The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1896-05-17
C7rom our Regular Correspondent

honored this country 10y abiding ia IT, mas
this I'm it: IF anybody is hungry physi-
cally hungry. give him not that which
YOU would throw 10 the dogs, but that
which would taste good 10 yourself do not
ask what a hungry man or woman be-
ueves. do not stop 10 question that one
who is hungry. says thou OF you, but
give him what he longs for So in my
small household. il is understood that no
one asking for food is TO bc turned away.
Consequently 1 was hardly surprised
when i came I'm out of the sunshine the
other day, 10 find a woman drinking tea,
thirstily, and eating food, ravenously- /
looked at her and passed on; then / came
back There was something I'm her eyes
that attracted me. They We're restless;
they were rather Withholding, but they
seemed 10 have in them the story of a
soul. And l wondered what 10 was As
this woman was under my roof, 1 could
not ask her a question any more than 1
could question Mrs. Millionaire. who took
a cup of tea with me the other afternoon
and condescended to like it.
Perhaps this weird looking beggar was
used to reading hearts. 1 don't know.
Anyhow, in a few minutes a message came
10 me that she wished 10 see me, and /
went to her. She was ragged, she was dir
ty, and she appeared. Jas " she might be
any age. We looked AZ each other for a
while, and then she salu, L nave seen you
in the park many time / made no an
SWer, but looked at her again closely.
Looked and tried to remember. The face
was growing familiar. ] seemed TO see II
with a French bonnet above ii and a dain-
" parasol behind IL, and then knew who
my visitor was. A woman who, I'VE years
ago, was known by all New York That
drove in the park or walked Fifth avenue,
a least by sight. The newspapers told Of
her eNtraVagances and good women point
ed her out to their daughters-what for?
Certainly not in those days, to point a
moral. But in that silly way peculiar TO
women, and which is, after all, but doing
what woman has so often done, usurped
the province of the serpent. since, TO point
out such a woman in her glory is 10 say to
a young innocent thing, "see how vice
prospers" Ny visitor laughed when she
saw recognition on my face and then she
looked surprised surprised because 1
didn't turn her out surprised because.
knowing how much wickedness she had
wrought. l did not draw my skirts away
for fear Of contamination and BID her be-
gone. But what right had TO judge herf
So I said, yes. / remember, but ! don t
Again She laughed. that hard. miser-
able, God-forsaken laugh that makes wo-
men like you and me wonder what angels
or demons think of 1t, If il Is heard either
in heaven or hell.
derstand," she answered; Il ate TOO much,
] drank too much, / got i'll, and the peo-
pie who had claimed to be my friends
were the first to leave me and let me
seek either the street or the hospital.
Well, ] have been 10 both, and / drifted
here because l was hungry. l suppose /
ought to repent, but. somehow, my head
hurts too much for me 10 think"
/ said something TO her about helping
her if I could, about feeling sorry for her,
about feeling sorry for every woman who
was led into the paths of sin because OF
her intense though mistaken love. AGAIN
there came that awful laugh. And she
spoke. You are mistaken; where one
woman does wrong for loves sake, there
are thousands who do wrong because they
want to. Because IL is in them, because
they want fine clothes because they want
TO lead lazy lives, and because they are
disconnected where they are. Don't look
so Mortified. Three-quarters of the women
that go 10 the bad, do 1t because they
want to-because they lean that Way-be-
cause they like vice with all it's attendant
luXuries better than they do virtue win
its lack of them. Love has nothing TO do
with it. Often as not, the life pleases
either their vanity, or else their aVarice-
and the greed of women is awtul-tt sat
ished. Years ago men may have been the
tempters-they are' not often nowadays.
Where do such women as l come from
From the country; from the country that
the poets write about and the city people
think so innocent. We get to hate the
green of the grass, the blue of the skies,
the monotOny of the life, and, once dlscon-
tent is in the heart OF woman, once she
longs for those so-called good things that
please her physically, the devil owns her.
What did you see in the country last sum
mer? l mean what did you see in the
faces of the people the real country peo-
pie? Either stupid, dogged, stolid sat
isfaction, or badness.
ut is the country that caters to the vice
of the city. Women like me come here
claiming that we want to go into shops
or factories but always before us there is
the hope that we will have the oppOrtun-
ity that we long for the opportunity to
do wrong, when wrong means fine clothes
and an indolent life Even now l cannon
work. l am only fit for the hospital ano
the mOrgue.
Teach them to be better? How car
you2 Out where l was born and where
lived until l was 10 years old, ! was taught
what they called religion; went TO an The
services of the church, and while the
preacher preached. l dreamed of the day
when i should Toll in my carriage, be fine
~ dressed, and the envy of all other wo
men. Well, that day came, and [ was
happy. 1 suppose it is wicked to saw thar
but here is something that is Wickeder
never felt sorry until money and lover,
had gone from me, and / had no friends
don't know that ! was harder than any
body else, but as long as l was prosper
Gus, from the standpoint of the world il
which l lived 1 was content. 1t wa!
if / had done right.
But is there such a thing as right
Why was l, an ordinary country girl
given beauty of body, beauty of face. an,
an ability 10 catch up every clever thin
that was said, If il We're meant that wa
TO marry a man who worked a farm
spend my days in hard work, nv nigh
in heavy sleep and never to hear or xnoy
of anything that was bright? Everythin
IN me lOnged for the beauties and tn
joys of life and I found them l foun
them, as you would say, through sin. bu
what are you going to do? Are you goin
to make all wOmankind over again? HOY
are you going to keep discomfort. tina
great weapon of the devil. from gettin
INTO the hearts of the girl children. per
suading them ava from their homes t
whore they can meet the shopman read
TO buy them, bodies and souls, with a FEY
gold trinkets, or few years of lazy, luN
uriOus life? Once a woman begins
think about those things, she is an ev
woman already; the devil has got he
and it viii only be a short while befor
on her cheeks, in her eyes and throug
her lips VIII his dominion over her b
visible
She had talked with great rapidity an
now she eagerly drank some more te;
I noticed that her hand trembled. thong
her eyes flashed as if she We're determine
TO speak as she wished, and speak unit
she said all that she wished.
You wonder, you women who sit z
home and are dainty, and feminine. an
loving, why women such s / am or suc
as I was, attract your husbands. Vol
brothers and your sons. / viii tell va
how it is. We never cease trying to pleas