Eagle River Democrat. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1893-1896, 1896-03-23

theories and superstitions that have him
dered the progress of the race, and given
the aspect of crimes to certain sins of
omission that stupid custom had sane
toned. There is profound wisdom in
the reflections Of a discerning writer who
says: GAS intelligence advances man
kind will perceive as a truth of unlver-
sal application that which is now but
struggling conception on the part Of a
few who belong to the noble army of
fanatics and heretics, viz, that physical
inadeQuacy is at the root of far more of
the vices and sins of today than moral
delinquency and a systematic intention
of doing wrong" The proposition is
almost self-evident Physical infrmities
and deficiencies resulting from a disre-
gard of the commonest rules of muscular
development and bodily perfection must
have their reflex in the spiritual and
moral character of the victim. Strong,
active, physical health is rarely asso-
ciated with moral perversity in the right
ly educated man or woman. In vague
way this fact is recognized by parents
in a masculine bearing, but an heredl-
tary prejudice against whatever may
tend to make girls less delicate. less
dainty than is CONSTANT with the notion
of feminine refinement condemns woman
to a position that is in most ways disad-
vantageous to her highest and best inter
eStS.
The terrifying thought that physical
training will make hoydens of their ethe-
real daughters causes most mothers TO
look frowningly upon the gymnasium.
They care to cultivate only those parlor
graces that a narrow society has chosen
to regard as the evidence of gentility,
Indifferent to the fact that they repre-
sent, generally, an inferior state of Wom-
anhood. Everything in the discipline
of a girl is repressive, bodily and mental,
e., ! 10 <e oo1 hot OF
broad, full mind can find place. in
cramped, compressed, stunted physical
frame.
1t is true, the notion of a gymnasium
for girls is yet hardly formed into ra-
tional gradually adopted in all institu-
young women. The results are such
that it will be astonishing if the ridicu-
lous prejudice against physical training
for girls shall not have entirely dlSap-
peared within the next twenty years. in
this country at least.-New York Ledger.
The Natural Disapproval of Wealth.
There is natural feeling of distrust
and even disapproval of wealth, especial
" on the part of those who have never
possessed it. 1t is natural also that
this should be sliding scale, and that
each person should regard the next larg-
est taxpayer as too rich. Thirty years
ago, at the seaside resort called Pigeon
Cove, or Cape Ann. there was a village
wit known habitually as Old Knowlton,
a retired fisherman, who delighted to
corner in argument set of eminent cler-
gymen who then resorted there. as DIR.
Chaplin, DR.. Gannett, DR.. Bartol, Thorn
as Starr King and others. He liked to
swear before them, to ask hard questions
out of the Old Testament, and to call
them Familiarity by their last names.
One day he was much startled on asking
about DR.. Gannett's salary. to hear that
it was $4,000, which would not now be
regarded as large sum, but seemed to
him enormous. ''Why.. Gannett," said
ter do with so much money? You can't
know how to manage it! Gannett, you
ought to have guardeen!'
No doubt we are all ready, if we per-
sonaly escape wealth, to offer advice
as to it's guardianship. but probably the
nearer we came to it the greater the diff
Guilty of deciding how to handle it.
There is nothing new in the phenomenon,
except in its lately rapid increase among
ourselves. Even now it is said that no
American man is SO rich as Cecil Rhodes,
the South African adventurer, who is
wealthy enough to organize piratical ex
petitions into free states; and. it is pre-
dicted, to be elevated to the peerage of
England, even where they have failed.
No American family is so rich as the
Rothschilds, whose nest is still shown-or
was till lately-a tottering and shabby
house in the Jewish quarter of Frank
fort. Matthew Arnold, who shook his
head over the comparatively moderate
displays of wealth in this country, gloats
with delight. in two letters, over the
luxurious living of the English Roths-
childs. An aristocracy of wealth, how
ever. can never really stand on the same
ground as one of birth, or be as danger
Gus to real freedom; because, no mat
ter how curious people may be about
it, or how envious of it, or how much
they may truckle to it, there can never be
felt toward it that honest, ime-hardened,
utterly cringing Difference with which
even the. average English Radical bows
down before a lord. But we all like to
philosophize about it and give it advice
and all the more, the less we share of it,
just as it was said of Cardinal de Retz.
that he made up for an utter neglect of
his own soul by exercising an abundant
supervision over the souls of other peo-
ple.-Harpers Bazaar.
The Welcome Gnest