The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1898-07-03
ALL PIECES REPRESENTED
KNIGHTS ARE POLITICIANS AND
THE PAWNS ARE THE
COMMON PEOPLE.
THE DEATH OF A YOUNG MOTHER
Is the saddest Thing in This Troubled World :
The Care of Orphans illustration
That Pr yer is Answered.

That Pr yer is Answered.
A nations progress or its decline is like
a game upon chessboard, and we hll
play our parts. The king is kind of dl-
vinity, to be idolized and protected, but
is helpless and always in peril. Cleveland
was king, but got checkmated and hal
to retire to private life. The bishops Ola
the chessboard represent the church,
which is a great power in the land-a
moral power that makes but little nose
and attacks iniquity in high places and
sweeps the board diagonally from Maine
to Mexico. The knights are the politi-
clans and statesmen whose movements
are right oblique and left oblique over
lcapng prccedcntS and properties
have no straight lines nor right angles,
but are always lodging around and
ting their course to suit the changing
situation. They require great deal OF
watching. The castles are these rich Old
fellows who carry the money bags and
buy the nations bonds and heap up their
interest and fight the income tax. But
after all it is the little humble, unpre-
tending pawns that master the situation
and control the game. They move
straight forward and but a step at
time but their phalanX is solid and ire
sistabe when marshalled by master
hand. They are the common pcope-the
masses The game of nation has no
fixed movement. 1t is never played twic"
alike, and its results are unknown and
uncertain until they have transpircd.
Harrison was once a king. but was
checkmated and now there are none so
poor as to do him reverence.
Fate chance, circumstances and provl-
dence all take a hand in this game.
What prophet or seer or statesman could
have foretold to us the present unhappy
condition of our country? How long
will il last and what will be the result?
Is the war drifting into 4 war of con
quest? Will we have to take Cuba for
pay and perhaps the Philippines and will
we annex Hawaii and will the Republi-
can party father all this imperialism and
officer the new governments and perp9t-
,tate their power with patronage? Or
will Bryan and Cleveland coalesce and
combine against such Il dangerous policy
and demand the voice of the people upon
it? | was delighted with Mr.. Cleve-
lands utteranceS on this war business.
1t may be political key note, but he
is on Bryan's line about acquiring terri
tory and the Monroe doctrine and he
speaks boldly and with no sign OF ''in-
nocuous desuetude." He depl1ees the
allurcments of war TO our young men
and declares that even victories are de-
moraliZing to Il nation and quotes from
Generals Grant and Sherman to prove
it. \ leading Richmond paper says that
these uttcrances from Bryan and Cleve-
land will make the next Presidential is
sue and that the silver question will be
ignored in the national platform and
that the Democrats North and South
and East and West will have great
love feast and sweep the country. AS
old man Baugh would say we will all
know by waiting and that is all that
we little pawns can do.
| wish that something would happen to
stop this shedding of blood-this rich
mans war and poor mans fight, for
that it what it is. Mr.. Mckinley says
he is daily expecting n great and very
bloody battle. Oh, the pain. the agony,
the horror of bloody battle with these
modern engines of destruction There
have s young men gone from this town
and hundreds more from the State and
thousands from the South-gOne like
many of them are demoralized and have
lost all regard for the laws and all re-
spect for womankind. The good people
of Walker county are paralyzed with
fear of the soldiers-our soldiers whom
we call our patriots. And so it was at
Griffin and Tampa and other places.
There is enough trouble and grief at
home in times of peace. Old father
Time keeps cutting our good people
down and strewing our homes with tears
The other day he took from us IL good
wife and mother without any warning
and now the light of that home has gone
out. Nobody knows the deSOlatiOn of
that hcarthst0ne save the bereaved hus-
band and the heart-broken sons and
daughters. How weary and longing are
their days-how sad and lonesome are
their nights. This good Christian wo-
man has for years sat near us in the
church and was one of its props. We
were always glad of her presence and
her smiles, and if we miss her accus-
toned welcome what must be the loss to
those who shared her sunshine morn
ing, noon and night: But Mrs. Cal
houn had passed the meridian of life and
was more of Il companion than Il mother
She had reared her flock and reared
them well and was ready for the call
How much sadder is the death of ~
young. hopeful and happy mother.
When ! was a lad | had IA bow and Il
bunch of arrows and was proud of my
skill in using them. One day | was aim
ing at a bird that was singing on the
garden fence when my father called me
and said: Don't shoot-don't shoot
that bird, my SON" He came to me and
in tender words told how he had found
that catbird's nest in a tree at the cor
ner of the garden and there We're young
birds in it. and he said: II think that
this very bird is their mother and she
feeds them all through the day and sings
because she is so happy. If You should
kill her what will become of her little
ones? Who will feel them when their
mother is dead?' / have never forgot
ten that lesson he taught me. When I
read of Mrs Clark Howells sad and
sudden death my first thought was, who
will feed the Young birds now for no one