The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, September 18, 1904, Page 15

News in the ot is meant by country “blight”"—a thing which is neither mist ner sterm, neither cloud rain —a dever of the atmosphere, hout any fresher or cleansing force in its com-= sition. e a dull stretch f fog, it hangs for hou and for £ over the fac f the g the wia the orchards and trails of nokxious it upon trees and some wers, withering their foliage and ackening buds of promise with'a canker to their very ‘cor lodoro , for whi strong, ay, even a which vig- hymid va- ng ng to the a remedy but a 10us Win drown it purifying shall rair nts of reli nature is eared—health and neficent influe s reassert nd the land s n to renewed and easy thing once more as “blight” is kno E is it known and so- with cer- ral and tween s progres- an civil- in things to true sable 1. It ected breath of setting God out and livi self So called “scien- vering rning much —nothin for th sou uman that ng been and theref if the than th , the sort on his wearing Early in passed for ¥ for him grand sprint ) premature m. He had » had emp- y was left to that and walks d t ! trom 5 B & a i e rainy sea- L hanker for t to my | he was ! give me / & \‘ t of my own with a | -4 of stocks and ' bor y keep me from worrying ual raid of the tax col- o gocth where he, or the as- listeth.” young idea was slowly and siring some proficiency rt of intellectual marks- he was alsd elaborating his s for the acquisition of a green and properly defended old age. When r boys were wasting their timegnd chip \ : and \ X/ === SPENDING R THE SAN Social Bli I Marie Coreli oo B sible in their working, later made openly mani- 1e meets with punishmert as night follows day. If the ret ion is not of man’s making—if human law, often so vicious and ome- sided In itself, fails to’give justice to the innocerst, then Something or Some One steps In to ‘supply man's lack of truth and courage, and executes a / judgment from which there is no ap- . peal. What it Is or Who it is, we may not presume to declare—the Ro- mans called it Jove or Jupiter—we call it -Gud, while -denying; “with-precisely the same easy fiippancy as the Ro- mans did just before their downfall, that such a Force exists. Tt is con- vepient and satisfying to Mammonites sensualists ally to believe in g but tk :Jves and the pres- It would be very unpleasant to them to have to contemplate; with any certainty a future 1 where neith- er money nor sex preva And because it would be unpleasant they naturally do not admit its possibility. Neverthe- , without belief in the Creator and Ruler of.all things—without faith in the higher spiritual destiny of man E immortal and individual soul, of progressing ever onward and grander spherez of ace in“this world. appears but a farcical futility. round, on each recur- by tearing out the heart of a corpse. such as the assassination of the Em- as tior life o fa And find no resting place: Capn this be all? To live as lives the grass, and the autumnal grain, Born of the sun. apd sod, and fertilizing rain, And pass away like them ot scythe and sickle's call 5 And no trace behind: Can’this be all? Yet jt is precisely the peor, farcical and futlle view of life that is taken by thousands of European and Amer- can people in-our present period. Both press and pulpit reflect it; 4t is openly shown in the decadence of the drama, of art, of literature, of politics and of social conduct The “blight” is over R The blight of atheism, infidelity, callousnegs and indifference to honor- principle—the bkght of moral ardice, self<indulgence, vanity and want of heart. Without mincing mat- ters, it can be fairly stated that.the ‘aristocratic’ bel isf the fashion- able woman of the hour, while the men to who shail m her amours with And so far as the sterner sonally concerned, - the he one most sought as , most appreciated nd flattered in that swarm of drones alled “soclet g in- { tries to g the other, or crawl over it in such wise as to _e the first to stea! whatever honey may be with-” in reach. And worst of things is the e-lfish apathy which pervades the majority of the littd tor The 1l-to-do classes. As gympathy is shown among them the livi s regret for the dead. misfortunes friends are far more often made subject for ill-na- tured moc than for compassion— the deaths of parents and relations are epted with a kind of dull. pleasure, as waking way for the inheritance of oney or estates. No real delight is 3 the arts ‘which foster peace, ss and wisdom; znd equally lit- huziasm is stirred for such con- ons of diplomacy or government help to keep nations secure. A great'm dies one day, and is forgot- unless some clumsy and biography” which rakes faults and mistakes in life, ishes private letters of ths t tc and sacred character, ked