw them from outward activity. T is to call the i mind home from its wandering, that it may eXercise itself in pure thought. Itisto’ tarn the stream of life inward where resuits are siored. In no other way can they become a part of ourselves, or serve to strengthen character. And only when the tamault of life has yielded to peace can reflection do its perfect work. = MEsciz M. Taimzs. 17 MISS M. M. MURPHY, Principal Jefferson Schoo! _ Children Are No Longer Jaught in the-Public Schools Like Parrots H Under present-day methods, education tends to develop inteilectual insight and the power of inde. pendent thought. There is a remarkable contrast between the methods of to-day and those of twenty, or even ten, years ago. Instead of standing with open textbook before a class of puzzied children, the intelligent teacher exemplifies a subject to eager and even enthusiastic pupils, who respond quickly and happily by virtue of their impressions, and who exhibit an eagerness to do that which their own minds | evolve, not from any teiling, but from a real understanding; the children grasping at knowledge as it comes | to them, and developing for themselvas the thought needed in their educational advancement. Now, when a child enters the public school from a kindergarten at six vears of age, he has quite a lof of knowledge of value to begin with. H= already possesses the idea of color, iorm. numbers, etc., and is easily taught to do what he can see for himself is needed in his progress onward. Textbooks, of ‘course, are now only supplemental to the good teacher. For example, in the teaching | of language, no textbook is placed in the handsof the pupil until he is about 10 years old, and yet in the | meantime composition and letter-writing reaches a very creditable stage. ’ Illustrative drawing, in connection with composition, is also = notable feature nowadays, and the productions of the young pupils of our schoois show some really wonderiul results. Technical grammar is almost a study of the past for youns children. Language has become a most pleasant study. It means eorrect speaking, composition and an introduction to literature adapted to the ages of the children, and all this without the conjugations, declensions, rules, etc., that formerly occupied a large part of the time of young pupils without yielding them much special benefit in the matter of speak- ing or writinz the language correctly. 5 In arithmetic practical means have been adopted. The memorizing of long and ambiguous rules is no longer deemed essential. The quantitative relationsof things isthe idea in teaching this branch of study. In fact, correlation of ideas, in connection with all subjecis taught, is now considered the most rational method. In the main, the essence of geod instruction is io train the young to think $nd to de- velop for themselves under the gnidance of intelligent instruciors. The popular scheme of education is one that will enable children to meet the respoasibilities of life and to successfully combat difficulties by the use of good judgment—a result of habits of correct thought, and of doing that which the hand finds to do faithfully and well. Some of the best talent in the land is to-day being devoted to the praiseworthy object of assist. ing the cause of education by writing for children books full of interest; books that chiidren will take de- hght in, and which, at the same time, tel! in simple style importaat facts of history, or explzin geographical questions, or illustrate things in natural nistory. Even the classics have been reduced, 10 some extent, to stones readily intelligible to the child; and a little boy or girl may now go out of the primary school with as fair an idea of the chief characters of mytaology as children are wont to have of that famous nursery hero +Jack the Giant-killer.” There are books of machanics, also, adapted to the use of caildren, and stories of astronomy that give the little ones an insight into some of the mysteries of the sphere. The various studies have been relieved of their dryness, and are now made attractive, and children are coming t5> regard the school pretiy mach in the light of a hall wherein there is spread a feast of good things for the mind. Justas in some of vour athletic games, wherein wvroficiency comas from practice and not from memorizing rules, as som> educational writer has observed, so in school life young children acquire knowl- edge of a branch of study most read:ly through imitation and practice. The primary education of the child has been receiving some of the consideration that its great impor- tance deraands. Parents are taking more interest in the work of the schools than ever before; the standard of teaching bas been steadily raised, and teachers now deal with the voungest pupiis upon purely rational principles. Nowadays a child learns double as much in half the time. and with bardly any of the mental strain that was common where little ones had their lessons “driiled into them’ long ago. It is reasonable that parents should seek for their children the best training by the best teachers in the most scientific man- ner. If a man wants a horse trained, he puts it in charge of a professional trainer who fully understands the animal’s nature and requirements. If that man deéms the proper development of the minds of his own children of equal importance, he does not intrust the work to s domestic, but interests himself in seeing that they are placed where their training will be carried on in accordance witk the most approved methods. Our public schools to-day are making spiendid progress in the march toward an ideal educational system. M. M. MurpHY. DR. G. W. DAYWALT, Physician and Publicist