The Bamberg herald. [volume] (Bamberg, S.C.) 1891-1972, 1899-07-27
EDITOR WILLIAMS SHOCKED.
Sage of the Piedmont Reflects on
Yankee iiauncfs.

Yankee .iiauncTs.
Editor Williams. cf he Grcrnvillc
News, is doing some good nrwspa-
per work in New York, and occa-
sioually he moralizcs us only A. b.
Williams can. In Il recent letter he
says:
And admid it all | ask myself
whether We are not relal sing into
barbarism here in the suppos, 4 cen.
trc of civilization. | know the
South Carolina rice fed negroes,
and the question whether thy We're
falling back into barbarism has
hcrn Il very Serlous one in our
State. But it is the Lords truth,
meaning no irrcverence, that the
rice field negroes, men ana women,
are personally mole modest than
white people IL New York. | See
decent looking women here riding
bicycles, diamond frames, and shcw-
ing themselves above the knees, and
it is 50 common that nobody turns
to l>nk. | sec others go in bathing
1T the seashorc, bare legged; and
The he>t Of them show 50 much
above full dress in winte:, and so
a.uch below bathing in the sum-
mer, that the exposure is more than
Indian women in this country ever
made. and lis much us is found in
central Africa. know, because |
have seen them all. | don't claim
to be an unusually modest man, and
[ have no reason that | know OF TO
hide any Of my anatomy, but |
would honestly oe ashamed to make
the personal displays | See women
make here, without a blush,
and causing no special remark.
And as for the men-l saw a hun.
dred Of them 90 into the water stark
naked last week, in full view of two
big boarding houses on the side of Il
lake; and the varsity crews pull
out to row with nothing on them
more than the savages in Africa
Wear, the same being pair of
trunks, or clouts, and petsous who
are not rowing, appear in similar
costumes, to swim. Taking these
displays, and the facilities for chang
lug wives and husbands offered by
the divorce laws, l can't see where
We are much ahead Of the naked aud
not ashamed Africans, who buy a
wife for few head Of cattle and
put her aside when a new one is
purchased.
My opinion is that we are in the
trough of one Of the waves by which
the human race moves onward and
upward. Anybody who will read
the history of the last six hundred
years will see that there have been
perious of stringent religious inau-
ence and of irreligion, of extreme
moral auslerity and laxity, follow
ing each other. But each fall has
been little less deep than the one
preceding it. Agnosticism and
skepticism are widespread now, but
they are not so general as they
were a hundred years ago. Fash
ionable life is not so loose or cor
rupt, bad as it is, as it WAS in the
days of the Stuarts. The lower and
upper classes of people are better
than they were then, and the great
middle class, now, as then, the con-
servative force in morals, politics,
aid religion, is stronger than it has
ever been. l look to see the profit
gacv and sensuality of the time, at
the great centers, followed by a Pc
riod when austerity and rigor of
life and morals aud extreme conser-
vatism shall rule. The world and
society will reach the truly happy
medium at last.
Our Southern people will 0e pow
erful influences for good, the women
especially. am glad to note that
the Southern women who have taken
their proper places as social leaders
in the North, are practically all fol
God and Home for definite relig-
ious beliefs and high standards Of
personal conduct and family life.
And they are powers for good. They
understand how to be liberal and
clean, how to avoid PuritaniSm on
one side and iibert,nism OH the 9TH
er. They mix in no scandals. Let
the people at home keep their stan
darLs high and pure. This nation
needs a clean, clear. honest, strong
force of manhood and wonanhood
to fall back and rally upon. May
be it is better for us that we are
comparatively poor, If we had a
class with nothing to do but spend
money and seek some new amuse-
ment and excitement, We would be
as bad as any.
That Thr0bbing Headache
Would quickly leave you, it you