to the front by certain res who get their living oty wn LOOOEIETRTVNGE05050008 COL050 ) GELE005: % their hers’ substance in riotous ex- penditures for marbles and baseballs and other articles of luxury he was do- ing a thriving retail business in those game articles which he hadannexed by a process of judicious but eminently benevolent agsimilation. In the course of e he cornered the market and the price of supplies gently but firmly glided up to a point about a hundred per cent higher than conditions war- ranted. Then when protest was made be smiled sweetly and intimated that the boy who didn’t want to buy of him 1ight sit on the fence and look on. He had little or no use for the young man who spent his valuable time ex- ry persifiage with some rep- ptative of the opposite sex. So far as he could see the only use girls were was to induce the boys to spend money. In that light he was willing to concede that they might be regarded as fair imitations of blessings. If it wasn't for the foolish people in the world who haven't any idea of the horsepower of the ordinary dollar of commerce the prudent ones would have a hard time making & decent living, When Rush- well unegrthed this profound truth he altered his conduct to the extent of en- couraging wasteful and riotous con- duct in others. It was good for busi- ness and kept down competition in legitimate lines. the lowest possible price and selling it at the highest. It didn’'t make any dif- ferepce to him what it was—old shoes, canceled postage stamps or houses and lots; all was grist that came to his mill, According to his carefully pre- pared theory life was an indeterminate sentence at hard labor, and the man who failed to give as good an imita- tion of a cart horse as lay within his powers wasn’t making good use of his brief stay on this terrestrial ball. ‘While the other young men to whom he had sold marbles In schoolboy days were trying to pound the trade mark . off an inoffensive golf ball or were By and by Rushwell butted into buei- holding down the quarterdeck of a mal- ness and hegan to get busy with what odorous gasoline wagon, or were other- he called the serious work of the world. wise endeavoring to delude themselves In his cage it consisted in buying any- into believing that they were having & thing that happened to be for sale at goed time, he was sitting ‘firmly at his FRANCISCO SUNDAY CALL. minds almost as bad—the heartless and Say that a dire tragedy is enacted— unchristiar conduct of. Leopold, King of the Belgians, to his unhappy daugh- press Elizabeth of Austria, or the atro- - ter Stephanic—and though each event clous murder of the late King and Queen’ of Servia—or what is to many. ever occupied the attention of the his- be as painful and terrible as any that THE ARISTOCRATIC JEZFBIL 73 THE fflllfolllb,l,t' ZiOMAN THE HOoUR OO0 0G0 S SO S GG 000005000 IO OISO desk or scanning the commercial hori- zon for the first sign of a profitable bargain, By this judicious investment of his time and energy he was rapidly accumulating a large wad of the justly popular medium of exchange and lay- ing his plans to sidestep the old peo- ple’s home. In the course of time it happened that he ran across a young lady who seemed to him to bear all the earmarks of a good bargain. 1t wasn't that he had any foolish ideas about being in love with her. Such imbecile notions were reserved for the misguided individuals who were contributing to Rushwell’s fresh alr fund. Men who didn't realize what a serious place this world is might spend their time trying to find somé word that would rhymé with torien, . they appear to excite no more emotion than a few cold expressions of civil surprise or indifference. Feeling —warm, honest, active, passionate feel- ing for any cause is more difficult to rouse than the sloth from its slumbers, It would, in truth, seem to be dead. The church cannot move it. The drama fails to stir it. Patriotism—national honor—have no power to lift it from the quagmire of inertia. But let there be a sudden panic on the Stock Ex- change—let the Paris Bourse be shaken —let- Wall street be ablaze with sinister rumor—and then hey and halloo for a reckless, degrading, humiliating, mis- erable human ‘stampede! Like infuriat- ed maniacs, men shriek and stamp and wrestle—with brains on fire, they forget that they were born to be reasoning creatures, capable of self- control; their much boasted of “edu- eation” avails thém nothing—and they affer to the gods a spectacle of frantic fear and ignominy of which even an untaught savage might well be ashamed. But perhaps the most noxious sign of the blight in the social atmosphere is the openly increasing laxity of mor- als, and the frankly disgraceful disre- gard of the marriage tie. Herein the Britigh aristocracy take the