El Paso daily herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1881-1901, 1901-02-20
Violence begets violence.
THE CRUSADE EPIDEMIC.

Il
The extraordinary performances of
Mrs. Nation in Kansas. with her facile
Ratchet. and the still more remarkable
| immunity from legal accountability she
| has thus far enjoyed. are vastly dis
quieting. Mrs. Nation is not in any
sens a freak. She is simply q highly de-
veloped type of a large and growing
| class of women, mostly of mature
years. who have worked themselves up
to a pitch of enthusiasm in the advo-
cacy of some particular reform which
makes them monOmaniacs on that one
subject She differs from several mil
lions of her congenerS chiefly in the
possession of physical courage. If she
was unique she would be less interest
ing than she is.
But physical courage is not so rare
an endowment among women that Mrs.
Nations work began or will end with
her. Courage is in sense contagious.
and breaks out in epidemic form from
time to time. History has furnished
more than one example of this and
it's tendency to repeat itself is proven
bal. In point of fact, the shrinking
timidity of the sex was always more
or less artificial. In these matters the
women of the present generation are
wiser than their anceStreSSeS. They
may affect great nervousness in the
presence of mice. spiders, caterpillarS,
and such small deer; but they contin-
ually do things which would tax the
of the bravest of men. and
seem to be quite unconscious that they |
are doing anything remarkable.
Mrs. Nation perhaps has the courage |
of her convictions little better de- |
velOped than most women, but this is |
doubtless because her convictions are
stronger. But since she has shown
how easy it is for determined woman
to have her way vi ct arms in the dis
of anything she disap-
proves. there is reason to fear thai the
energy of the alleged gentle
sex. held in allegiance for centuries by
social conventionalities. will break
Dose and make itself felt in many sur
,rising ways. The question of most
serious moment is. where will this
end?
In Chicago a few days ago certain
Jealous followers of the faith cure
armed with such weapons
IS they could draw from their domes-
ic armorieS. terrOrized a part OF the
vest side. Impressed with the fact
hat the harmless. necessary drug store
S the DEVILS storehouse. and that the
pharmacist is his agent and steward.
nd convinced that so long as their
xistence was tolerated misguided in
Aids would feel more confidence in
than in prayers ard the
aging on of hands. they started out
inging militant hymns, and before
hey were dispersed they had wrecked
We drug stores Il
Again. in Milwaukee lives a woman
o less jealous. but apparently less :
regarious. than her sisters of Kansas
nd Illinois. She is profoundly i'm
ho
able is a toboggan slide to perdition. O
nd that whoever plays thereon is des- 4
ned to an eternity of exceeding dis
omfort To do what she could in her
,eble way toward the suppression of s
lis evil she entered a billiard saloon a
lone, gathered a pyramid of pool balls 3,
her overskirt. and proceeded to
AXE some fancy shots. Her proficien- u
was SO great that she smashed ev- il
'ything breakable in the place. and r,
len went her way sustained and :.
,othed by an unfaltering trust in the
isdom and propriety of her action. u
These incidents, symptoms of cru a
de epidemic. suggest very disquiet- al
e possibilities Will it occur to our -,
housekeepers, young and
d, that they will be doing good SER 81
ce to society by wrecking the ex- b'
anges, miscalled Intelligence offices" e,
a protest against the American sys- -,
m of domestic service? Will the Sal
ton Army lasses reach the conclu- ~
IN that they will be doing Gods will hi
demolishing the barracks of the 20
,lunteers of America? Will - the NJ
yes of our best citizens deem it
ty to themselves and their families
break the windows of the club hous- ha
in which they are perfectly sure DR.
cir husbands and sons participate in Nv
holy orgies? But even to hint at
CHI alarming possibilities is danger Oh
s. The potency of hypnotic sugges- gu
IN has many times been demonstrate Or
Pc
THE REVIVAL