The age-herald., 1897-08-15
ETCHTNGS FROM
 CURRENT TOPICS


 influences like thep lants that grow the
 birds that sing or the disease that spreads.
 In the semi-tropical regions, below Mason
 and Dixon's line, it is esteemed beyonS the l price Of rubies; a man is willing to give his l life for the love and protection of his wife, and the courts uphold him. The unwrit- ten law of the south on all questions which touch upon the sanetity of home and con- jugal ties, is stronger than the verdict of Jury, or the sentence of judge. There is
 a tenderness and saeredness about the home-life of the south, that have gone far towards making the people loyal and true to the claims of family and the demands
 of government If a man finds it neces- sary to defend his home, from the despoiler,
 he adopts the method employed for gener- ations in this section of the country, where the sun shines warm and bright, and the
 thermometer has a tendency to rise to the boiling point. Then the judge and jury generally say a sonorous "Amen," and the case closes while one more miserable wretch h z been called to account, beyond the southern stars.
 But not so, in all the fair region, that he's nearer the arctic zone; nearer the Klon- dyke gold fields, or that other golden realm, better known Wall street. People there
 have a most confusing way of becoming mixed up in divorce courts, and family re- lationships are so hopelessly entangled that an ordinary brain cannot unraYel the ties. Husbands and ex-husbands wives and es~ wives mingle in affectionate communion, undisturbed by the memory of charges and | counter charges, which remain upon the court records. And Judge Wentworth, of New York, seems to be the apostle of this order of things. Only the other day young l couple who had been recently married, | found "that life's young dream" was a horrible nightmare. They soon separated and the wife decided that life was too long
 to be spent in uncongenial association with her husband. She did not love him, and plainly and cruelty told him so Emily Burton, for this is her name, simply took the law in her hands and sent John, her husband, adrlft in the cold and loveless
 world. But John rebelled at such treat
 ment; plead with Emily that she recon slider; told her again and again of his quenchless affection for her. but to no pur- pose, she was deaf to his entreaties When
 the door lcosed upon John and his plead lngs he quietly seated himself on the front steps of his wife's home, until in despera-
 ton she appealed to the police for protec-
 ton. John was arrested carried before Judge Wentworth, and told his hapless story with tears in his eyes, and in a voice tremulous with emotion. The judges sym pathfes were aroused, and he tried to com Tort the hopeless young husband with these words: Don't get so melancholy and love sick about woman. There are others. You can stay right here in New York but you must not bother her any more. Love does not amount to much anyway when you sift it down."
 If John and Emily Burton had lived in this section, there would have been no ban ishment of either husband or wife from the home. It would have been to both haven nf Y~ncs tffA1, 41,N court ever held in any part of this fair
 southern land, could there be found judge who would declare from the bench, Love does not amount to much anyway when you sift 1t down." The New York papers may write editorials on the tribula7
 tions of John and Emily Burton, as they are now doing but it is tremendous argl1- ment in favor of immigration to the south. from the bleak cheerless north where
 love does not count for anything, when you sift 1t down." Perhaps as a, race, south erners are wise in not "sifting'' their love, they take it fresh from the heart, and if
 there are some husl<s, all well and good for
 there is everything else about it that makes thus life Of ours worth the living.
 
 Edward Langtry has at last announced his decision to sue for a divorce from his Irall, but pretty wife, the Jersey Lily. He has never considered her American divorce as legal, and only now has put his case in the hands of his lawyers, because of the statement that Mrs. Langtry will soon wed Prince Esterhazy
 Mrs. Langtry has not maid, any very, sor, : ous attention for many years to opinions emenating from MT. Langtry, and it is a pity, very great pity that the newspa- per reading world is to be deluzed with
 the disgusting details of her life, as they are apt to be presented in the Enplish courts pfr,b hoe spect and regard of the world, and the
 less told of her eventful life, the better for all concerned.
 Mrs. w. G. Felton's impassioned speech before the planters of Georgia has called renewed attention to lynchings Mrs Fe1 ton IS one of the most brilliant women of America, and she has only said in words 1 that burn," what every true southern man | and woman feels whether they express it l or not. But the position she assumes that 1 the attention shown negroes in the south l by politicians and office seekers is inc | cause of the crimes is not tenable. Tne l deeds for which the majority of lynchings l occur, have nothing to do with politics. or l office getting. It comes of utter and | shameless depravity and no other human | being save the criminal himself is respon- slble for the crime. Politicians have a | thousand sins to answer for but Mrs Eel
 
 | too many Every agitator may bring us
 nearer to a lighting of things that are wrong." As long the women of the 1 south are sacrificed, so long will 1ynchings | continue, and all the rewards offered by | state or county are useless to stop this l rightful taking of the law in our own hands l Give us better laws, the first step to-
 wards regulating this matter Speedy trials l and yerdicts and prompt execution of the 1 Verdicts Will have greater influence than
 hundreds of sermons or columns of edi- | torials.
 1 had a letter from Lookout Inn yester-
 day which contained a clever little story. l My correspondent says: "A very hand 1 some and gayly dressed woman at dinner | complained necessarily at everything the | waiter brought to her, and finally said: | Well, everything is bad, but this beef Is l horrible and that is one thing am accus- l toned to have the best of"
 Her little girl seated beside her added