lead as the eholcest examples of the age. What- ever Europe or America may show In the way of godless and dissolute living, we are unhappily forced to realize that there are men in Great Britain, re- nowned for their historic names and exclurive positions, who nevertheless stand by, the tame witnésses of their wn marital dishonor, and who accept, with a cowardice too contemptible, for norsewhipping, other men's children as thelr own, all the time knowing them to ‘be bastards. We have heard of a certain “nobleman” who—to quote Holy Writ—"neighed after” another man's ‘to such an extent that to stop ti se the obliging husband accepted £60,000, a trifling sum, which was duly handed over. Whether the gentleman who neighed or the gentleman who paid was the worst rascal must be left to others to determinge. It was all hushed up quite nicely—and both par- ties are received “in the best soclety,” with even more attention than would be shown to them if they were clean and honest, instead of being soiled and disreputable. The portrait of <hé lady whose damaged virtue was plaatered up for £60,000 is often seen in pietor- ials, with appended letter-press suit- ably deccribing ” her as a lily<white dove of eet purity and peace. une blames the sinners in this sordig com- edy .less thap the “fashionable” folk who telerate and exc their conduct. Sinners there are and sinners there al- ways will be—madern Davils will al- ways exist who seek %after B: ‘hsheba and do their level best to get Uriah the Hittite comfortably out of the way —but that they should be encouraged in their sins and commended for them is quite another story. Apart from the pernicious influence they exercise on their- own particular “set,” the ex- ample of conduct they give to the na- tlon at large not only arouses national contempt. but in some cases where certain notable politiclans are con- cerned may breed national disaster. With looseness of morals naturally comes looseness of conversation. The convergation of many of the ‘“upper ten” ifi England at least shows a re- markable tendency towards repulsive subjects and objecticnable details. It is becoming quite a common thing to hear “high-bred” men and women talking about their “Little Marys,” a phrase which, though invented by J. M. Barrie, is not without considerable vulgarity and offense. Before the very excellent and brilllant Scottish novel- ist chose this title for a play dealing with the digestive apparatus, it would have dcne him no harm to pause and reflect that with a very large portion of the Christian world, namely, the Roman Catholic, the name of Mary is held to be the most sacred of all names, second to none save that of the Divine Founder of the faith. I am told on geod authority that Americans—espe- cially American women—have been amazed and more or less scandalized at the idea that any portion ‘of the “cultured” British public should be found willing to attend a dramatiec rep- resentation dealing with matters per- taining to the human stomach. I hope NSRS SRR e dove or endeavoring to perform some such difficult feat, but he had his eyes fixed on higher things. In his opin- fon the proper variety of wife was a judicious investment, perhaps not so profitable as call loans in a pani street railway stock In hard times, still an investment. Therefore he suggested to the young lady that they sign articles of partnership. Being only a young lady, as we have men- tioned, the female person aforesaid thought that it was her Christian duty to tie up with Rushwell just because he asked her. That is the only rea- sonable explanation of the consumma- tion of the deal, or of the majority of marriages for the ~matter of that. Matrimony is like a game of tag in many respects, except that it's usually tempers instead of fingers that are crossed. As time and dividends rolled on Mrs Stage accumulated a large and as- sorted family of hoys and girls, both sexes, all of whom were carefully in- structed in the Stagz philosophy of lige. While he was thus exercising his good intentions the men who supplied the money that he was carefully salt- ing away in his coffers were going up and down the face of the earth shed- ding iridescent gladness about them and illuminating the dark corners of the globe with the search lights of their yachts and the diamonds in their shirt bosoms. The only remarkable thing about the performance was the fact that they should be able to get more money continually for Stage to take away from them. They dadn't *sible are, if not quite dead, slowly dy- FABLES | for the _FOOLISH 15 this report is true. My admiration for American women is already very great, but it would go up several points higher if T were made quite sure that their objection to this fornt.of theatri- cal enterprise was genuine, permanent