The age-herald., 1897-08-01
ETCHINGS FROM
 CURRENT TOPICS

The effort being made to "create public sentiment in opposition to lynch law is l commendable, whether it comes from the | press or from the pulpit.
 | On last Sunday, in many of the most prominent churches of the south, eloquent | ministers endeavored to awaken the con- | sciences of their congregations upon this | present all-absorbing topic, and the daily | journals, north and south, have teemed | with columns of matter in condemnation | or extenuation of lynch law. There have been expressed by preachers and writers | the most diverse views as to the cause of | the trouble. Some of these views strike at 1 the very root of the evil, others only att | tempt to lop off the obtrusive branches, l which in this night time of disorder have | cast their baneful shadow across this fair | land It is. useless to cut these branches
 unless the roots which nour.sh and give | life to the evil are destroyed. All the ap- | peals of speech or pen, to the better na- l ture of Americans, will not avail to destroy l this blot upon our civilization until that l innate sense of justioe--inherent in the l hearts of our people-is satisfied that an | honest effort will be made to render the | criminal laws of the country active and l positive.
 Americans and especially southerners, | can be trusted to abide by the laws, pro- vided those laws are executed promptly
 and without an effort to defeat the ends of | justice being made by lawyers of ability and integrity, as well as by lawyers with | neither attribute The qubbing over mis- erable technicalties, and the granting of 1 endless "new tr1als,' have been the direct 1 cause of more mob violence than any | other trouble, save that crime upon de- l fenseless women, which mankind in every l cline, can be trusted to settle, without the | aid of court or juries.
 It is worse than useless to write or preach down at the people while the practice of | the criminal law remains it is Give | them prompt and honest trials prompt and 1 honest verdicts, and speedy execution of l those verdicts and there will be small need | to preach sermons. or write columns, to create proper public sentiment There | will never be a healthy condition of the | public mind as long as there is a childish | triflng with the great machinery of our courts.
 The interminable trials, of s worthless criminals. concerning whose guilt there is not shadow of doubt. have exhausted the patience of the most conservative peo- | pie of all sections, besides costing the bur- dened tax payers vast sums of money. The | specific cure for lawlessness is better and | speedier execution of the laws. The people l can be trusted to abide by those laws when 1 there is no longer doubt as to the power | and intention of the courts to protect the | citizen. and not the criminal
 When the teegraphic wires flashed over | the country, a short while ago, that Amelie | Rives-now princess with an unpronounc- l able Russian name-had been stricken with nervous proStration, at her desk, while she was writing her new book, the world sym | pathized with her misfortune. But it a.so | wondered why she should have been sud- | denly debilitated, after having passed | through such varied and picturesque ca 1 reer. This is at last explained. by the | statement of the plot and motive of her | latest contribution to our literature. Her l new novel, it is said will advocate eeli- | bacy, and was inspired by the gifted au- l thoress' admiration for Tolstofs "Kreutzer | Sonata"
 As Amelie Rives has shown such renla k | able matrimonial proclivities, and has at present two living husbands, she has cer- l tainly not practiced what she now sees | fit to preach. Such a wide Inference of | principle and experience must necessarily prostrate even a more vigorous woman | than thetfair Virginian. who delights to live | with the white light of notorety beating | fierceiy upon her. It is somewhat late for | the purpose" of Amele Rives' book to l have much effect upon the reading public | Her matrimonial career is a matter of current history.
 l Dr. Samuel Minturn Peck has been writ 1 ing fiction, and thoroughly good fiction, at | that for more than a year. His first TO- nance appeared last summer in one of the | popular magazines. It is to be hoped that l his stories will be to Alabama what James | Lane Aliens have been to Kentucky; 1 Charles Egbert Craddock's and Will Allen 1 Dromgoole's to Tennessee Christian | Reid's to North Carolina; Grace Kings to 1 New Orleans; Richard Malcolm Johnston,s | and Joel Chandler Harris to Georgia. Our | beautiful hills and valleys teem with untold 1 romanees, and the world eagerly awaits | the telling.
 | Lieutenant and Mrs. Long arc very | unfortunate couple, whose marital nsfor- | tunes have aroused the pity of newspa- | per readers. And the saddest part of the | whole matter .s that the post, or town | wherein Lieutenant Long and his wife l lived did not boast of a Blue Book" Had l such publication been issued by some en- | terprislng citizens of their town, perhaps | all their subsequent misery and woe might | have been ayerted. AS it was, Lieutenant | Long did the natural, but, it appears, un- l pardonable thing of marrying the girl 1 whom he loved, regardless of the appalling
 | fact that he was a full-fiedged lieutenant
 l in the U. s. army, while bds sweet young | wife was the only daughter of a sergeant l l reckless young couple have been tabooed | by all the swelldom of military posts. and | their lives made miserable by endless snubs 1 and sights. In despair they have decided | to separate for awhile, Mrs Long return 1 ing to the parental roof, while her young husband assumes his former social position | in military circles.
 1 Perhaps it was this pitiful story of the 1 Longs infelicities that has been the in- | spiration of the Atlanta Blue Book, which
 | will appear early in the autumn. The so-
 1 cial world of Georgia tremtlously awaits
 | the coming of this arbiter of fate, which is
 | being so well advertised by it's energetic
 | promoters This Blue Book proposes to
 | give, not only list of Atlanta's -four hun l dred," but the names of many respectable
 ] citizens who only flourish on the suburbs
 | of fashionable life, at Georgia's capital.
 1 It is said to be greatly nseded in that
 | bustlng town, where the social lines be-
 | come woefully mixed sometimes. With a
 l Blue Book Lieutenant and Mrs. Long
 might have avoided the indiscretion of fall