The age-herald., 1899-03-26
SOCIETY
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freedom of speech or action, the more like Iy 1t is that he will be misrepresented or misunderstood the more stinging the crisf~ cism heaped upon him-the more he has to bear. In fact the great have hard time. If you don't believe 1t, aspire to high office or do an heroic deed. Be sure your sin will find you out in ample quick time! If an officeseeker, you will suddenly find yourself possessed of a past before whose blackness you yourself stand aghast. You will find that you have mistreated your wife and children, that you have defrauded your best friend, that you have proven an utter and miserable failure as a business man, and-Parthion dart!-that on more than one occasion you have been traitor to your party No matter what kind of an old party you belong to, proof of your treachery is always promptly forthcom- ing.
 Or, if kind Providence should cast you in heroic mould make or you a great general, one of the successful millionareS of the country, a presidential candidate, or the president himself then, indeed, is every effort advanced to make your lot
 
 against you. If you refuse to be inter- viewed, irate reporters get even with you in short order. If you have anything to say, your words are often misquoted, frequent ly misunderstood, and nearly always pro- ductive of a storm of criticism, for who can please every one?
 General Wheeler knowsl He has suffered the penalty of greatness. Poor little gen eral! With heart So kind, sympathy so broad, patriotism so boundless and courage so rindomitable. Positively, ever since his magnificent conduct at Santiago he has spent the greater part of his time explaining, denying, apologizing. He has been the unhappy victim of the jealousy Of statesmen and army officers, of the incorrl- gible love of gossip, which prevails in Washington, and of the spirit of sensa ation- alism common to the daily papers.
 Hobson knowsl The height of his fame, the heroism of his deed, his modesty ana manliness and unselfshness-none of these things could protect him against the storm of criticism hurled upon him when in the course of his progress across the contl- nent, number of silly women insisted upon kissing him. How many men would refuse to kiss woman who insisted upon it? Not many, as young and gallant as Lieutenant Hobson. Admitting that more dignifed course on the part of the hero of the Merrimac would have been desirable the newspapers who understand how easily reports of such things are exaggerated, instead of magnifying the matter to his detriment, might have passed it more light ly over.
 Doubtless if the truth were told, 1t would quickly be seen that a mountain had been made of a mole-hill. Hobson himself de- clares that he only kissed a few school girls. Whoever they were, the fault was ie ately, 0 type of woman, well-meaning enough, no doubt, but silly, empty-headed and emotional, who positively fancieS she has accomplished something of which to be proud when she forces such unwel- come demonstrations upon some unhappy man. Presidents, governors and heroes all have this sort of thing to contend with more or less. Such women are to be pitied their peculiar capers arising without doubt from lack of mental balance. Poor Hob- son had to suffer from Veritable wave Of criticism which spread all over the country, extending to the navy itself. He had been trying very hard to do the right thing and keep a level head amid all the adula- tion showered upon him, but he made little slip, and he had to seuffer!
 And Bryan knows! For 10 and beholdi he will not kiss the girls! He does the thing that Hobson ought to have done, and
 
 a trivial one, which has been given wide circulation, is as follows:
 At the railway station at Brenham, Tex, where MT. Bryan had been speaking a young woman stepped up to him and said:
 MT. Bryan, will you give me a kiss?'
 My dear young woman, you will have to excuse me. 1 am not Hobson."
 Irving situation for MT. Bryan, little hard on Lieutenant Hobson, and certainly very embarrassing for the young woman But what could he do? He might have imprinted paternal kiss upon her brow, but, wise man that he is he knew better than to establish a dangerous precedent. He has received his share of criticism however, for acting as he did, as would have been the case, no matter how he had acted
 The truth of the matter is, there has never been man before the public whose acts have admitted of so little criticism as Mr. Bryan's. Of course, his opponents have called him names-dear, yes!-hun- dreds of them, but we all know what that means. When people have absolutely nothing to say in their own Justification, they begin to call names. It is the last resort of the smal-minded. But MT. Bry- ans opponents have been greatly hampered in their criticism of him by the fact that there is so little about him to criticise His life has been a fair and open page His sincerity and honesty of purpose and his high intellectual qualifications cannot be questioned. So they are reduced to Scorn- ful discussion of the doctrine of 16 to 1, to calling names and to the criticism of trivial incident such as the little affair in Texas. LULU HUDSON.
 Dear Madam