and unconquerable. I like Mr. Barrie very much, and his Scottish stories ae- light me as they delight everybody, but I want him to draw_the at th unbeautiful details of dyspepsia. Peo ple are already too fond. of talking about the varicus- diseases .afflicting varfous parts of their bodies to need any spur in that way from the ro- mantic drama. All Homage to the " bookséllers wk draw the llme at printed garbage! One must 1e adm for refus ale of ¢ g to ta yrrupt always busines y ef a certain notably prurient less us than they inancially of d taste.. Es- imber » write reviews always be relied lic, the upper classes rd Mterature, they mi henorable and con: are, avail themselves this mcrbid and pecially as ther self-called “ of books and upon to prai ndecent in litera- ture. They call strong,” or “virfle,” and reck ng of the fact that the “strong” stench may polson previously healthy corrupt otherwise Prurient literature is alw failing accompaniment “blight.” The fancy for it 2 e has bec for the diseased and cap appetite, and when the ideal of, great im the rbmances are voted as boresome!—there'y re read such stories nowaday: there is no time. There’s p to play bridge, though! Foetry—the greatest of the ar absolutely neglected in period, because nobody Among the most highly ‘“educated person ¥ can be met who prattle glibly Shakespeare, but who neither know the names of his plays nor have read a line of his work. With the decline of pcesy comes as & mat- ter of cou the decline of sculpture, painting, architecture and music. Poesy Is the parer m from which all these g. The proc f their enough among us at Britain, nor Eu- nor America can show a really England’s last great poet on—since his death we other. Equally there is no great sculptor, no great painter, no great architect at musician. I use the word “great,” of course, in its lurgest sense, in the se whereof we speak c¢f Michael Angelo, Raffaelle, or Beethoven. There are plenty of clever sketchy” artists — “impressionist” paintess, “‘rococ sculptors, and melo- dious drawing-room song-writers—but wait in vain for a new “grand” opera, a nobly inspired statue, or a cathedral such as the devout old monks designed. in the intervals between prayer and.prajse. The beautiful and divine ideals that made such work pos- arts have decjine to-d. rope, great po m we ing, under the influence of the “blight” which infects the social atmosphere— the blight which is thick with self and sensuality—which looms between man and his Maker, shutting out every hopeful glimpse of the sun of faith, whose life-giving rays invigorate the soul. And thcse who see it slowly darkening—those who have been and are students of history, and are the by able to recognize its appearance, its meaning and its mission, and who know the mischief wrought by the poison it exhales, will surely pray for storm! the direst storm and stress that upon us in its darkest hour, the reaim awake, howe at warm sioth in which we yawn and pags our sordid lives in greed, or mate bower; anew, An With animal delights in luxury Then will the ancient virtues bl And love of country quench the love of gold; Then will the mocking spirits that imbue Our daily convorse fade like y cold, When _the_ clear meates the blue And men be days of old the base delights that sink languid waters where they drown! n the seem to have any particular objeet in life other than the dissemination of their coin and yet their families never appear to be in actual want and as far as Stage could discover none of them had ever applied to the depart- ment of charities and general graft for coal to throw at the wolf on their doorsteps or gasoline for their homi- cide buggies. Finally it befell on one sad day as Mr. Stage was sitting in his office counting up his profits for the day and reckoning the time that would have to elapse before he could safely enture to have at least one good time without putting himself in the clutches of the overseer of the poor, his heart went on.strike and suddenly and permanently stopped work. His family mourned. for him and told the neighbors of the many fine things that he.had thought of doing when he should get time. Then they went out and began to practice on ail the birds in sight with the hard earn- ed luere that he had regretfully left behind him. His money went for a good time all right enough, but he wasn't in on it. To those pertinacious and perni- cious indlviduals who insist on digging for a moral whenever they see a col- lection of words we would say that he who reckons on gathering roses in De- cember is likely to filnd the best ones gone and the others badly frosted. The best plan is to pick your roses when they are in bloom and while you still have a taste for that form of amusement. (Copyright, 1904, by Albert Britt.)