The Camden chronicle. (Camden, Tenn.) 1890-current, 1897-12-17
BILL ARP'S WEEKLY LETTER.
PHILOSOPHER SAYS We ARE "PRO-
GRRSsINGp BACKWARD.
He TALKS OF THE OLD SOUTH.
Changed Conditions Find women Fast
Taking the Places u
the Men.

we were talking about the old south
and the new south, aud some said
there was no new south; that we were
the same people and have the same
principles, the same religion and the
same politics that our fathers had, but
like the rest Of the civilized world, we
have advanced in education and gem
eral intelligence and in the enjoyment
Of the comforts Of life.
Well, / am no pessimist, but / am
grieyed 10 say that in many things we
have advanced backward. We have
more books and more newspapers and
more schools, but that crime is on the
increase is known and admitted by all
who study the records Of the courts.
There are more idle young men than
there need TO be-yes, FIVE times as
many, according to population, and
Ben Franklin said that idleness is the
parent of vice. can pick out a score
Of young men in every town who are
doing nothing-young men of good
famiies-and they are living on the
old man or the old woman and seem
to be content They haven't been
reared to work and they won't hunt for
1t now. Fifty years ago we had nc
yagabonds; every young man worked
at something, and it was considered
disreputable TO lie around in idleness.
In fact, we had a vagrant law that
compelled the lazy, trihing fellows to
earn a living. 1 reckon that law is
still in the code, but it is a dead let
ter. When young man married a
girl it was expected by both sides that
he could and would support her, but
nowadays about half Of them are
supported by their wives or by the
old folks.
Then we got to talking about the
new woman-the female doctors and
lawyers and editors and preachers and
teachers and bookkeepers and sales
women, and how woman was forging
ahead and taking the places and occu-
pations of the men, and my friend,
Mr.. Williams, of California, surprised
us by saying that there was a tribe Of
Indians in the northwest who were
already far in advance on this line;
that he had known of them ever since
he moved to California, in 1849. In
this tribe the women dominate the
men in the family and the field and
forest. They rule them absolutely,
make them cook and wash and nurse,
and actually hire them ont and collect
the pay. Their principal business is
trapping for fur8. The women do this
and sell the furs and pocket the money,
and many of them have a good bank
account in Sar Francisco. The men
are not known in any business trans
actions. So it seems that our new wo-
man has savage precedent Have
we got to come to this? Will live to
see the day when my wife will hire me
out as a nurse or cook and pocket
the money? She knows that I can do
both, and I never lodged it at home
on an emergency, but l reckon she
will let me stay at home and work in
the garden and cultivate her flowers
the remainder of my terrestrial days.
She knows that 1 never hid my
money from her; when / got any ]
kept it for her, that's all. 1t was
hers just as much as mine, but ]
kept it-sorter like the old fellow who
had thousand dollars in gold and
when the confederate government
passed law taxing gold 20 per cen
he swore he wouldn't pay it, and so he
got out the bag one night and put j
on the middle of the table and called
up his wife and four children anC
divided itinto five piles and gave then
5000 each and said, ''Now, the gold il
all yours and can swear I haven
got dollar in the world; but reckon
I had better keep it for YOU" and ht
raked It all into the bag again ant
locked it up in his trunk.
There is no greater contrast between
the old south snd the new south thar
is shown in the advancement and tn,
humiliation of woman. They are nov
on the two extremes Before the wa,
there were no female doctors or law
yers or lecturers or editors-not one
and there were no bookkepers or type
writer's or shop girls or clerks. Tn,
average woman otficiated as q wife ant
mother, or a daughter cherished b,
her parents and her brother. Tn,
e wife was the lady of the house, be i
ever so humble, and she was conten
: with her lot. 1t was even considered
. beneath her pride and dignity to teacl
!, school, and hence there was an annua
+. Aportation of New England spinster
|. 70 teach the children. I and my sis
ters went to four of them in quick sue
cession, for our widowers married then
about as fast as they came, and the,
!. made good wives and good stepmoth
ers, and were the most economical
: housekeepers in the world The,
were raised that way and neither tn
dog nor the little niggers got any NOR