The people's journal. (Pickens, S.C.) 1891-1903, 1897-12-16
ADVANCING BACKWARD.
Bill Arp Thinks the Old South Better
The New Woman is Pushing tho

Wc were JalKl ABOUT the Old south
ana the new south and some said there
was no new south; that we were the
same people and have the same princi-
pies, the same religion and the same
politics that our fathers mad but like
The rest of the civilized world, we have
advanced in education and general in
telligence and in the enjoyment Of the
comforts of life
Well, | am no pessimist but am
grleVed TO say that in many things we
nave 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 arc
aolng nothlng-young mon OF good
famllles-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 it now
FIFTY years ago we had no vagab0nds
every young man worked at tsomething,
and it was considered lisreputablc TO
lie around in idlcncSs. In fact, we had
vagrant law that compelled the lazy,
triiling fellows to earn living. |
reckon that law is still in the code, but
it is q dead letter. When young
man married a girl it was expected by
both sides that he could 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
l.,
lawyers and editors and preachers and
teachers and book. keepers and sales
women, and how woman was forging
ahead and taking the places ana oc.
cupations Of the men, and my friend,
Mr.. Williams, OF California, surprised
US by saying that there was q 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 1919. In
this tribe the women dominate the
men in the fap.ily and the field and
forest. They rule them absolutely,
make them cook and wash and nurse,
actually hire them out and collect the
pay. Their principal business is trap
ping for furs. The women do this and
many Of them have a good bank &C.
count in San Francisco The men are
SO 1T seems that our new woman has a
savage precedent. Have we got to
come to this? Will live to see the
day when my wife will hire me
out as nurse or a cook and pocket the
money? She knows that can do both,
and | never dodge it at home on an
emergency, but | reckon she will let
me stay at home and work in the gar
den and cultivate her flowers the re-
mainler cf my terrestrial days. She
knows that never hid my money from
her; when | got any | kept it for her,
that's all. 1t was hers just as much az
mine, but kept it-sorter like the old
fellow who had a thousand dolla,s in
gold and when The confederate govern
ment passed a. law taxing gold 20 per
so he got out the bag one night and
put it on the middle of the table and
called up his wife and four children
and divided 1t into five piles and gave
them 5000 each and said: "Now, the
g)ld Is all yours and | can swear |
l haven't got a dollar in the world
but reckon | had better keep it for
you," and he raked it all into the bag
again and locked it up in his trunk.
There is no greater contrast between
the old south and the new south than
is shown in the advancement and the
humiliation Of woman. They are now
on the two extremes. Before the war
there were no female doctors or law.
yers or lecturers or editOrs-nOt one
and there were no book keepers Or
The average woman oiticiated as q
wife and mother. or daughter
cherished by her parents and her
brother. The wife was the lady
OF the house, be it ever so hum
BIZ, and she was content with her
lot. 1t was even considered beneath
her pride and dignity to teach school,
and hence there was an annual i'm
portation Of New England spinsters to
teach the children. | and my sisters
went to four OF them in quick success
sion, for our widowers married them
about as fast as they came, and they
made good wives and good stepmoth.
ers, and were the most economical
housekeepers in the world. They
wore raised that way and neither the
dog nor the little niggers got any more
scraps than they could eat.
But now the new woman is either
smart and aggressive, or she is poor
and pitiful. She comes to the front
with her brains and her ambition and
SoViCo Doloiy "lVll IlCu dS
writer, lecturer, professor in schools
and colleges, and even as Office seeker,
and generally succeeds in what she un-
dertakes; or else she takes an humber
place behind the counter or in the
pressrooms, or perhaps in the fac.
tories, for pittance just enough t.
keep soul and body together, and ever q
year grows paler and sadder from hL2I
work. Most OF them arc working to
maintain somebody who Is near and
dear to them, but their wages are
rarely raised, for they are women. -
l can almost weep for some | know.
They keep their sorrows to themselves
and "let concealment like worm In
the bud feed on their damask cheeks"
an, woman! how great Is thy peril!
now bard Is thy lot Not long ago l
received fearful, pitiful letter from
over the border. 1t was from wife
and mother who was an exile from her
state and country, and had not heard
from her parents in three long years:
nor did thew know ghoro sho ,,o.